T-BOLTS, FORMAT CHANGE, and WEDDING UPDATE

THUNDERBOLTS BLURB

What will spending four weeks with the first pick of the waiver wire get you after four straight losses? Two straight wins! The Thunderbolts routed "Leroys Boys" 111 - 91 to earn their second victory of the season, and their first plus 100 point game.

Next week the Bolts face arch rivals, the "Barking Spiders." (5-1) The two teams have met twice in two years, and each came away with a victory. This year is a tie breaker game.

PETA League
West Division
1. Old School MIA (4-2) 0 Games Back (617 fantasy points)
2. Black&Tan (3- 3) 1 Game Back (626 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (3-3) 1 Game Back (464 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (2-4) 2 Games Back (524 fantasy points)

FORMAT CHANGE FOR THE HATERS

Starting next week, T-bolt coverage will be limited to blurbs as shown above, and probably be attatched to an actual post based in reality. This is in response to recent comments related to me which go generaly like "gee Bryan, your Thunderbolt articles are really boring" usually accompanied by a head shake and one sided lip curl. Apparently my life may seem slightly more interesting.

WEDDING UPDATE UPDATE

I'll be doing a post with a sharp critique of EV's wedding soon. However, I am waiting on pictures. I did bring a camera to the event but only took like four pictures, since me and Christie were both in the wedding. Plus, I kept losing track of the camera. So I kept missing prime photo ops.

EV becomes.....EV

The marriage of Elizabeth Vinson, and Todd Varel went through without a hitch.

Both Todd and my sister showed up for the event, so that was good. I, the proud brother, was a groomsman and got to wear a pink tie. I do not believe I have ever worn pink before. The things I will do for my sister.

She was a beautiful bride, and I have never seen her smile as she smiled at the wedding. In fact, she has had this giddy smile ever since she met Todd.

The ceremony took place at the outer banks. The couple rented a nice beach house for the occasion where the wedding took place in the front, and the reception, which had a spectacular view of the sound, took place in the back. In a shocking development, nobody fell into the pool while partying. Good job wedding party and guest!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Todd Varel.

THUNDERBOLTS WIN!!!

The Thunderbolts finally broke into the win column with a victory over the "Sneagles", 95-65. Running Back Brandon Jacobs lead the charge with 25 point performance that included two rushing touchdowns. Also with a big game was wide receiver Bernard Barrian, who caught for 17 fantasy points. Barrian was drafted originally by the Bolts, but was later cut from the team. After noticing improvements in his play, the Bolts quickly resigned him to help boost the wide receiver unit. The win also marks the the third time the team has scored 95 plus points in a game. "I know this team is better than it's record shows." Said team owner, Bryan Vinson. "I feel like we're starting to gel."

The Thunderbolts hopes of a play-off spot are also still alive despite the poor start. Every other team in the division lost, while the T-bolts won this week, putting them only two games out of first place in the west division. There are still nine games left to go, including three against divisional opponents.

Next week the Bolts take on "Leroy's Boys" (2-3). The two teams are nearly evenly matched, having scored 413 and 414 points over their last five games.

PETA League
West Division
1. Old School MIA (3-2) 0 Games Back (505 fantasy points)
2. Black&Tan (2- 3) 1 Game Back (515 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (2-3) 1 Game Back (382 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (1-4) 2 Games Back (413 fantasy points)

THUNDERBOLTS HAVE ROTEN GAME

The Thunderbolts continue to crash like the stock market after losing to "Bayern Die Roten" 101 to 82 and falling to a record of 0 - 4. Surprisingly, the bulk of the Bolts points came from their wide receivers while their running backs and quarterback fell short. Steve Smith collected 15 fantasy points with 96 yards receiving and a touchdown. However, with Brandon Jacobs on a bye week, and Willis McGahee leaving his game due to injury, the Bolts couldn't produce much of a ground attack.

"They are who we thought they were." said a clearly frustrated team owner, Bryan Vinson, after the loss. "They are who we thought they were, and we let em off the hook." The Thunderbolts will return to the drawing board as they prepare to take on the "Sneagles" (2-2) in their week five match up. While the play-offs now seem a thousand mile away, the T-Bolts are are just focusing on getting that first win. "When I look at the team, I see a good team. It's just one of those cases of where we need everyone on the same page and grab a win." Said Vinson.

