Week 13 was one of those weeks where I wanted to write the recap quickly and turn the page. Actually didn’t fall asleep last night until 5am. A lot on my mind. Some of it about our game. Some of it about the devastating and shocking news we all heard about Kobe Bryant. So, this is the context – for my purposes in this recap – as it relates to the loss of someone like Kobe Bryant. On the one hand, Kobe – maybe more than any other athlete we can think of – was the ultimate fierce competitor. I talked about this a few weeks ago. If you listened to the interviews and biographies yesterday – one theme was constant. Kobe loved the game he played, sure, but that was not what made him special. Special to the point of extraordinary. What made him stand above and beyond everyone else was that he was driven to push himself to his limits in order to win. In order to be great. Yes, he had tremendous physical gifts, but many athletes do. What I talked about a few weeks ago. That mental edge that sets the legends apart – that is what Kobe had. What you also heard yesterday from players and colleagues was that his drive was not just personal. It was not kept for himself to create an advantage that he alone could tap into. His drive was contagious. The quote you kept hearing over and over again was, “Kobe made you want to be better.” There is that aspect of Kobe Bryant that is important to what we do every Sunday. And I was heartened to think about so many guys that do that in our game. I know he is frustrated with me – and I deserve it – my on field demeanor is lacking – and I know I have a reputation for praising him (although he probably feels not enough : ) – but I do think Mighty – at least for me – is the Kobe of our game. The intensity, the desire to win, and the ability to convert that desire into amazing physical fetes is a rare combination – and Mighty has that. More about him later. Though there are others. I think a guy like Munch makes us want to be better. To match up with his preparedness level. To match his cerebral approach. Another guy I tend to disrespect – Zada has that Kobe-esque laser focus. Again, there are others, but in the wake of the death of a true competitor, I have to start by recognizing those who bring that edge every week to Jewball and make us all want to be better players. Thank you.
On the other side of the coin – and in a way it truly is the opposite side – that is the big picture approach, which Beast touched on yesterday. And it is hard to balance the two. In general. It does make for an excellent counterbalance. To appreciate life. To not get to caught up in anything trivial. To not waste time. Abuse or take for granted relationships. For my purposes, here, that just means appreciate Jewball – your brothers here. Not just in the game, but when someone seems to need something. Or have an issue. Don’t judge – support. I call this the counterbalance, because – in a way – seeing the big picture makes our games seem insignificant. Why argue about a call? Why curse a friend out (even though no one is taking it that seriously)? Why be obscene on our chat? Or mean? I’m thankful we actually don’t have much of that. We are able to get past nearly every insult, scuffle, argument, etc. Jewball is a place where you can destroy an opponent one week and be their biggest fan the very next. But, you hear what I’m saying? Kobe the player taught us to have a killer instinct in order to win. Kobe, in his death leaves a message of….is winning really that important? Maybe just being alive, loving the ability to play, appreciating the people you play with – not taking each day/game for granted – that should be enough? Is the lesson that we shouldn’t ever get caught up in the….stats. I don’t know – it is a tough one. The age old sports dilemma. In a league like ours or even the pros. Where is the line between what matters and what really matters. I don’t have answers, just some thoughts that kept me up most of the night. It wasn’t that alone.  Of course having a really unproductive day on the field – plus the yelling/cursing at people – with my first game being of the age 42 was a bummer. With all the above thoughts running through my head, it was the first time I got slightly depressed thinking about what a post-sports life would be like. I’ve been strapping up for Jewball for the past twenty years nearly every Sunday morning from September-March. I can’t imagine any other way.
Luckily, in this 2019-2020 season, I did put on the cleats for Week 13 and got to the field fashionably on time (which is late), but of course people got there later. Jewballers, I’m gonna say this and I will hold you and myself to it. I don’t care if you are a Vet who wants two games. Vet status does not allow you to come late. In fact, your job is to show the Rooks what accountability means. So, for example, if I am locking someone like Dobs out of an 8am game, but he is there ready to play at 8am – and you are rolling in at 8:05….you will not get an 8am game over him in the future. That is an example, but you hear me on it. So, fair warning. You want two games, you MUST be on time for the first one.
