Mongolia rocks! Yes we Khan

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia -- With a balanced attack and big performances from PK Gostkowski NE and QB Dalton CIN, Ulan Bator Khans owner D.J. Wanberg claimed his first Finks League title with a 53-49 win over the Ham N Eggers in Finger Bowl 20 at National Sports Stadium.

For Eggers owner Mike Miazga, it was another year of heartbreak as the Eggers lost in the Finger Bowl for the third consecutive year.

"I thought I was going to get blown out early. This one sucks but I'm happy I made it this far given all the injuries I had. Nice to see Randall Cobb (a key HNE draftee and contributor early in the season) reappear in Week 17 coming off IR," Miazga said in a statement.

Wanberg was unable to join the Khans (12-5) in Mongolia and was in Nebraska visiting family over the Week 17 weekend. He was unavailable for comment Sunday.

With 18 Finks points, Gostkowski earned Finger Bowl MVP honors becoming the first PK to earn MVP since Kaeding SD in 2009. The Eggers (10-6-1) were led by 23 Finks points from RB Forte CHI.

For the win, Wanberg earns $386.25 while Miazga receives $128.75.

In the third place match, 2012 Finger Bowl champion Lockport Distillers beat Creighton Barrels 55-29.

FINGER BOWL 20 BOXSCORE

Ham N Eggers
P. Manning DEN 17
Forte CHI 23
Morris WAS zero
Allen SD 3
Colston NO zero
Walsh MIN 2
Total 45

Ulan Bator Khans
Dalton CIN 17
Cunningham STL zero
F. Jackson BUF 6
Marshall CHI 6
Green CIN 6
Gostkowski NE 18
Total 53

THIRD-PLACE BOXSCORE

Creighton Barrels 

Luck IND 8

Ivory NYJ zero

A. Brown NYG zero

D. Thomas DEN 17

Gordon CLE 3

Sturgis MIA 1

Total 29

Lockport Distillers

Brees NO 27

Lynch SEA 9

Green-Ellis CIN zero

Garcon WAS zero

White ATL 9

Crosby GB 10

Total 55

Week 17: Finger Bowl 20 preview

HAM N EGGERS (10-5-1) vs. ULAN BATOR KHANS (11-5)
At National Sports Stadium, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Playoff records: Miazga 3-6-1, Wanberg 2-4
Head to head: Khans 48, Eggers 46, Week 7; Eggers 24, Khans 19, Week 11

The skinny: Not only is this the first Finger Bowl to be played in Mongolia, but it also features two longtime Finks League owners who have never won a championship. The Eggers' Miazga has spent 16 years in the league while the Khans' Wanberg is in his 17th season. ... This year's Finger Bowl also features two division runners-up, the Khans from the Favre Division and the Eggers from the Marino Division. The last time that happened was 2009 when Wanberg lost 37-31 to Goff's Serkus Act in Wanberg's only other Finger Bowl appearance. ... Miazga hopes to avoid becoming the NFL's Buffalo Bills with his third consecutive Finger Bowl appearance, but no wins. Buffalo lost four straight Super Bowls from 19991-94. Miazga lost last year's Finks League championship to Wilcox's Anthony Munoz and Cleopatra, 61-42. In 2001, he lost 66-61 to Cassidy's Lockport Distillers. ... This year's third place matchup features the Barrels (11-5) vs. the Distillers (11-5).

Projected lineups: Eggers -- P. Manning, Forte, Morris, Allen, Colston, Walsh; Khans -- Dalton, Cunningham, F. Jackson, Marshall, Green, Gostkowski.

