How did you first find this League?
It was through Cory Turner. I was playing in a men’s flag football league downtown and another coed league, so he would invite me to sub in as QB when I could fit in a third league on Saturdays and his QB couldn’t make it, so I played a few games for him in the league.
When did you originally join and with which team?
I officially joined full time in the Fall of 2013 for 1-2-3 Gawron in Division 2. We had an undefeated season but barely won the championship in OT that year against B. Ford was the QB and they had Cody Williams on their team who was a stud that played in the CFL. Eric Delecki was our best player at that time and was sidelined with a hamstring injury and they outplayed us and probably should have won, but they missed a 1 pt conversion which allowed us to take the game into Overtime and they scored 6 on their OT drive and we had a game winning TD pass by Lindsay Carrow to Cory Turner for the win and to move up to D1.
Which teams have you played with?
1-2-3 Gawron and Eyes Downtown, plus The Angels (a gender team in D4) for one session which we took home the ship over Buffalo Vice in a very close game. Taylor Pagano had two key catches on the last drive when we were losing, first catching a deep pass to get us most of the way down the field then catching the game winner on 5 and 0 with about 50 seconds to go. We then had to defend a Hail Mary heave to Mark Brown to preserve the win. I also played on Grey Hair Don’t Care with my good friend Dave Eickhoff and now BQI with the current greatest female quarterback of all time Bridget Masiello. All the credit to Jon Tirado for having the idea to put this team together with Bridget as QB!
You've won as many championships as anyone in this League. Which one (or ones) were the most important or fulfilling for you?
The next one is the most fulfilling! It’s always to me about doing everything you can for your team to win that session and enjoying the championship until the next session then go after the Next One! I can remember every D1 championship win and loss and who we played and details surrounding the championship games so the memories for me I will always have and cherish the hard work that came with those championships during the games by myself and my teammates and I will always after the championship win bask in satisfaction of all of the hard work I put into my body throughout each week leading up to the games and feel in those moments the sacrifice was worth it and feel accomplished that my training plan had worked.
For the championship game wins:
1-2-3 Gawron over Varsity Blues
1-2-3 Gawron over Varsity Villians
Eyes Downtown over Marketing Mayors
Eyes Downtown over Legends
Eyes Downtown over Sticky Bandits
For the championship game losses
Marketing Mayors Over Eyes Downtown
Public Enemy Over Eyes Downtown. [That is the only I feel we were robbed of. I detailed this on one of the podcasts. 5 and 1 from the 2 yard line I threw a pass to a wide open Matt Mohr (literally no one was even close to him) that I could have thrown with the tip of my d_ck and on a snowy day in November. Rameer said he was standing out of bounds when no one was near him I could have thrown it underhand and he was clearly in bounds that would have put us up 11 with 5 and a half minutes to go and the game would have been over and instead it was a turnover on downs. Garrett Bessing was standing right there and not reffing and has said to me it was definitely in bounds. I personally think to this day Rameer who was the third ref on the game and was best friends with Lenny Alba who ran Public Enemy and was tight with the Public Enemy players as well just wanted to see a climatic ending and that’s why he made that call. I will say though that game I believe contributed to me receiving one of the coolest things and biggest conversation starters at my house to this day. I will never know for sure but I’m confident Rameer told Lenny what he did for him on that call to make the game climatic and to give them a chance to win so when I showed up at the banquet that year there was three giant lifesize cardboard cutouts of me there which was really cool. There was other people that had cardboard cutouts, but interestingly enough and suspiciously enough I was the only one they made coasters with my face on them and the interview podium had a giant super thick posterboard stand in front of it also with just my face on it as well lol. I have all three of those items the cardboard cutout, coasters and thick posterboard picture of myself that was on the interview stand at my house today which I am really grateful for Lenny who was a really generous man financially with the league to have spent the money to get all these cool things and to let me take them home, so yes I do think all these things were done because Rameer had told him what he had did but bottom-line Lenny didn’t have to do all of that so thank you Lenny for the amazing gifts and generosity to our league and we miss you Lenny!]
Public Enemy over Eyes Downtown
Legends over Eyes Downtown
Legends over Eyes Downtown
Do you have a favorite game / moment / win (other than a championship) in all the years you've been playing?
