Week 16 MVP Award Winners –
Fearless Tuna & My Wife Loves Jimmy G (27 Points)
Fearless Tuna & My Wife Loves Jimmy G both scored 27 Points last week to share the Week 16 MVP Award. For both players, it marked their second MVP Awards of the season and it came at a time when they needed it the most (see the Super Bowl Tournament Page or second paragraph down below for more details). Fearless Tuna had a strong start to the season, floundered a bit in the middle, but has picked up the current once again down the home stretch. He is currently in 8th Place, but swims a mere 4 Points from getting back in the Top Five and only 13 Points away from 1st Place. My Wife Loves Jimmy G has been picking lights-out lately, now winning 2 of the last 3 MVP Awards. A notoriously strong finisher, last season he finished in 2nd Place as the Club Champion Runner-Up during his rookie season. He is currently in 7th Place, one single Point ahead of Fearless Tuna. Last week, My Wife Loves Jimmy G was the only player in the entire club to correctly pick both Games of the Week with Atlanta and Tampa Bay. The Week 16 MVP Award Runner-Up was Double-Double, who scored 25 Points. Double-Double has now returned to a tie for 2nd Place, where he stands only 4 Points away from 1st Place. This is the time in the season when you want to be making your best picks and moving up the standings. And that’s exactly what Double-Double is doing. At this time, let me take a closer look at the other five players (along with Double-Double, My Wife Loves Jimmy G, and Fearless Tuna) who are all within striking distance of 1st Place and becoming the 2023 Club Champion. Leading the way is #1 Drummer Boy, who struggled last week and only scored 14 Points. Despite this, he logged his 6th Week at #1 and remains the favorite to win it all. But he can’t afford any more subpar weeks, as there are too many players biting at his heels and ready to take over the top spot. There is no more margin of error for Drummer Boy. The only thing keeping him afloat at this point is his brilliant picking throughout the season of Triple Jeopardy games. Tied for #2 is Young Tuna, who last week made what I am calling the Pick of the Year. On Monday afternoon, he came to me and let me know that he was switching his pick from SF 49ers to Baltimore for the Monday night game. I told him I wasn’t sure if that was the best idea, as it could sink him down the standings and essentially end his season if he was wrong. But I wasn’t going to interfere or try to discourage him from changing the pick. He was determined to go through with it, and thus he made the switch to Baltimore. When I told Double-Double what Young Tuna was doing, Double-Double said it would be a “big pay off or big loss”. And that pretty much summed up the huge risk involved. It wasn’t a risk that I or anyone else in the club was taking on Monday night. And when the game was over and Baltimore had won 33-19, Young Tuna had just gained 6 Points to save his week and perhaps his entire season. It’s that kind of risk that when you get it right, it’s an amazing feeling and and a “big pay off” indeed. If he does somehow win the club title, I think everyone will look back on that one pick as the game changer. Young Tuna now stands just 4 Points behind the top spot. At #4 we have Rad Dad, who is quietly posting strong weeks and is only 7 Points behind the top spot. Imagine if Rad Dad were to claim the title right at the end with little fanfare, thus becoming our first ever repeating Club Champion in consecutive seasons. At #5 we have a tie between Captain Jack Sparrow and Viking Blood. They are both only 9 Points behind the top spot and with two strong weeks, either one of them could be crowned as the champion. Being that I like to see brand new winners every season, I will be cheering on Young Tuna, Viking Blood, and My Wife Loves Jimmy G. But if Drummer Boy, Double-Double, Rad Dad, or Captain Jack Sparrow win the title, I will be happy for them as well. Whoever ends up winning after these final two weeks will have truly earned it. Because I’ve never seen such a logjam of players at the top all with a legitimate chance to win it at the end of the season.
