Why you should get out and vote...

From the healthy, Norton virus protected notebook of your commish.  Tuesday November 7th, 2006 3:38 PM

Rambling after Week 9...

Does it bother any of you as much as it does me how people say, "Get out the vote."  I mean, shouldn't it be, "Get out and vote." or "Get out to vote." or "Please get out to the voting location and fill out your ballot."  Apparently the younger generation is so lazy that they respond to "Get out the vote." but wouldn't to "Get out and vote."  Maybe I'm not fully understanding that.

Otherwise....I'm sure a DFL landslide is in the works for the northland once again.  I do tend to favor the other side of the fence, but am far from voting exclusively for the good old boys.  In fact, I haven't (and probably won't until right before I punch the chad) yet decided on a few races and just might vote for more independents than D's or R's....but then again, there's no "I" in team....or congress for that matter (well, two actually - and they're from Vermont - hmm....maple syrup and I's, could be a new state slogan).

Politics aside (and if this was a Presidential election, I'd spend more time on it) the BIG is starting to heat up....well, in the respect that there is one good team and a bunch of ok teams.  No one really stinks this year (at least according to record).  Then again, if you go by points scored....are you ready for this....Jonny has scored an average of 53.1 points less than Juice each week.  That is ridiculous.

It brings up the question, what has been the greatest spread between two teams in a single season?  As you all know by now, I do have the stats to look this up from the past 6 years, so.....

Back in 2002, Smitty outscored Rich's GOO by 44.1 points per week......(although I'm sure Ritchie would argue that his GOO got more play that year) - Juice is on his way to destroying that one.

Other interesting stuff.....the Husky Division (90.9) is averaging over 10 points per game less than Bison Division (101.8) which has a couple points less per game than the Mighty Bulldogs (104.4).

Only one BIG team now averages over 100 points for their career.  The LB's used to, but now it is Smitty alone that holds that distinction (103.1).

Juice....ahem, Denny Crane, has been en fuego this year.  So how does his current all-games winning percentage (0.848 84-15) compare to past five years?  Well, except for Smith again back in 2002 - (132-20 0.868) -  Juice has the most dominant season ever going in the BIG.

With all these references to Smith and his '02 season, you might ask, "Gorsh, well, how much did Smith win the championship by that year?"   Um, yea, that's a sore spot and probably where all the talk about luck and whatnot came about for this league.  Let's travel back to the 2002 season.....

Marty: Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
Dr. Brown: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?

In the ought-two regular season, Smitty put up these numbers on his way to an 11-3 record (note he had the most points against in the league that year also)....

Yea that's right, he closed the season out with 13 consecutive 100+ weeks.  And, only two of those weeks were less than 120.  Sick....ridiculously sick.  I'm answering the questions as I think of them....so the next that comes to mind is, who the heck was on his team?  Well, his keeper was TO.  His first pick was LT, his 2nd pick was Deuce McAllister.  He then added Jamal Lewis and Trent Green in the mid-early rounds and Tampa's D in the late rounds.  I think he also grabbed Boldin that year off the FA wire....but to verify that I'd have to do more digging that I choose to do.

Ok, ok, back to the original question Joe Bob, "Gorsh, how much did he win the championship by?"  Well....he won his division (which he's only done that year and also in 2005) and got to match up with either Wong's LD's or Team Nookie (my archives get a little sketchy at this point it seems).  Never the less, Smitty was upset by one of these two.  In the end, the moral of the story is this......everyone has a weakness even if it doesn't seem like it.  Denny Crane might like to talk about never losing, but you just have to find his weakness....he's going up against his minority (by ownership, not creed or color) landlord this week.....and the commish has declared, with the approval of the '76 Dolphins, this week to be Shirley Schmidthoe week in the BIG.

"Huh?"

Ok, some of you are confused.  That would be those of you who do not watch Boston Legal.  I feel sorry for you.  Similarly to how I feel sorry for people who were public supporters of ______________ in the past.  Well, in the interest of bi-partisianship I'll just leave the punch line there open for you to fill in - kinda like your own little Mad-Libs.  (and who ever said the Ramblings weren't user friendly)

Anywho....how 'bout them Rails.  I was out to see the Rails/Broncos section final game last Saturday with Jon, Ben, Kinger, Juice, Gusto and a few others.  I'm not gonna lie to you, I was there to see just how good the Falls RB - DeAngelo BrAcKins was.  (not sure if I got all the capitals right, but I think I'm close).  For those of you who don't know.....he ran for over 2,000 yards this year and had scored 166 points IN HIS PREVIOUS 4 GAMES.  Four.  One, two, three, four.  Uno, dos, tres, quatorce (dammit, who let him in.....)  Yes, four games, more points than Team Tang will score in the same timeframe.  So, I figured that he'd be a bowling ball against PHS in a big game.  (note, I'm used to seeing us choke just a little in the big ones - ahem, Jon - oh yea, and I suppose I lost one of those too).  Anyway, the Rails proceed to go out and kick the snot out of them.  Not even close.  Brackins was reported to have 19 carries for 46 yards.....total.  It seemed like 30 carries for 30 yards.  He got nothing, and the worst part (if you're a falls fan) was that the old ball coach Stu didn't change up the play calls.  It was like watching the Vikings game this past week.....just ugly for them.  Falls had 2 first downs in the whole game.  TWO.  Just sick.  51 total yards of offense.  Domination.

Next up for the Rails....state powerhouse Becker.  At PSS.  We're not quite sure if Proctor has won at the new PSS.  If that is the case, I don't think it'll change this Friday either, but I'll be there cheering for the boys as they play for a chance at the big dance at the Dome.  Friday night lights at it's best.....and I'm not talking about the TV show.

Need I say more?

BIGFFBL senior writer Jeremy Carlson sounds off whenever he feels like it on www.bigffbl.com