Week 1 MVP Award Winner –
Captain Jack Sparrow (26 Points)
2011 Club Champion Captain Jack Sparrow scored 26 Points to start the season in 1st Place and claim the Week 1 MVP Award. Captain Jack stayed far away from Triple Jeopardy (which proved to be the downfall of 6 club members this week) but would have gotten it correct as he had Miami. He ended up claming all 3 Regular Games and 2 of the 3 Point Spread Games. Captain Jack’s most brilliant pick combination this week was taking Cleveland and Las Vegas (two underdogs), which got him 4 Points as this week’s only Double Stakes winner. Finally, he was 1 of only 8 club members to take the NY Jets on Monday night and score the 6 Point prize. Captain Jack is no doubt firing the Black Pearl’s cannons in celebration of securing a guaranteed Peak Position of #1 for the whole season. But rather than walking the plank in the coming weeks, he is no doubt hoping to catch the wind in his sails and continue moving forward at the top of the standings. His last extremely successful season was in 2018 when his finished in 3rd Place behind then Club Champion Double-Double and Runner-Up Stinkerbell. So he is due for a huge year. The Week 1 MVP Award Runner-Up was a tie between married couple (and my parents) Roadrunner & Shaylene. They both ended up scoring 25 Points and were also the only two club members to correctly pick the Triple Crown of Atlanta, New Orleans & LA Rams to claim the 7 Point prize. Roadrunner is serving notice that his 3rd Place finish and 5 Weeks at #1 last season were no fluke. He is ready to keep his foot on the pedal and burn rubber all season long. Keeping the Top Five in the family somehow (and no – the club is not rigged), we have myself (Fearless Tuna) and Young Tuna tied in 4th Place with 20 Points. We will see how long the four members of the Tuna family can manage to stay in the Top Five, but it would be nice to have at least one representative stay there all season if possible. Last season, as you’ll recall, Rad Dad won the 2022 Club Championship and My Wife Loves Jimmy G was the Runner-Up. So how did both fare in Week 1? Rad Dad debuted in 13th Place with 13 Points and My Wife Loves Jimmy G debuted in 7th Place (tied with Viking Blood) with 18 Points. So they both have a little rust to shake off after the long off-season. Speaking of Viking Blood, her husband The Sad Salmon was the only club member to switch away from The Autopicker on Thursday night and correctly pick Detroit for the 2 Points. However, then he decided not to do the club this season. That’s totally understandable but he will be missed. At least he gave us one final display of his brilliant picking skills before leaving and heading to Hard Rock Stadium. Also not participating this season is Nighthawk, who is busy taking care of baby Clay who recently turned 1 month old. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Nighthawk on the new baby boy! On another note, sometime this week or next week, I plan to start up Head to Head Weekly and Pro Bowl Team Weekly for this season. So look for that to begin shortly. And that’s all we have for this week.