World Bowl XXIX- Everything Thread (IC-Only)

[Abanhfleft]

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen

No Place For Heroes, Part Sixteen

Al Jawal, Gharbambiyah

The brown cloud of sand loomed big over the horizon behind Al Jawal, a stark reminder for Gerry Anthony that he was going against time with this rescue mission to get Rysa Browne and her Filipino pilots from where they had crashed just a few minutes ago. Once the sandstorm got to them, it would be nearly impossible to see or breathe with the sand being blown around. This was going to be a race against time.

Gerry hated races against time.

There was only light resistance against them as Gerry and his team made their way from the secondary LZ, where their Alouette had been shot down, to the Ilham Mosque, where the Alouette had crash-landed. But Gerry knew that once they got closer to the crash site, they would encounter more rebel forces seeking to capture or kill the crew of the chopper that they had just shot down.

Strangely enough, there was little if any fighting going on as the team got closer to the crash site. Gerry breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Rysa climbing out of the wreckage with the help of Fabio Marquez, the copilot-turned-gunner of the Alouette. A makeshift bandage made from strips of Fabio's shirt was tied around his head, but Gerry could still see a lot of the blood that had flowed down Fabio's face before he applied the bandage. "How are you guys holding up?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Rysa said. "Fabio's got a little dirt in his eye, but he's okay otherwise. It's Alvin I'm worried about. He's stable, I think, but he's slipping in and out of consciousness so much that I can't really trust him on his own. Someone's gonna have to carry him.

"I'll take him," Fabio volunteered. "Both the PKP and my gun are wrecked, so I'll just take Alvin's instead."

"Are you sure you can handle him?" Rysa asked Fabio.

"Course I can," Fabio replied. "I had to carry him back to our base when he got shot by an Abu Sayyaf in Tawi-tawi before we joined the organization." Fabio looked at the crumpled remains of the Alouette and said, "Oh, Señor Tarrasco's not gonna like this."

"Okay, where we going now, boss?" Rysa asked Gerry.

"Well, since the chopper's wrecked and all," Gerry muttered, "looks like our only choice is to get to the Gharbambiyan Army base over to the north of the town." He took out the tablet computer and activated the map application. "The base is 2.4 kilometers from here, according to this, and who knows how many bad guys are standing in the way? But it's our best and only choice. We have to get to the base or else."

At that moment, they heard the distinctive noise of car engines, and they looked up to see a number of vehicles, mostly pickup trucks but with a few sedans and actual trucks mixed in between. At the same time, the brown cloud of sand that had been over the horizon was now just a stone's throw away from where they were standing, at least from Gerry's point of view. "Speak of the devil," he muttered. "Okay, everyone stick to the back alleys and the side roads. No sense going up against all that firepower with what we've got right now."

It was a difficult thing keeping two large groups of people away from each other, especially if the one very big group was actively searching for the smaller group, which was doing its best not to be found, and it was inevitable that the two groups would encounter each other. This happened when a technical, a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted on its back, stopped in the middle of the intersection of two small streets which were barely streets at all, more like widened alleyways. The man on the machine gun noticed the gaggle of foreigners running down the streets and shouted a challenge, and when this went unanswered, he opened fire.

"Now is not the time for this bullshit!" Gerry shouted as he tried to return fire to the technical, but the guy on the gun kept his finger on the trigger and absolutely sprayed the place with bullets.

The radio on Gerry's vest crackled to life. "Gerry, the sandstorm's closing in on you!" Dennis Messi said on the radio. "Whatever's holding you up, take care of it and either get going or get inside!"

"We're working on that!" Gerry said back. "It's easy to say things than to do them in real life!"

"I'm just saying what I'm seeing, and I'm seeing this big-ass sandstorm about to engulf Al Jawal!"

"Don't worry about us, Denny; we'll worry about ourselves!" Gerry said.

"Also, once that sandstorm strikes, we're gonna lose comms, so you should know that--buddy--Somerset--gone--rescue--"

"What? What's Somerset got to do with this?" Gerry asked. Ephraim Somerset was Gerry's friend and mentor, and he was also in Gharbambiyah as part of a private military company serving the government's interests.

"I said that your friend Somerset is--" The radio crackled and then went to static.

"Shit," Gerry muttered. He could already feel the wind shifting, and an uncomfortable amount of sand was already beginning to blow through the streets.

"Anybody got any grenades?" he shouted. He was met with silence and shakes of the head. He grunted his disappointment. He didn't expect to be needing any grenades for this mission so the team didn't bring any along. "Okay!" he shouted above the whistling of the wind. "We can't stay here forever. We're gonna use the sandstorm as a distraction and then make our way around that technical. Everybody got that?" This time he got a series of nods.

Right at that moment, the sandstorm arrived over Al Jawal. Everything went brown as dust and sand were whipped up and around by the winds inside the storm. The guy on the technical's machine gun stopped firing once the storm hit the town, and he was forced to duck down and cover his eyes from the onslaught of sand. Rysa chose that time to fire on him, and the rebel fell back from the bed of the truck by the impact of the bullet.

"Go, go, go!" Gerry said. "Stick together; don't get lost!"

IT was absolute chaos. Gerry couldn't see or hear much aside from the whistling of all that wind and sand. All he had to cover his face was scarf loosely wrapped around his neck for the afternoon heat, and that was barely doing its job filtering the sand through the thin cloth. He was acutely unaware of the situation of everyone else within the party; he had no idea if they were with him or if they had gone off in different directions. He also didn't know whether he was headed in the right direction either. All he knew was that there will come a point in which he will have to decide to striking out for the Army base or ducking into a house to wait out the storm.

And then, through the incessant howling of the wind came the distinctive sounds of a gunfight. Even nature couldn't blunt the noise of exploding gunpowder and the impact of high-velocity metal rounds against soft flesh. Against all instincts, Gerry ran towards the sound of the gunfight, lifting up his weapon to his shoulder in case he encountered any hostiles.

There weren't any once he got to the site. The others were already getting into non-descript gray jeeps along with a few men and women who were similarly outfitted as they were, in combat webbing and carrying weapons. The only difference was that these other people were wearing gas masks as protection from the sandstorm.

Gerry ran over to where a big man was waving at him, and the two of them ducked into the nearest jeep. The man removed his mask to reveal the round face of Ephraim Somerset. "Took your sweet time getting here, Gerry," he said.

"What are you doing here, Eppy?" Gerry asked.

"We were in the area, and we picked up your comms, so I called your computer guy and said that we were standing by to pick you up. No need to get to the Army base anymore; we're bringing you back to Chah Rajawhm direct."

"Everyone safe?"

"Yep. All five of you."

Gerry did a double take. "Did you just say five?"

"Yeah," Somerset said, nodding his head. "Why?"

"We're supposed to be seven, Eppy."

Somerset turned away from Gerry and looked at the air in front of him. "Well, shit," he muttered.

[Schottia]

It would be fair to say that Schottia's title defence hadn't exactly gotten of to the perfect start. In fact, that was probably something of an understatement, given that their narrow 13-16 defeat to HUElavia was their first group-stage defeat in three years. Three back-to-back wins, most importantly over Rennidan and Kaboomlandia, had put them back top of the table however, as they tried to prove that last year was no flash in the pan.

Gabi Alessi shakily removed her helmet as the side marched off the pitch, following what had been particularly gruelling match against the group's second seeds, Kaboomlandia. They had all seen it coming, yet somehow they hadn't been able to do anything to prevent the surge against them in this year's competition. As teams sensed their might be a scalp up for grabs, it seemed to give them a lift, enabling them to tap into a hidden energy that the Schottians just couldn't match. This much had been evident in the opening day defeat, and although they had gotten back to winning ways, Schottia were certainly not out of the woods yet.

Gabi had played another blinder, something that for her, was becoming a bit of a habit in the white and green of Schottia. The twenty-four-year-old had saved her best performances for the knockouts last year too, and the weird thing was, she seemed to play considerably better for Schottia than she did for her club back home. In actual fact, her performances for The North Coast Sirens had been distinctly average at times last season, and anyone of a cynical nature might have even accused her of disinterest. This wasn't a million miles from the truth, and the real reasons for it were as complex as they were varied. At the bottom of it however, stood the issue surrounding her relationship to a devout pacifist, who abhorred all forms of violence, aggression, and contact sports.

'Well done pal.'

'Nice one Gabriella.'

Came the calls, and high fives, as she trooped back up the tunnel with the rest of her teammates. While there were jubilant scenes, as the offensive team were received - and more than one or two relived looks - Gabi's was the hero's welcome.

'Absolutely, brilliant performance Alessi.' Head Coach Lewis Patterson patted her hard on the back, giving her a neck jerking yet encouraging shove. 'I'll speak to you back in the locker-room; but I just want you to know, that was some display out there today!'

'Back on track then, huh!' said David Cowden, a tall red-haired offensive linesman who normally played at tight-end.

Gabi and he should probably have been archrivals at their domestic clubs, playing for each of the two Belker sides; but gridiron in Schottia didn't really work like that. Perhaps the league was too new to have allowed for grudge matches to develop, and for any bitter animosity to spill over into the players. No, unlike many of the older more established leagues around the world, the SGL was still shiny and new, and looked upon as more of a curiosity by its fans, as opposed to something which consumed their lives. In a way it was how sport should be played/supported - through a love of the content rather than the winning. Through all this gridiron had actually gained a favourable reputation on the islands, and had began attracting more families, and bringing people into sport who had previously been turned off by the conduct of football fans. Rival fans didn't have to be kept separate, there was no pushing and shoving, and people were just as likely to applaud their rival's touchdown, as they were their own. All this meant that Gabi and David would have viewed each other much more like colleagues than adversaries.

'Yep, yep!' Replied Gabi with a cheerful smile, as she pulled off her wristbands, keen to get undressed.

'Better performance too, wouldn't you say.' David removed his own helmet and unruffled his hair. 'Better all-round probably.'

'Damn right...' Said Gabi with a wink as she, held the door open for her teammate. It was an element of her personality, which was very important in trying to understand the Schottian - she was unable to take anything seriously. It was part of a weird subculture, which was creeping into the younger generations of Schottia; mostly in women, but abundant in men too. Schottia had always prised a certain modesty and a humble demeanour, which was still evident in the older generation, however this had slowly started to change. Now there were many like Gabi who leaned in favour self-deprecating humour, and tongue and cheek nonsense in the face of adversity.

David laughed half-heartedly, realising that he probably wasn't going to get a great deal more from her.

'Y'know what Dave?' Gabi followed him into the locker-room rubbing her eyes in a way that said it had clearly been a long day. 'In, like, twenty years time people will ask me to reflect on my playing career and in international tournaments - and know what I'll tell them?' She waited for Belker Celts player to shake his head. 'That some countries in other regions, have some freakin' weird names.'

David smiled. 'Everyone to their own I guess.' The young man added, striving for an air philosophicalness.

'Mhm.' She answered nodding quickly. 'Certainly makes these tournaments a little more colourful, which is okay by me.'

[West Phoencia]

"Even their cheerleaders looked masculine"-- West Phoenicia Sports Newscaster for WP Sports 2 said in referring to the loss to Barunia 10-3

With 4 games played and the tally at 2 Wins and 2 Loss The West Phoenician War Dancers were praying for continued wins.

