UPDATE: Cya (0-2-0) @ TD Badgers (0-2-0) -> Wed Feb 8 2012 11:00 PM

To prove cya can actually field their own team and I figured TDB could use another game more than any other team. Assuming that we have no activity issues, this will PROBABLY be the only preseason schedule (everyone has 2 games)

Captains PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE continue to recruit and make sure to get me some people who will referee on your team (even if you just give me some names of people who are willing I can approach them). This season is going to rely heavily on help from the players in the league. I've scheduled these so I can be around if we need anything, but I don't want to ref any of these games at all, so SHOW UP.

TD Badgers (0-0-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (0-0-0) -> Sun Jan 29 2012 10:00 PM
Cya (0-0-0) @ Yung Money (0-0-0) -> Sun Jan 29 2012 11:00 PM
B.I.G (0-0-0) @ TD Badgers (0-0-0) -> Mon Jan 30 2012 11:00 PM
Yung Money (0-0-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (0-0-0) -> Tue Jan 31 2012 11:00 PM
Cya (0-0-0) @ B.I.G (0-0-0) -> Thu Feb 2 2012 11:00 PM

Well boys and a girls, it's RSFL time already! First off I'd like to thank everyone that made last season a success and continues to help out from this point! Normally we aren't starting until April-ish, but Kula Shaker's new deal had RSHL finishing much earlier this time around, so we have the opportunity to get RSFL in earlier than normal. This also means, that no, we will not be having the tradition "winter league", and I appreciate the resounding response that you guys gave to DK's post (almost 80% of people wanted to skip right to RSFL!).

This season we hope to have as many teams/players as we've ever had in the league, which is completely possible and not unreasonable at all. That means recruiting people NOW is the most important step in having a successful season though. If you've never been very involved in the league, I URGE you to give it a shot this season. My appeal to all of you is that you try to find at least 1 new player you can bring in to HZ to give football a shot to see if they want to be a part of our fun and exciting (no joke!) league.

We are going to be be doing things a little bit different though this season, frankly because we (I) have to. Depending on how many teams we have this year, and for the sake of assuming I'll say it's the normal 5-6, teams are going to be donating refs (at least 2 per team) in order to get all of the reffing done. It will be the job of the HEAD REF (see application below) to train and schedule all of these referees, and I will work with him/her on the process of getting people set up. Normally I would ref about 50% of the games and then find people (or really nice people would just show up) to ref the other games. I can't do that anymore, as my in game time will be limited to late weeknights and Sunday's.

What I can tell you right now is that the regular season is going to be a little bit shorter than last year (I think we all felt the drag near the end). TENTATIVELY, we're looking at the entire season ending before May (finals/awards etc). It may speed up or slow down, it just depends. THE PRESEASON WILL BE STARTING AFTER THE NEW YEAR (LIKE VERY SOON AFTER), SO GET PRACTICING AND GET READY.

I'll be skimming the rules for anything we may need to update, and I know that all of you guys read through them before every season (can you people please read the overtime section though), so I'll make sure to let you know when they are updated.

STUFF YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT:

Team Submissions:

1. Team name. Nothing offensive. Nothing derogatory

2. Tenative roster with 8-10 names. Duplicates happen, I wish they wouldn't, but I'll only count players who are on one roster. This is just for getting your team accepted. Once you're on the site feel free to add whoever you want (roster max will be decided when we get an idea of how many are signing up)

3. Whoever submits the roster TO ME VIA FORUM PM (stevewhitmer) is the owner of your team. If you do not know how to submit a forum pm and would like to make a team, this like SHOULD work: So click here!

4. Team art. Click on last seasons rosters to see an example of some wonderful art and to get an idea of the sizes.

5. If you are a captain, you are expected to regularly check The Red Zone, as well as CI forums (especially RSFL Captains Forums). If you need access to these forums, send me a private FORUM MESSAGE

6. Give me an idea if you have anyone (and hopefully yourself) that you think would be a good candidate to referee a game every so often.


Captains duties: have fun, and regular get your team to play public football while the season kicks off!



