After the excitement from Vets Rooks 26, there was still more football to be played. We had two weeks left on the schedule Week 20 and 21 and three league games to fit in.

In the early game it was colors of yaron, bz, goldberg, kut, stats, rook, and vegh against dark of pray, prime, tbd, kagan, berk, bert, and zada. Colors took the ball first and in just a few plays it was 1-0 colors as yaron hit kut in the back of the endzone. Dark would respond with a really impressive drive of mixed runs and prime screens to get into the red zone but on 4th and goal from the 13, Goldberg stuck his long arms out but instead of a flag guard he wound up with an int and colors had the ball back. Immediately right back down the field they went. Three plays later it was stats from 10 yards out, 2-0 colors. Dark moved methodically down the field again and after a big catch and run by zada it was a flip from pray to berk to make it 2-1. But Colors offense was relentless and after a few dump offs to vegh and kut, it was yaron down the sideline taking it himself from 45 yards out. 3-1 colors. Dark would again respond but they were constantly playing from behind, this time after a missed sack by bz and kut, it was a flip to Kagan who followed his blo(a)cks (aka prime) en route to a 25 yard td. 3-2 now. Yaron though was feeling himself and cool yaron was just about peaking through now that the snow was gone- a long ball to the rook pushed colors back up by 2. 4-2. Dark answered back with another drive mixed with runs and short throws to zada and berk. a screen pass to prime from five out made it 4-3. Dark needed a stop but none was coming, cool yaron was back and he would score once again. This time to vegh to all but end the game. Dark would go on another great drive after a 60 yard bomb from pray to berk who somehow got caught at the 15 by stats, but a redzone stall would keep the game a two possession one. Dark finally got their first stop of the game on a zada int, but it was too little too late. it was 930 and the game was effectively over. Dark would score on a nifty delayed out by bert to end the game 5-4 colors. Easy jewball to yaron in this one for the 4 tds and rushing td. Cool yaron was back….. or was he.

In game 2 it was BLOP v. Stogies in what essentially was a playoff game. The Stogies win and they were locked into a playoff spot. A blop win by at least ten (yes PD head to head for Logan) would guarantee them a playoff spot. Less than 10, and they’d need to win the next game also. The game started out pretty docile and everyone was on their best behavior. The yelling or arguing was to a minimum but the tension was real. Both teams in a fight for their lives. Would either of these teams smoke their last chance for an opportunity at the chip. The real story of the day was that blop was short handed and missing the Invader. How that would affect their team no one was sure. But what they couldn’t replace in zinn’s talent, they replaced in leadership, fiereiness, and just an all out commitment to football and that was Jordan. The big J was in town again and was suiting up for his old blop team. Yes, this wasn’t the same team he was a part of last year. In fact, he was playing against his old QB in yaron. But it was the jordan-prime blop connection and Jordan wanted to make sure that blop went out with a win. The first drive of the game ended in stogies turning it over on downs and it was blops ball to try and take an early lead. A few short passes to Ernie and prime and they were in business. On 3rd and goal from the 12, football dachs (yes he showed up today) delivered a dart to Jordan by the front pylon. The place erupted. Not because the ball was caught, as it was determined that he did not have both feet down, but because everyone was sure they had seen exactly what had happened. The line judges conferred and no catch was the call. One play later though it was dachs to landy 6-0 blop. stogies would start their own drive and moved the ball methodically down the field for a yaron to gronk td to tie the game up. Unfortunately for stogies that was the end of their scoring for a while. Now as mentioned before stogies just needed to play defense, a loss wouldn’t be nearly as devastating for them as a blowout. But as mentioned before as well, football dachs came to play and used every weapon at his disposal. The next td was of the rushing variety 13-6 blop. stogies would try to respond but legs and justin brought every ounce of pressure they could muster. Legs finished the day with 4 sacks and Justin with two batted passes and the stogie offense was on the brink. Meanwhile, dachs put up two more scores one to prime and the other to Ernie and the game was 27-6. Stogies would need to put something together and fast. But between the pressure and secondary coverage of blop (landy with 2 ints). All they could get was a last drive td to stats to make it 27-12. The stogie season was extinguished. what started out as a 2-0 powerhouse dropped the final 4 games to finish 2-4. Huge shoutout to Stella for captaining up this year and just genuinely understanding that leagues are for the good of jewball and not the other way around. For Blop, they now entered the playoff race and anything is possible especially once zinn is back in the picture. A lot of worthy jewball candidates for this one — football dachs balled out with 3 tds and a rushing td, prime made sure his team would not quit despite starting 0-3, legs finished the day with 4 sacks and an almost td but didn’t want to lose yards, and landy had a td and 2 ints on defense. But it is this recap writer’s belief that none of that would be possible without Mr. J(ewball) himself. Maybe Blop still wins this game without jordan. it’s certainly possible. But I for one do not believe that the blop performance is nearly as dominant if not for jordan. Jordan was the heart and soul of blop on sunday and we were lucky enough to get two jewball sundays with jordan back in town. Jordan, a jewball for you for rallying the troops as you always do and picking up that W. Some stats don’t show up on a spreadsheet and are not quantifiable. Similar to what you mean and do for jewball. It’s not something that can be put into numbers.

The next day jewball went south for the Where’s waldo wedding– join the vn chat for that recap 🙂

