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Week 13 MVP Award Winner –
Drummer Boy (27 Points)

As the eighteenth year of The Football Club got underway this season, nobody was drumming up better picks over the first 3 weeks than Drummer Boy.  He opened the year with back to back MVP Award Runner-Ups.  In addition, he took over 1st Place during Weeks 2 and 3, at one point holding a 7 Point lead over the rest of the club.  But instead of running away with the title (as sometimes happens), Drummer Boy lost his timing just a little bit when it comes to making great picks.  And for a professional musician such as himself, that can bring your confidence down a notch.  But I’m happy to report that in Week 13, Drummer Boy got his groove back by scoring 27 Points to win the MVP Award for the week.  This catapulted him back up the standings into 8th Place, only 15 Points away from the top spot.  Drummer Boy made some truly brilliant picks last week, getting both Games of the Week correct with Balt and TB.  Also, he was 1 of only 4 players to correctly pick Hou over NE on Sunday night (with the others being Badwater Nessie, MJD Hogg, and Captain Insano).  If Drummer Boy can keep up his momentum, he will likely find himself in the Top Five in the next week or two and can even still challenge for the club title.  The Week 13 MVP Award Runner-Up was shared by old friends (and rivals) Slick Chick and The Cat.  They both scored 25 Points and moved up in the standings.  Slick Chick was 1 of only 2 players to get the Double Stakes of Ten-Den, while The Cat was 1 of only 3 players to get the Triple Crown of Cin-Pit-LAR.  As a result, The Cat has suddenly pounced into 1st Place and stunned the entire club.  It has been 19 years since The Cat absolutely dominated the the club and won his only Club Championship, ending the season 32 Points ahead of the 2nd Place player.  That remains the largest margin of victory in club history.  I still remember giving him a framed certificate with a gold ribbon certifying that he had won the 2000 Club Championship and The Cat proudly displayed that in the laundry room of the apartment complex that he was managing for everyone to see.  This season is much different, of course.  Even though he could potentially win it all, it is doubtful that The Cat will be running away with the title.  There is such a logjam at the top, as the Top Nine players are all within 15 Points of 1st Place.  At the end of any given week, any player in the top half of the standings could find themselves the #1 player in the club.  Rounding out the Top Five, Fearless Tuna remains in 2nd Place (1 Point behind), Mr. T reaches a new peak of 3rd Place (3 Points behind), and Double-Double & Halibut J-Bird are tied for 4th Place (5 Points behind).  Speaking of Mr. T, he has been named our November Player of the Month.  It was really tough to choose someone for the honor as so many players did well during November.  But I thought that Mr. T really stood out because over the past 5 weeks, he moved up the standings every single week.  He went from 12th to 11th to 6th to 5th and now to 3rd Place.  That was quite remarkable and Mr. T is well deserving to be our Player of the Month.

The Wild Card Round of the Super Bowl Tournament took place last week, and 4 of the top 8 seeds were upset and eliminated from the tournament.  The unexpected casualties included #2 seed Fearless Tuna, #1 seed The Cat, #3 seed Nighthawk, and #4 seed freespirit.  In the match of the week, (2) The Rickster tied (7) Halibut J-Bird by a score of 14-14 to eliminate him.  Thus, 3 of the current Top 4 players in the club were eliminated from Head to Head competition.  It just goes to show that Head to Head matches are a completely different competition to play and be successful at.  Defending champion (4) Bob Swerski def. (5) Captain Jack Sparrow by a score of 22-11 to advance to the next round and keep his repeat title hopes alive.  I’m really anxious to see how (4) Bob Swerski does in his showdown with club legend (3) Hoosier Daddy this week during the Divisional Round.  And a shout-out and congrats to MJD Hogg, who knocked me out of the tournament, causing me to be a fish out of water.  (7) MJD Hogg now gets to face off with (1) Double-Double this week.  Both Hoosier Daddy and MJD Hogg have each won 5 straight matches and are the hottest players left in the tournament.  There may be no stopping them from having a brotherly showdown in the Conference Round during Week 15.  Another great match this week in the Wild Card Round will be (8) Drummer Boy at (2) The Rickster.  Can Drummer Boy follow-up his shocking defeat of #1 seed The Cat by knocking off  #2 seed The Rickster?  This could be a battle for the ages between these two great players.  And finally, Alhambra teammates will be squaring off with (6) Slick Chick at (5) Mr. T.  Only one can survive and make the Conference Round.  Who will it be?  In addition, keep in mind that the First Round of the Pro Bowl Tournament starts this week.  The two matches this week are (6) The Black Pearl  at (3) Daddy & His Boys and (5) The Supernovas at (4) Alhambra.  Which two of these four teams will advance to the Final Four?

Here is a copy of the Week 13 Current Standings for those who are having trouble viewing it on their screens:

Here are the club’s picks for Week 13 (Monday night game and Over/Under have been added to the final scores at the bottom).

Here are my picks for Week 13 – NO TJ yes, Chi, Dal (Thurs games were posted on Club Chat), Car, NYG, Phil, KC, Sea und, Ten, LAC, Balt, TB, NE, NYJ, Cle, LAR.