An all-time classic win if I had to pick one that sticks out in my mind was semifinal 2018 overtime win vs Public Enemy. I made a crucial strategic mistake which I won’t get into (no, not an interception) that left the door open for them to tie and possibly beat us on the last drive. They drove down and scored to tie it with little to no time left and missed the extra point and we went to OT. In OT they scored 6 points and then we had our drive. We were down to our last play from inside the 5 and Greg Chadwick caught the game tying touchdown. Then on the conversion Cody Stumpf made an awesome catch in the left corner of the end zone when I was scrambling while being given an NFL level tackle by one of their players and he held on still for the win. If you don’t believe me about the NFL tackle, I still have the video of the play on my phone lol. That was a favorite memory of a game I had until our most recent championship win overcoming two excellent teams in the Legends and the Sticky Bandits. That meant so much to me because at age 44 I still believed I could play the best ball I ever had played in my life regardless of my age and was striving for that but wasn’t sure if that was possible but WE as a team made that happen offensively on that day together! When my whole team left and it was just Blasé LaDuca and I remaining in Spring 2025 it took us three sessions to get back to the mountaintop with some dynamite male players surrounding us Drew Butler, Josh Schultz, Nick Voss, Ben Stack. Two of the females on that team (Bridget Masiello and Lexi Kalinowski) who were playing D4 literally three sessions ago were our workhorses and the three of us had trained together a lot of time to try and get their game up to speed to make the jump from D4 to D1 and to see it all come together from having almost literally no one left on the team besides Blasé and I to being the best out of 48 teams was an incredible feeling. So I know if you're reading this and think I am not being consistent in my answer of which championship was your most satisfying from a previous question above that is fair but the truth is they all are very special to me and hold a place of joy in my heart so I stand by my favorite championship will be the “Next One” until i’m done playing then maybe after time has faded we will see which memories still stand out the most in my mind and I reminisce the most about and then I will definitively know which championship is my genuine favorite.
Who's your favorite teammate or teammates you've had over the years?
For the players I no longer play with it was Jeff Farr. He would remind me how many times I threw the ball to him during a day of men’s flag and coed all on a Saturday and how many he caught and the percentage would usually be like holy crap did we really have that high of a percentage for targets to catch ratio. My favorite teammate now could change because it will depend I’m sure by how long we play together when it’s all said and done and how great of an on field qb to receiver connection we have and them thinking in sync with me in how our minds view strategy or them teaching me better ways to do it with an unshakeable will to be the best player they possibly could be and the most important attribute they have is an ultra-competitiveness to want to win championships with a team mindset would be my criteria for my picking my favorite teammate when I’m done playing. As of now my favorite teammate is Bridget Masiello even though like I said when it’s all said and done I have a lot of good candidates who it could be in Drew Butler, Josh Schultz, Nick Voss, Blasé LaDuca and Charles Emdin. I choose Bridget at this moment she was an average D4 player who now I believe is the most effective female player in the entire league. I pick her because no one of any teammates I have ever had counting men’s flag and coed football has put the time, effort and brain power in with me to cultivate ways to be best player they could be and just be relentless in the pursuit of greatness. People talk the talk about wanting to be the best but they don’t all put in the hard work that it takes to get there and she exemplifies the definition of someone who Is relentless. I have played a lot longer than her but I learn from her a lot in her strategic ideas very often. These are all the reasons as to why she is currently my favorite teammate!
Who's your biggest rival been, either friendly or not so friendly?
Public Enemy and Legends and it has not been friendly.
Is there any person you've always wanted to play with but never got the chance? Any team you would have loved to play with but didn't?
There was one player who I always wanted to play with. I would watch her play and just be blown away at her athletic ability, hands, route running, catching ability and team not me first attitude and it was Katie Salisbury. When I got the opportunity to play with her I found like we had a bond in that we were players that had accomplished a lot of things but still wanted to train and get better like we were a novice. I still absolutely love and respect that about her to this day and that is why Katie Salisbury is the greatest female player in any of these coed leagues of all time as of right now. Her longevity as well, people have come and gone and she is still such a dominate force as a player in this league at whatever current age she is.
There has never been a team I’ve seen at Toppers where I thought to myself, I want to be on that team. My mindset has always been how can I make my team the best it could possibly be on the field so my focus is always on my team and not thinking or wanting to play on anyone else’s team.
Fill in the blank: Bobby McConnell is the ____th best TSL QB of all time
When it’s all said and done, I hope to have the most championships In D1 by any quarterback of all time and if that can be accomplished then the most D1 championships by any player. Then people can talk about my rank if they’d like to of who is the greatest of all time but I will know no matter what their opinion is Championships aren’t a debate they are an achievement that can’t be debated and that’s what I’m focused on. That being said the greatest quarterbacks I have ever played against are Chris Cole, Joey Batts and Doug from the Moose Knuckle.