Further wins would see WP Cola and The Antebellum Party of West Phoenicia jump on as the team sponsors helping the financially struggling team compete against with other WP national teams who were receiving 10 times the funding the War Dancers were receiving.

[Kaboomlandia]

OOC: Continuation of an RP I started back in WB28 but never finished.

Part 1 Part 2

Ripped from the Sky
Part 3

Underneath the Arabian Sea

The remotely operated submersible glided silently over the bottom of the sea, scanning for its target: the tail section of Kaboomlandia Air Flight 184. As the familiar livery came into view on the screen up above, the crew sighed with relief.

"Move the arm into position, and turn on the lamp to the highest power you can," Ray Smith told the controller.

The sub gradually moved itself into the tail section. After a few minutes of searching, nothing had come up yet.

"It could be behind something; we'll just have to move some debris out of the way," pointed out the video technician, Joey Cameron.

The sub's arm moved a piece of metal about two feet to the left, and a flash of orange came from behind it. "That's it."

Ray Smith took a closer look at the recording, meanwhile. "This debris field. It's too spread out."

"What does that mean?" asked Joey.

"It means the plane broke up in midflight and crashed. Either there was a catastrophic mechanical failure, or something from outside the plane hit it," replied Ray grimly.

[Rennidan]

The Arkanian authorities finished taking our details and escorted us to the national border.

Booze and bloodlust are a poor mix.

At some point a World Bowl Committee member had visited us in lock up and delivered a written warning, muttered scornful words from the other side of the bars and left us behind to rot. Repressed memories of countless hours stood in a classroom corner caused my gut to turn.

I chewed at the blood under my fingernails.

It was unfamiliar, lacking in that metallic edge that appalled yet appealed, like the smell of petrol.

Silva must have been anaemic.

____________

A small suit clad man taps the microphone before him.

"Whilst we respect the storied history of Rennidan's gridiron team, we can no longer turn a blind eye to the crime that follows the, ahem, so-called "Bastards". Sprees of assault, vehicular theft and arson are not in keeping with values held by the World Bowl Committee."

He sips his water and adjusts his tie.

"This latest episode whereby Nicolas Silva, the fledgling quarterback of Arkam, had his arm nearly torn from it's socket in what can only be called a psychotic attack, is criminal in nature, and more akin to the behaviour of a rabid monkey than a gridiron professional."

"We have issue a warning to the Rennidanian team, and are fully willing to expel them from the Bowl if--"

A different man enters the shot, stage left, and whispers into the first man's ear. An envelope exchanges hands, a shrug is made.

The first man peers inside the envelope and pauses for a beat.

"Uhm, if... if however they decide to stay as they are, I suppose that's fine too. Cultural heritage and all that..."

The broadcast ends.

____________

We return home and find a pancake house to turn inside out. Celebratory breakfast goods are our honoured tradition. Bananas and whipped cream and sprinkles and cherries and syrup and scotch and all the napkins in the world to clean dried blood out from our crevices.

Glenda, our regular waitress, smiles and shivers and tells us again that she wishes we'd just stay the fuck out of her establishment, and that 9a.m is a terrible time to be drinking scotch.

We laugh and clink glasses and discuss the plan for our next game.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

OOC: For those who watches NFL as much as I do, I am NOT a Manziel fan NOR a Browns fan. I do acknowledge his talent though and I want him as a 3rd QB in Broncos Enjoy!

A Timeline of Ross Herschel's Fascinating History with Newfoundland Highlanders- Year 1

BY RYAN LARKIN, 11:11, MAY 3, 2023



Ross Herschel is now a latest member of the Attawapiskat Broncos, but it took him a long way to somehow end up with the Mile High team after getting touted as the Highlanders' QB to be on 2021 QFL draft. A former first overall pick, the player's partying habits and lack of self-control have shadowed his less-than-expected performance with the Highlanders as further calls and incompetent dealings with him have led to the Quarterback getting driven out of town. After a long court preceeding over a domestic violence case, he ended up in the Broncos team that desperately needed a replacement Quarterback after the retirement of franchise quarterbacks Nathan Akiak and Peyton Bundchen. How did this all happen in two years?

May 2: Ross Herschel is drafted 1st overall by Newfoundland Highlanders, who just finished 2-14 on what's arguably not even the franchise's worst season in history. The former golden boy of the Beyreuth University had been projected as consensus first overall pick, but the decision turned out to be much longer than expected of him, as the Highlanders management was in doubt over his inability to do well in big games (only led the Beyreuth Lions to playoffs once, a quick exit at the hands of Ottawa) and of course his partying habits.

May 18-20: Herschel spends his Seokga Tanshinil (Buddha’s Birthday) weekend partying at Laguna with Mathieu Rosenberg-Chang. Considering his reputation back in Chicoutimi, nobody gets surprised him being at what’s considered the most upscale and rowdy of nightclubs in Semarland. The new Highlanders’ head coach Louis Kim describes the situation and just says that “he is coming as who he is, in territories expected of him.” With Herschel’s reaction, it’s seldom surprising: “I go hard, stay double and do double by living life to the fullest and play to the edge.”

June 15: A stoned Herschel is detected on a local dispensary near Trojanajara after a workout session in La Baie, his hometown. He is asked for a signature by a visitor, which he graciously does on her Steelers’ jersey. When this gets posted on her instagram, the Steelers nation is not so happy about it.

June 29: Herschel says he is “thrilled to start for the Highlanders” and that “nothing will change from his old ways”.

July 2-4: Training camp’s only a couple of days away and guess what? He’s out again. This time he’s at Iztapalapa, California region, where he’s seen partying like usual.

July 18: The Atlantic reports that the organisation is terrified of his off-field behaviour. Once again, he’s out clubbing on a Sunday night to celebrate the news that his jersey became the highest selling in the QFL within first two weeks of training camp. Holy.

August 8: Herschel is unable to start the preseason with Highlanders due to a medical emergency, the exact circumstances behind which is still unknown to the greater public.

August 15: On the Imperial Day, Herschel makes much-anticipated debut for the Highlanders. On his unofficial QFL debut he makes an impressive showcase, going 23-41 for 280 yards while rushing for 18 yards on 3 attempts. His performance is described as “highly promising”, “impressive” and “solid”.

August 17: He stays quiet, for once, on the Pierre Henri IV Day.

August 22: He gets ejected very early into the second quarter when he flips the bird to the very same Steelers’ sideline during a 38-26 loss. “I didn’t do a good job at controlling myself after that particular player and am really sorry to the organisation for that,” Herschel says after the game. He is later given a warning and

August 28: Kim named Carlos Sanchez, not Herschel, the Highlanders’ starting quarterback. This instantly draws controversies and divides the Highlander fanbase and national media as they argue about what this could mean.

September 16: Herschel makes his QFL debut in a game against the Gaspe Patriotes. He finishes the second half of the game completing 18-30 for 217 yards and a Touchdown on what eventually becomes a 47-12 loss.

October 9: On the Hangeul Day showdown, which is ironically also the Thanksgiving Saturday, he starts briefly on the away game against Steelers. It is brief, as he gets booed out of the game on both entrance and exit from the sideline. Sanchez did no better than him, as the Highlanders lost 30-0.

October 25: After celebrating a fourth-quarter TD, Herschel decides to celebrate by stomping on a terrible towel. This immediately infuriates the Steelers fans worldwide, and of course the team. The very next play he is given a double-team tackle by Steelers’ linebackers Connor Talbot (a Saint John hometown boy) and George Bartkowski and leaves the game. The Highlanders win for once, however, by beating the Steelers 31-16 (!!!).

October 26: Highlanders GM Terry Hendrickson says that Herschel is “done for the season” due to the aforementioned injury. He also says that he believes Herschel is the absolute future starter down the road. “the team needs to be built around him,” He said, to a packed media crowd in Blue Point Stadium. “When he gets the opportunity, he will show it and I’m sure the team will step up a level as well.”

[Frenline Delpha]

If your team loses, you can't sue me.

Your three words today are terrible, catfish, and halo.

---

Group E
Vilemyr 24–7 Caball
Sarejo 3–7 San Llera
The Fair Republic 0–6 Drawkland

Group E                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Drawkland                     5    5   0    65   26  +39
2 San Llera                     5    4   1   109   43  +66
3 The Fair Republic             5    3   2    72   46  +26
4 Sarejo                        5    2   3    58   37  +21
5 Vilemyr                       5    1   4    57   99  −42
6 Caball                        5    0   5    17  127 −110

Group F
Schottia 28–3 The Republic of Arkan
HUElavia 7–37 Kaboomlandia
Rennidan 16–0 Vrai

Group F                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Schottia                      5    4   1    96   46  +50
2 Kaboomlandia                  5    4   1   128   51  +77
3 Rennidan                      5    3   2    48   23  +25
4 HUElavia                      5    3   2    49   76  −27
5 The Republic of Arkan         5    1   4    26   78  −52
6 Vrai                          5    0   5     6   79  −73

Group G
The Unified Isles 7–42 Abaja
Nassau-Hessen 17–12 Taeshan
Banija 17–0 Milaris

Group G                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Banija                        5    5   0    64   10  +54
2 Taeshan                       5    3   2    70   27  +43
3 Nassau-Hessen                 5    3   2    61   44  +17
4 Abaja                         5    3   2    68   54  +14
5 Milaris                       5    1   4    27   61  −34
6 The Unified Isles             5    0   5    17  111  −94

Group H
Cosumar 7–3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec
Zacistania 9–7 Mccompany
Halleconia 3–33 Chromatika

Group H                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Chromatika                    5    5   0    99   47  +52
2 Cosumar                       5    4   1    77   42  +35
3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec       5    3   2    81   37  +44 
4 Halleconia                    5    2   3    61   91  −30
5 Zacistania                    5    1   4    53   98  −45
6 Mccompany                     5    0   5    10   66  −56

[Ko-oren]

Tactical notes on the Union of Ko-oren national team

Roster Notes
The World Bowl is four games old now, and the Dragonflies have hit their stride somewhat. Apart from an overtime loss to Anglatia, the team have won three, including a 17-0 over Ethane in true Ko-orenite fashion. The games were no big surprise, the team is good and consists of true stars in the U-Bowl, the domestic 32-team league of the Union of Ko-oren.

It's almost a cliche, but gridiron in the Union of Ko-oren follows generally one of four schools. Modern coaches have mixed and matched these, but sometimes it's uncanny how much these schools hold up. The four divisions of Ko-orenite gridiron traditionally hold on to a school each, but that adage has been let go a decade ago. However, there is still something to be said about it. And the national team gets the best from all four styles.

In short: the Ko-orenite school proposes defence, reliability, and going for safe passes on offence. The defence doesn't prefer a 3-4 over a 4-3 or vice versa, as long as the defensive backs are beyond world class. The defence likes to be fantastic and unpredictable. That unpredictability translates over to the offence at times, too. The Thaulandian school says running is the way to go, with big strong men on offensive and defensive lines. Keeping possession is important too. Big hits are a given. In the Nonosororitan style, the quarterback is expected to make split-second reads and adjust plays at the line of scrimmage, with an equally good running and passing game. Even the defence is jack of all trades, master of none. Lastly, the Southeastern style, not often used, is about lots of passing options and spreading the defensive backs thin. The defence focuses on big plays, interceptions, but is vulnerable.

