The Football Club 2019 – Welcome Back

After a long 8-month break, it’s time to welcome everyone back to The Football Club.  This season’s club is entitled The Football Club 2019 – Eighteenth Year International Edition.  The club’s tagline of “International Edition” was chosen by Double-Double, and I thought it was very fitting in view of how the lives of club members have changed over the nearly two decades that the club has been in existence.  In the early days of the club, a typewriter (and later a computer) was used to type up the Weekly Picks Sheet and Current Standings Page.  Those pages were then photocopied and personally delivered by myself and Hoosier Daddy to the rest of the club.  I would distribute half of them and Hoosier Daddy would distribute the other half, after I dropped them off at his house a few blocks from where I lived in Novato.  All club members originated from Marin and Sonoma counties back in the 1990s and early 2000s.  But what has happened since then?  While some club members still live within these areas, other club members have relocated and now live far away.  Take, for instance, The Cat.  The Cat moved to Ecuador and has been serving as a regular pioneer there for some time now.  Yet he still is actively involved with and part of the club.  Others have moved to other parts of California or the United States.  Double-Double long ago moved to Omaha (where sadly there are no In-N-Out Burger restaurants) but he maintains his close ties with the club and club members.  In summary, this is no longer a local club where all players live within 30 miles or so of each other.  The club is now international and in recognition of this we are calling this the International Edition.

As we get started with the 2019 NFL season, there are not really any changes to report in regards to the club.  Everything will be pretty much the same as last season.  One thing I will try to do is post a copy of my scoring sheets for all players once each week wraps up with the Monday night game.  This will allow anybody who wishes to recheck the scoring results and see who everybody picked for each of the games during the previous week.  (As a sample, check out the scoring sheets I posted after Week 17 last season.)  The Autopicker will be returning to pick the Thursday night games.  But as always, you are free to go against The Autopicker and change the pick.  Most of the time that did not work out well last season for those who did that, although The Autopicker did miss a couple of games.  As the picks for Week One get started, keep in mind that there is no Triple Jeopardy option, there is no Head to Head play, and there is no Pro Bowl Team play.  All three of those features start up during Week Two.  As you prepare your picks for this week, also take a moment to look back at last season’s Final Standings and end results in Head to Head Weekly, Super Bowl Tournament, Pro Bowl Team Weekly, and Pro Bowl Tournament.  Who can forget the epic battle for 1st Place down the stretch between Stinkerbell (who logged 13 Weeks at #1) and Double-Double?  When the season ended, Double-Double came out on top and won the 2018 Club Championship by a mere 5 Points over Stinkerbell and 6 Points over fast-charging Captain Jack Sparrow.  Captain Jack Sparrow was frustrated during the entire off season, realizing he would have tied for the club title if he had just picked Indianapolis over Tennessee on that final Sunday night game.  As a final note, all club members are encouraged to stop by Club Chat.  Club Chat is how club members can interact with each other, discuss their picks and Head to Head match-ups for the week, and playfully tease one another with good-natured humor.  As a reminder, links to Club Chat and other pages when the site is viewed on a cell phone can be found by clicking the Menu button at the top.  But the site is best viewed on a computer screen.  I wish everyone a great season and we will see you on the field. -Fearless Tuna