April 28th - RECAP

A personal message from The Commish:

“Thank you to all who showed up to play this week. Ten players made for an unbelievable game and we hope to continue the strong turnout in the future. Please keep up the invitation to your friends and coworkers. The League appreciates it!”

Now for the RECAP!!!

The stage was set! This week’s Saturday Game featured two of the leagues premier athletes, A-Train and Matt “Gimme” Moore.

The players had been using the media to trash talk each other throughout the week, the culmination of which took place on the grassy gridiron of Glencoe. Let’s recap the “war of words” from the week.

A-train to Matt: Who are you kiddin- I have seen you play...you better have KT call during the game so you have an excuse to bail out on your beating.

Matt: “Anthony, just promise me you'll guard me...I want some easy td's this week.”

Anthony: “The only easy TDs you will get will be from your wife.”

Matt: “Well, I guess you should know about easy...you know, with your mom and all...”

A-Train: “Suck it!”

Matt: “I assume that is your concession speech.”

(Although The League does not promote the use of Mom’s or Wives for trash talk, the above recap was posted merely to show the fierce competition of these prominent players. For the record, future uses of Wives or Mom’s in trash talking will be fined, by The League, if the team doesn’t take action first!)

With that said, Let the GAME BEGIN!

Matt and A-train took command of the game and became the Captains’ of their respective teams. Once the morning DRAFT was complete, the teams took their spots on the field.

Team “Gimme” Moore took the ball first and failed to score during their first series.

At this point, Team A-Train took control of the game and scored quickly on three straight possessions.

Team “Gimme” Moore was starting to tighten up under the pressure of the game! The pressure was so great, in fact, that Captain “Gimme” Moore blew chunks’ on the field! (This event was capture on camera and is proudly displayed on the top right of this blog).

Shortly after this event, Captain “Gimme” Moore retired for the day leaving Captain A-Train as the unquestioned dominator of the match up!

Congrats to A-Train coming out on top of the slightly anti-climatic event!

Weekly Awards

MVP April 28: Casey Ford – After nursing an injured hamstring, taking a Novocain shot and tight wrapping the quadriceps, Casey fought through pain and agony to lead his team to seven TD passes, two other TD catches and a rushing TD! Absolutely amazing! He also pulled in one interception that led to a TD. Quite possibly one of the best performances yet on Saturday Morning!

Bill Bates Award: Named for the Cowboy legend who had a nose for the ball and made seemingly every play defensively… T-Darley wins this award as he’s got the battle scars to prove it.

Worst Pre-game Meal: It was so bad that it ended up on the field, check the picture on the top right and see if you can find the bad onion ring that “Gimme” Moore had eaten either the night before or the morning of the game.

Top Captain: After all the trash talk, A-Train was able to back it up with a Victory. Personally, this observer believes that the difference was in the shoes; CLICK CLACK, Under Amour HUhhhhhhhhhhh!

Best Throw: Hunter captures this award due to his laser beam throw to the front corner of the end zone where somehow the ball went between two defenders and into “Favre’s” hands. Granted “Favre” had to make a great catch and toe tap for it to remain inbounds

Jeremy: Best Jay Novacek impersonation for effortlessly working the middle of the field with is big soft hands. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see Jeremy with a Novacek mullet!


Longest 5 yard pass: Darrel gets this award from taking a short dump off all the way to the house; a self proclaimed speedster with no endurance! This newcomer of the week has established himself as one of the SMFL’s premier deep threats.

Penguin Award: The player that flourishes the best when no HEAT is on them. Holland takes this award with pride! There were numerous plays where his number was called but he couldn’t shake the “Favre” coverage. Only when the defense went from a Man Defense, to a Zone Defense, was he able to score. (Now if that’s not calling someone OUT, I don’t know what is!!!!)

Best Catch: For the second week in a row, the tactile “Favre” pulled in a fireball pass from Hunter S. in the corner of the end zone, with two defenders all over him.

“It was quite a site! I wish I could experience being caught by the tactile Favre sometime soon ;).” (Unknown attractive female observer of the game who happened to be walking her dog at the time).

