Jays claim first Finger Bowl title

OMAHA, Neb. -- A monster game from a late-season pickup and a 50-yard plus field goal from veteran PK Vinatieri IND helped lead Boom Town Blue Jays owner Anthony Quagliano to his first Finger Bowl championship in Week 17.

The Jays held off the Lockport Distillers 51-47 to win Finger Bowl 25 at Morrison Stadium.

QB Allen BUF scored 27 Finks points for the Jays (14-3) to capture Finger Bowl MVP honors. Allen became the first BUF player to become a Finger Bowl MVP in the 25-year history of the Jim Finks Memorial Football League. Allen was a free-agent pickup in Week 15 for the Jays.

Allen rushed for two touchdowns, threw three TD passes and earned three bonus points each for rushing and passing.

"I picked him up exactly for this week and he showed out (sic) when I needed it," Quagliano said. "Good to see (RB) Miller come up big when I needed him too."

The Distillers (10-7) had a chance to win but a holding penalty nullified a second possible rushing touchdown for RB Mack IND in the Sunday night game at TEN. The six points would have put the Distillers over the top. Vinatieri also missed an extra point. Entering the Sunday night game, the Jays led 39-36.

The four-point victory for the Jays was the third smallest margin of victory in a Finger Bowl. Finger Bowl 5 was decided by tiebreaker and FB 8 was decided by two points.

The Jays tied a Finks League regular season record for wins in a season and Quagliano, who is in his fourth season, will possess the Abe Gibron Trophy for the upcoming year.

For the victory, Quagliano receives $376.50 and the Distillers' Cassidy earns $125.50 as runner-up.

Finger Bowl 25 boxscore:

Distillers (47)
Manning NYG 14
Carson SEA 11
Mack IND 11
Jeffery PHI 6
Thielen MIN zero
Butker KC 5

Jays (51)
Allen BUF 27
Conner PIT zero
Miller HOU 6
Smith-Schuster PIT  6
Kelce KC  zero
Vinatieri IND 12

Finks League third place goes to Fantasy

The boxscore for the Finks League's third-place match:

Quags (22)
Mahomes KC 11
Edwards BAL 3
Adams PHI zero
J. Brown BAL  zero
Cooper DAL  zero
Fairbairn HOU  8

Fantasy (27)
Wilson SEA  3
Gordon LAC zero
Cohen CHI  6
Baldwin SEA zero
Reynolds LAR 12
Parkey CHI 6

Finger Bowl 25 preview: Distillers vs. Jays

FINGER BOWL 25
Lockport Distillers (10-6) at Boom Town Blue Jays (13-3)
At Morrison Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Playoff records: Distillers' Cassidy (4-4-1); Jays' Anthony Quagliano (1-0)

Head to head: Jays 23, Distillers 22, Week 13

The skinny: The 2018 division champions meet in our annual Finks League final. A. Quags' Jays is making his first appearance in the Finger Bowl in his fourth season as an owner... The Distillers return to the Finger Bowl for the first time since winning FB 18 in its inaugural season in 2011. The Distillers beat the Ham N Eggers 66-61 to tie the highest scoring Finger Bowl ever played (FB 11 in 2004)...
 With the New Orleans Saints clinching the NFC South and No. 1-seed in the NFC, it will be interesting to see if the Saints will rest Distillers starters QB Brees NO and WR Thomas NO.... Considering how they finished last season, it would have been hard to predict that Cassidy and A. Quags would meet in this year's Finger Bowl. The Distillers went 5-10 in 2017 while the Jays were 4-11.

Projected starters: Distillers -- Brees, Mack, Carson, Thomas, Thielen, Butker. Jays -- Watson, Kamara, Gurley, Ebron, Smith-Schuster, Vinatieri.

The pick: Jays 42, Distillers 30.

Semifinal boxscore: Distillers 62, Quags 45

LOCKPORT, Ill. -- RB Carson SEA scored two touchdowns and PK Butker KC added 15 points to lead the Lockport Distillers to a 62-45 victory in the Finks League's Week 16 semifinals. The Distillers received points from each starter to pull off the upset over Quags, which set a new league record for consecutive wins this season.