With this in mind, the roster, like the games, are as expected. A quarterback from Ko-oren, Thaulandi and the Nine Sisters. There are way more receivers on the roster than last World Bowl, but the running backs are still just the three. There is an extra offensive line. The number of tight ends is still small. Defence is where the big differences exist. Instead of sets of versatile front sevens, there are now specialised 3-4 and 4-3 units, but still with players that could serve a purpose in both systems. The backfield is a little bigger too.

On Offence, Germain is the absolute leader of the team. He has had another fantastic year, and he will be leading the offence at a World Bowl once again. He has a lot of options this time around, from small short route runners such as Christophersen, August and Tadahiro, and fast, big and dangerous long range receivers like Yun and Molenaar. The offensive line is up to the task, with three capable units. Expect a lot of personnel changes and substitutions.

On Defence, which has always been the point of the Union of Ko-oren teams, just expect a dominant group of 11 players at all times. The 4-3 front has excellent pass rushers in Aldaine, Ratliff and Li while having some tactical linebackers with Powel and Anokhina, the latter being a super rare woman not as punter or kicker (or the odd quarterback). The 3-4 front has huge players on the line, with Coslett, De Koning and Wakahisa all capable of entertaining two offensive linemen. The linebackers are all selected for having had a great year, with Melo and Barnes as pass rushers, but don't rule out a middle linebacker blitzing, or a safety or cornerback. The backfield is exciting, with several shifts, going from corners who can cover short routes in a red zone play (Johnston and Picard) to receiver's shadows like Jong and Chernyavsky. The safeties are a little bit of everything, from tough run-stoppers Kalani and Cerqueira to interceptors like Longinus and Fabian.

The special teams have not changed much, and they are some cool customers for kickers and punters. The return units are conservative, as always, as to not give up an accidental fumble.

[The united states of Saints]

Paladins streak increases to three with win against Devonta!

Aprilian Times -- The Paladins seem to have a growing fan base with their recent wins against ranked opponents, the most noticeable one being against Allamunic States. It looks like they'll be one of the top unranked teams in the World Bowl if their success continues. In the fourth game of the World Bowl, The Paladins won against United States of Devonta 7-6. This match was close on paper but turned out to be a dismal game for both teams and not providing much entertainment for fans. The fact that The Paladins failed to score more against a struggling Devonta team lead critics to point out that The Paladins will not make it far if they get to the playoffs because their offense continuous struggle to put points on the board. This is important for fans because if the playoffs were today the Paladins would not be in because they have only a +5 Point Differential. A much smaller PD than Frenline Delpha's and Allamunic States, whom they are in a tiebreak with. Coach Agresta said that the critics were right about not scoring enough and that he would address the team about it.

Now for post game stats. For The Paladins the defense were able to keep devonta from scoring much while they're offense struggled only allowing 2 field goals. They caused 4 three and outs, 3 sacks, a fumble, and 2 interceptions, while swatting the ball away from receivers' hands 4 times. Devonta's defense were given a lot of lucky breaks but still managed to put up numbers of their own they sacked QB Matt Whelan once, and managed to get an interception. They deflected the ball 3 times, but allowed Miguel Black to run them over.

For the offenses The Paladins seemed off with Whelan throwing inaccurate passes and the offense having 7 penalties called on them. Thankfully Miguel Black was the savior for them as he managed to get a couple of big runs including a 43 yard TD run. Overall he rushed for 123 yards on 21 carries and its surprising he didn't score anymore. Matt Whelan struggled throughout the game often throwing behind or over the receivers. He went 11-24 passing for 85 yards with an interception and was sacked once.

Around Group A, The Frenline Delpha Anacondas beat Shytysle 30-14 and The Allamunic States Regulars shutout Mareut 14-0. With the results of these games the battle for first place in the group is still close with a three way tie between The Paladins, The Anacondas, and The Regulars. The Regulars lead the group based on having the highest Point Differential according to tiebreaker rules. Here is a look at all of Group A after Match Day 4:

Group A
The united states of Saints 7–6 United States of Devonta
Frenline Delpha 30–14 Shytysle
Allamunic States 14–0 Mareut

# Group A                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD 
1 Allamunic States               4    3   1    69   19  +50
2 Frenline Delpha                4    3   1    89   45  +44
3 The united states of Saints    4    3   1    59   54   +5
4 Shytysle                       4    2   2    82   86   −4
5 United States of Devonta       4    1   3    32   69  −37
6 Mareut                         4    0   4    17   75  −58

---

*After the game against Devonta the players were called in for a team meeting in the film room.*

All the players gathered around in the film room, each taking their respective seats with some wondering what the meeting was for.

"Alright, alright, settle down now." Coach Agresta spoke. "Now the reason I called for this team meeting today is that we seem to be struggling a bit these past few games. Of course you may be thinking 'what do you mean coach we won our past three games?' And that's true. However, we have been failing to score on offense because it seems to me that as a unit we are not disciplined enough. There is solid proof of that in that game we just played. A lot of false starts, someone wasn't lined up properly, and really upsets me is that our receivers had pass interference called on them! How does that happen?! Even when we didn't have any flags called on us we seemed lost, we couldn't execute any plays that well! The fact we won was mainly because of Miguel over there carrying the team with a very solid rushing performance! We had hardly any penalties called on us at all the games before this one so can we please get it back to that? Know what how about we don't have any penalties called on us. I want this team to win and to do that you need to be well disciplined and execute those plays. Now Matt I know you had an off day and all but c'mon even some of the decisions you made were bad. In this next game against Mareut I better see us playing better so we can move into the playoffs and impress the world in our World Bowl debut. Dismissed!"

[Barunia]

Arbuckle Washington read the West Phonecian news post out loud, to a crowded locker room. "Even their cheerleaders looked maculine."
The reaction to that was mostly puzzled. "We don't have cheerleaders." Commented Marc DeLeon.
"And no away fans." Said Mar Meyer with a grin.
"You don't think they meant ...us?" Asked Josh Bell, which brought a bout of laughter. It increased as the team realised that Bell was probably right. It had been a cold night in West Phonecia, and the Barunians on the sidelines had been covering up in tracksuits to keep warm. No wonder the West Phonecians had thought they looked masculine - for they must have indeed been men standing on the sidelines, cheering the Sea Cows on.
The humour increased as Marcus Schwedler did an impromptu dance routine, culminating in him standing on top of Simon Nobel.
As the laughter resounded, Arbuckle read over the next section of the article. "Ha! They're complaining about their funding?!"

[United Vietussia]

The Vietussian Inquisitor

Vietussia improves win streak, moves to Gregoryisgodistan

A big road win in Downination by a score of 13-10 has given a momentum swing to Vietussia prior to a difficult road game against 2nd ranked Gregoryisgodistan, a team who has given up only 3 points thus far, dominating Group D. However, Vietussia has been considred the shrimp in an ocean of sharks.

The fight is slowly turning towards the second place playoff bid, as Gregoryisgodistan seems to be getting closer and closer to an early clinch of the group title. Leaf Kingdom find themselves two games back, almost virtually eliminating them from contention with another loss. They have certainly been the circus team in the group. The same goes for Downination, especially if The Sword Bloke and United Vietussia win.

A big turning point will whittle its way into fruition in the second half of group play between Abahnfleft, The Sword Bloke, and United Vietussia. The three will undoubtedly battle for the second place spot, and with The Sword Bloke having ever declining performances, the battle could just be between Abahnfleft and United Vietussia in the final MDs of the season.

UVTV will be able to bring you the mid-season analysis and look ahead to the oncoming NSCF season for the Vietussia Academy team. Until then, this is Jeb Ports reporting live from Downination. Have a good evening, and go Vulcans!

[Abaja]

World Bowl XXIX

Abaja steps up, scores 6 TD's vs The Unified Isles

- By Vincent Megwaa & Jaqui Bazola 5:50 P.M

The Unified Isles 7 - 42 Abaja

With their playoff hopes on the line, the Lions were able to get a big 7-42 win over The Unified Isles. Isles has struggled all this tournament, and the Lions just wanted them to suffer worse. "This game was, and probably will be, the best and biggest victory we had all tournament. But good games don't mean to sleep. Remember, we are in this to get better and better. If we don't get better, we won't succeed.The offense finally woke up, which was a BIG boost. Let's get back to work fellas!" Says head coach Josi Tueyuté, this time leaving the conference with a grin on his face. In the first quarter, the Isles QB threw a 12 yard bullet pass to his WR. Two plays later, it was intercepted by the star CB Henry Turusi, to put the Lions on their opponents' 22 yard line. 4 minutes into the quarter, Desna Osopno (QB) passed to Willis Efiomo (TE) for a 22 yard touchdown. When The Unified Isles got the ball back, the QB did a handoff to his RB, who was stuffed. 2 plays later, the QB threw another bullet pass, this time they gained 26 yards. They were at their own 46 yard line, but this time when The Unified Isles QB passed short, the ball got snatched away and intercepted by Lema Megusu (CB). He then ran it in for a touchdown with 3 minutes left in the first quarter. It was now 14-0. When The Unified Isles got the ball back, more trouble had come. The QB got sacked for a 9 yard loss on 1st down, then he threw a 16 yard pass, then got sacked again for a 7 yard loss. It was 4th and 10 on their own 30 yard line. At the end of the first quarter, The Unified Isles punted.The Abajans were on their own 21 yard line. Desna Osopno (QB) began the second quarter with an incomplete pass, but 1 play after that, the play of the game happened. Malik Mafausa (RB) ran for 79... 79 yards for a touchdown. Lions fans cheered while fans from The Unified Isles had either left or watched in agony. 6 minutes left in the second quarter, The Unified Isles QB started giving the team life. On 2nd and 5 on their own 34 yard line, the QB scrambled for 14 yards. Then he passed to his TE for another 14 yards. Their RB ran for another 21 yards.... Within 2 minutes they were on the Abaja 17 yard line. The QB found his WR open for a touchdown. 2 minutes left in the half, and it was 7-21. Abaja failed to reach field goal range, as they went 4th and 7 on their opponents' 48 yard line. Then there was the half.

