Hoosier Daddy  (377 Points   12 Weeks at #1   Avg. 22.18 Points/week)

The Football Club Points Standings  (updated Sun 1/3/10):

  Victorious Secret  (2009 Pro Bowl XI Champs)

     Super Bowl XII Champ Bob Swerski (9-3-2)

     Drummer Boy (104.5 Points   4 Weeks at #1   Avg. 26.125 Points/week)

The Football Club Points Standings  (updated Sun 2/7/10):

2009 Football Club winners--

Club Champion-  Hoosier Daddy (377 Points)
Club Champion Runner-Up-  MJD Hogg (366 Points)
Super Bowl XII Champ-  Bob Swerski (def. Kip, Rad Dad, MJD & Speed Racer)
Super Bowl Runner-Up-  Kip Possible (def. Mr. T, Rickster, Gridiron & Turtle)
Pro Bowl XI Champs-  Victorious Secret (teammates- Bob Swerksi, Dark Knight & Nighthawk)
Pro Bowl Runner-Ups-  The Supernovas (teammates- Camp Singletary, Fearless Tuna & The Rickster)
Playoff Picks Champion-  Drummer Boy (104.5 Points)
Playoff Picks Champ Runner-Up-  Fireman Ed (101.5 Points)
Rookie of the Year-  Rad Dad (for 2 MVP Awards and reaching Conference Final)
Sportsmanship Award-  Gridiron Guru (for great courtesy and consideration to fellow club members)
Comeback Player of the Year-  MJD Hogg (returned for first time since 2000 and ended in 2nd Place)

Most MVP Awards-  Hoosier Daddy (4 MVP Awards- Weeks 1, 2, 6 & 7)
Best Week-  Hoosier Daddy & Double-Double (38 Points -- Week 1)
Best Team Score-  Victorious Secret (91 Points -- Week 3)
Most Games of the Week-  Hoosier Daddy & Speed Racer (25 out of 35 -- 71% correct)
Most Triple Crowns-  Hoosier, MJD & Nighthawk (6 out of 17 -- 35% correct)
Most Double Stakes-  Nighthawk & Bob Swerski (8 out of 17 -- 47% correct)
Most Sunday Night / 6 Point Games-  5 Players Tied (11 out of 17 -- 65% correct)
Best Triple Jeopardy Ratio-  The Rickster (8 out of 10 -- 80% correct)

Player of the Month Award for September-  Hoosier Daddy
Player of the Month Award for October-  Hoosier Daddy
Player of the Month Award for November-  Gridiron Guru
Player of the Month Award for December-  Kip Possible

"Welcome to Wild Card weekend of The Football Club 2009-- Thirteenth Year Sportsmanship Edition!  This is my year end review column, in which I take a look back at all players and give my thoughts on their accomplishments and memories of the 2009 season.  We start with some news about The Hall of Fame, which has been split into two sections to make navigating easier.  In the Hall, the most current results have been moved up to the top of the first page (meaning the 2009 winners are posted first, followed by the 2008 winners, 2007 winners, etc.)  Section 1 of the Hall of Fame contains the Club Champions, Super Bowl Champions, Pro Bowl Champions, Rookie of the Year Award winners, Sportsmanship Award winners, Playoff Picks Champions, and newly minted Comeback Player of the Year winner.  Section 2 of the Hall of Fame contains All-Time Club Records, Statistical Category Leaders, Annual Veteran Inductees, Career Points Leaders (newly updated with the addition of Nighthawk, who surpassed 1,000 career Points), and the Club Archives.  As far as the Veteran Inductees for 2010, we are happy to announce the three former club members who have been chosen.  They are Golden Bear (Rick DeMartini), Little Turf (Jessica Turfa), and Robba the Hutt (Robert Ayala).  I am not in regular communication with either Golden Bear or Little Turf, so if somebody else is, please let them know that they are now members of the Hall of Fame.  Be sure and visit Section 2 of the Hall of Fame to see their logos and reasons why they were inducted this season.  Finalists who barely missed the cut as Veteran Inductees this season were Shlipe (Shane Attell), Geo Storm (George Balat), Bob the Builder (Jeremy Olivas), Tommy Boy (Mark McCready), and Hunkmeister (Mel Victor).  But I'm sure their names will be re-nominated and under consideration in following years.  One final adjustment to the Hall of Fame was the addition of real names, which are now listed next to a player's codename.  This will enable everybody to know who all of the past winners were, instead of only a select few people with good memories knowing.

