ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER BAKERS' TITLE LAWSUIT? Sources say London franchise will sue the league to strip West Nashville of 2017 title

Bakers owner QCurl Sharif, shown above at last year's Bacchanal to the Future, allegedly is planning a lawsuit to force the NFFA to award his team the 2017 title.

By R.E. Porter
Associated Web Press

According to a source close to London Bakers owner QCurl Sharif, the team is planning to sue the NFFA in order to strip the West Nashville Beelzebubbas of the 2017 championship for nonpayment of league fees, the AWP has learned.

Sharif used a similar legal maneuver in an attempt to the strip the 2014 title from the Downtown Corsairs. In that 2015 lawsuit, Bakers attorneys not only cited nonpayment of league fees, but also claimed the Corsairs attempted to "gain an unfair advantage" by violating the league's 160 hour rule that prohibits owners from spending more than 160 hours per week in online scouting, research, and personnel moves.

As with the 2015 suit, the source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Sharif will bring the suit before federal judge Naomi Morningstar, a close personal friend of the Bakers owner. The source went on to say the suit will ask the court to award the 2017 title to the Bakers, claiming the team's narrow loss to the Beelzebubbas in the semifinals of the playoffs should have been a win by forfeit, due to the Bubbas' failure to pay their league fees by season's end, as is required by league rules. That win by forfeit would have put the Bakers in the championship game where they would have defeated the Corsairs.

The AWP confirmed with the league office the West Nashville franchise has yet to pay its 2017 league fees. When reached for comment, Beelzebubbas chief legal counsel Ellis D. Hayes said, "For the Bakers, the road to the championship has always run through Judge Morningstar's courtroom."

More on this story as it develops.

CORSAIRS CELEBRATE... WHAT??

A tiny, frozen crowd of hard-core fans turned out for the Corsairs' 2017 "Moral Victory Parade." One of several effigies of Case Keenum lining the parade route burns in the background.

By Soren Bernyn
Fantasy Sports Network

After their embarrassing and disastrous loss in the 2017 NFFA Championship game, the Downtown Corsairs still found a reason to party. On New Years Eve, with temperatures in the single digits, Corsairs GM Mojo D treated hearty fans to a Pedal Tavern Parade around the Music City Center, home of the team’s fabled field, The Roofie. 

The reason?

“Simple,” Mojo D bellowed. “A three-game sweep of the Black Dogs, bitches!” The assembled drunken throng erupted in muffled cheers. “East Nasty is the winningest franchise in the NFFA - Money never lets you forget that. But not this season! A 3-game sweep of the Dogs: that’s never happened before, and after a week of contemplation, consternation and self-flagellation in my Fortress of Solitude, we had to find something to celebrate.

“The NFFA has many connections to Vanderbilt University, so my fellow team executives are well-acquainted with ‘moral victory’ sports celebrations. And we damn sure earned this one.”

The streets around the Roofie were lined with burning effigies of QB Case Keenum: “First, it’s f*cking freezing out here,” one bundled-up fan said, “and we also have to purge ourselves of the now-infamous ‘Keenum Gambit’ - this seems like a fun way to handle it.”

The parade ended up at Corsairs’ HQ, The Blue Room at Third Man Records. However, coach Jack White was not in attendance, leading to whispers of a coaching change in the wake of the team’s mortifyingly poor performance in their loss to the West Nashville Beelzebubbas. Mojo D cryptically demurred: “it’s a long, cold few months until the 2018 season - decisions get made, tempers flare, brothers fight, time heals. Stay tuned.” 

The small but mighty band of fans who gathered then lit one final Keenum effigy (which turned out to be an enormous joint), joined hands and sang the team anthem “Rather Be Lucky (Than Good) (Any Day).” 2017 drew to a close as the Nashville Fire Department arrived to put out the Blue Room fire. One fan said: “no way we were going back outside for that shit, man." Mojo D stood silently to one side, taking in the scene alone, shaking his head and smiling wistfully as a single tear crept down his cheek.