Week 9 MVP Award Winner –
The Sad Salmon (23 Points)
Second-year veteran player The Sad Salmon went through a lot of changes in the off-season. He got married to fellow club member The Icelandic Cod and moved across the country from Florida to Sonoma County. Those two big changes made me think he might change his name to The Happy Salmon. However, he remained sad as this season started for some unknown reason (possibly because he would like to see the Miami Dolphins win the Super Bowl soon). In looking back at his stellar rookie season, The Sad Salmon finished in the Top Ten, won the Rookie of the Year Award, held a Peak Position of #2, won 1 MVP Award, and tied for the league lead of Most Sunday Night / 6 Point Games. That’s a lot of great accomplishments to be proud of. And as we reach the midpoint in this season, The Sad Salmon is making outstanding picks once again. Last week, he spawned 23 Points to win the Week 9 MVP Award. He now swims only 12 Points away from surfacing in the Top Five. The Sad Salmon might consider dedicating this MVP Award win to his wife The Icelandic Cod, since he convinced her a week ago to change one pick that ended up costing her the MVP Award. The Week 9 MVP Award Runner-Ups are Hoosier Daddy & freespirit, who both scored 21 Points. Hoosier Daddy and The Sad Salmon were the only two players in the entire club last week to correctly pick the challenging Triple Crown of Mia-Atl-KC and claim those 7 Points. freespirit was the one and only player in the entire club to correctly pick Ten over LAR on Sunday night and claim those 6 Points. All three players are to be commended for making such bold picks that resulted in huge payoffs in the Current Standings. On most weeks, just picking straight favorites is not a good path to success in the club. There are just too many upsets in games for that to be a viable strategy to reach or stay in the Top Five. And that’s what these three brilliant players have shown us. In looking at the current Top Five, Drummer Boy remains in 1st Place and has increased his lead over the pack to 11 Points. However, he should take note of the Current Standings from last season at this same time. At the start of Week 10 last season, Nighthawk was in 1st Place with a 3 Point lead. And our eventual winner Mr. T was 15 Points behind him in 8th Place. What does that show? That with half a season left to play (including an extra week on the schedule), Drummer Boy’s lead is far from safe. He will need to continue to make great picks as he did during the first half of the season in order to have a chance of staying in 1st Place or even in the Top Five. In 2nd Place are Captain Insano and Stinkerbell. Captain Insano got another Triple Jeopardy game correct last week and has improved his record with that category to 2-6. Stinkerbell has reached a new Peak Position at #2. She had warned on Club Chat that other players “better put your masks back on because you will be choking on my pixie dust as I fly to first place”. And with the way she is playing lately, that very well could prove true. In 4th Place are Double-Double and Rad Dad (13 Points back).
In Head to Head Weekly, we had four games decided by a single Point. They were The Cat def. Slick Chick 15-14, Drummer Boy def. Fearless Tuna 15-14, Double-Double def. Captain Jack Sparrow 18-17, and freespirit def. Bob Swerski 21-20. In Pro Bowl Team Weekly, all three matches were decided by 2 Points or less. They were Daddy & His Boys def. The Polar Bears 45-43, McTriple Play def. Tough Puffins 50-49, and Wild Animals def. The Gridiron Guardians 45-44. With the result of that last match listed, Wild Animals have improved to a stunning record of 7-0-1. How much longer can they stay undefeated? On the flip side, what tough losses those were for The Polar Bears, Tough Puffins, and The Gridiron Guardians. Don’t give up, teams.