Thursday, December 27, 2012

Roadhouse Fantasy Football Records

My family and I have a fantasy football league that just completed its second year. I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of our standings and champions in the two years so I'm posting them.

We had a few more teams our 1st year but I will not include them because they didn't play this year.

Team 2011 2012 Total
Death and Taxes 14-2 10-6 24-8
Crazy Swayze 5-8 11-4 16-12
Toledo Toasters 9-6 8-7 17-13
Trailerpark Tornadoes 6-7 7-8 13-15
London Silly Nannies 6-7 5-8 11-15
Giggity 4-9 6-9 10-18
Naples Neckties 2-11 11-5 13-16
Dirty Sanchez 2-11 1-12 3-23


2011 Final Standings
Champion: Death and Taxes
2nd Place: Mr. G (Defunct)
3rd Place: Shoeflys (Defunct)

2012 Final Standings
Champion: Naples Neckties
2nd Place: Toledo Toasters
3rd Place: Death and Taxes

Monday, December 24, 2012

Brennen im Feuer Ch 3


The clock struck six. I was waiting in my apartment for people to arrive with James.

“So where’s your father? I’m surprised he’s not around,” James asked.

“I was able to get him to go stay with my uncle tonight. I convinced him that what I really needed was to be alone after Paul’s death.”

“He has no clue what’s going on? Don’t you think he should?”

“No, he doesn’t and for his safety I believe it’s best he stay ignorant to everything,” I said matter-of-factly.

By 6:30 about ten people made it into my apartment and I decided to start. I stood up and said, “First, I’d like to thank you guys for coming tonight. I wanted you all to come here to discuss the atrocities that are occurring to us. We need to stick up for ourselves. We need a plan. I don’t know about you but I have had enough of this shit and I think it’s time we stuck up for ourselves. I think if we get enough people we can start small and have a protest. After that we can move on to bigger and better things and maybe ultimately end this tyranny.”

 
I went over some ideas I had but nobody seemed too receptive. Eventually I heard, “This is never going to work, it’s not worth it to try anything. Let’s all just leave and forget about this!”

 
People nodded in agreement and started to leave. Before anyone could get to the door though, I picked up a vase that was sitting next to me and threw it across the room. “Somebody died yesterday! Somebody that we all worked with! Somebody we cared about! His name was Paul Robson! He died standing up for what was right, what was honorable! How can you not see that something has to be done?!?”

The room suddenly fell silent. There were looks of shock and awe at my outburst. After what seemed like forever, somebody finally spoke up. “I’m with you. You’re right, Morrigan, we have to fight this or eventually we will all end up like Paul.”

The room suddenly reacted and shouts of agreement were heard.
 
One voice asked, “So what are we going to do and how will we do it?”

Friday, December 21, 2012

Brennen Im Feuer Ch 2


I had thought about Paul all day; the image of his death was playing over and over in my mind. I needed to figure out a way to get back at this government for all of their wrongdoings and finally the answer hit me. I was going to start a coalition to take down the government! I knew that I could get the support I needed from friends and coworkers. The hatred towards the leader was widespread and riots had been occurring for the last several years. All of those riots and coup attempts had failed previously and I knew that I would have to try a different approach to succeed. Every time, the riot or coup was hastily put together and there was no real organization, leading to mass chaos.

I talked to James at the end of the day about my idea.

“I’m pissed off too, but I don’t see how this is the best course of action. I mean, how would we do this? I don’t know how we can survive, let alone succeed.”

“It’s gonna be very difficult but I have an idea. We need to be organized and we have to be secretive. The first rule of our coalition: Don’t talk about The Coalition.”

“Umm, then how are we going to get people to join, Morrigan? If nobody can talk about it, how will we let them know?”

“Simple, we find people that we know want to take action against our government and tell them to meet with us at my place,” I said.

“Well, okay, I’m in. I feel like I’m going to regret this decision, but I can’t let you do this on your own,” James said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Tell me what to do,” he said.

            I knew this would be a great undertaking and I was greatly comforted by James. He had always been there for me in the best and worst of times. He was one of the few people that could handle my stubbornness and my determination. I’ve always felt we had a connection, but neither of us seemed to be in that place at the same time.

For about an hour at the end of the day, I walked around the factory talking to people gauging interest while being as discrete as possible about what the coalition was. At the end of the hour, I was able to get a few people to agree to come to my apartment the next day after work. The Coalition was born.