What Great TIMING!!!

Best QB Performance: “Farrellio” - for successfully executing the Offensive Coordinator’s (Casey) complicated game plan.

“He picked apart the stiff defensive zone so meticulously that it was reminiscent of how meticulous “Favre” picks his wedgy after being burned deep!” (Unnamed member of Team A-Train).

Thanks again for all who were able to make it. Look forward to the weekly e-mail.

Remember…

-Stay Classy America

April 28, 2007 - Saturday Game - 10am

We already have some trash talking beginning for Saturday. Just so he won't back down, it is posted for all to see. The League has decided to add two new camera's this week, each camera will be assigned to follow the two players named below at all times during the game. (No Spitting! The league will review tapes!)

Herrera states:

"is Matt signed up to play? if he is I will definitely be there - i want to shut the dude down. he has taken some cheap hits on me over the last few weeks - especially that "gay" dialogue he came up with."

Let the game begin!

See all who can make it early at Einstein's Bagel @ 845am

April 21st Game Recap!

Weekly Awards:

April 21st MVP: Ryan Looney - His blitzes and coverage caused three turnovers. Two interceptions were “pick 6’s”, one of which he returned all the way to the end zone after receiving a lateral… and that was just his DEFENSE! On offense he scored three touchdowns and passed for another. It will be difficult to match that performance, especially since there is now film to watch and time to game plan against him for next weeks game! Congrats Ryan, Way to go!

Best Blitz: Avery - there is a reason you are “blitzen” mad after you try and fail to juke him. How is anyone that fast?. If he wins this award again, we will have to rename the award after him… or just call him “Blitz.”

Best Connection: “Favre” Sandwick and J-rad were workin the roommate chemistry to connect on, not one or two long bombs, but three which all went for Touchdowns! They had two other attempted “connections”, which were thwarted by good defense. They would have been touchdowns otherwise! When interviewed at the end of the game, both confirmed that the reason these passes were successful was because neither player were wearing gloves.

“I don’t like to wear gloves” Favre stated,
“I like to feel the ball on my fingers since I’m a very tactile person!” (Whatever that means?!)

The league is currently reviewing the tapes to see if any offensive pass interference or illegal push-offs occurred down field. If that does not reveal anything, a raid of their apartment will be conducted by league officials to determine if the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs were used. For the record, Nyquil and Tylenol PM will be considered as illegal performance enhancing drugs. Raid may be conducted at an undisclosed time during the middle of the week.

Comeback Player of the Week: Matt “Gimme” Moore made four incredible displays of acrobatic receptions! I think he stayed suspended in air and bobbled one pass six times before coming down on the sidelines, but inbounds as he tapped one tip toe inside the white line! It looked like a ballerina. Too bad he doesn’t show up every week to do that.

Play of the Game: D-Newb was responsible for the play of the game, which was the very first play of the day! After running a routine 5-yard out, D-Newb caught a bullet from Farrellio, and turned the corner on J-rad, and he was off to the races. “Favre” Sandwick tried to catch him from behind but fell 15 yards short in the footrace.

“It was like watching a shorter, thicker Avery… he was so fast!” (unnamed member of D-Newbs team). He goes on to state, “Who knew that the California boy could move so fast without a girl to chase???”

Dirtiest Player of the Game: Thankfully, we aren’t talking about language here. Farrellio racked up this award due to the look of his Romo jersey after the game. After missing a pass in the end zone, Farrellio went heels over head after the pass contacted an “undisclosed” location in the lower body area. During the next game, Farrellio returned an interception back to the end zone in which he scored only after he dove and stretched the ball into the corner cone just as J-rad was diving for him.

“Although the dive to the end zone was a good play, it was more of a lunge, or semi-knee slide… like something my girlfriend would do if she were playing softball while getting out of the way of contact… kind of dainty, actually,” An unnamed player of the losing team stated about the touchdown dive.

The result of those two plays was serious, massive, irreversible, grass-ious stainage. By the end of the weekend, it was determined that the stain damage to the jersey were irreversible.