The win sets up a showdown between division champions in Finger Bowl 25 featuring Lewis Division winner Distillers (10-6) at Urlacher champion Boom Town Blue Jays (13-3). The win by Distillers owner Dan Cassidy also spoiled a possible Finger Bowl matchup between father and son Quaglianos.

Quags (45)
Mahomes KC 16
Lindsay DEN zero
Edwards BAL 3
A. Brown PIT 19
Cooper DAL zero
Fairbairn HOU 7

Distillers (62)
Brees NO 10
Mack IND 6
Carson SEA 17
Thomas NO 11
Thielen MIN 3
Butker KC 15

Week 15: Puttin' a fork in it

Every season ends with four happy owners going to the playoffs, and the another six owners feeling lost all over again.

Dah Commish is one of them, despite having an 8-7 season. I could never get my WRs right. Two of my four coming out of the auction sucked -- D. Thomas DEN and Stills MIA -- and were eventually waived. My other two, Allen LAC and Cooks LAR, had miserably slow starts. Allen was great in the second half, but had five scoreless games in the first half of the season. Yikes.

I did one positive thing this season, but for another team. When Quags was left without a healthy PK entering Week 9, I pulled off a trade with him by acquiring WR Gordon NE for PK Fairbairn HOU. Fairbairn became the NFL's top scorer this season. He has 142 points going into Week 17.

Here's a scattershot look at comments from other owners across the league, who did not make the playoffs.

Miazga:  HNE owner Mike Miazga is summarily firing the entire roster with disgrace after one of the most horrific and underachieving seasons in franchise history. This team of zero-point-performing lightweights has sullied the image of the organization, even beloved Eggers kicker Stephen Gostkowski whose act for kicking (and sometimes missing) mainly extra points has worn out its welcome here.

 Wanberg:  Well, if you will excuse me, it's not been a great season. I need to go fire the coaching staff, scouting staff, training staff, media relations staff, accounting department and our director of concessions. : )

Semifinal boxscore: Jays 49, Fantasy 39

OMAHA, Neb. -- QB Watson HOU scored two touchdowns and passed for two touchdowns to score a match-high 25 points as the Boom Town Blue Jays defeated Just a Fantasy 49-39 in the Finks League Week 16 semifinal at Morrison Stadium.

Fantasy (39)
Wilson SEA 14
Gordon LAC 6
Cohen CHI zero
Adams GB 6
Baldwin SEA 11
Parkey CHI 2

Jays (49)
Watson HOU 25
Kamara NO 15
Gurley LAR DNP
Ebron IND zero
Smith-Schuster PIT 5
Vinatieri IND 4

Semifinal previews

Lockport Distillers (9-6) vs. Hurricane Quags (11-4)
At East Campus Field, Lockport, Ill. 

Playoff records: Distillers owner Dan Cassidy (3-4-1); Dick Quags (5-7)

Head to head: Quags 55, Distillers 33, Week 8

The skinny: This semifinal features a pair of veteran owners. Cassidy has recovered from a midseason heart attack to return to lead the Distillers to the postseason. Cassidy is making his fifth playoff appearance and won a division title for the fourth time. Quags has reached the postseason for the seventh time. Urlacher division champion Jays snapped Quags' record-setting 11-match win streak in Week 15.

Projected starters: Distillers -- Brees, Ingram, Carson, Thomas, Thielen, Butker. Quags -- Mahomes, Lindsay, Edwards, A. Brown, Cooper, Fairbairn.

The pick: Quags 35, Distillers 30.

Boom Town Blue Jays (12-3) vs. Just a Fantasy (8-7)
At Morrison Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Playoff records: Jays' Anthony Quags (0-0); Fantasy's Jeff Newton (7-7)

Head to head: Fantasy 41, Jays 39, Week 1

The skinny: The Jays tied the league record for wins in a season while giving Anthony Quags his first division title in his fourth season. Newton leads all playoff owners with his eighth playoff appearance and his second in three years.

Projected starters: Jays -- J. Allen, Gurley, Kamara, Kelce, Ebron, Vinatieri. Fantasy -- Trubisky, Cohen, Fournette, Adams, Baldwin, Parkey.

