Heroism, Expanded Playbooks, And How Not to Go to the Dance

FPF News Week 7

By Paolo Della Rocca

Superman’s career choice bothers me. As I had my morning coffee I watched a show centred on the Man of Steel’s super cousin Super Girl. Shut up, I was born in a time that we would have killed ot have ANY super hero shows. I enjoy this take on the caped wonder. I also believe it positive that young girls have an access point to comic books and a positive fictional role model. That however, is not the topic of this introduction.

Sorry to those who still hold out hope that any of my introductions will be related to flag football. To be honest, if you hadn’t realized it by now, then you got what you deserve. But I digress…

So while my girlfriend remained nestled in our bed on a cold October morning, I sipped my double espresso and watched an episode from Super Girl’s second season. I am bothered by both Kara Danver’s and Clark Kent’s decision to become reporters. Perhaps a job that allowed them to work from home or one that did not require them to have much responsibility would be better suited to those who may need to disappear on a moment’s notice and save a small village from a collapsing bridge or burning building. Perhaps a job with no deadlines would be a better fit. Imagine the pressure of having to get an op-ed piece to your editor while worrying that you may not make it in time to stop a derailing train. Don’t the super cousins have enough responsibility (keeping us all safe from harm). Santa Claus doesn’t offer to drive drunk drivers home on Christmas Eve. I wonder if his sleigh would be approved by Uber

Now I can understand not wanting to have Kara Danvers holding a menial job while acting as Super Girl on the side. There are enough women in Hollywood’s portrayal of the real world that I wouldn’t suggest more of that. However, she could have been a consultant of some sort, or a writer working on the next great American novel, a computer program at a firm with flex-time or any variety of jobs where people won’t expect you to be in a set place at a set time.

I guess, back when these characters were conceived, backstories weren’t as prevalent and being a reporter would land our heroes in the thick of the action. Except…. Reporters usually get to crime scenese much later, if ever. They don’t choose their own assignments. Moreover, they have to spend time agonizing over their work in hopes of appreciation from a partially captive and partially growing readership (thank you guys incidentally).

I don’t think they will change the backstories for these legendary characters. So, I guess all we can do is admire her for her hard work and appreciate how hard it is to get it all done. Thank you Super Girl!

Optimus Harripersaud

Prime Time is a team I have been excited about since they’ve started playing in FPF. Stephen Harripersaud is a very good play caller and the team is well built for his skill set. While he doesn’t have the strongest arm, receviers like Josh Levine, Shyanne Stewart and others make great plays on balls and can turn any pass into a big play. Matched up against a weaker Blacksox team, Stephen Harripersaud got his entire team involved and used it as an opportunity to tune up his team and practice concepts.

In speaking to Bryan Pereira of the Blacksox, he reminded me that this was a war and not a battle. The Blacksox themselves are using each game as a tune up as they gear up for a final round. The Blacksox have spun the QB carousel one more time and Frank Colatrella took his turn at the pivot. Unfortunately he could not protect the ball and he threw 3 interceptions in this game. Bryan Pereira contributed well on offense as he caught 4 passes and led the team in receiving yards. Mario Falato did convert one of his two catches into touchdowns in a 31-6 loss to Prime Time.

Unlocked

Oufffffffff that was a cheesy heading.

Keyport Lock ended the Bearskins winless streak in week 6. Not only did I expect Rosenblatt and co. to win this one handily, I never would have thought that Keyport Lock would lose a game where they intercepted Neil Etinson 4 times. Having trailed vitrtually the entire game, Keyport Lock would end up bowing out after a final score of 19-18. Jeff Rosenblatt played ok in that he threw 3 touchdowns to his 1 interception and he completed nearly 60% of his passes. However, with all the extra possessions, this meant that Keyport Lock scored on less than half of their possesions. Adam rockman did score twice and record two interceptions in a losing effort. My issue for a while with Keyport has been that they live to take the ugliest person to the ball. Sure you get to the dance, but there’s a good chance that someone may turn the lights on.