Halftime, Abaja led 21-7. In the start of the third quarter, Abaja had ball. 1st and 10 on the 20 yard line. Bobby Odendé (WR) caught a pass for 32 yards, and caught another one for 20. Vincent Oleamu (HB) ran for 14 yards. Desna Osopno (QB) turned on the jets and scrambled for an extra 6 yards. They were then on The Unified Isles 10 yard line. Desna Osopno then passed to Mohammadu Shepada (TE) for a touchdown - or was it? No. He was ruled down on the 1 yard line. Vincent Oleamu (HB) then dove in for the touchdown. Abaja lead 28-7. When The Unified Isles got the ball back, it was a living hell for the QB and the RB's and HB's. The Abajan defensive line was playing as fierce as Banija did against The Unified Isles a few days ago. Jacob Nebasu (ROLB) got a sack on the QB and 2 plays later Nikola Juvaswo (DE) got back to back sacks. The opposing team punted on 4th and 27. Zair Macosa (WR/PR) got the punt and ran it all the way for a touchdown! The score was 35-7. The third quarter ended, and the fourth quarter began. The Unified Isles started gaining more yards, going on a 42 yard drive, until the QB threw another interception. Henry Turusi (CB) caught another one. Abaja was back on offense. Malik Mafausa (RB) ran for 8 yards, then 3. Desna Osopno then got sacked from the left side. It was now 2nd and 18. Desna Osopno threw another pass to Mohammadu Shepada (TE) for 28 yards, then to Zair Macosa (WR/PR) for 14 yards, then to Mohammadu Shepada (TE) again for 16 yards. They were at The Unified Isles 17 yard line, but failed 1 pass, and Malik Mafausa (RB) was just short of a first down. 3rd and 1 now. Desna Osopno then found Bobby Odendé (WR) for an 8 yard touchdown! Oh wait, it was a holding call on the offense. The opposing team accepted and Abaja was now in 3rd and 6. Malik Mafausa (RB) could not make the first, as he got stuffed. The Lions attempted a field goal on 4th and 7, but the kicker missed it. The Unified Isles regained possession on their own 14 yard line, but the same happened. Floki Jensa (DE) tackled their RB for a loss of 3. Then Jacob Nebasu (ROLB) tipped away a pass from The Unified Isles' QB. 3rd and 13, and the QB gets sacked for a loss of 4. They punted yet again. Vincent Oleamu (HB) ran for an extra 12 yards for Abaja. The next play, Desna Osopno (QB) fumbles the ball. Luckily, the offensive linemen were there to leap on the ball, though they lost 12 yards. Desna Osopno then passed to Bobby Odendé (WR) for 38 yards. Mohammadu Shepada (TE) also caught a pass for 22 yards, and Desna Osopno scrambled in for a 5 yard touchdown! It was now 42-7 with 47 seconds left in the game. The Unified Isles was unable to score before the game ended. Abaja ended up with a total of 6 sacks, 3 interceptions and 1 touchdown on defense. Mohammadu Shepada (TE) had 7 catches for 103 yards and Bobby Odendé (WR) had a total of 5 catches for 121 yards. Desna Osopno (QB) was 25/38 and had 313 yards, and 2 TD's. Malik Mafausa (RB) had 16 carries for 122 yards and 1 touchdown.

COMMENTS

974 Comments

Bobby Ventekwa -Joined Mar 16, 2011
15 mins ago- Best game by the lions so far. 3-2 now

tweetybird -Joined Dec 19, 2008
48 secs ago- Mohammadu Shepada and Bobby Odende went OFF this game! good job.

blingybling98 -Joined Jul 30, 2007
40 mins ago- There are now 3 teams in group G that have a 3-2 record. teashan, nassau-hessen, and abaja

forever old -Joined Apr 23, 2014
1 hour ago- Henry Turusi is an All-Star CB.

PancakeMan -Joined Feb 18, 2015
58 mins ago- It's about time these boys got with it@!!1

Read More

[Anglatia]

OOC: Rushed because of time.
ETID - Part Three

"You're never going to forget me, right? Even if my career goes south in college?"

"Of course not. Why are you so worried lately?"

"I'm not. I just want you to prove it to me."

"Yeah, sure, what do I have- Woah, hold up. I'm not taking a blood oath... What are you doing? Don't cut your hand-"

"Too late. It only hurts a bit. It's your turn now..."

"You know I don't like sharp things. Are you really making me do this?"

"Yes. And hopefully you'll do it and drop your blood into the fire before I get lightheaded from the sight of my own. I'm not bandaging the cut until you do what I just did."

"Fine. You're crazy sometimes, you know that right?"

"Whatever. And see, that didn't hurt too bad, did it?"

"Maybe not for you. It was pretty terrible for me since I have a phobia of getting cut... You're lucky that I care enough to do it anyway."

---

Ty Leroux wouldn't actually meet with Kris in private until after the next game, way after she had originally asked him to come over, but when he finally went to her hotel room, he was surprised at what he saw. The tall girl was sitting on her bed, silently crying as she held her head in her hands. Her usually cheerful demeanor had shifted to one that projected an aura of depression, as if the only thing that she wanted to do was to cry. "Kris... What's wrong?"

"Go away, Ty. You didn't come when I needed you," she said, her voice sounding broken but still thick with emotion. "Just leave."

"What did you even need to talk to me about?"

"It doesn't matter. It's pointless now. I didn't listen to Taesha's advice and now I'm paying the price... It's my own fault and you can't help me with it," Kris replied, motioning for him to leave. Ty nodded and turned towards the door.

"I'm always here to talk if you want to explain later. Don't think that I don't care, just because I couldn't talk to you earlier," he said, before leaving. As soon as he left, he ran to find Taesha, so he could hopefully find out what advice she had given Kris. He found the star safety sitting in her brother's room, playing some kind of newly released fighting game with him and Zero.

"Hey. Can we talk for a minute?" he asked. "It's not about me, it's about Kris."

"Yeah, sure," Taesha replied. "But I'm not pausing, so you'll have to either talk here or wait."

"Okay. Well, Kris is really upset over something and she says it's because she didn't follow your advice and that she's paying the price for it now. Was there any advice that you gave her recently?"

"Uh... Hmmm. I helped her with her tackling a lot over the last season but I don't think she's talking about that. I also told her that she should find someone nice in the Imperial Court and marry into wealth, but I also don't think she's talking about that... But there was one other thing that... Shit. I know what's up. I may have done something earlier, before the Falatulu game, and I may have done it without thinking of how it would affect her... Hold on, guys. I have to sort this out," Taesha sighed, dropping her controller and getting up and running out of the room.

Ty could only guess what had gone wrong, but in any case, he hoped that his best friend felt better soon. He sure hated to see her in her current state...

[Drawkland]

Cutoff! One of my favorite songs, but don't sue me for ear damage. Warning.

Your Words: Liver, Train, Lion. Someone pls do this.

---

Group A
Mareut 3–6 The united states of Saints
Shytysle 7–17 Allamunic States
United States of Devonta 10–17 Frenline Delpha

# Group A                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD 
1 Allamunic States               5    4   1    86   26  +60
2 Frenline Delpha                5    4   1   106   55  +51
3 The united states of Saints    5    4   1    65   57   +8
4 Shytysle                       5    2   3    89  103  −14
5 United States of Devonta       5    1   4    42   86  −44
6 Mareut                         5    0   5    20   81  −61

Group B
Holy Philippine Empire 3–20 Anglatia
Falatulu 7–3 Ko-oren
The Orion Islands 0–7 Ethane

# Group B                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Anglatia                       5    5   0    71   16  +55
2 Ko-oren                        5    3   2    72   34  +38
3 Falatulu                       5    3   2    61   36  +25
4 Ethane                         5    3   2    41   24  +17
5 The Orion Islands              5    1   4    42   88  −46
6 Holy Philippine Empire         5    0   5    17  106  −89

Group C
Barunia 16–0 Texasa
Equestrian States 26–3 West Phoencia
San Jose Guayabal 20–7 Cuatro

# Group C                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Equestrian States              5    5   0    78    6  +72
2 Barunia                        5    3   2    79   29  +50
3 San Jose Guayabal              5    3   2    50   76  −26
4 West Phoencia                  5    2   3    33   65  −32
5 Texasa                         5    1   4    31   47  −16
6 Cuatro                         5    1   4    29   77  −48

Group D
Abanhfleft 30–14 The Nation of Downination
Leaf Kingdom 3–30 The Sword Bloke
United Vietussia 7–17 Gregoryisgodistan

# Group D                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Gregoryisgodistan              5    5   0    85   10  +75
2 Abanhfleft                     5    4   1    94   61  +33
3 The Sword Bloke                5    3   2    77   46  +31
4 United Vietussia               5    2   3    66   79  −13
5 The Nation of Downination      5    1   4    47   85  −38
6 Leaf Kingdom                   5    0   5    27  115  −88

[Kaboomlandia]

Phoenix back on form with huge win over HUElavia

After a 24-31 loss to Schottia put Kaboomlandia third in the group in a three-way tie, the Phoenix bounced back in a 37-7 demolition of HUElavia to maintain their second place berth in Group F. Coach Kevin Nivek took a gamble here by picking Travis Reuben to start, and it paid off, as he threw two touchdowns in the first quarter before being replaced with Russell Jones. In the first quarter, the Phoenix, no doubt angry over their loss to Schottia, came out flying, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter to Jack White and Jimmy Monahan. After HUElavia scraped a single touchdown from a quick run from the one-yard line, Kaboomlandia locked the game down. The game plan was mostly to hand the ball to Andrew Michaels, who ran for 185 yards in the game and two touchdowns. At the half, the score was 21-7 Phoenix.

In the second quarter, it was simply more handing the ball to Andrew Michaels, but the highlight of the game was this:

"Kickoff is up, 28-7 Phoenix. Hayes with the return and off he goes. About to be brought down here, but no, he'll lob the ball back to Bailey! Enoch Bailey up the left side, laterals to Connor Day. He's down the sideline, only one man to beat! He lobs back to Enoch Bailey and he's gone! To the 20! The 15! The 10! Touchdown, Enoch Bailey! A lateral kick return, and it's 35-7 Phoenix!"

After that score late in the third quarter, the team did score a safety in the fourth quarter after sacking the HUElavian quarterback three times in a row deep in their own zone.

The Phoenix have a bye day today, but will play Rennidan again the day after that as the second half of the group stage begins.
Notably, the Phoenix are the highest-scoring team in the tournament and have the best point differential of the 48 teams.

Around the group, Schottia destroyed the Republic of Arkan 28-3, while Rennidan shut out Vrai 16-0.

[Anglatia]

Note: This part is shorter and was speed written from a hotel and for time constraints and plot intrigue reasons, it's dialogue only and you won't know who is speaking until later in the series.


ETID - Part Five

"Are you sure you're okay? And are you sure you don't want to skip practice today and just chill for a bit?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I was just homesick earlier, really. I miss home sometimes, that's really all it is. I was just upset imagining what could have been."

"You're an awful liar."

"Okay, so there may be something else. But I can't do anything about it. I won't make a big deal out of it because I can't do anything to make it better."

"Are you certain about that? Look, I messed up and made you pay for it. But I wouldn't mind helping you out to make up for it. You still have a small window from now until the end of the World Bowl to make things right."

"At what cost? I rather let things play out as they are now, if it helps the team. It's only going to disrupt things if I try to stop it."

"Don't forget that you got to where you were because of being a gambler. You have to take risks sometimes. This is one of those times."

"Alright... I'll try something. Just give me a few days to think it over."

"I have an idea, though. We'll need one of the backups to help us with this. But if it works, it will remove one obstacle and give you much better odds at getting what you want."

"What's involved with this?"

"I can tell you tomorrow. After I see if it's possible. Now, if you're feeling better, we should get to practice."

"Okay. Thanks for the help... It means a lot that you care."

