Back in Business

Following a brutal loss to Jerkstore in Week 1, the Commas were looking for their first official win of the season against another yet-to-be-named team (they're still called ZS-BKFB 4, but they tell us that they'll eventually be called the Killer Bees because of their yellow jerseys). Unfortunately, Oxford fell behind early thanks to two turnovers on their first three plays. They took the lead when Dave scored on a short pass, earning the first TD of the young season for Oxford. But the Bees managed to get into the end zone again, making it 14-8 at the half.

Early in the second period, Gonzo was able to pressure the Bees' quarterback into throwing a duck that Jon "The Law" B. picked off for an easy score. The Commas then went on a tear, with rookie Max making a diving fourth-down touchdown catch, following it up with a two-point conversion. But the Bees would keep the game competitive thanks to a flukey touchdown play that left everyone on the field shaking their heads.

With only a minute to go, Oxford mounted a last drive from their own five yard line. Yeah, I know the fields are only fifty-something yards in this league, but just play along. Anyway, thanks to clutch catches by Jane and Kari, the Commas were able to eat up the clock and finally score with another diving TD grab by Max. Taylor would later seal the game by intercepting the Bees' final throw. Oxford was able to hang on for its first win, 26-20.

So the Commas are now at .500 with a rematch looming against Girlz II Men, whom they beat in the preseason. Hopefully, G2M was not hustling us by only playing their scrubs.

In other news, this week's Inspirational Football Clip of the Week is dedicated to a great player who just died this week. By the end of this season, I may end up resembling this man.

Here are the highlights (thanks, Dan).

The Commas work their way down the field, despite the team's best efforts to get penalized. Jane and Max make some big catches, all leading to Dave's score.



Coach Lombardi gets angry following the third Oxford turnover of the half:



Max makes two big catches to get us into the end zone. Meanwhile, Gonzo has some kind of weird banter going on with the ref:



And then Max decides to catch a two-pointer in traffic. (This was not an easy catch, btw.):



After receiving some pressure from Gonzo, the enemy QB tosses up a Hail Mary that is gobbled up by Taylor. Despite the protests from the sideline, he does the smart thing by kneeling at the one, allowing Oxford to run out the clock to end the game. For those of you who wanted him to keep going, I have only this to say. Anyway, here's the clip:

Um...wow.

The good news is that we got this one out of the way early in the season. In a disaster of train wreck proportions, the new-look Commas were unable to do anything right against a very capable Jerkstore X team. (If you're not familiar with that Seinfeld reference, this clip will bring you up to speed.) Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, the next thing we knew it was 32-0 at the half. The second half began with a promising drive for Oxford, but it ended when a defender plucked a pass out of a receiver's hands right at the one-yard line. The bloodletting did not stop there, as the Commas continued to bang their heads against a wall. Final score: 48-0. Yeah, that's a zero. Shut up.

Perhaps we should move right into the Inspirational Football Clip of the Week; this one is about plays that start out bad and end up good, as we hope will happen to the season.

We only have a handful of highlights. Here is a defensive stop by Brian:



And no game--win or lose--is complete without a grumpy Gonzo rant:

Yes, Football is Played in the Rain, Folks

The Commas were all business in their preseason game against [Team to Be Named Later]. Despite a driving rain storm and some rustiness from the long off-season, Oxford jumped out to an early lead that they never relinquished, thanks to multiple touchdown performances by Brian and Gonzo (including a deep pass thrown by Jon). Shawn added a big touchdown reception of his own, along with a couple of interceptions. The defense surrendered only one score, and that was due to a phantom pass interference call after the game was out of reach for [Team to Be Named Later]. Enjoy the win, Oxford--the games count for real next week.

For our Inspirational Football Clip of the Week, I thought I would share with you a highlight of Tom Rathman, the guy for whom our bread-and-butter "fullback" play is named. I also have an uninspiring football link to share; click it if you're okay with having a part of your childhood shrivel and die inside of you.

Our lone highlight is Brian complaining about the perils of playing in the rain. Apparently, I forgot how to work my camera, too:



Onward.