The Bearskins, flipped the light switch on this week. They did bring soon to be hall of famer Vince Nardone who’s impact was felt. Nardone caught 5 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Yet Neil Etinson’s running touchdown and only conversion of the game (for either team) may have just been enough for the Bearskins to win this game. Kyle Britton paced a defense that forced many turnover on downs with his 2 interceptions. These empty drives allowed the Bearskins to get away with this one. Now with a win in their pocket, let’s see how they can build on this.

Impressed / Disappointed

Simon

Impressed

Disappointed

· KGP Ra faced a team we could, arguably, say were their own strength and dropped 51 points in a 20 point victory. If this isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is. Oh, and last week’s offensive leader was held catchless so not only can they put up big numbers, but they’ve got the depth to back it up too.

· #NR look like an unstoppable machine in their respective pool and I don’t think any of the teams they are facing in the Qualifiers can shut down them this season. An impressive turn around after a disastrous preliminary round.

· With only one loss (in the Preliminary, without their starting QB), Mean Machine has looked like a top contender in their respective Tier this season. Taking down the previously undefeated Voodoo this week, they’re really carving up a name for themselves as the season progresses.

· Trigger Happy Bunnies had a few good wins to start the season and got us all hyped about how good they could truly be this season, but ever since that one lost to Greendale Human Being in the Preliminary, the team hasn’t looked the same and they simply can’t seem to hit the ground running. Can they turn things around before it’s too late? Is the competition too steep?

· Warriors were featured on the Game of the Week this week and Michael Solimene’s performance was far below the standard he’s set for himself over the recent seasons. Their offence barely got anything done and they looked nothing like the contender they usually are.

· Sons of Mitches made a change at QB hoping they’d be able to jump start their offence once again and try something new, but it went from bad to worse real quick as they simply couldn’t move the chains and ended up punting more often than not. Their defence gave them a handful of opportunities to shine, but they simply did not.

Peeze

Impressed

Disappointed

· Farmers are dominating their pool and have scored 40 points in their last two games. Simon Viens has returned to last season’s impressive form. He has 6 Touchdowns during that time and the Farmers offense seems to be back on track during this qualifying round.

· I have picked against Mean Machine virtually every week, I have been wrong. Beating a talented and experienced Voodoo team. Benji Zeigler’s 2 interceptions led a ball hawking defense to a 33-25 win.

· Shortly after the Diablos win, I got a text about the result from QB Francois Martin. He seemed very happy about the result and I was happy for the team that I expected to be the weakest in the Sarwar Pool. They did come one point from being ignored into obscurity, nonetheless, they are on a roll after two wins as underdogs.

· Lockdown was a team I expected to let me down with Voodoo and All Hooks on the docket. I did expect this team to put up a greater fight. I can appreciate that Maxime Chateuneuf was not present for this game and Alex D’Aquila had to rush the most mobile QB in Teir 2. Still, I would have expected that experienced quarterback Pat Riot would have better managed this game.

· Keyport Lock had the best possible situation heading into a game against the Bearskins. The Bearskins have been reeling and have underperformed throughout the cup season, they are coming off of a huge win against A-Squad and they intercepted Neil Etinson 4 times and still managed to lose in a close game. I can’t recall the last time a Jeff Rosenblatt led team had such a difficulty scoring. Keyport Lock will be better…I hope.

· Friends in Low Places played the easiest game in their pool and lost by three scores. FILP was unable to stop Phil Cutler in a game where he was nearly perfect. They allowed 8 touchdowns in a game and Danny D’Amour could not keep pace. I expected a similar score but I didn’t expect it to be in the favor of KGP RA.

Francois

Impresssed

Disappointed

· FPF All-Stars: C’est difficile de placer des équipes de leur calibre dans les équipes qui impressionnent, car ils sont favoris à chacun de leur match. Ceci dit, entre Dk, Fine Wine et Fpf All Stars, c’est ces derniers qui jouet avec le plus d’aplomb. Ils ont tout simplement écrasé chacun de leur adversaire par au moins 30 points. Je les vois très bien remporter les honneurs du tournoi.

· Mean Machine: La semaine dernière ils ont réussi a battre une équipe d’une division plus haute. Mean Machine joue avec hargne depuis le début du deuxième tour. Je suis sûr qu’ils veulent montrer qu’ils auraient dû être dans le meilleur groupe si ça n’avait pas été de l’absence de leur quart, Daniel Goloff, contre X-Men.

