Peeze’s Playbook (Div D) – Season Preview

Peeze’s Playbook (Div.D)- Season Preview

Paolo Della Rocca

This season, FPF has decided to, yet again, push the boundries. Every season we see our league becoming more and more successful and yet we never rest comfortably on our laurels. With each passing season it seems as though we consider the success and find new ways to challenge ourselves. The idea this season was to expand media coverage, and produce articles on a more frequent basis.

When President Robert Campana first suggested the idea of submitting three, shorter, blog-type articles rather than one long one each week, I must admit I was a little hesitant. Being normally open to the idea of change I took some time to think about this concept. I realized it was an opportunity to connect with the FPF community more regularly. Being as involved as I am on Twitter (follow me @PeezeFPF) and the Facebook wall, this give me another means to reach out to our players and fans more frequently then in the past. It is in fact an exciting new era in Flag Plus Football.

Peeze’s Preview

As we have now divided our articles into multiple weekly entries, I decided that it may be a good idea to explain some of the new, soon to be, recurring segments. Moreover, as Division D still serves as an introductory level for many new teams I thought it might be a good idea to go over some of the returning segments as well.

Thursday’s Article

-Recap of Wednesday’s Games

-Reflections, Rants and Ravings

-Power Rankings (based on the previous week of action)

Weekend Article

-Recap of Thursday’s Games

-Tuesday’s Headlines

-5 plays till halftime

Tuesday’s Article

-Recap of Sunday’s Games

-Fantasy Update

-Predictions

*all of these segments are subject to change as I often don’t remember what I did the previous week. There are also ‘seasonal segments’ that come around in the times of the season where they seem more appropriate (playoff brackets, mid-season breakdowns, all-star nominee’s, the Peeze Awards, etc.) Also, if you have ideas regarding what you would like to see in my article please feel free to contact me.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to My Segments

Recap: Put simply, this is the segment where I will go over some of the games from the previous day. It’s like Sports Centre but without the benefit of replay. I will try as much as possible to cover as many teams as possible as well as focus on key games as they occur. I try to watch as many games as possible as I prefer to write about what I’ve seen. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I can not appear in more than one location at a time I may miss a few (stupid physics).
Reflections, Rants and Ravings: This is a returning segment from last season. This where I give shout outs, bestow call-outs and go off on whatever tangent seems partially relevant on any given week. At times I may seem to lose focus, but trust me it all ties together in the end. Just remember…are those peanuts?
Power Rankings: This is where I take a look at the division on the whole and decide who I think are masters of their domain. I’m often wrong about this so in the end it truly means nothing.
Tuesday’s Headlines Today: Given the games that remain on any given week, I’m going to use this segment to go into a little bit of analysis and break down my predictions for these games further. I’m going to talk about why I thought that the games would shake out as I thought they would and if the game ends as I expect it to I will use these headlines in Tuesday’s Article. If not I will probably ‘Google translate’ Justin Blanchard’s headlines.
5 plays Till Half Time-This segment is one that I used during the Calling the Audible last season. Each week The Eagle at Master Control will send me five quick fire questions and I will do my best to answer them with the lease amount of forethought possible. This will allow me to think talk about a wider variety of topics rather than just cover games and performances.
Fantasy Update- A true Battle Royale of FPF media members: I will square off against reigning champion The Eagle at Master Control, reigning cellar-dweller Simon Dagenais, as well as fellow contenders: GM Koletheras, Matt Domon, and Justin Blanchard in the most important championship of the season (other than the FPF trophy, of course).
Predictions- Each week Justin Blanchard and I will engage in a not-so-friendly competition as we pick winners for the upcoming week and fire away countless taunts and insults toward each other. It’s all in good fun until someone loses an eye.

Preseason Power Rankings

Every year, in early May I make time to watch the Kentucky Derby with my Father. We sip on Mint Juleps, which are traditional for this event and settle in to watch 3 hours of analysis and one 2-minute race. It has occurred to me that broadcasters and Horse racing aficionados HAVE TO be making it up. Come on, they’re horses, how can you possibly predict who’s going to win? Truth be told they don’t know more than you or I.

Much is the case with my preseason Power Rankings. There are so many wildcards and unknown commodities in division D so I have based my opinions on some, mostly outdated, information and a series rolled dice. For those who don’t appear on this list, you’ll just hope that the race is on a muddy track and therefore unpredictable. For those ranked 1-10 you’ll need to hope that my series of die tosses did not create alternate and potentially, very dark timelines.