Since I’m on a disciplinarian roll, I’ll get to the jersey thing. This should not be difficult. Football works like this. You have a QB. His job is hard. He needs to scan the field, find his receivers and throw them the ball while they are being covered; at the same time guys like Munch, Oren, and Kut are running at them with reckless abandon. In order to make their jobs easier, we give each team a jersey assignment. One team wears Dark – which is like black or dark grey or dark blue or…stop pretending you don’t know what dark is….and the other team is Colors – this means a bright identifiable color – like red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue…oh yeah, pink. This is not difficult. We do this for the good of your team. To help your QB. To help defenders identify who they should cover and who they should leave alone. Not because I like rainbows. Now, if everyone – especially the QBs – tells me they like the challenge of simply remembering who is on their team and allow everyone to wear whatever they want – God Bless! We can do that. I just don’t see why. It is not hard to follow this deal. I am destroyed for not being like every other league when it comes to feet in or ball in, but when it comes to identifiable jerseys for teams – I feel like I’m on an island. It’s not a big deal – I know. But – it’s also not a big deal to just check your team and throw on a colored t-shirt or a dark t-shirt over whatever thermals, sweatshirt you are wearing. Fine, rant done.
Yaron and Dark come in to this one with a lot to prove. I haven’t been counting, but his losing streak against Prager feels significant. It has been a while since Bron had a vintage start where his tempo and synergy with his team was on point. The kind of prodigiousness that we are accustomed to game in and out last year. He is a talent and his will to win is unparalleled so we all know there is a huge winning streak coming before the end of the season, but it did not come this past Sunday. He lined up with O, PJs, Mighty, Goldberg, Beast, and Zada. On other side (mostly in colors) were Prager, Munch, Steveo, Kut, Tom, Gronk, and Prime. Jordan and Dobs split up to get reps at deadline. Neither were a factor except that Dobs kept hurting his fellow linemen. Just kidding, Dobs also tracked people down on screens. Jordan did nada. Well, this one was a defensive battle of attrition. Either the QBs were off or the defense was lock down, but 3 and outs abounded. Both O and Kut had a bunch of drops for their teams, respectively, but those few incompletions standout because most of the game was just really good, aggressive defense and very effective line play. The QBs were running for their lives all day and the result was many an errant throw and multiple sacks. I personally was an eyewitness to Kut and Munch getting it done. Oren and Beast were equally tenacious stuffing Prager. However, early in the game there was an exchange of scoring. Well, almost right off the bat, Kut catches a ball in the flat – stiff arms Zada, then bounces out the sideline where he stiff arms Yaron – and he keeps going. The only man to beat is Beast, but instead of tracking Kut down, Beast calls the play dead and confuses his team. He is calling flag blocking – pointing and waving off the play. Kut keeps going and makes it to the endzone. PJs was lead blocking for him even though they were on opposite teams. PJs then lifted Kut into the air with one hand, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a 5 foot Jewball Trophy and handed it to him. It was unreal. But, of course the play was called back. And this causes me stress. So, I will say it again for all to see, hear, remember – The only person who can call a flag guard is the person whose hand was blocked by the receiver/runner. You cannot call it on behalf of someone else. Period. Don’t do it. Sorry Kut.
Shortly thereafter, Dark gets confused on a coverage and Prime is wide open behind the safety. Nice soft pass. Touchdown. Colors up 1. At about the halfway mark, Mighty has had enough. Yaron drops back, flips to Zada who shuffles a pass to a reversing Mighty….and let the pinball wizardry begin. Cutting, shifting, clawing and digging for every yard, Mighty gets past the linebackers, secondary and has only Prager to beat. Beautiful, angry stiff arm – Prager loses his grip. Mighty is in. Tie game. Then nothing for a long time. That is until Yaron hits Goldberg on a 4th and goal at the 1. You may have seen the preview of what happens next on our post-game chat sesh. Goldberg does not make it into the endzone, but stretches the ball over the plane. Arguments ensue. Jordan loses cool. Which is fine, per Kobe’s life – or not fine, per Kobe’s death…not sure. However, as we are all calm, cool, and collected at this later hour – we shall clarify our 3rd Jewball rule of the day. This is a two feet in league. Whether you love it or hate. It is the way it has always been – I am not unsure of that. I am not confused. I am not misremembering. We play two feet in. That’s anywhere on the field including the endzone. And, yes, that was adjusted to two feet – and the ball over the goal line. As we said yesterday, you need 3 balls in the endzone to score in Jewball. So, that was a fake controversy. While I am sorry that Kut’s TD got called back, and I feel for a gamer like