Even with AI, the internet, and the myriad of research tools at our fingertips, we still live in a world of unknowns. Everyone likes to speculate; predict outcomes, even bet on them. But no one knows. Human beings are still autonomous and spontaneous and subject to volatile shifts in mood, perspective, and objectives. Our whims change by the day – sometimes by the hour. So when I asked that Pray be in charge of Jewball – and – in many ways – left Jewball (my precious – I’m Gollum) in all of your hands…I speculated that things would carry on smoothly, I predicted that Pray would be the right leader to keep the Jewball flame burning bright and – in our own way – burning eternal.
But you never know.
You don’t need me to tell you that Jewball is standing strong. That it’s on fire in all the best ways. Did we take hits this season? For sure. The weather kept us from the one thing we need most – football games. Many key players got hurt. Some of our favorite Jewball characters checked out. Leagues gonna League. It happens. JBFL regardless and for real. I saw all this happening from a distance. Not once was I worried. I could tell we were thriving. TBI has never been better. Not a knock on PJs. He would have been part of this had he chose to. It just gets better every year…that’s called experience and technological advancements. Pray was so the right man for the job. Clear as day. We live in an age of Jewball iluys and phenoms and prodigies. Everyone seems to come in young and fresh and avid with so much polish and wisdom. It’s one reincarnated Jewball soul after another. There is no other way to explain some of these Rooks. Pray – now a seasoned Jewball Vet – is in YEAR 1 of this job! And he’s such a pro. Imagine in 10 years! Which sort of brings me to Sunday and the reason I am even writing.
Pray did ask me to write, but after Sunday’s game…I really wanted to. My heart was spilling over with so much awe and appreciation for the world we built. My mind was supersaturated with expressions that I had to share like an incandescent billboard. Starting with a feeling of pure primal gratitude – that at 48 I’m still playing the game. That alone. A miracle in its own way. And like I said in the last recap I wrote – I believe (and in many ways know) that I have merited to stay healthy because I have merited to be playing. It’s a circle of kinetic spiritual energy that continues to pulsate. God runs the world. God runs nature. For now, God wants me to play football and be one of you. Otherwise, it doesn’t really make sense. Next, to know that the field is where we reunite. It’s our makom mikdash (a sanctified place – sanctified by us, but also inherently). We commit to a pilgrimage every Sunday morning. The field is where we gather and the game is the ritual. Not a cult, but there is something devotional about it all. Especially the ingathering bit. I ran into some Jewballers over my first Shabbos in town. Mostly vets who hadn’t played in a while. Marino, Sig, Hackel, Fox (Star’s dad). Of course we talk football and Jewball, because that’s what it means to be a Vet. It’s part of you. And that part longs so much for the game. Which is exactly why you never quit or hang ‘em up or retire. The game must be violently ripped from you. You don’t relinquish it by choice. I didn’t want to see the current roster of active Jewballers in shul. Or on Central Avenue. Or at a kiddush. The field is the sanctified ground. That is where we gather. That is where we reunite.
And so it was. Yaron picked me up on Sunday morning and off we went to play in the annual rite of passage we call Vets Rooks. Here is where I would maybe write about how meaningful Vets Rooks is. But I’ve set the stage enough. Our Rooks are so locked in and committed and get it on such a deep level, my rallying cry polemic would ring redundant. Vets Rooks matters because being a Vet matters. Being a Rook matters. I used to need to explain why. Unnecessary in 2026. You see what we are. You all know why.
The pre-game drama – as there always has to be – was do the Seniors have a team? Jordan was going to be in for the game having been inspired by Singer and flying in for VR, but the big story was the new additions of Tabak and Gronk. Jewballers of 10 years now! Congratulations! An incredible milestone. With G-d’s help, by everyone! The drama involved Gronk being out, TBD being out, MK being out, Steve-O being out, and Mighty threatening to be out if his kid’s hockey game was on. After driving the Commish (and Juniors’ Co-Captain) crazy, it was decided that Mighty was in, Rabin (the most Vet of all Vets) was going to QB, and the Seniors would fight with the personnel they had (Rabin, Mighty, Daveo, O, Kut, PJs, Jordan, and Tabak).
They would face off against their fellow Vet Juniors team lead by Pray and Yaron and comprised of a savvy battle tested crew of Logan, Legs, Prime, Storm, Goldberg, Vegh, and Zada.
On paper, many would say the Seniors had no shot. Rabin hadn’t won a big game as starting QB since VR 5 years earlier (crazy how time flies). PJs hadn’t played a game all season. Technically, neither had Jordan. Kut was a little banged up as he always is this time of year after laying his body on the line for Jewball season after season. But Daveo got that motor. O was in the best shape he’d been in for many years. Stella just keeps getting better and was highly motivated in his Seniors debut. And Mighty is the reigning MVP having another MVP caliber season. Any given Sunday.
First of all, an ode to PJs. Few hear the VR call like PJs. Klink hears it, but, alas reality. Singer hears it, but, alas caution. PJs hears it and it is irresistible. Reality is a construct. Caution is thrown to the wind. To paraphrase the patriot Nathan Hale quoted as he marched to execution, “My only regret is that I have but one body to give to Jewball.” PJs has already given his body to Jewball. He is credited with ushering in the Renaissance, just when the Golden Age was fading to black. He took a long hiatus due to family and learning and lack of a game-appropriate wardrobe. But he came back. Participated in the Revolution. Was a star of the Revolution. Pioneered so many aspects of Jewball that are still enjoyed today, including producing and hosting the first bunch of seasons of TBI. But damn does that kid play reckless. So. Many. Collisions. None more monumental and terrifying as the one between he and Prime on Red Sunday. Knocked unconscious. Ambulance to the field. Real damage. Real consequences. The need for real healing. He took the time, played occasionally, but became more of a figurehead in Jewball. Few remember well his playing days. Despite these risks, it was VR Sunday, and PJs heard the call – like many hear the call – but, unlike many – PJs answered it. He came out and battled and showed everyone what it means to be a Vet. Of course Yaron promptly threw a bullet pass directly at his head from point blank range. PJs, you are an inspiration. Some say what you are doing is dangerous. What about your mental health? I mean, that’s valid. But….Jewball is also needed for our mental health. It’s a tough question with no easy answer. I just know you inspire me. Thank you for being my Jewball brother for so long.
The game started with a 3 and out for the Juniors. A good question to ask was – with Cool Yaron dead – did it make sense for Pray to start? The Commish was having another dominant season. But there is that respect thing and Uncool Yaron had been playing pretty well. The problem being that the Seniors had beaten the Juniors the prior year because Yaron was way off. This game started with Yaron being on at QB, but Pray being unable to get a handle on his passes. Three drops in the first few Junior possessions. The Seniors were not doing much better. Unlike in last year’s VR Finals, Rabin was able to grip the ball and throw it, but – even with Solo canceling last minute – Legs and Zada were fierce and pressuring him (3 sacks on the day combined). Neither offense was moving the ball. One can credit good defenses, but it was also bad offense. Drops and play calls that didn’t work. Finally, the Seniors broke through. Option play to Daveo and Daveo chooses to keep the ball, reverse field, and down the sideline…cuts to the middle. He could…go…all…the…nope, Pray tracks him down. Fat boy can run. A few plays later Rabin throws a beautiful pass that no one really knows who it was to, but the flight of the ball was a marvel to behold. It strikes a slanting Daveo right in the hands and Seniors have a 1-0 lead a few minutes before the half.
At that point Yaron decided to stop passing to guys like Pray who were only good for drops and start running the screen game. It worked. It was Prime Time. Even with Daveo and O playing an aggressive middle and pulling flags. Even with Jordan and Tabak sealing the outside and taking on a slew of bruising blockers….the Juniors played very effective bully ball. Well designed and executed screens are hard to stop. Prime is hard to stop when he is amped, and he was amped for VR. He called the Seniors soft and weak over and over as he thundered downfield, picking up yards and first downs. Yards and first downs. Like incontinence, it was a problem the Seniors could not solve. The Juniors found their confidence and scored twice (Pray and Storm). The Seniors offense sputtered to a halt. Besides the one obligatory gorgeous throwback completion from Rabin to Jordan (Est. 2004), the Seniors never punched back. They had opportunities. Short Fields. Tabak – head on a swivel and providing excellent corner play – picked 2 sideline passes intended for Pray to drop. But nothing materialized. The game ended – as it always must – with some controversy as the Seniors hoped to tie the game and maybe send it into OT, but Storm beats Jordan on a slant at the 5 and scores to make it 3-1 as the clock expired. Juniors advance and avenge their 2024 Season VR Semis loss. Jewball to my Assmen, Cronies II, and BLOP brother Stormy for the 2 scores and the intensity. Guy brings it and sets the pace every time I see him out there.
I can’t say I know enough about the actual back and forth of the Rooks Semi-Finals Game. Here is what I do know: Mid-game, Pray yells over to DK, “Why are you trying so hard? You know the game is gonna end in a tie.” A joke. A premonition. In both. It’s been the Freshies v. Smores minhag for a while. Or at least it feels that way. I know that every time I looked over, I saw Avenger and Dachs taking shot after shot. The kids air it out. In contrast to the Vets game which was mainly runs and short yardage plays, the Rooks were taking big swings. The only play I can remember seeing was Landy make a great catch. I saw him make an even better one this past Sunday. The dude in the Seattle Seahawks ski cap can ball. The final score was 4-4. The game went late. There was regular overtime. There was college overtime. Eventually there was I gotta go time. Before I get to the finals, as VR is a day where we count our blessings and realize how lucky we are to be Jewballers with a proud past, an awesome present, and a bright future – where we remind ourselves that Jewball is an exclusive club, but not a closed one. We realized long ago that our strength is in sharing our universe with new blood. Because…doesn’t it seem like every time a new Jewballer arrives and buys in…it was like they were here all along? That’s called destiny. Don’t fight it. Don’t doubt it. Save your cynicism for other aspects of life. It’s warranted in plenty of places. But not by us. Our Rooks have been off the charts these past few seasons. People and players. I’ll just say their names and let the consonants and vowels sing their praises…cuz you all know how insanely blessed we have been: Blitz, Dachs, Daxxy, DK, Ernie, Opes, Stats, Zinn, The Rook, Avenger, Berk, BZ, Kagan, Landy, DJCP, Schiffer, and Spiegel. Of course there are more – but these were the guys who played in the game. Who celebrated the holiday. Who took part in the ritual. We get on the Rooks because they suck and we want them to lose and be humbled…but damn, they are so cool and great. Thank you for being here. Your only job – besides playing great football – is to make sure you are Vets one day and beat the Rooks.
I’ll take this to the sidelines for a moment. You never know who is going to hear the call. VR has been a day special guests come out. They know it’s a spectacle. They understand it’s a pilgrimage worth making. I remember being in the middle of the frenzy of Seniors v. Juniors when a statuesque figure strolled onto the field from the parking lot. And someone said, “Is that Jack Ross?” And so it was. Not much else to say, but, was great to see Jack. In general, but especially on VR Sunday…because it’s not just an appearance. It’s a meaningful appearance. Thanks for coming out, Jack. LGM.
Word had come down on Saturday night that Lego had sustained an injury playing football, I think on Saturday night. Somewhere. Monsey. Lakewood. Who knows. An ankle. He tested it, but there was too much pain and he was out now for VR. The QB depth chart for the Freshies is, well, deep, and Avenger stepped right in. The Captain depth chart was also apparently deep as Lego had replaced Logic and I’m not sure who replaced Lego. Maybe no one did, but who needs Captains when you have beers. The beauty of Jewball is ROY is an all encompassing award. And while you got Avenger, Berk, DJCP, Schiffer, Landy, and Spiegel making plays on the field this VR Sunday, Lego makes sure to quite literally say hold my beer. The scene was then set. Blue Moons and Pink Juice on the sideline, all of a sudden the weather got cold. There were snow flurries earlier in the morning when temps were mild, but as the finals would begin, things got icy.
No clear winner in the Rooks game, but I checked the stats. DK and Oppen teamed up for 7 sacks. Avenger…yikes. Kagan, BZ, and Landy teamed up for 7 of their own. Dachs….geez. Landy came away with some crazy numbers. 3 TDs, a pick, and a sack. No Jewball in a tie game, but definitely an honorable mention. On the other side, we had Stats putting up 3 scores. So….you both were robbed.
The Finals became a classic VR with all the Vets present playing against all the Rooks present. Just like Mighty (kinda) dreamed of. Was it a VR for the ages? No. Everyone was exhausted and beat. I was pretty ripped on Pink Juice by the second half. I knew I had one role and that was to keep everyone hydrated! Zinn, Ernie (both Rook TDs), and Opes were so battered and broken – was exhilarating to watch them push themselves and stay in the game. You watch these dudes – it makes your run that extra mile in the gym, add the weight, finish the set. Regular normals don’t know. They just don’t know. I wish I could tell you that back and forth, but I’m stuck with the box score and the celebration with Mighty scoring the game winning TD. I’m seeing 3 sacks for Legs. I’m seeing 2 scores for Prime. Let’s give that VR Finals Jewball to Prime for 2 scores, but – like Storm – showing up for VR and knowing that another gear needs to be on display. He hated the Vets when he was a Rook. He hates the Seniors when he is a Junior. He hates the Rooks now that he is a Vet. He loves Jewball with his heart and soul.
Jewball, this Vet is once again stunned by where we are and how God blesses us with phenomenal Rooks year after year after year. Rooks, as much as we want to beat and humble you, we keep showing up and working because we can’t imagine a world where we don’t have the privilege of sharing a football field with you and competing (yes, that’s us competing! Shut up!) Much love to you all. Next season in Jerusalem.

