You can still see how strong the Wolves are. But playing against them without a QB and no adapted PB is just sad. I always loved our matches as they were close. Sometimes he beat my ass badly. Goodbye Superpippo

RL Week 2 Headlines
Team of the Week: Constanta Sailors
Marinarul has his team ready facing three tough teams right off the bat. The Constanta Sailors followed up their impressive Week 1 performance with two more big wins in Week 2, a 17-16 nail-biter over the Rainbow Warriors and a 55-7 thumping over divisional rival Växjö Gladiators AFC. In winning these games, the Sailors proved they are capable of winning high-scoring affairs, but also have the toughness to grind out defensive battles. And it doesn't hurt to have a little luck, either. The Rainbow Warrior game famously ended on a long missed FG in the closing seconds, but the game might have been won earlier in the fourth quarter. With about 6:30 remaining, and holding a 17-13 lead, the Sailors defense was backed up inside their own 10 yard line with the Warriors having a first and goal. The Warriors stalled out on the 3 yard line and settled for the FG to make it 17-16 setting up the unfortunate ending for ashlee's team.

Team of the Week Part II: Paris Rioters
After coming up short in his season opener, Browka's re-booted franchise walked a way with a pair of wins besting The Beast, 19-12 and the Devon Warriors, 23-15. It took a wild 4th Qtr for the Rioters to get the first win of the season, as Browka's team was behind 12-3. But with a little help from some OIIIO miscues, the Rioters kept chipping away one FG at a time. With the score 12-6, The Beast missed a long FG attempt, which flipped the field giving the Rioters a couple of chances with good field position. Another FG later, The Beast took a gamble going for it on a 4th and 1 on his own 32 just to get stuffed by the Rioters' defense setting up the game-tying FG with about 2:30 remaining. Then the Rioters created a turnover on the next drive and had the ball with 35 seconds remaining on The Beast's 21 yard line. Curiously, Browka kept his offense on the field instead of going for the game-winning FG. But has the final seconds ticked off, TE Bilal Fievet was finishing off a 24yd TD pass from QB Michaël Julien for the win.

Game of the Week, Michigan State Spartans 35, Schrodingers Cats 31
In arguably the most entertaining game of the season so far, the MSU Spartans won in a shoot out against the Schrodingers Cats. In a game when defensive highlights were few and far between, it was a pair of defensive plays in the 2nd Qtr that likely swayed the game in MSU's favor. First, with Dolfin driving into MSU territory, LB Tahir Sleiman came up with an INT and a big return to get the Spartans back in Cats territory leading to a TD a few plays later. Then as time was expiring in the first half, Dolfin had the ball inside the 10 yard line and took one shot at a TD only to get stuffed one yard short of the end zone and taking a FG on the next play making the score MSU 21-10 instead of 21-14 at the half. Each of the three 3rd Qtr possessions were long TD marches, two for the Cats and one for the Spartans to make it MSU 28-24 entering the 4th Qtr. State had the first 4th Qtr possession and took it to midfield, where facing a 4th and 4, unsuccessfully went for it giving momentum back to the Cats. They took advantage and their first (and only) lead of the game, 31-28. But the Spartans rallied on the next drive, moving the ball almost at will to take the lead back 35-31. Both teams punted on the next two drives, but a long punt return gave the Cats the ball on the Spartan 38 yard line with just 3:20 remaining. But the Spartans defense stepped it up one more time producing a sack on first down and a pair of incomplete passes to get the ball back and milk out the rest of the clock.

Other RL Week 2 Highlights
The clock continues to count down on the Wasteland Wolves franchise. The team rallied for another victory with an OT win over the Bratislava Ravens 26-23 in what looks like could be the final win for Superpippo.

The NY Revolvers denied Bern Marcupilamis their first SD 1 win, rallying in the 4th Qtr to win 28-24. Down 17-10, the Revolvers started the 4th Qtr off with a safety and took the ensuing drive the distance to go up 19-17. Marcupilamis took the lead back, 24-19, with a pick 6 by CB Benedikt Soltzener midway through the quarter. With just under 4 min left, the Revolvers added a FG making it a one-score game, 24-22. Two plays later, an INT by CB Shane Hogan set up the game-winning TD with about 2 minutes left. But the Marcupilamis made the Revolvers sweat out the ending, as they moved the ball to the Revolver 30 yd line before time expired.

In what could have been a missed opportunity to get into the win column, the SH Cougars went for the TD instead the game tying FG against a curiously struggling Naprzód Marsz! team. Down 30-27, the Bitkick's Cougars had the ball 1st and 10 on Grzymisław's 20 yard line with only 7 seconds remaining. Instead of attempting the FG or even throwing for the endzone, the Cougars looked to catch the opponent off balance and tried to run the 20 yards but came up 14 short to seal their own fate, 30-27. Falling to 1-2 after the two-loss week (including a disappointing and very dull 12-9 loss to the Konjarnik HighTowers), it is looking like another season of underachieving for a very talented Grzymisław team.

Thank you Doc. This his fun to read. Well served and written.

