Peeze’s Playbook – Week 7

Peeze’s Playbook-Week 6

Paolo Della Rocca

So, I’ve done some research.  As it turns out lunch is by far, the best meal of the day.  Breakfast is awesome but let’s face it, breakfast food simply tastes better at all ther times of the day.  Nothing says exquisite lunch such as French toast and sausage without having to wake up early.  You can have a beer with your eggs without it being considered deviant. Really, nothing but upside.

As for dinner, there are just to many expectations.  You think about it all day.  You’ll ask yourself what you should make.  You aren’t sure exactly when you’ll get it because it depends on so many other elements such as work schedules and picking up little critters at the daycare. More often than not you end up throwing together whatever you find and leave the table dissatisfied.  Again, the expectations are far too high. Managing expectations is key; give my lunch any day.

When you think of it (really hard and for a long time and if someone tells you that it is), it’s similar to Flag Football.  Teams need to figure out their expectations.  Remember the reasons you are here and in the end we’ll all have fun.  Without further delay, here’s the Thursday article (released on Friday as per usual).

You can tell Daron isn’t in town when he obviously didn’t censor my article.  Have a good time buddy!

Wednesday’s Recap

The Fifth Wheel

It takes a very honorable team to offer to play 5 vs. 5 when the other team cannot field a full squad.  Or perhaps BBWC captain Sergio Sicoli feared that losing against a team with one less player would be too humiliating.  Either way it seemed as though the extra room on the field seemed to help Big Blue Wrecking Crew quarterback Dean Demetriou as he put up his best numbers of the season by far.  BBWC had a chance to take the lead in the redzone, with a few minutes left in the game but Sergio Sicoli slipped while running his route and Wade Williams picked it off. The game ended in a 41-41 tie.  To end such a high scoring battle in a tie is to go the finest restaurant in the city only to find out that the filet mignon is bone-in and the only scotch is a blend.  I hate when that happens.

The X-Men did quite a good job despite being short handed in this one.  Swaminadham took advantage of the extra space and completed 72% of his passes.  Wade Williams and Tomas Chylewski did most the damage on the offensive side of the ball as the rest of the team combined for 5 total yards.  The X-Men have had some extenuating circumstances but they can no longer rest on their laurels.  This is the time of the season that thye need to be winning games and they haven’t done so in three weeks.

Slippery Slope for Underdogs

Last week we reported that there has been some discontent in the Underdogs’ roster.  Dissent through the ranks usually leads to poor performances.  Hopefully this week was just an anomaly and not a sign of tempers boiling over.  Chris Olson moved the ball well at times but only completed 50% of his passes.  While he threw 5 touchdowns he also threw 3 interceptions.  A notable absence was Michael Malincaric who missed yet another game this season.  It may not be too late for Olson and company but the turn around needs to happen now.

Black Ice seem to have made the permanent switch to AJ Zigman at the quarterback position.  He looked exceptionally good in this one as he threw 5 touchdowns and his line was not blemished with an interception.  Zigman did make sure to leave a mark on Olson’s line however as he intercepted a pass for a touchdown to give Black Ice a two score lead.   Later on Shane Blackwood (perhaps the most underrated defender in the league) would intercept a pass to seal the victory. Black Ice won this game 45-32.

Demonically Even

Lockdown goes into the half with a 20-12 against a gritty but somewhat, perceivably outclassed Speed Demons club.  You would imagine that this would be a walk in the park for the experienced and very talented Lockdown team.  However, this would prove not to be the case.  Lockdown went an entire second half without scoring a single point.  Gianfranco Ranaudo has looked excellent for most of this season but did not on this day as throwing into double coverage cost him on more than one occaision.  In the end Lockdown had a chance to march down the field and win it with a minute or so left to five plays and they could not get a first down.  The ball was punted, the speed demons were cautions and escaped with a 20-20 tie.

The Speed Demons can no hang a point on the board after earning one with this tie.  Their defense was solid an d seemed to fluster Ranaudo all day.  Bryan Nguyen intercepted the ball twice and helped put the Speed Demons within range.  Late in the game Samuel Holden threw a frozen rope to Mathieu Bilodeau for a touchdown.  More remarkable was on the two point conversion attempt, Holden rolled right, made a move on the very agile Bryan Mongeau and broke toward the other sideline.  He scampered in and just avoided being deflagged.  This two point conversion would be the final score of the game and the Speed Demons have now shown that they can in fact run with some of the division’s best teams.