– Jordan

January 25, 2026… that was our last football game. A week 17 tackle game in the heart of a blizzard. But then snow turned to ice and the turf was nowhere to be seen. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month. But jewball persevered. While some traditions were postponed or updated, we pushed on. Super bowl bbq turned into super bowl breakfast at the Kut home. What should have been week 20 turned into the prancing bowl. Finally though the rain came and the temps got warmer and the field was there once again. Week 18 would finally be played. Just barely though as more snow would come during the game. But a beautiful 3 game jewball sunday morning was had. Can’t say it was worth the wait bc a month without football is too long, but football was back.

On the first side of the field we had Green Machine vs Stogies. Both teams trying to bounce back from losses in their previous league game. Stogies struck first with an opening drive td to gronk and just marched their way down the field with dump offs to dk and stella. 6-0 stogies. Green machine took a while to get going and the score would stay at 6-0 for a while. Stogies marched their way down the field once again and had first and goal from the 5 with a chance to go up two scores. But the GM captain was sneaky and jumped back from d line to the middle to pick a slant off to gronk and returned it 50 yards and gave GM the momentum they needed. three plays later it was captain daveo once again with a dump off from Avenger for a td. 6-6. Unfortunately, the game took a pause then. I didn’t see what happened but it was described as gruesome. Tom went down with an injury and the game stopped to make sure that the In Both vet was okay. He was not. With his wrist bent the wrong way, Tom was rushed off the field. RS Tom! We will see you back on the field soon. Tom doesn’t get enough credit for it, but the man always plays every game. He is the true definition of in both and still doing it at 40. He’s our snow game majestic horse. You’ve bounced back from having Bert as a brother, this is nothing. Feel Better! Eventually, the game continued and Avenger ran one in to make it 13-6 after the extra point. Stogies would falter on their next drive and GM had the ball with a chance to ice the game. On 3rd and goal from the 15, avenger tossed a beautiful touch pass to the back of the endzone for berk.. who hauled it in, toe tapped… and then got rocked by landy and couldn’t hang on to the ball through the ground. An incredible effort, but landy made the defensive stop. GM couldn’t punch it in and Stogies were now down to their final drive. score and a two point conversion would give them the win. a few short plays by yaron set up 4th and 3 to keep the drive going. But a toss to gronk across the middle got knocked down Captain Daveo again and the game would end. 13-6 Green Machine. Jewball to the GM of GM and their captain Daveo on the all around offense and defense in this one.

