Coach K, A Rising Sun and StarTropics
Paolo Della Rocca
02-04-2022 09:47 PM
The final four is upon us. The story has been Coack K as it has been throughout the obnoxious farewell tour as expected. That’s right, I do think it’s obnoxious. From complaining about being followed by a documentary crew after announcing his would be retirement early enough to garner all attention from his team, to telling his fanbase to shut-up and let him speak after his final game at Cameron Indoor (after an embarrassing loss to rival UNC), the coach Mike Krzyzewski story has been grating.
This led me to think, why is it that the story in college athletics (especially Basketball) is centred on the anointed deities coaching the team? Well, in the case of NCAA Basketball, the one and done pattern has led us into a time where we just don’t get enough time to be familiar with these star athletes. The only thing we can hold onto as fans is the coaches.
That said, NIL notwithstanding, players are still unplayed labour. When you consider that the tournament continues to add play-in games, the advertising opportunities have never been more valuable for the league, or the schools. Yet, while the players do not get a share of the income that THEY generate, the coaches profit immensely. This has bothered me for a while with coaches like Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and others, the high and mighty attitude of Coach K has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
It seems as though I’m far from alone when it comes to Duke “hate”. Still the team I feel worst for is the loser of Villanova/Kansas. UNC and the team that advances to the finals will catch shine by being in the presence of Duke. However, the losing team will all but likely left forgotten. Let’s do our best to make this tournament about the players on the court. We’ll have all offseason to celebrate Coach K. In the end, the players on the court are the reason we watch in the first place.
Musings, Ramblings, Lies and Other Assortments
- Yo, sometimes a slap is just a slap. It’s not the summation of someone’s character or about people on the whole.
- If not for a converted 4th down, 2 yard Touchdown Free Agent Squad would have been shut out .
- Carmelo Di Giovanni’s 12 yard strike to Joe Morgese for a TD was a good start for Lionhearts. Unfortunately they couldn’t build on it in their loss.
- The Flamingos v. The Step Bros. tie surprised me.Shane Silversmith scored on a fourth down, leaving a single play for the Flamingos. Unfortunately for the Step Bros, they couldn’t convert for the win.
- Where does the Fringe Episode “There’s Two of Everything” land in the pantheon of great TV episodes?
- Jean-Mathieu Padilla-Trudeau scored a pick 6 on one of his two ints. Great game for the Cavaliers du Rohan defender.
- Went with a clown motif on Calling the Audible to make fun of those whose feelings I’ve offended during the season.
- When Caleb Rodgers plays for the Off-Island boys they are different.
- Victor Davis put up 5:104 1 TD in a losing effort for Team Poland.
- Jonathan Velasco isn’t always on point but when he is, he looks like he can be a division leading QB.
- Giving out awards for art is, and will always be counter intuitive to me.
- Nick Fon scored a TD, had a sack and an interception in his game against Henri Pi Sa Gang. Penetrators are playing well in a packed top end of the division.
- Scott Rhodes of Your GFs Cheer For Us had no issues with the Beer Knights defense.
- Chad Buck of the Spanish Inquisition has 17 touchdowns and 3 interceptions over the last 4 weeks. On aggregate, that’s winning football.
- Incredible Thought: How could someone have a good long term memory but poor short term memory skills? How did they become long term memories if you didn’t remember them in the first place?
Memories, Hallucinations and Observations
Coralcola
I’ve never played Animal Crossing. I’m not opposed to it; I hear it’s excellent. My time is tight as it is and I’m too prone to addiction, so I’ve kept away. That said, Coralcola is actually a reference to Nintendo’s game StarTropics. It was mediocre, but I got really mad at that jerk who borrowed it during Summer Camp and never returned it. My trust was forever broken. If you’re looking to borrow something from me, Summer is officially the season where I lend the least.
Tropic Thunder however have been anything but mediocre. Their last three games have seen them outscore Beer Knights, The Spanish Inquisition (they were handed a forfeit loss unfortunately) and the Stormers. Handling the division’s top talent has been really impressive. Last week’s single point victory was about as dramatic as can be. With the echoes of 5 plays remaining still rattling around the complex, QB Mikael Arseneau connected with Dimitri Melsbach for a 19 yard strike. What followed was a successful two point convert. I love this strategy: always play for the win when down 1 in the regular season. The game itself would end on an interception on third down by Aresneau who saw the drive and the game end 18 yards short for The Stormers in a game that would end 39-38.
The Stormers had some issues with Tropic Thunder last week. They could not prevent completions to Alex Laroche who was responsible for half of his team’s targets. Offensively, the Stormers offense felt like it was operaitng in a sandbox at times as they averaged two yards per play less than Tropic Thunder. The duo of Lucas Nantel and Dave Chretin operated as expected. They were the maine two weapons being used by Alec Richard-Nantel. The Stormers are a strong team and were a bounce away from winning that game. However, the 25% success rate on 3rd down doesn’t put them in position to benefit from said bounces.
Underworld Dreams
We talked about the aptly named FKU as a team that hadn’t played anyone. This is true while not being their fault. They also have a game against Dusters 2.0 which has been rescheduled so they have a smaller sample size than most teams (yes, again not their fault). Still, their matchup against Flag Football Team was certainly FKU’s first chance to prove that they can beat a good team.
