The War Room (D3) – Week 2

Although it is a general rule of mine to segregate current events from my coverage of this glorious league, I do think we all need to take pause and think of the many families which are suffering due to the disaster in Haiti. We are blessed with so many opportunities and luxuries in this great country and province. It’s times like these where we can give back to those dealing with tragedy and show the global community that we aren’t just selfish westerners. In order to give the league a venue to donate and assist in Haiti relief, I have created the Castleton Challenge (which can be found at the end of this article).

Now that our perspective has slightly been altered, I shall address the many topics which have been surfacing around the league. Last week I asked the players to come up with a suitable system of promotion in order to increase the parity of the divisions and halt all this division dodging. The following suggestions were offered:

– The Franchise system: for new teams registering in this league they must pay a one time fee to “franchise” their name. They can compete in whichever division they see fit in their first season, but if they win, their franchise is forced by the league to go up. If they don’t, they lose their franchise and another team on the waiting list is given the opportunity to buy their way into a division/league. This will deter teams from reformulating under another name in order to dodge the promotion rule. It also allows the teams to build a reputation, a true brand and have more in depth coverage of their roster (due to consistency)

– The Percentage system: A team wins a division, but “cries” to the league that this season will be different because roster has changed so much yada yada yada. The percentage system would dictate that if by the end of regular season this team had 60% of the same roster as the championship team, they would forfeit the right to play in the playoffs. This will deter teams from reformulating the same squads in the lower division, even if they lie to the league and to themselves on who in fact will be playing.

– The grading system: The league monitors QBs and ranks them based on what division they should perform in. The QB can therefore play in multiple divisions as long as he doesn’t drop beneath his FPF grade. This would stop teams from renting out great QB from upper divisions and institute more development for young / inexperienced QB talent.

– The exhibition system: The league plays two weeks of exhibitions games and the divisions are reformulated based on the results of those two weeks. This can be an issue if teams only elect to bring their roster to the real games. However if we institute a rule where teams have to have 75% of their playoff roster available during those games, we could get a better look at which teams are stronger.

Well those were the best suggestions, I received. If you disagree or have your own, please feel free to bring it up on the FlagPlus Facebook Wall.

Week Three also brought forth some great football, some dramatic finishes and some dismal defence. I suggest that most of you try and check out some upper division games in order to learn new base defences and schemes. Next week, I will be inviting upper division talent onto this column in order to breakdown different aspects of their game in order to help your team progress. And who says Rehan is the only man of the people?

Week 2 Power Rankings:

#1 THE U (2-0): They beat DIP and thus retain their status as king of the castle. I’m sure Phil “Eternal Rookie” Ackaoui is in football heaven with his JETS and FPF team playing so well.

#2 Lazy Boys (2-0): Big game this week which will decide your fate in the polls, which I might add, carries little weight and no bowl money. Nevertheless, do your best.

#3 GPK (2-0): This is a prime example of a team which reworked last years kinks and have come out to fire on all cylinders. Now let’s just see if Stagg’s arm cools down…

# 4 Souljahs (2-0): Angelo Garofalo was wise in pointing out the toughest grouping of division three was in fact Conference A North. But remember, you can only improve by playing better opponents.

# 5 Ducks (2-0): Anyone who can stick 31 points on the Eagles defence has a great offense. But letting them score so much is troubling…

#6 Sandlot Saints (2-0): This team is the wildcard in division three and has the potential to go undefeated. You heard it here first, and no I’m not willing to put money on it.

# 7 Dirty Birds (2-0): Joe Birds is not happy with the mental lapses on defence, and if there is one person in FPF you don’t piss off… its coach Joe.

# 8 Primetime (2-0): What a win last week! Showed heart and the ability to play in the clutch. FPF’s new edition of the cardiac kids?

# 9 Outlawz: (2-0): Tight game last week, but a win is a win. I expect a better performance in the following weeks in order to move you up in the rankings.

# 10 VR6 (2-0): I really don’t know where to rank this team; it could go either way at this point. But as long as Kevin Challenger is on the field, you have a great chance of winning.

On the Bubble: KGP Champs, DIP, Trojans

Division 3 MVP CHASE:

Each week I will profile who are the top 3 in the lead for this prestigious title and at end of season I will invite the finalists to the show for the presentation ceremony.

1. Rob Robison (VPC): 360yds, 9 TDs 4 Ints, 60 yards rushing on defence 4 Ints, 9 tackles: Simply amazing start to the season, a true force on both sides of the ball.

2. M. Stagg (GPK): 305 yds, 10 tds, 0 Int: A candidate that doesn’t play defence, but makes all the right decisions at the pivotal position. Someone should have cast him in “All the right moves” instead of Tom Cruise.

3. Oliver Saleh (KGP Champs): 124yards, 5 Td’s, and on defence 2 INT’s 2 PD, in my opinion he is the best player in division three that isn’t playing in a higher division. He simply has a great overall knack for getting to the football.

Honourable Mentions: J. Kiraly (Bandits), P. Culter (KGP Champs), T. Kraemer (Sandlot)

Castleton’s Random thoughts of the Week:

1. DIP: First suspension of the season and of course it was handed out to a DIP player, veteran teams should know better than to verbally abuse a ref.

2. Carmine Pollice: Some of us at WEPL/BTH HQ just had a gut feeling that someone couldn’t stay away from the limelight for too long. And alas, guess who shows up week 2?

3. Click Clack: At this point, I’d get out my Startac and call Herm Edwards. ‘Cuz you need a speech on “how you play to win the game!”

4. Conference A North: Some say parity is a good thing (I agree), unless of course, I find myself in a division with three undefeated teams vying for top spot.

5. Warriors: Guess who is joining our division? Yep you guessed it, the mighty warriors of Div 4. And why you ask? Because their roster falls somewhere between the Trojans and the Monarchs of Div 2. Let’s give them all a warm welcome… (editor’s note: FPF is still searching for a D3 team to switch spots with the Warriors in D4, no move can happen until then.)

6. GPK: Often at times, I don’t really pay much attentions to teams that I believe will fizzle. But something tells me this year, GPK is for real. But then again, I was almost knocked out senseless in my Div 2 game last week, so I’ll take that prediction with a grain of salt.

7. Breaking the huddle: I’m currently taking suggestion on topics you would like to discuss on the show, please feel free to email me at [email protected] and I’ll do my best to incorporate your feedback into the broadcast.

Game of the Week:

#4 Souljahs vs #2 Lazy Boys: This matchup has everything: it’s a divisional matchup, both teams are undefeated and are vying for the top spot in the respective division/conference. A win here would put the team in a great spot come playoff seeding time, a loss could result in spiralling momentum shift. The main stars in this game are: Nathan Thompson (QB) and Paul Lapierre (WR) for the Lazy Boys and Mathieu Dumont (QB) and Didier Dorzile (WR) for Souljahs.

` Prediction: Lazy Boys 27 – Souljahs 18

The Castleton Challenge: I’m challenging the teams of FPF to raise the most money they can for the Haitian cause (which will be donated to UNICEF), and I’ll personally pay for the game of their choice to be recorded and aired on the site as well as invite four members of the team on my show. The money will be collected by myself or Matt Young of Timebombs. If you would prefer to arrange a time to meet me to give the donation, please private message me on FB or email me at [email protected]