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Week 11 MVP Award Winner –
Double-Double (34 Points)

Living in Omaha, Nebraska for the past 17 years, one of the things that Double-Double has missed the most is In-N-Out Burger.  On average, he only gets to enjoy a meal once or twice a year there while on vacation with Mrs. Double.  However, one thing that Double-Double has not missed out since his move is making great picks.  It was only after moving to Omaha (and supporting Big Red along with the locals) that Double-Double won his Club Championships in 2005 and 2018.  Being that Double-Double has won 2 of the last 11 titles, he is now looking to make it 3 out of 12.  He took a huge step towards doing so last week when he scored 34 Points to win the Week 11 MVP Award.  Double-Double has now returned to his peak position of #3 and stands only 10 Points out of 1st Place.  The Week 11 MVP Award Runner-Up was MJD Hogg, who had only 1 Point less with 33 Points.  With that, MJD moved back up to 6th Place and stands only 5 Points away from getting back into the prestigious Top Five.  Both Double-Double and MJD Hogg wisely avoided selecting Triple Jeopardy and losing -2 Points.  They were the exception, as 11 of the other 17 players picked Carolina with TJ and suffered a huge step back in the standings.  Only Captain Jack Sparrow was smart enough to select Washington with TJ and take home the 2 bonus Points.  The entire club is now a dismal 47-77 in picking TJ this season.  That is a combined net loss of -60 Points for club members.  In fact, you might be shocked to learn that Captain Jack Sparrow is the only player in the entire club who has a winning record in picking TJ games this season.  A quick look at the Top Five shows Drummer Boy still holding strong in 1st Place.  However, his hold on the top spot is loosening.  If you take a look toward the bottom of the Current Standings Page under 2021 First Place in the Standings, you will notice something concerning to Drummer Boy.  From Weeks 6-9, Drummer Boy increased his lead at #1 from 6 Points to 11 Points.  But from Weeks 9-11, he has been trending in the wrong direction, as his lead has shrunk from 11 to 6 to 5 Points.  This trend is not sustainable to hold onto 1st Place for much longer, so it will be interesting to see how Drummer Boy handles this added pressure.  Of course, most of the pressure is coming from #2 player Stinkerbell, who continues to make great picks week after week.  With the birth of her and Bob’s 3rd grandchild happening shortly, the (wonderful) distraction could lead to having a bad week in the club.  We hope not, but we will see what happens.  Behind #1 Drummer Boy, #2 Stinkerbell, and #3 Double-Double, we have tied for #4 The Rickster & Captain Insano (both 15 Points back).

We have reached the final week of Head to Head Weekly.  In the past, we always had 10 game regular seasons in Head to Head.  However, with the addition of an extra week in the NFL season, we now have an 11 game regular season.  And that means a huge opportunity has come up for Drummer Boy to obtain a Hall of Fame record.  The current record for Best Head to Head Regular Season Record is 9 wins and 1 loss (shared by 3 players).  Drummer Boy has matched that as he now has 9 wins and 1 loss.  But if he wins this week, and it won’t be easy as he is matched up with a great opponent (The Sad Salmon), Drummer Boy can establish a new Hall of Fame record with 10 wins and 1 loss.  In addition, there are three division titles on the line.  We have Double-Double vs. freespirit (for Division Two title), The Icelandic Cod vs. Mr. T (for Division Three title), and Rad Dad vs. The Rickster (for Division Four title).  In Pro Bowl Team Weekly, there are still 3 games left.  However, Wild Animals, previously the class of the league, are in a complete tail spin.  Despite teammate Double-Double winning the MVP Award, Wild Animals only managed to tie McTriple Play 72-72 last week.   It probably didn’t help the team when The Cat employed his secret picking strategy for the first time this season, with disastrous results.

Here is a copy of the Week 11 Current Standings for those who are having trouble viewing it on their screens (usually due to viewing site on cell phone or tablet). Remember that there is much more detailed information that can be read on the actual Current Standings Page (but using a computer is necessary due to the tables).

