by Anthony Fernandez, May 12th, 2015
Welcome everyone! It's your local AP fiend Anthony Fernandez here, ready to ruffle some feathers (and hopefully provide a little entertainment.) I wrote most of this on my planning period at school today, and I'll proofread it once I get my kids home with a few read throughs and revisions. This article is a Power Rankings, but serves as a revision of a previous thing I did way back in GZL... where I themed the Power Rankings after something that interested me. I think I've done TV shows, Coheed and Cambria songs, rock groups, actors... whatever. So far for SFL, I've done a Simon & Garfunkel themed one at about the midseason mark last year, and then the Broadway one this year. I wanted to get this out today, since we have games tomorrow and the new Zelda drops and I'll be MIA for a few weeks (ha). With that said, the entries might not be as long as usual, but to compensate just about every team got their own blurb - very little sharing. I'm a big TV fan - and while on vacation with my brother and our families recently we did a "streaming service" draft. Snake order, of course. We each were able to take five different streaming services to create our own "cable company", essentially. I had the first pick - which was good because my whole family knows what an HBO fan I am. I'm not sure if it was the "right" pick, but it was a pick I was making for sure. I snatched up HBO, and later on in the draft I got Amazon Prime Video (yay, LOTR and good movies), ESPN+ (at least SOME football, after my bro snatched YouTubeTV), B/R Live (AEW PPVs), and Discovery+ (just so there was no confusion that I'm the owner of the all the MAX content coming, like the new Harry Potter stuff. My brother had a good lineup with YouTubeTV, Netflix, Crunchroll, AdultSwim, and Tencent. My wife took Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Lifetime Movie Club, Hallmark Movies Now. His wife took Apple+, Paramount+, Boomerang, AMC+, and Showtime. I still think I won. And when deepdiving into HBO content for this article, I believe now more than ever that I got the best goldmine of content with HBO. Missing the cut despite being on the cool Black and White banner I found? Insecure, Girls, and Big Little Lies. Decent shows... but kinda mean names to caption how the teams of your buds online are playing. You understand. Girls is a classic - gave us Kylo Ren. Insecure? Ehh. Probably good, not for me. Big Little Lies? My wife loved it, and Skarsgard is a great villain. Couldn't fit them though. The other big emit was Vice Principles. Love the show, especially being a teacher... but already had two Danny McBrides. Three seemed excessive. I hope you enjoy.
Watchmen
#1 
Denver Broncos | (7-1)| Last Rank: 1st 
(+/-0)
"And you are adequately self aware to recognize the hypocrisy of that remark."
Who watches the Watchmen? Great line that seems fitting here. But I know who watches my trades - and that's my good buddy, Tom. One thing can't be denied (as I've said multiple times this year and recently on PTI)... he is crushing it this season. He's been a real force, and frankly should be undefeated right now. While he never won a SB in Cleveland, he DOES have a depth of playoff experience. Could this be the year he puts it all together? I think it will be. He's also my Eliminator pick this week. Don't let me down, Tommy boy. Zero movement for Tom after Quarter 2. He was the best team after 4, he's the best team now. As for the show... I'm not sure if anyone caught it during its brief one season run - but it was amazing TV. They did a great job modernizing it, and somehow it feels more grounded in real world issues than many super hero shows now. Just a wonderful version of Adrian Veidt, the retired narcissistic crimefighter who fancies himself the smartest man on Earth (no shade, Tom). Jeremy Irons kills the performance. Still wish Damon Lindelof would bring this back for another season.
Game of Thrones
#2 
Chicago Bears | (7-1)| Last Rank: 2nd (+/-0)
"King in the North! King in the NORTH!"