The pick: Eggers 35, Khans 25

Week 16: Semifinal results

WEEK 16 BOXSCORES

Ulan Bator Khans
QB Dalton CIN 21
RB Cunningham STL zero
RB F. Jackson BUF 11
WR Marshall CIN 6
WR Green CIN 15
PK Gostkowski NE 15
Total 68

Lockport Distillers
QB Brees NO 8
RB Lynch SEA zero
RB Green-Ellis CIN zero
WR Cal. Johnson DET zero
WR Garcon WAS 11
PK Crosby GB 7
Total 32

Ham N Eggers

QB P. Manning DEN 21

RB Morris WAS 9

RB Forte CHI zero

WR Colston zero

WR Allen SD 6

PK Walsh MIN 2

Total 38

Creighton Barrels

QB Luck IND 6

RB Ivory NYJ 5

RB A. Brown NYG zero

WR D. Thomas DEN 11

WR Gordon CLE 3

PK Sturgis MIA zero

Total 25

Week 16: Semifinals previews

HAM N EGGERS (9-5-1) vs. CREIGHTON BARRELS (11-4)
At Morrison Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Championships won: Traczek, 1999
Playoff records: Miazga, 2-6-1; Traczek 5-7-1
Previous meeting: Eggers 68, Barrels 58, Week 1

The skinny: Miazga's Eggers are the two-time Finger Bowl runner-up seeking their first Finks League title... Traczek's Barrels are the Favre Division champs and Traczek's last playoff appearance was second place in 2008... The Barrels took a late hit in their lineup with New Orleans' release of PK Hartley after Week 15.

Projected starters: Eggers -- P. Manning, Morris, Forte, Allen, J. Thomas, Walsh. Barrels -- Luck, T. Richardson, MJD, D. Jackson, Gordon, Sturgis.

The pick: Eggers 45, Barrels 30.



ULAN BATOR KHANS (10-5) vs. LOCKPORT DISTILLERS (11-4)

At East Stadium, Lockport, Ill.

Championships won: Cassidy, 2011
Playoff records: Wanberg 1-4; Cassidy 2-1-1
Previous meeting: Distillers 47, Khans 37, Week 3

The skinny: Since joining the league, Cassidy's Distillers have made a playoff appearance in each of their three seasons. In a short time, Cassidy has become the league's winningest owner with a 32-16-1 record... The Distillers won the Marino Division title. ... Wanberg's Khans made their last playoff appearance in 2009 when they were Finger Bowl runner-up.

Projected starters: Khans -- Dalton, Cunningham, F. Jackson, Green, Marshall, Gostkowski. Distillers -- Brees, Lynch, Green-Ellis, Cal. Johnson, Garcon, Crosby.

The pick: Distillers 50, Khans 35.

Quags ends season with an 89-point bang

Hurricane Quags fell shy of qualifying for the 2013 Finks League playoffs, but went out with a bang in Week 15 by scoring 89 points in a single weekend. Quags came one point shy of equaling the Finks League record set by Matt Simo's Chicago Blitz in Week 11 of 1995. That was the second season of the Finks League, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

As Serkus owner Stan Goff noted, Quags' RB Charles KC's 37 points outscored not only his team, but four other teams for a single weekend. It's hard to believe, but Charles' six-TD game even outscored PK Tucker BAL's six-FG game for Quags.

Here's the breakdown in Week 15 for Quags:

QB: Rivers SD 6 points
RB: Charles KC 37 points (5 touchdowns, 195 receiving yards)
RB: Vereen NE 0 points
WR: Bryant DAL 13 points (1 touchdown, 153 yards)
WR: Jeffery CHI 6 points (1 touchdown, 72 yards)
K: Tucker BAL 27 points (6 field goals, 9 bonus points)

Eggers, Quags battle for last playoff berth

The Eggers would wrap up the last playoff berth in the Marino Division with a win over Quags in Week 14. The Distillers have the division lead in the the Marino Division and in a pivotal win over the Distillers, the Barrels lead the Favre Division.

The last time the Eggers and Quags met was a 52-52 tie in Week 5.

Week 11: Barrels, Distillers clinch playoff berths

Congrats to the Barrels and Distillers on becoming the first Finks League teams to clinch playoff berths. The Barrels moved ahead of Khans with a 37-28 victory over the Sharks.

The Distillers own a four-game lead over third place Tale with four weeks remaining, but own the head-to-head tiebreaker with a season sweep. Distillers won in Week 11, 63-17, over Quags.