Mongoose- Having won the winter 2012 Division 4 Championship they figure to be the front runners. Should household names like Cederic Nuckle and quarterback Alexandre Gaudet return, then Mongoose could see a lot of success this season.
Lockdown- Lockdown has a core of in-season acquisitions that they picked up last winter that helped their team improve dramatically last season. They have also added FPF veteran Bryan Mongeau to the fold. Despite the horrendous postseason loss to TCO, Lockdown will probably settle atop the division once the season comes to an end.
Checkmate- It is difficult to see where last year’s 10-0 powerhouse will finish after having lost 7 players at the end of last season. Moreover, their first round loss in the playoffs last season did show their solid foundation may have been that of a house of cards. Either way, having added many big name players to the roster, Checkmate can expect to be one of the front-runners once again.
Park X Streets- Billy Seretis and Andreas Dinissopolous are two of the only names most people will recognize from this new version of the PXS. That said, this team still has a ton of experience in FPF and should do some damage.
Les Affreux- Every season they seem to go under the radar. I am putting a stop to it. Les Affreux are always good and they have talent on both sides of the ball; that is a recipe for success in this league (one day we’ll get it posted on www.foodnetwork.ca).
Project Mayhem- At the beginning of every season I watch the movie, Fight Club. As much as I enjoy it, it is entirely for research purposes as with each win they push me to find yet another movie reference to use in my headlines. I wish them success and I wish there was a Fight Club TV show because there are only so many references on could extrapolate from a 90 minute movie.
Black Ice- Despite a first round loss to one of last season’s giant killers (Overthrowners), Black Ice looks to come back as strong as they were last season. Having finished 9-1 in the regular season one could not look past them heading into the spring.
Le Zoo- This is a franchise that has always been puzzling to me. After having gone 3-7 in Division D in the Spring 2011 season, they moved up to Division 4 where they went 7-3. The next spring Season they went 1-9 in division C. Here is hoping this spring will be different for Le Zoo.
Shamrocks- Doug McKernan looks to lead the remnants of last season’s Aces (as well as some key additions), into battle. They were a very strong team last season; I don’t see them falling off at all.
Bearskins- The Bearskins are the newest branch extending from the Incredibles family tree. They struggled for much of last season before coming on strong to end the season. The acquisitions from the Pap’N’Co franchise will only serve to make them stronger.

Predictions

Typically, this segment of my article will appear on the Tuesday edition of Peeze’s Playbook, but since the season starts before then, I’ve decided to list my picks. Last season I went to war with an adversary that proved to be quite formidable. Simon Dagenais seemed akin to a prophet in many Sci Fi settings. While he lacked the skill of his opponents in other realms of competition (most notably the fantasy league), he proved to be omniscient when it came to predicting games as he beat me 10 weeks in a row.

This season I face off against Justin Blanchard. Justin looks to also be a worthy foe. However, he has no idea what he’s up against. I will be at the fields, doing research and keeping my mind limber by filling out many crosswords, Sudoku pages and reading the Dilbert Comic strip. This season, I will reclaim my once self proclaimed throne of predictions. When you play this game of thrones, you win or you pick up the drink tab.

Just as last season my picks are in bold. Please note as I always expect my own team to win, I will not be picking any Checkmate games this season. I will let Justin make the mistake of picking against us.

Lockdown vs. Big Blue Wrecking Crew

Wheel of Fish vs. Limetime

Blue Mountain State vs. Black Ice

Jaggerbomb vs. Park X Streets

Les Affreux vs. Bearskins

Black Mambas vs. Gotham Knights

Project Mayhem vs. Playground

Vikings vs. Ghosts

Warriors vs. Underdogs

Le Zoo vs. Ballz Deep

Pardon my Swag vs. Centurions

Speed Demons vs. X-Men

Tyrants vs. Longhorns

Hostile Territory vs. Mongoose

The Wednesday Wrap-up

My first, blog post comes to an end and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. For those who didn’t, no worries another one is coming out in a couple of days (I’ve got to say, I’m loving this format!). Until then, let me know what you think by emailing me at [email protected] or by Tweeting me @PeezeFPF. See you at the fields!