· Los Banditos: À part leur premier match de la saison, leur attaque marche à plein régime. Ils sont présentement sur une séquence de 3 victoires convaincantes. Ils ont une défensive capable de redonner le ballon à leur attaque rapidement. Ils sont au sommet de leur groupe et ils pourraient bien y rester.

· A-Squad: Ils étaient sur une séquence de 0-4 avant leur affrontement contre Smoking Axolotls. A-Squad était favori dans cette partie et ils n’ont pas pu faire mieux qu’une égalité. C’était pourtant leur plus faible adversaire de la saison. L’équipe ne joue pas mal en soi, mais on dirait qu’ils en ont juste pas assez pour gagner. Ils pourraient finir le tournoi sans victoire.

· Lightweight: Lors de leurs matches 2 et 3 du tournoi, cette équipe m’impressionnait. Depuis, ils ont perdu leurs 2 matchs contre des adversaires de leur niveau ou plus faibles. De plus, l’équipe semble manquer de constance par unité. Des fois l’attaque manque de mordant et des fois, comme cette semaine, c’est leur défense qui se fait passer sur le corps.

· Trigger Happy Bunnies: Rien ne va plus pour cette équipe. Ils ont bien paru contre des adversaires plus faibles en début de tournoi, mais là ils ont beaucoup de difficulté. Leur attaque et leur défense jouent nettement en dessous de leur capacité. Ils devraient être dans le haut du classement avec tout le talent qu’ils ont.

Games of the Week

By Francois Martin

Pour commencer, je dois avouer que je tire de la patte depuis deux semaines. Il n’y a pas si longtemps j’avais une bonne avance sur mes deux collègues. Maintenant, c’est Peeze qui se retrouve avec une bonne avance. Simon rattrape enfin quelqu’un après un début de saison médiocre. Le dernier droit de la saison sera très déterminant pour connaître le gagnant parmi nous trois.

Francois

Tier 1 : 5-4 Tier 2 : 4-6 Pour un total de 54-29 (65.1%) après 5 semaines

Simon

Tier 1 : 8-1 Tier 2 : 6-4 Pour un total de 54-29 (65.1%) après 5 semaines

Peeze

Tier 1 : 6-4 Tier 2 : 7-3 Pour un total de 59-29 (67%) après 5 semaines

Lors de la ronde de qualification, nos prédictions sont sur le résultat des matchs.

Tier 1

Home	Away	François	Simon	Peeze
Braves	FPF All-Stars	Fpf All Stars	Fpf All Stars	FPF All Stars
A-Squad	The Commission	The Commission	The Commission	The Comission
Top Gun	Dk	Dk	Dk	DK
Dans and Tam	Diablos	——————-	Dans and Tam	Dans and Tam
Dad Bods	Friends in Low Places	Dad Bods	Dad Bods	Dad Bods
Smokin Axolotls	Keyport Lock	Keyport Lock	Keyport Lock	Keyport Lock
Fine Wine	Urgence Medic	Fine Wine	Fine Wine	Fine Wine
Top Secret	Bearskins	Bearskins	Bearskins	Top Secret
Freshii Superfoods	KGP Ra	Freshii Superfoods	Freshii Superfoods	Freshii Superfoods
Ligthweight	#NR	#NR	——————	#NR

Tier 2

Home	Away	François	Simon	Peeze
Bruins	Sunday Touch Boys	Sunday Touch Boys	Sunday Touch Boys	Sunday Touch Boys
Warriors	Happy Trigger Bunnies	Warriors	THB	Warriors
Hold My Beer	All Hooks	All Hooks	All Hooks	All Hooks
X-Men	Lockdown	X-men	X-men	X-Men
Sons of Mitches	North Shore Finners	North Shore Finners	North Shore Finners	North Shore Finners
Prime Time	Los Banditos	Los Banditos	Los Banditos	Prime Time
Dawson Caf’s finest	Farmers	Farmers	Farmers	Farmers
Blacksox	Ducks	Ducks	Ducks	Ducks
Greendale Human Being	Voodoo	Greendale Human Being	Voodoo	Voodoo
Mean Machine	No name	Mean Machine	Mean Machine	Mean Machine

