Bandits encounter humiliation, clinch home playoff game

Bandits 113, Ghostchasers 0

The AIFL should be embarrassed at what they're doing to the Ghostchasers "franchise" and by extension to the teams they play. These kids get rounded up a few days before the game, don't get to have meetings or practice together, and have to line up against indoor football veterans who have been conditioning all year long. Here's how bad things were Sunday afternoon: with 5:05 left in the first quarter, the Bandits had run only three plays, gained 38 yards...and led 28-0. Before the 'Chasers fumbled away their fourth turnover of the first half with six seconds to go, Robbie Jenkins was 8 for 8 passing with 6 touchdowns! For their part, the Bandits had little choice but to do what they did: after head-to-head records, total point differential is the next AIFL tiebreaker. If the Bandits make the championship game (between the Northern and Southern champions who will never have played each other), they want to guarantee that it will be played in Richmond. Brandon Isaiah (53 yards, 4 touchdowns) scored with 4:10 left to put the Bandits over the century mark and get a standing ovation from the good-sized crowd at the Coliseum, who understood the circumstances but knew they were seeing AIFL history. The defense had seven takeaways and completed the shutout, allowing exactly 0 yards to the Ghosties' offense. Chris Segaar had three rouges and Mike Jenkins got his first snaps in the fourth quarter, including a rushing TD.

Player of the Game: Robbie Jenkins, who completed 11 of 14 passes for 177 yards and eight touchdowns. He also ran for a score and barely broke a sweat.

Offensive Stars: Redd Thompson, three of whose four receptions went for scores; Marcus Richardson, who had a pair of 32-yard touchdown catches, one of which was a dazzling short catch and open field run through the secondary. Special mention goes to Ghostchasers QB Brandon Elliott, who despite being sacked about a dozen times and having to literally point where on the field he wanted his receivers to line up, kept his chin up and played the entire game.

Defensive Stars: too many to name, but we'll go with Lawrence Lewis, who blocked a field goal and had four and a half sacks; Corey Ellis forced three fumbles and notched 3.5 sacks; Al Dubose had three sacks and two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown.

Other Links:	Times-Dispatch recap
	Bandits website blurb

Next: at Augusta Spartans, Saturday 6/3 7pm

Bandits win OT thriller, clinch playoff berth

Bandits 63, Thunder 60 (ot)

The Bandits began their game with the Thunder as if they had their heads in the sand out on the beach. Robbie Jenkins made some poor passes, then got more accurate only to have his receivers drop some easy catches. All this, combined with the Thunder playing like warriors, led to a 21-0 Daytona Beach lead early in the second quarter. The Bandits got on the board thanks to a couple of excellent catches and runs by Marcus Richardson, and the defense got a couple of stops late in the first half with the score at the break 28-15. The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, but Richmond blocked two extra points and returned one of them for two to close the gap to eight points. But after another Thunder score and Nick Allison's third interception of the game, the Bandits trailed by 15 points early in the fourth quarter. The defense held, though, finally getting some pressure on Thunder quarterback Oscar Davenport, and registered two straight stops. Jenkins was in a groove, as he would go 9 for 14 with 6 touchdowns in the second half, and with 52 seconds remaining he found Redd Thompson in the end zone for the touchdown and again for the two-point conversion to tie the game. The Thunder responded with a quick scoring drive of their own, but left Jenkins and Thompson with 31 seconds to get back in the end zone. Redd's third TD of the game (and Chris Segaar's extra point) tied the contest with three seconds left, and Andy Eminger missed a field goal at the end of regulation. The Bandits won the overtime coin toss and took the first 4:06 of the five minute frame to set up a Segaar field goal from 19 yards. Pinned at their own 5 yard line after not returning the kickoff, the Thunder had a chance to tie or win in the last 54 seconds. But Davenport tried to throw across the middle, and Shannon Davis made a leaping interception, plucking the ball from in front of the Thunder receiver to ice the game.

Player of the Game: Robbie Jenkins, who engineered the biggest comeback in Bandits history by throwing for 309 yards and 8 touchdowns. His two-point pass to Redd to tie the game was reminiscent of the ending of the Canton game last year, when Robbie hit Redd with an absolute laser to win at the buzzer.

Offensive Stars: Redd Thompson, with 8 catches for 109 yards and three scores; Marcus Richardson, who made four catches for 104 yards and two TDs and sparked the comeback with a chance to show his athletic ability by making some Thunder defenders miss tackles in the open field.

Defensive Stars: Lawrence Lewis, who blocked an extra point, recovered it, then lateraled to Shernard Newby who ran it the rest of the way for two points. Shannon Davis made a highlight reel interception in overtime.