The Super Bowl Tournament wraps up this week with the championship match featuring (5) Fearless Tuna (7-5-1) at (3) My Wife Loves Jimmy G (8-4-1). The following information is copy and pasted over from the Super Bowl Tournament Page. The Super Bowl Championship match between Fearless Tuna and My Wife Loves Jimmy G is sure to be an epic final Head to Head battle to wrap up this season. Fearless Tuna is now a 3-time Super Bowl finalist, having lost both previous appearances to then champion The Rickster. In 2005, The Rickster defeated him 25-13 and in 2010, The Rickster defeated him 22-14. So it has been a long time since Fearless Tuna has made it this far and he’s hoping that the third time will be the charm. As for My Wife Loves Jimmy G, he is a second year player in the club and thus we can only look back on his Super Bowl Tournament result from last season. And last season, he did very well. My Wife Loves Jimmy G made it all the way to the Conference Round before he lost to eventual champion Rad Dad 32-26. To analyze how this season’s championship match might turn out, let’s take a look back at the performances of the two players so far in the Super Bowl Tournament. In the Wild Card Round, Fearless Tuna def. Captain Insano 23-14 while then Week 14 MVP My Wife Loves Jimmy G def. Roadrunner 32-19. So both players had fairly easy victories but My Wife Loves Jimmy G had a larger margin of victory, winning his match by 13 Points. In the Divisional Round, Fearless Tuna squeaked by Mr. T by 1 single Point, winning the match 30-29. Meanwhile, My Wife Loves Jimmy G crushed New York City Sewer Rat by 17 Points, winning the match 28-11. However, the margin of victory can be a little bit misleading there, because Fearless Tuna actually scored more Points for that week. And that brings us to the Conference Round, which took place last week. And this has to be one of the stunning results we have ever seen in Conference Round matches. Both Fearless Tuna and My Wife Loves Jimmy G were co-winners of the Week 16 MVP Award during the Conference Round. As a result, Fearless Tuna def. Captain Jack Sparrow 27-17 and My Wife Loves Jimmy G def. Viking Blood 27-22. With so much on the line, both players stepped up and made some of their best picks of the season, thus resulting in MVPs, Conference Round victories, and a meeting the following week in the Super Bowl. This has a set up an absolutely titanic showdown this week between the reigning MVPs, which is something we have probably never seen before. During the Super Bowl Tournament, Fearless Tuna has posted an average score of 26.7 Points per week. In contrast, My Wife Loves Jimmy G has posted a slightly better average score of 29.3 Points per week. This is two players at the top of their game, meeting head-on with the Super Bowl Championship on the line. But only one can emerge as the winner and hold the trophy up high in celebration. Based on their average scores during the tournament and their seeding, I would have to establish My Wife Loves Jimmy G as a 3 Point favorite. My Wife Loves Jimmy G has clearly been the best player in the club the last few weeks. But with his past failures in mind, Fearless Tuna is no doubt going to go all out and attempt to make the best picks of his life. And in one final dramatic twist, only one single Point separates them right now in the Current Standings. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out on the field this Sunday and who becomes our 2023 Super Bowl Head to Head Champion.
The Pro Bowl Tournament wraps up this week with the championship match featuring (2) Gridiron Guardians (8-5) at (1) Wild Animals (8-4-1). The following information is copy and pasted over from the Pro Bowl Tournament Page. The 2023 Pro Bowl Team Championship match is going to be a titanic showdown between the top two seeds and two best teams in the league this season. No. 1 seed Wild Animals are no strangers to success as they have established themselves as the best Pro Bowl team of all time here in the club. The have won an unmatched 4 championships, which includes the years 2005, 2011, 2018, and 2021. While their original lineup of Cat Man, Double-Double & Unknown Artist is no longer intact due to two retirements from the club, team captain Double-Double has kept his team running strong through the years. In 2008, he sent shockwaves through the club as he added club legend The Rickster. In 2021, he added freespirit late in the season, and she provided a spark to help them win the title that year. In fact, they couldn’t have done it without her. And finally, in 2022, he added My Wife Loves Jimmy G, arguably one of the best signings ever as Double-Double showed great belief in a strong rookie prospect. No. 2 seed Gridiron Guardians exploded onto the scene in 2020, which was when they were first established as a team. However, their roots trace back all the way to 2012 when Captain Jack Sparrow formed team The Black Pearl along with teammates Rad Dad and Cave Man. But because The Black Pearl kept getting sunk before it could sail out of Final Four rounds, the ship was decommissioned in 2020. Team captain Rad Dad then established Gridiron Guardians and they promptly stunned the club by winning the 2020 Pro Bowl Championship. Here we are three years later and they are back in the final once again with a chance to win their second title in four years. To see how these two top-seeded teams match up, let’s take a look back at how they did this season. During Pro Bowl Team Weekly, they met two times in the regular season. In the first match (Week 7), we had a major defensive struggle as Wild Animals def. The Gridiron Guardians 26-24. In the second match (Week 12), there was more offensive firepower as The Gridiron Guardians def. Wild Animals 80-44. So both teams have won a match against the other and are 1-1. However, it could be argued that The Gridiron Guardians performance in Week 12 was a much more dominant victory and it sent a message to Wild Animals that they weren’t to be taken lightly. In looking at the lineups for both teams, it is evident that they are both stacked. Wild Animals has team captain Double-Double, who is currently tied for 2nd Place in the standings and just won the Week 16 MVP Award Runner-Up. Their second player is My Wife Loves Jimmy G, who has won 2 of the last 3 MVP Awards and is currently in 7th Place. And their third player is The Rickster, who is in 12th Place but is an MVP threat (and Perfect Week threat) every single week. The Gridiron Guardians have team captain Rad Dad, who is in 4th Place in the standings right now. Their second player is Captain Jack Sparrow, who is only 2 Points behind him tied for 5th Place. And their third player is Mr. T, who is in 16th Place but has been making very strong picks as of late. Adding all that up, Wild Animals have an average player ranking of 7th Place in the standings, while The Gridiron Guardians have an average player ranking of 8th Place (actually 8.3 to be exact) in the standings. So that’s not much difference. In summary, I have to establish Wild Animals as a 3 Point favorite in this match. History is on their side and they are the top seed. But the game is settled on the field, not in this column. So let’s see what happens this Sunday.