Week 16: Diggs ignites Brawlers to title

LOCKPORT, Ill.  -- Twenty-three Finks points for WR Diggs BUF on Monday Night Football, turned a probable defeat into an amazing comeback for the Dublin Brawlers in Finger Bowl 27.

The Brawlers entered the MNF contest trailing the Lockport Distillers by 13 points, but Diggs won the game for the Brawlers, 58-48, with his three touchdowns and five-point bonus yardage. For being the top scorer on the championship team, Diggs was named Finger Bowl MVP. 

The Brawlers (9-7), in a matchup of division runners-up, claimed their second Finger Bowl title in league history after last winning in 2008's Finger Bowl 15 with a 29-22 win over Creighton Barrels. 

Brawlers owner Kristin Herigodt joins four other owners as the only Finks League owners with multiple Finger Bowl titles. She joins Goff (4), Mike Wilcox (3), Simo (3) and Dah Commish (2). Herigodt also has one more title than her husband, Mike Miazga, the longime owner of the Eggers. Miazga won his only Finger Bowl in 2015. 

The Distillers (10-6) lost their second Finger Bowl in three years after suffering a 51-47 defeat to the Jays in 2018. 

BRAWLERS (58)

Brady TB 19

A. Jones GB 3

Carson SEA zero

Diggs BUF 23

Godwin TB 9

Crosby GB 4

DISTILLERS (48)

Brees NO 7

Cook MIN 6

Montgomery CHI 9

Thielen MIN 9

Hill KC zero

McManus DEN 17

Week 16: Fantasy takes third behind Kamara

GURNEE, Ill -- Led by RB Kamara NO's record-tying day in the NFL, Just a Fantasy claimed third place with a 79-49 victory over Chicago Heights Mafia. Kamara's 43 points alone nearly beat the Mafia.

Fantasy 79, Mafia 49

FANTASY (79)

Herbert LAC 8

Kamara NO 43

Swift DET zero

Adams GB 23

Jefferson MIN 3

Gould SF 2

MAFIA (49)

Rodgers GB 15

Henry TEN 3

E. Elliott DAL 5

Kupp LAR zero

Lamb DAL 12

Zuerlein DAL 14 

Week 16: Finger Bowl 27 preview

Dublin Brawlers (8-7) vs. Lockport Distillers (10-5)

at East Campus Field, Lockport, Ill.

Playoff records: Brawlers owner Herigodt (6-3); Distillers owner Cassidy (5-5-1)

Head to head: Distillers 64, Brawlers 32, week 8

The skinny: The last time division runners-up met in a Finger Bowl was 2015 when the Eggers defeated Quags. ... The Distillers advanced to the Finger Bowl for the second time in three years. The Distillers lost Finger Bowl 25 with a 51-47 defeat to the Jays in 2018. ... The Brawlers make their first return to a Finger Bowl since winning FB15, 29-22, over the Creighton Barrels in 2008. That championship was the only Finks League title for the Brawlers. ... The Distillers' only title was FB18, a 66-61 win over the Eggers in 2011. 

Projected starters: Brawlers -- Brady, A. Jones, Carson, Diggs, Metcalf, Crosby. Distillers -- Goff, Cook, Montgomery, Thielen, Hill, Bailey.

The pick: Distillers 45, Brawlers 40.

Week 15: semifinal boxscores

Brawlers hold off Fantasy for upset

GURNEE, Ill. -- QB Brady TB scored 15 points and RB A. Jones GB added 11 points as the division runner-up Dublin Brawlers stunned Bednarik Division champion Just a Fantasy 40-39 in the Finks League semifinals. 

Veteran Finks owner Mike Miazga said the match came down to a possible last drive for RB Kamara NO, but Kamara finished with 54 yards against KC.

The Brawlers will make their first Finger Bowl appearance since 2010 in Week 16. 

BRAWLERS (40)

Brady NE 15

A. Jones GB 11

Carson SEA zero

Diggs BUF 5

Metcalf SEA zero

Crosby GB 9

FANTASY (39)

Herbert LAC 19

Kamara NO 6

Drake AZ zero

Adams GB zero

Jefferson MIN 5

Carlson LV 9

Total effort pushes Distillers

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. -- In a key decision, Distillers owner Cassidy chose RB Montgomery CHI over RB Jacobs LV as a starter and it paid off as Montgomery scored a season-high 17 points to fuel the Distillers' 58-44 semifinal win over the host Mafia. 