Other Links:	Times-Dispatch writeup
	Daytona Beach News-Journal
	Thunder website recap
	Bandits playoff announcement

Next: vs. AIFL Ghostchasers, Sunday 4pm

Bandits throttle Vipers, tie two records

Bandits 63, Vipers 24

The Bandits overcame a couple of bad bounces early, took advantage of one later, and steamrolled the Chattahoochee Valley Vipers in the second half to win convincingly Saturday night. Richmond played short ball and long ball early, scoring their first two touchdowns on a one play, one yard drive (after a blocked field goal by Lawrence Lewis) and a six play, 49-yarder to go up 13-0. After the Vipers got in the end zone, their kickoff line-drived off Shernard Newby and bounced right back to a Viper, giving them a chance to tie the game. Unable to do so, the Vipers got the ball back after a Robbie Jenkins pass bounced off Bryan Still's hands, off the wall, and into the arms of defensive lineman Darion Damron. That Valley drive was thwarted by a Shannon Davis interception which he returned 30 yards for a touchdown. The Vipers eventually put together their best drive of the night to pull within two points with five seconds left in the first half. After a touchback, Jenkins threw a bomb to Redd Thompson that was tipped by a Viper defender and plucked out of midair by Marcus Richardson, who was trailing the play, for a touchdown. The Bandits poured it on in the second half, holding the Vipers to just three points and stopping them on their last six possessions.

Player of the Game: Brandon Isaiah, who rushed for 43 yards and a record-tying five touchdowns. Despite running at a defense that was designed to stop the run, Isaiah dominated as the Vipers tired late in the game and became the first true running back in the AIFL to score five TDs in one game.

Offensive Stars: Redd Thompson followed up his Offensive Player of the Week performance with an eight reception, 144 yard effort. He caught one of Robbie Jenkins' three TD passes, amongst a 14 for 24, 248 yard game.

Defensive Stars: Shannon Davis had three interceptions and Alfred Dubose had a sack and numerous tackles for loss early. The rest of the secondary could also be mentioned, as the other four D-backs had an interception each to contribute to the Bandits' record-tying seven INTs.

Other Links:	Times-Dispatch bare bones
	AIFL blurb
	One and a half of the five W's

Next: at Daytona Beach Thunder, Saturday 7pm

My day in court

A few weeks ago, I got a parking ticket. Allegedly, I blocked a ramp leading to a crosswalk across the street from my office. In the first place, this infuriated me to no end, because I see cars parked illegally on the streets around the office literally every single day, yet the traffic cops are never anywhere to be found. So when I parked in the vicinity of a ramp and actually got ticketed, I was quite pissed. Secondly, I was outraged at the gall the city had to fine me $100 for this "offense". Usually traffic and speeding violations are punishable by a fine that is just enough to make you want to pay it and be done rather than show up in court. If my ticket had been for $20 or even $40, there's a good chance I would have paid it. But for $100, I contested it, especially when I read section 102-243, the law I was accused of breaking:

(a) Every person receiving written notice of a parking violation, issued by a duly authorized law enforcement officer or agent of the city, may waive the right to appear and to be formally tried for the offense charged in the notice, upon payment of the fine set forth in subsection (b) of this section and specified in the notice. Payment shall be by check, draft or money order, and payment shall be made either:

(1) By presenting the notice and payment in person to the cashier, parking violations section of the department of finance, within 15 days after the date on which the notice of a parking violation was issued; or
(2) By placing the notice and payment in the reply envelope to be provided with the notice, and mailing it to the cashier, parking violations section of the department of finance.
If the notice and payment are mailed, the reply envelope must be postmarked within 15 days after the date on which the notice of a parking violation was issued.

(b) The following fines shall be imposed for parking violations when a person voluntarily waives the right to appear and be formally tried for the offense charged:

The code goes on from there to list the various offenses and their related fines. My first problem was with section (a), which simply gives citizens the right to forego their appearance in court. Seems to me that it's impossible to break that law! Even more outrageous was what I saw in sub-paragraph (b)(2)(a)(7): "Fine of $40 for parking in any location...to include the following places: In front of a ramp leading to the crosswalk at an intersection or located at any other point along a curb, constructed for use of handicapped persons."

So my two-pronged legal strategy this afternoon was first, being charged with violating the wrong code, and failing that, getting my fine reduced by sixty bucks. I was probably the most prepared defendant in Richmond traffic court history. I had copies of all relevant portions of the code, my original ticket and all associated filings, and pictures of the ramp in question which proved that it met the standards of 102-243 (b)(2)(a)(7). Right away, I knew the judge was going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. The first case was a woman charged with parking longer than the allowed two hours, and from what I heard of her defense, she was in the 7-11 at a certain time before she met Shaniqua on the sidewalk and they drove away in her car. The judge dismissed her case and the ball was rolling. He wasn't so lenient on the guy who parked in front of a fire hydrant (and, like a dumbass, admitted to doing so to the judge), but the girl who parked "on the wrong side of Main Street" and the woman who got towed for parking on the wrong side of the street during street cleaning (while she was "out of the country" -- like nobody's ever tried that excuse before) got off in about thirty seconds.

Seeing all this made me confident that, at worst, I'd have to pay the $40. I first told the judge that section 102-243 was incorrectly applied, to which he responded, "The section that's on the ticket isn't always the section you violated." Before I could point out everything absurd with that statement, he continued, "Did you block the ramp?" I replied, "It was close; I thought I pulled up in front of it enough to clear it." His Honor said, "I'm going to dismiss this, don't do it again." Before I knew it, I was done. No need to split hairs further, no need to debate sub-section (2)(a)(7) versus (4)(b), no need to introduce my pictures as Exhibit A. Justice favors the prepared, and I knew that I had done, as a guy waiting his turn in the courtroom said to me as I left, a "Good job!"