The pick: Jays 42, Fantasy 25.

Week 14: Distillers first to clinch division

With a 40-18 victory over division rival Just a Fantasy, the Lockport Distillers became the first Finks League team this season to clinch a division title.

The Distillers (9-5) won the Lewis Division with the victory and will face the runner-up from the Urlacher Division in the Week 16 semifinals. That division title will be decided in a Week 15 matchup between co-leaders and father and son Dick Quagliano of Hurricane Quags (11-3) and Anthony Quagliano of the Boom Town Blue Jays (11-3). In the event of a tie, Quags owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 73-58 win over the Jays in Week 6.

Quags has won a new Finks League-record 11 consecutive games, topping the Eggers' record set last season. The Jays' seven-game win streak ended with a 53-45 defeat in Week 14 to the Independents, ending Anthony's bid to become the first Finks team to win 13 games in a season. Now, either Dick or Anthony Quagliano have a chance to join a list of nine teams that have won 12 games in a season.

The Distillers won their fourth Finks division title since joining the league in 2011. The Distillers clinched a division title and won the Finger Bowl in their first season in 2011, and have other division titles in 2016 and 2013.

Saturday action: Just a reminder to all Finks owners, there are two Saturday games featuring HOU@NYJ and CLE@DEN, so remember to get your starters from those teams into your opponent before kickoff.

Deadlines, deadlines: Free agency ends at 10 p.m. (CST) Wednesday, Dec. 12 and the trading deadline is at noon (CST) Dec. 16. Rosters are frozen during the postseason.

Week 13: Record setters for Quags, Serkus

In Finks League, setting records in opposite directions seems to happen all the time. In Week 13, it was  in the positive for Quags and in the negative for defending champion Serkus.

Quags' 85-35 victory over Serkus in Week 13 tied the Hurricanes for consecutive wins in Finks League history, equaling Eggers owner Mike Miazga's one-year old record. Before Miazga broke the record last season, Dah Commish recalls that the previous record holder was original Four owner Mike Wilcox more than 20 years ago. Quags' last loss was 39-37 to Just a Fantasy in Week 3.

Quags needs one more win to own the record outright. He faces -- yeah -- Miazga's Eggers in Week 14.

Quags (10-3) routed Serkus behind five field goals from PK Fairbairn HOU for a POW honor with 26 Finks points. Quags picked up Fairbairn in a rare trade with the Independents. When Quags needed a PK that week due to byes, Dah Commish engineered a last minute deal with Quags by getting rid of his backup kicker. In Week 11, Quags released his No. 3 kicker, Bullock CIN.

Now Fairbairn has scored 26 Finks points in one game, six more points than former Quags WR Gordon NE has scored in four games with the Independents.

Quags' big win over Serkus nearly toppled the Serkus' season-high scoring total of 87 points in Week 11. But Quags has dominated against Serkus this season. Quags dropped 79 points against Serkus in Week 7.

Serkus has set its own futility record this season, already giving up 740 points on the season with two weeks remaining. Serkus has beaten the previous Finks record for points allowed in a season, held by former owner David Martin's Stump Jumpers (711) from 2000.

Serkus (3-9-1) has given up more than 60 points to one opponent, more than 70 points to three opponents and now the 85 points to Quags.

BOXSCORE

Quags (85)
Mahomes KC 21
Edwards BAL 3
Lindsay DEN 19
Brown PIT 13
Cooper DAL 3
Fairbairn HOU 26

Serkus (35)
Goff LAR 6
E. Elliott DAL 9
Barkley NYG 5
J. Jones ATL zero
Hilton IND 3
J. Elliott PHI 12

Jays' pursuit of 13

It has been a record-breaking season for Boom Town Blue Jays owner Anthony Quagliano, who has previously won a franchise-best eight games in 2016.

Anthony, whose team name refers to his alma mater at Creighton University, is on track to topple the Finks League record of 12 wins in a season shared by nine teams. An unprecedented three teams won 12 games last season. All three finished in the money: Champion Serkus, runner-up Quags (owned by Anthony's father, Dick) and third-place Eggers.

