The Daily Hilario: Play ball

WaFFLe:

So, time to start thinking about this and gauging interest.  We have a pretty solid core of 10-12 players returning from our inaugural season.  I'm expecting at least that many additional entries this season.  Maybe three times as many?

My long term goal is to run divisions with promotion/relegation.  So, for this season, we'll run the divisions in parallel as a sort of qualifying year.  The top 6 or 4 or 3 from each division (depending on how many total 12-team divisions we'll run) will be put in Division 1 next year and so on.  Inactive teams will be discarded at the end of the season, replaced by the next best active teams, etc.

Last year, we used RealFFL but I think we'll be switching to PlayTogga this season.  I've messed around with their Beta (was invited by the creators) and several others reported positive experiences with them as well.  Also, they're free, which should result in more (if perhaps less serious) interest.

For now, just start thinking about this and maybe throw out any ideas or suggestions you may have.  The application process will probably be pretty similar to last season and we'll start that in the next few days.  Plan will be to figure all this out in a little over a week and start drafting as soon as August hits.

SO WHAT'S THE HAND-BALL RULE AGAIN?

I mean, if you were to ask me, as a fellow defender, it looks like the defender falls just the right way, and on purpose...  Mark Geiger was pretty bad on the day, but I actually think this was a penalty.  Torres knew what he was doing (not fouled on the clearance), and it certainly looks deliberate from several angles, including, probably, the referee's.

But that's what happens when the handball rule leaves so much open to interpretation of intent.

FOOTBALL (all times BST):
12.30:  Friendly:  Bayern Munich vs. Guangzhou Evergrande
19.45:  Europa League, 2nd qual. round, 2nd leg:  Birkirkara vs. West Ham United (0-1 agg.)
22.30:  Pan Am Games, semifinal:  Brazil vs. Uruguay