Week 17: Finger Bowl 28 preview

Ham N Eggers (9-7) at Just a Fantasy (10-6)

at Warren High School, Gurnee Ill.

Playoff records: Eggers' Miazga 9-10-1; Fantasy's Newton 10-9

Head to head: Fantasy 45, Eggers 28, Week 7; Eggers 47, Fantasy 42, Week 12

The skinny: This is a rematch of Finger Bowl 23 in 2016 when Fantasy defeated the Eggers 51-16 to win its only Finks League championship. ... The Eggers won their only Finger Bowl one year earlier in Finger Bowl 22.  ... Miazga's Finger Bowl appearance ties him with Goff for a league-leading seventh FB trip. Miazga has made his 11th playoff appearance, bringing him one short of Goff's record. 

Projected starters: Eggers -- Rodgers, Taylor, Barkley, Adams, AJ Brown, Zuerlein; Fantasy -- Herbert, Chubb, Penny, D. Samuel, Waddle, Carlson.

The pick: Fantasy 43, Eggers 40.

Week 16: Semifinal boxscores

 Packers duo boost Eggers

PITTSBURGH -- The Packers combo of QB Rodgers and WR Adams combined to score 29 Finks points to give the Ham N Eggers a 53-49 victory over the Dublin Brawlers in the Finks League semifinals.

The win gave Eggers owner Mike Miazga temporary braggin' rights over his wife, Kristin, the Brawlers owner. The Brawlers were the defending Finger Bowl champions. 

The Brawlers had a chance to win the match going into Monday Night Football, but WR Callaway NO did not score any Finks points in the game. 

BRAWLERS (49)

Brady TB 6

A. Jones GB zero

D. Harris NE 23

Callaway NO zero

Diggs BUF 9

J Elliott PHI 11

EGGERS (53)

Rodgers GB 12

Sanders PHI zero

Taylor IND 5

AJ Brown TEN 11

Adams GB 17

Zuerlein DAL 8

Fantasy tops Quags

GURNEE, Ill. -- Due to COVID, Hurricane Quags was only able to start five players as Just a Fantasy routed Quags 55-30 in their Finks League semifinal. 

A late switch for Fantasy, starting RB Penny SEA to replace RB Swift DET, helped owner Jeff Newton as Penny scored 11 Finks points in the Seahawks' win over the Bears. He added nine more Finks points from WR Waddle MIA in Monday Night Football.

QUAGS (30)

Stafford LAR 3

Montgomery CHI 6

Jav. Williams DEN 6

Jefferson MIN 5

Bass BUF 10

FANTASY (55)

Herbert LAC 10

Chubb CLE 11

Penny SEA 11

D. Samuel SF 7

Waddle MIA 9

Carlson LV 7

Week 16: Semifinal previews

Hurricane Quags (8-7) at Just a Fantasy (9-6)

at Warren High School Field, Gurnee, Ill. 

Playoff records: Quags 5-9; Fantasy's Newton 9-9

Head to head: Fantasy 46, Quags 42 (Week 13)

The skinny: Fantasy, the Sabol Division champions, clinched their fifth division championship in Finks League play with a Week 15 win over the Brawlers. Both teams in that final week battle advanced to the playoffs. Fantasy finished in third place in 2020 and won back-to-back division titles for the first time since 2003-04. Fantasy won only two games in 2019 and won its only Finger Bowl in 2016. ... Quags has reached the playoffs for the fifth time in the last eight years. The Canes seek their first Finger Bowl championship since 2007. 

Projected starters: Quags -- Mahomes, Gibson, Jav. Williams, Kelce, Jefferson, Bass; Fantasy -- Herbert, Chubb, Swift, D. Samuel, Waddle, Carlson.

The pick: Fantasy 52, Quags 42

Dublin Brawlers (8-6-1) at Ham N Eggers (8-7)

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh

Playoff records: Brawlers' Herigodt 7-3; Eggers' Miazga 8-10-1

Head to head: Brawlers 65, Eggers 58 (Week 5)

The skinny: Featuring the husband-and-wife brawl for supremacy on Pine Street in Elmhurst. The first couple of Finks League fame meet for the second time in playoff history since the 2016 semifinal. The Eggers won 89-32 behind RB D. Johnson AZ 21 points and QB Cousins WAS 20 points. ... Husband Mike and wife Kris have competed in the Finks League together since 2008. Once again, the duo will be unable to compete in a Finger Bowl against each other. Both the Eggers and Brawlers made the playoffs in 2015 together, but did not meet. ... The Brawlers are the defending Finks League champs. ... The Eggers won the Tagliabue Division this season and won their fourth division title in Finks play. 

Projected starters: Brawlers -- Brady, A. Jones, Jacobs, Evans, Diggs, Succop; Eggers -- Rodgers, Taylor, Sanders, Adams, AJ Brown, Zuerlein. 

The pick: Eggers 40, Brawlers 35

Parity entering Week 15

Just like the NFL's 2021 season, parity also rules this season in Finks League play. 

Entering the final week of the regular season, three teams in each division are vying for semifinal spots into the playoffs for Week 16. This is the first time since the inaugural 1994 season that a Finks League team will not reach double-digit wins during the regular season. 

With head-to-head key divisional matchups in Week 15, there should be plenty of clarity as to who is bound to qualify for the playoffs after Monday Night Football has concluded (Vikings-Bears).