James and I took the dreaded walk home in silence, avoiding the route that we took when Paul died in the morning, taking the long way. This route was not the most aesthetically pleasing, with all the brick buildings looking ugly and about as run down as decrepit shacks are. I was told that District 1 used to have skyscrapers before the collapse of democracy a few hundred years ago, but obviously nobody around here had actually witnessed the beauty firsthand. What we know now are from passed down stories and some of the history texts our government actually lets us read. It was about 5 o’clock and you could see the stars in the sky as we walked home. The stars were the only solace I had from the hellish day I had. Before I knew it, I was at my apartment.

James turned to me and said, “I can’t stay tonight, but I know we’ll make it through this. We’ll get those bastards for what they’ve done.” He gave me a hug and walked away. Normally if he didn’t stay for a while after work I’d be upset but tonight it didn’t bother me. I had too much work to do to prepare for the first meeting of The Coalition. Tomorrow would make or break our whole operation and I had no intention of slowing down now.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Brennen Im Feuer Ch. 1


I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off and hit the snooze. The sun had been shining for a while but I wasn’t ready to get up. Every day living in District 1 seemed to be a nightmare. The kind of nightmare that only sleeping could get rid of. District 1 is the kind of place that makes even the sunniest person turn into a cynic. Since the dissolution of our country a couple hundred years ago in 2024 our cities have become autonomous city-states and District 1 has been run in the most fascist of ways. The feeling of safety is now a luxury; not because of crime- it’s been almost completely eradicated- but because the slightest transgression can lead to death by the police. We are forced to become (or at least act the part of) brainwashed zombies who are unable to have original thoughts or feelings.

“Time to get up!” My father came into my room. “Your friends will be here in half an hour.” My friends Paul and James worked with me at the factory and we walked the mile together every day.

“I’m always ready in time, aren’t I? Just give me a few more minutes! I’m not a kid anymore anyway.”

“Really? Then why do I still have to pick up your laundry every morning and make you breakfast?” he said jokingly.

“Well if you don’t want to do it, I will. It’ll just take longer for things to get done,” I smiled.

After eating and getting ready I met up with Paul and James. Paul asked, “How goes it this morning?”

“Besides the uniform chaffing, same as always.” As part of the law in District 1, everyone had to wear a uniform and an ID card at all times when outside of their home. Basically, any attempt at being an individual had been taken away. When I was a kid, there was an attempt to have one day where people would be able to dress however they would like. But this led to people doing so on non-sanctioned days and then led to the Law Street Massacre where hundreds of people, mainly civilians died during a riot. Afterwards, any attempt to allow individualism was quashed.

 

We were about halfway to work when we saw a group of four policemen harassing an older man in an alleyway between two brick buildings. One officer seemed to be dishing it out more than the others. James said to us, “Oh, shit! That’s Officer Azrael! We need to get going!”

I had heard about Azrael. He was the baddest motherfucker on the city’s police force. It was said that he was too extreme for most officers but nobody seemed willing to even question his authority. Anything brutal that occurred was said to be his handiwork. Hundreds of deaths have been attributed to him.

Paul said sarcastically, “So what? Just because you know his name it doesn’t mean he can still do that!”

“You’ll get hurt, or maybe worse,” I said.

“Well, looking at the situation, there would be four of us and four of them, it would be quite even.”

“If there were twenty of us and four of them we’d still lose!”

Paul ignored me, stepped forward and yelled, “Let him go, he’s not doing anything to you!”

James grabbed him by the arm and whispered angrily. “Shut up, we don’t want to end up like him!”

Paul didn’t listen though and walked right up to them. “Hey assholes! Leave him alone! He’s not doing anything to you!”

The officers turned to us and Azrael said, “Would you like us to move on to you instead?”

“Better me than him!” Paul leapt at them despite our protests. The one who had just spoken to Paul grabbed him and through him up against the brick wall. Paul came back at him but Azrael gave him a vicious uppercut that rocked his head into the wall. With the sudden jerk of his head we heard his neck snap. He lay dead, killed instantly by the collision against the wall.

“Why did you kill him?!?” I screamed.

“He deserved it,” said Azrael. With a devilish grin he stepped forward and said, “Now you two better run along before you join him.”

I was about ready to oblige but James stopped me and said, “Let’s go. I have no interest in joining him and I know you really don’t either.” I looked in his eyes and knew he was right. We finished the walk to work but the experience was too traumatic to accomplish anything. All I knew was that I needed a plan to get revenge.