FPF Daily Fantasy

Peeze’s Top Performers: Charles Olivier Lavigne (41.7 points), Pat Jerome (24.6 points), Travis Moses (32.6 points)

Simon’s Top Performers: Corey Pecker (42.5 points), Myles Keiller (15 points), Anthony Vendrame (30 points)

Francois’ Top Performers : Kevin Wyeth (48.3 points), Etienne Vaillancourt (30 points), Pat Lindor (17.8 points)

This was a tough week for me. I guess there is some solace in knowing that I lost to simon by only .6 points and I did score 135.3 points. Simon won the week and ended my streak by scoring 135.9 points . Meanwhile, I have concerns of the sanity of Francois Martin. What are you doing bro? 116.9 points, are you serious?

I did get a text shortly after the #NR win from Travis Moses. He said, “I seen, you pick me in fantasy so I had to produce”. His three TDs were production and more. Sadly, for me it wasn’t enough to get beyond my colleagues. I appreciate the work Trav!

Peeze’s Divine Interception

	Players (Team)	Rating
QB	Gianni Settino (Freshii Superfoods)	84.4
WR	Domenic Benevento (The Comission)	73.7
WR	Theo Ojeaha (Fine Wine)	95.4
WR	AJ Gomes – Warriors	73.1
DB	Yoni Loeub (Ducks)	55.0
Rusher	Phil de Kovachich (Geendale Human Beings)	76.3
Flex	Vincent Benjamin (Los Banditos)	55.0
Total		512.9

Francois’ Bad Read Bears

Positions	Choix	Équipes	Caps +/- Spread
Qb	Pat Riot	LockDown	66.1
Rec 1	Jean-Félix Dalooze	Lightweight	74.5
Rec 2	Alex David	Lockdown	75
Rec 3	Jared Buck	Friends in low places	62
DB 1	Nicolas Lefebvre	Farmers	63.7
Rusher	Phil de Kovachich	Greendale Human Being	76.3
Flex	AJ Gomez	Warriors	73.1
Total			540.6

Simon’s Grenaders

	Players (Team)	Rating
QB	Rochdi Benabdelkader – DK	94.6
WR	Adam Rockman – Keyport Lock	77.2
WR	Etienne Vaillancourt – Voodoo	70.3
WR	AJ Gomes – Warriors	73.1
DB	Jordan McLaren – Fine Wine	95.5
Rusher	Derek Sigler – Mean Machine	69.1
Flex	Jean-Daniel Joly – Trigger Happy Bunnies	71.9
Total		551.7

Fantasy Rules and Scoring

Each week, Simon, Francois and I will select a quarterback, 3 wide receivers, a rusher a defensive back (where only their defensive points will count) and a flex player who’s offensive and defensive contributions will count. Players weekly price will be determined by their cap hit +/- the spread in their games. Moreover, we cannot exceed a cost of 560 points.

This is a PPR league (Points Per Reception league) so, snappers you will not be neglected. The scoring breaks down as follows:

Quarterbacks: 1 point per 15 yards passing, 3 points per passing td, 1 point per 5 yards rushing, 5 points per rushing TD. -2 points will be deducted per interception and -1 point will be deducted per sack.

Wide Receivers: 1 point per catch, 1 point per 5 yards receiving, 5 points per TD

Rusher: 2 points per tackle, 7.5 points per sack, 3 points per PD, 5 Points per TD

DBs: 2 points per tackle, 4 points per interception, 3 points per PD and 5 Points per TD

Monday’s Mystery Manatee

The first week of the qualification round is done and the games have already gotten more interesting. If the stats from your game are erroneous please feel free to contact me @PeezeFPF on Twitter, by emailing me at [email protected] or by messaging me @ Peeze Della Reeze on Facebook. Also, feel free to reach out to let me know what you think of my article, the podcast or any other specific part of our media team output.

For further analysis, tune in to the official FPF podcast “Calling the Audible,” where Simon Dagenais and I discuss Dr.Dre’s sphere of influence, why concussions didn’t exist in the 1990’s and why Anne Frank Halloween costumes are in poor taste.

Tune in to www.youtube.com/flagplus on Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. or download the podcast on iTunes or Podomatic!