[Chromatika]

The Iron Legion - Part 5

The spread was back and in form for The Iron Legion on their latest win over Halleconia. Sporting wins over their fellow debutantes, Halleconia was supposedly going to be a tougher challenge. Instead, what happened was that Mercado, Wiley, Bridges, Frye, and the O-Line came to play, and to dominate. Mercado threw for over three hundred and fifty yards in the game, along with three touchdowns, one each to Wiley, Bridges, and Frye, each spanning over twenty yards. Randy Head went four-for-four, continuing his perfect form. The defense picked up to the way it was in the wins over Cosumar and the Royal Kingdom of Quebec, only conceding a field goal after a decent kick return by Halleconia.

They will look to repeat the performance through the first half, starting with a match against Royal Kingdom of Quebec, who lost a narrow one against Cosumar to slip to third place. If the defense doesn't hold like it did in the first meeting, Chromatika will not have much of a chance.

Any criticism concerning how the team has been built has been addressed by how everyone has been playing with each other, all the Lynx, Juggernauts, and even the Cyan.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

OOC: This is an IC version of How to tell if you're [RL national denonym] series. It's what I've had in mind for a long time so one day I decided to work on it. Enjoy

How to tell if you're a Quebecois

Writers behind this list: Julien was born and lived most of his life in Montreal, Montreal; currently he's on a three-year internship on a local company in Halifax. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lara currently lives in Kingston, Frontenac, where he currently works as an engineer. He's also lived in Attawapiskat, Baie-Comeau and , and is currently married to an Abitibian (from a small city with many lakes named Ste-Agathe-Marie).

---

If you're a Quebecois....

• Your chance of being a committed republican is very low. When it comes to the term 'republican', the term probably means opponent of the monarchy in all cases here. A conservative would mean a conservative. You think that the King hasn't put a foot wrong, and may or not think about the interesting possibilities had the Pierre Henri IV (father and predecessor to current king) not succumbed to the heart attack 11 months into the monarchy, but you would never think of Quebec becoming a republic. That'd be absurd.
  
• You're familiar with Han Sol Goh, Etienne-Luc Perrier, North by North, Janine Walters, Mitchell Parkinson, Yu Min Park, Doctor Wintle, Avril Desbarats, Michelle Desjardins, Evgeni Koronin, Georges McLegan, Mikael Skovgaard, Barclay Street, 3 days before heaven and of course the power couple of Janice Tremblay and Bon Gu Yi.....
  
• You get at least 5 weeks a year, along with many holidays. Often you travel, but in special times always make sure to stay home and be with family as tradition suggests them to do so.
  
• You know the ins and outs of hockey, the so-called the fifth religion of this state, and probably know at least enough to give advice to your club(s) manager- whether on a national, professional, collegiate or junior level doesn't matter at all. It's no different with football and gridiron- it's common to see regular brawls between Saint John Steelers and Gaspe Patriotes fans. Often they also tune into other pro sports, most notably handball, basketball and volleyball, and give some love to amateur sports like fencing.
  
• You get your information from any combination of television, newspapers or radio, though radio nowadays is more popular for listening to music or sports broadcasts in remote communities. Reading newspapers, for some, is a way to start the day in breakfast tables.

Many religions, countless feasts and frequent holidays later..

• You're quite likely to believe in whatever the religion you're part of and observe special holidays, but don't go to temples/churches very often. If you're entering any place of worship, wearing at least decent attire is important or else you'll be removed on sight. You also celebrate and follow many pagan holidays too. The church is fine with it.
  
• A bathroom usually does not have a bath in it unless they are older houses from years back. Usually it only has toilet and shower. A separate W/C is called as such.
  
• If you're in bigger or major cities, you usually rely upon metro, buses or in some cities, streetcars. They're usually reliable, on-time and frequent. The road conditions at some cities are absolutely terrible due to the cities' long history or difficult geography. It doesn't necessarily mean that'll be the case for every major city- we hear too often of complaints from native capitolians (those from Quebec City) about how auto-driven Kingstonians are. Of course, if you're outside bigger cities, you will have a lot harder time accessing public transportation, so it might be a good idea to have a car then.
  
• When going out of town, trains are good. They're fast, reliable and usually gets you to places. You often end up taking buses, however, since it's lot cheaper and often gets you to places in countryside that are not as accessible by trains. Planes can work the best in ultra-long distance domestic services, simply because of how vast the land is. It would be insane for you to not take a flight from Halifax to Winnipeg or Iqaluit, especially when other options will have you spend a couple of days on road.
  
• You probably own a cell phone, television and a washing machine. Often you would just leave it out to dry, however, so sometimes you might need ironing and actually taking note of weather. Your place is certainly heated and has its own washroom. You either eat at a taller table sitting on chairs or a shorter one where you sit on ground and eat. This usually varies on region, background and the person.
  
• Shoes are always removed once you enter the house, and washing your hands is an absolute.
  
• You expect, as a matter of course, that phones will work. Getting new phones is a routine thing for people.

Have a drink....maybe a meal to....and a cigar....

• You don't consider dogs, cats, monkeys or guinea pigs to be food-- otherwise all things are eatable.
  
• You think of lots of fast food and canned stuff as cheap food, and on any given day would rather go to an open-air market. After all, they are terrible and why would you not want to socialise on a cafe or market instead? You mix shopping back and forth between supermarkets and local shops. Either way, on most given cases, you'd go for an alternative with healthier, tastier options with little bit more expenses.
  
• Some people kill for their own food, others don't. Most people do already own a garden or cottage/second home/dacha, so they often spend a lot of time there on summers collecting food. Picking berries, mushrooms and even in some cases medicinal roots or seasonal vegetables (termed Namul, as always even if you're not of Korean descent). Canning or preserving foods off wild is also common and often expected.
  
• You like your bacon crisp, and will consider the otherwise with intrigue / suspicion.
  
• The biggest meal of the day is dinner.
  
• When it comes to what's on your dish is really anyone's guess. It can be a Korean cuisine one evening on your grandparents' place, elegant French cuisine with your date, or even a familiar caribou steak while out camping over the summer. The Quebecois cuisine is really a diverse, listless and eternal mix of various ethnic cuisines that it's hard to distinguish a typical aspect of it. You do remember eating various forms of poutine when hungry and in need of snacks though- that's probably the only thing people find in common with it.
  
• They say you need to be 18 to smoke, but nobody checks. Smoking is very popular and you can do it anywhere, though it is entirely fine if you opt out of it- no pressure on that. There is a greater divide between age groups when it comes to what they smoke; the older age groups usually prefer cigarettes, while the younger members of the society prefer marijuana (though some do take cigarettes without reluctance as well). No surprise that Quebec produces 30% of Multiverse's marijuana supply. And of course, Quebecois marijuana is the best in the world because it's not only potent, but also very accessible. This does not mean they can do it wherever they go: it is prohibited to smoke in school (up to university, where the rules get more lax) and other government properties, as well as in subways due to potential fire and health hazards on a confined space.
  
• It is pretty much the same with alcohol. Quebecois drink a lot, though not in the binge drinking style some foreigners happened to have found doing so on streets, because they keep things consistent, accessible and gentle. Beer (Biere/Maekjoo) is a nice mild beverage Sometimes you see people drinking a can or two on the way to or back from work or even school in times. And based on what you've figured out with the word 'from school', teenagers drink too; they mostly stick with beer and wine, as well as occasional sips of traditional Korean beverages when in family events. Traditional beverages you get gradual access to 'em as you get older and more mature, and there are hundreds of homemade / microbrewery-based ones that would cause some people to lifelong search of finishing as many as possible before dying. When it comes to others Whiskey and Vodka are drunk mostly by men, and they're usually okay- Quebecois are more into beer, wine and traditional beverages anyway.

Merry go round of politics

• The utilities system (in regional companies), post office and train system are all public and you like it that way. There is no reason for them to turn private and you're usually fine paying same prices across the nation, though changes in utilities system over past decade or so has been worrying for many. The telephone system's private, however, and you're used to seeing Quebecom, Telus and other regional companies putting their latest plans on subway ad spaces.
  
• There are 4-5 major political parties in Quebec, and you find it a good thing. They vary in political tastes, though in recent years only the Green Party's been the only one little bit more radical than the rest and NDP more social-driven.
  
• Socialism is a serious opinion. Some people still remembers communism from either their philosophy/politics class or older days.
  
• If a politican cheats on one's spouse, you believe that it's a personal issue and that it shouldn't harm one's ability to govern.
  
• There are a number of races, but fortunately it's not a big deal. Mixed marriages are quite common anyway and you grow up as a Quebecois. Someone with one black or one white parent would be somewhere in between, and people would just take it as that and move on.
  
• You're well aware that your country speaks three major languages -- but you most likely know how to speak two, or live in major cities. You probably learned the other languages (French, English or Korean) in school up to year 10, but never really had to use it a lot unless visiting other regions where they'd be useful.
  
• You'd respect someone who can speak German, Spanish or any indigenous language (unless with indigenous background) with respect. You probably studied a bit of aboriginal languages when growing up, and might have to use that when talking to your neighbours or some classes. If you went to more historic public or private schools, you certainly had to learn at least 2 years of Latin, something that was not fun but somehow worked well as you learned other Latin languages. For the other languages, they are considered an asset and people will give you props for that.
  
• You think most problems can be solved if people can work with each other.
  
• You do know that there is a strong court system in place for you to use it whenever there's a dispute or unfairness in businesses. Otherwise, you don't have a lot of reasons to go to a court.
  
• Income tax has been around 30% for years and you don't expect to change that for a while. Obviously other sales taxes vary from none to 15% from province to province, so this often gets heated.

Ties to Robes

• School is free up to age 18, unless you're educated privately. University of technical college is subsidised- in past it used to be around $6,000 Quebecois but since then the prices have become more varied between £3000 to £7,000, depending on institution and programs. Academic and athletic scholarships are readily available, and special arrangements are also there for those in need of financial arrangements.
  
• College (excluding graduate studies) is normally four years long, though on occasion people might take an extra year to do internships, co-ops or research project on an upper year.
  
• The date comes first: January 8, 2012 (the coronation day for Jacques IX). The decimal point is a dot, and a billion is obviously a thousands times a million.
  
• You remember few wars happening around your time and getting worried back then about possible impacts back home, but are relieved anyway that Quebecois did what was right and rebuilt many of the places after war. You would feel a lot of respect for war veterans and often hold events and clinics to make sure they get the best treatments.
  
• You expect marriages to be made for love, not arranged by third parties. Getting married in churches is a common thing, but it's fine not to do it. Depending on religious or ethnic background, you might do a traditional wedding in either your parents' place or local venue. You have a best man and a few bridesmaids, something that applies in most cases. Also, one wife one husband.
  
• If a man engages in coitus with another man, that's none of our business to care about. Safe to assume that one is a gay, but you probably don't care enough to ask.

Once on streets you're good to go

• Once you're introduced to someone around your age group (besides mostly the emperor and few big figures), you can call them with their first name. Occasionally you might hear some name used to call those in position or elderly (jonching), but often enough the use of them is loose and people'd understand that. You almost always call elderly people by their name and jonching, unless you're familiar with them to the point where it's acceptable to do so.
  
• Whether man or woman, you're often topless when at beach.
  
• You are expected to be able to do business without bribes. Bribing is often considering an insult to personal integrity.
  
• Most stores will take your credit card, the likelier it gets when you're in deeper ridges of countryside.
  
