Welcome to the Roadshow!

The following is a statement that I made during the intro of this week’s episode of Not Sauce For Work.  I wished to write something a little light-hearted to start my article this week.  Unfortunately, my heart hangs heavy as it does for many.  I’m angry and I thought it would be a good place to share it as well:

I wish I never heard of Columbine, Colorado or Uvalde, Texas or Sandy Hook or Marjory Stoneman Douglas.  I wish that every time I passed Dawson College, or Polytechnique it wouldn’t feel as though a shadow formed overhead.  I wish that we could just stick to sports.  We are a sports podcast network and this is a sports comedy show but before we get to the distraction portion of the proceedings, we wanted to take a moment to address the tragedies that occured in the last 10 days.  

Politics is of no interest to me.  I don’t care for politicians and I respect them no more than I would a con-artist.  They are supposed public servants but seem to do little save for serve their own private interests and further the political agendas that allow them to fill their coffers or hold onto power. My interest is in people, society and community.  The following statement has nothing to do with political parties but rather the general failing of the political structure to protect its citizens, to serve their public or to improve the lives of their constituencies.

During the last two years, many rationalizations have been callously made to invalidate human life.  Covid’s death toll rose to 100 million people and all the while I heard people be dismissive and suggest “these people are mainly older” or “well, they were already sick” denying the potential life that lay ahead of them.  It was the first time that I felt truly hurt by the apathy toward the loss of life.  Now, as 10 days separate a gunman’s racially motivated attack in a Buffalo supermarket and a school shooting that left  19 elementary school children and two adults dead, we once again are forced to consider that those in charge of protecting people, society and community have once again become apathetic to the toll of human life.  

How many days will it take for parents to forget the heart-breaking moment where their autopilot kicks in and they prepare to go pick up their children only to have their hearts broken with the realization that they will never see them again. How many days will it take a group of students to remember the smiling face of their teacher before the vision gets horrifically replaced by the sight of life draining from their mentor’s faces. I’ve been an educator for 21 years. That’s more years in my life than I haven’t worked in that capacity. School is supposed to be a safe haven. Your home town is supposed to be a source of pride.  Words cannot describe the despair that teachers, professionals, principals must have felt as the helplessness tied to the memories of this act of senseless violence.  The cities and towns that were rocked by these tragedies will never be the same.  How do I know? Because we live in a city that grieved two such attacks.

This has also led me to think back to the powerlessness and fear we all experienced in the hours, days and years that followed 9/11.  A day so tragic that its memory can be denoted simply with numerical digits. We all remember where we were, because we all remember how we felt.  In the time since protecting against the face of terror became priority.  Defeating autocracy and protecting freedom became paramount.  

What happens when the terror comes from in your homes and in your communities?  In the last couple of years we’ve seen the pinnacle of democracy, the American Capitol, come under attack instigated by a man who treasonously instigated an attack against his own country.  We’ve seen books being banned and burned, rights stripped away from minorities and women.  2021 saw 693 mass shootings.  The beacon for freedom and safety saw 3545 people executed in public last year and not halfway through this present year we’ve seen 202 mass shootings and 27 occurring in schools.  Yet, 50 senators have helped stall reforms to gun laws. They claim that this is a mental illness issue, where many of the same senators block reform to a broken health system.

Let’s recap, education is disrupted by politics so that only comfortable revisions of history can be told.  Women look to lose to make a choice regarding their own medical procedures as this now becomes the purview of the state. Both cases, led by a pseudo religious moral compass in a country that once proudly defined the separation of church and state.  A democracy threatened by greed and the voice of autocratic theocracy has seen a rise in domestic terrorism on a scale that has never been seen in a developed nation.  Militants hold firearms to the temples of children and innocent bystanders while propagandists and politicians take no measure of accountability and attempt no change.  I’m sorry America, but from where I stand the Taliban won.    

Division 6 Finals

Leadership is demonstrated in some very different ways.  The Last Dance Documentary and the general Church of Michael illustrated a very specific image of the “asshole competitor”. That definitely is an archetype that works for some people.  However, lest you think this is the only way to get the job done, I’m reminded of when Will Farrell’s iconic character “Ricky Bobby” is reunited with his father.  Certainly, he was taught as a child that “if you’re not in first place, you’re in last.”  However, upon reuniting with his father it was evident that it was an empty platitude that he delivered while inebriated.

Will Power is an absolute leader.  Am I bias because he’s one of my most tenured teammates? Absolutely!  However, I’m as biased with Will as I am with my wife’s attractiveness.  I don’t see my wife as attractive because I married her, I married her (in part) because she’s attractive. My bias toward Will is BECAUSE of his leadership.  He’s not a player delivering nonsensical pre-game speeches but his demeanor is one that accepts and expects accountability.  He’s a kind soul who you want to march headlong into battle with.  He also loves, and I mean LOVES winning.  His presence on the field is immediately apparent.  His ability to high point any pass on either offense or defense makes him a devastating opponent.  There is no doubt that the consuls of Power and Babalis has helped keep this heavily favored juggernaut focused from the seasons early stages and into the season’s final chapter.

