Week 17: Finger Bowl 23 preview

Just a Fantasy (9-6-1) at Ham N Eggers (10-6)

At Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh

Playoff records: Fantasy owner Newton (6-7); Eggers owner Miazga (7-8-1)

Finger Bowl records: Newton (0-2); Miazga (1-4)

Head to head: Eggers 60, Fantasy 43 (Week 5); Eggers 55, Fantasy 18 (Week 14)

The skinny: The 2016 Finks League championship features the Duerson Division champion (Eggers) against the runner-up (Fantasy)... The Eggers hope to defend their 2015 championship and become the league's first back-to-back champ since Goff won Finger Bowls 16 & 17... In his 19th season, Miazga has set three postseason league records with his sixth Finger Bowl appearance, his sixth consecutive playoff appearance and his ninth playoff appearance... The Eggers won Finger Bowl 22 with a 31-24 win over Quags... The Eggers' 89 points in the semifinals is an unofficial high for a Finks postseason. The regular season record for a single game remains 90 points scored by Simo's Chicago Blitz in 1995. ... Newton last appeared in the championship at Finger Bowl 13 in 2006 as the owner of Eye of Newt... He lost to the Ponz Scum, 34-19, in that final and also appeared in Finger Bowl 11.

In other postseason action, the Brawlers (9-7) meet the Distillers (10-5-1) for third place.

Projected starters: Fantasy -- Prescott, Blount, Powell, Evans, Crowder, Hauschka; Eggers -- Cousins, Peterson, D. Johnson, Beckham Jr., Kelce, Gostkowski.

The pick: Eggers 45, Fantasy 25

Week 16: Semifinal boxscores

Ham N Eggers 89, Dublin Brawlers 32

BRAWLERS (32)

Brady NE 12
McCoy BUF 11
Freeman ATL zero
Adams GB 6
Mitchell NE  zero
Janikowski OAK 3

EGGERS (89)

Cousins WAS 20
L. Bell PIT 17
D. Johnson AZ 21
Beckham Jr. NYG 7
Kelce KC 13
Gostkowski NE 11

Just a Fantasy 38, Lockport Distillers 21

FANTASY (38)

Prescott DAL 12
Blount NE 12
Powell NYJ zero
Evans TB 9
Crowder WAS zero
Hauschka SEA 5

DISTILLERS (21)

Brees NO 8
D. Murray TEN zero
Rawls SEA zero
Crabtree OAK 3
Fitzgerald AZ zero
Crosby GB 10

Week 16: Semifinal previews

Dublin Brawlers (9-6) at Ham N Eggers (9-6)

At Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Playoff record: Herigodt, Brawlers (3-1); Miazga, Eggers (6-8-1)

Head to head: Brawlers 28, Eggers 23 (Week 7); Eggers 65, Brawlers 60 (Week 12)

The skinny: Eggers owner Miazga won his first Finger Bowl title in 2015 and will attempt to become the first repeat champion since Goff's Serkus from 2009-10.... This semifinal marks the first playoff battle between the league's only husband-wife owners, which should make for interesting football watching this weekend at the family's Elmhurst home.... The Brawlers-Eggers finshed 1-2 in their division in 2015.... The Brawlers and Eggers also reached the postseason in 2011 when the Eggers placed second... The Eggers are powered by their RB combination, among the best in the NFL this season.

Projected starters: Eggers -- Cousins, D. Johnson, L. Bell, Beckham Jr., Eifert, Bryant; Brawlers -- Brady, McCoy, Freeman, Adams, Mitchell, Janikowski.

The pick: Eggers 45, Brawlers 30.

Just a Fantasy (8-6-1) at Lockport Distillers (10-4-1) 

At East Campus Field, Lockport, Ill.

Playoff record: Newton, Fantasy (8-6-1); Cassidy, Distillers (3-2-1)

Head to head: Tied 28-28 (Week 13)

The skinny: It could be another close battle after the two teams provided the only draw in the league this season.... The Distillers raced out to the best record in the league, but could be hampered by the unknown injury status of RB M. Gordon SD.... Distillers owner Cassidy won a Finger Bowl title in 2011. Fantasy's Newton seeks his first league title since joining in 2002. He placed second in '06 and '04.

Projected starters: Distillers -- Brees, Rawls, D. Murray, Fitzgerald, Crabtree, Crosby; Fantasy -- Prescott, Blount, Powell, Evans, Crowder, Hauschka.

The pick: Distillers 40, Fantasy 35.