These applications are to be submitted to me through forum private message (stevewhitmer)

Current position openings:

Head Referee: The job as head referee is not as time consuming for a facilitating aspect, but does require a commitment to refereeing games on a (very) regular basis. We had one serious candidate apply last year, but never was hired as his availablity was essentially lost for most of the season. Duties of the head referee include, but are no limited to:

1. Hiring and training of referees (this includes working with teams on what players they will donate as referees)
2. Managing referee staff
3. Posting and scheduling times for referees on the correct referee forum (we’ve generally kept this pretty lax as our low playerbase never called for complete formality, but if I was not going to referee a game, I made sure to schedule someone to complete the task)
4. Refereeing games

The hope is that we have enough refs that it's a very light load for everyone involved, and they can actually feel good about helping out, because we've needed the help for a while now, and this season is the perfect time to start it.

More news to come to here and the forums, check back daily to see if I've posted anything.

With RSHL Season 18 and 2011 winding down to their inevitable conclusions, I would like to share with you the plans we have in store for you for future HZ events.

All-Star Events
The All-Star Events will run some time after the Blackie Cup Finals are over and hopefully finish by the end of the year. Details about when events are will be announced separately.

RSFL
Traditionally RSFL is run right after the RSHL season ends and even though RSHL is ending at a fairly unprecedented time, this particular tradition will not change, and we will host RSFL Season 8 in early 2012 (more details from league coordinator stevewhitmer will be posted by him.)

Super Draft League
I will be running a draft league to all that are interested and designed to get new players into the game. Some of you may have seen the new "superhz" event arena and this will also involve that to some extent. The basic idea is that teams will be able to power up and get special items and speed bonuses during the power-up mode. There will be thors. The specific rules beyond that are undecided and I will have a forum thread up for people to bounce some ideas around. I'll have signups started in the next few weeks.

Read below for RSHL game reports!

	1st	2nd	Final
Sifin Grim Roks	12	0	12
	3	7	10

Total game time: 20:00

The first half was a little slow, with both teams having trouble moving the ball on their first few drives, but SGR and their chemistry fueled passing game would eventually move the ball down the field. Thrill would throw his first of two touchdowns on the night to d money. He would miss the extra point.

6-0 SGR

XF would look to respond, but they would have no luck moving the ball this early in the game, and SGR would get it back, only to capitalize once again with Thrill hitting shock (big surprise) for his second touchdown of the night. Thrill would miss the PAT again.

12-0 SGR

As time was winding down in the first half, XF was forced to punt, which caused for a nice little exchange of double turnovers, resulting in XF gaining roughly 40 yards on the play. They would use this to their advantage, as Sting would put a 40 yard field goal through the uprights as time expired in the first half.

12-3 SGR at half

Sting gave a very inspiring speech to his team at the half, and they came out with the mentality of a winner in the second half, scoring very early into the period with a nice pass caught by Sting himself. EP was good.

12-10 SGR

From here the game would slow down dramatically though, with SGR getting a few scoring opportunities but Thrill's block of a foot would get them into trouble once again

3:55 Missed 42 Yard Fieldgoal attempt by Roman God (placed by R.Maualuga/J.Simpso)!
8:56 Failed 29 Yard Fieldgoal attempt by Roman God (placed by R.Maualuga/J.Simpso)!

With so little time left in the game, XF needed to get it together quickly. Sim had a nice connection to get them into field goal range, where XF called their last timeout with ~25 seconds left. They decided to try and run a draw play up the middle to goldeye, which failed, leaving them scrambling to decide about their final move. Instead of spiking the ball, XF tried to quickly get the FG kicking unit on the field as time was winding down. They were all set up, until Sting moved a little bit. The ball was snapped, and an illegal motion penalty was called with 3 seconds left, unfortunately for XF, the clock doesn't stop on a penalty when you're losing, and their season would end on that note.

Congrats to SGR! Since we don't vote on it anymore, I'll have to say my playoff MVP is the tandem of Roman God/Shock, as they were a menace to opposing defenses all season long, and it continued throughout the playoffs.

X-Factor postpones the match against Sifin Grim Roks on Mon Sep 5 2011 11:00 PM. XF has 0 postponements left.

X-Factor postpones the match against Sifin Grim Roks on Sun Sep 4 2011 10:00 PM. XF has 1 postponement left.