On the other side of the field it was Semi Pro v. Gorillaz. Last time these two teams played there was controversy abound and it took away from the incredibly close game that it was. This time there was no controversy…..there also wasn’t much of an incredibly close game. SP was without their captain as he was off visiting Jordan in the holy land. But SP (aka solo) came out with a fire that we haven’t seen in some time. When Solo first started playing Jewball he was a dream that Yaron had invented and no one really knew if he was real. Then he finally showed up and dominated. But then solo moved far away and we saw less and less of him. Sunday he was determined to show that he should not be forgotten. After three and outs by both teams, SP took the ball and started moving. a quick out to stats, a dumpf off to solo and a few short plays to storm. set up a 3rd and 3 from the 47 yard line. A designed run by pray got SP the first down but as pray looked up after crossing the first down marker…. it was three gorillaz in sight and one solo. That was all SP needed. Solo proceeded to mow down zada, mighty and rook en route to a 30 yard rushing td for pray. 6-0 SP. Gorillaz took the ball back and moved methodically until on 3rd and 10, lego stepped up in the pocket and was met by a flying solo and pummeled to the turf. Following drive for SP , it was again dump offs to solo and storm culminating in a solo hand off that he took to the house from 20 out to make it 12-0. Stats extra point made it 13-0. Gorilaz then put together their best drive of the game. and had 3rd and 12 past midfield. A lego pass to Goldberg made it 4th and 1. Can’t say for sure exactly what happened but lego tried catching SP off guard and hurried to the line to try a quick play. Unfortunately, that quick play caught everyone off guard and Lego ran directly into solo. Once again Solo pummeled lego into the ground, despite legos outstretched arm it was a turnover on downs. Three plays later it was pray to DJCP (not urkel because he wasn’t wearing the glasses) for a 20 yard td 19-0 SP. Sp got the ball back again and it was djcp for his second td of the game on a ten yard slant to make it 25-0. SP set up for the extra point but a tipped ball by zada led to a mighty int and he was off to the races. 80 yards on a zig zaggin winding return for the rat and it was 25-1. SP would score one more time, this one to storm and a stats phill philly extra point to pray capped the game at 32-1. Gorilaz finally got on the board again after a mighty td to make it 32-7. If you couldn’t tell solo absolutely dominated this one. On both sides of the ball he reminded jewball (and lego) of just how terrifying he could be. Jewball to you. Together with Sam and Spiegel the O line and D line of SP had a day. DJCP would have gotten a jewball but this day was the solo domination one.

In game 2 It was colors of yaron, blitz, bz, spiegel, steveo, storm, and zinn vs. dark of pray, gronk, rabin, kagan, prime, rook and stats. Colors struck first. After a leaping vintage zinn catch over stats, it was storm hurdling the defense to go up 1-0. Dark would put good drives together but each one would end in pray throwing an int (first to storm and then zinn). Whether it was the hangover from a big league win or the ferocious pass rush of blitz, bz and spiegel, it was a redzone int to storm and then a redzone int to zinn to shut down the first two drives of the game. Lucky for Dark, Colors didnt take too much advantage and only scored one more time on a flea flicker td from yaron to storm to make it 2-0. Then the snow started to fall and the QB of Colors made the infamous statement “if I win this counts as a snow game”……. whether the football gods have a sense of humor or that comment enraged Dark enough. They got to work and quick. An angry prime started doing what he does best and catching quick outs and slant and running through people for chunk yards. A 7 play drive ended with a pray to gronk slant to make it 2-1. next drive it was kagan on an out and up from 25 out to make it 2-2. two drives later it was dark with a chance to win it but a pray deep ball to rook was picked off by storm and the game went to overtime. Yaron tried to answer quickly and a deep ball to zinn was picked off by pray and now dark was playing for the win. Dark went right back to the well and hit a quick out to prime to go get them the chunk yards once again. Steveo came up to make the stop and went low for the flag and all we heard was a muted scream. Steveo bloodied all over his face would have to leave. Refuah Shleima Wizard! We will see you back on the field very soon. We went to 6s for the last two plays and on 4th and goal from the six, it was rook in the back of the end zone to win it 3-2. Jewball to kagan in this one for 1 td and being a willing third blocker all game. Also three sacks on the day in huge spots to keep Colors out of the redzone. Storm was on his way to a jewball with the two tds and two ints…..Season of bartender.

Snow….there’s nothing like it. Yes, some find it annoying and dangerous, but when looked at through the proper glasses there’s something scenic and peaceful about the white fluffy cloud-like substance coating the earth. Yet, some snow comes down so hard and blizzard like that there’s nothing calm about it. It revs something up inside of you that can only mean one thing……tackle football. This would now be our third tackle game of the season, an enormous number that we haven’t seen in years. We’re lucky to get one per year. Ecstatic if we get two. Three??…..almost unheard of. The last time being the 2020-2021 season.

It was colors of yaron, landy, zinn, urkel, logic, mandelbread, and tom vs dark of pray, bert, bz, prime, steveo, daveo, and the mighty snowdent. With the snow coming down hard the first few drives were sloppy three and outs (with one monster sack by yaron on third and goal off a well timed blitz). But then dark got clicking, a slant to daveo, a run by prime, and a deep ball to mighty set up third and 10 from the 40. A screen to mighty was all they would need and dark had the first down and then some as the snowdent took off down the sideline to open the scoring 1-0. The next drive colors got after it and worked the ball down the field with runs to landy and a tom catch and run of 35 to make it first and goal from the 24. After a yaron tush push where the ball may or may not have been stripped by mighty, it was determined that the first down was reached and colors would maintain possession. However, a chance to tie it up on a pass from yaron to zinn was just a bit behind and tips up into the hands of pray for an int. Next drive, Dark was right back at it with a mix of runs and slants, even hitting Bert on a tight end leak for 15 yards. After a logic sack, it was third and goal from the 20 for dark with a chance to go up 2-0. And that’s exactly what they did. With pray evading a zinn blitz, the ball just barely got off and into the waiting hands of prime who adjusts and makes the catch in the endzone. 2-0 dark. Unfortunately for colors, their fortune would go from bad to worse and three drives in a row ended with ints. The first one by pray, his second of the day, on a pass intended for tom. After a lateral to Steveo, it was 1st and goal from the 11. After a pray run to bring them inside the 1 yard line, it was a forward pitch to bz and tush push to bring the score to 3-0. One play later it was a daveo pick six to make it 4-0 dark and the game getting out of hand. Colors would make a qb switch to Zinn but on his first play he lofts a ball up the sideline to urkel that gets picked by steveo island (no map needed) and it’s dark ball once again. Two plays later it’s daveo finding the endzone on a quick tight end leak to make the score 5-0. Colors would finally get on the board with zinn at qb and after some good qb runs and dump offs to landy, urkel, and tom, it was logic in the back of the endzone on 4th and goal to get colors on the board 5-1. Both dark and colors would go three and out on the next two drives to end this game at 5-1 dark. Another awesome snow tackle game for jewball. A lot of jewball worthy candidates in this one, especially with guys keeping track of their tackles. Mighty led the day with 9 and a maybe forced fumble, prime with 7, pray with .5 (ya i sucked at tackling today) but the Jewball winner this week goes to Daveo. A td, a pick six, and a bunch of other catches and huge defensive stops in this one, the GM of Green Machine was all over the place on both sides of the ball.

Tackle games are infectious and bring out the best of jewball. It’s a high that you can only get once you’ve played them. Not saying you should or shouldn’t but if you do….. congrats daveo.

Who wants week 18! IJWT!