In the League's final week crossover game, the Makers (8-6) play Quags (7-7) in a must-win showdown for each team. 

The likely Sabol Division champion could be decided with the Brawlers (8-5-1) meeting Fantasy (8-6).

Entering the final week, there is a three-way tie for the Tagliabue Division lead. That division should be decided with Gaga (7-7) meeting the Eggers (7-7). 

It's a perfect ending to a regular season without any team clinching a playoff spot entering Week 15. 

Thankful for another Finks Thanksgiving

Finks League has been around for 28 years now, which seems stunning that many of you have been a part of my Thanksgiving/Fantasy Football celebration for nearly that long. We are the Thanksgiving family celebration that never has to gather together because we are linked by fantasy football.

I might be like you, but a major part of my Thanksgiving is watching three NFL football games that day to see how my Finks League starters are doing that day. Good thing I rarely have any Lions players on my team and I leave key Cowboys players for Stan Goff's roster. 

Today, my Akron Tiremakers such as WR Cooper DAL is a COVID scratch and RB Kamara NO is still out with a knee injury. He is killing me, Smalls. After my Thanksgiving meal with the in-laws, I will need to decide whether I am using RB Ingram NO -- or not -- for this evening's game against the Bills. 

My poor Saints. No QB Winston and no RB Kamara have added up to a stinky offense and three consecutive losses. 

I am grateful today for RB Taylor IND (pictured above), who scored 37 of the Eggers' 88 points in Week 11. That has to be some kind of Player of the Week record, if only I kept Player of the Week records. I only started honoring P.O.W.s when I was thinking of a way of increasing space on one of the many websites I have experimented with lately. 

Taylor and Dah Commish both attended Wisconsin. I graduated in 1988. I don't think Taylor has yet, but as a fellow Badger it has been fun to keep track of our former Bucky rushers when they reach the NFL. My UW Twitter feed last week shared a picture of RB Gordon DEN attending the Nebraska-UW game on his bye week. Too bad I am easily out-bid in each Finks League auction for their services to begin the season. 

Playing Finks League makes me follow my ex-Badgers even more.

Web page note: I am hoping Google has finally left my Finks League home page alone, though it is revised with a partial picture of my alma mater's high school football field instead of the Superdome as a background picture. Since many of you are long time Chicagoland prep sports journalists, you may already know that Glenbard West's Duchon Field ranks as the most beautiful site to watch a high school football game in the state. 

I remember it was included in a USA Today Top 10 ranking for high school football fields in the nation more than 25 years ago. The No. 1 choice was a high school in the Bay Area located right on the water. When you looked out beyond the end zone, you would see Alcatraz Island. Hard to top that one.

I never played football for the Hitters. My younger brother did. I attended all the home games, especially when we won the state championship in my senior year. As a student, there were some beautiful days when I would eat my lunch in the stands of Duchon Field while one of the maintenance guys mowed the field. The cafeteria is behind the school overlooking the football field. Everyday I bought a chocolate milk for $1 or maybe it was $1.25. Beautiful view, great weather and likely a bag of Fritoes and a Little Debbie Swiss Cake roll in my paper bag. That's a perfect meal for me. 

Oh yeah. My mother-in-law's stuffing is pretty perfect today as well. I hope you are all doing well. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Finks owners and your families.

Finks owners contribute on high school field

 Nearly forgot to include this item from Quags. Finks League owners for the Hurricanes and Gaga's Sean King combined to work on the recent Prospect-Jacobs playoff football game for the Daily Herald.

The link:

 https://football.dailyherald.com/sports/20211113/prospect-turns-to-walter-at-qb-dumps-jacobs-in-7a-quarterfinal

Auction notes: 2021 version

 

And so Season No. 28 of the Finks League kicked off Sunday night with our annual silent-bid auction...

A few notes on the upcoming season, first. Spotters owner D.J. Wanberg has changed his email address. Please update your contact list with his different email address, which is now listed on his roster. Also, the 2021 season has returned to the 15-week schedule format now that the NFL has expanded its regular season. Hooray with an additional week of Finks League.

And onto the auction:

• Gaga owner Sean King had one of the more unusual bid sheets in recent years with $5 only bids on several non-kickers, but then switching to $10 bids on his two favorite kickers. 
• Wanberg was shut out on all nine of his RB bids, but spent more money on a single WR instead of his entire crop of requested RBs. 
• The auction featured one blind draw for equal bids featuring WR Boyd CIN between Mafia and the Distillers. The lovely designated "picker," 13-year-old Anna Wilcox, selected the draw by taking the slip of paper with the Distillers' name on it. 
• Top bidders by position: QB Mahomes KC $35.11 by Quags; RBs McCaffrey CAR and Henry TEN, $35.53 each, by the Jays; WR Hill KC (pictured above) $32.08 by Spotters; Ks Tucker BAL and Butker KC, $10.00 each, by Gaga.

A Finks tradition unlike any other

 

In an annual family tradition, I leave it to my youngest daughter Anna to pull the Finks League team names out of a hat to determine the division teams every season. 

She does it because she's a good sport. She picks a slip of paper with each nickname and then reads them off to be as I jot down the name. It also give me a chance to explain to her what a still is and what a distillery creates. 

I also had to explain that Brady Gaga is a tribute to Lady Gaga. I think she has heard of both of them at 13 years old. So proud of her.