Week 16 MVP Award Winner –
Fearless Tuna (38 Points)
Fearless Tuna had a huge week, scoring 38 Points to tie for the Highest Score of the Year and win the Week 16 MVP Award. In a strange twist, this was the least amount of effort that I put into making my picks this season. As some of you may have noticed, I turned in all of my picks on Monday morning (prior to the Week 15 Monday and Tuesday games being played) since I was going to be out of town and wasn’t expected to have computer access. Wisely, I did change two of my picks well prior to kickoff when I found out that starting and backup QBs would both be out on two teams. But it just goes to show that sometimes it doesn’t help to overthink your picks and sit on them all week right up until kickoff. The Week 16 MVP Award Runner-Up went to none other than Drummer Boy on a week when he needed it the most. Drummer Boy’s 35 Points propelled him back into 1st Place by the slimmest of margins. Not to be outdone, #3 Double-Double scored 34 Points and #2 The Sad Salmon scored 33 Points. Those are incredible Point totals posted by the top three players in the club, which means the final 2 weeks of the season are shaping up to be an amazing grand finale. With 2 weeks left, I would say that only those currently in the Top Five have a realistic shot at winning the Club Championship. As things stand now, the Top Five consists of #1 Drummer Boy, #2 The Sad Salmon (1 Point back), #3 Double-Double (14 Points back), #4 Stinkerbell (16 Points back), and #5 Captain Insano (22 Points back). Let’s see what happens this week and if Drummer Boy & The Sad Salmon can keep up the tremendous high scores that they keep posting. It won’t be easy and may not be realistic to expect such fireworks and 30+ Point weeks from the top players but you never know. The information below has been copied over from the Super Bowl Tournament and Pro Bowl Tournament pages.
Super Bowl Championship match: (5) Bob Swerski (8-6) at (4) The Sad Salmon (10-4). The Super Bowl Championship match between Bob Swerski and The Sad Salmon promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the Head to Head season. In this match, we have a seasoned veteran who is a past champion taking on a second-year player who has exceeded all expectations in the club and become a force to be reckoned with. Bob Swerski has a strong Super Bowl Tournament resume that clearly establishes him as the second best Head to Head player of all-time, behind only The Rickster. While The Rickster is the only player to own 4 Super Bowl titles, Bob Swerski is not far behind with 2 titles of his own. If Bob can win this match, that would allow him to reach 3 Super Bowl titles (adding to his previous wins in 2009 & 2018). The Sad Salmon’s only previous experience in the Super Bowl Tournament took place in 2020, when he reached the Divisional Round before falling to eventual champion The Rickster by a score of 22-20. In looking at Head to Head results for this season, how do these two great players stack up? During the Head to Head regular season, both players finished in 3rd Place in their respective divisions. So you could say that they played fairly mediocre. However, both excelled and took their play into another gear once the tournament got underway. Bob Swerski began his tournament by crushing Captain Insano 38-22 in the Wild Card Round to send a message to everyone else that he came to play. Then in the Divisional Round he made quick work of freespirit 24-15 to move on. Finally, in the Conference Round, Bob defeated Captain Jack Sparrow by two field goals 32-26 to reach the championship match. What can we take away from these matches? One thing that is noticeable is that the margin of victory has shrunk in every round as the competition has gotten stiffer, but Bob has still gotten the job done every time. The Sad Salmon delivered an absolute spanking as he began his tournament in the Wild Card Round when he ousted defending Club Champion Mr. T by over two touchdowns 25-10. So while Bob Swerski won his first match by 16 Points, The Sad Salmon pretty much matched him as he won his first match by 15 Points. In the Divisional Round, Salmon handled the frustrating situation of having to battle a teammate with class, as he beat Slick Chick by a touchdown and a field goal 26-16. Finally, in the Conference Round, he met up with MJD Hogg, who himself had been obliterating every opponent in his path by large margins. But The Sad Salmon gave MJD a dose of his own medicine as he soundly thumped him by two touchdowns 33-19. Salmon’s average margin of victory in his three matches was a whopping 13 Points, while Bob’s was also a very respectable 10.3 Points. So what can we expect when these two players collide? They have met only one time in Head to Head play during their careers. It was in Week 6 of the 2020 season and it was won by Bob Swerski when he defeated The Sad Salmon by a touchdown 18-11. That victory will give Bob a slight mental edge going into this one, knowing that he has beat Salmon before. However, this will be an extremely close match. Just last week in the club, The Sad Salmon scored 33 Points and Bob Swerski scored 32 Points. I think this Super Bowl championship match will be settled by 3 Points or less. I don’t think we will see a blowout victory by either player. And we could see a potential tie game, which would give the victory to the higher seed. It sure will be interesting to see what happens and who raises the trophy and becomes the 2021 Super Bowl Head to Head Champion.
Pro Bowl Championship match: (2) Daddy & His Boys (8-5-1) at (1) Wild Animals (9-3-2). The 2021 Pro Bowl Team Championship match is a showdown for the ages which will settle the debate about who is the greatest Pro Bowl team of all time in the club. This is because Daddy & His Boys and Wild Animals are the only two Pro Bowl teams to each have won 3 titles. Daddy & His Boys raised the trophies in 2000, 2007 & 2010, while Wild Animals raised the trophies in 2005, 2011 & 2018. Despite having six championships between them, these two teams actually only squared off in the Pro Bowl title match one time – in 2007 when Daddy & His Boys def. Runner-Up Wild Animals 61-57. However, they have met one other time in the tournament, and that was just last year in 2020 when (6) Wild Animals def. (3) Daddy & His Boys 60-38 in the First Round. To get an idea as to who might have the edge in this 2021 championship match, let’s take a look back at their meetings during the regular season. This season in Pro Bowl Team Weekly, they played against each other twice. And they split those meetings, with Wild Animals (barely) winning the first match 74-73 and Daddy & His Boys winning the second match 54-43. There is not much we can glean from that, except that these are two very good teams which don’t lose by much when they do lose. And that is exactly what we would expect from the top two seeds in the tournament. Daddy & His Boys consists of (current ranking) #1 Drummer Boy, #8 MJD Hogg, and team captain #10 Hoosier Daddy. Wild Animals consists of (current ranking) #3 Double-Double, #7 The Rickster, and late addition #15 freespirit. That might sound odd, but the team went through a recent change when team captain The Cat retired for the season and thus Wild Animals signed freespirit (who was a free agent not on any Pro Bowl team) for the tournament. In the Final Four, both teams faced surprisingly stiff competition from the lowest seeds as (1) Wild Animals def. (6) Polar Bears 85-75 and (2) Daddy & His Boys def. (5) Tough Puffins 79-78. But they both got the job done and advanced to square off against each other in an epic title match that will probably never be topped. I’m not sure who I would give a slight edge to, as these two teams are quite evenly matched. The argument could be made that Wild Animals may struggle and collapse having added a new teammate for the tournament run. But the argument could also be made that Daddy & His Boys could implode with the tremendous pressure on Drummer Boy’s shoulders trying to win not only this trophy but also the Club Championship. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think all six players will bring their “A” game and that this match will be settled by 5 Points or less. Let’s get this championship match started and see what happens.