The Goal-Line Stand (Div D) – Week 13

With two plays to go and the Rogues within five yards I decided it was time to move from the spot I had been watching the game from for the past 58 minutes. I had enjoyed my time nestled between the teams’ benches (as I do my best to overhear any chatter of football or otherwise) but it was time to choose a corner. #NoRegard was up by only five, meaning a touchdown would win it – no need for the extra point.

 

After I haphazardly chose the corner closest to me on purpose, I crouched over and prayed to Zeus that the ball would be thrown towards me so that I could have the best view in the house while simultaneously not being thrown too close to me as I was scared of being toppled.

 

The Rogues lined up all four receivers to the right of the snapper and began running concentric drags. Arriving in due time in my corner was Rogue Julien Bellavance who proceeded to catch a perfectly thrown pass along his perfectly run route. Bellavance extended, made the grab, planted his feet inbounds, and let his momentum sweep him gracefully into history.

 

That is, until, young phenom Travis Moses flew in on the back of what could have only been a griffin and jammed his arm(s) into the mix forcing the ball loose. The referee, with a mixed look of incredulity and relief (at the facts that the effort was so great and that the call was now an easy one to make respectively) waved the catch off and twirled his orange garter belt thingy.

 

The crowd erupted and ran out to congratulate their heroes – but not before reminding me that I had predicted incorrectly. Again.      

 

2 Teams, 1 Cup

What is wrong with me? Who writes FPF articles this way?

 

Six o’clock on Sunday in Brossard is when and where the Division D championship will make us the most entertained sports fans this side of the St-Lawrence. Though many fear this to be an anticlimactic final, as the “big game” has come and gone, I disagree whole-heartedly. And that’s not just because Paolo Della Rocca and I will be broadcasting the podcast live (details available below). In fact, it came close to starting during the opening drive of last Sunday’s game when a few Project Mayhem players, having just beaten Vis Motus, brushed by their future opponents and a few choice words were exchanged (hint: they weren’t “please,” “thank you,” and “that’s what she said, LOL”). If you’re part of the majority of people who will side with the stats on this one and say all signs point to a #NoRegard win, then politely stay home. #NoRegard are hot and young and are a marketing machine, however, no one has stopped to really look at the punch Project Mayhem’s roster packs. Upper-divisional experience is on their side of this match and they hope to catch #NoRegard sleeping. I think this will be a low-scoring game that can just as easily swing towards Project Mayhem as toward the favored boys in grey.

 

Prediction: Project Mayhem with an over/under total points at under-45.

 

Now here’s what Paolo had to say about this:

 

#NoRegard vs. Project Mayhem

As it turns out the scuffle between Tiger Horn and Project Mayhem’s Devin Daoust on the #NoRegard bench early in Sunday’s game really set the stage for this year’s spring finals.  Tiger Horn was visiting from Florida to watch his ‘brothers in gray’ only to end up in a war of words with one of Project Mayhem’s defensive stars this Sunday, in Brossard. 

Keys to Success

#NoRegard: Alex Holowach has to continue playing at the level that we have seen throughout these playoffs.  Their motion, option, playaction package has also given The Young Hollow a set of plays that are very difficult to gameplan against.  What makes it particularly dangerous is Jordan Moses.  A fellow spectator during last week’s game pointed out to me that Jordan has ‘the moves like daggers’. I thought it was an apt observation insofar as Jagger couldn’t cut like #2.  Defensively, Lance Daniel and his boys have to build on the emotion of last week’s big goal line stand and ensure that they don’t allow the big yards after catch that we’ve seen from Project Mayhem throughout these playoffs.

Project Mayhem: I have been saying for weeks that the Project Mayhem’s receiving core is deep and particularly dangerous in open field.  If given a chance to make plays in space the cousins Nowakowski and Danny D’Amour are lethal.  Spreading the ball around and getting rid of it quickly will be Bellemare’s best chance for success in this game.  On the other side of the ball Project Mayhem will need to take away the long balls to KD Meyers and Harry Aggrey, the short passes to Mike Vieira, and neutralize Jordan Moses.  This is a tall task for any defense but I think the veteran leadership of David Daoust will help this ball-hawking defense and give them a chance to come out ahead.

Prediction

On a large enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone will drop to zero. – Chuck Paulahniuk

This is true of all 32 teams who have taken a run at the 2012 DD summer championship.  After Sunday only one team will be able to call themselves champions.  You’d think after quoting Fight Club that I’d go with the Cinderella sensation known as Project Mayhem.  That just shows how much regard I have for fairy tales, awesome cult films and the color orange. 

#NoRegard wins by 4.

 

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Every week we become prouder and prouder of the work we do and the product we produce at Calling the Audible, FPF’s official Division D podcast. This week is no different as we’ve increased the audio quality both in literal terms (by use of actual equipment this time) as well as in production value (partly due to our very exclusive live stream of this week’s episode in anticipation of next’s).

 

If you can’t be at Brossard next week, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/andrewfpf to listen to the first ever public live streaming of Calling the Audible as Paolo Della Rocca and I keep you company between approximately 17h30 and 19h30. If you are at Brossard next week, please drop in to talk to us and get some free air time. Be aware, there is a seven second delay, and as we all know, the internet is highly patrolled. If you’re neither at Brossard, not by your computer this Sunday evening, you can catch the recorded version at fpf.podomatic.com.

 

As per usual, don’t hesitate to write me at [email protected] regarding anything vaguely flag-football related. I can’t wait to get Della Rocca an e-mail address so he can learn to tip-toe around tough questions the way I’ve learned to.

 

See you on the field, from the recording booth, on Sunday.