In Season Report

An Open Letter to Gino Di Fazio

Dearest Gino, 

I hope this letter finds you well.  It is with great displeasure that I soak my digital plume to draft this correspondence. You have levied a fair many accusations against me and have assailed my character.  I believe these accusations have gone too far.  In a recent correspondence with league president  Robert Campana you compared my apparent actions to your many egregious attempts to cheat.  I have been called many things and some of which I cannot argue. Can I be difficult, arrogant, condescending? Certainly; I can be.  Look at this letter for example.  It’s absolutely pompous. The one insult I cannot entertain, the one insult in which I take the greatest offense, is that we have any similarities in character. 

On the night in question where Kiss My End Zone accidentally violated the cap.  Incidentally, a team for which I am not the captain, Alexi Dubois (who actually is a captain and a former aggrieved teammate of yours…more on this later) reported the violation to the league.  Despite the fact that the play in question was an honest mistake (more on this later) and despite the fact that it had no consequence to the game in question (more on this later) we offered to accept the forfeit if it were deemed necessary by the league. We left ourselves at the mercy of FPF. 

The issue that caused the cap violation was simple.  During the season whenever a second quarterback was needed, Luis Begin would drop back and attempt to complete a pass.  This worked given our team’s construct to start the season and cause no violation at the time.   However, due to the injury to Alex Noel (an injury suffered in the game between Kiss My Endzone and Y&Y), Will Power was brought on as a season long replacement. As I am not the captain of the team I wasn’t aware of the cap ramifications and on the final play of the half, on a drop back play Luis Begin completed an 18 yard pass to Will Power.  This gave no advantage to the team and in the end the game ended in a tie.  By attempting this pass we went over the cap by 2.6 points on a pla that had no bearing on the outcome of the game.  For the record, upon learning of the transgression, I believed it should have been a forfeit. 

If I may digress for a moment, I believe it necessary to inform the public that in league circles, the rule in question is actually referred to as the Gino rule as it was initially created specifically because of the many different times you attempted to bypass the cap to your advantage in the past. 

The difference here is that I broke a rule accidentally. Upon learning about it I had the integrity to ask our captain to alert the league.  In doing so the evidence was weighted and it was determined that no advantage was given.  There are also a few occasions where it was determined that there was precedent and the forfeit would not be enforced.  One such game was in an Expendables game where you, Gino replaced the injured Carmen Pollice and as such your higher QB cap hit violated the division’s cap regulation.  However, as this did not truly violate the spirit of the rule, the Expendables were granted grace. There have been other examples where this application to the “Gino rule” has been forgiven for similar reasons.

I want to once again reiterate that not only did we self-report but offered as a sign of goodwill our willingness to forfeit.  This is an act that in my 10+ years of working for FPF you’ve never done. The transgression was clearly a mistake.  This is different from the many times you specifically looked to violate the rules.  Most recently you attempted to mask the identity of girls you were coaching and brought on a player or players who were ineligible to compete in the playoffs. Not only did you cheat the girls you were coaching out of an opportunity to compete in the finals but you dishonored the title of coach and displayed behavior that I consider to be deplorable and in poor taste.

You also mentioned to Rob that I “talk trash” about you on the podcast. I vehemently disagree. Not only have I been complimentary to your success but also your abilities.  My issues with you are simply that I don’t like you. I do not respect your character and I believe your actions often lack integrity. Anytime I’ve spoken ill it has been because of those actions. I am a voice for the league and an ambassador for Flag Football.  So when I know for a fact that you’ve berated and belittled players in a recreational league as well as while coaching in our junior league, I know with certainty that you benched an 18 year old player in the Winter 2019 finals with no forewarning, I am positive that you have had subs play in the stead of players who paid for the season and I know for a fact that you have taken several liberties with rules and have done so with no respect for the league or regard for the flag football community.

On the other hand, I am being accused of skirting the rules when, I, the butt of many jokes about being the least talented quarterback in the league have risen through the ranks and never once asked for my QB cap to be adjusted.  I am currently playing with a QB flex cap because my captain, as a show of leadership has invited me to play for a team that I love despite being the 4th most talented signal caller on my own roster. Anything I’ve said was in response to your own actions. It is as much the right for players to know about this behavior as it is for residents in a neighborhood to learn of undesirables living in their community.

