Yeah, Jake Elliott

So cool to see Lyons grad Jake Elliott become our Player of the Week for No. 1. 

I've written previously in this space how I used to cover Elliott as a four-time state tennis qualifier at Lyons and his improbable kicking career for his junior and senior seasons. 

He won a Homecoming exhibition kicking contest and turned that into a Super Bowl championship. At state tennis, he was a singles state qualifier in 2012 and 2013 and doubles in 2011 and 2010.

I also covered QB Garoppolo LV when he was at Rolling Meadows. Here's hoping I'll be able to write about him soon. 

NFL Redzone

 Was someone supposed to report that the Redzone channel is on NFL Network and no longer just for satellite customers?

Auction 2023: Notebook

 

In nearly 30 years, the Finks League has used plenty of legendary NFL names for its division assignments. It seems hard to believe in all this time that the league has never used divisional names to honor Bud Grant and Tom Landry.

Probably because neither coach would be willing to comment, if they were still alive.

Our annual auction went late into Sept. 4 morning. For the first time in recent memory, there were no ties determined by blind draw. 

The highlights:

• High bids: Gaga shocked all bid sheets with a $20 high offer for K Tucker BAL (pictured). That perhaps set an unofficial league record for Finks kickers. Other toppers were Distillers for QB J. Allen BUF ($35), Quags for RB Ekeler LAC ($33.11) and Quags again for WR J. Jefferson MIN ($28.77).
• Family feud: Husband and wife Finks owners Mike Miazga and Kris Herigodt definitely do not share Finks bid sheet information. In the bidding for K McPherson CIN, Miazga's Eggers topped Kris' Brawlers $3.51 to $3.01.
• All in for Bijan: Well, for more than $3 actually. In perhaps the most spirited bidding of the evening, the newly named Tailgaters and Mafia battled for rookie RB Bijan Robinson ATL. The Gaters won $3.12 to $3.01.
• Strawberry Fields Forever: The Jays showed big-time love for young QB Fields CHI. How about a winning bid for $13.72?
• Bargain shopping: The unique fantasy football twist of using a blind auction for Finks League instead of a live or automated snake draft is the ability to find deals among your $100 limit. How about these? The Brawlers produced draft steals with $2.11 for QB Mahomes KC and $1.13 for RB McCaffrey SF. The newly christened Saints Preserve Us! felt pretty good about QB Hurts PHI falling into their roster for $5.27. 

Good luck to all this season. 

What's in a fantasy football name?

 

Plenty.

Everyone tries to come up with the most clever nicknames for their fantasy football teams. Starting this year, my Finks League team will become Saints Preserve Us! starting with our 30th season. Simply, I have run out of nicknames honoring the leather helmet era pro football teams of the past. My first leather helmet nickname tribute was in our first season when my team was the Staten Island Stapletons, also honoring my birthplace.

My recent run of leather helmet names started in 2014 with the Decatur Staleys. 

Saints Preserve Us! (yes, with an exclamation mark) honors my favorite NFL team, whose late GM bears the name of our league. I don't plan on changing this new nickname any time in the future. After 30 years, I am finding out what my fellow Finks owners have known for quite some time. It's too difficult to change your nickname every year. 

As you recall, I changed my previous run of nicknames every year from 1997 to 2013 as puns on Shakespeare plays. My only titles came in 2003 as As You Hike It and in 2012 with Anthony Munoz and Cleopatra. 

Third place: Eggers bulldoze Tractors

The Eggers were declared the winner over the Tractors, 46-31, in the Finks League third-place match despite the postponed Monday Night Football game featuring the Bills. Tractors K Bass BUF will not receive any points from the postponed game.

TRACTORS (31)

QB Purdy SF 11

RB Foreman CAR zero

RB B. Robinson WAS 3

WR Ty. Hill MIA 6

WR Aiyuk SF 11

K Bass BUF  ppd

EGGERS (46)

QB Herbert LAC 9

RB Jacobs LV 6

RB Z. Knight NYJ zero

WR Adams LV 19

WR Smith-Schuster KC zero

K Maher DAL 12 

Canes claim Finger Bowl 29 crown

 

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- In the all-Quagliano family showdown, father Dick nipped son Anthony for a 39-38 victory in Finger Bowl 29 for the 2022 Finks League title at Hard Rock Stadium.

After leading Hurricane Quags in its week 16 semifinal, RB Ekeler LAC scored a team-high 17 points to earn MVP. Ekeler rushed for 122 yards and scored two touchdowns. Canes owner Dick Quagliano earned his second Finger Bowl title since winning in 2007 in Finger Bowl 14 with a 47-42 victory over the Sodor Rail-Layers. 

Anthony's Boom Town Blue Jays were doomed by injured QBs, but nearly pulled off the victory when WR AJ Brown PHI came up short with 97 receiving yards. 

The matchup became the second narrowest margin of victory for a Finger Bowl game following the only tie in championship history when Paul Klatt's Virtual Poets won a tiebreaker over Chris Traczek's Helena Handbaskets in 1998. 

Quags regains possession of the Abe Gibron Trophy, which was recovered in a closet of their Barrington home after it went out of circulation during the pandemic.

JAYS (38)

QB Hurts PHI DNP

RB McCaffrey SF 11

RB Walker SEA 5

WR AJ Brown PHI 9

WR Waddle MIA zero

K Carlson LV 13

QUAGS (39)

QB Fields CHI 8

RB Etienne JAX 11

RB Ekeler LAC 17

WR J. Jefferson MIN zero

TE Kelce KC zero

K Butker KC 3

Week 17: Finger Bowl 29 preview

Hurricane Quags (11-5) at Boom Town Blue Jays (13-2-1) 

at Morrison Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Playoff records: Jays' Anthony Quagliano 5-0; Quags 6-11

Head to head: Quags 49, Jays 38 (week 1)

The skinny: The first Finger Bowl family showdown in Finks League history will take place between father Dick Quagliano and his son Anthony, who owns the Jays. Mike Miazga's wife, Kristin Herigodt, joined the Finks League in 2008 and won the Finger Bowl in her first season but that husband-wife team has never met in a Finger Bowl. In Finks League's first few seasons, Dah Commish never faced his brother Mike in any Finger Bowl final.... D.Q. will attempt to win his first Finks League championship since 2007. WR Moss NE was named Finger Bowl MVP in that season. The Canes beat the Sodor Rail-Layers 47-42 in that first title game for D.Q. His son, A.Q., still has not lost a playoff matchup and has won titles in 2018 and 2019. A.Q. makes his third Finger Bowl appearance in the last five years. ... D.Q.'s previous Finger Bowl appearance were second place finishes in 2015 and 2017. Both the Jays and Quags claimed division titles this season.

Projected starters: Quags -- Fields, A. Jones, Ekeler, J. Jefferson, Kelce, Butker; Jays -- Hurts, McCaffrey, Walker, Hopkins, AJ Brown, Carlson.

The pick: Quags 45, Jays 32.