This one has already caused a bit of drama over on the Discord Breaking News thread... as my good buddy Apolo was NOT happy that he didn't get GoT for this (considering his coach IS
Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains)... but he'll have to live with that. Because GoT was the story of Jon Snow, the KING IN THE NORTH! And right now, Brent and his Bears are the Kings in the North. Now there is a LOT of season left, and plenty could change... but the Bears are (7-1) in the toughest division in football. NO teams in that division have a winning record, and every team in it would be in 1st place in the NFC lEast. The swept the Lions, and are (3-1) in the North. The have some tough matchups coming in this next Quarter (hot Raiders, @ Seattle, then the (7-1) Broncos and the soon-to-be 1st place Giants). So I acknowledge this is a team who could stumble in the next article... but if they win 3 of those games, they very well could leapfrog to #1, regardless of what the Broncos do. As for the show? Game of Thrones is literally one of the best ever. Even when it started to let down in the final season (or 2), it still produced epic scenes that you can revisit any time and it sucks you right back to that awesome experience of being part of a cultural phenomenon that we all enjoyed weekly together. I wish that Bron the Broken wouldn't have sat the throne, but at least my man Tyrion got to be his advisor. Also, even if you missed this show (or perhaps if you haven't watched in some time) - if you're in love with Pedro Pascal on his cultural high he's riding right now (rightfully so) because of Last of Us and Mando - then go back and rewatch his scenes in Game of Thrones. He steals so many scenes as the Viper, including his death scene. But his best was easily his chat with Tyrion in the chambers when he told him he'd be his Champion. Hall of Fame scene.
Silicon Valley
#3 
San Francisco 49ers | (7-1)| Last Rank: 3rd (+/-0)
“I find parades to be impotent displays of authoritarianism.”
Did you know that the 49ers haven't won the NFC West since 2004? They've only won it twice ever. Pretty crazy, actually. That appears likely to change this year, but I wonder if they'd skip the parade. I'd for sure hold off on a division champ parade until after the Super Bowl, because they could really win it. They're built solid, and while there was some preseason hype around them, I completely overlooked them based solely off of history (and perhaps a little bitterness that Peter always rejects trades without even a quick sentence explaining his reasonings). But some folks be like that, it's all good, baby. I'm excited watching them steamroll teams. The Seahawks are up next... and a win here could easily cement themselves at the top of this division. As for Silicon Valley, it was a perfect fit for a San Fran-based team. I watched the show weekly when it aired, but I do feel it is almost a little underrated now in lore. The show got a little goofy at the end, but Gilfoyle/Erlich/Dinesh had me dying of laughter weekly. This was Dinesh played by Kumail Nanjiani, a criminally underrated comedian, played before he got completely JACKED, that is. I don't think he'd work in the role if they did a reunion season! Gilfoyle was the best though, which is where the quote listed comes from. He had so many sick burns. The episode where everyone had a social rating at work, and he was just like (paraphrasing),
"Tracey, I appreciate you wanting to participate in the world of numbers. I find it endearing. But yours are horseshit, they measure nothing. If I wanted to, I could have all 10's by the end of the week." In quite the opposite, the league #s DO measure things, and are NOT horseshit. The 49ers are 2nd in Total Offense (1st in passing), and #1 in rush defense. They simultaneously score the 2nd most points, while allowing the 10th fewest points. They are dangerous. In closing, I'll leave you with one final fire Gilfoyle quote.
"What do I do? System Architecture. Networking and Security. No one in this house can touch me on that. But does anyone appreciate that? While you were busy minoring in gender studies and singing a cappella at Sarah Lawrence, I was getting root access to NSA servers. I was a click away from starting a second Iranian revolution. I prevent cross site scripting, I monitor for DDoS attacks, emergency database rollbacks, and faulty transaction handlings. The internet, heard of it? Transfers half a petabyte of data a minute, do you have any idea how that happens? All of those YouPorn ones and zeros streaming directly to your shitty little smart phone day after day. Every dipshit who shits his pants if he can't get the new dubstep Skrillex remix in under 12 seconds. It's not magic, it's talent and sweat. People like me ensuring your packets get delivered unsniffed. So what do I do? I make sure that one bad config on one key component doesn't bankrupt the entire fucking company. That's what the fuck I do. … Listen, wherever we end up here, I just want to say that I feel I should get more equity than Dinesh." If for no other reason than his stellar draft coverage, I vote to give Peter all the SFL equity. Or at least a f-cking NFC West title.
Boardwalk Empire
#4 
New York Jets | (7-2)| Last Rank: 5th 
(+1)
"Most fellas in this business, they get their retirement papers straight from the Grim F***in' Reaper."