Here are all of the club’s picks for Week 11. High scores finally returned to the club after several weeks of all around low scores. In fact, a 5-week streak was broken where no player had scored 30 Points.

Week 11 full picks now posted.  (Fri night 11:00pm).  All players are welcome to view my picks once they have turned their own in for the week (although I’m not sure why you would want to).

Week 10 MVP Award Winner –
The Sad Salmon (24 Points)

Last week, The Sad Salmon truly had a week to remember.  It all started on Thursday night when he took a huge risk and went against The Autopicker.  The Autopicker had picked Baltimore to beat Miami, which seemed like one of the most obvious easy picks of the week.  But The Sad Salmon (and The Cat) disagreed and e-mailed in to switch that pick to Miami.  Granted, The Sad Salmon is a huge Miami Dolphins fan.  And we haven’t had a Miami Dolphins fan in the club since Captain Crunch (Jim Lunsford) finished in 2nd Place during the Playoff Picks contest of 2012 (behind Playoff Picks Champion The Rickster).  So when Miami def. Baltimore 22-10, The Sad Salmon was off to a great start.  During the Sunday games, he correctly picked both Point Spread games, both Games of the Week, and the Sunday night game.  That brought him to 20 total Points heading into Monday.  That’s when something surprising happened.  At the last second, The Sad Salmon & The Icelandic Cod got tickets to attend the SF 49ers game on Monday night.  That being the case, they both decided to switch their picks from LA Rams to SF 49ers so that they could cheer on the home team.  They ended up being 2 of only 4 players who got that game right (along with Captain Insano and Nighthawk).  And that win gave The Sad Salmon just enough Points to squeak by Stinkerbell and win the Week 10 MVP Award.  It’s not that easy to win back-to-back MVP Awards in the club because that means you picked better than 18 other players for two weeks straight.  But The Sad Salmon did it and he continues to swim upstream toward the top of the standings, now being a mere 5 Points out of the Top Five.  The Week 10 MVP Award Runner-Up was Stinkerbell, who ended with 23 Points.  I did not realize this (or perhaps forgot), but Stinkerbell and Bob Swerski moved out of Sonoma County back in 2015 and now live in San Clemente where they can be closer to Nighthawk and Baby Hazel (as well as other family).  But Stinkerbell has really impressed this season as she continues flying up the standings. At a press conference last weekend, she lamented: “What a crazy week. If only I had been loyal to my 49ers”. She stated this realizing that picking against her team had cost her the MVP Award.  But she can hold her wings high, as she is now in 2nd Place only 6 Points away from #1.  On the other hand, her husband Bob Swerski had a week to forget.  I usually try to stay away from mentioning players who score low, not wanting them to feel bad.  But Bob Swerksi stated at his press conference: “Well in spite of all the possible points for each game I managed to get 2 points last week. I feel like that is a really hard accomplishment and so should be worth some kind of a prize or something. I think I will use a dart board next week to get a better score!”.  So rather than give out a prize, I thought I should at least give him a shout-out in the Main Page Column and tell him to hang in there, things can only get better.  And the dart board idea is not bad.  I may need to try that myself this week since I am also making such terrible picks as of late.  Or I might try freespirit’s idea.  She stated on Club Chat: “I was thinking maybe I should pick every team OPPOSITE of my choice and maybe that would help.” In closing, let’s take a quick look at the current Top Five.  We have #1 Drummer Boy (now with 7 Weeks at #1), #2 Stinkerbell (6 Points back), #3 Captain Insano (8 Points back), #4 The Rickster (12 Points back), and #5 Hoosier Daddy (14 Points back).  Welcome to the Top Five, Hoosier Daddy.  It is good to see you here.  As a side note, Head to Head Weekly has 2 weeks left and Pro Bowl Team Weekly has 4 weeks left.  We added an extra week on for both since the football season is now one week longer (instead of doing the multi-week final matches).  In a shocker last week, Wild Animals were declawed as they took their first loss of the season when Daddy & His Boys beat them 54-43.  And in a (friendly) grudge match, freespirit narrowly squeaked by Slick Chick 11-10.