Only because Jewball has mutated and spread its tentacles onto the edges of Tuesday nights did Week 10 of this season feel even remotely normal. Before we go further…..Week 10 : ( How are you here so fast? This season feels so new and truly as if its still trying to find its footing, and yet….we begin the 2nd half this week. Half our memories already in the books. Half our stats. Half our stories. The coolest thing about Jewball is that the games becomes blurs fairly quickly – it’s the people and the relationships that endure. Not only endure, but manage to become foundational anchors of our lives. So, while this season seems to (so far) be ill-defined, somewhat chaotic, and still needing its moments for the ages…..then think about the people. Was there Jewball before Zinn was scooting up to the field? Before Oppen Legs? Before Dachs to Dax? I don’t know…..those things feel as pre-destined as anything else And feel as epic as anything else. And they are certainly born only of  this season. Something to think about.
Back to Week 10 itself. As I was saying, while we under-the-radar added a new field to our Jewball pantheon (we played in Greis before, but pre-season and on the grass), it felt like a home game for many of our players who either have been there Tuesday nights to play or to watch. So let’s not miss an opportunity to recognize our blessings. Shehecheyanu v’kimanu v’higiyanu l’zman ha’zeh. We have added a field to our bio. The means by which we got there left something to be desired. Yaron put in the work speaking to Dom. Dom put in the work speaking to Reginald Whitmore Greis III, RWG3 spoke to Kenny who was supposed to unlock the gates at 8am. The plan was perfect! Except Kenny had gone out the night before with Solo. They both had at least 5 drinks. And while Solo could not get up for work the next day, Kenny did get up – just with a fifteen minute delay. That delay had us delayed. Had Mighty doing donuts in the parking lot. And Kut eating donuts in the parking lot. Had a mass of Jewballers congregated and revved up to go for a League week, descending on the field together k’ish echad b’lev echad. That unity did not last long.
The League Week peaked before the game. Our sheer numbers walking onto the empty field on a perfect football Sunday. Guys proudly wearing their team colors. Stretching, catching up, catching, setting up. Mighty screaming “Let’s go” because he had to leave at 9 for a Chumash Play and it was 8:20. The clouds were pregnant with rain and the field was pregnant with possibilities. Could Top Guns minus Singer and Munch even slow the roll of the Roll Tide? Could Yaron not cheat and ruin the BOP v. Lionhearts game? The answer to both questions was a resounding NO.
Roll Tide is a great team. A great team. They remind me of the old MVP teams that played Jewball to practice for the League. Meaning, they were playing Jewball but they weren’t Jewballers. They were mercenaries undercover with us. Now, did some of them become die-hard Jewballers? Of course. You won’t find guys who bleed Jewball lavender more than Snow and Snowpup, but in their time – they were not committed to our game. Roll Tide is. Roll Tide are OUR GUYS! And how cool is that? We have the guys that can win in the League! And they would rather win a Jewball championship than a League championship! Again – let’s take a second here. Let’s take a second and process this. Let’s process this Rabin and Kut and Oren and Steveo and all the guys who very rightly felt second (or third) class for a decade plus….. Shehecheyanu v’kimanu v’higiyanu l’zman ha’zeh!
Before the very last play which Mighty stuck around for, it was 6-0 Roll Tide and Feit had the ball for TG. With Mighty, TG kept it close on defense. On that final play before Mighty ran off, Feit threw a P6 to Rook. The game went off the rails after that. We all knew it would. TG would have needed to have a healthy lead when Mighty left to have a chance. RT is too high octane to not score multiple TDs on an undermanned defense. And so they did. The final was an embarrassing 31-0. Dachs ran 2 in, Dax caught one leaping about 4 feet…I’m sure Zinn put up points…It was a blur of a beatdown. When I dropped off the cookies by Dachs a week ago…he smiled, took them, and said “we are gonna beat your butts.” He knew it. I kinda knew it. But you always hope your team steps up and pulls off the Any Given Sunday miracle. We are going into Chanukah. The weak can beat the strong. The few can beat the many. You just need a miracle. Well, there was no miracle for TG on Sunday. The TG defense could not keep up with the RT offense. But what of the TG offense? A few seasons ago we had a What’s Wrong with Pray era when the former MVP could not win a game. Feit is a fierce competitor and student of the game. There were weapons there for TG. Even with the short handed team, there is no excuse to put up zero points. Unless TG can figure out it’s offense, this is going to be a long, extremely disappointing season for the No. 1 team on draft night. But the season is far from over. We all remember 193 from season one. A winless team that went to the championship. And all it took was hard work, believing in yourself, and coming together as team when the chips were down and everything was on the line. Just kidding! All it took was Yaron cheating! So, let’s get to BOP v. LH.