The Jays (11-2) have won seven consecutive matches after beating the Lewis Division-leading Distillers 23-22 in Week 13. The Jays have remaining games against the Independents (6-7) in Week 14 and a rematch against Dad's Hurricanes (10-3) in Week 15. The Jays' last loss was 73-58 to Quags in Week 6.

Daddy Quags is one of two Finks owners to ever win 12 games in a season, along with former owner Chris Traczek. Quags' first 12-win season came in 2007 when he went on to win Finger Bowl 14.

Anthony is in his fourth season in the Finks League. His previous seasons did not foreshadow this season's success. He was 7-8 in 2015, 8-7 in 2016 and 4-11 in 2017.

The Jays are rockin' and rollin' but have yet to clinch the Urlacher Division title. That might come down to the Week 15 family duel against Dad to end the Finks League regular season.

POW watch: RB Gurley LAR was the Jays' top player in Week 13 with 17 Finks points. Gurley is favored to earn Player of the Week honors for the first time, which may seem odd coming from an NFL MVP candidate. After Week 13, Gurley leads the NFL in rushing yards (1,175) and scoring (120 points).

Week 12: Deserved clincher for Distillers

Distillers owner Dan Cassidy clinched a playoff berth while recovering at Silver Cross Hospital from a heart attack Nov. 17.

Cassidy's lineup carried over from Week 11, but it was enough to beat the LAX Planespotters in Week 12 for the Lewis Division-leading Distillers.

"I don't like losing, but I'm glad to give you this get well gift," Spotters owner D.J. Wanberg wrote to Cassidy.

Here's the Spotters vs. Distillers boxscore:

Spotters (21)
Rodgers GB 3
Coleman ATL 6
Yeldon JAX zero
Green CIN DNP
Davis TEN 6
Crosby GB 6

Distillers (43)
Brees NO 12
Mack IND 3
Carson SEA 6
Thomas NO zero
Thielen MIN 11
Myers NYJ 11

More Lewis Division: Second place Just a Fantasy could likely clinch a playoff berth in Week 13. Fantasy holds a three-game lead over the Eggers with three to play, but does not hold the head-to-head advantage. The Eggers beat Fantasy 60-50 in Week 11 to split the season series between the rivals.

All in the family: Papa Dick Quagliano can buy a round for son Anthony Quagliano someday. Anthony's Jays beat the Brawlers 46-43 in Week 12 to clinch a playoff berth for his own Jays and dad's Hurricane Quags. Anthony reports that the Brawlers nearly tied the match on Monday Night Football, but Brawlers WR D. Hopkins HOU was held to 74 yards receiving.

Quags avoided the tiebreaker with the Brawlers by already sweeping their head-to-head series.

Distillers owner back in charge

Stan Goff (left) and Dan Cassidy

Dah Commish paid a visit Friday to Distillers owner Dan Cassidy at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

Dan is now resting at Distillers HQ in Lockport after leaving the hospital Saturday. Serkus owner Stan Goff gave him a ride home and one of Dan's brothers will be spending time with him at his home.

Dan looked like he was in excellent health when I saw him and was thankful for the off duty Lockport police officer who performed CPR on him during his heart attack Nov. 17.

Dan said he hopes to avoid surgery and plans on being back in the owner's box, running the Distillers for Week 13.

It will be great to see Dan come back, even if the Distillers are having another great year this season.

Week 11: Serkus' 87 points

For the record, Distillers owner Dan Cassidy suffered his heart attack one day before his opponent, Serkus owner Stan Goff, scored 87 Finks points against the Distillers. Not afterward.

Cassidy was unconscious at the time, but Serkus' performance was likely a franchise record for Goff, who is the longest tenured Finks League owner besides Dah Commish.

No doubt, Goff competed against Cassidy with a heavy "heart." The two have known each other for decades since they both worked together during the Naperville Sun's glory days.

Eggers owner Mike Miazga wondered if Serkus' total was a record, but our Finks Record Book already has the listing for Hall of Famer Matt Simo's 90 Finks points with the Chicago Blitz in Week 11 of 1995, our second season. Dah Commish does not have week-to-week scores through all 25 seasons to compare where Goff's 87 points would rank. I used to keep week-to-week scores through the first 10 seasons of the league, but stopped keeping track shortly afterward. I kept those scores for a while, but never referred back to them and I decided to keep everything I needed on the Finks League website.