Who's the best non QB player you've ever seen in all your years in the TSL, male and female?
Males: my list would be Sean Weisansel and Andrew Smith. I know there are males on my team when it’s all said and done who could be the best to ever do it in these leagues but for now my answer is based on their current body of work and I tip my hat to both of those guys. Best Female is: Katie Salisbury, runner up Cheryl Julicher.
What is a fact about you that you that the average TSLer wouldn't know?
That I am really easy going off the field and just want to have the best time laughing and goofing around when I am not playing a competitive sport. I don’t drink or do drugs could be a good fact for people to know as well. Alcohol use to touch my lips about four days a year I count even one sip as a day of drinking and now it is zero days a year I drink and I have never done a drug.
How many more years do you think you have in those old bones?
When I was 38 I would think if I could stay at my peak until 43 that would be amazing but I knew it was going to take an awful lot of hard work on my body to be able to do so. Now I’m 44 and feel at the top of my game so my new goal is to be 49 and still at the top of my game. I know its going to be a lot of hard work and sacrifice but my current mindset is I would like to try to do that, but I know life circumstances and drive can always change so we will see!
If you could change anything about the League, what would it be?
The rush count. A level playing field does not happen each and every Saturday because of this important aspect of the game of rushing the quarterback. Whatever number you decide 4 or 5 seconds should be counted by the ref so it’s consistent for both teams and gives everyone the best possible level playing field and fairness.
Who is on the Mount Rushmore of Eyes Downtown players? (Excluding yourself)
Well, I had to google it but I now know Mount Rushmore has four faces so this is a really difficult question but I will attempt to answer it. Jeff Farr’s bust would be on the Mount Rushmore. Like I mentioned earlier in this article you would throw this man the ball and he always would come up with it, so smart as a receiver the way he played and that skill and smarts contributed to him dominating the game defensively as well, he was an unstoppable force on our team. Number 2 on the Mount Rushmore would be Eric Delecki. His speed and explosiveness was always just so impressive to watch. If you didn’t play far off of him you were not stopping him on a deep ball and he would be all over the receiver in man to man defense like glue mirroring their image like maybe no other I have ever seen play men’s flag and coed football. Number 3 would be Drew Butler. In my 20 some years playing men’s flag football and Id say roughly 15 years playing coed football he is one of one when it comes to elusiveness and the ability to make breathtaking catches that your like holy shit no one else would make those catches I have ever seen. Maybe its too early to put him on the Eyes Downtown Mount Rushmore because it will depend on how many years he plays on the squad and how successful we are with championships as a team and how dominating he is on both sides of the ball but I truly believe his will to be the best and love for playing and still having room to grow intellectually as a player will give him that longevity of dominance! Number four was the toughest call of them all I want it to be a female and it is between Beth Schroeder and Bridget Masiello but for now I am going to go with Beth Schroeder. Beth had top end speed, really good hands, a really good man to man defender who would do whatever it took to win so much to her detriment that she got kicked out of the league lol. We didn’t win Topper championships for years without her, she was the dominant glue that raised our female level of play to win many championships in the Topper league but multiple Game-On D1 championships and tournament wins as well! That all being said if Bridget Masiello takes care of her body and has longevity with our team having a high level of dominance personally and with championships for years to come then it won’t even be a discussion of her replacing Beth on the Eyes Downtown Mount Rushmore, with all the hard work she puts in on the game more than anyone I believe, her technical attention to detail and really high football IQ and continued want to still improve it will be a blowout if she has longevity!
When it’s all said and done I really hope selfishly that Mount Rushmore has three out of those four names changed with Jeff Farr, Eric Delecki and Beth Schroeder off of it because that would mean players like Nick Voss, Josh Schultz, Charles Emdin and Bridget Masiello had longevity, dominance and multiple championships with our team where they undeniably unseat the existing names on the Eyes Downtown Mount Rushmore and go down as legends of the league, also helping me achieve all of my goals in the league as well because I know without their will to win, effort, consistently giving their blood, sweat and tears out there I am nothing without them!
Any other final thoughts you want to share?
Thank you to Patrick Topper McGovern, Lenny Alba and Jeff Krol for running this awesome league for as many years as you have. I appreciate and appreciated all your hard work and efforts to make this the best league of any kind in Western New York!