Alex, I'll Take 'Son of a' for $1000....
Rambling after week 12...
Let's step back a few columns and look at something I wrote only 2 weeks ago:
"As Madden might say, this division is a three team horse race and Jugs will have to earn this division title as he faces JC, The Hellfish, Tang and Wonger down the stretch. Up next week for the Bison...Your Fantasy Superior vs. Your Fantasy Commish and Your Flying Hellfish vs. Your Team Trying to play Spoiler (you know Mikey will get 1 win...the question is against whom?)."
Looks like I was the generous SOB that donated Mike a win so he wouldn't be the first team in league history to keep a goose egg up there for 14 weeks. I can only thank myself for putting the old jinx on there by mentioning that he would get a win at some point - and screw up someone's playoff hopes. Also, nothing like getting your only win in pathetic fashion - a 68-48 win. Damn, Peyton (and Marvin) almost outscored both of us by themselves.
Enough of my bitching - if you want more (not so much on this topic - but more commish bitching anyway), see the message board.
So all 6 weeks of divisional play are behind us now and the smoke is almost cleared. Here is a rundown of what each BIG team has going for themselves...
*Note in () is, (BIG record, overall record, PF per week)
Sadida's 21ers (1-11, 22-109-1, 72.9) Mike has had a truly ugly run through the '04 campaign. Here are some of the high(low)lights. Opened the season with 10 consecutive weeks not scoring 100+. Opened the season with 11 losses. 6 of 12 weeks has scored 68 points or less with 2 weeks in the 60's, 2 in the 50's and 2 in the 40's. Is currently tied for the fewest 100+ weeks in a single season (Rico - '00). Is 1 shy of Suomala's 'record' of 7 weeks at less than 70 ("70-") in a season ('03). And, is on pace to score 1021 points which would be a new league record (low). But the high point for Mike could very well be getting his first W against yours truly, and most likely knocking Air JC to the outside of the playoff picture. Mike will at least be able to hang his hat on that until August rolls around.
Team Nookie (3-9, 35-96-1, 82.8) Ben has spent most of the year in the hospital consoling his players as most of you know. But here are some of the numbers that Nookie has been putting up. Tied for the 5th highest weekly score (Week 9 - 147) this year which was also his franchises 3rd highest score ever - although he did drop his high scoring week on Mike to win 147-52. Has increased career 70- weeks from 3 to 8. Most importantly though, he picked up a whole bunch of polish ping pong balls, FA Ricky Williams and the early lead at the '05 BIG championship if you ask me.
Team GOO (5-7, 52-78-2, 94.8) Rico is having one of those seasons which makes you want to jump off a tall building. Just look at this stat boys.... GOO has lost 6 games when scoring 90+. That is crazy. Three of those were at 100+. Sad to say that the straw breaking the southwesterner's back seems to be his 134-133 loss this week to Wong. Although Rich isn't mathematically eliminated, he essentially is at this point. Points-wise, Rich has put up his best year since '01 with 5-100+ weeks and an average of just under 95 per, but I think even though the ball has bounced in GOO's QB's direction this year, his team has definitely gotten shafted a little in the W/L column.
Team Tang (6-6, 61-71, 98.2)
First off, let me send my condolences to the Jonland family if the news I heard this past weekend is accurate. Jonny is another team on the fence right now. It's either a late surge to the playoffs, or a handful of ping pong balls in the hat in August. Jonny's year has been pretty symmetrical. How? Well, he opened up with a L, then a 5 game W streak, then a 5 game L streak and to finish it off, a W this past week. Either he continues on to another 5 game win streak (which would crown him as champ) or a new pattern emerges. As far as Kyle's numbers, he's been solid all year and is peaking now with 3 of the last 4 weeks over 100. Sitting at 6-100+ for the year, he could tie his franchise high of 8 (2002) with a solid finish in the upcoming 2 weeks.
Fat British Pigeons (6-6, 64-64-4, 97.8)
Next up is the league's big city smooth talker (although word on the street is that his mother may still pick out his clothing on occasion). Look at that record...is that classic Smith or what? 0.500 across the board there, but with a pretty good number of points. Smitty has had a pretty solid year though with a 6:1 ratio on 100+ to 70- weeks. But here is the big number, Smitty is 172 shy of 10,000 for his career....and he should get it, but it looks like the Pigeons trophy case will remain bare for yet another season as the playoffs are probably out of reach after going 0-3 in the last round of division games for our league computer guy.
Fantasy Superior (7-5, 67-61-4, 104.8)
On to our opinionated Fantasy Guru....Jugs. After getting his 6 game W streak busted up in week 11, Suomala gives Paul another L as an early holiday gift in week 12. Jugs is the first of 2 teams on this list to NOT have a single 70- week this year. That, my friends, is impressive. Last year only 1 team could say they went the whole 14 weeks without putting up a 60-something or worse (Smitty). With 7-100+ and another impressive stat, a low weekly score of 75 (the highest weekly low of any team in the league this year - if that makes sense), Jugs has kept himself in the playoff hunt. Although he doesn't think so, he still has a shot at either the division if Suomala loses a couple or at the wildcard.