I’m afraid I cannot accept the insult Gino, you and I are nothing alike.  I shudder at the thought.  You and I both belong to the same FPF Hall of Fame for our contributions to the league but in my time I believe I have done more to grow the sport, represent it well and help others than you can ever dream of. Perhaps, you see it differently, perhaps it is everyone else that’s wrong.  Or maybe it’s just you.  I will grant you your wish however, I see no need to discuss you in FPF media as our discussions about you far outweigh your relevance.  I will continue to cover your team with dignity as I have a vast respect for your wonderful teammates who have the misfortune of playing on your teams.        

Peeze’s Playbook Week 6ish

The midseason report is here.  Man is it gruelling.  For those who don’t know, I actually write three times the amount and then pare it down to the final product. This specific article has a lot of research involved.  However, I decided to include as much narrative based analysis for the midseason breakdown as it will help teams understand each other’s stories and how we all ended up here. 

***important note*** I missed my deadline and while I’ve updated the records, I didn’t want to release my article even later so the analysis remains.  For the most part the analysis is still accurate. I’ve also adjusted the team rankings accordingly.

The Peeze Curve

While I didn’t think this was necessary I think i need to explain how it is that I score my weekly power rankings and how it differs from the mid season report. I am an educator by trade so do note that it is convoluted, unfair and meant to infuriate everyone involved. 

For the weekly power rankings, rank the team’s progress and specifically overreact to the week that was.  The reason for this being that if it were the same as the standings then you could just read the standings. I also take season-long context into consideration but it’s meant to reflect that given week.   So if you beat a team three weeks ago, they may still be ahead of you in the power ranking because in the week that was, they may have had a better performance.

The rankings here are a prediction with regards to how I believe everyone will finish by season’s end. The key players are not the players I like best or who I believe are the best players on the team but rather it is based on their usage and how they are contributing this season.  The letter grade reflects the following scoring system:

A: You’ve blown my expectations away.  I never would have thought the team in question would have performed this well.

B:The team is surpassing the expectations that I placed on them ahead of the season.

C: I was right, and the team is performing exactly as expected

D: The team is underperforming.  Huddles are strained and it feels like post game beers would be awkward and someone needs to explain why they’re touching my leg. I don’t hate it, I just wanna know why.

E: Evil, this team is full of people I consider evil.  I haven’t ever seen a locust but I imagine they come replete with locusts.

F: Your team is really underperforming. This is abject failure.

So essentially, this is based on how the team is performing as compared to preseason thoughts and rankings.  Sometimes you’ll see 2 win teams with an A and other times you might see an undefeated team with a C rating.  Finally, for the remaining records I actually went ahead and predicted games from here to the end of the season.  Why wold this be different than the standings?  BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAVE A STANDINGS PAGE!!!!

1. Braves (4-2): Braves were the prohibitive favorites coming into the season.  However, while still sitting near the top of the division, they didn’t start as dominant as expected. There’s been an injury to JD Chevalier and, furthermore, only Mike Pierrecin and Georges Gariepy have played all 5 games. However, after scoring 163 points in their last 3 games (including a game where Trottier threw in Maheu’s stead).  Still, Braves are still the most dangerous team in the entire tournament. They are rounding into form at the  

Key Players: Jonathan Maheu, Mike Pierrecin, Georges Gariepy

Grade: B+

Predicted Record: 7-1

2. Blessed (5-0-1): They’ve certainly made strides. I know that this isn’t exactly division 2 (where Harripersaud and co struggled a great deal) but this very talented core has adapted quickly.  One of the notable injuries coming into the season was Terry Bablis however, Isaiah Allard has filled in at rusher and between his 7 sacks and 7 PDs shows how impactful the giant future hall of famer has been this season. Everytime I see signal caller Stephen Harripersaud 

Key Players: Stephen Harripersaud, Marvin Stienberg, William Power

Grade: A

Predicted Record: 6-1-1 

3. Kangaroos (4-1-0): Kangaroos were one of the teams I had the most difficulty ranking. They are scoring a ton of points and I love how the duo of Phil Pharand and AJ Gomes fit Dan Lazzara’s offense and additional pieces like Jesse Dupuis and Jeanslee Alexis really do add dimension to an already stellar squad.  Their loss to Blessed was surprising and it explains their ranking here.  However, they do round off the top group of teams in this tier. They are third here but I think of the top three teams as somewhat interchangeable and I would not be surprised to see Kangaroos put a trophy in their baby pouch at the end of the season. If they do, here’s hoping they use lysol wipes because the smell of dried Kangaroo milk is something that hangs thick in the air. It has a musk. 

