January 6, 2010 Firecats Prevail: Become Second Back-to-Back Champion in ACFFL History- The Firecats, with a line-up off the waiver wire, scored enough to maintain the lead over the Jetson and Osprey and win the 2009 ACFFL Championship. The Cats join Captain Orange as a repeat winner. The Battle for 2nd Place was spirited but the Jetsons were able to hold off Big Daddy Osprey by a deuce. Fourth Place goes to, yes it is true, Buddha's Bandits. If you haven't been in the money lately, this should give you confidence for next year: anyone can cash in this league. Scoring was low as many stars were benched, so there wasn't much movement in the standings.
For the week, the Osprey tied Captain Orange for the high score and the $10 may take some of the sting out of the 3rd place finish. C.O. was still in the holiday spirit because he also shared New England's High Scoring Player money, this time with the T-Men and Brett Favre. Every team took home part of the weekly winnings this year. And there were no surprises at the bottom, as the Freeland Foo Fighters will be buying next year's barrel at the draft. Maybe he'll stay a little longer to get his money's worth out of his purchase. The Treasurer/Commish should be sending out the final $$ tally shortly.
All the tabs have been updated in the spreadsheet with team history and individual player rankings. Some comments:
1) With only 11 teams, average scoring per team was 45 points higher although the highest and lowest scores were about the same. Much tighter in the middle (like my belt).
2) The Firecats led with REC points again with the exact same 305 points as last year.
3) Again, a team (this time two teams, T-Men and Foo Fighters) had two QB's in the Top 10. Trade bait anyone?
4) Of the seven QB's taken in Round 1, six were the highest scorers in the league. The only one that missed was Kurt Warner.
5) There were only two repeat Top 10 RB's (Jones-Drew and just Jones) and two repeat REC's (Fitzgerald and Moss). Three TE's cracked the Top 10 REC's but none were owned by Captain Orange.
6) The Osprey had the biggest Johnson (Chris).
7) Do you think Captain Orange made more money by putting his winnings in his pocket and going light on the Drop/Adds or by spending like the Yankees and finishing in the Top Four?
It's nice to see Joe Pa outcoach someone again, although beating Les Miles isn't too big of an accomplishment. A bubble screen in the middle of the field with no timeouts? Like at the end of Animal House "Thank you, God.".
Can the Eagles do to the Cowboys what they did to the Giants last year? It's amazing how McNabb went from Hall of Fame to getting traded after one game.
Another year in the books and I hope everyone had fun. I know I'll have fun spending my winnings again this year. Hope to see you all soon. Have a great 2010.
December 30, 2009 Roaring Jetsons Won't Go Quietly- After a couple of subpar weeks, the Jetsons, like their namesakes, rise back into contention with the Week 16 victory. The J-E-T-Sons got enough from Moss and Warner to hold off Captain Orange for the cash. The High Scorer was Moss's QB Tom Brady with 4 TD's to edge out a few three touchdown scorers and help the Snapper earn the 10 bucks. The Jetsons have the most weekly wins this year with four.
The final standings got a little closer all the way around. The Firecats first place lead was nearly halved by the Jetsons due to a first to worst change from Week 15 to Week 16. The Osprey is still within striking distance of the top spots but also has to worry about Buddha's Bandits catching a hot week (not only is Buddha not in last but he might win some money!!). Moon's Dogs recovered slightly and now has a legitimate shot at tracking down the Buddha. Nothing is definite in Week 17 which has made for a great year. Good Luck as the season finishes up!
I watched about 10 minutes of the 2nd Half of Temple-UCLA and it is clear that Al Golden has learned well from his old boss on how to get ultra conservative trying to hold a lead only to lose because of one big mistake. Maybe he was auditioning for the PSU job. Looks like it would be a seamless transition. Too bad for the Owls.
The Giants make the Mets look like they have heart. Yikes.
December 22, 2009 Firecats Do it Again, continue late season "Blaze to Glory"- Back to back strong weeks by the Firecats, with 7 of 8 players scoring in Week 15. The Cats needed every point as D&Z Express got 50 from Aaron Rodgers to win the $10 but not quite enough for all the cash. Good scoring by a lot of teams this week, just not the ones battling for the title. The Osprey and Jetsons stumble which allows the Firecats to pull away and Big Buddha to close the gap towards some serious winnings. Jetsons overtake the Osprey for 2nd Place. Moon's Dogs (slipping) and D&Z (surging) still have an outside shot at a money slot but time is running out. It looks like the bell has tolled on the keg buyer which looks like Johnny Foo in 2010.
Belated congratulations to La Plata Blue Knights star Brett "All Day" Pilkerton, who scored all the points in a 7 to 6 Super Bowl Game win. If you had him in your line-up you would have gotten 14 points as he scored on a 61 yard reverse and caught the conversion. Reminds me of the exploits of a young George Horvat or maybe the Pro Slant of Iss Renitsky.
