Week 7 MVP Award Winner–
Staubach (37 Points)
Rookie club member Staubach stepped up and delivered one of the greatest weeks in Football Club history last week as he posted near-perfect picks, missing only one game (NE @ NYJ) and the Over/Under on the Monday night game. After correctly picking Indy with TJ and scoring a bonus 2 Points, Staubach ended with 37/38 Points for the week to win the Week 7 MVP Award. Staubach also shot up to a season-high 16th Place, now standing a mere 7 Points out of entering the Top Ten. Keep in mind that Staubach started the season 2 weeks late. When a player joins after the season has already started, he is required to start 1 Point below the player in Last Place. After his powerful display last week, there is no doubt that Staubach would be a title contender if he had started on time with Week 1. Even so, there is over half a season left and anything can happen. But for now, Staubach has to be pleased with having the highest score of the year so far with his 37 Point spectacular week. The other big news this week was the continued stellar play over the past couple weeks by 2009 Club Champion Hoosier Daddy. Three years ago when he won the title, Hoosier Daddy averaged 22.176 Points per week. This season, he is averaging 21.571 Points per week so far. So he is nearly on target with his title-winning season. And now, Hoosier Daddy stands only 14 Points out of 1st Place. The big issue within the Top Five this season has to be the fierce level of competition. 1st Place continues to be traded around between different players each week, and players are falling out of and entering the Top Five each week. Nobody has really stood out and run away with the club, which is what has happened in some seasons. Last week, only one player in the Top Twelve scored less than 20 Points, so everybody right now is playing at a really high level. 1st Place went back to Papa Tuna, who posted a strong 32 Points and only missed 2 games all week. While that might sound like an outstanding week, two other players in the Top Five matched it– Hoosier Daddy & new No. 2 player Captain Insano. Speaking of Captain Insano, he is someone to watch out for. He has not yet reached 1st Place this season, but has been on the verge of it many times already. Will next week be the week in which he takes over the top spot of the club? It very well could be, because next week we have an extremely difficult picks sheet. There are no obvious winners anywhere, so it should shake up the upper echelons of the club even more. We also need to give special mention this week to club member TK-421, who put in a really strong week last week with 34 Points to win the Week 7 MVP Award Runner-Up. 34 Points was good enough to get TK the 2nd highest score of the year. Well done. And as I look down the Current Standings, players that are looking very impressive include Drummer Boy (29 Points last week), The Beav (staying strong in the Top Ten), The Rickster (early season struggles but playing very strong lately), Fuegoburns (had a 31 Point week that boosted him into the Top Twenty), and Mockytop (reached the 100 Point mark and is playing great for a rookie). Keep up the excellent work, everyone.
Moving over to Head to Head Weekly, the story continues to be our two undefeated players. The whole club was once again watching Mr. T’s match-up, wondering if he would continue his march to perfection or be derailed by his opponent 2000 Club Champion The Cat. Mr. T came through once again and soundly beat The Cat 25-11 to reach 6-0. Mr. T now only needs to win 4 more matches to establish himself as the greatest Head to Head regular season player of all time. This week he faces a very tough opponent as he plays against 2008 Club Champion Nighthawk. Granted, Nighthawk has had a difficult first half of the season and has had a tough time getting back into the swing of picking after working hard as a volunteer in New York for a couple of years and only recently returning home. But he can have a break-out week at any moment now. Mr. T just hopes that the big break-out doesn’t happen during this upcoming week as Mr. T hopes to reach 7-0 and continue his run. Swimming under the radar is another undefeated player, Catfish. While Catfish is not trying to have a perfect season, since he has 2 ties, he is trying to have an undefeated season, which would still be a remarkable accomplishment that has never been done before. Catfish now stands at 4-0-2 with 4 games to play. Will Catfish make history by continuing to be undefeated? A lot of his hopes will hinge on his match this week against friendly rival Captain Jack Sparrow. It should be an interesting match to say the least. With 4 games to play, the current division leaders are Papa Tuna (4-1-1), Mr. T (6-0), Catfish (4-0-2), and Dixie Slick & Captain Insano (both 4-2). Keep in mind that this season, only the top two players in each division will receive a bye week in the Super Bowl Tournament. So now is the time to get yourself in the right position by trying to win at least 3 of your next 4 matches. Over in Pro Bowl Weekly, we continue to see complete domination by two teams– Daddy & His Boys and Mighty Megalodons. Both teams won their matches, reached 5-1, and now hold a 2-game lead over the next closest teams. At the same time, both teams had the two highest team scores of the week. That’s why we call them both powerhouses. The Black Pearl picked up their 2nd straight victory last week by sinking Beasts of the Bay 63-57. They are looking much better now at 3-3 than they did 2 weeks ago when they were 1-3. As The Black Pearl sailed home from Hawaii last week, the ship was no doubt firing off its cannons in celebration.