Week 13 MVP Award Winner –
Badwater Nessie (31 Points)
Badwater Nessie surfaced again during Week 13 by posting 31 Points and winning the Week 13 MVP Award. This was the second highest score of the year during a season in which high scores have been hard to come by. Badwater Nessie accomplished this by picking TB with TJ, correctly picking the difficult Double Stakes of NYG-Hou, getting both Games of the Week correct with Balt and Den, and picking LAC on Sunday night. That’s quite a resume for Week 13, especially when so many club members struggled. 12 out of 18 club members picked Carolina with TJ and had to take -2 Points from their final scores. This had disastrous consequences for some players, especially within the Super Bowl Tournament. The Autopicker was finally wrong on the Thursday night game and dropped to 11-1 with the incorrect pick of New Orleans. The only player to switch over to Dallas and claim the 2 Points was MJD Hogg. That was a great pick by MJD, who was also the only other player besides Badwater Nessie to win the challenging Double Stakes with the NYG upset of Chicago. Along with Badwater Nessie, three other players correctly picked LAC over Pit on Sunday Night: Fearless Tuna, Bob Swerski, and The Cat. Speaking of Bob Swerksi, he scored 30 Points to win the Week 13 MVP Award Runner-Up. Had he not selected TJ with his pick of Carolina, he would have been the MVP. The worst TJ pickers in the club this season are The Cat (3-7), Captain Insano (0-4), and freespirit (0-3). These players are to be commended for taking a risk, but unfortunately it has not paid off for them. The best TJ picker this season has been Badwater Nessie (8-3). He has gained 10 bonus Points by being correct 5 more times than he was wrong. The race for #1 and Club Champion is heating up as we reach the final stretch of the season. Current #1 player Stinkerbell is enjoying a 7 Point lead, but she is going to face intense pressure like she has never experienced during these next four weeks. All players within the Top Five are 19 Points or less behind her, and all are within striking distance to raise the season-ending trophy. #2 player Double-Double maintained his standing right behind Stinkerbell. #3 Rad Dad and #4 The Cat are only separated by a single Point between them. And tied for #5 are Captain Jack Sparrow and Fearless Tuna, our two 2018 cancer survivors.
The Super Bowl Tournament‘s Wild Card Round last week was truly wild, with upsets taking place all across the board. In Conference One, three of the top four seeds were knocked out in major upsets. In Conference Two, two of the top four seeds were also eliminated. Let me share a brief recap of the matches. (9) Captain Jack Sparrow def. (1) Hoosier Daddy 24-14 in a monumental upset. Despite going winless during the Head to Head regular season at 0-9-1, Captain Jack is absolutely on fire and has won two straight matches. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to face him right now. (7) MJD Hogg def. (2) Stinkerbell 24-21 in a huge shocker as the Last Place player (as of Week 13) in the club defeated the 1st Place player. MJD Hogg took an early lead when he won the Dallas game and got 2 Points. Stinkerbell then scored what we might call an own-goal when she picked TJ for the first time this entire season and lost 2 Points from her final score, thus helping to secure the win for MJD. (3) Bob Swerski def. (6) Fearless Tuna 30-25 in a match that showed how unfair the Super Bowl Tournament can be. These two players had the two highest scores of anyone playing in the tournament, yet Fearless Tuna lost because he was playing against the only opponent who could have beaten him. (5) Rad Dad def. (4) Double-Double 22-20 in the only match which came down to the Monday night game. Rad Dad had Under and Double-Double had Over. Whoever got it right was going to win and that’s how Rad Dad advanced. (1) The Rickster def. (9) Slick Chick 16-14 in a defensive struggle. These two players actually had the exact same picks by pure coincidence (nobody is allowed to view each other’s picks). The only difference was that The Rickster did not select TJ with Carolina, but Slick Chick did. That being the case, The Rickster only won and advanced because his own pick of Carolina was wrong. If he had been right and Carolina had won, Slick Chick would have claimed the 2 bonus Points and beaten him. Tough break for Slick Chick. (7) Drummer Boy def. (2) Captain Insano 22-12 in another upset. Drummer Boy won this by 10 Points when his two Games of the Week picks of Balt and Den were right. Captain Insano had the opposite picks of Atl and Cin and that’s what sunk him in this match. (3) Nighthawk def. (6) Kip Possible 18-13 in a closely contested match. The difference was Nighthawk’s ability to claim the Triple Crown with Mia-Ten-Sea, while Kip missed it. Nighthawk is a very dangerous floater that could easily win this tournament. (5) The Cat def. (4) freespirit 24-22 with some help from the LA Chargers. Although he didn’t know it at the time, The Cat was down by 4 Points heading into the Sunday night game. freespirit had picked Pit like most of the club, while The Cat had taken the risky pick of the Chargers. When the Chargers pulled off the upset and won the game, so did The Cat.
The Pro Bowl Tournament also starts up this week with two great First Round matches. Be sure to check out the Pro Bowl Tournament Page for more information on that.