Pretty cool excerpt from Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN website: "In college news, TMQ contends that football-factory coaches emphasize winning above all else because there is no reward for academic outcomes. Cory Scott of Ambler, Pa., notes this column by Jay Paterno, the quarterbacks coach at Penn State and Joe's son, proposing that academic success be added as a factor in the BCS formula. If it were a factor, Jay Paterno finds, Alabama would still be in the title game next month -- but facing TCU rather than Texas. Here, Lindsey Luebchow of Yale Law School takes a similar approach with her third annual Academic BCS rankings. Luebchow analyzes the top 25 football schools at season's end and factors in both graduation numbers and the NCAA's "academic progress rate." Looked at this way, with more classroom emphasis than Paterno's ranking, the BCS Championship Game would pit Penn State against Stanford -- while Texas, with horrible academic stats for football, plummets all the way down from No. 2 to No. 25."
G-Men have given reason to hope. If things continue, it's going to be tough rooting for the Eagles to beat the Cowboys so the Giants can get in the play-offs (but I'll manage).
To everyone: Have a Joyous and Merry Christmas!
December 15, 2009 The Firecats Take the Week to Move Back into First - Osprey earn some cash with the high scorer, Chris Johnson. Sorry no write up this week. The Firecats are traveling again.
December 8, 2009 Jetsons Jockey Back to the Front - For the third time in five weeks, the Jetsons best the competition to take the weekly prize. With that kind of consistent performance, you also find yourself in the overall lead after 13 weeks. Mr. Jets had five guys in double figures and didn't even need Kurt Warner's 3 TD's. The High Scoring Player cash goes to overall runner-up the Firecats who use a lucky play by the Saints to win with the lowest number (27 points) this year.
The Jetsons lead of 19 points is the biggest margin between first and second since Week 7. Big Daddy Osprey keeps pushing the pile forward towards the top, 22 points behind the Firecats. Moon's Dogs gets a little closer to the last money spot as Buddha's Bandits have an off week. Hopefully it's not the annual fade. The T-Men make an appearance in the middle of the standings, taking over 6th from JB Rex with D&Z Express right behind. Four more weeks to go, so make your move now before it's too late.
Three quick thoughts from the Cincy - Pitt game:
1) The next time you see the Cinncinnati coach yelling on the sidelines, picture him in a long coat and tell me he isn't Sam Kinnison reincarnated.
2) When Pitt missed the XP, all I could think of was North Dallas Forty. You knew right then they were going to lose.
3) When the Cinncinnati kid caught the last TD to win the game, I thought of Wildwood and "Death at the Binns".
Is it possible the Giants can play two good games in a row? I doubt it but it would be sweet to have a three way tie with three to play.
December 1, 2009 The Brees, the Brees, the Brees is Back - Osprey takes all the money in Week 12 with the reemergence of #1 Overall Drew Brees. He swooped down and swiped the cash from the clutches of his ex-roomies D&Z and Buddha. Must be payback for some prank.
In the standings, Firecats claw back into first, a half dozen points ahead of the Jetson (who got hosed by Warner's headache). The now dangerous Osprey takes over third from Buddha with Moon's Dogs (who got hosed by Ryan's little piggy) on the outside looking in. Good Luck again this week.
November 25, 2009 In honor of seeing Peyton Manning play in person and other Maryland happenings - One of Manning's skits was a faux NFL/United Way commercial. Manning and a bunch of 8- to 13-year-old kids lined up for a pickup game on a Manhattan field, Manning being the NFL hero, the kids being the starstruck kids. Manning played the game like they were NFL players, whipping the ball like Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne were his wideouts. When an 11-ish-year-old boy got nailed in the back with a pass, Manning looked totally disgusted and stared the kid down. "All right, back in here, let's go ... except you. I can't even look at you. Go sit in the port-o-let for 20 minutes. Stay in there!''
The kid went into the portable toilet on the side of the field, then peeked out. Manning yelled, "WHY IS THAT DOOR OPEN! Close the door!''
The cast on hand couldn't believe it. The portable toilet wasn't even a part of the skit. Manning changed the play at the thespian line of scrimmage. "Totally unscripted,'' Meyers said. "Hilarious. It was an excellent example of how he sees the field. Off the top of his head, he just improvised.''
Actual Friday Night Lights: Here's the game you wish you had been at Friday night: Old Mill and Arundel, two high schools near Annapolis, Md., played to a 58-55 overtime victory for Old Mill. Arundel, which uses a hyper-hurry-up all-passing attack, attempted 60 passes in the contest. An NFL team typically attempts 30-35 passes during a game that lasts 60 minutes; 60 passes during a game that lasts 48 minutes is a hard-to-believe pace. Old Mill countered with a running back named Josh Furman who rushed for 414 yards; the kid has 1,165 yards rushing in his past five games! To top things off, the winning overtime field goal was hit by a player who missed four PAT kicks in regulation.
Freeland Foo Fighters
Captain Orange
Osprey
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