Week 16 started off with snow. Not the type that would be enough for a tackle game, but enough that the elements were in play and the snow would be coming down during the game. After a quick switch of the fields to WMS the games were ready to go.

On the first side of the field we had the 0-3 BLOP v the 2-1 GM. GM came into this game beat up and down Ice and Berk to injuries and out there to prove that they could still win shorthanded. BLOP on the other hand was almost back at full strength. While Spira was not back another old muppet was. It was the return of Ernie after not having played a game since October. Now the question was could Ernie be the missing link for BLOP and would they finally get that evasive fabulous win. The game started and almost immediately the answer seemed like no. From the other side of the field, we watched Ezra (chin?) take a ball to the house on the first possession and then follow it up with a pick six and extra point and just like that it was 14-0 GM. Finally, BLOP orchestrated a drive with quick dump offs to zinn and legs to make it 14-6. But the avenger to Ezra connection was strong in this one and after a few dump offs to daveo and kagan it was Ezra yet again for his second receiving td of the day to make it 20-6 GM. But then something turned. Avenger dropped back for the extra point and tried throwing a ball over zinn. Zinn snatched the ball out of the sky one handed and was running, a lateral back to dobs who just barely gets the next lateral off to prime as kagan came running over to grab the flag, and prime was off to the races for one of the most electric one point plays Leagues has seen. 20-7 now and BLOP gets the ball on offense. However, Ezra was a machine in this game and he picks off dachs yet again and three plays later, avenger finds him for his third receiving td. 26-7 and time running out. It was at this point that Logan just wanted to play the D and became the official d for both teams. Whether that was a turning point or just woke BLOP up things started happening. But similar to almost all the games BLOP has played thus far…. you cannot count them out. They are a second half team and they came out storming. A great drive with long balls to dobs and prime, ends in an Ernie 17 yard td. 26-14 and 15 minutes to go. three plays later Ernie picks off an avenger deep ball which leads to a dachs rushing TD and it’s 26-20 with 5 minutes left. Each team would get one more possession with the ball. Now in BLOPs last three games, they were in this exact same position, however each time the leading team was able to go on a drive to ice the game and put it out of reach. This game was looking the same……until an avenger pass was just a bit too high for press (who was filling in for ice) and landed in the waiting arms of Zinn. Zinn returns it to the 20 and Blop has four chances to tie the game up. three plays later its zinn once again to tie the game up 26-26. An extra point would give blop their first win of the season and put them right back in the hunt. Dachs dropped back and threw a dart on a curl route to….. Ernie!!! Whether Dax and Ernie practiced that route in their private meetings or dachs confused Ernie for dax in 2026, the Blunts of Prime picked up their first W. 27-26 over Green Machine. Now had this game gone the other way Ezra would be walking away with a no doubter of a jewball 3 rec tds, 2 ints and a pick six. But there is no one more deserving than Ernie. Welcome Back to the field Zeyonce.. and a jewball for you.

In game 1b it was colors of lego, bin, bz, kut, portal, and mandelbread vs.pray, blitz, goldberg, logic, rook and stats. Yes this game was 6s. After a few last minute cancellations we got 13 to the field for this one. Then a last second trade of Logan to the league game made this a 6 on 6. Nonetheless, with the snow falling down the game was played and what a game it was. Yes, it was a bit sloppy with the wet conditions but a back and forth contest till the end. Colors took the ball first and lego was off to the races and would not be caught. 1-0 colors. three plays later pray throws a pick to lego and lego hits kut in the back of the endzone for a 2-0 lead. Finally Dark got on the board after a pray dump off to rook who made everyone miss to take it 65 yards to the house 2-1. After a three and out by colors, dark took the ball back and methodically moved down the field and it was a pray toss to goldberg who took it in from 15 to make it 2-2 but wait….. goldberg called a flag guard on… himself?? After the review it was darks ball at the 2 yard line with no score so still 2-1. The next play dark tried a tush push throw that didn’t work so it was a flip to stats for a td but wait again…. seems like he didnt have three balls in. so it’s now 4th down from the .5 inch line to try and even the score at 2. After all that it was pray escaping from a bz sack (or flag guard) to find stats in the back of the endzone to finally tie it at 2. buy lego wouldn’t be stopped and he unleashed an absolute missile to portal from 60 out to make it 3-2 colors. a few plays later it was pray with a deep ball to logic trying to recreate the lego to portal magic, but rabin tipped it and it bounces around and gets picked by mandelbread. First play of the drive for colors its a toss back to portal who then laterals it back to mandelbread for a throw to lego who high points the ball, tips it to himself over logic and runs it in to make it 4-2. Dark now found themselves in trouble once again down by 2 scores. A quick cleat change by pray and maybe just maybe that would be the spark that dark needed. four plays later the cleats worked and it was pray up the sideline for a rushing TD to make it 4-3. That’s when lego made his first and only mistake of the day. A tight window throw to bz gets jumped by logic and its a pick six to tie the game up. Dark is back in business and it’s anyone’s game. Lego would answer back with a 40 yard strike to portal who put pray on skates (literally there was no footing). 5-4 colors and a stop would effectively end the game. But Dark did their best nfl playoff impression and a hook and ladder from Goldberg to rook ended in a 50 yard scamper down the sideline by rook to tie the game up. Dark got the ball back and had a chance to take the lead but after a good drive stalled on the 3 yard line to give the ball back to colors. All dark needed was a stop to at least secure the tie. but on the very first play, lego faked a handoff to portal and started running. There was only one man there. maybe the best flag grabber in jewball to stop it. but on this day lego would keep running. slipping and sliding stats could not come up with the flag on this wet day and lego was off to the races. 75 yards to the house and its 6-5 colors. Dark would now be playing for the tie on last licks. and dark marched down the field. after three huge catches by logic and a few pray runs. It was third and goal from the 8 to try and tie it. but with the slippery conditions and the enormous pressure from kut, bz, and mandelbread, an attempt at a bullet in the back of the endzone to logic, ended in a wobbly throw to the outstretched arms of portal for the game ending int. While all three rookies of portal, lego and mandelbread are deserving of a jewball in this one… lego was out there to prove his roy status with 3 passing tds, a rec td, and a pick on d. Have to check the rules about co-jewball winners but we all saw the portal’s stat line on the glasses cam and it was truly epic. 9 catches, 2 tds and an int should probably get him a jewball as well.

Who wants week 17. IJWT. VR is 2 weeks away!

Week 15 started with a return of Leagues. It had been a while since we last had a league game and after some bowl games and snow games it was back to regularly scheduled programming. We had a double dose of Leagues with BLOP taking on Gorillaz and Semi Pro taking on Stogies.