• Foreign films are subtitled, not dubbed. Fortunately there usually are subtitles in at least 2 of 3 official languages for the state, and in some communities other regional languages as well.

Contributions to World Civilisation

• Everybody knows that the very best artists are Quebecois. Due to the nation's multi-ethnic facet, as well as the vast nature and cruel climate, the Quebecois are experts at suffering and as you know well, true suffering = real, vivid art. All the best writers, composers, musicians, modern painters, filmmakers and of course dancers are Quebecois. Joo Hyeon Park, Panin, Henri and Marie-Anne Diaby, Walters, White, Yu Seok Park, Theriault, Lalonde-Carr, Jeong brothers and of course Fyodorovsky. You probably grew up having to study some of them in school and still argue about their works in times 'cause they come up often enough and people overseas might even ask depending on their interest/knowledge.
  
• You've seen and enjoyed various Quebecois films from time to time like Histories of Ivan Corcoran, Eugene Masterson, Les Garcons du Nord, Manchu and probably Purple Rain and 21. Outside of that you probably remember some imported movies and enjoying them.
  
• You know The Submarines, Les Grandieux, Rogue, Neil Chandler, Natalie Larouche, Joosaekchinhyi, Jin Yim, and Julien Deschamps. Alternatively you may prefer Jean-Alain Park, Soulwave, Mont. Charmante, Deep Charade and maybe Ice Patrol and Rodney Schoenhart.
  
• Privatisation of the Medicare......what? Um, no. No. and NO. Practically unthinkable. You can always count on excellent treatement whenever you're in dire situation. For others, you might have to wait a bit. Often on those cases you may as well just go to traditional medicinal practices not far away from your home though, so good chance you end up there.
  
• You spent a great deal of time studying Quebecois history in school. You also studied significant foreign history as well.
  
• You know that none have contemplated to conquer Quebec and that's mostly because of how fucking cold and isolated the nation is, right on northern end of Calania continent. You do know there are countries stronger and/or more dangerous than Quebec but nonetheless says that we remain a great military power, despite only participating in wars so often.
  
• More recently You expect the Quebecois forces to serve in peacekeeping missions, not fighting overseas on a war. Obviously the past couple of wars have warranted the Quebecois to participate though, so you kinda agree that they had to send the soldiers to do what's the right thing in Free Republics and Felix.
  
• You're used to seeing great variety in almost anything and everything you buy.
  
• You're used to buying ingredients when they're in season- they're natural that way and you find it natural as well.
  
• You mentally measure things in feet, pounds and litres and kilometres, though with last two older peeps might say pints/gallons and miles.
  
• You are not a farmer, though you remember having relatives or ancestors in countryside.
  
• Firing somebody has to be justified. Without doing so, the employer may have to pay for damages.
  
• You drive on left side of the road, no exceptions. You will also cross on any red light in front- no exceptions- and probably jaywalk a lot as well.
  
• There are parts of the city you'd want to avoid at night. Back in the day there used to be lots of Guayabalense or Valladar gangs around in some cities, mostly a relic of Valladar civil war and poverty in San Jose Guayabal as it transitioned into communism.

Bizarre peoples, bizarre allies, and bewaring others

• You think of Semarland as a pleasant country neighbouring them, but also understands that there are clear differences between Quebecois and Semars with many things; everybody knows too well about border control and how difficult it is to stop drug dealers along the patches of marijuana plantations up north. Most of them are too slow though, so that makes it fun for some good jokes to come off that. Anyways, you travel there quite often and might know somebody who's living there for whatever the reason. They seem to like it.
  
  If you're in college, you probably went or plan to go there for an adventure traveling on a friend's car to there.
  
• Guayabalenses you see quite a lot of, and probably know a few- most of them live as part of the mainstream society anyways. Some of them are blond, some of them raven-haired, so that's confusing, but oh well. They also happen to have a lot of businesses here and maybe neighbouring gangs as well....El Whirlo and the Gang Wars of Montreal are still familiar to many elderlies. They also happen to have few teams that you cheer for; good chance a couple of your favourite football players are playing in Liga Premier. Good place to vacation as well.
  
• Ko-orenites are close, very nice neighbours up northwest. A confusing place, given its recent change into an union of fuckton "nations" and their ability to shove millions of people on each of islands they have. They're one of the few people who understands Korean, though that's a minority of people so you end up talking in English or maybe French. With Ko-oren you've probably had a few products imported from there or went to a cruise to see the northernly nation of many islands. They have a pretty good football team that the Grim Reapers usually lose to in a very heartbreaking fashion.
  
• Vanorians are elves who seem to live for god knows how long. Also they're good at most sports and Quebec has trouble beating them.
  
• Valladars you see mostly on Saguenay region or bigger cities in central part of the nation. Some of them are farmers, others live in cities like others and do whatever the others do, so it's safe to say that they're no different than Guayabalenses. Their French or Spanish is little bit different in vocabulary and accent, but mostly comprehensible so communication's no problem. With Valladares, you remember visiting there sometime, and knows that Zachary Fortin's playing at Marinos Metropolis.
  
• You think of Cosumar as a very pleasant country to visit with lots of latest gadgets and technologies, and dragons. If you're a biologist, astrophysicist or engineer you probably remember visiting Cosumar for a project or excursion sometime in your lifetime or career. You probably know either somebody studying in Cosumar or vice versa, mostly because of how close the universities are in those exchanges. Sometimes you might watch CFL or whatever the collegiate league they have over there- fun stuff to watch, and they're as good as the home product. You like Cosumarites as individuals, but feels great rivalry as a team, mostly because of the similarities they have in many fronts.
  
• Vaugania's a longtime ally in Rushmore whom Quebec's fought with during Southern Rushmori War of 1939. We remember fighting with them to fight against those Norrish Nazis and came away with victory. Bloody cold place to go, some Southerners would say, and they love hockey and winter sports as much as we do so we get along. Lots of Vauganians here, same there, and lots of trades happen back and forth. Quite arrogant people you'd think, but when working together you tend work very well with them- mostly because both nationals are prideful peoples in general. You never get why their church is so powerful and people so devout though.
  
• You think of Norrehavn as a friendly nation, most importantly because of its historic ties and status in the Quebecois Commonwealth. With the nation itself you kinda see it as a literal mix of Vaugania, Semarland and some Czechs on southern end: They love football and hockey as much as we do, live in a country friggin cold and also speak other languages that you've probably studied in school. Some older people remember some submarines and others Holocaust and the Southern Rushmori War, to which the nation has dealt perfectly well.
  You probably bought some furnitures and surprisingly-addictive food hailing from there, and traveled there.
  
• Sanctiis are nutjob hyper-religious people who's been heading into better directions of late. On the other hand, you pity the Republicans for going the opposite way and often laugh whenever Chancellor O'Reilly's named. Dumpy O'Rumpy reminds people of dumplings, yum!
  
• Your opinions of Nuevo Caracas are mixed: Open and happy people who live in a sunny country, but they've also been through lots of conflicts and you feel that some newer immigrants (non-Quebecois/Guayabalenses) are pain on the ass. Those of Quebecois, Guayabalense or Valladar backgrounds are usually welcomed, given their socioeconomic status.
  
• Kirisakians are very good cooks, most notably for their excellent dishes using Wolfie meat. The Kirisakian culture shares many similarities to that of Quebec's, so both nationals are found quite often on each other's countries as tourists.
  
• Schottians? Excellent swimmers, nice people and live a peaceful but dull life on a small island.
  
• The nationality you joke the most about is the Caraquenos or Mertagnaises.
  
• You know all the leaders in Atlantian Oceania, or at least Calania.

La Mission Imperiale

• Christmas is in Winter. Unless you're Jewish, you spend time with family, put up Christmas trees and give presents. In New Year's Eve you usually celebrate with your friends or lovers.
  
• Good chance you've never left a message at the beep.
  
• You wouldn't expect both inflation and unemployment to be very high (say, over 10%) at the same time.
  
• Taxis are operated by mostly immigrants, and stories you hear from them are more or so bizarre and often complaining of how horrible Quebecois weather can be. They do know the city though, mostly thanks to every cabbie having to know good geography of the local geography.
  
• You care more or less what family someone comes from (especially when this "someone" wants to marry one of your children).
  
• The police in general aren't armed, but all forces have armed response units. Not that it matters as much as other places: many are well trained in martial arts and can deal with petty criminals.
  
• The normal thing, when a couple dies, is for the estate to be divided equally or at least accordingly between the children or family members.
  
• You think of Opera and ballet as elite entertainment, though people've been trying to make it more accessible lately. It's dependent on who you're as a person if you ended up seeing lots of plays or other performing art forms (traditional ones) not. Probably on countrysides you're more likely to go as a part of community activity or excursion to bigger cities or towns.
  
• As for most Quebecois colonies, you consider that it's good that they're independent, but that Quebec did a good thing by introducing access to newer civilisations.
  
• Journalists write about anything and everything but usually avoid the private life of public people. Unless tabloids, hey only do so when people choose to make their private life public, mostly due to how serious the privacy laws have become in recent years. Writing about private lives of the Royals is also considered a matter that ought to be taken carefully.
  
• You're proud of over 15,000 different types of food you can eat. Food competitions and youth cooking programs are highly popular. You may make voyages for eating purposes, in which you'd go from one restaurant after another to taste local specialties.
  
• You don't care very much what family one comes from, unless they're of the Valliere's and Han's (directories of the aristocracy).
  
• You think that a welfare state is important in forming a livable society.
  
• Being a lawyer is still an honourable profession, given how the demand has often outpaced the supply. Barristers and judges still wear gowns and wigs, and in some provinces other lawyers as well.
  
• The likewise is said for intellectuals. With a nostalgia for the 60s and Sylvain IV years (1979-2012), you think that intellectuals should have an important role in public life, for they reflect the society and guide them to its bettering.

[Abanhfleft]

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen Part Sixteen

No Place For Heroes, Part Seventeen

Al Jawal, Gharbambiyah

In the midst of a great sandstorm, it was easy for one to lose their bearings and get lost in the middle of the storm. Anyone caught within a sandstorm would be facing certain death if they had the misfortune of being trapped in the middle of the open desert. But since they had happened to be in the city of Al Jawal when one of the biggest sandstorms to ever hit Gharbambiyah struck the town, Ellen Quest and Elizabeth Glenn were able to wait out the storm in an abandoned brick hut near the outskirts of the city. But they had only been forced to do that because they realized that during the sandstorm, they had been separated from the the rest of their comrades from the RBI.

Night had fallen by the time the storm finally subsided, and both Ellie and Lizzie were unsure of what to do next. They had tried contacting the others on the radio, but the storm, even though it was physically gone now, was still wreaking havoc on the airwaves and so none of them could call anybody to tell them where they were.

They could make their way to the Gharbambiyan Army base to the north of Al Jawal as planned, before the sandstorm hit them, but it was going to be a difficult trek. There were two kilometers of empty desert between the base and Al Jawal, and there was also the threat of roving bands of militias loyal to the so-called "Emirate of Al Jawal", an organization that was a curious mix of local militia and separatist movement. The militias were very angry that a unit of foreigners had managed to escape their territory despite some carefully planned ambushes, and were looking to vent their anger and frustration on either the local population or whichever of their many enemies were unlucky enough to end up in Al Jawal.

