WILDCARD WEEKEND RECAP
This used to be my favorite time of year, back when there was four must-watch, drama-filled games, two weekends in a row that I can give my full attention to. Pro football at its finest! But instead, greed outweighs everything, and the NFL has ruined Wildcard Weekend, simply for profit. Six games is far too much in my opinion. All I did this weekend was drink, eat, and watch football. While that sounds amazing in theory, it’s not. This past Monday morning was tough. I felt like a pile of hot garbage, and not the best way to start off a productive week. I’m sure some of you will disagree, and that’s fine, you’re probably still in your 20s. And truly, I never thought I would ever complain about too much football, but here we are. I’m sure this upcoming weekend will be much better, but really – do we need a Sunday night game? I miss the days of the 1pm and 4pm start. Bah humbug!
Before I get into the stats, I would like to give a big THANK YOU to the recent winners who have given back some of their cash prizes in the form of a tip to me and Mark for our ‘dedication and hard work’ (their words, not mine). Your generosity is much appreciated, and I wanted to put that into words for all to see.
And one quick bit of information… for those of you who were hoping, praying, or wondering why the Bears would go for two and cover at the end of the game after the last second Jimmy Graham TD (me included), here’s the reason they didn’t even lineup for any sort of point-after attempt:
Moving on… in our very first year with six games we had six members who went 5 for 6,
two of which only missed their 1-pointer, leaving them atop the standings with 11 big points to start off the Playoff Pool (CRUSHEDBYHEELS and EAGLE4BC). There’s two members with 10 points, eight with 9, and eight with 8 that follow closely behind the leaders. Lots of points being scored right off the bat for the top 10% of the league!
On the flip side, we had NINE(!) members throw up six goose eggs (including me, which might explain my negative paragraph to open up this write-up) and 11 people who didn’t make any picks at all. Apparently, some people don’t ever read my emails… owell.
I won’t take that personally as it’s obviously their loss, especially since they paid to be part of this “small” playoff pool that “only” gives out $5,000 to the top 5 finishers.
($1500, 1250, 1000, 750, and 500).
Overall, the 189 active members scored 844 points, which averages out to 4.47 points per player – and since this is the first season of the SUPER WILDCARD WEEKEND (sooooooo corny), we don’t have any old stats to compare to… but since 6 points would be considered “average” – we’ve started off on the wrong foot.
11 people went 3-0 on Saturday
65(!) people went 0-3 on Saturday
19 people went 3-0 on Sunday
21 people went 0-3 on Sunday
Let’s try to do better next week kids!
And since no one will be able to have a perfect playoff run this season, the $1000 perfect bonus will again go untouched, now to be split between 1st place Regular Season ($400 for DESPERADO), 1st place Overall ($400), and 1st place Playoffs ($200), both yet to be determined, obviously.
$500 BONUS ELIMINATION POOL (plus an additional $200 of leftover money)
Four people (ANDREW HERSH, CLUFFY, DSTREET29, and YIGGITY) were still alive after 5 weeks, so to the playoff tiebreaker we go! The Saturday games proved to be tough for this crew with only 2 points being scored between them (two 1-point games). But since each set of numbers hold an equal value (for example, the Saturday 3-pointer isn’t more important than the Sunday 3-pointer), it was anyone’s pool to take home. Three of the four hit their Sunday 3, so the tie continued… that was until YIGGITY hit his Sunday 2 (CLE) and no one else did. If CLE hadn’t covered, the tie would have moved to the 1-point games, and recent King of the “Key Picks” ANDREW HERSH would have won by hitting both his 1’s, but clearly that didn’t quite happen. For a visual representation of this finale, please see the BONUS KEY sheet found on the STANDINGS page.
OVERALL STANDINGS: The Overall top 10 going into the playoffs has already shifted dramatically after the first round of games. DESPERADO extended his lead from 6-games to 9, mostly because the person in 2nd place (BLUEBYEU) faltered out the gate, opening the door for HARDEIGHT and his 9 big points to slide right in. JALBANI, who won Week 15, was in 70th place six weeks ago. Now he’s in 6th. You go boi!
ROOKIE RACE: I’m sad to say, cause she’s a friend of mine, butCASEY13 shit the bed this weekend, only hitting one game for 1-point — turning her 1-game lead into a 2-game lead for ALLBOUS. Luckily for her, no other rookies were able to score much (the highest total being only 7 by multiple people) so she’s still in the hunt, along with a bunch of others who are now within striking distance.
COMBO RACE: KENNEYPOWERS and NO FIREWORKS continue to lead with a combined 272 wins and still have a small 2-game lead, now over CZCZCZ and
WONDERLIC IT who have steadily been rising up the charts as of late.
VETERAN’S POOL: DESPERADO26 still leads with his 157 wins. No surprise there…
With 22 more points available over the next few weeks, it’s truly anyone’s title to take in all five races… Overall, Rookie, Combo, Veterans, and Playoffs!
Good luck y’all!
Dan