A Dynasty is Born ...

DUH Winning!

While watching the final minutes of the Monday night game and it became obvious I would win the week I was bursting at the seems and couldn’t wait to get this newsletter up. Not just because I won but so much happened in the pool this weekend I could not wait. I even went so far as to text Ed at 1am Tuesday morning to check an unbelievable pool fact which I’ll talk about later….

First about this weeks winner ... me! And the start of my dynasty that will be as unstoppable as the 2007 Patriots.  I started to explain to my fiancee before the Monday night game what I needed the result to be in order to win the week. She doesn’t know a lot about football spreads, over/under, tiebreaker scores etc .. I explained to her that two things had to happen; I needed the combined score to be less than 37; AND I needed Jacksonville to either win or not lost by more than 7 points. For example I said "a final score of 20-14 would be great". She doesn’t get the whole point spread concept and thinks the spread is included in the over/under total. Our conversation got more complex until I just started agreeing with everything she said and went upstairs to watch the game alone. 

As the time ticked away and it became clear that I would win the week I was exited, did a celebratory shot of Zambuka (don't judge me) and for some reason she was excited too. A little too excited. She asked how much we won. When I said $125 her dreams of shoe shopping quickly faded and she lost interest. Sensing a chance to pile it on I further explained that I really only won $15 because the pool fee was $110. Then I took it a step deeper explaining I really didn’t win anything because I played two spots this season at $110 each so I am still in the hole overall. By then her attitude was indifferent and didn't understand why I was so excited about winning but whatever, girls are dumb.

The Monday night game was a horrible game to watch. If I didn’t have the weekly win riding on it I would have preferred to watch a Lifetime movie while drinking tea and hanging pictures.  I kept thinking about the two poor saps in the Survivor pool that took Baltimore (Vamp & Pickle).  The game looked like a gimmie on paper then they had to suffer though all this:

• Baltimore had no first downs in the 1^st half
• Baltimore had 1 net passing yards in 1^st half
• Joe Flaco completed a pass for negative -8 yards to HIMSELF
• There were 6 official fumbles and at least 2 others that were not called fumbles
• Jacksonville’s kicker Josh Scobee made 3 FG’s of 50+ yards ( a side note, a few years ago when I was single I had a one night stand with a local DJ who’s on-air name was "DJ Scooby" so I knew this was a good sign when he nailed that 3^rd FG)
• At one point Baltimore had 3^rd down and 25 at their own 30 yard line, they gained 12 yards but got called for holding. Jacksonville could have declined the penalty making it 4^th and 13 and made Baltimore punt BUT they had so little fear of Baltimore’s offense they took the risk and accepted the penalty making it 3^rd and 35 for Baltimore.  

Ugly sure ... but not for me it was a beautiful game.

About that unbelievable fact I had to text Ed about.... as I was looking through the final weekly standings one thing jumped right out at me, you know besides seeing “05” with the word “WINNER” next to it, was all the way at the bottom – last place for the week “Dai-ma” 0-13 … zero and thirteen H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T.. I immediately sent Ed a text to confirm what I thought was true. Since this pool started back in 1997 no one has ever pulled an 0-fer for a week in the regular season?  EVER!  And Ed confirmed it was true. Not only did “Dai-ma” not win a single game he also took 52 (the highest [no pun intended but intended] of the week) as the tiebreaker score for a game that had a over/under line at 37!  The 0-13 week dropped him from 14^th place all the way to 73^rd place, a 59 point drop! Smoke up my friend, puff the magic dragon ...

That takes us to poor old “Grampy”. When I looked at all the Survivor picks Sunday morning the teams  that I figured I’d see I did. Dallas and New Orleans. One pick looked like it didn’t belong; Miami! “Grampy” picked Miami. My first reaction was "idiot".  Then I thought, hmm maybe - genius? They are playing Denver who sucks. So this could be a brilliant pick. He can burn a non-playoff team which you have to do in order to last to the end and get a cheap win.  But "Grampy" already had one loss so this was a life or death pick risk. Further muddying the waters is Miami sucks, especially at home. They went 1-7 at home last season, they were 0-2 this season. Their coach sucks, their QB sucks, their fans suck and inexplicably it was Tim Tebow day at the stadium.  Who in case you didn’t know is the QB of the team they were facing in that very game!  Miami was honoring a QB that they are about to face for his college career in their home stadium, in the shadows of the U of Miami, despite the fact he played his college football 6 hours and 350 miles away at a rival college! What is next? UConn having Marcus Camby day?