The 2009 Club Champion is Hoosier Daddy (Billy Dougan).  In one of the greatest final weeks in club history, both Hoosier and MJD were battling it out for First Place.  Hoosier managed to win the title and hold on to the top spot when he correctly picked Dallas over Phil and GB over Arizona, while MJD missed those two picks.  Besides logging the second highest number of Weeks at #1 in a single season in club history with 12, Hoosier also tied the All-Time record for Most MVP Awards in a Season by claiming 4 in the first 7 weeks.  Club Champion Runner-Up MJD Hogg (Matt Dougan) has to be very pleased with his season.  He returned to the club after a 9 year absence and quickly established himself as one of the best players in the league, by posting 3 Weeks at #1 and 1 MVP Award.  He was also named the Comeback Player of the Year, which is a new category in the Hall of Fame.  3rd Place finisher The Rickster (Rick Lachmiller) logged his first Week at #1 since he last won the Club title back in 2006.  The Rickster continues to be the All-Time Career Points Leader in the Hall of Fame with 3,354 Points.  He teamed up with 4th Place finisher Fearless Tuna (Steve Hall), and helped lead The Supernovas all the way to the Pro Bowl final.  This is the fourth straight season in which Fearless Tuna has finished in the Top Five.  Could a club championship be in his future?  Rounding out the Top Five were two players who tied-- Nighthawk (Brandon McGrath) and Dark Knight (Rich Contreras).  Nighthawk was the defending Club Champion from 2008 who was playing for his third season.  Nighthawk's season highlight had to be once again winning the Pro Bowl Championship with his team Victorious Secret.  Dark Knight was his teammate, and was thrilled as well to win back-to-back championships with Victorious Secret, the first time that has ever happened in the club.  Dark Knight made his big move in Week 17, as he won an MVP Award and reached the Top Five both on the final week.  Now that's a great way to end the season.

Moving on to the Top Ten finishers, Gridiron Guru (Gabriel King) finished in 7th Place, only missing the Top Five by 8 Points.  Gridiron Guru reached a peak of 4th Place, won an MVP Award, and won the 2009 Sportsmanship Award.  Don't forget, this season of the club was named the Sportsmanship Edition, in view of the outstanding sportsmanship always shown by all club members.  And Gridiron Guru stepped up with class and earned the award by his great courtesy towards fellow club members.  8th Place was taken by Kip Possible (Brandon Kennedy).  Kip stunned the entire league by making a run all the way to the Super Bowl final, where he didn't end up losing, only tying.  Kip also won 3 MVP Awards, something that is extremely hard to do, and he climbed all the way from 25th Place up to a peak of 7th Place.  Original club member and Hall of Famer Double-Double (Dave Pariani) finished in 9th Place.  He had another great season in which he logged 1 Week at #1, won 1 MVP Award, and tied for the Highest Score of the Year (38 Points).  He was no doubt disappointed by Wild Animals getting knocked out of the Pro Bowl in the Final Four, but at least his team finally got revenge on rivals Transformers during the First Round, by finally beating them 71-66.  Rounding out the Top Ten we have Drummer Boy (Joe Diorio), who finished in 10th Place.  Being newly married can definitely be a distraction when trying to make great picks, but Drummer Boy really stepped up during the final week of the season, when he reached 10th Place and was the MVP Award Runner-Up.  Drummer Boy would have liked to see Daddy & His Boys do better in the Pro Bowl Tournament, but there's always next season.

