Three hours into their “punishment” for finishing in the cellar of last season’s Workout Nerds fantasy football league, the members of “Griddy, Griddy, Bang, Bang” were all putting a good face on very full stomachs.

Saint Aufranc, David Nahabedian, and Sarah Wilson on a late August Friday morning sat in a corner booth at Wellesley’s updated Maugus Cafe, where each had gorged on three sizable Belgian waffles. The pathologist, retired business owner, and retailer, respectively, were assigned to stay at the eatery from 7am until 2pm, though would get half an hour off for each waffle consumed.

So not exactly time off for good behavior, but rather for gluttonous behavior.

“We’ve had three waffles each so far,” Aufranc told me as I rolled in at 10am. “That doesn’t seem like that much, but it’s insane.”

“We turned out of the gates really hard,” said Wilson, who looked like she was already set to curl up under one of her company’s nice cozy Gray Heron blankets and take a nap.

Some members said they love waffles, though Wilson volunteered that she’s gluten-free. None of them had fasted in advance.

Taped onto the wall behind them was a poster introducing the three to anyone who might come by: “This is David, Saint & Sarah. They work out. They also play fantasy football. They really stink at one of these things: Can you guess which one?”

I didn’t have to guess. The commissioner of the 12-team league, Mike Piispanen, had gleefully reached out to us earlier in the week to give a heads up on this unique photo op (or as we like to call it, Swellesley Gold).

“We chose the Maugus because it is one of the places where many of us catch up all year round,” said the commish, who noted that the league was formed 11 years ago by a group of mostly Wellesley and MetroWest workout nerds who met at a CrossFit gym. “We miss the old Maugus, but the updated version is going to be a special add to Wellesley.”

Past penalties for finishing last in the league included:

• Booking a round trip bus ride to New York and immediately returning on the next trip. No devices. This was the “Fung Wah” punishment.
• A Beer Mile: Run 400 meters, then drink a beer. Repeat four times. A hot dog per lap was added to the mix at some point just to make it a little more disgusting.

Piispanen said he would some day like to see a league loser have to take the SAT, ACT or GMAT and report back the score.

Waffle-mania proved a memorable one, however. Piispanen reassured me, when I told him I didn’t think I could make it by Maugus until 10am that day, that “there is almost zero chance they can finish enough waffles to leave before 11am.”

He was right. They each ate four, and were released at 12:10pm.

Finishing last was unfamiliar territory for this team, which has won in the past and claimed to have been bumped into last place this time around through a sort of fluke of the playoff system. The team also had the toughest schedule in the league and had the most points scored against it.

The league had its draft for this season a few days after the Maugus breakfast at CrossFit TILT in Waltham. Hopefully, Griddy, Griddy, Bang, Bang members were able to slip away for an extra workout and burn off some of those waffles.

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