BUT … Grampy’s faith almost paid off - almost!  .. Lets dig in but this game too was atrocious so I’ll just jump to the end ….. Miami was up 15-0 with 2:44 left. In order for Denver to win all the following things had to happen in the final 2:44 or Miami wins…

• Denver had to complete a 4^th down play
• Denver had to score a TD
• Denver had to make the extra point
• Denver had to do an onside kick
• Denver had to recover the onside kick
• Denver had to score a TD
• Denver had to complete the 2 point conversion

Check - Check -  Check -  Check -  Check -  Check - Check

But Miami still had a chance in OT, but two possessions 0 points. Denver drove the ball past midfield then called upon their FG kicker, a guy who had missed two FGs of about 40 yards earlier in the game to make a 52 yard FG in OT  - he nailed it - game over! Denver wins on Tim Tebow day in Miami!  Mercy!

Overall the top three in the season pool remained unchanged and I ... “05” jumped up 14 spots into 6^th place.  The bottom three also remained unchanged.

Today’s random fact of the week… 
In St. Louis, if you go watch a Rams game the cost is $9 for a 12 oz. draft beer, the most expensive in the NFL...  And

I won the week! In case you haven't heard!

Yes, this is a picture of me in my softball shirt

An Appetizer or Meal

The only thing I enjoy more than winning a week myself is when  someone else wins with a username I can work with. And lets face it I can count on one finger the number of weeks I have won in the past five seasons so when a usable names win it is an treat.  This week "Riblet" took home the bacon  ... ribs with a 10 win week. It was a vanilla, nothing all that great week, not so bad week for most people our little pool. Of the 126 players 87 players had between 7-10 wins so almost 75% of us were withing 3 games of winning.  If you started the week in the top 9 you finished the week in the top 9. The only player who dropped out of the top 10 was "uncle billy" which is just a really creepy nickname to use in this pool. Last seasons overall biggest loser  and season last place "winner" "Tabaccy" continues his impressive turn around, he  is up 2 spots into 8th place.  This begs the question, if "Tabaccy" finishes the season in the top 10 after being dead last a year ago is that the greatest accomplishment ever in this pool?  Last season he said he was trying to lose and he did and now he is trying to win and he is. I need a ruling on this and I need it now!


Meanwhile the "Suck for Luck" campaign is going strong. Three teams win no losses,   five teams with one win  so I can leave my shoes on and count,eight teams have a combined 5 wins and we are at the 40% point of the season.

In Survivor last night the said farewell to SPOILER ALERT 22 year-old "Mikayla Wingle" and you probably don't get why this is important.  Besides the fact she has a really cool name Mikayla plays  for the Tampa Breeze of the Lingerie Football League?  Has been in playboy and was the hottest girl on the island where you have nothing to do but talk and look at each other.  If I was sent to an island and could bring three things with me Mikayla would  be one of the items.  And they vote her off.  Barbaric!

But I'm not on a island I am here playing in our Survivor version.  Once again this week we lost three players who choose not to make a pick.  But what is worse, not making a pick or picking a team twice which is what "BGW" did which gave him loss #2 and an early shower.  Really, at least the three people who didn't make a pick could have an excuse but what excuse do you have for actual picking a team that you just picked two-weeks ago. Loser!  But we still have 40 players left, 8 with no losses.

Random fact of the week, Tom Brady has not lost a home regular season game since November 12, 2006. Think about that - 2006. Yea sure he is 2-2 at home in the playoffs in that same time frame so save your facts they don't work for my point.