Week 12 MVP Award Winner –
Rad Dad (31 Points)

Rad Dad finally got his season on track last week as he scored 31 Points to win the Week 12 MVP Award.  It has been perhaps the most difficult season of his career so far.  During the last two seasons of club play, Rad Dad finished the year in 6th Place (2018) and 3rd Place (2012).  But this season, after reaching a peak position of #8, Rad Dad has struggled week after week to make good picks and figure out which teams are going to win the important games.  So it is good to see Rad Dad shake off the rust and have a huge week.  And Rad Dad’s huge week couldn’t have come at a better time for him as he was battling for his survival in the First Round of the Super Bowl Tournament.  Being the MVP for the week is a great way to ensure that you survive (in most cases) to play another week in the Super Bowl Tournament.  Let’s see if Rad Dad can keep up his momentum and perhaps close out the final five weeks of the season with more MVP Awards and perhaps even a climb up the standings into the Top Ten or even the Top Five.  The Week 12 MVP Award Runner-Up went to Halibut J-Bird with 30 Points.  Halibut J-Bird may have been frustrated last week when he saw freespirit take over 1st Place once again and log her 4th week at #1.  That topped Halibut J-Bird’s previous league best of having 3 weeks at #1.  Thus, he really stepped up this week when he needed it the most and made yet another week of great picks.  Let’s not forget that Halibut J-Bird has not been a part of the club since 2008.  But his return has had a huge impact and he has now caught back up to freespirit and matched her league best 4 weeks at #1.  Halibut J-Bird is currently locked in an epic struggle between himself, #2 player Fearless Tuna, and #3 player The Rickster.  These three players are currently each separated by only 1 single Point.  This is truly an all-out battle for the top spot in the club.  And not far behind is #4 player The Cat (6 Points behind), and co-#5 players Double-Double & Mr. T (7 Points behind).  Any one of these players could jump into 1st Place if they should have a huge Week 13.  It is nice to see Mr. T enter the Top Five for the first time this season.  As I mentioned last week, Mr. T has been quietly working his way up the standings and becoming a serious threat to those at the top.  If this trend continues, Mr. T could find himself in 1st Place in a matter of one or two weeks.  One thing I wanted to mention is that with Rad Dad winning the Week 12 MVP Award and Mr. T reaching the Top Five, all players in the club have now achieved a special Year Honor.  The 2019 Year Honors can be found at the bottom of the Current Standings page.  A Year Honor is accomplished by winning at least one MVP Award or reaching the Top Five at some point during the season.  Everyone in the club has now done that, which is outstanding to see the accolades spread around so evenly.  Finally, a note about the risk of selecting Triple Jeopardy.  As you no doubt realize, Triple Jeopardy is a very risky option.  Last week, 12 out of 18 club members took Atl with TJ and lost -2 Points from their final score.  Meanwhile, six very smart club members avoided the TJ trap – Mr. T, Stinkerbell, Halibut J-Bird, Nighthawk, Rad Dad, and The Rickster.  Getting a TJ pick wrong can adversely affect your placement in the standings, get you eliminated from the Super Bowl Tournament, and result in your Pro Bowl team losing.  In fact, had I personally not selected TJ last week, I would have been in 1st Place in the standings.  So sometimes it can be very costly.

The Super Bowl Tournament got underway last week with two First Round matches.  These are the matches that nobody wants to play as it can result in a quick elimination before the main Wild Card Round gets underway.  In the first match, Rad Dad def. Stinkerbell 31-23 to move on.  Rad Dad had won only one match the entire season before showing up big to stun one of the club’s best players and eliminate her early.  In the second match, Drummer Boy tied Captain Insano 22-22 to advance due to his higher seeding tiebreaker.  During the Wild Card Round this week, there are eight matches to be played.  The field of sixteen remaining players will be whittled down to eight after this week.  Upset alerts are being sent out to the four division winners and top seeds in the tournament – Double-Double, Fearless Tuna, The Cat, and The Rickster.  If these four players do not make their best picks this week, they could be upset and sent packing early.  The match of the week has to be (7) Halibut J-Bird (3-5-2) at (2) The Rickster (5-3-2).  Despite being the #1 player in the club, Halibut J-Bird has struggled in Head to Head play this season.  That has set up this early tournament showdown between the #1 and #3 players in the club.  Only one of them will be able to move on to the Divisional Round, while the other will be done with Head to Head play for the season.  The four hottest players coming into the tournament are Fearless Tuna (5 game winning streak), Hoosier Daddy & MJD Hogg (4 game winning streaks), and The Cat (3 game winning streak).  But let’s see how they respond now that serious pressure is on.  Also, defending Super Bowl Tournament Champion Bob Swerski begins his title defense this week with a rematch against Captain Jack Sparrow.  Last season, Bob Swerski narrowly def. Captain Jack Sparrow 21-19 in the Divisional Round.  So Captain Jack Sparrow will be looking for revenge while Bob Swerski will be looking to continue to be the player to beat.