Terry Babalis, will likely be the fourth rusher inducted into FPF’s hall of fame.  He’s certainly trending that way (Matt Kirouac, Ryan Aridi are already in the HOF and I expect Julien Paiement to be the next dedicated rusher to make the Hall) and this season has done nothing but illustrate how dominant he can be.  His play at quarterback has been a revelation. His MFL/FPF experience combined with his athleticism and calm demeanor are a perfect concoction for a pivot who’s set up for success.  In this game, he simply needs to do what he’s done all season. He needs to make reads against zone, create mismatches against man (of which he WILL have some) and use his legs if need be.

Primetime’s defense is excellent. Carter Condon is as good a defender as we’ll see all weekend.  What he lacks in FPF experience he makes up for with instinct and raw athleticism.  Alessio Muro and George Zergotis are ball hawks and their skills will be on full display.  I personally like the dependable defense of Ari Zergiotis as well so there are options.  The first casualty for the Thunder Buddies’ receiving corps may be Francois Rochette.  He’s not as physically gifted as some of the other TB receivers.  This still leaves Will Power, David St-Jean and Kerano Johnson to deal with.  Primetime needs to mix coverage and focus on specific areas to restrict.  Getting Babalis to throwpasses he’s less comfortable with will be a major key to success.  Ethan Adrian was huge against Wild Hogs last week.  However, I do not know if he’ll have the same impact rushing Terry Babalis in the finals.  

My main question for Primetime is whether or not Jacob Soles can play a clean game.  Soles threw over 1 interception a game in the regular season. They can’t afford to give Thunder Buddies any extra possessions.  Soles also struggled to score at points this season. During the regular season they only managed to score 30 points twice.  Matthew Cadogan is a player I expect to step up if Primetime expects to complete the upset.  Daniel Spina may be someone to get involved in the offense as well. He hasn’t been a major part of the offense but his dependability may play a huge role if the top targets get negated.

Prediction: Thunder Buddies 34-Primetime 26

Division 6D Finals

Macabees have been an interesting team.  They’re far from perfect. However, they got through a lot of the season winning close games. At one point this season they upset Tune Squad, and 7th Rounders in back to back weeks. Even in games they lost like the 18-14 loss to Dusters 2.0 or the 12-8 loss to  The Penetrators, they limited scoring by some of the best teams in the division.  Defensive stalwarts such as Michael Titelman, Jordy Melnik and Johnathan Jagermann are the pieces that helped the defense control the pace for the Maccabees.

Maccabees have been a much more effective offense during the post season. They’ve upped their production to 28 points per game (up from 17.7). Shimmy Cons played the last three games at quarterback and this move sees to have invigorated this offense.  He has also scored 12 touchdowns and hasn’t turned the ball over once. It’s clear that this move to Cons at the pivot has allowed Maccabees offense to be a little more dynamic than they have been at certain points of the season. 

Predictably, with Shimmy Cons at QB, Michael Titleman has been the go to.  He has scored 4 touchdowns in the post season but Justin Sternklar has been equally targetted.  So the team has a clear idea in mind of using their mobile QB (who has run for three touchdowns in the playoffs) and focusing the targets on the teams top receivers. Defensively, the lean on their stalwarts: Jordy Melnik, Michael Titleman and Jonathan Jagermann.  This trio as well as the emergence of role players Eric Lazarowitz and Ryan Tolthz will need to come up big to handle the depth of the Killer Rays.

Tyler Bianchi is far from a finished product in FPF.  His progressions, his play reading and his patience are not on par with some of the better qbs in FPF.  He’s also incredibly fun to watch.  The lower divisions have a little recklessness in their offensive systems and in some ways Bianchi is the gunslinger of gunslingers. Bianchi has only completed 29 passes in his three playoff games and yet, amazingly, he has thrown 12 touchdowns (while running for two more).  The strength of the Killer Rays is their receiving corps.  Curtis Ryan, Evan White, Donovan Hinds and Tyler Gurberg is A LOT for any team to have to deal with.  Maccabees have a strong defense but, I don’t know if they, or anyone else have what it takes to slow down this show of force.

Twice during this postseason, Killer Rays have shown that they can score in bunches.  They have put up 37 and 44 points on two occasions this season.  If the game is played slowly and the score remains tight, I think that this favors Macabees.  If this becomes a shoot out, Killer Rays will be holding the trophy once the clock hits zeros.  Given, that the style of Killer Rays is not the most efficient, this has me somewhat worried.

Prediction: Maccabees 24-Killer Rays 19