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.