"What do you think we should do, Ellie?" Liz Glenn asked as she looked outside the hut in which the two of them had taken shelter during the storm. "Do we stay here or go for the base?"

"That's the question, Lizzie," Ellie replied. "There's a lot of risks involved either way. If we stay here, we risk getting caught by Eskalumbuye's guys during the night, but if we head for the base now, the same also applies. And we can't call Gerry, Denny or the others for help because of all the bloody ionization and stuff from the sandstorm, so we're literally on our own now. I don't think the trackers can even get through all that mess in the air." Ellie was referring to the transdermal tracking devices implanted within the legs of the members of the deniable operations unit which were used to keep an eye on them during clandestine operations like this.

Ellie found it hard to believe that this had all started as a simple rescue mission. Arby Balladur, son of General Rowan Balladur of the World Assembly Mission to Gharbambiyah, had been kidnapped by Eskalumbuye's militias during a relief mission into Al Jawal, and Gerry Anthony and his unit had been given the task of rescuing Arby from the clutches of the Emirate of Al Jawal. They had thought that Arby was being kept in a derelict warehouse in Al Jawal and had gone into the city armed with that information, and they had barely survived an ambush involving dozens of militiamen and rebels.

After that, everything had become a blur. First the chopper was shot down, and then the sandstorm came, and then they got separated from the others... Ellie thought it was a right miracle that she and Lizzie were still alive after all that.

"So, stay or go?" Lizzie asked Ellie, bringing her back to the real world.

"Eh, what does it matter anyway?" Ellie said. "If we get caught by the militia, we get caught, simple as that. The only good thing I can see is that it's night, and the desert won't be too hot."

"So you're saying that we should go?" Lizzie asked in clarification.

"Of course we're going! It's boom or bust for us now! Get off of your arse and let's go!"

Ellie peeked out from the threshold of the mud hut, the door having been taken away by either the previous owner of the house or a looter. The street outside was clear, for the moment. She nodded to Lizzie who went out of the hut first, and Ellie followed her out, Galil in hand. After surviving all those militias, they had little ammunition left, and they had to hope that they wouldn't encounter any more enemies tonight, or if they did, that they weren't the take-no-prisoners type.

The street that they were on was leading to the open desert. The gaps between the houses were growing wider, and the road's asphalt was cracking and beginning to show sand through the cracks. The road then became a narrow strip of gravel as it wound its way into the desert, hopefully ending up at the Army base. But Ellie and and Lizzie had barely been walking on that road for a few minutes before Lizzie noticed that something was wrong. "Ellie?" she called out.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ellie asked.

"Are kids and women supposed to be out in the streets at this time?"

"What? No! There's a curfew on, both from the government and from Eskalumbuye's thugs!"

"Then why are there women and children looking at us?"

Ellie looked around and saw to her surprise that there were indeed a few women and children who were venturing from outside of their homes to look at the two foreign women walking down the street. "This isn't good," she said. "This isn't good!"

"Tell me about it," Lizzie said. "There's something suspicious going on here, all right."

More women and children were coming out onto the street now. Things were looking worse and worse for Ellie and Lizzie. "Ellie, I don't like this!" Lizzie said.

"I know!" Ellie said back. "I don't like it either! Now shut up or else you could set 'em off!"

"What happens if they attack us? Can we shoot them?"

"What? And risk an international incident?" Ellie asked. "We're powerless here and now, Liz! If this gets out, we're going to be the bad guys, whatever we do!"

A rock landed just near Ellie's feet. "It's started," she muttered, just as the hail of rocks finally rained down on them from the hands of the women and children who had come out to watch the two of them. Ellie and Lizzie tried to shield themselves from the rocks as best as they could, but then one rock struck Ellie's head, and she went down bleeding.

Lizzie ran over to where Ellie had fallen. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Oh, we're dead," Ellie replied.

Suddenly, a long burst of automatic gunfire came out of nowhere, and the rocks pelting the two women stopped. Lizzie turned around to see a tall thin man with a Kalashnikov raised to the sky standing over them. "These women are prisoners of the Emirate of Al Jawal," he said, both in English and in the local Gharbambiyan tongue. As more militiamen came to take Ellie and Lizzie away, the former said, "We're gonna be screwed either way."

[Banija]

The All-Banija Sports Magazine
The only nationwide publication that is all sports, all the time!

Undefeated Banijans start second half of group stage in drivers seat for the knockout stage


Vena Resnick(#87) jumps on a teammate's back celebrating a 17-0 victory over Milaris

BUSUKUMA- The Kingdom of Banija began World Bowl 29 with a goal in mind- to finally reach the knockout stages of this tournament, and with that, give themselves a fighting chance to bring home a trophy in the nation's most popular sport. This, of course, is their 3rd effort to do so, and as the saying goes, "3rd time's the charm" seems to be true in regards to this tournament. In their inaugaural World Bowl, the 27th edition of the tournament, Banija was, statistically, the absolute worst team in the tournament. They went 0-10 in the group stages in a tournament with the same format as this one. And with their -295 point differential, they finished as the absolutely worst team in the World Bowl. It was very similar to their performance in their first ever effort to qualify for the World Cup.

Of course, Banija then went out to improve their own fortunes. The Banijans put teams into the NSCF, first Northern Moravica, and then Loyola-Istria. That gave them some sort of experience internationally, and the experience showed in the 28th edition of the World Bowl. In this edition, the group stage was absolutely brutal. There was 8 groups of 7, meaning that out of 56 teams, only 16 could play in the group stage. Of course, with this small amount of spots, the competition was tough. They won their first 3 games in low-scoring, defensive battles, but what by this team's standards could be considered a shootout, the team lost a 28-26 thriller to Frenline Delpha, and that ended up being the key loss that eliminated them, as both them and Frenline Delpha finished 4-2, though due to Frenline Delpha's head to head victory, they advanced and Banija bowed out.

Banija did not want to be put in the same place in this tournament. While this time around it is slightly easier to qualify for the knockout stages, with 6 team groups instead of 7, the qualifying stage is also 10 games. With a qualifying stage this long, it means that there is no skating by based on luck. The best teams and most deserving teams will get to the knockout stages, and the teams that do not deserve it will not make the trip to Drawkland & Frenline Delpha. And the most deserving team in this group, without a doubt, halfway through the group stage has to be Banija.

Banija is 5-0, and they are two games ahead of Taeshan, who is 3-2 and in second place. Banija has beaten every single team in the group, and that includes victories away from home against both 11th ranked Taeshan and 8th ranked Nassau-Hessen. Teams that, going into the tournament, most observers thought would be able to coast through this group, that Banija's defense was able to dominate on their home field. Banija clearly learned its lesson in the last tournament- every single game against every single opponent matters, and you should strive to win those games. Do not simply aim for second- aim to win every single game, and that is how your team will get better, and that is the only way to be able to accomplish your goals and have a chance of winning the tournament.

While Banija has had a fantastic start, their players and their coaching staff will be the first to remind everybody that nothing has been accomplished. They are only halfway through the group stage, and crazier things have happened than dropping two games to higher ranked opponents on your home turf. They need to be able to keep up the intensity, and continue to strive for that high standard of excellence. The tournament is a failure if they don't make it to the knockout stages, and at this point, some might consider it a failure if they don't win the group, since they are up two games with 5 remaining.

While Banija has avoided any major injuries, they will need to get some better play out of their quarterback if they want to go a long way in this tournament. Defenses win championships, but quarterback is the most important position on the field, and Slawomir Kovach has been a decent quarterback at best. Banija needs to be scoring a lot more points on offense than they have been so far, and hopefully this break will give their offense some time to regroup and find themselves, so they can start putting some points on the board. When your team is 5-0, but your highest scoring output is 17 points and you are only averaging 12.8 points per game, something is wrong. They are going to need an answer fast, because championship football teams need to be able to win different types of games, and there's no way every single game is going to be a defensive slugfest, like it has been so far. This team needs to learn how to score consistently, because if they don't, that spells trouble for the rest of the group stage, but it spells serious trouble for their chances once they get to the knockout stages.

[Frenline Delpha]

Don't commit any word crimes in your RPs.

Your three words today are titan, camp, and green.

---

Group E
Caball 0–20 Drawkland
The Fair Republic 8–10 San Llera
Sarejo 31–0 Vilemyr

Group E                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Drawkland                     6    6   0    85   26  +59
2 San Llera                     6    5   1   119   51  +68
3 The Fair Republic             6    3   3    80   56  +24
4 Sarejo                        6    3   3    89   37  +52
5 Vilemyr                       6    1   5    57  130  −73
6 Caball                        6    0   6    17  147 −130

Group F
The Republic of Arkan 13–7 Vrai
Rennidan 7–24 Kaboomlandia
HUElavia 3–12 Schottia

Group F                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Schottia                      6    5   1   108   49  +59
2 Kaboomlandia                  6    5   1   152   58  +94
3 Rennidan                      6    3   3    55   47   +8
4 HUElavia                      6    3   3    52   88  −36
5 The Republic of Arkan         6    2   4    39   85  −46
6 Vrai                          6    0   6    13   92  −79

Group G
Abaja 28–19 Milaris
Banija 3–13 Taeshan
Nassau-Hessen 3–3 The Unified Isles (9–3 OT)

Group G                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Banija                        6    5   1    67   23  +44
2 Taeshan                       6    4   2    83   30  +53
3 Nassau-Hessen                 6    4   2    70   47  +23
4 Abaja                         6    4   2    96   73  +23
5 Milaris                       6    1   5    46   89  −43
6 The Unified Isles             6    0   6    20  120 −100

Group H
Royal Kingdom of Quebec 20–27 Chromatika
Halleconia 10–20 Mccompany
Zacistania 14–41 Cosumar

Group H                        Pld   W   L    PF   PA   PD                                
1 Chromatika                    6    6   0   126   67  +59
2 Cosumar                       6    5   1   118   56  +62 
3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec       6    3   3   101   64  +37
4 Halleconia                    6    2   4    71  111  −40
5 Zacistania                    6    1   5    67  139  −72
6 Mccompany                     6    1   5    30   76  −46

[United Vietussia]

The Vietussian Inquisitor

Vietussia wrap up first half of group play with closest game against GIsGodistan despite loss


Vietussia Academy and their fans participate in a pep rally.

A 17-7 loss to the second ranked team? Pretty sure I'd call that a success. The stacked Gregoryisgodistan offense could not pass the Vietussian defense on many opportunities and Vietussia scored the most points against the team. Vietussia has accounted for 70% of Gregoryisgodistan's points allowed. If Vietussia can continue to develop in these next few games, Vietussia might find a way to pull off arguably the biggest upset to date in World Bowl history.

Vietussia will reopen play tonight at home against The Sword Bloke, a team on the decline giving Vietussia the perfect opportunity to nab some momentum heading into the second half of group play. If Vietussia can find a way to finish the second half by beating everyone but Gregoryisgodistan, they could find themselves with a chance to get Group D's second place bid into the playoffs. Doing so would shock all of Vietussia as the team was expected to finish around 3rd or 4th in Group D with the stacked and veteran teams in the group.

Until then, this is Jeb Ports. Enjoy your evening, and go Vulcans!