Our 11th Place finisher Bob Swerski (James McGrath) had an outstanding rookie season.  He became the second rookie in club history to win the Super Bowl Tournament, which was quite amazing and impressed just about everybody.  In addition, Bob logged 1 Week at #1 and took home an MVP Award, which was the first of his career.  Bob was also a member of the Pro Bowl team champions Victorious Secret.  12th Place was wrapped up by club veteran Speed Racer (Ryan Dias).  Speed Racer was having a great season, reaching a peak of 5th Place, but then he moved down to Los Angeles.  All of the issues and concerns involved with moving probably caused him a bit of a distraction, but Speed Racer still finished strong.  Just behind Speed Racer, was The Cat (Gary Kennedy), who finished in 13th Place.  The Cat really had a good season, as he was challenging for the lead during much of the year.  He reached a peak of No. 2 and scored 2 MVP Awards along the way.  We are just happy to have The Cat in the club, and we know this has been a rough year for him.  Our prayers and well wishes are always with him.  The Top Fifteen is rounded out by two players who tied for 14th Place-- Rad Dad (Mike Calles) and Mr. T (Joe Turfa).  Rad Dad was also a rookie player who clearly knew a thing or two about football.  He consistently made great picks, won 2 MVP Awards, reached a peak of No. 3, and made it to the Conference final in the Super Bowl Tournament.  In view of all this, it's easy to see why Rad Dad is our 2009 Rookie of the Year winner.  Similar to MJD Hogg's story, Mr. T returned to the club this season after a long absence, much of the time being spent on a missionary assignment.  Mr. T's return had a huge impact, as he was a Top Five player, scored an MVP Award, and reached the Conference final in the Super Bowl Tournament.  Mr. T's proudest moment may have been finding out that his wife Little Turf (Jessica Turfa) was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a 2010 Veteran Inductee.  Little Turf earned her spot by supporting Mr. T's participation in the club and by being there to comfort him when the Raiders kept losing.

Moving on to the final six positions, A Horse With No Name (Anthony Gordon) returned to the club and ended at No. 16.  Much like with Drummer Boy, Horse found out the hard way that making great picks can be tough as a newly married man.  But he played hard and saw his team Mighty Megalodons very nearly knock off Victorious Secret in the First Round of the Pro Bowl Tournament (only losing by 5 Points).  That would have been one of the greatest upsets of all time.  Family man Camp Singletary (Justin Naber) also had a year of struggles as he finished at No. 17.  But compensating for that was helping his team The Supernovas make it to the Pro Bowl final.  Our 18th Place finisher, Smasher (Marsha Ziff), did not fare well in the Points Standings, but she was outstanding in Head to Head play.  She finished second in her division and posted a record of 5-5, which is very respectable.  19th Place was held by The Beav (Scott Kennedy).  The Beav reached a solid peak of 13th Place and is now in 18th Place with 1,413 Points on the list of Career Points Leaders in the Hall of Fame.  Turtle (Joshua King) finished in 20th Place and Mandy (Amanda Boyd) finished in 21st Place, but they both had high peaks and almost reached the Top Ten.  Besides, it doesn't matter who wins and loses, what matters is that you enjoy making your picks and being a member of the club.

In closing, as this is my final Main Page Column of the year (my commentary during the Playoff Picks will be included directly in the weekly e-mails), I would like to announce the names of the next two seasons in the club.  Next year, it will be known as The Football Club 2010-- Fourteenth Year Legends Edition, in support of the legends who will be returning to play the club.  Following that, it will be known as The Football Club 2011-- Fifteenth Year Anniversary Edition.  Of course, we hope that we don't have to play two more years of the club, but time will tell."-- Fearless Tuna
 
 
 
 
 

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