The Thunderbolts year has been in a downward spiral since losing their number one draft pick, Tom Brady, to a season ending knee injury in week one. Brady lead the league in fantasy points last season, and lead the Thunderbolts to 12-2 regular season record.

PETA League
West Division
1. Old School MIA (3-1) 0 Games Back (416 fantasy points)
2. Black&Tan (2- 2) 1 Game Back (426 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (2-2) 1 Game Back (330 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (0-4) 3 Games Back (318 fantasy points)

T-BOLTS FALL TO 0-3

The Thunderbolts are off to their worst start in franchise history, losing to Black&tan 115 - 96. The loss drops them to 0 - 3 on the season. While every team in the PETA League West got to take a bite out of the Bolts, they do come away with their second 90 plus point game, which was good enough to beat most teams in the league. Quarterback Philip Rivers continues to fill the injured Tom Brady's shoes, putting up 26 fantasy points. Meanwhile, the wide receiver group continues to disappoint. The much anticipated return of star Wide receiver Steve Smith from suspension fizzled with a seven point performance. "He still needs to get into the flow of things" commented team owner Bryan Vinson.

The Thunderbolts will take part in the "battle of the defeated" next week against non divisional opponents "Bayern Die Roten" who also sport a 0-3 record. The bolts hope to pick up their first win of the season and begin the process of scratching and clawing their way back into the play-off picture.

PETA League
West Division
1. Old School MIA (3-0) 0 GB (331 fantasy points)
2. Black&Tan (2- 1) 1 GB (323 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (1-2) 2 GB (241 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (0-3) 3 GB (236 fantasy points)

BOLTS FALL SHORT OF DORKS

The Thunderbolts dropped their second game of the season, losing to the "Dorks" 105 - 95. Despite the loss, the team did outshine their opening game where they scored a dismal 45 fantasy points. Philip Rivers had fans saying "Tom Brady who?" after earning 33 fantasy points on three touchdown strikes. The team also got a big boost of 25 fantasy points from the Green Bay Packers defense and special teams.

Next week, the Thunderbolts (0-2) wrap up the first round of division games with "Black&tan" (1-1). The team hopes to benefit from the return of star wide receiver, Steve Smith, from a two game suspension. He could bring another average 10 to 15 points per game.

Standings

PETA League
West Division
1. Old School MIA (2-0) 0 GB (215 fantasy points)
2. Black&Tan (1- 1) 1 GB (208 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (1-1) 1 GB (171 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (0-2) 2 GB (140 fantasy points)

THUNDERBOLTS LOSE BRADY (and game)

The Thunderbolts lost the first contest of the season 76 - 45. No one cares. The final score has been buried by the devestating news that Tom Brady has been lost for the season due to severe knee injury. Brady went down early in the game after just turning in just three fantasy points. It's the second time that the Thunderbolts have lost their second overall first round draft pick to an early season injury. In the franchises first year, they lost running back Shaun Alexander to a broken foot in the second game of the season. "I'm beginning to think being our first round draft pick is worse than the Madden curse." Commented team owner, Bryan Vinson.

On the bright side, the T-bolts have Philip Rivers to take over the quarterback position. Rivers scored 26 points in week one, but was on the bench. It remains to be seen if Philips can soften the blow of losing such a high value player in Brady.

Heading into week two the Thunderbolts take on the "dorks". They'll be without Brady. Star wide reciever Steve Smith will be serving the second of a two game supsension, and they'll have to figure out what to do with a highly ranked Viking defense and special teams that scored all of one fantasy point in week 0ne. "I think our chances look pretty good." Vinson stated.

Standings

PETA League
West Division
1. Black&Tan (1- 0) 0 GB (95 fantasy points)
2. Old School MIA (1-0) 0 GB (76 fantasy points)
3. Dorks (0-1) 1 GB (66 fantasy points)
4. Thunderbolts (0-1) 1 GB (45 fantasy points)