The Football Club

Week 14 MVP Award Winners –
My Wife Loves Jimmy G & Double-Double (32 Points)

Wild Animals teammates My Wife Loves Jimmy G & Double-Double both scored 32 Points last week to share the Week 14 MVP Award.  For My Wife Loves Jimmy G, it has been a somewhat frustrating season.  He stated at a press conference that his “instincts have been off all year”.  My Wife Loves Jimmy G’s wife was also no doubt frustrated when her favorite player Jimmy Garoppolo was benched in Las Vegas.  But they both finally have something to cheer about as My Wife Loves Jimmy G put together a huge week in the club including being 1 of only 5 players to correctly pick TB with TJ.  As a result, My Wife Loves Jimmy G has returned to the Top Ten after spending a couple of weeks languishing in 13th Place.  He is now in 9th Place, only 13 Points away from breaking into the Top Five for the first time this season.  For Double-Double, this MVP Award is validation of his status as a serious contender for the 2023 club title.  Double-Double has a streak going of 5 straight Top Five finishes in the Final Standings at the end of each season.  The Hall of Fame all-time record is 6 straight Top Five finishes.  So Double-Double is well on his was to tying that mark (set by Fearless Tuna from 2006-2011) and then possibly overtaking it next season.  But right now, Double-Double’s focus is on continuing to make great picks for the next 4 weeks.  Last week, his huge tally included getting both Games of the Week, the Double Stakes, Triple Crown, and Sunday night game correct.  This has pushed Double-Double up to a new Peak Position of #2 as he now stands only 6 Points behind Current Leader Drummer Boy.  The Week 14 MVP Award Runner-Up was The Rickster, who scored 29 Points.  It was nice to see The Rickster have such a great week.  We know this has been a rough season and year for him, so we are all happy to see him having some success here in the club.  The Rickster did make the one cardinal mistake that should never be done in the club.  He made a last second switch on Monday night from his original pick of the NY Giants over to the GB Packers.  Of course, the Packers ended up losing (as was virtually guaranteed the moment he made that switch).  That’s just how things always seem to turn out with last second switches.  Had The Rickster not switched, then he would have shared the MVP Award along with My Wife Loves Jimmy G & Double-Double.  And that would have meant that for the first time ever in the club, we would have had all three teammates on a Pro Bowl team win the MVP Award together.  But not this time.  Even so, Wild Animals combined to score 93 Points this week, which was the Highest Score of the Year in team play.  With 4 weeks left, the Current Top Five consists of #1 Drummer Boy (4 Weeks at #1), #2 Double-Double (6 Points back), tied for #3 Captain Jack Sparrow & Roadrunner (12 Points back), and my dear boy #5 Young Tuna (13 Points back).  I’m not yet giving up on Young Tuna still having a chance at winning the club title, but he now has some very stiff competition in front of him.  Still, 13 Points can and has been made up in a single week, so there is plenty of time left in the season for him to rebound back up the standings.

Last week was the Wild Card Round of the Super Bowl Tournament and we had some shocking results.  Three of our four Division Champions lost their matches and were eliminated from the tournament.  This included (8) Captain Jack Sparrow def. (1) Drummer Boy 26-19, (7) Mr. T def. (2) MJD Hogg 11-5, and (9) Shaylene def. (1) Rad Dad 19-12.  And our other Division Champion narrowly escaped by way of a tie as (2) Viking Blood ties (7) Stinkerbell 14-14 to advance.  The end result is that the tournament is now wide open and anyone can win it.  The heavy favorite at this point has to be 3rd seeded Double-Double as he extended his league-high winning streak in Head to Head matches to 7 games.  It doesn’t appear as if anybody can stop him.  This week, we move on to the Divisional Round with four great matches.  In the first match, we have (8) Captain Jack Sparrow (5-6-1) at (3) Double-Double (8-2-1).  These two must be tiring of seeing themselves grouped together, seemingly for weeks now.  In Weeks 10 & 11, they were separated by only 1 Point in the standings.  Then in Weeks 12 & 13, they were tied in the standings.  In addition, they are the only two players left in the draw who have won the Super Bowl Tournament before (Double-Double in 2008 and Captain Jack Sparrow in 2007).  So something has to give this week and one player has to establish himself as the alpha 49ers fan.  The second match pits (7) Mr. T (4-6-1) at (5) Fearless Tuna (5-5-1).  We might call this the battle for the neighborhood, as both players live just a block away from each other in Sonoma.  Little did they know when they went backpacking together earlier this year on Santa Cruz Island that they would be squaring off with so much on the line.  The third match is yet another all-girls match with (9) Shaylene (5-5-2) at (2) Viking Blood (7-3-1).  Viking Blood went home from Hard Rock Stadium disappointed last night, but she is happy that she survived her showdown with Stinkerbell in the Wild Card Round of the tournament.  Can she do what the Dolphins failed to do and defeat a lower ranked opponent this week as she takes on Shaylene?  We will see.  The fourth and final match is (4) New York City Sewer Rat (6-5) at (3) My Wife Loves Jimmy G (6-4-1).  This should be an interesting match.  I’d have to give the heavy edge to My Wife Loves Jimmy G.  But with NYC Sewer Rat in the mix, you never know what might happen.  He can never be counted out of pulling off (or picking) a major upset.