Serkus' 87 likely ranks among the second or third best scoring totals in Finks history. I can't recall too many other weeks in the 80s.

The 87 comes at an inopportune time when the opposing Distillers lacked their owner. It's also a rare highlight to a disappointing 2-8-1 season for the defending champions.

Here's the boxscore:

Distillers (54)
QB Brees NO  21
RB Mack IND 6
RB Carson SEA 6
WR Thomas NO 9
WR Thielen MIN zero
PK Butker KC 9

Serkus (87)
QB Goff LAR 27 (unrelated to Stan)
RB E. Elliott DAL 14
RB Barkley NYG 23
WR Diggs MIN 11
WR J. Jones ATL 11
PK J. Elliott PHI  1

Serkus needed at least one field goal from his former Lyons Township PK to at least tie Simo's record.

QB DUEL: Week 11 Co-players of the Week, Quags QB Mahomes KC and Goff, played against each other Monday night and scored a Finks-best 27 points each for the week. That has likely never happened before. The Rams won 54-51 in the highest scoring MNF game in history.

Mahomes had six TD passes for nearly 500 yards. Goff had a rushing TD and over 400 passing yards.

Wanberg: "I've added it up twice."

And it's still a tie, for Spotters owner D.J. Wanberg.

Wanberg picked up his second tie of the season with a 35-35 draw to the Eggers in Week 5. The Spotters (2-1-2) actually equaled his 2012 two-tie season with the Khans (6-7-2).

Wanberg could become the first Finks League owner to have three or more ties in a season with 10 weeks remaining. In Finks history, nine teams have tied twice in a season as the league enters its 25th year.

The headline is taken from a Wanberg email to the Eggers' Miazga, explaining that no matter how many times he works the number, it's still 35 for both teams.

The Eggers-Spotters tie featured some remarkable moments.

Of course, Wanberg could have avoided the tie if his PK Crosby GB made any of the four field goals that he missed in a heartbreaking Packers loss. Crosby finished with five Finks points.

QB Rodgers GB scored 19 Finks points to keep the Spotters in the game.

The Eggers, who are still looking for their first win, avoided another loss with a rare TD pass from WR Beckham Jr. NYG, who finished with 14 Finks points.

The Spotters' previous tie game came in Week 1, 36-36, against Serkus Act.

The last team to have two ties in a season was Traczek's Barrels (6-7-2 in 2014).

Week 3 roundup: Here come the byes

Week 4 begins the NFL bye season with CAR and WAS taking the weekend off. I dread byes in order to get more games in during the regular season.

The CAR and WAS absences hardly shake up the Finks League week. Likely missing from starting lineups will be Independents' RB McCaffrey CAR and Eggers' RB Peterson WAS.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda -- Damn it

How many times in the history of a fantasy football does an owner take themselves to the woodshed for their own kind of whooping?

In Week 1, Miaza's Eggers would have won if they used WR Hill KC as a starter, instead of leaving his 25 Finks points on the bench. Dah Commish's Independents would have been a winner with WR Stills MIA (17 points) as a starter. Sometimes fantasy can just be plain frustrating. A. Quags' Jays started eventual Player of the Week -- RB Kamara NO (25 points) -- but couldn't win.

After Week 1, both father and son Quaglianos are 0-1. Defending champion Goff's Serkus and Wanberg made his debut with the Spotters with a tie, something Finks League did not have all last season.

And so it goes...

Auction 2018 wrap up

And we're off...

The 25th season for the Finks League has begun with Sunday's annual auction. Each year, owners provide quite a diverse bid sheets. Some owners send long lists of penny players while other owners send in hardly any names at all.

As the commissioner since Day 1, I have never seen one kind of bid sheet that ends up helping crown a Finger Bowl champion. It's a long year ahead with plenty of free-agent pickups and perhaps a trade or two along the way.

Here's my recap of the auction, which was held in the basement bunker of my modest home in Darien. Good luck to you all.