Ah, madden league LEGEND Kevin Mullendore. The man tasked way back with keeping me sane during RZL/GZL, and helped keeping GZL afloat when my passion began to dwindle. A great guy, a wonderful rival, and an unmatched Madden GM. It certainly seems like he's one of the fellas in this business that will get his retirement papers when the leagues all die. When I decided to come back, when Will reached out to me, seeing that Kevin (and a few other old timers) were still around and kicking was one of the reasons I chose to return. Kev, who has won a Super Bowl in New York, but I wouldn't quite call it an "Empire", was on the hot seat heading into this year. He needed six wins and had them in what... seven weeks? That's a statement! While is another great line from the series, btw!
"I'm making a statement. You really don't know a man until you play cards with him." I feel like I've played cards with Kev, and I know him pretty well. And he's on a mission. His Jets are a serious contender not just this year, but for the next few years. Watch out if you're in the AFC! As for the show Boardwalk Empire, it's one of the classic HBO offerings. I never quite felt it got anywhere CLOSE to the Sopranos or the other classics, but I felt it was a good watch, and will probably revisit sometime in the future.
Ballers
#5 
Seattle Seahawks | (6-2)| Last Rank: 4th 
(-1)
"Ricky, here's my first bit of financial advice. Don't invest in depreciating assets. If it drives, flies, floats or f-cks, lease it."
It was tough not to save Ballers for the Dolphins, considering that show was based IN Miami and featured the Dolphins (perhaps without their permission)... but how do you not feature the show with the ROCK for the team that is GM'd by ROCK!?!? Had to do it. As for the Seahawks... pretty straight forward. The loss to the 49ers is super defendable... but they need to win next to split the series. The loss to the Browns also really hurt them (and me in the eliminator). I give the 49ers crap often for not winning a NFC West title since 2004, but the Seahawks haven't won since 2006, and that was their only EVER. Even crazier is that Rock has been the GM of the Seahawks for 13 seasons. THIRTEEN! This is #14, and he's still never been fired... despite ONE division title. A win to split the 49ers season series would go a long way to rectifying that situation. As for the show... it was fun to see an NFL show. Also the Rock is charismatic. But it's probably not one I'd revisit often, even if HBO was one of only five streaming services I could watch. Rob Corddry probably my favorite part of the show, although Denzel's son John David Washington got his big break here. Parlay'd that into a Christopher Nolan role... so that ain't bad.
Succession
#6 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | (7-2) | Last Rank: 19th (+13)
"The future is real. The past is all made up."
#7 
Carolina Panthers | (5-3)| Last Rank: 9th (+2)
"You're my number one boy."
Our first big RISER of this Quarter 2 edition, and it's my RL favorite team that Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On top of that, it's my FAVORITE show currently, and one of my Top 5 of all time. I make absolutely no bones about it, Succession is my MFing jam. Love this show and everything about it. I'm of course Team Kendall. One of the best family dramas there is, and I certainly see lots of through lines with the siblings on the show and my siblings in real life. It is quite fitting that this happened to be the category for one of (our three) different "families" here in SFL - the Mellons. While Phil is having an amazing year, Bryan is absolutely killing it. He's won five in a row, and they were a gauntlet of @IND, vs TEN, @DET, shutout JAX, and vs ARZ (who broke the Bucs heart in the NFCC two years ago.) That's quite the lineup. The next two are the Falcons and Washington Football team, and not too far down the road are the Texans and Falcons again. Sure, they close the season against San Fran (who will have little to play for), and the Panthers... but by that time the South could be wrapped up. Thankfully for the Panthers though, they DID beat the Bucs in a thrilling 45-42 shoot out, so the division is not completely out of reach. If you're wondering, "Hey AF, why did the 7-win Bucs not get ranked above the 6-win Seahawks?!? You were just reaching to have the family members in the same category, you piece of shit!!" Well, partly right. But also the Seahawks BEAT the Bucs... and one of their losses was to the 49ers, so. Clearly I think very highly of the Bucs, and I feel 100% comfortable casting him as LOGAN ROY in this category... the Tycoon Mogul who dominated the news industry and REFUSES to just step out of the way and allow his children to succeed him. Bryan, in many ways is the gruff old head, with years of experience and accomplishments. Three Super Bowls under his belt, and he tells it like it is. He's a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do leader, like Logan, and he's been so successful you don't dare question him. But eventually... especially in the NFC South... he's going to HAVE to move out of the way and let his #1 boy get a run at the division.... right? I'm not so sure. I'm for sure #TeamPhil though, just like I'm #TeamKendall. Does he have what it takes to run the company... I mean division? I think so. If you haven't seen this show, do yourself a favor and catch up before the final episode airs in a few weeks. So, so, so depressing that it won't be in our universe anymore... but I for sure will be doing a couple rewatches, and am hopeful for a Cousin Greg spin-off (or any spin-off they give us!)