Power Rankings

We have just begun the 7^th week of play and it is time for me to rank, which I believe, are the top ten teams.  Some are truly perfect tens while others are 8 and a-halves trying to feign ten-ness.  Either way I have taken my time and paid careful attention to try and weed out the contenders from the pretenders.  Here are my thoughts:

1. Les Affreux (6-0)–Still undefeated with an impressive resume. Affreux will keep the top spot for now.
2. Centurions (7-0) -With a ridiculous +/- of 207, due in large part to the fact that they have only allowed 59 points against (a meager 8.43 points/game).
3. Blue Mountain State (6-0)-They’ve beaten everyone before them, including a tough Hostile Territory team.  They did do so with Nicholas Lafond having to step in at quarterback.  This gives me some cause for concern.  For now however, they can enjoy the three spot.
4. Hostile Territory (5-1) – Hostile has been one of the strongest teams this spring.  They are getting it done with a small roster of, intelligent, athletic football players.  If they can continue riding Garofolo’s arm and legs, they will be fine.
5. Jaggerbomb (4-1-1) – Jaggerbomb came into the league with a relatively easy schedule this past winter.  However, they have risen to the challenge in this spring season.  Last season’s upstarts are now a disruptive force to be weary of.
6. Lockdown (3-1-3)-The three wins may not scare you, however, only having one loss should.  The one qualm is: Does this show the inability to close out games?
7. Longhorns (5-1) – In my opinion, the Longhorn’s record is somewhat inflated.  They haven’t beaten anyone with a winning record and this week they won by forfeit.  They are still a strong team but the fact that they have been relatively untested may hurt them in the playoffs.
8. Wheel of Fish (4-2)–They have been better than expected and look ready to make a surge into the playoffs. I predicted that they would have a tough second half of the season.  They seem to have taken exception to that.
9. Gotham Knights (4-2)-Gotham has some nice wins on their schedule.  They also have some inexplicable losses.  Hopefully they can sort out the Jekyll and Hyde act before it’s too late.
10. Mongoose (4-3)- The Mongoose are getting hot at the right time.  They have now won 3 of their last 4.

Other Teams Receiving Votes: You can ask for a recount if you like but it will be just as corrupt as the initial process.

• Limetime (4-2)–Limetime seem to live in this segment.  While the team does impress me they have shown again how they struggle with evenly matched competition.  They need to be able to pick on kids their own size rather than steal lunch money to go from bullies and on into the limelight.
• X-Men (4-2-1)-Initially I had placed X-Men in the top ten before I realized that they have not won a game in 3 consecutive weeks.  This is very troubling indeed.  Apocalypse may be on the prowl because the X-Men look vulnerable.
• Project Mayhem (3-3-1)-There is just something about this team.  They may not end the season with a high seed but if they do end up in the playoffs they will make some grown men weep.

Reflections, Rants and Ravings

• This week the Checkmate family said good bye to Anthony Carbone.  Carbs, FPF surely misses you, hope you realize that Toronto is a second class city and come back to your Flag Plus Family.  Shout out to lady Jess for baking an incredibly tasty, beautiful and heartwarming Checkmate Oreo cake. Let’s Eat.
• Avi Yayon was not happy that I expect Wheel of Fish to end the season with a 5-5 record.  He emailed me and told me so.  Please remember that I thoroughly enjoy your feedback, even if it is in the form of hate mail.
• Another tie…Lockdown…seriously?
• I noticed that Fish Tacos have become “a thing” how could it have taken so long…they’re delicious.  Next up and coming item of food fare, lobster quesadilla with salsa verde.
• Playground forfeited a game due to their usage of an ineligible player.  We have seen this before but this is a little strange.  It appears as though they had Jordan Alexis of Shamrocks (in Division D) fill in for this week.  It should have been fairly logical that a dude can’t play on two teams in the same division.
• Mike Zenone of Limetime and Joe Mbaya of Checkmate got into it in week 6.  They were chirping back and forth throughout the length of the game and it ended on the last play when Zenone took a run at Mbaya and literally hit him into the adjacent field.  This simply got out of hand and I’m sure that both players regret their actions.
• Who chose the colors of the rainbow?  It seems some great ones were left of the list.  I call for it to be re-examined due to its initial selection process being somewhat, if not entirely arbitrary.

Thursday’s wrap-up

The earth is ever turning and my inbox is ever receiving, please let me know what’s on your mind by emailing me at [email protected]. As always, you may alternatively hit me up on Twitter @PeezeFPF.   If you want to creepily stare at anyone’s photo’s visit @TerryTamFPF ‘s .

‘Calling the Audible’ is simply the best Flag Football themed podcast in the world. It’s available via iTunes or at http://fpf.podomatic.com. If you tune in you have a 35% chance of laughter and laughter saves lives. See you this weekend, until then, have fun, be safe and thank you for letting me be myself.