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.