The Pro Bowl Tournament finally gets underway this week with two First Round matches.  In the battles for bye weeks last week, Wild Animals and Gridiron Guardians came out the winners.  In a 39 Point beatdown, Wild Animals def. The Hulkamaniacs 93-54 to claim the #1 seed.  And in a slightly closer match, Gridiron Guardians def. Daddy & His Boys 49-36 to claim the #2 seed.  So both Wild Animals and Gridiron Guardians will be resting easy this week, knowing that they are safely into the Final Four.  Our two matches this week will be (6) The Volcanoes (3-9) at (3) The Hulkamaniacs (6-5-1) and (5) Daddy & His Boys (6-6) at (4) Tuna Generations (6-6).  The second match listed there will be a grudge match with Daddy & His Boys looking for revenge.  That is because Tuna Generations are now 3-0 lifetime when playing against Daddy & His Boys.  And one of those three victories took place last year in the 2022 Pro Bowl final when (3) Tuna Generations def. (7) Daddy & His Boys 64-57 to hold up the trophy in celebration.  When Daddy & His Boys began this season, they stated that their primary goal was to do well in the team competition and perhaps win it all.  That being the case, now is the time for them to step up and deliver their best performance of the season.  Can they do it and knock off the defending champs to advance to the Final Four?  I hope not but we will soon find out.

Here are the club’s picks for Week 14. Double-Double & My Wife Loves Jimmy G share the Week 14 MVP Award with 32 Points, while The Rickster takes the MVP Award Runner-Up with 29 Points.

Week 14 full picks now posted (Sun 9:00am).  All players are welcome to view my picks once they have turned their own in for the week.

Week 13 MVP Award Winner –
Viking Blood (29 Points)

Viking Blood has once again conquered the entire club and carried off the Week 13 MVP Award as her spoil.  The key to her success on the (battle)field was being 1 of only 2 club members (along with My Wife Loves Jimmy G) to claim the difficult Triple Crown of Arz-Hou-Det.  In addition to getting those 7 Points, she also got both Games of the Week correct and the Double Stakes.  The end result is that Viking Blood is holding her sword up high as she has returned to the Top Five.  She is now a mere 16 Points away from 1st Place, which is not much considering there are still 5 weeks left of play.  In Week 13 alone, she got 12 Points closer to 1st Place.  Being that Viking Blood has won 2 the last 4 MVP Awards, she should be considered very dangerous and a genuine threat to win the club title and bring the trophy home to Hard Rock Stadium.  The Week 13 MVP Award Runner-Up was shared by Captain Jack Sparrow & Double-Double, who both scored 22 Points.  Everyone else in the club was actually under 20 Points last week.  The interesting thing about Captain Jack Sparrow & Double-Double is that last week they were tied in 6th Place.  And now they are still tied in 6th Place.  They were not able to move up into the Top Five because Viking Blood rowed past them from 9th Place to 5th Place.  Both Captain Jack Sparrow & Double-Double are huge SF 49ers fans and they were no doubt celebrating the huge win over the Eagles last week.  The current Top Five consists of #1 Drummer Boy (3 Weeks at #1), #2 Young Tuna (4 Points back), #3 Rad Dad (11 Points back), #4 Roadrunner (12 Points back), and new #5 Viking Blood (16 Points back).  The top four players remain unchanged from last week.  In fact, there was no movement in positions 1-4 and 10-18 in the Current Standings.  It’s no secret that I would like to see a brand new Club Champion every season including this one.  Out of the current eight highest ranked players in the club, four of them have won club titles before.  That list includes Drummer Boy, Rad Dad, Double-Double & Captain Jack Sparrow.  The four players who have not won are Young Tuna (rookie player), Roadrunner, Viking Blood, and Shaylene.  So it will be interesting to see who takes control down the stretch, as this is still a very wide-open race.  If a previous champion manages to repeat, then all credit to them for managing to repeat an extremely difficult feat.  If you look at the Current Standings, the eight highest ranked players are all kind of bunched together.  Then there is a gap, after which players ranked 9th-13th are all bunched together.  This is proving to be a very interesting race for #1, the Top Five, and the Top Ten.

