Week 8 MVP Award Winners –
The Rickster & Rad Dad (26 Points)
The Rickster and Rad Dad created upheaval at the top of the club as they both scored 26 Points to share the Week 8 MVP Award. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a week like this where the two players at the top of the standings (who had some separation from the pack) both struggled greatly while the next five players below them all had huge weeks. The end result? A complete shake-up at the top of the standings and a wide open race for the Club Championship at the halfway point in the season. The Rickster completed a month for the ages and has been named the October Player of the Month Award winner. Two weeks ago, The Rickster was sitting in 8th Place being 21 Points behind the 1st Place player. Now after winning back-to-back MVP Awards, he has taken over 1st Place in the standings and become the player to beat. Rad Dad’s huge week also brought him back into the Top Five for the first time in a month. Rad Dad is now in 5th Place, only 6 Points behind The Rickster, and also a clear threat to win the title. The Rickster & Rad Dad’s keys to success were getting the Triple Crown and Double Stakes, 2 of the 3 Point Spread Games, and wisely avoiding picking Triple Jeopardy on a dangerous week to do so (they both had NY Jets with no TJ). The Week 8 MVP Award Runner-Up was shared by Double-Double & Fearless Tuna, who both scored 23 Points. For Double-Double, this was the 3rd consecutive week that he was the MVP Award Runner-Up winner. In fact, if not for The Rickster’s stunning feat, Double-Double would have been awarded the Player of the Month. But I guess you could say he was the Runner-Up for that as well. One thing he does not want to be Runner-Up for is the club title at the end of the season. He is now in 2nd Place, only 2 Points behind The Rickster. And he is no longer the runner-up when it comes to his personal rivalry with Stinkerbell, as he has moved 2 Points ahead of her in the standings. This is the first time since Week 1 that he has managed to get ahead of her. But as she teasingly said on Club Chat: “Double double I am going to try my hardest to toast your buns this season.” So this battle is not over yet, it is just getting started. Fearless Tuna had his first good showing of the season, as he shared the MVP Award Runner-Up with Double-Double. And while I did have a really bad first half of the season, The Rickster has given hope to the rest of us down the standings that anything is possible. Remember, The Rickster was 21 Points back 2 weeks ago and now he is in 1st Place. Right now, I am 25 Points out. So his huge success shows that the rest of us might be down, but we are not out. The current Top Five consists of #1 The Rickster, #2 Double-Double (2 Points back), #3 Drummer Boy (3 Points back), #4 Stinkerbell (4 Points back), and #5 Rad Dad (6 Points back). Drummer Boy had such a surprisingly bad week with only 11 Points that I’m wondering if he just wanted to give the rest of the club a chance and keep things interesting. He has been playing at such a high level for such a long time that we kind of just take it for granted that he’s the best player and on his way to holding up the Rhapsody Ralph trophy once again. But there is still a lot of football to be played and he is going to need to get his drum kit tuned for the weeks and battles ahead.
Finally, the Pro Bowl Tournament starts this week with the Qualifying Round. Here is how it is going to work. All 7 teams (check the Pro Bowl Tournament 2022 Page for team assignments) will play in Week 9 (this week) for tournament seeding. Then, in Week 10, the First Round of the Pro Bowl Tournament will be played, with only the #1 seed earning a bye week and automatic entry into the Final Four. Defending champs Wild Animals will be hoping that they can earn the #1 seed as they start their title defense. Can they do it? Or might a new team like The Hulkamaniacs or Tuna Generations step forward to claim it? We will soon find out.
