WEEK 3 THOUGHTS, PICKS AND STUFF

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Details: Written by Jeff Krol; Category: The Godfather's Picks; Published: 06 September 2024; Created: 06 September 2024; Hits: 222

Ladies and Gentlemen of the TSL Universe, welcome to Week 3 of the Fall 2024 TSL season. After two weeks of “getting things settled” and “shaking off the rust”, the calendar turns to September which means one thing: it’s football time. I know, dear reader, that you’re saying “But Godfather, it’s been football time for two weeks now!” and while I understand where you’re coming from, it’s not quite the same thing. The first two weeks of the TSL season are always the “let’s get the hang of this” weeks. In the Spring sessions, that’s usually a reflection of teams not having played football together for 6 months (indoor football is a different game, it doesn’t count) and they’re getting the cobwebs out of their heads after hibernating for the winter. In the Fall, it’s more about finishing up the end of the summer: some people have weddings, vacations, parties, and various other things to do where their focus isn’t squarely on football.

But now? It’s after Labor Day, and other than not wearing white, the only other thing that matters is football. The weather turns to “football” weather, the NFL comes back, and your focus is squarely on the prize: Social Co-Ed Football Immortality. This doesn’t mean the first two weeks of the season mean nothing, no. It just means that the many, many storylines that have begun to develop will play out in all sorts of different ways. Some of them will remain a theme of the season, others will fade away. But which ones will that be? It’s hard to tell right now, but here are the developing storylines so far this season.

The Wet Bandits mean business. They’re already 3-0 and averaging nearly 50 points a game. They’ve handled their opponents with ease.

The Malones should have gone to D1. It’s already apparent, as The Malones are 2-1, with the one loss coming in a 49-42 battle with the defending D1 champs in the Sticky Bandits. The Malones apparently led by two scores at halftime as well.

Other 3-0 teams include the Cunning Stunts and the ILFers (we don’t have enough webspace to constantly print out the full name of the Becca’s Daddy Jason and their Incredibly Loving Friends each time) who are on a crash course to meet in the D4 finals, and I’m not quite sure the rest of the division will crash this party.

D1/D2 Crossovers look to be a success so far, even with D1 up in the series 4-1. Can the D2 teams close the gap?

D6 looks to be a tale of haves and the have nots as half the division is 2-0, the other half 0-2.

D3 looks to be back to its fun, closely contested division from top to bottom now that The Malones have gone away.

Grey Hair Don’t Care - about defense. GDHC is 1-3 (only beating a D1 team, if you can consider the Freeballers that), but they’re allowing nearly 43 points a game.

GUCCI and The Kellers (Mixin It Up) haven’t played a game yet, but you have to assume both teams will be in the mix for TSL gold come October.

Steph Infection continues to be the gold standard in Breakfast Club, already out to a dominating lead in the division.

Extra shoutout to the two crippled captains of BC who continue to show their support for their teams despite having 2.5 good legs between the two of them (Dri and Carly).

Frodo figuring it out? Maybe. They’re 2-1, but that’s 2-0 in D2, 0-1 in D1. Even still, there’s better vibes coming out of the Swaggins camp than have been in recent memory.

Vaspian is 1-3, but they’re about 3 plays away from being 3-1. That’s exciting for the long running franchise.

Those are just a few of the running storylines we have in the TSL so far this season, and in just a short time we’ll be able to see how many of those storylines actually play out and which new ones will develop over the next 6 weeks of TSL football.

D1/D2

Last Week’s Games

Wet Bandits 50, Frodo Swaggins 31

The Wet Bandits continue their hot start to the season, putting up 50 on Frodo, who are still looking better than they have before.

D1/D2 Crossover Corner

Sticky Bandits 49, The Malones 42

Grey Hair Don’t Care 45, Freeballers 26

Eyes Downtown 30, Scared Hitless 29

Frodo Swaggins 36, The Untouchaballs 7

D1 leads the season series 4-1.