Winning Time
#8 
Miami Dolphins | (5-3)| Last Rank: 6th (-2)
"So was I, a f-cking star. Do you know what? You want to know what it got me? It got me sh-t. It got me this, a f-cking movie project. Here it is. Oh-ho-ho... Jerry f-cking West, MVP, the most valuable f-cking loser award... of winning and f-cking losing."
I've talked to great lengths about the Dolphins on all my SFL media platforms... the Power Rankings, PTI, the draft articles. I'm convinced at this point he's not reading, haha. And why would he? He's the f-cking king. He's the back-to-back-to-back AFC Champions and the reigning Super Bowl Champions. He's essentially SHOWTIME, the SFL equivalent of the Lakers. But the important thing to remember... is that when the Lakers were the Lakers, they were still not the best team... the Celtics were. And we just got done talking about the Celtics of SFL... Bryan Mellon and his THREE SUPER BOWLS. That's right... he doesn't settle for Conference Championships, he wins it all, baby. That said... the Dolphins are FAR more successful that anything I've accomplished here, and you do kind of have to admire how nonchalant they have been the last few years. "Oh, we lost the Super Bowl? We'll try again next year. Oh we traded premium assets for Johnny Football and he sucks? No problem, we'll use a 1st round pick on scrambler Marcus Mariotta even though he has ZERO 1st round buzz. Oh the Jets look like a Juggernaut this year? No big deal, even if we get in with a Wild Card, we have the playoff experience to do serious damage... just ask the Titans." The Dolphins are magically, and as a guy in the NFC... I'm here for it. They might have slid a few spots... but this is still a team that will make the playoffs, and having known Kevin for quite some time, I think his worst fear is to win the AFC East and then have to host the Dolphins in the playoffs. I know, because I remember a COUPLE times in RZL/GZL when he or I won our division, only to get bounced by the 2nd place team in the playoffs. Never feels good. History could be setting up for something similar. As for the show Winning Time, I love John C. Reilly, so gave it a shot. It seemed well done, but I'm not a HUGE NBA guy, so it hasn't been a priority. I'm about halfway through the season, but will surely catch up this summer when I'm done teaching. Season 2 is coming, so it's on my radar.
The Wire
#9 
Baltimore Ravens | (5-3)| Last Rank: 10th (+1)
"I want you to put the word out there that we back up. You understand me? We back up."
"Oh, the Baltimore team got
The Wire? Real original, AF!" To be fair, I was pretty close to going
We Own This City, another Baltimore classic. But the Stringer line I posted was just too good, especially since I still can't get over Norb taking so much offense preseason to the thought that their window had closed just cause Jimmy G had a good year last season while Thigpen was hurt. They have been going with a vengeance this year, and are in control of the North. There are some good teams not too far behind though, so they can't take their foot off the gas. Interestingly enough, for all the "their window" talk... the Ravens have only won two AFC North Championships in the last 11 years (2012 and 2009). The Bengals have been the KINGS of the AFC North the last two seasons, and they are looming in the background right now. I hope the Ravens come prepared, because you know what they say on
The Wire... "if you come at the king, you best not miss!"
We Own This City
#10 
Detroit Lions | (5-3)| Last Rank: 11th (+1)
"When you have to fight, man you gotta win. There's people who think police brutality is when police win the fights. Last time I checked, aren't we were supposed to win the fights?"