In another note, Newt picked up his first win of the season to avoid tying the league's 11-game losing streak set last year by Pink Poodle. Where as Poodle didn't always try to win games last year, the agony might have been tougher for the usually competitive Newt.

In the coming weeks, Khans from the Favre Division and Eggers from the Marino Division will attempt to close in on playoff berths of their own.

Week 10 report

Sent in by Barrels owner Chris Traczek: "After the early games, it looked like the Barrels were headed for defeat as Cincinnati's Dalton-to-Green Hail Mary pass on the final play of regulation gifted the Khans an additional 11 points and gave them a 48-25 lead heading into the late action. The Barrels were able to forge a tie, however, thanks to Demaryius Thomas' 3 receiving TDs and 104 receiving yards, then established their 7-point margin of victory courtesy of Garrett Hartley's 7 PATs in the Saints' demolition of the Cowboys on Sunday night."

Khans owner Wanberg joins blogosphere

Khans owner D.J. Wanberg has joined the ranks of bloggers with his "As the D.J. Turns" using Wordpress.

Wanberg posted his first blog entry earlier this week and it's not about fantasy football. I invite you to check it out here.

As D.J. explains: "Some of you might have already seen this on Facebook or will see this on Facebook. I have started a blog. It's called "As The D.J. Turns" and deals with sports, movies, television and the media in general. It's something I have wanted to do for a long time.

Except for Goff, all winners at Salt Bar Sunday

Dah Commish was the grand prize winner for free movie passes in his debut at the Salt Sports Bar in Bolingbrook Sunday. I think the other patrons photo bombed him.

Four Finks owners were representing Sunday at Salt. That's Barrels' Chris Traczek (from left), Dah Commish, Distillers' Dan Cassidy and Serkus' Stan Goff.

Narrow margin

Week 7 musings from Serkus owner Stan Goff:

Shows again what the so-called fantasy "experts" know: Before the Cowboys-Eagles game Nick Foles was the second coming, LeSean McCoy was the top RB choice for the week, DeSean Jackson was uncoverable and there would be 100 points and 1,000 yards of total offense in the game. Instead, it was one of the most miserably inept offensive performances that I've seen by two teams in a long, long time.

More pictures from Bolingbrook's Salt Bar

Salt Bar at the Promenade in Bolingbrook is the place to watch NFL action with Finks League owners. From left, Ann and Chris Traczek of the Barrels, Stan Goff of Serkus, Dan Cassidy of the Distillers and the legendary D.J. Wanberg of the Khans, who apparently made a rare appearance with the masses.

Striking a pose with Abe, Anna and A.G.

Dah Commish models his new Finks League T-shirt at league headquarters in Darien. That's future fantasy owners Anna Wilcox (left) holding the Abe Gibron Trophy and No. 1 son A.G., who's given name is Adam George but goes with the initials for All's Good. (They are being raised by their mother as Bears fans. Good luck to them).

Check out the Finks Shop on the home page if you would like to get a Finks League T-shirt. My wife calls me a geek for wearing my shirts (I have both models), but I just tell her how right she is. You have to be a complete fantasy football geek to run a 20-year-old league with a bunch of broken-down current and former sportswriters. (Photo by Gracie Wilcox)

A dreaded tie

The first tie of the season always seems to bring about a moment to cherish in Finks League action. I've heard of low score ties, but we don't have many high scoring ties. In Week 6, Quags and Marino Division leader Eggers tied at 52.

Here's how it went down from Eggers owner Mike Miazga's view:

"HNE misses a win by 1 receiving yard. Julio Jones finished with 99 yards receiving. We trailed 52-35 heading into the rescheduled Raiders game. An old HNE friend again came through (Janikowski with 14 points) and then there were tense times Monday night. I checked the stats at halftime and Jones had nothing."

