INTERNATIONALS FINALLY WIN
...and here comes the first and second rewrites of the year.
Week Three in the Subsim Fantasy Football League, and finally, our international teams get a win. We get our first and second rewrite of the season - thank you Gunners, and one team finally gets a home game, after playing away for the past two years.
It may only be Week Three but make no mistake folks, regardless of what Peyton and Eli or Troy and Joe talk about...this is the place that you want to be on Monday night, as we get ready to go around the grounds in the most competitive make believe football you've never seen.
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First up - all you Nighthawks fans can start breathing again, Mister Chris is back. In a historical first. the Helmand Nighthawks were off to their season worst start ever at 0-2 and were facing the prospect of going 0-3 against a stronger team. Well, screw you guys, the Nighthawks are back. The Nighthawks were hosting the visiting Black Cats who had jumped out to a surprising 1-1 start to the season. Starter for the Nighthawks, Patrick Mahonnes (QB) has played good in the first two games...but he can't carry the team on his back no matter how hard he tries. This week they entire Nighthawks put their wings on and soared. Course, they were helped by the absence of Mike Evans (WR) of the Black Cats who last week was given a one day suspension, for acting like AJ Brown. (HA - bet you thought we'd get through a season without mentioning HIM - wrong!) Cats started a man down and not helped by Kyler Murray (QB) not throwing a TD for 314 passing yards. This one wasn't even close folks, as the Nighthawks take flight and smash the Cats 106 - 93.
The Nighthawks still have some work to do, but so does another international team.
It was a nail biting day for the Australian Taipans who finally return home after a two year road trip and playing in makeshift stadiums. With the closure of the Australian borders in 2020 for Covid, the Taipans relocated to Southern California - but it wasn't the same. This week, after the end of the regular season of the "other" football, the Taipans returned to their home ground for the first time since January 2020. But they also returned home with a 0-2 record on the road, and it wasn't just 0-2, it was "a lot 0-2". Taipans were hosting the Drunk Monkeys who two weeks ago put up almost 200 points, but there would be none of that this week. This was a down and injury ridden team as the Taipans lost their fifth player of the season mid game to injury. The Monkeys situation was not helped when they left Dalton Schultz (TE) in the airport at LAX after changing planes. Taipans did just enough on Monday night with Dallas (DEF) to stay in front of the lower scoring Drunk Monkeys that we saw in Week One. Australian Taipans win this one 115 - 103.
Our Match of the Day this week was another International Home Game with the Bosses hosting the Who Dat Nation. Coach Anthony B, expansion coach of the year candidate after going 2-0 in the opening weeks was starting to get into the meat of the season where the champions have traditionally shown their strength. And the Nation showed up this week. Starting the game with .500% record the Nation and the Bosses traded blows left and right, swapping the lead five times alone late Sunday afternoon. Somehow, the score changed overnight in scenes reminisce of the Biden Election victory (been waiting to use that analogy) and the Nation skipped out to a slight lead. These two teams tussled in the highest scoring game of the weekend, and if the Bosses had played anyone else, they would have won. Not this week though, as the Who Dat Nation accounts for the Boss Team 134 - 128.
Our first thriller, and second rewrite of the week. As the games progress the Associated Subsim Writers (ASW) make notes of the game and begin penning this column. This week the editorial changes began early Sunday as the game swung back and forth. This was always going to be a close game, even if Lamar Jackson (QB) put up over 50 individual points. Cee Dee Lamb (QB) was the last man standing on Monday night needing to score at least one touchdown after Tom Brady (QB) turned in a stinker performance. The brigade were down to 4 minutes before Lamb (WR) crossed to take the lead from the Gunners. Gunners had already exhausted their players and having no one start on Monday, the Brigade were able to fire by and steal a win. The loss by the Gunners is poignant as the last undefeated falters. Final score n England, The Banter Brigade defeat the Guns of Hochuli 137 - 129.
So lets look at where the league stands, but we're going to start at the bottom, again, this week.
The wins by the Hemand Nighthawks and the Australian Taipans lift them out of the windless column to 1-2, and fortune put half of the league alongside them with the same record. The other half of the league are 2-1, so after three weeks, the entire league is separated by just one game. Wow!
Next week, we're heading to the Carolina's where the Black Cats will be hosting the Guns of Hochuli. Both teams are previous champions of the league, the Gunners being the defending champions, and at this time these two are close enough to own the league lead between them. It will be a cat skinning firestorm in the Carolina's as we get to see past champions sort each other out and potentially, take the lead in the league.
Each week, the Associated Subsim Writers (ASW) will nominated their Most Valuable Torpedo (MVT) of the week, the single player who proved decisive in their teams performance.
Last week we had lots of choices, this week we had to look a little harder. The expansion teams has lowered the forecast winning score from 160 back to approximately 125, so it gets a little harder to pick a winner with the lesser point available. For the effort 1275 yards and 2touchdowns, for a total of 28 points, the Week Three MVT goes to Joe Burrow of the Who Dat Nation.