I had a hard time placing this pick for Justin, ironically because he's one of the GMs in the league I think I know best. If I had drafted Disney+ and I was able to use Star Wars content, this might have been easier, but I'm not sure what speaks to him on HBO.
We Own This City was a great show about a semi-depressing topic. I won't get into all the politics of the show, or even the police brutality issue, but I know Justin and I have gone back and forth over the issues (and gun rights) in the past. I think over time we've both become a little less extreme and are moving closer to the middle on our respective sides... but maybe that's just getting older. The real takeaway from this show is that it was an explosive performance by my man Jon Bernthal (the Punisher). He is electric as Wayne Jenkins. He is SO funny. The things he says, crazy. If you cut the whole show into one giant clip of just his lines, I'd watch it once a week. He talks in all caps. Just a hall of fame performance. Kind of like what Justin Baldwin is doing to defenses... ripping scripts apart. I think the Lions getting swept by the Bears really hurts... but when they get into the playoffs, that won't matter. They briefly flirted with getting rid of their star, Sam Bradford... but decided not to. Wise decision, as the Lions without Bradford would be like
We Own This City without Bernthal... boring.
Barry
#11 
Cincinnati Bengals | (5-3) | Last Rank: 21st (+10)
"I didn't feel like I deserved a good life."
So this is how far I got by Friday morning. Not idea! 22 to go, haha. Spent WAY too long formatting this article, which is a bummer since we don't get paid AP for any of that. But I stand on my work. I'll just have to shorten the non-top 10 teams... and proofreading will suffer until this weekend. But I have an hour before students arrive... and then my planning period and all day Saturday is for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Plus mother's day this weekend. Plus games kickoff in a couple hours. Deadlines, amirite? Ok, think Anthony... Bengals! Brady. Love the guy. I hope he doesn't take the quote the wrong way. I've known Brady for a long time, and more accurately, I've been a fan of his for a long time. I think, at times, when I knew him before, he lacked in self esteem. Which was hurtful to see, because he's fucking awesome. He reminds me a LOT of myself circa-mid 20s. It was hard work, and it wasn't easy, but I shook off a lot of the shit that was holding me back, found my lovely wife, turned jobs into a career, had some kids, bought a house, and yadayadayada. I can see that for him. While I wish we talked as much as we used to, from afar it seems like he's doing good. That makes my heart smile. Because if there is one MFer that DOES deserve a good life, it's him. The Bengals? They haven't been doing much to help out - but they DID win the last two AFC North titles, and they had a huge 2Q to fire back into the AFC North race. I'm rooting for them, sorry Norb. As for Barry - great show, but I'm 1.5 seasons behind. I already see the ads that he goes to jail. Bummer. I guess that's what happens when you murder MFers though. I hope to catch up on Barry this summer. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to catch up with Brady, too.
House of the Dragon
#12 
Tennessee Titans | (4-4)| Last Rank: 12th (+/-0)
"The only thing that could tear down the House Of The Dragon was itself."
Ah, my good buddy Apolo. I feel like I talk to him NONSTOP. About his team, about mine, about Pokemon, about our articles, about fantasy football (now). So this is probably an area I can save some time and some words, since he knows how I feel about his squad... the SFL All Stars. They have definitely underperformed, but Apolo has the team right where he wants them. He's managed to sneak in a few starts for the guys he's trying to develop, because unlike many GMs, he's always managing a team 360 degrees. He sees the entire system in 3D chess, while other GMs play checkers. But.... and I mean this with the utmost respect... BUT... I do, um, wonder. If. Maybe? Sometimes that could be perceived as him getting in his own way? Ya know... the only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself? Like yea... you want to make sure the Titans are good in 4 years. But you have a team good enough to win it all THIS year. Just go do it. Play your best players. Spend some assets on guys that will help you this year. Go for it. SIT THE IRON THRONE! We're not all Bryan Mellon. Some of us only get one shot to be king... and that's good enough. But obviously I love Apolo, and support whatever he decides to do. I just hope it all works out how he has it planned. As for the House of the Dragon? Clearly not Game of Thrones... but the story was interesting enough. Loved Daemon Targaryen. I wonder if there was some missed potential to have him be the Night King, and perhaps he KNEW Jon Snow was Targaryen, so that was why the Night King was so fascinated with him in those scenes? I know it doesn't completely make sense... since we saw the creation of the Night King by the Children of the Forest... but they never do find Daemon's body. Maybe he cuts a deal for eternal life and his soul or being is in that blade of Dragonglass that was plunged into that man's chest? I dunno, I'd buy it, ha. I'm sure Apolo would fancy a world where far into the future his Offensive Coordinator Arya cuts down Daemon as the Night King, anyway.