Quags co-owner featured in Pioneer Press

Quags co-owner Anthony Quagliano (pictured right) was recently featured in a Pioneer Press story here:

http://barrington.suntimes.com/people/creighton-BCR-09262013:article

You can also find Quagliano's former football highlights:

An NFL Sunday with fellow Finks owners

Three Finks League owners -- Serkus' Stan Goff (from left), Barrels' Chris Traczek and Distillers' Dan Cassidy -- enjoy the atmosphere Sunday at the Salt Sports Bar in Bolingbrook. Looks like the guys are Sunday regulars there to cheer on their Finks players, or lament their zero-point day efforts.

It's good to be 2-0

Congrats to our three undefeated teams: Brawlers, Khans and Quags. The Brawlers beat Newt with a lot of help from Week 2 POY QB Rodgers (21 points) of GB.

Eggers owner's nervous night

Eggers owners Mike Miazga shares this experience from Monday Night Football:

"I was on a plane last night headed to Charleston for work during the first MNF game. I notice this college kid has her computer open and is following the Eagles-Skins game on ESPN Website through the inflight Internet. I ask her who is winning and then ask who scored Philadelphia's first TD. Of course she says Jackson and at the time I was leading Barrels by like 15 only and this was in the first quarter. Of course she tells me Morris had nothing. So for the rest of the flight and until I got to the hotel I was sweating it. Then I saw how many points Eagles had and was really worried. Luckily Jackson didn't go nuts. I probably need mental help for following so closely."

Have any other Week 1 stories? Feel free to comment.

Week 1: Manning's big day

Peyton Manning owners were elated after Week 1 with his record-tying seven TD passes against the Ravens, but I'm sure on the flip side that those competing against Manning were not happy. In the Finks League, that would have been the Barrels who saw the Eggers score 68 points with help from Manning's 30 Finks points.

In my wife's Yahoo League from work, she was pretty mad as well after watching Manning drop a ton of points in her QB-heavy league. Is it bad thing this season when a husband and wife in separate leagues have the same QB? The Wilcoxes are all over QB Stafford DET this season.

Manning's 30 Finks points is not a record, even though individual Finks points have not been kept. Dah Commish only added the Player of the Week feature a few years ago. Quags' RB D. Martin TB scored 33 in Week 9 last year. Quags might know how he did it. Quags beat the Distillers 80-46 that week.

No bounties sought for Finks owners

Check out this story from May about a disgruntled fantasy commissioner seeking a bounty hunter for deadbeat owners. Good thing all of our Finks League owners pay up on time, or I will sick Boba Fett or Jonathan Vilma on your tale.

Here's the story: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/duck-fantasy-baseball-fees-and-this-could-happen-to-you/

Dah Commish gives a S/O in his other blog

I indirectly talked about the Finks League in by Heard in the Hallways blog for Pioneer Press. You can check it out at this link:

http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/sports/2013/08/one_fans_fantasy_football_obse.html

Auction 2013 is in the books

A few notes from Finks League Auction 2013 now that the agonizing wait for your roster is complete:

THE TOPS: Your highest bids by position were $38 for QB Brees NO by the Distillers... $26.75 for RB Rice BAL by Newt... $24.05 for WR Fitzgerald AZ by Quags... $3.01 for PK Gostkowski by Khans.
HOT BIDS: The bidding was very spirited for the following players:
RB Spiller BUF for $23.17 by Quags, the next bid was $23.07.
WR Bryant DAL went for $23.75 by Quags, the next bid was $19.02.
The Eggers received WR Jul. Jones ATL for $6.02 to beat a bid of $5.94.
Newt claimed PK Prater DEN for $1.32, topping a bid of $1.03.
A penny makes a difference for Khans' Gostkowski bid, beating out another bid of $3.
BLIND LEADING THE BLIND: There was only one blind draw for an equal high bid. The Brawlers got RB M. Ball DEN over the Sharks for .50.
BEST ON THE BOARD: According to an ESPN Fantasy Football Draft Kit listing, these are our best remaining free agents available after Week 1:
QB Roethlisberger PIT
RB Bernard CIN
WR R. White ATL
PK J. Brown NYG

Good luck to you all.

Funny NBC spot on Premier League football