Injury Report:

J-rad: Undisclosed lower body injury, and disfigured nasal damage (unrelated to the Saturday game) 67%
Farrellio: Undisclosed lower body soreness. 93%
D-Newb: Left ankle soreness. 86%
“Favre” Sandwick: 100%
Matt “Gimme” Moore: 100%
R – Looney: 100%
Avery: 100%

Thanks to those who were able to make it out this week and we will see those that can make it next week.

Make it a good week, and remember…

-Stay Classy America

Saturday April 21st

Join us for a very competitive game of Football, Saturday morning at 10am; location - Glencoe Park.

Don't forget about the team breakfast before the game at 8:45am; location- Einstein Bagels (Abrams and Mockingbird).

Great time for Carb Loading!

See you guys there!

IS THAT GOOD BUSINESS?

“Is that good business” - a segment dedicated to discussing and exposing the frustrating aspects of capitalism in our day to day life that leave us questioning, “is that good business?”

Car Dealerships

My wife and I were looking to purchase a car this weekend. We had spent a couple of months researching and looking online, Craig List, Car Max, E-bay and the like, but none of those avenues had panned out. It did however; give us a good barometer of the kind and price of car that we were looking for, so we felt well equipped to purchase.

We set out to several nearby car dealership in Richardson TX, dealerships that are close to Campbell and US 75… after taking my wife’s advice, I have decided not to put the name of the dealership in the blog, but if you contact me, I will tell you each dealership name and the name of the sales person that helped us.

Dealership #1

My wife and I enter the establishment and were quickly greeted by a Salesman, we will call him Bob. Bob small talked a little and ask us
“What kind of car are you looking for today?”

We explain that we are looking for a used vehicle that we can purchase with $11,000 cash.

Bob nods in agreement that he understands what my wife and I just said.

He took us around, showed us a half a dozen cars, none of which were up to my wife’s liking.

Bob then asked the great line – “What do I need to do to get you into a car today?”

I replied – “Bob, I need a car that my wife likes and that you are willing to part with for $11,000 cash.”

Bob nodded in agreement like he understood.

He then showed us another half dozen cars, all of which were $16,000 and up.

“Bob, this car that you are showing us looks good, after a test drive and if we like it, will you part with it for $11,000?”

At which he responds – “that’s a Sales Manager question, I just show the cars.”

Bob doesn’t ask or make a move to go get the sales manager. We then start walking back to the store, at which point Bob asks,

“What do I need to do to get you in a car today?”

I replied – “Bob, I need a car that my wife likes and that you are willing to part with for $11,000 cash.”

At this point, Bob looks confused as we walk back to the main building. My wife and I thank him for his time and we leave.

Dealership #2

Before my wife and I can even get out of our car, we are greeted by a salesman, we will call him Ted.

Ted asks: “What type of car are you looking for today.”

“Ted,” I said,

“I need a car that my wife likes and that you are willing to part with for $11,000 cash.”

Ted, pretending to understand, nods his head and proceeds to show us several car with price tags in the high teens, lower 20’s.
After trying to get on my wife’s good side, Ted convinces her that we need to take a test drive on a Toyota Camry, approximately $19,000. I’m starting to be beaten at this point so I agree to test drive the car.

When we return to the dealership after the test drive, Ted asks us if we liked the car.

“Yes” my wife says – “I do like the car but I want to think about it. Can I get your business card?”

Ted, pretending to understand, nods his head and invites us into his office to get a business card.

After waiting in his “so called” office, which is nothing more than a “community” cubical that is up for grabs to the first Salesman to grab, Ted walks up without and business card but with a Sales Manager, a heavy set 6’6” middle age man.

“So, how did you like the Camry?” – the Sales Manager said.

Stunned and confused at this point, I starred at Sales Manager.

“No, thank you” my wife responds, “We’ll just take your business card Ted, thanks.”

We leave, confused and very annoyed. Thank goodness my wife was there to stay firm!

