The League

SHIVAKAMINI SOMAKANDARKRAM!!!.

"Suck it!"

A 2009 FX sitcom about a group of friends who all play in a fantasy football league. Much Better Than It Sounds. It's cut from a similar cloth as the show it airs after, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia—frequently Crossing the Line Twice and taking Refuge in Audacity—but a little better-adjusted (maybe you can think of it as Always Sunny on meds. In Chicago, With football).

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Tropes used in The League include:

• Actor Allusion: In the pilot, Taco attempts to draft a player from the Calgary Stampeders. Jon Lajoie, who plays Taco, is the only Canadian actor in the league.
• Amoral Attorney - Both Ruxin and Kevin; a rare example where a criminal prosecutor isn't really any better than his defense attorney counterpart.
• Anything That Moves: Russell from The Kluneberg. Really the only thing he doesn't seem to be turned on by is Jenny.
• Butt Monkey - Andre, though when he isn't the victim, he gives as good as anyone else. Sometimes Ruxin, but he tends to bring it on himself.
• The Cameo Various NFL players and personalities appear as themselves. Including Terry Bradshaw, Matt Forte, and Matthew Berry.
• Camp Straight - Andre.
• Casanova Wannabe - Andre, particularly evident when he's discussing pickup artist tips with Pete.
• The Cast Showoff - Jon LaJoie has broke out into song on several occasions.
• Cloudcuckoolander - Taco.
• Cluster F-Bomb - Kevin in Kegel the Elf. After failing to get to the championship yet again, he goes completely berserk, kicking over a nativity scene and telling his five year old daughter that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and God do not exist.
• Complete Monster - Rafi is a psychopath. Ruxin is a sociopath. Ruxin seems to believe everyone (particularly Jenny) is one, the result of Insane Troll Logic.
• Deadpan Snarker - Pete and Ruxin. Andre gets in on it occasionally.
• Everyone Went to School Together - Pete, Ruxin, Kevin, Andre, and Shiva all went to high school together, and at least the former three went to college together too.
• Fawlty Towers Plot - Most episodes.
• Friends Rent Control - Mostly averted, as Ruxin and Andre at least are both relatively wealthy. Though Kevin's income as an assistant district attorney is probably modest, Jenny is a real estate agent, justifying their house between them. This only leaves Pete and Taco; Taco's home has only been glimpsed briefly a few times and Pete's lifestyle has been going down since the pilot.
• Gilligan Cut - Kevin promises that he, Jenny, Ruxin, and Sofia won't talk about Pete and Meegan's breakup at dinner. Cut to...
• Happily Married- Kevin and Jenny, who never have ANY serious marital issues, and the only minor ones are fantasy football related.
• Henpecked Husband- Ruxin and Pete, at first. Pete got divorced in season 1. Ruxin just stopped caring about his wife, and doesn't listen to her anymore.
• Heterosexual Life Partners - Pete and Kevin. Dirty Randy mistook them for actual life partners.
• Hollywood Dateless - Andre, though possibly justified, as being a wealthy, successful plastic surgeon probably helps him get dates. He just has trouble hanging on to women.
• Jerkass - Everyone to some extent, though Ruxin and Rafi are probably the worst.
• Karma Houdini - Though everyone gets away with things sometimes, like when Kevin lost his virginity to Shiva in Pete's mom's car, left the condom behind, and kept the incident a secret for years, only revealing the truth after Pete had returned the favor to the person he THOUGHT guilty of the offense, losing an amazing job offer in the process, Taco rarely receives any sort of comeuppance for his outrageous behavior.
• Last-Name Basis - Rodney Ruxin. He thinks "Rodney" is an Embarrassing First Name. His dad, Rupert, has the same problem.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ruxin's Dark Victory is immediately followed by him being the only guy left to deal with the broken windshield.
• Mistaken for Gay - Has happened to everyone not named Taco or Jenny.
• My Friends and Zoidberg - A nonverbal example. After Ruxin wins the championship in the finale of season 2, he tussles with Andre for possession of the trophy. It ends up sailing off a fire escape and smashing through a car windshield. At that point, Pete arrives in the cop car he now drives, takes control of the situation, and whisks everyone away... except Ruxin, who they gleefully leave behind to deal with the furious owner of the car.
  • Before the season 3 draft, Ruxin beckons the rest of the league to Andre's balcony.

Ruxin: Gentlemen. Taco.

• Obfuscating Stupidity - Taco, if Ruxin and Sofia's anniversary is any indication. He shot behind the scenes footage of their wedding and saved it for ten years, using it in what seems to be a very lengthy Xanatos Roulette, or even Batman Gambit, to incriminate and embarrass not only Ruxin, but Kevin, Andre, and Meegan as well, at an anniversary party he manipulated Ruxin into throwing in the first place. When his plan culminates in Ruxin having to eat a piece of wedding cake that had been thrown onto a bathroom floor, Ruxin even calls him "an evil genius."
  • In an interview the Producers confirm Taco is far smarter than given credit.
• One of the Boys - Jenny, though a somewhat unusual example—she's not really a tomboy and certainly is feminine. She's just really good at fantasy football and can engage with and challenge the guys on their own terms. She also seems more comfortable with the boys than with Sofia, who she finds irritating, though notably Sofia is the only female (other than her own daughter) that viewers see her interacting with on even a semi-regular basis.
• Refuge in Vulgarity - Vaginal Hubris, Vinegar Strokes.
• Running Gag - Shivablasting, Eskimo brothers, and Mr. Mcgibletts.
  • It's more a Call Back than a Running Gag, but when Ruxin's dad (none other than Jeff Goldblum, who actually bears a comically striking resemblance to Nick Kroll) is caught having sex with Andre's sister, played by Sarah Silverman, the characters remark in horror that they've seen Ruxin's dad's Vinegar Strokes.
• Sports Widow: Sofia knows to leave Ruxin alone when he and the rest of the league show up to watch. Averted by Kevin and Jenny: she's a bigger football fan (and better team owner) than he is.
• The Stoner: Taco.
• The Windy City
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife - YMMV on Nick Kroll himself, but in-universe, Ruxin has purposely invoked this trope, and plays it up especially hard at his high school reunion.
  • The reunion wasn't this as much as showing off that he's no longer dating fat girls like he did in high school.
  • The entire show is a group of average looking guys who have no problem attracting disproportionately attractive women.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist - Periodically, the characters execute borderline-sociopathic hijinks, generally because of some misunderstanding, and usually come off the worse for it. This is all, of course, very funny.
• With Friends Like These... - Even without the constant volleys of insults and pranks, every single member of the League will manipulate and betray any other member for even the slightest of advantages in their fantasy football tournament. Except for Taco, who is to stoned to know what manipulate means.