Week 15: One playoff berth remaining

With the Distilers clinching the title for the Seau Division championship, all of the intrigue in the Finks League playoff race comes down to the Seau runner-up. Entering Week 15, the Brawlers and Cats meet to decide the last playoff qualifier.

The Brawlers get in with a win in Week 15 over the Cats. The Cats hope to force a tie and would need to count on the points scored tiebreaker on the season. The Brawlers already hold the season advantage with a 41-32 victory over the Cats in Week 2.

Week 14: Tie gives divisions leaders a break

In a battle between division leaders in Week 13, the 2016 season's first tie between Just a Fantasy and the Lockport Distillers, 28-28, wrapped up playoff berths for both teams. Fantasy clinched a postseason berth in the Duerson Division while the Distillers clinched the Seau Division championship.

Entering Week 14, there are three teams battling for one playoff spot in the Seau Division. Someone is bound to survive into the postseason between the Cats, Serkus and Brawlers. Much will be decided this week as Serkus (6-7) faces the Brawlers (7-6). In another key battle, the Cats (7-6) will play the Distillers.

Say Owww

Week 7 ended the first of three consecutive weeks of mid-season crossover games between the Duerson and Seau Divisions. Seau teams won three out of five matchups in Week 7 led by first place Distillers (6-1), which crowned two players of the week in QB Brees NO and RB M. Gordon SD.

The mid-season crossovers break up conference play and are placed in the middle of the season so that the season ends with more thrilling conference matchups. Weeks 7 and 9 are the only randomly selected games on the season.

In Week 7, only two Duerson teams -- Just a Fantasy and Boom Town Blue Jays -- were winners.

With three teams with at least four wins, Seau teams own the advantage over the Duersons. After Week 7, Seau leads the season series 8-3.

Week 3: Benchwarmers

The frustration in running a fantasy football team can be endless. It's what helped drive former Finks League owner Chris Traczek out of the fantasy craziness. In my 23rd year as your fearless Commish and an owner equally as long, I try not to let it affect me. It does. But, heh, this is supposed to be fun.

Three weeks into the season, I have no idea who to start week to week for my Eskimos. In a dose of humility, the Eskimos scored a league-low 21 points in Week 3 while leaving 65 points on the bench, including easy MVP -- WR Marvin Jones DET (21 Finks points).

I should know better, but what's hard is getting a grip of who your top players are so early in the season. I used to complain about fantasy web sites' weekly rankings by position, but as Traczek and I eventually discussed, the whole ranking business isn't worth the space. No one can predict how players will play and the so-called analysts are not held accountable for their missed predictions.

The weekly grind of choosing a winning lineup has to get better, doesn't it?

Week 1: First of 15 weeks

Week 1 is over. Fourteen more to go in the 2016 Finks League.

The first week featured a 44-42 thrilling win for Quags over the newly-christened Just a Fantasy of Jeff Newton. Co-POW Alex Smith scored half of Fantasy's points with over 350-plus yards of passing and a rushing TD.

Serkus owner Stan Goff won 56-23 despite having only one RB on his roster. Who says you need six players to compete in Finks League?

Defending champion Mike Miazga suffered a Week 1 loss, 60-45, to Distillers.

Entering Week 2, four 1-0 teams face each other with Serkus vs. Distillers and Gaga vs. Eskimos.

Auction 2016 is completed

After a one-day delay, the Finks League auction for 2016 was completed Monday morning. Perhaps some of your rosters improved after the revised bids were finished. Mine did not for my newly christened Duluth Eskimos.

To start, we have the same 10 owners returning from last season, but four new teams. The biggest shakeup came from Newton HQ in Gurnee where after 14 years of bliss as Eye of Newt, longtime owner Jeff Newton has now renamed his team "Just a Fantasy." Other revisions are King as Brady Gaga and Wanberg as Accra Golden Cats now that his franchise has relocated to Ghana.

Here are some notes from Auction 2016:

• Like son, like father: We learned father Dick Quagliano and son Anthony Quagliano don't share bid sheet details as both were high bidders for RB Miller HOU. Anthony topped the old man, $30.73-$21.30 for the rusher. 
• Go Pack Go?: Bears season ticket holder Dick Quagliano must be rooting for Green Bay this season. He spent major quan on QB Rodgers and both WRs Nelson and Cobb. He out bid Serkus for Nelson, $17.51-$17.01.
• It's a draw: This year's auction featured one blind draw when both the Eskimos and Brawlers had equal bids of 25 cents for WR Watkins BUF. In a drawing selected by Dah Commish's daughter, Anna, the pick went to the Eskimos.
• High QB: Quags' QB Rodgers GB at $32.10 while Gaga spent $30.03 for QB Newton CAR.
• High RB: AP to Fantasy for $36.25
• High WR: Cats spent $23.15 for WR J. Jones ATL.
• High PK: Defending Finks League champ Eggers spent $7.51 to acquire PK Gostkowski NE.