Every starter scored for the Distillers, who return to the Finger Bowl for the second time in three years. The Distillers became the second division runner-up to beat a division champion in this year's Finks semifinals. 

DISTILLERS (58)

Goff LAR 9

Cook MIN 11

Montgomery CHI 17

Thielen MIN 6

Hill KC 6

Bailey MIN 9

MAFIA (44)

Rodgers GB 9

Henry TEN 11

Mostert SF zero

Kupp LAR zero

Lamb DAL 9

Zuerlein DAL 15

Week 15: semifinal previews

 Dublin Brawlers (7-7) vs. Just a Fantasy (10-4) 

at Warren High School Field, Gurnee, Ill.

Playoff records: Brawlers owner Herigodt (5-3); Fantasy owner Newton (8-8)

Head to head: Fantasy 50, Brawlers 43, week 12

The skinny: Newton earned his fourth division title in Finks history by winning the Bednarik Division, but it was his first since 2009. ... Both the Brawlers and Fantasy have won only one Finger Bowl title. Fantasy won in 2016 and the Brawlers in 2008. ... Brawlers reached the semifinals as the runner-up in the Gifford Division, winning the third tiebreaker over the Spotters to advance. ... What a difference a year makes. Fantasy lost seven consecutive games in 2019, but won seven consecutive matches in 2020. Fantasy's streak ended with a loss in Week 14. 

Projected starters: Brawlers -- Roethlisberger, A. Jones, Carson, Diggs, Metcalf, Crosby. Fantasy -- Herbert, Kamara, Drake, Adams, Jefferson, Carlson.

The pick: Fantasy 45, Brawlers 33

Lockport Distillers (9-5) vs. Chicago Heights Mafia (8-6)

at Sarff Field, Chicago Heights, Ill.

Playoff records: Distillers owner Cassidy (4-5-1); Mafia owner Goff (11-9)

Head to head: Distillers 33, Mafia 31, week 2

The skinny: The Finks League makes its playoff debut on the blue turf at the home of Bloom's Blazin Trojans. Mafia is in its first year as a franchise in the Finks League after dropping its longtime moniker of Serkus Act. ... Mafia owner Goff won the Gifford Division to claim his sixth division title in league history. ... The Distillers won the Finger Bowl in 2011, but Goff won four Finger Bowls in 2009-10, 2014 and 2017 as Serkus Act. With a win, Goff would add to his league record for playoff victories. He is the winningest owner in the playoffs and the only owner with double-digit playoff wins. ... The Distillers kept winning this season despite losing starting QB Brees NO to an injury. Meanwhile, the turning point to the season for Mafia was a Week-7, five-player trade for acquiring QB Rodgers GB from the Triangles. ... The Distillers had four different players this season to earn P.O.W. honors. Mafia star RB Henry TEN was one of two players this season to earn Finks P.O.W. honors at least two times. 

Projected starters: Distillers -- Goff, Cook, Montgomery, Hill, Thielen, McManus. Mafia -- Rodgers, E. Elliott, Henry, Thomas, Kupp, Zuerlein. 

The pick: Distillers 38, Mafia 35

Brawlers win tiebreaker

Hard to imagine a closer race for Gifford Division runner-up than the battle between the Brawlers and the Spotters for the last spot in the Finks League semifinals. 

With help from stats analyst Mike Miazga, the Brawlers advanced on the third tiebreaker -- best division record. The Brawlers went 6-2 while the Spotters went 5-3. 

The two 7-7 teams split their season series. If it got down to the fourth tiebreakers, the division rivals would have tied there too. Both the Brawlers and Spotters scored 558 points this season. Amazing. 

The fifth tiebreaker is Points Allowed. There, the Brawlers gave up 564 points on the season while the Spotters allowed 563.

The Brawlers advanced to play Bednarik Division champion Just a Fantasy (10-4) in the semifinals. 

 

Carson Wentz

What do you do when a marginal QB like Wentz PHI pretty much ruins your Finks League season? 