Sifin Grim Roks (2-1-0) @ X-Factor (2-1-0) -> Sun Aug 28 2011 11:00 PM
X-Factor (2-1-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (2-1-0) -> Mon Aug 29 2011 11:00 PM
Sifin Grim Roks (2-1-0) @ X-Factor (2-1-0) -> Wed Aug 31 2011 11:00 PM
X-Factor (2-1-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (2-1-0) -> Sun Sep 4 2011 10:00 PM (if necessary)
Sifin Grim Roks (2-1-0) @ X-Factor (2-1-0) -> Mon Sep 5 2011 11:00 PM (if necessary)

Postpone NOW IF YOU KNOW THESE TIMES AREN'T GOING TO WORK FOR YOUR TEAM

Congrats to those who made the playoffs! Thanks Philly Fakeout for playing this year!

The seeds are:

1. X-Factor
2. Sifin Grim Roks
3. Yung Money
4. EZPN Classic


THE SCHEDULE IS (IF YOU NEED TO POSTPONE ANY OF THESE CONTACT ME ASAP WE WILL WORK OUR ANOTHER TIME ON THE CAPTAINS FORUMS)

Game 1: Yung Money @ Sifin Grim Roks -> Sun Aug 14 2011 10:00 PM
Game 1: EZPN Classic @ X-Factor -> Sun Aug 14 2011 11:00 PM

Game 2: X-Factor @ EZPN Classic -> Thu Aug 18 2011 11:00 PM
Game 2: Sifin Grim Roks @ Yung Money -> Sun Aug 21 2011 10:00 PM

Game 3 (if necessary): EZPN Classic @ X-Factor -> Mon Aug 22 2011 10:00 PM
Game 3 (if necessary): Yung Money @ Sifin Grim Roks -> Mon Aug 22 2011 11:00 PM

These aren't into the site yet because I need to check with dylie on how exactly we switch over the season, but this is your notice, so don't say I never said anything.

If you need to use a postponement, let me know and it will be deducted from you later.

	1st	2nd	Final
	3	12	15
	7	7	14

Total game time: 20:00

EZPN almost Died, and were brought back to life by Bak-'s leg in this match. After Bak-'s horrible kickoff, giving an easy touchdown to XF at the beginning of the second half, things looked dire for EZPN.

However, late half heroics near the 2 minute warning led to an EZPN Touchdown, followed by a great onside kick by Bak-, redeeming himself. Another score would put EZPN up, and a Tjian interception sealed the deal.

An Exciting Rubber Match is incoming: Sunday 11PM!

Here's a little script written by Sika and myself that you guys might find fun.

RSHL Predictions
RSFL Predictions

For now you can submit your scores, there isn't much reporting going on, but you can treat it semi-competitively as we will eventually build this out into something with rankings. You can submit scores up to one hour before a given game time, and modify your submission at any time. Abuse it at your own peril.

X-Factor postpones the match against Yung Money on Wed Aug 3 2011 10:00 PM. XF has 1 postponement left.

A few things: the FINAL schedule is posted (and updated). There were some minor scheduling things so it looks like the last regular season game is August 11th, which is a Thursday. Since it's already August and RSHL is starting up, EXPECT PLAYOFFS TO START THE WEEK OF SUNDAY AUGUST 14TH (I MAY EVEN SCHEDULE THE GAMES AHEAD OF TIME IF SEEDS ARE NOT DETERMINED). The schedule is at the bottom of this post.

Each team now has one additional roster spot, as voted on by the captains. Every team was at full capacity so I saw no reason to not suggest this, and a majority vote agreed with me.

The hard roster lock (meaning you can no longer fill your final roster spot) will go into effect TUESDAY JULY 26th 11:59PM EST. No exceptions, this is your reminder.

As a reminder, the playoffs this season are 1v4, 2v3 (3 game series), with a 5 game series final. This means the last place team will not be making the playoffs. (As of right now, no team has clinched a playoff spot). Realistically, I'd like the playoffs to end by the first week in September so RSHL can go full swing. (Expect next season to start earlier in the spring probably).

Keep Monday August 8th open, as there might be an RSFL event going on that evening. (Details or "act like I never said this" soon!)