[The united states of Saints]

Paladins struggle against winless Mareut, increases streak to four with win

Aprilian Times -- In Match Day 5, The Paladins could not seem to get anything going against winless Mareut winning 3-6. Mareut so far has been one of the most underperfoming teams in this World Bowl. They have not been able to score much so far this season only scoring a total of 20 points. Their defense also has been struggling, allowing 81 total points.

While The Paladins are more of a defensive team they have a decent offense however the past couple of matchdays has showed that the offense has a long way to go. Coach Agresta said he had told the players that it has been unacceptable the way they have played offensively, but something must not have gotten through to them as they once again struggled to score.

The Paladin's offense was led under David "Parker" Rogers this time so as to give Matt Whelan rest before the rematch against The Frenline Delpha Anacondas. This was a gametime decision as it was reported that Whelan said his arm was sore in the lockeroom before the match. If Whelan had been playing then maybe the offense would've scored more. When asked if Whelan would play against the Anacondas Coach Agresta answered, "Yes I think he'll be fine and frankly this is the perfect timing for it because we get a break to prepare for the rematch. I'll be talking to Bailey about what we can do to fine tune some plays or add some news ones so as to catch our opponent off guard. We'll also be sticking with the 4-3 defensive front as that has been tremendous for us on the defensive side of the ball. In all honesty I think that the defense has been what's kept us winning by preventing opponents from scoring while we struggle to score ourselves."

David Rogers had done about as much as many expected him to do when it was announced he would be leading the team this game. He threw 11-23 for 107 yards and 2 interceptions. He managed to not be sacked once by escaping any attempts to tackle him. He rushed for 14 yards thanks to his mobility. However there was no doubt that Miguel Black would be the rushing oeader as he rushed for 76 yards on 18 carries. Louis Nakamura scored 2 field goals to give The Paladins the win from 35 and 40 yards out.

The defense dominated Mareut only allowing them onto their side of the field twice - one of which setup a 46 yard field goal to give Mareut there only score of the game. They had caused 3 fumbles, sacked the Quarterback 4 times. The secondary were all over the field shutting down 7 pass attempts, intercepting the ball twice, and covering the receivers really well. Many agree this was their best performance throughout the tournament so far.

Around Group A Shytysle fell once again this time to The Allamunic States Regulars 7-17. United States of Devonta also lost 10-17 against The Anacondas. With Matchday 5 over let's look at how Group A looks:

Group A
Mareut 3–6 The united states of Saints
Shytysle 7–17 Allamunic States
United States of Devonta 10–17 Frenline Delpha

# Group A                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD 
1 Allamunic States               5    4   1    86   26  +60
2 Frenline Delpha                5    4   1   106   55  +51
3 The united states of Saints    5    4   1    65   57   +8
4 Shytysle                       5    2   3    89  103  −14
5 United States of Devonta       5    1   4    42   86  −44
6 Mareut                         5    0   5    20   81  −61

Group A seems to look same as the last two weeks with The Regulars still ahead in the tiebreaker. Matchday 6 is very important to all three teams involved as this will most likely determine who wins the group and who is left out of the playoffs.

---

Practice was ending for the Paladins and coach Agresta called the team together. Gathered around jim and kneeled waiting to see what he had to say.

"Boys, its time for payback." said Agresta, "I know that we have been struggling offensively for the past few games, but you guys did listen to me the last time I spoke with you because you didn't commit a single penalty. However, you still were not able to score and hopefully this practice fixed that because we lost against these guys the first game in a very bad way. So I kinda would like to at least return the favor and give what's coming to them."

The players agreed and were excited for tomorrow's game. They all wanted to go home and rest so that tomorrow may come quicker and the break would be over.

"Now before you go make sure you ask me or Coach Choppin any questions about the offensive scheme were running so that way we don't make any mistakes or at least make very few of them. Now all of you go home and rest and play your hearts out tomorrow. Dismissed!"

[Abaja]

World Bowl XXIX

Abaja defeats Milaris again for a 4-2 record

-By Vincent Megwaa & Amina Ogwu 6:34 P.M

Abaja 28 - 19 Milaris

The Lions have yet again pulled off another victory against the struggling Milaris 28-19. "I'm starting to see that our offense is slowly starting to get better and better by the day. That rest day really help our offense and defense to have some resting time. Though we have gave up 73 total points this tournament, we have scored 70 total points our last TWO games. If we continue to focus and get our heads in the game, we may have a good chance to get another win over Nassau-Hessen. Lets get back to work!" Says head coach Josi Tueyuté. In the first quarter, Abaja had ball first, and Desna Osopno (QB) passed to Zair Macosa (WR/PR) for 12 yards. Then Malik Mafausa (RB) ran for an extra 11. Bobby Odendé (WR) caught a pass from Desna Osopno (QB) for 24 yards. They did they same play, and Bobby Odendé (WR) caught another 18 yard pass for a touchdown! 3 minutes in, Abaja leads 7-0. When Milaris got the ball, the Milaris RB ran for 31 yards before being pushed out of bounds. Then, the Milaris QB got sacked by Floki Jensa (DE) for a loss of 8. Then, the Milaris QB passed to his TE, who then broke a tackle, and ran for 44 yards. Their drive quickly stopped, as Henry Turusi (CB) tipped away a pass and their RB got stuffed once and then only picked up 2 yards after. They settled for a field goal, and made it. 7-3 Abaja. The Lions got the ball, but went in a 3 and out. They punted. Milaris went on a 68 yard drive before making another field goal. In the second quarter, Vincent Oleamu (HB) ran for 18 yards and then Mohammadu Shepada (TE) caught a pass from Desna Osopno (QB) for 30 yards, and Malik Mafausa (RB) ran for 8 more. On the Milaris 13 yard line, Desna Osopno (QB) threw an interception. Milaris took advantage and scored a touchdown. Milaris then lead the game 13-7. That was half.

Halftime, Abaja 7 - 13 Milaris. However, the Lions started stepping up. They went on a 81 yard drive for a touchdown. 32 of those yards came from Malik Mafausa (RB). When Milaris had the ball, Jacob Nebasu (ROLB) got the sack on the QB for a loss of 6. Yáyá Buru (DE) stopped the RB for just a 2 yard gain. The QB then passed short, but it was broken up by Lema Megusu (CB). They punted to Abaja. Malik Mafausa (RB) ran for 6 yards, but a face-mask was called on the defense. Abaja got extra yardage. Bobby Odendé (WR) caught another pass for 18 yards, then another for 11 yards. Zair Macosa (WR/PR) caught a 22 yard pass. Abaja was in their redzone, but failed to score a touchdown. They settled for a field goal, making the game 17-13, Abaja leads. On the kickoff, the Milaris KR caught the punt, ran for 3 yards, then got popped. Milaris was able to recover, however, but they were on their own 15. Nikola Juvaswo (DE) got a sack on the Milaris QB for a loss of 9, then he tacked the RB for a loss of 2. The Milaris QB got sacked AGAIN for a safety. Floki Jensa (DE) made the play. It was now 19-13 Abaja. The Lions got the punt, and Zair Macosa (WR/PR) was able to return it for 34 yards before being tacked on the Milaris 21 yard line. The third quarter ended. The first play in the fourth quarter, Desna Osopno (QB) threw a bullet pass to Bobby Odendé (WR), who gained 17 yards. 1st and 10 on the Milaris 4 yard line, Desna Osopno (QB) scrambles in for a touchdown. The extra point, however, was blocked, Milaris recovered, but they couldn't score. 26-13 Abaja lead. Within 5 minutes, both teams punted to each other again. Milaris was suddenly on their own 8 yard line. The QB did a hand off, but the RB got popped by Nikola Juvaswo (DE). The ball rolled around, until a Milaris OL dove on it, and got tacked. However, the ball was already in the end-zone. Milaris gave up another 2 points on a safety. 28-13 Abaja lead. When Abaja got possession again, they went on a 23 yard drive before punting. Milaris then went on a 59 yard drive and ended up making a 34 yard field goal. 3 minutes left in the game, Malik Mafausa (RB) got 5 yards, then lost 2, then gained 3. Abaja punted again, and Milaris made another field goal on a 48 yard drive. 51 seconds left, Desna Osopno (QB) kneeled the ball twice and the game was over. Abaja's next game is a rematch vs Nassau-Hessen. Who will win?

COMMENTS

681 Comments

Jekal Solomon -Joined Nov 5, 2009
17 mins ago- good! Nassau should be no problem

Adam Heskey -Joined Jan 18, 2006
1 hour ago- Giving up 19 points on a weak team... nice second half defense though

IronMan2012 -Joined Jun 4, 2012
48 mins ago- the defense... the defense... too cruicial

Dr.Ogéché -Joined Mar 28, 2008
1 hour ago- The type of defense that the Lions played in the second half had me very amazed. Keep it up!

Mr. LeBron James -Joined Dec 29, 2009
14 mins ago- milaris didnt know what they walked into! too much pressure for those boys

Read More

[Drawkland]

Cutoff! Yesterday was Star Wars Day, but since it was a break I'll give you a good fix today.

Your Words: Shadow, Zebra, Hideout. Good luck!

---

Group A
The united states of Saints 20–17 Frenline Delpha
United States of Devonta 0–10 Allamunic States
Shytysle 17–6 Mareut

# Group A                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD 
1 The united states of Saints    6    5   1    85   74  +11
2 Allamunic States               6    5   1    96   26  +70
3 Frenline Delpha                6    4   2   123   75  +48
4 Shytysle                       6    3   3   106  109   −3
5 United States of Devonta       6    1   5    42   96  −54
6 Mareut                         6    0   6    26   98  −72

Group B
Anglatia 20–6 Ethane
The Orion Islands 6–29 Ko-oren
Falatulu 10–0 Holy Philippine Empire

# Group B                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Anglatia                       6    6   0    91   22  +69
2 Falatulu                       6    4   2    71   36  +35
3 Ko-oren                        6    4   2   101   40  +61
4 Ethane                         6    3   3    47   44   +3
5 The Orion Islands              6    1   5    48  117  −69
6 Holy Philippine Empire         6    0   6    17  116  −99

Group C
Texasa 9–0 Cuatro
San Jose Guayabal 13–10 West Phoencia
Equestrian States 7–3 Barunia

# Group C                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Equestrian States              6    6   0    85    9  +76
2 San Jose Guayabal              6    4   2    63   86  −23
3 Barunia                        6    3   3    82   36  +46
4 West Phoencia                  6    2   4    43   78  −35
5 Texasa                         6    2   4    40   47   −7
6 Cuatro                         6    1   5    29   86  −57

Group D
The Nation of Downination 3–7 Gregoryisgodistan
United Vietussia 17–10 The Sword Bloke
Leaf Kingdom 7–23 Abanhfleft

# Group D                      Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD
1 Gregoryisgodistan              6    6   0    92   13  +79
2 Abanhfleft                     6    5   1   117   68  +49
3 United Vietussia               6    3   3    83   89   −6
4 The Sword Bloke                6    3   3    87   63  +24
5 The Nation of Downination      6    1   5    50   92  −42
6 Leaf Kingdom                   6    0   6    34  138 −104

*Impossible to obtain playoff berth