The Super Bowl Tournament got started last week with two First Round matches.  In those matches, (8) Captain Jack Sparrow def. (9) Hoosier Daddy 22-10 and (9) Shaylene def. (8) The Rickster 16-10.  As you can see, both losing players only managed to put up a touchdown and field goal, which was not enough to advance.  I don’t like seeing Hoosier Daddy & The Rickster sent packing from the tournament so early, but there is some solace because both players have won it in the past.  Hoosier Daddy was our 2019 Super Bowl Champ and The Rickster was our 2020, 2010, 2006 & 2005 Super Bowl Champ.  This week, we have the exciting Wild Card Round, which features 8 great matches.  In Conference One, these include (8) Captain Jack Sparrow (4-6-1) at (1) Drummer Boy (8-2).  Drummer Boy is looking to avoid a major upset at the hands of Captain Jack Sparrow, who has momentum now after surviving the First Round and winning the MVP Award Runner-Up.  Next up, we have (7) Mr. T (3-6-1) at (2) MJD Hogg (6-4).  MJD Hogg wants to build upon his success after winning Division Two, while Mr. T is looking to rebound after struggling for most of this season.  The third match features (6) Bob Swerski (4-6) at (3) Double-Double (7-2-1).  Double-Double has won 6 straight Head to Head matches and is the hottest player in the club right now in that category.  Will he make it 7 straight or will Bob Swerski pull off a shocker and call in the health department to close Double-Double down?  The fourth match is (5) Fearless Tuna (4-5-1) at (4) Captain Insano (4-4-2).  Personally, I would love nothing more to survive into the Divisional Round, but Captain Insano is going to make that a very tough task.  Especially with his newfound ability to correctly pick Triple Jeopardy matches.  Moving on to Conference Two, the first match is (9) Shaylene (4-5-2) at (1) Rad Dad (7-3).  Rad Dad shouldn’t be fooled by Shaylene’s below .500 Head to Head record, as she is a Top Ten player in the standings.  I’m going to put this match on upset alert as Rad Dad begins his 2022 Super Bowl Champ title defense.  The second match is a battle of the girls with (7) Stinkerbell (4-5-1) at (2) Viking Blood (7-3).  Viking Blood is a heavy favorite in this match, having won Division Four, while Stinkerbell finished in 4th Place in that same division.  But you never know what will happen on game day.  Perhaps her recent visit to Nighthawk in New York will give Stinkerbell some inspiration.  The third match is (6) Roadrunner (4-5-1) at (3) My Wife Loves Jimmy G (5-4-1).  This match feels like a complete toss-up with two evenly-matched players.  I cannot give the edge to either player.  Finally, we have (5) Young Tuna (4-5-1) at (4) New York City Sewer Rat (5-5).  The edge should go to Young Tuna on the road.  However, NYC Sewer Rat has an unorthodox picking style which can wreak havoc.  For instance, last week he was the only player in the entire club to correctly pick GB on Sunday night and Jax on Monday night.  So if there are upsets in key games, Young Tuna better watch out.  Also be sure to check out Pro Bowl Team Weekly, as this the final week of that competition and there are two bye weeks on the line for the upcoming Pro Bowl Tournament.  The two featured match-ups include The Hulkamaniacs vs. Wild Animals (for #1 seed and guaranteed bye week) and Daddy & His Boys vs. Gridiron Guardians (for likely bye week unless first match ends in a tie).

Here are the club’s picks for Week 13. Viking Blood wins the Week 13 MVP Award with 29 Points, while Captain Jack Sparrow & Double-Double share the MVP Award Runner-Up with 22 Points.