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.

Welcome to Finks League 2016

Another year has passed, but thankfully fantasy football approaches. We're back again for another action-packed season of Finks League football. Check out some new team names at the Rosters page. Jeff Newton has promised a new name for 2016, but since there has not been an announcement as of yet Jeff is still the Eye.

The legendary Anna Wilcox picks Finks League team names from a hat to determine divisions on Sunday at the kitchen table in Darien. 

Eggers clock in for Finger Bowl title

PITTSBURGH -- The long nightmare has ended for Ham N Eggers'  Mike Miazga. The veteran Finks League owner clinched his first Finger Bowl title in Week 17.

After finishing second for a record four consecutive seasons, Miazga earned his first Finger Bowl championship in his 18th season with a 31-24 victory over Hurricane Quags. QB Stafford DET, a late season pickup, was named the Finger Bowl 22 MVP with a team-high 14 Finks points for the winning team at Three Rivers Stadium.

Stafford became the first quarterback to be named Finger Bowl MVP since Brady NE for Dah Commish's As You Hike It in 2003 and the first DET player to be named MVP since QB Mitchell in 1995.

Miazga's Finger Bowl championship drought ended with his eighth playoff appearance. He entered the Finger Bowl with a 5-8-1 playoff record and won 10 games for the third time in his career while finishing second in the Starr Division this season.

The Eggers tied Matt Simo's Oakland Invaders for the third lowest total by a Finks League champion. Simo won in 1997 with 27 points with the Las Vegas Posse and Miazga's wife, Kris Herigodt, won her only Finks title with 29 points in 2008.

For first place, Miazga earns $386.25 and Quags earns $128.75 as the runner-up.

The Eggers led 25-24 after the completion of Sunday afternoon's games and Miazga picked up another six Finks points on RB Peterson MIN's touchdown in the Sunday night game.

Miazga will receive possession of the Abe Gibron Trophy for the upcoming year as Finks champion.

In the third-place game, Dah Commish's Canton Bulldogs defeated Herigodt's Dublin Brawlers 39-32 to win $60. It was the second consecutive third-place finish for Dah Commish.

Behind the scenes at Eggers Central

Winning Finger Bowl owner Mike Miazga sent his game-day thoughts with the Finks League championship on the line Sunday:

"It was 25-24 and I was pacing back and forth in the bedroom for about 30 minutes waiting for the Denver game to get over (Woodhead still going for Quags). As a general rule in these close Finks situations, I do not watch the game, especially the Sunday and Monday night games where the Finks game hangs in the balance.  I thought with my past luck, he would get a TD.

Also of significance is the amount of time I spent going back and forth on Stafford and Fitzpatrick Sunday morning. I sent a Twitter question to Sirius XM Fantasy Radio and they said Stafford, and ESPN's live chat answered back and said go with Fitzpatrick. A friend of mine (a Lions fan) originally told me Sunday a.m. to go with Fitzpatrick but then reversed course when he found out about the weather in Buffalo. I think the point difference was 14-6 between the two.

Once again I had a blast playing and look forward to next year."