Dealership #3

My wife and I park and graze the front lot for a few minutes before venturing inside the building. This dealership is very busy and it takes a good 3 to 5 minutes before a salesman helps us. We will call this one, Jeff.

Jeff sits us down in his “community” cubical and takes down some information from us:

Name
Phone number
What car are you interested in.
How do you plan on paying?
Lease, finance or loan

I respond – “I need a car that my wife likes and that you are willing to part with for $11,000 cash.”

Jeff pretends to understand and nods. Jeff then takes my wife and I around the lot for about an hour and a half, showing us this and that and convinces us that we need to take a car for a test drive.

After just sitting in the car, my wife says that she doesn’t like the car and we proceed to go back inside to find Jeff and give back the keys.

Meanwhile, Jeff had taken the opportunity to go look at my car and value it for a trade in to see if he could rival that price I have quoted from Carmax.

After about 20min, we find Jeff and give him the keys so that we can go. Jeff then says he has another car that “just came in, that we have to look at.”

- “(How convenient)” – I thought.

At this point, I’m pretty beaten so we go look at the car and it turns out that this is the type of car that we were looking for from the outset of our day.

My wife and I take it for a test drive, and while on the drive, my wife and I discuss purchasing the vehicle (Jeff did not go on the test drive, he was back at the dealership doing the “paperwork.”)

We get back from the test drive, clearly sold on the car and tell Jeff that we would like to review the CarMax report and think about the car overnight. Jeff quickly agrees and escorts us inside to his “community” office.

He then leaves the office to do more “paperwork” and to work on getting us a “hard” quote on the trade in of my car and a quote for this new car.

After another 20min, Jeff finally comes back, and gives me a piece of paper with the number $1,400.

“What is this, Jeff?”

“This is the price that it will take to get you into the car. I have valued your car at $21,000 (this is 2,000 more that CarMax and this is just by looking at the car, no investigation on his part). And the difference with your car, what you owe and the price of the used car, we are looking at a difference of $1400.

My Car Value: $21,000
Note on my car: $7,000
Difference: $14,000
Price of used car: 15,400 (plug figure in order to owe 1400)
Difference for me to pay: $1,400

“No” – I said. This is about the time a heavy set Sale Manager walks into the “community” office as says:

“What will is take for you to drive out of the lot today in that car?”

To which I responded:

“Jeff, maybe you didn’t understand me when I said that I want to pay $11,000 for the car. That means I want to pay $11,000, which mean I wouldn’t owe any money on the car. Also, your value of my car is a “Soft Number” since you didn’t have a technician look at it, which makes me think the actual value you’re going to give me is the price that CarMax would give me (19,500). So instead of $1400, I would pay an additional $1500 for a total of $2900, out of pocket.”

“Oh, so you don’t want to pay any more than $11,000” – Jeff said.

“RIGHT” – I said, clearly annoyed. “Any what about the Carfax Report?”

“Right, let me go get that for you” Jeff responds.

He then leaves his “community” office to go into the next door “community” office to talk with the sales manager. 5, 10, 15, 20 mins pass and at this point, several salesman, along with Jeff, are in the office talking with the sales manager, laughing and talking loudly… not about work either.

Clearly annoyed and borderline rampant at this point, I tell my wife that we are leaving. She tells me to go get the car and she will stay to get the Carfax report.

I leave.

After waiting in the car for another 10 min, my wife finally makes it out of that HOLE with a Carfax report.

She then tells me that after I had left the office, Jeff had come in to the “community” office to change his offer from $1400 to Zero.

My wife said thanks; we will call you and left.

Time Total at this dealership alone was almost 3 hours, after which I had nothing to show for it but higher blood pressure!


Conclusion
I hated to walk out of the office and be so disrespectful to Jeff, but he was not very respectful of my wife and I, and it was only after I walked out of the office that Jeff started paying attention to us. In fact all of the salesmen that my wife and I were helped by were not respectful to us. There goal was to pressure and force me into purchasing a car at a higher price than what I told them I wanted to pay. I addressed the salesman straight forward and with respect. I told them exactly what I wanted and how much I wanted to pay for it. Instead of saying that they didn’t have a car for me in that price, they wasted my time by trying to dupe me into purchasing a higher priced car, making me wait and making empty promises about what they could deliver. And even when I found a car that I liked, they tried to “sweat us out” and make us wait for 40min for no reason other than to show that they have power to do so. As a result, they lost a sale of a car that day, and I will never shop there again. IS THAT GOOD BUSINESS?