The Crossovers continue to provide excellent drama as Sticky completes the comeback on The Malones, Grey Hair Don’t Care gets D2 on the board as they throttle the Freeballers in the Dave Eickhoff Revenge Game, and then Eyes Downtown BARELY squeaks by Scared Hitless. There was another game where Frodo just decimated The Untouchaballs, and the more worrisome thing I heard is that there are rumors Burr ISN’T the QB?

Mavericks 47, Can’t Touch This 31

The Malones 52, Grey Hair Don’t Care 14

The Mavericks returned to the TSL and it didn’t take them long to remind everyone just who they are. After two weeks of chatter about The Malones and Can’t Touch This, the Mavs showed up and dominated. Speaking of The Malones, they took out their frustrations on the loss to Sticky on GHDC in a big, big way.

This Week’s Games

Wet Bandits vs Freeballers (+10) - Maybe things will get better for the Freeballers, but it’s been a rough start so far. Getting Hogan back isn’t a bad thing, but recovering from losing Sean (again, for them) is hard to do. Speaking of Sean, here he comes to obliterate his old friends with the Wet Bandits on a tear. This might be a car wreck, and if you’re at the fields, consider looking away. WET BANDITS BY 17

D1/D2 Crossover Corner

Sticky Bandits vs Can’t Touch This (+8) - Sticky took all they could handle from The Malones last week, and now they get to see what Can’t Touch This brings to the table. CTT is a similar challenge: they have fantastic females, they have a QB who can throw the ball a mile, and they have dudes that can play. Oh, and they don’t talk nearly the same amount of trash on top of it. I expect a close game that Sticky pulls away late in. STICKY BANDITS BY 14

The Malones vs Eyes Downtown (+3) - That’s right everyone, we’ve come to a point where not only is a D2 favored over the D1 team, but that D1 team is Eyes Downtown. ED continues to spiral a bit, and I don’t think a 1 point win over Scared Hitless is going to make them feel like they’re ‘back on track’ by any means. The Malones let a big win slip away last weekend. They don’t make the same mistake twice. THE MALONES BY 8

Frodo Swaggins vs Mavericks (+7) - The Mavericks begin their foray into the crossover games this season with Frodo Swaggins, who are 2-0 in these competitions already. This is a game everyone should be watching, as I can envision Jordan and Garrett both making plays left and right. This feels like a 48-44 type game. FRODO SWAGGINS BY 4

Wet Bandits vs Mavericks (+10) - Things get progressively harder for the Mavericks as they get the Wet Bandits immediately after Frodo. The Mavericks have the ability to win this game, make no mistake about it, but the Mavs also have to make no mistakes to make that win happen. WET BANDITS BY 18

Scared Hitless vs Freeballers (+3) - Scared Hitless is oh so close to breaking through in a big way, and this game might be the one for them. They barely lost to Eyes Downtown last week, and now they get an arguably easier task in the Freeballers who are still settling into their new roster. SH takes advantage. SCARED HITLESS BY 7

Grey Hair Don’t Care vs Untouchaballs (NO LINE) - Vegas couldn’t turn out a line this week as the rumors of a Jeremy Burr-less Untouchaballs squad get louder and louder. Grey Hair has it together at least, and should add to the win column here. GREY HAIR DON’T CARE BY 8

Last Week’s Games

Bullet Club 25, Jabronies 6

Practice Squad 38, Buffalo Vice 35

Passing While Intoxicated 41, Straw Hats 30

Let’s Get Reccked 54, Straw Hats 36

Bullet Club gets back into the win column after a nice victory over the Jabronies. Practice Squad and Buffalo Vice have a great battle for first place in the division early on, with the Squad sneaking the win out. PWI gets their first official D3 victory over the Straw Hats, although it remains to be seen if the Straw Hats are a D3 team or not, as they went 0-2 on the day, allowing 95 points, also losing to LGR.