Key Players: Dan Lazarra, AJ Gomes, Phil Pharand

Grade: B+

Predicted Record:  6-2

4. KGP (2-4): KGP has puzzled me for a sling as I’ve worked for the media.  On one hand their success can be correlated to them benefitting from good matchups and suffering against harder ones. However, a closer examination says, nope; it’s all over the map.  Just avoid all KGP props. Despite beating the Braves and hanging in tough against Blessed we also saw them struggle against EZW and Run it Once in two loses against teams I thought were in a similar tier as KGP. This likely stems from KGP’s struggle to get stops other than interceptions by Khalil Kerr, Phil Cutler and Jonathan Garfinkle the defense has not been what I expected as KGP’s season rounds into form.

Key Players:

Grade: 

Predicted Record: 

5. STL (2-4-1): STL’s return has been about what was expected. There are moments of glory and others where they’ve struggled.  Jamie Ojeaha and his brother Theo who’s returned to FPF with a thicker frame have been great. However, the rise of Rocco Christiano is here.  He’s the only receiver with double digit touchdowns on this team and he has as many touchdowns as the Ojeahas and Paul Lapierre combined. Still the output has lacked consistency. While we expected a hard night out against Braves, STL also took a loss to #NR with Travis Moses at quarterback.  A lot of these rankings are difficult to discern in Tier 1 as the teams have mixed results against each other but STL is as much of a head scratcher at times as it gets.  

Key Players: Rocco Chritstiano, Dylan taylor, Theo Ojeaha

Grade: B-

Predicted Record: 2-5-1

6. EZW (1-4-1): Jeremy White will tell you that his success is due in large part to his receivers and any failings ar ehis own.  That’s great QB robo-speak but also it’s the falsest of modesties.  His career 5.32:1 TD to interception rate is very strong.  This is usually our predictor for higher division success.  The success in the top division has not yet been there but there’s indicators that White’s EZW squad is on the rise. Their matchup based approach that typically has one of their many stars (if you’re not yet familiar with Etienne Laurence Gervais, Jean Christophe Ferland or CO Lavigne, that’s on you).  The team is deep and athletic. Their defense has steadily improved and they took a three point loss to Blessed before eeking out a 3 point win over KGP in battles against established franchises.

Key Players: Jeremy White, Etienne Laurence Gervais, JC Ferland

Grade:  C+

Predicted Record: 2-5-1

7. Run it Once (1-4-1): Run it once’s offense is starting to worry me. They are ranked near the bottom of the division in a lot of offensive categories.  I’m not quite as worried about STL who actually rank below them in points scored/game.  The reason for this is as constructed Run it Once need to score points to survive. I love the way Jeff Rosenblatt has built a system around his strengths and that the team is composed of established FPF vets and young up and coming athletes.  However, they’ve only allowed less than 40 points once (in the most recent game where they tied STL 38-38).  Sure, the defense hasn’t held up their end of the deal but the offensive inefficiency has not helped matters and thus, both sides of the ball have applied pressure to the other.  

Key Players: James Drysdale, Jeff Rosenblatt, Anthony Brisebois

Grade:  C-

Predicted Record: 2-5-1

8. #NR (1-3): Four games into the season #NR have had 11 different players suit up to play. This is not a recipe for success in FPF.  Part of this is related to the injury suffered by Kendal Mayers early in the season.  However, there was also a retreat planned by several members of the team that led to some roster inconsistency.  In essence, I just don’t know enough about the team at full strength to give them an accurate rating.  To add to the weirdness the team hasn’t won with Adam Sinagra at quarterback but earned a 33-26 win over STL. 

Key Players: Travis Marshall Moses, Kenny Baye, Adam Sinagra

Grade: D

Predicted Record: 2-6

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 me giant fire pits and enormous steaks 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.

Remember that each week you can join the party on our Facebook page or at www.youtube.com/flagplus on our weekly podcast: Calling the Audible.  The show is released every Friday morning. 

Till next week, I want to thank you falettineme be mice elf agin!