9/13/22 - Karen Page, BSL Lead Pool Reporter - The 2022 season is finally upon us. The offseason had its usual drama with many QBs changing teams, retiring, un-retiring, and all that goes in the planning and building of each BSL team. As we start the 2022 season things seem wide open all over the place in all 3 BSL leagues as teams made many changes this offseason and we are still learning what each team has, where the holes are, and who made the best offseason moves to boost their teams. But while most teams are playing the ‘feel things out’ game, one team wasted no time in claiming the ‘Team to Beat’ mantle in the TLSL. And that is where we start.
The Mayhem dropped the Electric part of their name last year but may want to consider bringing it back as they were charged up this week putting up their 2nd ever, and 57th overall, 200+ point scoring game with a 206.69 performance in their win over the PC Powerhouse with league’s newest owner. Welcome to the Two Lost Souls League to Yousaf Khan, you can safely expect your opponent won’t score 200+ against you each week so there is hope! Other TLSL winners were the Lions, Dawgs, Dragons and Deplorables and the closest win of the week in all 3 leagues was a 1.25 difference as The Avengers outlasted the Bewildered Bruins. 200 pt games and games decided by less than 2 pts… the BSL is back baby!
In the CDL we had a couple notable developments, 1 odd and 1 defendable but unfortunately just the wrong choice. First the odd, because we like odd here. The NY Jints, while they didn’t win their opening game, because like the aforementioned Powerhouse played the Team of the Week in their league, did manage to give us a stat that seems perplexing to us. Normally in the BSL if you have a good QB, you hang on to them. It is rare to have a different main pass thrower from year to year let alone year to year to year but that is what the Jints have done. This was the 3rd straight season that the Jints have had the opening week Offensive player of the Week be their QB. Not unheard of. The odd part, this is the 3rd different player in the last 3 years for that honor. Two season ago the Jints starting QB was Aaron Rodgers (Week 1 OPoW winner), and last season their starting QB was Kyler Murray (Week 1 OPoW winner) and now this season they again have the OPoW winner with QB Josh Allen. That is just… odd. But the only reason we can have this stat is because of the second item we mentioned. A defendable decision that just turned out to be the wrong one. The Killer Tomatoes are pretty comfortable at the QB position on their roster with QBs Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. We would expect most weeks to see Mahomes in the lineup but certain matchups could reasonably expect Wilson to be the guy, which is what we saw this week. Wilson returning to Seattle with his new team and all the hype, we all expected Wilson to have a great game. Mahomes lost his #1 target in the offseason and there were some questions on what to expect. Well, everyone got this one wrong. Mahomes throws for 5 TDs, Wilson has a good but by no means great game that many expected and the Tomatoes lose their opener by 8 pts (Mahomes outscored Wilson by about 17). So with Mahomes on the bench, the Jints set the oddity of opening week OPoW streak. Always fun in the CDL! Other winners in week 1 of the CDL were The X-Men, Predators, Eclipse, Blue Coats, Pirates (the previously hinted at Week 1 ToW) and Hounds.
Lastly in the FSDL, there was no craziness of the other leagues. Although we will point out, since their owner has brought it up themselves in behind-the-scenes conversations, the Hebrew Hammers did NOT have a stellar start to this new season. The Hammers offense was outscored by their defense by 21+ pts (36.76 – 58.1 respectively). In case you are wondering, while it is not wholly uncommon for a teams D to outscore its offense, doing with only 58pts is not common and the just under 37 pts of offense the Hammers put up is… well… not good. No double-digit performers, meaning their kicker outscored all their offensive starters individually, and 2 players under 1 pt scored is a bit concerning. The good news for the Hammers, at least we HOPE it is, is that there is no where to go from her but up! Week 1 winners in the FSDL were the 36ers, Vesicles, Bisons (yes, we know Bison is already plural), the defending Champion Hangers and the Week 1 ToW China Open Faces.
Well we are off and running in 2022. The Occasionally Intermittent Bugle will try to have more articles this season, if not weekly at least every other week and we accept guest writers if you wish to be published. Contact the commissioner for info and if you need any specific stats or information for your article. And now, on to Week 2 and beyond.