This Week’s Games

Practice Squad vs Straw Hats (+10) - Not being able to stop anyone isn’t the best for the Straw Hats, and it’s even worse when they get to take on the top team in the division next. Practice Squad has been looking for these kinds of results since they dropped back down to D3, and it looks like B has this offense humming along. PRACTICE SQUAD BY 7

Passing While Intoxicated vs Topper’s All Stars & Todd (EVEN) - Rumors of Topper showing up to play in this game just so he can shut down Colorado Mike with one arm are circulating. Not quite sure where PWI slots in in D3 just yet, but a strong performance here will give us more of an idea. TAST needs to start getting the offense going here, or they’ll find themselves on the wrong side of Buddy Lee’s wrath. PASSING WHILE INTOXICATED BY 8

Buffalo Vice vs Jabronies (+8) - I’m not sure what Stem Cell injections/HGH that Buffalo Vice took in the offseason, but they’re looking younger, faster, and less “muscle pull-y” than ever. Andy Clark’s Air Raid offense is clicking, and Caitlyn Mason still continues to break the ankles of even people just watching her on the sidelines. The Jabronies still have a great team with Joe Miano at the helm, and they have sneaky good girls too. They could use this win here though. BUFFALO VICE BY 10

Mix’n It Up vs Bullet Club (+4) - The Kellers and Bullet Club have put on some good shows over the last few seasons, and I expect more of the same here. I’m assuming Mix is going to be most of the same squad that we’ve seen over the last few seasons, which means Damien is going to be throwing to Mom, Dad, Aunt Katie, and Uncle Stegs a lot. While you may be asking yourself “The Kellers are getting old, aren’t they?”, I’d like to remind you that Kellers don’t peak athletically until they’re 50 anyway. MIX’N IT UP BY 2

Bullet Club vs Topper’s All Stars & Todd (+3) - The second leg of a double header for both teams, we get our Joe K vs Topper battle that nobody asked for. TAST was last seen running from Bullet Club in the playoffs and forfeiting. All jokes aside, look for a closely contested game where the first defense to make a mistake could cost their team a win. BULLET CLUB BY 8

Wanderers vs Let’s Get Reccked (+3) - Both of these teams have followed the same script time and time again: The Wanderers win a whole bunch of games in the regular season, get called the best in D3, and blow it in the playoffs. Let’s Get Reccked is a team that everyone thinks SHOULD win a whole bunch of games in the regular season, but instead they always end up slightly under .500, win a game in the playoffs, and then blow it in the playoffs. Since it's currently the regular season? WANDERERS BY 1

Last Week’s Games

ILFers 44, Select 39

Cunning Stunts 45, Creekers 20

ILFers 45, The Herd 22

Cunning Stunts 52, Vaspian 27

The Herd 34, Vaspian 28

The narrative of D4 is a Cunning Stunts vs ILFers showdown waiting to happen was only helped this week as both teams went 2-0, scoring 44+ points in all 4 games. The ILFers got wins over a VERY game Select (who has an outside shot at being a real problem in D4), and The Herd. The Stunts went 2-0 with wins over the Creekers (who are off to a rough start this season) and Vaspian, who would end up 0-2 on the day with a close loss to The Herd (getting their first win) later on.

This Week’s Games

Cunning Stunts vs ILFers (+7) - LET’S GO!! The D4 Regular Season Title will more than likely be awarded to the team that wins this game. This is a D4 title preview, and one has to wonder if the ILFers can keep up in gender TDs. Buddy Lee has been great for them at QB, and after many failures at the position, we’re finally seeing their true form. The Stunts though, man, they just keep pounding away at everyone. They’re so damn good. That’s it. That’s the tweet. CUNNING STUNTS BY 8

Vaspian vs Creekers (+4) - I think I’ve made it clear that the Vaspian Vibes are quite nice, despite the record, but what’s going on with the Creekers? Despite coming into the season with some expectations to be awesome, the only thing that’s been awesome for them (of course) is Mullet Guys’ mullet. VASPIAN BY 8

Select vs Cobblestone (+14) - Darryl Carr QB Superstar had a week off to get his mind right, and now he gets to focus on the upstart Select team who everyone is talking about. The problem might be that they’re talking about both of these teams for the wrong reasons. Cobblestone makes you wonder if they’ll even have a full team this time around, and Select’s good play has been overshadowed by infighting and Malikye (this is probably spelled wrong) being way too good for the division. Hopefully, both of these teams show up and play a good clean game. I think that’s what we’ll see. SELECT BY 18

