Week 16 MVP Award Winner –
Rad Dad (35 Points)
Rad Dad stunned the club last week by scoring 35 Points to win his 2nd consecutive MVP Award. As a result, he has been named the December Player of the Month Award winner. Rad Dad’s picks were so rad that he scored 7 Points more than the person with the next-highest score for the week. During his back-to-back MVP Award wins, Rad Dad scored a total of 67 Points. That’s a huge output for a two week period! Rad Dad claimed the Week 16 MVP Award in part by getting both Games of the Week with Pit and Sea, getting the Triple Crown of Cin-Chi-Dal (the only person in the entire club to do so), and by selecting Mia with TJ. Rad Dad now has his sights set on finishing the season inside of the Top Ten. To do so, he will need to pick up 9 extra Points this week to pass by Low Fat Tuna & Drummer Boy. What inspired Rad Dad to make such outstanding picks over the last two weeks? To put it simply – he wanted to put his entire Pro Bowl team The Gridiron Guardians (which he named) on his shoulders and carry them to what would be a shocking Pro Bowl team championship. Was he successful in doing so? You’ll have to read either the third paragraph below or check out the 2020 Pro Bowl Tournament Page to find out. The Week 16 MVP Award Runner-Up went to Bob Swerski, who scored 28 Points. Bob Swerksi was on the opposing team playing in the Pro Bowl final, the #1 seeded McTriple Play. So, as with Rad Dad, Bob Swerski was also hoping to carry his team to victory. As we head into the final week of the season, there are some things to keep in mind. There are always a few adjustments to the Week 17 Picks Sheet which makes it unique. First, there are 3 Games of the Week instead of the standard 2. The reason for this is to make up for missing Points since we have no Autopicker game or Monday night game. Second, the infamous Quadruple Jeopardy makes its only appearance of the season. Selecting it or not selecting it can have huge implications on where you end up in the final standings. Let’s take a look at the current Top Five heading into the final week. We have #1 Mr. T: SDFW holding strong at the top with yet another solid week as he scored 26 Points to bring his league-leading total to 356 Points. On the Hall of Fame Club Champions section of the site, it notes this: “The lowest score that has ever won a club title is 359 Points. So your target number should be 380 Points for the season if you are chasing the ultimate Football Club prize. No player who has scored 380 Points in a season has failed to win the title.” Last season when I won my only lifetime club title, I ended the season with 371 Points. Mr. T: SDFW only needs 15 Points to match that total and he would need 24 Points to reach the 380 Point milestone. All eyes will be on his picks this week to see if he can wrap up the title with another dominant performance. And should Mr. T score 28 Points this week, he would end with 384 Points, which would set a club record for the highest Point total ever to end a season (when Bonus Points are not included). However, should he slip up even a bit, that could open the door for another player in the Top Five to steal the club title on the final week. Just behind Mr. T: SDFW, we have #2 The Rickster (12 Points back), #3 Nighthawk (14 Points back), #4 Slick Chick (17 Points back), and #5 Halibut J-Bird (19 Points back). I do think that The Rickster (with his incredible late-season momentum) and Nighthawk (with his steady continuous stream of great picks) have a realistic shot at overtaking Mr. T. But they will need to post a 30+ Point week and have Mr. T be off his game quite a bit. In order for Slick Chick or Halibut J-Bird to catch up, they would need to have a near-perfect week and at the same time have all the players above them collapse with bad picks. Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch from the sidelines. The information below on the Super Bowl Tournament and Pro Bowl Tournament matches is copy and pasted from their respective pages here on the site. You may want to check out those pages rather than just reading the information below, although it is provided here for simplification.
Four-time Super Bowl Champion – One decade after winning his 3rd Super Bowl championship back in 2010, The Rickster stepped up and claimed his 4th trophy by defeating Halibut J-Bird by a touchdown and a field goal 27-17. Despite the seemingly lopsided final score, this match was actually very close and came down to a single game. Going into the Sunday night game, The Rickster was leading Halibut J-Bird by a score of 17-13. The difference between them having been that The Rickster claimed the Double Stakes of Car-LAC earlier in the day, while Halibut J-Bird did not. Since they both had the exact same picks on Monday night, that meant that the Sunday night game between Ten and GB would decide the winner, since that was worth 6 Points. In the end, Green Bay easily beat Tennessee 40-14, and thus the Super Bowl Head to Head title was delivered to The Rickster once again. The Rickster has now won the Super Bowl title in 2005, 2006, 2010 & 2020. And this year’s title was well deserved because The Rickster was clearly our best Head to Head player all season. He was the #1 seed in the entire tournament, entering with a record of 8-2. And with his four wins in the tournament (over Stinkerbell, The Sad Salmon, Low Fat Tuna & Halibut J-Bird), that improved his season record to 12 wins and 2 losses. That’s actually an incredible Head to Head record to have over the course of a season. The only player to do better (which is also our Hall of Fame all-time record) was The Cat, who went 13-1 in the 2000 season. So, The Rickster had the second best Head to Head season in league history. At the same time, we want to make special mention of our runner-up Halibut J-Bird, who was a single game away from winning the title (for what would have been his second time). Halibut J-Bird also had an outstanding Head to Head regular and postseason, finishing with a record of 9-5. So, a hearty well done to Halibut J-Bird as well! The Rickster, as mentioned earlier, now holds 4 Super Bowl Head to Head championships. The next closest competitor to him, Bob Swerski, holds 2 Super Bowl titles. Thus, The Rickster’s record is something that will likely never be surpassed or even equaled. I’m sure The Rickster will pour a brew and enjoy this sweet victory for some time to come.
Rookie Team Champions – The Gridiron Guardians have stunned the entire club by defeating McTriple Play 84-72 to claim the 2020 Pro Bowl team championship! Despite being heavy underdogs, The Gridiron Guardians capped off their dream run through the tournament by knocking off the #1 seeds, after having knocked off the #2 seeds last week. Teammates Badwater Nessie, Mr. T: SDFW & Rad Dad all contributed to the victory. But the teammate who stepped up the most had to be Rad Dad. Rad Dad simply would not let his team lose in the tournament. During the past 2 weeks, he delivered some positively stunning MVP picks to carry his team to victory. Not only was Rad Dad the MVP last week (32 Points) during the Final Four match, but Rad Dad went back-to-back and also won the MVP this week (35 Points) during the Pro Bowl final. With huge Points contributions like that, it makes a team very hard to beat. The Gridiron Guardians also happen to have the club’s #1 player Mr. T: SDFW on their squad. Mr. T added a solid 26 Points of his own to his team’s total score. And bottom-dweller Badwater Nessie rose to the surface to contribute 23 Points as well. Combining their scores, The Gridiron Guardians proved to be too strong to beat. Even so, it was a narrow 12 Point margin of victory for the new Pro Bowl champs. McTriple Play was intent on winning their first team title, so they weren’t going to go down easy. In fact, teammate Bob Swerksi contributed 28 Points to his squad as the MVP Award Runner-Up. Nighthawk added 26 Points, which was also solid. But Stinkerbell was only able to come up with 18 Points. Still a respectable score for the week, but not enough to help carry her team to victory. Both teams are to be congratulated on making it to the Pro Bowl final, as that is not easy. Four other teams can only wish they had made it that far. But the victory and trophy goes to The Gridiron Guardians, our 2020 Pro Bowl Team Champs! This marks the first time for all three individual teammates – Badwater Nessie, Mr. T: SDFW & Rad Dad – that they have won any type of championship in The Football Club.