Welcome to Finks League 2016

Another year has passed, but thankfully fantasy football approaches. We're back again for another action-packed season of Finks League football. Check out some new team names at the Rosters page. Jeff Newton has promised a new name for 2016, but since there has not been an announcement as of yet Jeff is still the Eye.

The legendary Anna Wilcox picks Finks League team names from a hat to determine divisions on Sunday at the kitchen table in Darien. 

Eggers clock in for Finger Bowl title

PITTSBURGH -- The long nightmare has ended for Ham N Eggers'  Mike Miazga. The veteran Finks League owner clinched his first Finger Bowl title in Week 17.

After finishing second for a record four consecutive seasons, Miazga earned his first Finger Bowl championship in his 18th season with a 31-24 victory over Hurricane Quags. QB Stafford DET, a late season pickup, was named the Finger Bowl 22 MVP with a team-high 14 Finks points for the winning team at Three Rivers Stadium.

Stafford became the first quarterback to be named Finger Bowl MVP since Brady NE for Dah Commish's As You Hike It in 2003 and the first DET player to be named MVP since QB Mitchell in 1995.

Miazga's Finger Bowl championship drought ended with his eighth playoff appearance. He entered the Finger Bowl with a 5-8-1 playoff record and won 10 games for the third time in his career while finishing second in the Starr Division this season.

The Eggers tied Matt Simo's Oakland Invaders for the third lowest total by a Finks League champion. Simo won in 1997 with 27 points with the Las Vegas Posse and Miazga's wife, Kris Herigodt, won her only Finks title with 29 points in 2008.

For first place, Miazga earns $386.25 and Quags earns $128.75 as the runner-up.

The Eggers led 25-24 after the completion of Sunday afternoon's games and Miazga picked up another six Finks points on RB Peterson MIN's touchdown in the Sunday night game.

Miazga will receive possession of the Abe Gibron Trophy for the upcoming year as Finks champion.

In the third-place game, Dah Commish's Canton Bulldogs defeated Herigodt's Dublin Brawlers 39-32 to win $60. It was the second consecutive third-place finish for Dah Commish.

Behind the scenes at Eggers Central

Winning Finger Bowl owner Mike Miazga sent his game-day thoughts with the Finks League championship on the line Sunday:

"It was 25-24 and I was pacing back and forth in the bedroom for about 30 minutes waiting for the Denver game to get over (Woodhead still going for Quags). As a general rule in these close Finks situations, I do not watch the game, especially the Sunday and Monday night games where the Finks game hangs in the balance.  I thought with my past luck, he would get a TD.

Also of significance is the amount of time I spent going back and forth on Stafford and Fitzpatrick Sunday morning. I sent a Twitter question to Sirius XM Fantasy Radio and they said Stafford, and ESPN's live chat answered back and said go with Fitzpatrick. A friend of mine (a Lions fan) originally told me Sunday a.m. to go with Fitzpatrick but then reversed course when he found out about the weather in Buffalo. I think the point difference was 14-6 between the two.

Once again I had a blast playing and look forward to next year."

Week 17: The Boxscores

FINGER BOWL 22

Eggers 31, Quags 24

Quags (24)
QB Bortles JAX 3
RB D. Johnson AZ zero
RB Woodhead SD zero
WR Watkins BUF 5
WR Crabtree OAK 6
PK Gano CAR 10

Eggers (31)
QB Stafford DET 14
RB Peterson MIN 6
RB Gore IND 3
WR Beckham Jr. NYG zero
WR Hopkins HOU 3
PK Gostkowski NE 5

THIRD-PLACE GAME

Bulldogs 39, Brawlers 32

Bulldogs (39)
QB Roethlisberger PIT 17
RB Martin TB zero
RB Hightower NO 6
WR D. Thomas DEN 11
WR A. Robinson JAX 5
PK Catanzaro AZ zero

Brawlers (32)
QB Wilson SEA 9
RB Freeman ATL 9
RB Lacy GB zero
WR J. Jones ATL 5
TE Gronkowski NE zero
PK Boswell PIT 9