DLE: CCC manages a draw in exciting season opener in L’Anguille.
Beautifully situated on a hillside above the shark-infested and brilliantly blue Skar Bay is Grasgar Mac’s stadium, the home of the Skar Bay Sharks. And for once, it’s not raining in L’Anguille! Down on the field, the two teams have just finished with a draw in the season opener for Season 9 in DLE. As usual, our two reporters are down there with our Inga and the players of the Crimson Cascade. So why don’t we set over to them, so you can get into the nitty gritty of this first match of the season. Hertha, are you there?
----------------------------------
On the field is Hertha and Günther, along with the familiar figure of Inga Dedekind, head coach of the Carroburg Crimson Cascade and two players, a stocky female and a lanky man.

Hertha: “Congratulations with a good start, Inga! And who do you want us to talk to tonight?”

Inga: “What about our newly drafted blitzer, Esperance?”

The stocky woman grins. “HI! I’m Esperance, and is the new kid on the block!”

Hertha: “That must be exciting! How is it to come as a new draft to a team like the CCC?”

Esperance: “They are professional at what they do, and have a nice onboarding program.”

Bernie: (cuts in with a smile) “We show the new ones all the good pubs and drinking places…”

Esperance (elbows the intruder) “And most of the veterans…” (glares at Bernie) “are actually quite nice. And I especially loves our big guy. Friedrich is the best!”

Günther: “What about your play tonight? Not the best stats I’ve seen for a new player?”

Esperance: “Ah… They told me about you. Always on with numbers and statistics… Well, Mr Numbers, it was like this. I had a special task, and that was to take care of the sidesteppers. So orders were that whenever one of them were to be hit, I was the one to do it. And with three of them, I spent most of my time craning my neck trying to see them in the chaos, and I certainly didn’t have much time for anything else!” (she laughs)

Günther: “ah, well…”

Hertha: (quickly turning to the lanky man, CCC quarterback Bernie Kosar) “And what does the team captain have to say about tonight’s match?”

Bernie: “A mediocre game from our side. We pushed them back in the first half, and managed the score and even to deny them the OTTD, but couldn’t put enough pressure on them when they played offense. It looked good about in the middle of the half, but they managed to sneak away and stall until the very end of the half. But that’s the breaks. Next game will be tougher by far, when we meet the Rangers. That’s when we will see what the team is made of!”

Hertha: “And that game will be home in the Pool. So get your butt of the sofa and come to watch!”

Hertha turns to Inga. “But Inga tell us about last season. CCC ended with 15 points on 18th place, just as you predicted. Was that a disappointment?”

Inga: (shrugs) “Not at all. Actually, we were leading the division in week 8, but then four apo failures in a row killed Wolfe, Nadja and Merle and permed Miriam. And that was the season when it comes to points. We did everything else we could think of to develop and protect our players, though, and so our team stats are not that bad. First in interceptions and gained tv, second in casualties caused, completions and passing yards and third in fouls.” She looks at Günther, who nods enthusiastically.

Inga continues: “And indiviudually Lexer had the most fouls for the second season in a row and is now the active player with the most career fouls, Goode was second in number of blocks and is now fifth highest in career cas caused among active blitzers and Cacciatelli was the player with the highest ranking points to turns played in the whole league.”

Günther “And not to forget, Parker Ehinger was second on the list of public favourites with five MVPs.”

Inga (grins): “Thank you, Günther. I almost forgot. But as I said, we did well, except for the points, and Vikings won the division the way they should, by beating us in the second of two straight-up games.”

Hertha: “So, what about the new draftees?”

Bernie: “We needed three new players, two linos and a blitzer, and we had three picks. So it was quite easy and we got what we needed. Would have been nice to recruit Pike or Conklin instead of St. Laurent, of course, but for that we played a little to well last season. So no problem there.”

Günther: “Right. And now, Inga, for The Question…”

Inga: (grins) “Right. I have pondered and landed at 15, give or take one point. It will be one from the SoS-games, 6 from the inter-divisional games, 3 from the SHC south games and 5 from the KFC East games.”

Günther: (sigh). “You have become too good at this.”

Hertha: “But seriously, no better than last season? When will we see CCC in the play-offs?”

Inga: “Ah, well. I’m calling what I see. This is what I hope we can do. CCC is the most human team in the league, relying on skills instead of stat increases. That’s a hard strategy to make work, when you are meeting teams like Broekwater who might as well have fielded orcs, or 49ers, who have the manmountain Nomellini. But we know we can do it, maybe even this season with luck!”

Hertha: “And with those words, we invite you to the Pool next week to watch the CCC as they take the field against the Rangers, the all-time bashing team of the League.”

Brought to you by Hertha Wendlinger and Günther Schiele, Carroburg Tageszeitung