This is not an obituary (yet), but merely a report that Dah Commish has placed a "Do Not Resuscitate" order on the 2020 Triangles. Through 12 games of a roller-coaster COVID season, the Triangles are .500 after a devasting loss in their last Finks League matchup.

I was working Monday night and didn't get to watch the SEA-PHI game, but read about it the next day about QB Wentz PHI's Hail Mary pass near the end of the game. CBS Sports reported that the desperation pass ruined the day for many sports bettors. What about fantasy fans?

If Wentz PHI put some of his fantasy owners over the top in a close fantasy contest, that means someone has to be on the receiving end of a loss. That person was me. Wentz's pass to his TE I've never heard of was worth six Finks points in a 49-45 victory for the Jays over the Triangles. The Monday Night game had both QBs in action from each team. The Triangles' Wilson SEA scored six Finks points while Wentz scored nine. 

Yes, Wentz outscored Wilson, which seemed unheard of entering the game. My trust in Wilson by trading away Triangles backup QB Rodgers GB in Week 7, has not been returned. Wilson was the NFL MVP favorite when he averaged 18.5 Finks points per game in his first eight games. Now he has averaged five Finks points in his last three games. The Triangles are 1-2 in those weeks featuring a struggling Wilson. 

Just when it seemed Dah Commish has put together enough solid starters in positions beside QB, now our Triangles QB starter is underachieving. 

And so it goes in another .500 Finks League season. Only two more games left in the regular season. 

Thankful for Finks League, not the insanity

 Is there a running back in the house? Anyone?

Sure, COVID has made this a crazy Finks League season, but with injuries on top of coronavirus this has become ridiculous. Since nearly everyone is at .500 and in the running for a playoff berth, even my own Triangles have delusions of grandeur and have been chasing a playoff berth. Why not? I found out listening to the Score 670-AM that even the Bears can still make the playoffs if you listen to enough on-air personalities. Yeah, right...

For Week 12, my Triangles made their 11th different transaction for an RB this season. That's right, just at one position. That's got to be some kind of record for my 27th season since starting the Finks League. 

My latest addition was Lindsay DEN, who isn't even a starter on his own team. He follows R. Jones TB, Edwards BAL, Dallas SEA, Hasty SF, Breida MIA, Mixon CIN, Da. Henderson LAR, Gaskin MIA, Gallman NYG and Ahmed MIA. Gallman, Mixon and Hasty never made a start for the Triangles although Gallman is projected to make his first start in Week 12. 

I blame much of this mess on Ekeler LAC, who was my No. 1 RB coming out of the auction, but was placed on the Injured Reserve list in Week 5. He has since been picked up by the Jays, but has still not returned for LAC. Ekeler (pictured) was an auction acquisition for $2.25. My other auction acquisitions were Mostert SF, L. Murray NO and White NE, all for a penny. 

The RB part of my auction was a disaster. I didn't get my top two choices with Barkley NYG at $11.50 and Henry TEN at $11.49. No wonder. 

My one trade to improve my RB woes would grade out a D or C-minus so far. In Week 7, I sent QB Rodgers GB, WR Kupp LAR and Mostert to the Mafia for Mixon and WR AJ Brown TEN. While Brown has become one of my WR starters, Mixon never played a game for the Triangles. His injured foot forced CIN to place him on the IR list so I cut him in Week 12. You would have to ask the Mafia how Rodgers and Kupp have worked out for him. 

I am thankful for creating the Finks League on this day. It has made me a better NFL fan and I enjoy the competition with my fellow owners. Some of you have been around for more than 20 years. I've been competing against you much longer than my own marriage, which is in its 18th season -- excuse me -- year. 

I am now working in the golf department at Dick's Sporting Goods in Lombard and all of my college-aged co-workers play fantasy football. They stare at their phones all Sunday long tracking their several teams. They have no concept of not having fantasy football. The Finks League is older than all of them. 

I tell them how our first year started without computers or even the second year when I bought my first laptop and would send results through dial-up via fax machines. This was long before fantasy websites were invented, which they can't believe. 

