“Sitting at his desk on the top floor of the Mordheim Colosseum, Kondor waits for an unwelcome knock at the door. He does not have to wait long. After a quick rap on the door, it slowly opens and the team cook walks to the desk with a covered tray in his hands.

“Are you certain that this is what you want?” he asks. “It is going to taste horrible.”

Kondor just nods and motions for the greasy soaked fellow to leave. Then he takes off the cover to reveal a mince meat pie and several cooked bird about the size of squab. Mincemeat is the worst pie invented. Who ever thought putting suet in a pie with raisins, currents, and a few apples would taste good? That fellow should have been flogged. Clearly it is the embodiment of humble pie. And these fouls on the plate meant that there were five fewer crows flying over the stadium. They would not be missed.

“Ah yes. Yesterday’s game.” Thought Kondor. “I am going to have to eat this entire humble pie.”

The game was between the Mordheim Legion who had already secured their place in the playoffs and the Grenzburg Greenskins who had been eliminated and had not beaten a divisional rival all season. Surely these guys would be pushovers. They would hide in the corner of the pitch intent on staying alive to play the next season….. Nope. They decided to punish the divisional rivals. They came in and dominated the entire match. The plan was to get Artair a few passes so he might improve his game a bit. The early passes went well enough but when Bullet tried to hand the ball back to him he dropped it….Twice. Eventually Bullet bailed him out by picking up the ball and scoring but that was the last game highlight for Legion.

Having downed his first slice of pie, it was time to eat some crow. The creatures were so miserable with so little meat there was no sense in trying to get around the bones. He picked the first one up and took a large bite leaving a third of the crunchy creature in his mouth to gnaw on. Apropos.

Entering the game, Legion only needed a draw to win the division. The Manticores lead the division, but they had chosen to prepare for the playoffs by playing to stay healthy rather than win the game once they had secured a place in the playoffs. Kondor had mocked them mercilessly and had already determined how he would spend his bonus for winning the division. Now, advancing past the first playoff game would be very difficult. By playing to win the game, the Greenskins inflicted significant damage en route to winning. SIX Legionnaires were seriously injured in the match. Five of those were players who were expected to contribute in the first game of the playoffs. McFamous, the Wart, and the Octopus would be missed but just as importantly Knuckles had been Niggled. Now decisions had to be made. Unfortunately, the wart and the lesser skilled linemen would be released to make room roster spots.

It pained him to say it but before picking up the second crow from the platter he spoke aloud as part of his penance. “Coach Hovring was right to rest his starter.” Yet deep inside, Kondor knew that if the last game of the season were played again in the same situation he still would have played to win the division.

Kondor cut one more piece of that horrible humble pie and began scheming about how he could at least make the first round of the playoffs competitive. To win it would be a miracle.
”