This is a rudimentary list of things that happened in 2006:

The Celtics sucked, so did the Bruins ... Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby and was still alive .. so was Anna Nicole Smith (they both died the same day in 2007).  GW Bush was president, Tony Blair was PM. Curt Gowdy, Don Knotts, James Brown, Red Auerbach, Ed Bradley, Kirby Puckett, Gerald Ford, Aaron Spelling all died in 2006. Steve "the Crocodile Hunter" Irwin  took on and lost a battle with a sting ray and died in 2006. Raiders owner Al Davis who also died but no one realized it until this week. In 2006 our little NFL pool had 68 players, Drew took home the top spot and won a cool $1,100. I ...  yes me ..  won the Survivor Poll and became the first and until last season only sole winner of the Survivor pool.  I clinch it in week 13 when Chicago beat Tampa Bay in OT.  And Finally in 2006... Giselle was still banging Leonard DiCaprio and Brady was tagging Bridget Moynahan and not yet a father.

On twitter @fenway617

Where Has The Time Gone

My plan was to do one post each-week but at the start of the season it is too vanilla. It woudl take me days to pour over everything and quite frankly I was working on my thesis so my time was limited.  As you probably guessed or hoped my thesis is not in English, literature and any discipline close to any of them.  I am still working on it, almost done. So between that, getting engaged and work something had to go and this blog was cut for a while. Now that the season is past the quarter pole and the survivor pool has gone to shit I figured I'd chime in.    Unlike last season there will be no post blog Nomar final words, I think you now understand why he is the greatest SS in Red Sox history so no need to drive the point home any more. 

Speaking of the team formally known as the Red Sox. On the day they were knocked out of the playoffs I received my playoff tickets in the mail. One could argue they were knocked out of the playoffs on September 1st but lets keep it official here.

I am playing this season under two user-names "05" and "-Fenway617" why the -(dash) in front of the user-name? With "05" being at the top of the list I was hoping the added - woudl make "Fenway617" up there as well.  The hope was on Sunday's when I print my pick sheet I just had to pring one page but that plan failed. -Fenway617 is on page two!  Ed made a foolish bet with me this baseball season, we each took 4 players and the person with the most total HR's won so he is now covering 25% of my entry fee so why not play two spots. By the way I won the bet 100 - 58. He was doomed from the get-go when I saw he took JD Drew.

I am not faithful to this NFL pool, I do play in another survivor only pool as well. That one is single elimination.  I was knocked out of that pool this week with the shitty Giants screwing me. I wasn't alone.  The ironic part is in that pool only 8 players remain, in our survivor pool only 8 players have no losses! How succinct. 42 people took the NY Giants this week!  Crazy! 44 players remain, 8 have no losses. I got a feeling this isn't lasting to the playoffs this season.  We also continued the streak going of at least one player no making a pick thus getting a loss. 

The odd fact I uncovered is last season's survivor pool winner Boston Rob  - "Angry Mike" who took home a cool $1,070 was eliminated in week two. And to add to the more bizarre part he was eliminated after he failed to make a pick in week two!  So his title defense lasted two-weeks!

While trying to come up with content for the regular pool I thought it woudl be a good time to look at last years final money winners and the spot they finished and the spot they are in after week 5.

So I present in order how the top 15 finished last season with their current stand on the left.  Note that there are 126 people playing this season!

1st : Ghastly 96th Place
2nd: EdO 23rd Place
3rd: The Dirty 712 106th Place
4th: The Highlanders 24th Place
5th: Clay Davis 95th Place
6th: WVU PETE 26th Place
7th: Drew 68th Place
8th: Emmado (not playing or under a new username)
9th: Bob W 70th Place
10th: Mike S 29th Place
11th: Gravy Train 42nd Place
12th: dflogue 126th Place (DEAD LAST) but he is in a money spot at least.
13th: gigi 37th Place
14th: Bolt Fever 98th place
15th: Darby 51th Place

Not one player in the top 20, only player in the "money" is the last place "dflogue".  Last years final dead last spot went to "Tabaccy" who claimed last year he was "trying" to lose, now this season he sits in 10th place. Guess he is now "trying" to win.

My point? I don't have one, it is early still. But there is a 24 win spread between the #1 spot and the last spot and with the NFL in the bye week part of the schedule there are less games each week so no time like the present to start collecting wins and moving up.  Now  please let me be, it is beer, chicken and video game time - Terry said it was OK!

As far as today's random fact ....  Green Bay lost 6 games last season but they never trailed by more than 7 points in  any of the 20 games they played!