First up Stogies v Semi Pro

Both teams came into this game hungry and desperate for a win. Semi Pro had just lost a back and forth contest to Gorillaz by a td and Stogies got themselves pooped on by Avenger and GM. Stogies was shorthanded and without their star mexican QB in yaron, their stalking o lineman in bert, and their singing d lineman in daxy. This meant Gronk to QB and Werz and Whiskey would have to fill in. Semi Pro took the ball first and went a quick three and out. Stogies couldn’t answer and gave Semi Pro back the ball. Unfortunately for stogies, that was the only 3 and out for semi pro and the scoring started early and often. SP drove down the field methodically with quick passes to Glasses boy and Storm culminating in a 30 yard strike to stats for the first score of the game. A beauty extra point toe tap by Portal made it 7-0. Stogies would drive down the field again but a portal int in the red zone gave SP the ball back and once again they went to work. This time with quick strikes to vegh and stats ending in a storm td. 13-0 SP. Stogies again would drive down the field and put themselves in a position to score. Stogies again could not punch it in after a few bad drops in the red zone, it was SP with the ball once again looking to blow the game open. On 4th and 12 portal found the soft spot in the zone and waltzed into the endzone uncovered to make it 19-0. Finally, gronk started doing gronk things and the same play train started humming. Handoffs to werz and ross got the stogies into the red zone and a dump off to dk gave them their first points to keep the game within reach 19-6. It was now on the defense to make a stop. On 3rd and long Blitz jumped a route to storm but just could not hang on and gave SP a second chance. three plays later it was stats once again this time from 15 out to make it 25-6. A solo extra point made it 26-6. But Gronk went back to his game and started running and handing off and upping the tempo to try and keep his team in this one. However, the drops kept piling up and another redzone trip was wasted. five plays later it was storm finding the endzone for his second TD of the game and solo taking another extra point to make it 33-6. after a turnover on downs for stogies, SP would punch it in once more to stats and add on yet another extra point to solo to make it 40-6. Stogies would finally score on their last drive on a gronk 12 yard rushing TD for a final score of 40-12. an incredible game all around for SP and plenty of jewball candidates but its gotta be stats returning to jewball after a month off due to injury and scoring not 1, not 2, but 3 tds and playing stellar defense as always. Good to have you back stats.

On the other side of the Field it was BLOP v. Gorillaz. Gorillaz trying to keep their season going and move to 3-1 and in sole possession of first place and BLOP trying to pick a desperately needed first win of the season. Blop was missing someone though and it was a big someone, not just because of all the weight he’s gained but because of the talent he brings to the field. Zinn was off in NFL playoff mode and Blocks stepped in to see if he could settle down his Roy brother in lego. Gorillaz took the ball first and lego did lego things and ran one in and it was 6-0 in a flash. Blop was hungry and perhaps maybe too hungry and a forced throw to dobs leads to zada int and a pick six 13-0 gorillaz. Now BLOP really needed to get moving, unfortunately though this time it was mighty snatching the ball away from blocks and taking it for a 20-0 gorillaz lead. now blop was angry and led by their captain they started running angry. prime looked like a one man wrecking crew and forced the ball down the field ending in a dachs to legs td 20-7. after a gorillaz three and out, it was dachs going back to the well and just force feeding the ball to prime who was running like a man possessed. four plays later another td for prime and just like that it was 20-14 and we had ourselves a game. However, whether it was Lego feeling snubbed for Roy or just mighty putting on his cape, a long ball from lego to mighty made it 26-14. Dachs and prime would not be stopped and three plays later dachs found prime again. 26-21. Blop would get a turnover on downs the next possession and had four plays from the 20 to try and take the lead. An almost exact scenario that Gorillaz were in the last game against SP. hold on and don’t let the other team score. Gorillaz went to work and BZ sacked dachs (again eerily similar to the game against SP) to stop Blop in their tracks. a turnover on downs and no score. Gorillaz now took the ball back with a chance to ice it. A score would end the game. a stop would give Blop one more chance. Lego worked his way methodically down the field and ended with a shut up zada td to ice the game. 32-21 was the final. Mighty had quite the stat line with a receiving TD, 2 sacks and a pick six…. but that’s how you know he’s not getting the jewball. Instead it’s Zada who shockingly was quietly grabbing flag after flag across the middle and racking up catch after catch , oh and he had himself a TD and pick six as well. good stuff but shut up zada.

In game 2 it was Colors of Lego, legs, solo, steveo, rook, tom and werz vs. Dark of Pray, kagan, storm, prime, madelbread, oppen and kut. Dark got the scoring started first with a pray to oppen td who barreled his way through the defense for a 1-0 lead. two plays later a pray int of lego put dark back into scoring position but this time it was a handoff to mandelbread who threw it deep to kagan for a 60 yard bomb to make it a 2-0 lead. Lego would finally started clicking with his wrs. and would hit solo for a td to make it 2-1. Darks offense would then just stall. Whether it was the pressure from legs who had himself five sacks on the day or just the offense not clicking, dark could not get anything going. Colors took the ball back and lego started using his legs (pun intended) and capped off a long drive with another solo td, his second of the day to make it 2-2. Dark again would go nowhere and this time it was lego taking it himself on a rushing td from 25 out to make it 3-2 colors. finally, after a kagan int of lego, dark was able to manage some offense and a dump off to storm who scrambled in from 20 out tied the game at 3-3. Lego though wouldn’t be denied and marched down the field and hit werz on 4th and goal from the 3 on a pretty curl that would make the great dachs and dax jealous to take a 4-3 lead. After a lego int of pray, lego went back to the drawing board and hit solo yet again to take a 5-3 lead. A legs sack because no one blocked him ended any chance of a dark comeback and it was a 5-3 final. Jewball to solo for the monster game at wr with 3 tds. Between the two games combined, Solo had about 8 catches and six of them went for scores (extra points and tds). Shout out to Kagan who was absolutely everywhere on sunday. Between coming down to sub in the league game and then tracking down every single flag in game 2 was just incredible to see. Unfortunately, dark lost so no jewball for the bartender.

One last thing to touch on from Sunday is that we have another In both player of the week. Someone who not just won two games on sunday but absolutely dominated. And…..he kinda won three football games in the span of twelve hours. Lego Bomb you are this weeks in both player of the week. between the two games having 6 passing tds and 2 rushing tds and leading both games to victory, there is no one more deserving. We need to see you signing up for more boths to add you to the in both club but for this week you absolutely earned it. Keep building on that Roy resume.

Who wants week 16. In Both. IJWT. Happy bday J!