GirthQuakes vs The Herd (EVEN) - The Roaring Herd got a win last week and they’re looking to continue this upward trend against a GQ team that we still don’t quite know what they are yet. However, the GQs definitely have the TSL knowledge that will give them an advantage in any game they play this season, and it’ll come in handy this week. GIRTHQUAKES BY 13

Last Week’s Games

Stir The Sauce 34, Pit Harade 6

Come From Behind 56, Spinelli’s Plumbing 28

Not So Sticky 24, Pit Harade 12

Come From Behind put up a bunch of points as they tend to do, doubling up Spinelli’s. Pit Harade got a rude welcome to D5, going 0-2 in losses to Stir The Sauce and Not So Sticky.

This Week’s Games

Stir The Sauce vs Spinelli’s Plumbing (+7) - Stir The Sauce nearly won the D5 title last season, and they got off to a good start to the season last week as they try to win the title. Spinelli’s return to football has had mixed results so far. They’re 0-2, yet they’re averaging 33 points a game. They just need to fix the defense and they’ll be okay. Not sure that happens just yet. STIR THE SAUCE BY 5

Powerpuff Girls vs Not So Sticky (+7) - Not So Sticky will have their hands full this week as they get the PPGs who have been continuing their rise through the rankings of the TSL as they get better and better. They have superstars left and right, and NSS is going to be challenged to keep up with all of the PPG firepower. POWERPUFF GIRLS BY 8

Two Tuddies vs Pit Harade (+7) - A rivalry renewed, sort of, as these two former D6 foes meet up in D5, albeit with some changes. The Tud Buds have made some big changes to the roster of course, as they absorbed some of the Reset Warriors and at least in Week 1 it made a difference. PH didn’t seem to have most of their big guns last weekend, and were without QB Dave Walter as well. I’m not sure which team will have the advantage here, but this should be a close one. TWO TUDDIES BY 2

Come From Behind vs Stir The Sauce (+3) - Come From Behind can just put up points with ease, and in the blink of an eye you’re down 20 points. The LoVullo football DNA is strong, and when this team is on the same page, look out. Stir The Sauce will be coming off of a prior game, which could also spell trouble for them, and Wrestler Dan’s speed and height combos can be matched by some of the CFB guys as well. Should be interesting to watch. COME FROM BEHIND BY 7

Powerpuff Girls vs GUCCI (+7) - The PPGs will really get a chance to see how well they match up against the class of D5 this time around, as GUCCI makes their Fall 2024 debut, finally! Kelly Kane and company have been doing this so long together that I don’t think rust will be a factor, but getting to play the well oiled machine the PPGs are becoming will. The girls lay their claim to the throne, officially. POWERPUFF GIRLS BY 12

Last Week’s Games

Day By Day 29, Dogg Pound 16

Sausage McMuffins 45, TMA 29

Blitzkrieg 35, Balls Deep 14

Blitzkrieg 40, Purple Nurples 31

Day By Day continues the upward trend, easily handling the Dogg Pound to stay undefeated on the season. The McMuffins hold off TMA, who, it turns out, plays much better when a QB shows up for them. Fall Blitzkrieg is in full effect, going 2-0 in their first action of the season, easily dispatching Balls Deep, and then pulling away from the Purple Nurples.