Air JC (7-5, 69-60-3, 100.7)
Again with the Moe quotes....last week was not ugly, pug-ugly, pug-fugly...but ugly-ugly. I think Jugs should quit giving me crap for Vanderjagt, and instead for taking Heap over Gonzo. How dumb does that sound when reading it? (cause it damn near hurts to type it). Anyway, Air JC's boys can still make the playoffs, but it ain't gonna be easy anymore. With 7-100+ weeks, this team has shown some firepower, but with 2 ugly weeks (67 and 48), this team has also taken a little too much vacation. As for numbers, this has been JC's best 100+ and points per year since 2000 (10-100+, 109.8 per). Not much consolation after taking a whooping from the team formerly sitting at 0-11.
Wonger (7-5, 74-57-1, 107.3)
A not so controversial 1 point win over GOO keeps Wong on top of the Husky....had Bellichek selected to trot out Vinatieri instead of giving the rock to Dillon, the Husky would be a 3 way tie at 6-6, but then again....it ain't. Wong has put up a LOT of ponts in the past few weeks. 138, 138, 134 to be exact. Throw in a 131 back in week 6 and Wong ties up with Suomala as the only teams with 4-130+ games this year (the LB's have 2, no one else has more than 1. FYI: Smitty had 8-130+ and Nookie 6-130+ back in 2002...WOW). Wonger is looking to make his 6th playoff appearance after sitting 'er out last year....and closes against Juice and Jugs.
Team Juice (6-6, 77-54-1, 106.4)
Juice's team might not be done quite yet, but then again, probably is. His '04 season is a pretty good reason why you want to put up 100+. Weeks 1-4, 100+ each week, 4-0. Weeks 5-10, under 100 each week, 0-6. Weeks 11-12, 100+ each week, 2-0. Crazy. Then again, with a certain New York Football Giant RB in the lineup instead of a certain Redskin, Weeks 5-10 may have been a bit different. Juice's 6-100+ this year along with his 106.4 per average look nice, but won't earn him back his '05 1st rounder.
Little Bastards (8-4, 81-51, 110.3)
On to the LB's. Since a 0-3 start, the LB's have rattled off a 8-1 record with their only loss to his nemesis....LRH. Jon's team has been solid all year. Take away a 70 pointer and his low has been 86. He has pushed himself to the top of the league's career winning percentage standings along with the 2nd highest per week average at 101.0. This has been the LB's best year since his championship year of '00 when he averaged over 114 per. The last three weeks have been 135, 140, 121 for Jon and will need two more weeks like that to close this year out and move on to the playoffs.
Little Red Horse (8-4, 86-44-2, 110.8)
And first off....congrats to Jason and Missy for the almost Halloween (10-30) delivery of Wyatt Jason Carlson - but seriously, where is the email to the guys in the league letting us know? On to the LRH...To say Jason has struggled the past couple weeks probably isn't too fair, but he has dropped 3 out of 4 and it just proves that fantasy football is a streaky game. Jason put up 100+ in 9 of his first 10 weeks, has the league high for '04 of 163 and holds the second highest scoring average in the league this year. Not that I had to tell you this, but 2004 is Jason's best year thus far in the BIG. (if you are wondering how...remember he had 3 picks in the 4th round of this years draft, plus hit the jackpot on curtis martin and mike clayton). Here's what's most impressive about Jason's record thusfar....he hasn't even played EITHER Mike (1-11) or Ben (3-9) yet, but that sure will make fending off the LB for the Bulldog championship a little easier.
Flying Hellfish (8-4, 94-37-1, 116.4)
Finally, the Fish. This team is crazy good. How good? 9-100+, 3-144+ and a 116.4 average. That's on pace for 1630 points which would put this year's Hellfish behind only the ginormous numbers put up by Smitty (1805) and Nookie (1724) in 2002 in the league records. With defensive coordinators in the league refusing to cover A.Gates each week, Suomala has been guaranteed about 20-30 points from his TE. Then, throw in Jake the Snake's revival along with Edge's quiet league leading rushing numbers and the occasional eruption from Marvin....this team is stacked. Suomala's best year? No, 1998 was magic for him with the Young-Davis-Anderson trio, but this year could bring Jon what '98 didn't....a fantasy championship.
So here is this weeks edition of "IF THE PLAYOFFS WERE TODAY-DAY-DAY" (think
of a nice echoing announcer saying that)
Bulldog: Jon's Little Bastards (8-4) [*takes 2nd divisional tiebreaker
over LRH - see rules page]
Husky: Wong's Wong's LD's (7-5)
Bison: Jon's Flying Hellfish (8-4)
Wildcard: Jason's Little Red Horse (8-4)
That's enough for today....I'm hungry and if you need more to read, it seems like after a couple weeks rest, the message board is again the place to be, so there should be plenty of readin' and reactin' to do there.
Need I say more?
BIGFFBL senior writer Jeremy Carlson (TEQ) sounds off whenever he feels like it on www.bigffbl.com