Week 14 Yarocap:
And just like that we enter week 14 of this bipolar manic season that has felt like 5 different seasons fused into 1, with 4 different ROYs , an endless winter, injuries out the ass and a commish who hasn’t really lost a game since he went on his donut only diet 3 months ago. Sunday started off bizarrely where team Dark led by Bron, mighty, Goldberg, Kagan, tbd, Zada and pray took on Colors with Avenger, Landy, BZ, Bert, Stella, Tom and Zinn. Except not so fast. Pray contracted the superflu and Zinn was in beauty rest mode, so in came rook to Dark and Prime to Colors. Rumor has it Pray and Zinn snuck off to the golf sim for a 16 hour session instead. The game was played at WMS on a brisk chilly morning, but the wind was a non factor and guys showed up on time for a change. Shout out to prime who drove in from Baltimore, got to the field early and it only took him 10 minutes to put on his cleats and smoke 2 blunts. Avenger starts with the ball and marched to mid field, where on a 4th and long threw a post behind maybe Tom? Who deflected it perfectly into the hands of Landy who trotted his way untouched for the first score of the game. Dark now with the ball, and the entire first half was a recurrent theme. Dark would move the ball but at some point would get wrecked by BZ who has been on an absolute tear, making sacks and just wreaking havoc up front, and their drive would stall out. Again and again despite their firepower. Colors next possession was a methodical one , as they marched to the redzone deep in dark territory. After a big sack by Kagan it was 4th and goal from the 25, where avenger would take off running after buying time. He gets down to the 10 yard line and is surrounded by Dark players, and instead throws a cross body cross field lateral to- LANDY again who plows his way in for another TD. Dark can’t catch a break, and after a turnover on downs avenger finds Prime on a beautiful post corner route where he burned someone on the defense I can’t remember who and it doesn’t really matter. 3-0 Colors pouring it on. Next possession a Bron pass is tipped by tom right into the hands of Stella who returns it for a pick6- almost. Stopped at the one but that didn’t matter because on the next play Avenger hits Bert on a quick slant and it’s 4-0. This game is now totally out of reach – or is it ? It’s 905 and team Dark holds a quick meeting, slaps each other, Zada starts not shutting up and invigorates some life into Dark. Finally some plays start clicking with up front adjustments and on a first and goal from the 15 Bron finds mighty who leaks from TE up the middle and finds the endzone. 4-1. Is there time? Dark thinks so. And the defense gets adjusted. Mighty to the line , and man does he bring it. After 2 incompletions and a big sack by mighty, Dark forces a quick 3 and out and gets the ball. Two plays later Bron finds rook on a slant and he quickly breaks a tackle and is GONE. TD to the Rook and it’s now 4-2. Same recipe and Dark forces another 3 and out and it’s 920. On first down after a designed screen, mighty takes it in his own hands and breaks 14 tackles and is off to the races ! Unbelievably it’s 4-3 , and Dark have last licks. If colors scores the game is over, and after picking up one first down, that was all they could manage and force Dark to take the ball and drive the full field for their final possession. On first down Bron checks for the quick out by Rook, but traps the defense playing short and goes over the top to Kagan who’s off to the races ! He could .. go .. all.. the.. way….. to the 9 yard line! As he gets tracked down by Avenger now playing deep safety. First and goal for Dark with all the momentum , and off a scramble avoiding performance enhanced BZ Bron finds Goldberg for the TD! Except it slips through his hands and it’s second down..then third.. then forth where Bron throws a gorgeous ball on a skinny post to Goldberg again for the TD- nope. Pass interference by Tom who single handedly saved a sure TD with that veteran move. And on 5th and goal for the game after being harassed once again by BZ Bron throws a jump ball to mighty and Landy was able to break it up and seal the W for Colors. Great game and great football Sunday. Notable stats were Mighty with 2tds and 2 sacks, Landy with a catching and rushing td, Avengers magic all day and saving the Kagan TD at the end, but the Jewball has to go to BZ picking up another 4 sacks and just being a damn menace all game, further adding to his case of top DPOTY contender. Great stuff BZ! Week 15 signup is out, Weague Leak this week for the earlies. Get out there for the final stretch of the season ! ¡Viva la Mexico!

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Week 13 – Recap

Coming off the heels of an amazing Jesus Bowl in which green took the W from red by 1/2 a td…. we were on to week 13. The weather was up in the air but it smelled like snow. It tasted like a tackle game and by 7 am on sunday morning, we knew tackle it would be. On dark, it was pray, rabin, prime, zinn, logan, daveo, tom and oppen and on colors it was yaron, bert, landy, mighty, avenger, legs, steveo, and bz. Unlike the last snow game this was not a back and forth masterpiece but it was an incredible tackle game nonetheless. Colors started with a 3 and out and Dark took the ball and did the easy thing GIVE THE BALL TO PRIME. prime just ate up yards and brought dark into the redzone. a slant from 20 out to prime and a few broken tackles laters 1-0 dark. Colors put together a nice drive with handoffs to avenger and landy but on 3rd and short yaron throws an easy dump off to bz leaking from tight end….except the big nose tackle in rabin jumps up tips the ball to himself and falls down immediately, cradling the ball in his surgical hands. a dline int and dark with a chance to take control of the game. one play later it’s a 55 yard bomb from pray to zinn to make it 2-0. Another good drive by colors put them within striking distance and after a screen pass to legs with no one in front of him it looked like he would score. However, snow is wet and slippery and legs slips, gets back up and zinn out of nowhere scoots in and strips the ball… now normally this would be meaningless, but in tackle snow games…..fumbles are live. tom scoops up the recovery and gives dark the ball back yet again. 3 plays later its daveo in the back of the endzone with a sliding grab to make it 3-0 and the game is getting out of hand. after a 3 and out by colors, dark struck again with an oppen out route and carries steveo like a backpack to make it 4-0. colors still unable to get anything going on and its darks ball again with a chance to put the nail in the coffin. after a good defensive stop by colors it was 4th and 1 for dark from their own 24. In other words…when playing tackle…it was tush push time and indeed dark did in fact push the tush. With the whole team behind oppens backside he picked up an easy 15 yards for the first down. 3 plays later it was pray evading a sack and hitting logan who took it in from 25 out to make it 5-0. finally colors scored on their next drive on a beautiful strike from avenger to bz to make it 5-1. colors would score again on a slant to mighty who broke every tackle for a 70 yard score to make it 5-2. It was just too little too late. Rabin took over for dark and orchestrated a beautiful 8 play methodical drive capped off by a td to zinn on a wacky back and forth lateral play to make it a 6-2 final. A lot of worthy candidates in this one for jewball but it’s going to none other than the dad of jewball – Bin. Not only did Rabin have an int that we spoke about before….he had 4-5 huge catches throughout the course of the game taking on hits and knees to his back to keep drives alive. Capped off by the game ending drive td to zinn. Congrats Rabin! show these rookies what jewball snow games are all about.

Who wants New Years and Week 14. IJWT.

Week 12 Maccabowl brought us back to regular jewball following an incredible snow game from the prior week. We had white of Yaron, Bert, Kagan, mighty, O, prime, Stella, and zada vs Blue of Pray, BZ, goldberg, kut, steveo, tom, and zinn. The scoring got going early with Blue orchestrating a long drive with catches by Goldberg and steveo to put them inside the five. A quick curl to zinn made it 1-0. Unfortunately for White, they could not answer. Whether it was the pressure of BZ and Kut or just the extra donuts weighing yaron down it was long drives to the red zone that kept ending in turnovers on downs. Fortunately for Blue they moved the ball methodically with short passes to goldberg, kut, steveo, and tom and ended each of the first three drives with tds to zinn to take a 3-0 lead. Finally, yaron started clicking with his wrs and screen passes to mighty and prime led white down the field and culminated in a bert td to make it 3-1. Blue would answer right back with another long drive and it was pray to tom for a 4-1 commanding lead. But just like the story of chanukah, white would not be defeated so easily. Mighty started making people miss and miss some more and ended in a long td to make it 4-2. all of a sudden the game was in reach. after a great drive by blue to the redzone was intercepted by zada on 4th down, the opening was there. on 4th and forever yaron heaved a 55 yard pass up the sideline for stella, who secures the grab and walks in to make it a 4-3 lead. Blue would stall in the redzone once again and just like that the scene was set for a miraculous comeback. on 4th and 32 and white on their last chance to tie up the game, yaron dropped back, rolled to the right and heaved a chanukah miracle up the field. Zinn and goldberg and steveo all right there for blue to knock it down and walk away with the victory…..except like an oily latke the ball slipped by everyone and somehow landed in the lap of mighty for a first down. The game would continue for at least a few more plays. three plays later though it was 4th and 15 and an int by tom would end it. Blue takes the W 4-3. Shoutout to bz for 4 sacks in this one and 2 on the last drive that were so clutch. Jewball to zinn for the 3 tds.