Big congrats once again to Doc and Raven. Both have gone 3-0 in Elite, closely followed by Shanny at 2-1. Jonny will watch from the sidelines Tuesday as Doc will challenge Shanny and Raven will try to protect his perfect record against 2-1 team Secret Air Service.

Glad you like. I enjoy doing it, plus it helps me keep tabs on the league for when I return. Looking forward to Tuesday's showdown, but I'm not expecting to walk away 4-0.

Superpippo went bot.

Farewell, my frienemy. May you find peace in RL.

A first look at the season division by division :

AC East
With Superpippo out the formerly toughest division in the region is looking like a fix for the Michigan State Spartans. Sure one never should underestimate Marsz! but they have already lost two matches they should not have lost and I bet that the young Spartan team will continue to improve throughout the season. Nigerian Mafia will soon pass the wolves and avid relegation to be able to continue the adventure and become a fixture in our league.

Player of the division :Takashi Okui, age 21
3rd in passing
2nd in passing TDs

Other decisive players :

Spartans Sacking Threats : 21 sacks in 3 matches say it all. These guys put a huge pressure n each offense.

Lance Foster : The Spartans feature exceptional talent on almost every position. This RB is a real weapon providing the Spartans offense with an additional option to their spectacular passing game. 2nd in rushing yards and 4th in rushing TDs.

AC North :
The most balanced and hence most interesting division of our league. Everything can happen here. Before the start of the season my bets would have been on Schrodinger Cats after winning the division for consecutive three times. After destroying Marsz! in their first match of the season Gdansk Redskins are certainly at the same level. The surprise of the season could be Bratislava Ravens. They only lost to the Wolves by three merger points and demolished the fourth contender in the division, Paris Rioters. Behind the newbie is one of the best managers the SeaDevils ever had. And Browka already showed his talent by winning two matches.
Let's have a look at the most difficult matches outside the division :
Bratislava Ravens, 2-1, 63,6
Idrosburghi Verona, Dalton Catamounts, Michigan State Spartans
Paris Rioters 2-1, 50,7
Michigan State Spartans, Marife-Lacion, Idrosburghi Verona, Dalton Catamounts, Naprzód Marsz!
Gdansk Redskins 1-2, 71,0
Konjarnik HighTowers, Constanta Sailors, Michigan State Spartans
Schrodingers Cats 1-2, 70,8
Naprzód Marsz!, Växjö Gladiators AFC, Dalton Catamounts, Idrosburghi Verona

In my opinion, Paris is not there yet and will likely finish last. But they will still win some matches and stay far away from relegation. Between the other three it is tough to decide. My best bet is that the Cats will prevail but it is going to be a close call.

Decisive players :

Charlie Proctor - the 27 year old Cats QB is second in passing and 4th in pass TDs. But he also had the benefit of playing a BOT team. On the other hand the has been sacked 8 times.

Redskins Pass Defense : Having the 4th best pass defence after playing Dalton and Verona is really impressive. If they keep up their game the Redskip pass defence could be the deciding factor of this division

Ravens Rush Offense : After 3 matches RZA says the Ravens have the best rushing offense of the league.

AC South

Surely newbie Houston Pirates could not have gotten a tougher division for his debut season in the league. Manager khawhi has apparently already given up on trying as his last login is pointing towards him going BOT soon enough. Växjö Gladiators is a team that could make the playoffs in many divisions. But former Elite teams Marife-Lacion and Constanta Sailors are as tough as could be. After the opening win against the Spanish adversary our Canadian team seem to be a strong favourite to go for the Conference Championships. The Sailors also destroyed Växjö and look more solid than ever. At the same time Marife is in some serious financial trouble that needs to be solved fast as they have been losing two players already and missed valuable training.

Regular season prediction
Constanta Sailors 16-0
Marife-Lacion 14-2
Växjö Gladiators 9-7
Houston Pirates 0-16

Decisive players :

Percy Sturgeon : The 2nd best WR of the Region Sea Devils in Season 32 is leading the league in catching yards and catching TDs. The Best Swedish weapon

The Spanish Passing game : According to RZA 4th of the league. BUT, former QB has been taken away due to financial trouble. And today the formerly best OL had to go.

Sailors interception squad : The Sailors lead the league in interceptions with 9 after three matches. This comes very handy in a division where the closest contenders are strong on passing.

AC West

This division will go to Konjarnik High Towers no questions asked. Yes, they have a tough schedule meeting some top teams of other divisions. But they will prevail as the Chicago Cubs and the Littleton Red Devils are not yet strong enough to beat Uleros squad. For newbie OIIIO this season will be a Beast. Each win for this team could be gold as they will fight to remain in the league. Two bot matches could help them to stay.

Decisive players :
Cubs RBs Surprise, surprise, the Cubs lead the league in rushing. Three RBs in the Top 18 rushers of the season so far. Interestingly enough the Red Devils and the Beast happen to have the second league performance in forced fumbles.

Konjarnik Pass Defense 8 interceptions in three matches say it all.