I explain to them how fantasy sports was invented in the first place when New York writer Daniel Okrent invited a few of his friends to the now-shuttered La Rotisserie restaurant in Manhattan to hold the first fantasy baseball draft. One of his friends that day was historian Doris Kerns Goodwin. There is a section of Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary devoted to Rotisserie baseball. 

My Dick's co-workers can't believe anyone would play Rotisserie baseball over football. Well, that's because there was a time then people cared more about baseball than football. They can't believe that. I played Rotisserie baseball in the 1980s and 90s for more than 10 years before anyone invented fantasy football through a website. 

Fantasy football is a creation due to the internet. Rotisserie baseball mattered before the internet.

I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving. I hop to share many more seasons with you. 

Sometimes .500 feels just right

 

It should be noted that legendary former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was just 55-55-1 in the regular season as a head coach for seven seasons in the NFL. 

Ryan went 0-3 in the postseason to finish below .500 on his career, but pro-football-reference.com just lists regular season records on its list of career coaching wins. Ryan ranks No. 89 in NFL history in wins. He isn't the only .500 -- exactly .500 -- coach on the list. Someone named Wally Lemm ranks above Ryan at No.75 with a 64-64-7 career record in 10 seasons with the Houston Oilers and St. Louis Cardinals. Lemm was the coach for the Oilers' 1961 AFL championship. 

And so .500 seems so appropriate for this topsy turvy 2020 Finks League season. Through six weeks, 60 percent of the league is .500. That's a lot of 3-3 records. 

Dah Commish's Dayton Triangles is one of them. The main problem with being .500 through six weeks is figuring out whether my team stinks or maybe it's pretty good. 

I'm afraid the final answer maybe both. And with a 14-game season, I just may finish 7-7 after all. 

Week 5: All in the Family

 Household match ups should be quite interesting in Week 5. 

Two pairs of family members are squaring off in the Week 5 of Finks League action with the main headline perhaps being the only remaining undefeated team left as Kristin Herigodt's Dublin Brawlers take on her husband, Mike Miazga's Ham N Eggers (1-3). 

The Brawlers lead the league in points scored through four games while the Eggers are second in points allowed.

The Quagliano Bowl takes place in the Northwest suburbs as Hurricane Quags (0-4) faces his son, Anthony, the owner of the two-time defending champion Jays (2-2). It has been a tough early start for Quags, who ranks last in scoring (157 points) and leads the league in points allowed (259). 

COVID update, Finks style

My favorite NFL coach has already survived his own bout with COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease- 2019), but it seemed like a matter of time for former USFL New Jersey Generals owner Donald J. Trump and QB Newton NE to come down on the positive side. 

The funny part about the above warning from the Saints is that NOLA coach Sean Payton was fined at least $100,000 for not wearing a mask properly during a recent game. 

Eggers owner Mike Miazga submitted his own idea of holding a second free-agent draft each week for Finks League teams affected by new COVID cases, but I think that will include just about everyone in the league in the coming weeks. Just so you know, both PIT@TEN and NE@KC are both postponed Sunday. The PIT@TEN game will likely be played Week 7 and I don't think the NFL has a clue about what to do with the NE@KC game. 

For now, I have decided to treat COVID delays as injuries. It is your own risk with starting a player in the NE@KC without certainty that the game will be played in Week 4. Perhaps this unusual season will give Finks owners an added focus on what their bench will contain. 

My other fantasy team on CBS Sports' free league lists my quarterback, Tannehill QB, as inactive due to a bye. Everyone in the time if COVID is just making this up as we all go along. 

If even more cancellations are in the NFL's future, I plan to explore this topic again at that time. 

Records made to be broken

Until seeing the Eggers' 91 points scored in Week 2, I had completely forgot that our Finks League records were kept with such detail for regular season games. With so many years now in the league, I thought I was only keeping playoff records. 

The Eggers' achievement was quite amazing, considering former owner Matt Simo had the previous record going back to Week 11 in 1995, our second Finks League season. 

I found my 10-year celebration book in a remote file cabinet. There it is: 

Simo's Chicago Blitz 90, Matt Trowbridge's Young Guns 38. 

Trowbridge went 9-5-1 that season, but missed the playoffs as the third place team in the Baschnagel Division behind Mike Wilcox's Kansas City Kings (11-4) and Simo's Blitz (10-5). Simo finished second that season after losing to the Stone Blue Bombers, 42-27, in the Finger Bowl. 