No game last week

Due to hectic schedules, last weeks game was cancelled, unfortunately. Apology's to "Blue Shoes" James as his last week to play fell on the BYE week. James - we look forward to seeing you out in a few months.

Stay tuned for the weekly e-mail and the game on Saturday.

Flurries Fury – April 7, 2007 Recap

The morning started great with four players enjoying a pre-game meal at Einstein Bagels. The Power bagel was the Bagel of Choice this morning. After some brief Masters talk and Aggie bashing with the Gillispie shadiness, we headed out to the field. The Tour of Dallas (Bicycle race) took precedence of our normal route to the field, making our normal tour to the field a bit of an exploration, but luckily everyone persevered and made it to the field.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the field was 100% cut this week and somehow still hard as a rock… even after the down pours of rain we have experienced over the past week.

Is this the effect of global warming?

Is the earth warming from the inside?

Those are some thoughts from my enemy, the inventor of the internet himself, Al Gore. Ok, enough of politics… back to the game!

To quote today’s game MVP;

“Today is the best weather possible to play football!”

That from mouth of Hunter Satterfield, who couldn’t be more correct! Temperature in the high 30’s, intermittent snow flurries, and slight north breezes made today's game reminiscent of those played at Lambeau Field.

Adam “Favre” Sandwick should have flourished under such conditions, but unfortunately he resembled the Brett Favre circa 2006, and not 1996.

“It was the nervous energy of playing in the Lambeau-esk conditions,”

Sandwick explained in the post game interviews. He goes on to state,

“You better have enjoyed my play today, because it won’t happen again! I’ll be ready to do it big next week!! You don’t know what I’m talking about but my team knows what I’m talking about! All day, all night!”

This reporter is unsure if even the Florida Gators NCAA Basketball team knows what Mr. Sandwick is talking about… perhaps it was just the bitter taste of a loss that was affecting his communication skills today.

Props to all the players who made it out today along with the weekly awards:

- Derek - (Top quarterback of the Day)
- Avery - (Fastest Blitz Counter)
- Tim D.- (O-Line Player of the Week)
- “Blue Shoes” James - (Best Dressed… I mean, it’s in the nickname!)
- Matt “Gimme” Moore – (Best trash talker… most of it done before the game)
- Hunter S. - (April 7th MVP)
- “Favre” Sandwick - (Best “Shut Down” Cornerback)
- Farrellio (Best Near-Miss Career Ending Injury) ***

*** The league will review procedures necessary to make the field more “player friendly,” including options of padding or removing the 30 foot steel light fixtures… Stay tuned***

Today’s match was a tight; back and forth battle of straight four on four plays. It had been many weeks since our last full game of equal strength teams.

“It was a story of one team hoping to win, verses a team that knew it would!” (Quote taken, with permission of the National Football League, from the 1993 Superbowl Champion Dallas Cowboys Year in Review video)

This week’s MVP, Hunter S., threw for 4 touchdowns and caught 3 more! Not bad for a man who spends most of his week catching vomit out of his sons mouth!

Hunter’s team enjoyed victory of both games played, winning 7-5 and 4-3. (First game is first to 7, second game is first to 4).

Looking forward to next Saturday, where “Favre” Sandwick has promised revenge!

Also, next week will be “Blue Shoes” James last week, so come see him in action for the last time. This is what happens when you get engaged; you can’t play and have to go to Europe instead.

Make it a great week gents, and remember…

-Stay Classy America

World Viewing Reality

The first of many segments which seek to explore political, social and economical events present in the World that contain foundational characteristics rooted in Biblical principals.