There came a point in the RT TG game where – at least for me – I started peaking over at the other game. My game had become a $#**show and, despite my QB valiantly trying to motivate our squad to stay focused and in it (I love that trait, btw), my mind was wandering. The only thing that kept me focused on our game was the prospects of violence. Otherwise, I was trying to get a sense of the other game. My sense was – BOP and LH were locked in intense combat. You could just feel the waves of energy emanating from their half of the field. The intensity was palpable. It looked like a great game. I saw people doing great things. Steveo, Vegh, DK, Storm….I spotted some great football plays. I was jealous. But then my game mercifully ended and I got to wander over and speak to guys on the sidelines. I learned there was nothing to be a jealous of. The “better” game was ten times the $#**show of my game. E wanted out. Yaron’s team looked embarrassed to be there. Kut and Tabak were having seizures. People were making inexplicably bad calls….seemingly on purpose and out of spite…and were being encouraged to do so by their teammates. Yaron had the glazed over look of a man in freefall, resigned to a horrible fate, and having no idea how to turn that around. Pray was completely misya-aish as well. No one wanted to pull the plug. No one knew how to end their own misery. Everyone knew this was a game that needed to end and be fixed in the postmortem. And so…..that is where we are. The game ended in a tie. The game ended and the chat handled it’s business. Here is my commissioner’s take – even though I’ve written on this topic many times before – and it seems to change nada. It changes nada because the same people don’t change. And until people actually change – these are just words. It’s the same people who say “we need better rules,” “we need clearer rules,” “we need more rules,” or even “we need refs.” All not true. Arguers will argue no matter what. Complainers will complain no matter what. Conspiracy theorists will conspiracy theorize no matter what. Chronic victims will cry victimization no matter what. So….it’s not about anything….but….YOU! It’s what you do. How you react. How you behave. How much dignity and pride you do or do not have. How much you want to win and in what way you want to win. How you handle a call made by someone on you or a call you think you can make on someone.
The one thing that maybe got lost in the rhetoric above is this line: How much you want to win and in what way you want to win. This is really everything. If you win a game, but you know you lied about a call to get there….is that really something you feel good about? Or that you ruined the integrity of the game to get there…does it still feel like a win? I can’t enjoy wins where I played badly! I can’t imagine enjoying a win where I got there by either purposely committing a non-called penalty or by making a call that I didn’t really need to make or believe in….and then yelling and screaming about it like a spoiled child! Guys! Win in a way you can be proud of! Lose in a way you can be proud of! Leagues aren’t a mess. Jewball isn’t a mess. Some of us are a mess! As soon as we clean up our mess, the games and experience improves exponentially. Play the game the right way. If you got beat…..you got beat! If you missed a flag….you missed a flag! If you worked your ass off for an almost sack…..your worked your ass off for an almost sack! If you gave up a 1st down by an inch….you gave up a first down by an inch! And so on and so on and so on. No one will respect your calls if you don’t respect yourself.
Jewball on the week goes to Ernie. While everyone on Roll Tide played butt-beatingly well, from my perspective, it was Ernie snuffing out every single opportunity TG had to make it an interesting game. He seemed to have pulled every flag in a big spot. Guy can ball.
Half the season behind us. Half the season in front of us. Let’s finish strong and write some amazing stories together