I don't have a boxscore from that 1995 Week 11 game. 

The Eggers' 2020 record-breaking performance seems appropriate, considering Miazga's first season was 1995. Playing as the Cosan's Ham n Eggers with a co-owner named Chiarelli, the original Eggers went 7-8 and placed fifth in the Baschnagel Division. 

Other 2020 Finks owners participating in that 1995 season were Dah Commish (La Fleur de Bruce Lees) and Stan Goff (Cowpokes).

One other league note about 1995, that was our first year that Dah Commish went high tech. I bought my first laptop, an Epson monochrome with a track ball as a mouse. My first email address was AOL, such as the rest of the world when that company swamped mailboxes with startup discs. I either sent weekly standings via dialup email through AOL or faxed it out to our Finks owners as I did in our inaugural 1994 season. Wi-fi didn't come along until years later. 

For the record, here is the Eggers' 91-point, Week-2 total against Quags:

QB K. Murray AZ 20

RB Chubb CLE 17

RB Sanders PHI 9

TE Kelce KC 9

WR Ridley ATL 17

K Tucker 19

Welcome to new Links page...

... Perhaps looking much like the old page. Welcome to the first chapter of the page-by-page introduction to the new Finks League website, starting with Links.

The link to Links:

https://sites.google.com/site/finksleague/links?authuser=0

It might be listed last, but it is one of my favorite pages. I have tried to pack  it with "goodies" of various links to relevant fantasy news and sites. The new Google Sites uses "Buttons," the small squares that act as links to other pages. I have used them vigorously on the new Links page. Check them out. 

Also, if you have any suggestions for any cool fantasy websites you would like to see on the Links page, please send them to me and I will put them up. 

I have opened the new Links page with a returning tribute to our namesake, former Bears and Saints GM Jim Finks who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Finks died in 1994 before this fantasy league was created. It seemed appropriate to name it after him. Finks helped build the Saints' famed Dome Patrol defense in the 1980s that signaled the turnaround for a previously moribund franchise. 

Why the Equalizer

A ways back, I finally found a CD of my favorite songs from the NFL Films catalog. Half of it is the legendary voice of John Facenda ("The autumn wind is a Raider.") and the other half is the music of Sam Spence.



This is my favorite song to get me in the mood for NFL football just ten minutes away. Thought you would enjoy. The talk radio today was playing Fox Sports' NFL theme. This is better.

And away we go...

 

With a new web site, possibly a new blog and during these COVID challenged times, we have a new season for Finks League football. As long as the NFL is playing, we will continue to play fantasy football. Because we're Finksters and we're crazy. 

That's my now 12-year-old daughter Anna grabbing slips of paper from my Titleist/Wisconsin hat to determine our division assignments. It's become an annual tradition for me. 

Auction notes you crave:

• The top QB bid was Mahomes KC for $44.11 by Quags. Using rankings by CBS Sports fantasy analyst Dave Richards, the top ranked QB not drafted was Roethlisberger PIT at No. 8.
• Top RB bid was McCaffrey CAR ($40.79) by the Jays. Richards' top remaining pick at RB is someone named Moss BUF at No. 21. Is that Randy Moss' kid from LSU?
• Highest WR bid went to Thomas NO ($20.01) for Mafia. Richards had No. 18 Woods LAR still on his board. 
• At PK, Tucker BAL went to the Eggers for $6.11. Richards ranked undrafted Badgley LAC at No. 4.
• Finks auctioneers had two blind draws, both featuring Gaga vs. Eggers. My Anna draws the winning name fro slips of paper. Gaga trumped Eggers each time, getting WR Cooper DAL and WR Beckham Jr. CLE for $1.02 each time. 
• In a case of unusual strategy, Gaga owner Sean King bid $1.03 for each of his top position choices and then bid $1.02 each on everyone else. Let's see if it works. 
• A reminder to every owner, get your Week 1 lineups in  the first kickoff of your games. Welcome back, all. 

Chuck Bednarik plaquage Frank Grifford

Destiny brought these two together for arguably the hardest hit in NFL history.