After a 4 in out for the Flag Football Team offense, Alejandro Fonte would be intercepted on his first attempt and spirits went from soaring high to basement levels in the blink of an eye. As the ball left Fonte’s hand he surely exclaimed in horror as the pass was intercepted by Adam Lieblein and he celebrated in the endzone despite Fonte’s misgivings. Fonte would have some trouble in this game as he only completed 8 passes and would be intercepted by Lieblein before the night was done. Alejandro Fonte did rally with some work on the ground (he ran for 50 yards and a touchdown). Manny Bizogias also rose to the occasion with a “nice” 69 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Nick Manolopolous was far from perfect for Flag Football team as well. He was intercepted twice by Jake Newman and was haunted by rusher Jason Dankner as well. Adding to Adam Lieblein’s pick 6, Manolopoulos did find Lieblein and Dylan Dayan for scores but with only 90 yards passing on the day, it was a tough outing for the FFT offense. The game was actually tied at 18 3 plays before players were sent packing. Jake Newman’s pick six seemingly rattled the FFT offense as the following two plays would result in bad snap/safeties that would end the game by a score of 26-18 in favor of FKU.
A Suitcase, Lord and a Trunk
This is an obscure headline even by my standards. The first song I learned when I first learned to play guitar was House of the Rising Sun (an Americna folk song popularized by Eric Burton and the Animals in 1964). The lyric reads:
Now the only thing a gamblin’ man ever needs
Is a suitcase, Lord, and a trunk
And the only time a fool like him is satisfied
Is when he’s all stone cold drunk.
So naturally, the team I’m referencing is the Brewers. A 58 year old reference may be the mustiest reference ever made in FPF media. Brewers had a frustrating game last week. Drops and missed tackles reigned supreme but there were two circumstances where Jeffery Lefebvre threw the ball and everyone on the Brewers side of life and decency internally screamed “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo”. This represented only two of the interceptions thrown by Lefebvre. I know it seems like I’m hard on the Brewers QB. The fact is I love Jeff. He is a pleasant and kind person who’s talent I firmly believe in. When I was a struggling division 6 QB there was a period of time where I felt as though I was “so close to turning the corner”. There is literally a change that happens overnight where you go from being close to arriving.
Betway Bandits, conversely, looked to change the narrative as they controlled the game and took advantage of the Brewers mistakes. Betway actually looked more the part of the veteran team despite their inexperience. Not surprisingly Tomas Collichio was Tyler Havlena’s favorite target. He caught all of his 4 targets and two of them would be touchdowns. Colicchio’s interception, combined with Tristan D’Silva’s pair and Julian Pounder’s pick made sure to put away the Brewers by a score of 30-19.
Declarations of Bravado
- Tropic Thunder (5-1): A win over division topping Stormers is eye-popping. TT are building a very imposing resume.
- Thunder Buddies (5-1): Will Power, Kerano Johnson, and Francois Rochette; no need for a new hero each week when they can cram this receiving corps down your throat.
- Glory Boyz (5-1): Spared from an erroneous forfeit. Glory Boyz, have improved over the last 3 weeks while others have faltered. Tristan Koutsoumbas led GB to a win where they controlled the pace from the first whistle.
- FKU (4-1): Beating Flag Football Team helps sway us away from the False King narrative.
- Prime Time (4-1): Carter Condon’s two interceptions pushed Prime Time past The West Island Boys and up these rankings.
- The Stormers (5-1): The slide has more to do with how poorly the Stormers handled late game situations than a tight loss to a very good team.
- 7th Rounders (5-1): I thought the score would have been more disparate but instead, we saw a very good defensive performance led by Thomas Ste.Marie’s 2 interceptions (one of which went for six).
- Tune Squad (4-2): Garner Ross’ 40 bomb to Charles Presser set the team up for success. They stopped AJ Zeppetelli on his last play, 4th down run to hold on for the win. Ben Arnovitz gets all the credit for the clutch tackle.
- The West Island Boys (4-1): Nick Richard struggled mightily in their last game against Prime Time. We took notice, but this was a tough outing against a good team.
- The Spanish Inquisition (5-2): Mederic Lauzon scored a hat trick of receiving TDs and added one on defense in a blowout win. The previous statement was a fact. Y’a Heard with Perd.
Peeze’s Playbook
Play Name: 12 Yard Hooks
This play is deadly. It isn’t commonly called in FPF but it destroys all zone coverages, allows your offense to get chunks of yards at a time and it is easy to read. It can work against man, but it becomes a single read play and needs to be read quickly.
Call in the Huddle (play can be reversed): Hook at 12, Hook at 12, strong side speed out to the sideline, skinny post, short hook.
How to execute the play: The first read needs to be the post. If it’s 1-5 defense or if it’s man, the ball HAS to go to the post. Often, this can be the easiest deep TD you can throw. If you see 4-1, any version ov cover 3 or 2-4, the read becomes the 12 yard hooks. Essentially if the 2 is dropping the wide receiver should have the sideline 12 yard hook fully available. If the team plays really soft and drifts, the snapper should be an easy completion. If the 2 defender jumps the snapper (like on 4-1) the slot 12 yard hook is wide open. If there’s a team that bites on the QB’s strong side and follows his eyes, the back side short hook may be completely abandoned by the defense. Run this play, gain a ton of yards, watch your receivers put up ridiculous numbers!
Visions of the World of Tomorrow
The thing I like most about making picks is that even though the construct is that I can only choose one of the two teams presented, it will certainly upset the teams I don’t select. My picks are in bold as always because I do like to be bold.
Saturday’s Sippin’ Slimeys
For those who have any thoughts, commentary or complaints, I am very easy to find. I’m @peezehss on twitter, @pdellarocca and Peeze Della Reeze on facebook. You can also take a chance by emailing me at [email protected] but I don’t check it because it’s a death trap of junk emails all trying to sell Fender Stratocaster replacement parts and UNC baby blue shorts. I really need to use incognito mode.
Folks, if your team is struggling, Eagle, Moe, (any of the media guys really), and I love talking flag. Let us know how we can help, let us know if you have any questions. Hey, even if you have some incredible thoughts, I’m always down for an ethereal descent into introspection.
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Till next week, I want to thank you falettineme be mice elf agin!