VEEP
#13 
Indianapolis Colts | (4-4)| Last Rank: 16th (+3)
“Cause I've met some people, ok? Real people. And a lot of them are f-cking idiots.”
VEEP! What a great show. Too great not to be included... but it was a hard one to place. I guess Breck kind of is the #2 guy around here? Tom and Neal might like a word... but Breck for sure qualifies. Breck is great for a writer, because you always know he's going to read and enjoy your content. For that reason I always try to give him a little more juice... even when he doesn't think his team is doing so good. But there's nothing more demoralizing than spending 10 hours writing a piece, only for 3 comments, haha. Thankfully the AP cash anyway, and that feels good... or at least until folks (not saying any names, Romeo or Tom) start to say it's a competitive disadvantage and try to find ways to limit your AP... or make AP less useful! But such is life! Especially when you're GM of an ACTUAL bad team (sorry Breck, your Colts are very good, and have been for a long time). My Cowboys need all the help they can get. That's why I traded two young players and a high 3rd for a veteran MLB that I won't be able to afford next year... to try and compete NOW. Especially this week, when the Cowboys have their 2nd biggest game in franchise history vs. the New York Giants. But that player won't be a Cowboy this week... the Raiders have too many players on the roster. So we lose a game of the player, a very important one. But we wouldn't reject the trade, because my man Brad busted his ass writing articles and getting AP to be able to DO the trade in the first place. So it's just a 7 week rental instead of 8. No biggie. But it's proof this bad team is trying to win, and not tanking. Which I'm sure was a point of discussion when I traded the Jaguars 1st for my own 1st back a few weeks back and it got held up an extra week and almost didn't pass. I don't have details, but one could assume there was the "danger" of AF "tanking" with his own pick. When in reality, I just wanted to have control at a later point if the season went south - which seems like a very real life NFL thing to do. I bet the Cowboys winning 4 of the last 5 games (three in a row since the trade finally got passed) wasn't on the TC bingo card, and I bet one or two of the guys that are always vocal about how bad my trades are won't be lining up on trade corners to defend me and talk about how silly of a trade it was for me and how AF needs protecting! Ha! But I'm rambling now... which is good, because I need AP. Also, this is an area of the article Breck will read for sure (and maybe only Breck), but he frequents many of those parties I'm not invited, and maybe he'll be able in a future conversation be able to be like, "hey maybe we're analyzing the moves AF makes a little TOO closely? Maybe he's just a dude having fun here with his buds. He loses plenty of trades, and all the moves he makes are just literally trying to make his team better, and those are the kind of GMs we should want to fill this league (and the reboot league) with!" Sorry, I know Breck loves a good reboot joke. Hope Will didn't catch that and get upset, I hope this version of SFL lasts long enough for ONE AF Cowboys playoff run! Holy shit I think I've typed like 400 words here and not a single thing about the Colts. That's skill, ladies and gentleman. To be fair, Breck DID say the Colts weren't a contender. He's wrong, but he said it. So he invited this manic dribble! The Colts have beat the Texans, Jaguars, Patriots, and Saints. Not exactly a murderers row. So I have a hard time reading them. The teams they lost to were really good, too. The Broncos, Bucs, Titans, and Panthers are likely all playoff teams. They lost three of those by a TD or less. If this is going to be a mediocre team that just wins the ones they should, and loses the ones they should... I see about three more "should wins" on the schedule (JAX, HOU, ATL). I think the Ravens and Titans beat them. That leaves the AFC West (OAK, SD, KC) as toss ups. So if they can win two of those, that's (9-7). Will that be good enough for a playoff spot? Interesting enough, if we remove the Titans as a "should lose" (it was close round 1), that would put the Colts at (9-6) headed into week 17 where they host the SFL All Stars. I give them below a 50% shot in that, but not MUCH further than that. 40/60? Those are good odds. And Apolo isn't going to pull away... so that game MIGHT be for the division. Not bad for our VEEP. Which, if you haven't checked out is a good watch. It's also kind of silly (and scary) how similar it is to our current political landscape the last decade. MURICA!