The following was taken from a monthly newsletter known as GLEANINGS, written by Gerald Chester, Ph.D [www.StrategiesWork.com]. Thank you Dr. Chester for allowing me to post your work.


Christianity: The Official Religion of China?
It has been reported that Jiang Zemin, president of China from 1993 to 2003, said that he was tempted to make Christianity the official religion of China (1) — a startling statement from the head of a country committed to atheism. What could have moved President Zemin to make such a declaration?

Chinese scholars spent twenty years trying to discover why America is both the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world. Consider the following quote regarding their conclusions.

"One of the things we [Chinese scholars] were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact the pre-eminence of the West [America] over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you [America] had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on the economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West is so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don't have any doubt about this." (2)

President Zemin must have known of this research. And since he valued America’s economic prosperity so highly, he was willing to replace the atheism that communism is built on and in its place embrace Christianity. Sadly the Chinese may understand more about our prosperity than we Americans do. They reached the conclusion that our Christian heritage is foundational to our prosperity. If their research is correct, and I believe it is, shouldn’t we be eager to preserve our Christian values and principles? Wouldn’t it make sense for American business schools to teach biblical values and principles as the keys to successful business?
As logical as it may seem that America should be embracing Christianity as the foundation for business success, America is not. Instead there is a growing movement to eliminate Christian values and principles from American business. Some examples are:

-The growing movement to adopt the gay agenda;

-The wholesale embracing of non-Christian worldviews, such as Islam; and

-The inability to use religious convictions as part of a hiring criteria.

Many political leaders are leading the charge to de-Christianize America. For example, presidential candidate John Edwards recently was quoted as saying that he does not consider America to be a Christian nation. (3) What does this move to de-Christianize business mean for America’s future? Based on the Chinese research, one would conclude that America is on the road to economic decline. How long this might take is hard to gauge, but the inevitability of the reality seems certain.

What should American Christians do? American Christians should take a stand and resist the de-Christianization of American business. Christians must understand the critical role that Christian values and principles play in facilitating the economic success of our country and be willing to resist those who are promoting non-Christian values and principles. Only by embracing the truth of Christianity and being willing to fight to preserve America’s Christian heritage can we expect our nation’s economic prosperity to continue. If American Christians don't rise up and take a stand, in time, our economic system will implode. America will become a Third World nation. This will leave the door open for China and others to take America's place, and the nations that take America's place as the economic leader will do so by using the Christian values and principles that America is working so hard to reject.

So what are you going to do about it? Are you willing to answer the call to arms? If you want to do something, reject the policitically correct philosophy of the day and hold fast to our Christian hertiage. The economic future of America is at stake. This is no April Fool's joke!

1. Ken Eldred, God is at Work, p. 73.2. Rodney Stark, The Victory Reason, p. 235.3. Helen Kennedy, "How Edwards Sees Faith," http://www.nydailynews.com, 3/4/07.

No Blue Shoes

Congrats to those who made it out to this weeks game. Definitely the best weather of the year! A special thanks to the lawn mower man, who was able to mow 89% of the field, making the other 11% a slippery trap for anyone trying to make a square in or out (enter Jeremy and Jamison)... those guys spent more time on the ground than David Hasselhoff! he he... oh wait, that should read "more time in the sand than David Hasselhoff," which is a golf joke and doesn't make sense in this situation. MOVING ON...

We had three new players this week, Jeremy, Jamison and Robby. Judging by the look of the uniform after the game, Jamison and Jeremy have earned Exempt status in the league after only One Game! A feet which has not been done previously to date. Thanks for bringing them out guys and keep up the invites!

Another congrats goes to "Blue Shoes" James who recently got engaged! Congratulations James... although, I fail to see why you were unable to play at 10am on a Saturday... we'll let this one slide this week.

Highlights from this weeks game include two Hunter "hail marry" catches on 5th and 40, the Governor’s (Jared) 35 yard dash and being amazed at Hershel’s ability to get wide open on every play! Why didn't we throw him the ball more!?

Have a great week Gents, and we'll see you on the field Saturday April 7th.

-Stay Classy America