* Sifin Grim Roks (7-4-0) @ X-Factor (7-4-0) -> Mon Jul 18 2011 10:00 PM
* Sifin Grim Roks (7-4-0) @ EZPN Classic (5-7-0) -> Wed Jul 20 2011 10:00 PM
* Yung Money (5-8-0) @ Philly Fakeout (5-6-0) -> Thu Jul 21 2011 9:00 PM
* Philly Fakeout (5-6-0) @ X-Factor (7-4-0) -> Sun Jul 24 2011 10:00 PM
* Sifin Grim Roks (7-4-0) @ Yung Money (5-8-0) -> Wed Jul 27 2011 10:00 PM
* X-Factor (7-4-0) @ EZPN Classic (5-7-0) -> Wed Jul 27 2011 11:00 PM
* Philly Fakeout (5-6-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (7-4-0) -> Sun Jul 31 2011 11:00 PM
* EZPN Classic (5-7-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (7-4-0) -> Mon Aug 1 2011 11:00 PM
* X-Factor (7-4-0) @ Yung Money (5-8-0) -> Wed Aug 3 2011 10:00 PM
* EZPN Classic (5-7-0) @ Philly Fakeout (5-6-0) -> Sun Aug 7 2011 10:00 PM
* X-Factor (7-4-0) @ Philly Fakeout (5-6-0) -> Thu Aug 11 2011 9:00 PM

No, I didn't just schedule the games taking place tonight and this week, they were already posted. I just combined the schedules and deleted the first post.

	1st	2nd	Final
	6	7	13
	3	0	3

Total game time: 20:00

Offensive Sets:
X-Factor - 3 Redcar, 2 WR, 1 RB
EZPN - 2 Redcar, 3 WR, 1 RB
Defensive Sets:
X-Factor - 2 CB, 3 LB, 2OL
EZPN - 3 CB, 2 LB, 2 OL

Game starts off quick with a long pass from Bak- to Tjian as EZPN shows a 2 Blocker 3 WR set. Tjian catches the pass between the CB and the LB, before juking forward for a big gain. A few plays later sees hutt intercepting a grossly under thrown pass by Bak- as X-Factor prevents the touchdown. Unfortunately, X-Factor could not capitalize on the turnover and instead must punt to the EZPN 13 yard line. A long run by Leafy looks to setup another good drive for EZPN but once again it fizzles out. After a few punts by both teams, X-Factor gets on the board by good running by Joe~Sakic and LukeZ, as well as a beautiful pass to Sting in the back corner of the endzone. After an interceptionfest near the end of a half, EZPN hits a long FG to bring the score within 3.

The start of the second half continued the slow pace. However, X-Factor is able to grind out a touchdown of of very strong running by LukeZ. The rest of the half saw X-Factor running the ball, to some moderate success and holding on to take the game.

EZPN Classic (1-4-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (5-1-0) -> Mon Jun 27 2011 10:00 PM
THE SOFT ROSTER LOCK WILL GO INTO EFFECT AT 11:59PM, TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH. THIS IS YOUR LAST OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE YOUR TEAM.
X-Factor (4-2-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (5-1-0) -> Wed Jun 29 2011 10:00 PM
Philly Fakeout (4-4-0) @ Yung Money (2-5-0) -> Wed Jun 29 2011 11:00 PM
EZPN Classic (1-4-0) @ Yung Money (2-5-0) -> Thu Jun 30 2011 9:00 PM
EZPN Classic (1-4-0) @ X-Factor (4-2-0) -> Wed Jul 6 2011 10:00 PM
Yung Money (2-5-0) @ Sifin Grim Roks (5-1-0) -> Wed Jul 6 2011 11:00 PM
X-Factor (4-2-0) @ Philly Fakeout (4-4-0) -> Thu Jul 7 2011 9:00 PM
EZPN Classic (1-4-0) @ Philly Fakeout (4-4-0) -> Sun Jul 10 2011 10:00 PM
Yung Money (2-5-0) @ X-Factor (4-2-0) -> Mon Jul 11 2011 10:00 PM
Sifin Grim Roks (5-1-0) @ Philly Fakeout (4-4-0) -> Wed Jul 13 2011 10:00 PM

Sifin Grim Roks postpones the match against X-Factor on Sun Jun 12 2011 10:00 PM. SGR has 2 postponements left.