You're the tops: These players owned the highest bids. QB Rodgers GB ($38.23 by the Spotters), outbidding one other owner with a $31 bid. RB Gurley LAR ($34.25 for the Jays). WR A. Brown PIT ($33.51 for Quags), beating bids of $31 and $27.33, and PK Zuerlein LAR ($5.04 for the Eggers).

Three of a kind: There were three blind draws conducted for marginal players. All three tie-breaking blind draws were for players with bids of 10 cents or less.

Kick me: Jays owner Anthony Quagliano placed only three bids for PKs at one penny each. Not surprisingly, he did not pick up a kicker in the auction.

Quags Report: Hurricanes boss Dick Quagliano did the math after his auction returns. Quags reports that $99.59 of his allotment went toward all of his players in the draft. In short, Quags got nearly player he wanted on his bid sheet. He bid on only 17 players and ended up with 11.

What's left? Using the rankings of CBS Sports fantasy football writer Jamey Eisenberg (Non-PPR), here are the top remaining players available via free-agent pickup after Week 1:

QB Wentz PHI (ranked No. 12), RB J. Williams GB (No. 21), WR Smith-Schuster PIT (No. 18) and PK McManus DEN (No. 14).

Week 17: Goff wins record fourth Finger Bowl

BARBOO, Wis. -- Serkus Act owner Stan Goff won a record fourth Finger Bowl with a 34-29 victory over Hurricane Quags in the 24th annual Finks League championship match.

Driven by WR Baldwin SEA's 15 points to claim Finger Bowl MVP, Goff averted an 18-point effort from Quags QB Rivers LAC and received a dose of luck when usual starter, RB Hunt KC, scored a touchdown while on the bench for Quags.

The Finger Bowl final featured a matchup of first and second place in the Tomlinson Division. The two teams split their season series.

Goff was tied with Mike Wilcox and Matt Simo as a three-time Finks champ after previously winning Finger Bowls from 2009-10 and in 2014. Quags finished as the runner-up for the second time in three years.

Goff won the title despite making a season-low two transactions. He picked up WR Kupp LAR and PK Zuerlein LAR in Week 2 while releasing WR Robinson JAX and PK Lambo LAC. Kupp did not start FB 24 and Zuerlein was placed in the NFL's injured reserve list after Week 15.

From Quags: "Congrats on the win.

I was up 29-19 and Walsh nailed a 49 yarder, Baldwin scored and then went over 75 yards and Walsh added an extra point to fuel your 34-29 comeback win.

For me, it came done to first running plays. I played Perine at running back because Hunt wasn't supposed to play. Perine goes down with an ankle injury on his first carry and leaves the game. Then Hunt, who was not supposed to dress, comes in for one running play when his backup was sick. he scores on a 35-yard run on his only carry."

From Goff: "Wow. I didn't see that coming. I thought when Elliott failed to score a TD and Brady was so-so that I was toast." 

Goff earns $383.25 for the championship win while Quags claims $127.75

Week 17: Finger Bowl 24 boxscore

SERKUS 34, QUAGS 29

Quags (29)
QB Rivers LAC 18
RB Perine WAS zero
RB Ingram NO zero
WR Gordon CLE 5
TE Gronkowski NE zero
PK Gano CAR 6

Serkus (34)
QB Brady NE 6
RB E. Elliott DAL 5
RB Ajayi PHI zero
WR D. Bryant DAL zero
WR Baldwin SEA 15
PK Walsh SEA 8

Week 17: One point spells difference for Eggers

PITTSBURGH -- WR Tate DET's one-point conversion catch gave the Eggers a 42-41 victory over Gaga in the third-place game for the Finks League.

Gaga received big boost from PK Dawson AZ, who scored 23 points.

Eggers owner Mike Miazga finished in the top three for the seventh consecutive season.

EGGERS 42, GAGA 41

Gaga (41)
QB Manning NYG 3
RB Powell NYJ zero
RB Coleman ATL zero
WR D. Thomas DEN 6
WR Golladay DET 9
PK Dawson AZ 23

Eggers (42)
QB Wilson SEA 9
RB Kamara NO 15
RB McCaffrey CAR zero
WR Fitzgerald AZ zero
WR Tate DET 12
PK Gostkowski NE 6