The New Pope
#14 
Pittsburgh Steelers | (4-4)| Last Rank: 7th (-7)
"This is not a moment, it's a movement."
Holy shit do I love this show. There are actually two seasons... The Young Pope, and the New Pope. I might prefer the first... some of Jude Laws speeches in that were amazing. The Africa Speech? Google it. "We are ALL guilty of war... and death. Always. In the same way... we can all be guilty of peace. Always. I ask this of you on bended knee. I'm ready to die for you. If only, you will become guilty of PEACE. I always say to the children that write me... think of all the things you like. THAT is God." What a quote. It's powerful, because whether you're religious or not, it means WE have the ability to see God. Here. We have the means to do it. God is love. Peace. We can be kind to each other. Build each other up. Give each other peace. Powerful. Are we going to do it? Of course we aren't doing that shit. But for me? In my house? For my family? Peace. That's all I've got space for. That, and SFL, of course. Where does any of this tie in with the Steelers? I think he's more of the New Pope. In season 2 John Malkovich comes in and really adds a lot to the show. He's difficult to read at first, but you really grow to love him. Gary, now on his "rebirth" here in SFL has risen again and is stockpiling some of the most beautiful assets you could imagine. It's going to be so nice to see this team when he's done putting his fingerprints on it. They had a rough 2nd Quarter... but the losses were Seattle, Denver, and Baltimore. That's a ROUGH group. The back 8 are tough, too, but I think this team will be around .500! Go watch New Pope and Young Pope, if you haven't, or at least Youtube some clips.
True Blood
#15 
Green Bay Packers | (4-4)| Last Rank: 8th (-7)
"Death is scary. I've been avoiding it for a thousand years."
Gary - the GM vampire that will NOT die! He's been on the Hot Seat for seemingly forever. He made some moves last year that I think many were overly critical of, including myself, and they are really paying off. Andrew Luck has been playing well, very well. Their most recent losses are the Bears, Broncos, and Chiefs. Understandable losses. They've got some wins coming up. The Cowboys, the Rams, maybe the Raiders. If they can hold their own against the NFC North... they could surprise. It's a shame they have to be in the North, as they'd easily win the NFC East. Gary has been in Green Bay his entire career... and it doesn't look like he'll be getting out anytime soon. He's like the vampires on True Blood - he has eternal life.
Peacemaker
#16 
Minnesota Vikings | (4-4)| Last Rank: 14th (-2)
“I made a vow of peace, no matter how many people I have to kill to get it.”
I frankly think the Vikings are better than Green Bay, but Gary was ranked higher in the Q1 edition, and I just didn't see enough to move Minnesota above them just yet. But the Vikings are losing uncharacteristic games. This is the reigning, defending NFC Champions, and they have their hands full in the North. The troubling thing is this team is losing to inferior teams... the Cowboys, the Chargers, the Packers. That's a recipe for disaster. But if they can linger and sneak into the playoffs, Neal and his team will be very dangerous. If that is going to happen, they'll have to take care of the teams they are supposed to - the Raiders, the Giants, the Redskins, and this week the Packers. That gets them to 8 wins... with battles with the Lions, 49ers, Bears, and Broncos (OUCH!) to decided if they get above .500! Neal is also smart enough and savvy enough of a GM that he might opt to just go all Tyler Wilson development and take a mulligan on this year. They could bounce back and be in the NFC Championship next year. As for the show Peacemaker... it's super edgy. Not PC at all. But the name "Peacemaker" just seemed so fitting for Neal. A real calming presence in these leagues. Such a good guy. It's a real positive to have him in a pivotal position in the league, because a commish needs a guy like Neal to keep them sane. I'm thankful for Neal, and the peace he brings SFL, as well as me personally. Thanks Neal and good luck!