This Week’s Games

Sticky Laces vs TMA (EVEN) - TMA gave us a glimpse of the TMA of old last week, and I’m expecting things to continue here. Once they get a bit of confidence, they’re a much better squad. They still have studs on the team like Brent and Val, so it’s not like all is lost. Sticky Laces started off hot, which was good for them after a rough opening season. I’m not sure the week off helped them though. TMA BY 10

Fall Blitzkrieg vs Sausage McMuffins (EVEN) - Championship preview? Both teams have started off great, as they’re 2-0 and won rather easily so far. The McMuffins score a little more but FBK has a little better defense. Both teams are going to get up for this one. FALL BLITZKRIEG BY 1

Balls Deep vs Dogg Pound (EVEN) - Two 0-2 teams are out here looking for the first win of the season. Both teams are struggling on offense so far, as they’re both averaging 16 points a game (Okay, DP is at 16.5) and until they figure out how to score more, this is going to be a tough year. However the DP defense has been slightly better, and because of that, i’ll give them the nod here. DOGG POUND BY 2

Day By Day vs Purple Nurples (+6) - Day By Day has just been playing solid, systematic, good football, while the Purple Nurples are sort of the opposite, just kind of winging it and seeing what sticks. Sometimes that can lead to scoring outbursts, sometimes it leads to frustration. Give me the team that’s been steady lately. DAY BY DAY BY 6

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR SATURDAY

The big one, as always, is how does the weather look for this weekend? My weather channel app here in Des Moines, Iowa tells me that Buffalo weather is looking like Buffalo weather: wet, 60 degrees, and a bit of wind. Football weather, sure. Get your cleat cleaners out for this week. And probably a change of clothes.

After such a close one against Sticky, do The Malones win the rest of their crossover games? As much as I’d love to say yes, I think The Malones end up losing to the Wet Bandits whenever they play as well.

What teams are looking to be struggling early on? Eyes Downtown just simply isn’t Eyes Downtown as of late. Freeballers really seem to be struggling so far this year. We might have jumped the gun on the Jabronies. The Untouchaballs might be boned if the rumors are true.

Who’s having a really great season so far? It’s not so much a team, but a player. I think Buddy Lee is really turning into one of the best QBs in the league. He’s 4-1 this season, winning with PWI, ILFers, and in Breakfast Club too. The only loss he’s had so far is the PWI game where they didn’t have enough girls to start the year. More and more eyes are on him as his storyline develops.

How is Breakfast Club looking after one week? The TSL’s often imitated but never duplicated draft league division is looking spot on after week one. We had two games that were incredibly close (1 and 4 points), and while the other one was a bit of a blowout (20 points), that’s more due to the losing team losing Captain Dri unexpectedly than anything. BC is the best thing a TSL player can do. It’s fun, and it’s much less stressful than your regular games.

TEN FINAL THOUGHTS FOR SATURDAY

Joey Batts is really, really good. I know he’s been telling you that for the last decade, but he just feels like he’s on another level this season with the Wet Bandits and Cunning Stunts. Hot take: he wins both titles this year.

If the Jeremy Burr rumors are true and he bailed on the Untouchaballs and being a transcendent QB just to chase a title or whatever he’s doing, that’s incredibly sad and the league just got worse overall for it.

Breakfast Club Predictions:

D’s Nutz 32, Dri Girls 1 Cup 30

All Ryled Up 35, Syd On My Face 20

Steph Infection 44, Carlyac Arrest 30

Games of The Day:

10:00 - The Malones vs Eyes Downtown

11:00 - Blitzkrieg vs Sausage McMuffins

12:00 - ILFers vs Cunning Stunts

1:00 - Creekers vs Vaspian

2:00 - Powerpuff Girls vs GUCCI

3:00 - GirthQuakes vs The Herd

B’S BROTHER MADE HIS RETURN TO THE FIELDS AND WE WERE ALL BETTER FOR IT!

Let’s Get Reccked vs Wanderers is also going to be a very good game, feel free to watch that one.

Refs not showing up to games, not putting down cones, and not picking up the dog toys afterwards is not a great look for the league, but it also shows the character of the good people of the league that stepped up and stepped in when help was needed in a split second.

Dog Day is official for next week, September 14th, from 12-2. Get ready to give all the love to the pups and kittens!

People who worry way too much about an “overpowered player” in a certain division really just don’t believe in themselves or their own team enough. Accept the challenge and beat them.

As always, if you want me to write more about your team and shout out your players, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today. Stop dragging your feet and do it like so many others have!

-GF OUT