In the late game it was the return of a QB who we had not seen or heard from in a while. The Self proclaimed greatest QB in jewball ever- Key. It was Blue of Key, rabin, pray, O, prime, rook, and Jesus (the cincinnati one) vs. White of yaron, justin, kut, mandelbread, tom, zada, and zinn. and what a back and forth game this one was. Blue scored first with a screen pass from key to prime for an early 1-0 lead. White answered back with a td to zada to tie it up. key right back to it was methodical, moving the ball down the field and then hitting rook in the back of the endzone for a 2-1 lead. Yaron answered immediately with an impressive drive of his own ending in a kuti td to make it 2-2. Eventually white got a defensive stop and took the lead the following drive with a long ball from yaron to zinn (unclear whether it was a receiving td or int and then fumble but a debate for a different day). Zinn ripped the ball away from pray and it was 3-2 white. However, the next drive after a flip from key to pray, pray rumbled in from 50 yards out after getting huge blocks from rook and O to make it 3-3. Yaron kept answering though and after a long drive flipped it to kuti in the back of the endzone for his second td of the day to make it 4-3. But this was a day that key was determined to prove he is the best and on 3rd and long threw a bomb over the middle to rook, who extended, dove, made the grab and got back up to score on a 65 yard td to tie the game up. it was 11:12 and it would be one more drive for each team. Yaron worked his way down the field hitting zada and mandelbread for a big gain and on 3rd and goal from the 2 tosses a quick out to zinn to take a 5-4 lead. Blue was now playing for the tie. A chance to at least not get that dreaded L on the stat sheet. Unfortunately, White’s defense had enough and 3 incompletions later it was 4th and forever to try and keep the game alive. A flip back from key to pray and pray scrambling and launching a deep ball to rook……just out of his reach. There would be no late game hail mary heroics like in the early slot. A valiant effort by rook to almost make another insane diving catch but the throw was just too far away. 5-4 white victory.  a huge shoutout to key for balling out. 3 tds no int and a bunch of Key runs to keep drives alive. A great game from the younger bro and hopefully we see more of him on the field soon. Another shoutout to big O with a bunch of sacks and an int on yaron and like 3 batted balls. Unfortunately both were in a losing effort. Jewball to captain knish for the 2 tds and just racking up catch after catch in this one.

Which now brings us to the In Both player of the week. We haven’t had one of these in a while (mainly bc i forgot) but this week there was one guy who picked up two W’s and just utterly dominated the entire game. Someone who is not new to the in both club but certainly most deserving. Zinn  you are this week’s in both player of the week. A total of 5 tds in both games on like 8 catches and threw a sack on the top of that as well. Good stuff Scoot!

Week 11 was supposed to be one league game and one regular jewball game but as the weather changed overnight and the snow started coming down the first jewball tackle game of the season and the first one in two years was looking like a real possibility. Fields would still need to be checked and sign ups need to be taken for the tackle game to become a reality but at 6:57 am on a blizzardy Sunday morning the scene was set. Tackle football was on. it was white of yaron, kagan, kuti, tom, landy, berk, e, zinn, and steveo vs. Blue of pray, prime, mighty, tbd, sam, bz, bert, and werz. The boys rolled up to the pristine white field and were ready to roll. White took the ball first and after a few short plays went for it inside their own territory but a mighty tackle stopped the first down and it was blue’s ball with a short field. Now when playing tackle football it’s sometimes nice to be playing with a guy who actually padded up and played in his past and with prime standing 7 yards behind the center, it seemed all but certain that a hand off to prime was a likely conclusion. However, Blue caught the defense off guard and play action to prime, who sold the fake, and mighty running a streak up the left sideline ended in a one play quick score to make it 1-0. White got the ball back and started moving methodically. yaron utilizing the speed of berk and zinn to create small gains. unfortunately berk went down after a tackle and would miss the rest of the game. Heal Up berk! that didn’t stop white though and after a hand off to E for a big gain, it was landy on a breakaway score to tie it at 1. Blue answered back immediately with a pray option toss to mighty who took it 65 yards for a 2-1 lead. yaron then hit steveo on a short pass and steveo breaks away from the defense for his own 65 yard score. 2-2. Blue again deciding that one play drives were working, flipped a toss to prime who broke 7 tackles and scores from 70 to make it 3-2. But white would respond each and every time. The next few drives were landy, landy and more landy. Yaron kept feeding him the ball and Landy kept breaking tackles for huge gains. Eventually he found the end zone again and it was 3-3. That was when the passing game for blue started clicking. pray hit bert on a beautiful corner route and bert was off the races, except the hunter became the prey and bert gets stalked down from behind by zinn on a forced fumble. Luckily Bert jumped on it to keep the ball. Next play it’s a mighty out route that he takes in for his second receiving td of the day and third td overall. 4-3 blue. Yaron and white went back to the same recipe and moved the ball down the field with Landy to bring it inside the redzone. After a short catch by E and a punch to prays nose, it was looking like White would once again tie this game up. However, next play yaron throws a prayer up into the endzone and mighty takes the ball away and seems to have a clear lane for a pick six but once again zinn tracks the ball carrier down and makes a td saving tackle. After a BZ incredible catch over yaron, bz caught a quick curl to make it 5-3. yaron answered right back to keep the game in check and it was landy again breaking tackles to make it 5-4. Blue decided to go back to jewball resident RB in prime and kept giving him the ball to grind out the tough yards. After a pray pass to TBD to bring them down to the 10 yard line it was looking as if blue would go up by two scores and effectively end this game. After some confusion in the huddle, blue came to the line with no play in mind. A same play of sorts. except Kagan got a great rush and had pray wrapped up. pray flipped the ball to Sam who tried fighting for extra yards and the ball got poked away. A fumble. Kagan scoops it up and is off to the races on a 75 yard fumble recovery td to tie the game up at 5-5. 15 minutes to go and just like that all the momentum swinging in white’s favor. blue gave the ball to prime for a few runs and it was now 3rd and long. pray heaved one down the sideline. it was landy and werz 1 on 1. Landy had the positioning but instead of catching it decided to knock the ball down. the safe play if you will. except with snow pup not out there, today was the day of the snow rat or the snowdent. mighty takes the tipped ball in for the score and snow angels ensue. 6-5 blue. Yaron dialed up a pretty nice drive and this time it was zinn for the score. 6-6. Blue had their chance at last licks. After a few runs by prime and catches by bz and werz, pray rolled out to the left and threw it deep saying “f it either prime or mighty are down there somewhere”. and on this day…the day the snowdent was born… it was the case. Mighty hauls it in for his 4th rec td and 5th td of the day. 7-6 final for blue. doesn’t even have to be mentioned but mighty with back to back jewballs just makes sense for our reigning mvp. Shoutout to the rooks who showed up to play tackle- landy, werz, berk. Landy no doubt would have had a jewball if white took the win.

We got chanukah party Tuesday, followed by week 12 maccabowl, followed by jesus bowl, week 13, and 2026 bowl. So much football over the next two weeks. In Both All. who wants week 12. IJWT.