General

So it seems that I included a Game of Thrones spoiler in my first poll recap of the season last week.  Of course, I was under the impression that it was common knowledge, much like the fact that the Austin Crows were going to be the unanimous #1 ranked team to begin 2016.

For that, I apologize, and I’ll try not to do it again.

This has been a week of unsurprising revelations.

Jon Snow came back to life, Ted Cruz proved to be the most awkward man in America, and the Austin Crows were voted as the #1 team in the country in the first USAFL Top 20 Poll.

Our panelists had little hesitation about this decision, as the Crows swept all nine first place votes to attain a perfect score of 180 points.  The same occurred in the first poll last year, when the New York Magpies accrued the same score months after lifting their second John Harrell Cup in their own right.

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

Another long American winter has finally dissipated, and though the Cold Old Man still clings to certain parts of the country with an iron grip, it cannot stop the coming of the 2016 USAFL season.

Through a gauntlet of local, regional, and sometimes national matches through the varying climes that our landscape offers, 34 USAFL clubs will weave their way towards the ultimate goal of lifting up a piece of hardware at Nationals.

The final few pages of Anno Domini 2015 are being carefully torn off the pages of father time, though you won’t know it thanks to ol’ Mother Nature.  December on the East Coast of the United States feels more like that on the East Coast of Australia, with weather more suitable for having a kick in the backyard than sitting inside doing push-ups.