Goldberg, I am not sorry his non-TD did not count. Of course, because why not have an already disgruntled team become completely disgusted – on the very next play (a turnover on downs) – Prager takes off down the left sideline and some weak flag pulling combined with his wicked speed turns into a 87 yard TD and a 2-1 lead for Colors. As commish, I was hoping for either Yaron to score quickly or Prager to go up to so the controversies of the day could simmer down, but….nah…..why should I be so lucky? Instead, both teams continue to struggle. Prager is about to maybe ice the game with a fade to Gronk, but Beast has to of course make the defensive play of his life and corral in a ball that winds up in a rolling scramble with Gronk on the ground. Was that kind of day. Everything that mattered needed booth review. Add to that, it’s 940 and Game 1 should be over and Game 2 should be starting. Add to that, the Game 2 people are late (hey, Game 2 people – same rule applies – I cannot lock people out of a game in favor of you, if you do not have respect enough for the game to be ready to play at 945). But Solo is there, making calls from the sidelines. Mo is filming. Getting late. Kind of a hurry-up circus. This game could only end one way. With no time on the clock, and following Beast’s splendid pick – which sucked for me….Yaron gets ball one last time. I’m hoping for a 3 and out, which was the case for most of the game. No. He orchestrates his best drive of the day. Culminating with….what else? A 4th and goal from Colors’ 30. How about a sack? An incompletion? A catch clearly short of the endzone? Forget that – how about a clear TD and a tie game! But, no – not for this unique game. We get a dime dropped over the coverage to Mighty at the very back of the endzone. Steveo is neck and neck with him and draped on him. Ball drops in just before the back line. A place where only Mighty could catch it. That is, if he has perfect concentration, hands and ball skills. So….of course he catches it. Steveo says out of bounds. Mighty doesn’t say much, but his eyes are afire. He has been burning all game. The video review (I told ya) shows he has one foot in before falling out of the back of the endzone. Game over. Colors win a contentious one. Jewball goes to Prime for the TD and the defensives prowess, breaking up passes all over the place. Congrats.
Game 2 was mercifully less contentious. Better vibes overall, but no different an outcome for Yaron. Gronk, who struggled last week, found a nice rhythm with his arsenal – mainly Goldberg and Zada and did a really nice job picking apart Yaron and Dark’s defense. With the addition of Solo to the game, Yaron has found that his dream has become a nightmare. Back to back weeks he is being hunted. Don’t worry, Bron – he will be on your team soon ; ) Gronk just kept using the space created by the zone to move the ball. Methodical $#*&. When he needed a longer completion for a first down, Goldberg was extremely reliable. When they got to Dark’s 5, he zipped one in to Zada who did his signature leap and plucked it from the sky with two hands. Yaron was having a hard time finding the same soft spots in the Colors’ zone. Not surprising since a.) Solo was coming after him and b.) Gronk and Zada in the middle are truly expert flag pullers. So while Yaron’s schemes were being sniffed out and blown up, Gronk just kept plugging away and finding his guys for gains. Soon enough, it was Goldberg hauling one in just over Dobs. 2-0 Colors. Although Yaron again went 3 and out and his confidence started to wane, it was Oren who single handedly changed the momentum. A pick! And a 57 yard run! Dark had life. Yaron lit up! Very next play, dumps the ball to Dobs – slants to the middle of the field and scampers into the endzone. 2-1. Dark switches to a man coverage and it does just enough to get the ball back at midfield. Yaron calls Jordan in motion on a wheel and fly. It works. Jordan is behind the coverage along the right sideline. Strike in his chest! Score! Tie ball game. A few minutes later, with all the momentum seeming to have swung in favor of Dark, Yaron lofts a beauty to Vegh over the top and Vegh makes a brilliant catch, but is stopped just a few yards short of the goal line. With only fifteen minutes left, Yaron has a real opportunity to change his fortune. 1st down – zips a ball to a jumping Oren – through his hands, then through Veghs. 2nd down – broken play with a scramble and a roll and a shuffle pass to Jordan – hits Jordan’s chest with a thud and then to the turf. 3rd down – Another broken play – but Yaron sees Jordan in the middle of the endzone and throws a high but catchable ball…Jordan gets a hand on it, but that is all. 4th down is a sack. Gronk takes over with a real chance to win the game. From his 20 and with Oren and Tom collapsing on him, he somehow finds a window and throws a 35 yard bullet to Salem. The coverage was good, but the pass was better. Salem scores to give his team the lead. Yaron gets a final chance to make things interesting, but Tom deflects a ball that kind of ate him up and it drops into Mo’s arms. Pick up the cones. Gronk and co win. Jewball to the Gronk for the great play on both sides of the ball. Pulled a dozen flags and threw completions for positive yards relentlessly. Welcome back.
Who wants WEEK 14?