To The Victor...

 

...go the spoils. And so it was this past Saturday when the Houston contingent (6 of the 7 of us anyway) gathered at Cactus Cove for some fun stories, friendship, and refreshments, as we presented Mike with his hard-earned 2023 EHFL Championship trophy. 

I wasn't alert enough to snap some pictures(!!) but Mike was good enough to post this one showing him as he displays the hardware. He also took home a framed copy of the Hughes News Championship edition and a few Hughes-branded knickknacks I accumulated over the past year. 

Cactus Cove turned out to be a good location for us with large tables, plenty of TVs (we watched some of the UH-Cincy hoops game), and reasonable (and tasty) food and drinks. I'd rate the day as a success. The only thing lacking was the presence of Bobby B. who wasn't able to attend due to a bout with back issues. Bobby very generously kicked in towards our tab. Hope to see you soon, Bob.

The Owner Get-Together is my favorite league-related event. Draft night, with all the things I figure will go wrong, is too stressful and I don't get to appreciate the fun of it all. But this annual thing is always a good time. This year's event was made even better by a guest appearance from my granddaughter. Thanks to Keith for snapping this shot.

More Year-End Stuff:

Second Season Contest... Jack and James took the top two spots in the contest and will be rewarded with bonus waiver cash for 2024. That is if we return to MFL. More on that below.

This is the second straight year for a Scofield to win the contest. Dan took it last year. And it's James' second consecutive money finish. The site has a parallel playoff contest that doesn't restrict you to one player per playoff team. So if you want to go all in on a particular NFL playoff team you can. I might try opening up both types for us next year. We could pay the winner of each one.

Rolling Over to 2024... Last night MFL made the 2024 sites available. I went through the process to 'roll over' our league to the new season. That doesn't mean we will stay with MFL. Nor does it mean we will even continue the league at all. I won't pay for the season until I've decided on what I want to do going forward. The new site is available here. You can also easily get there by changing the year in your bookmark from 2023 to 2024 since the rest of the URL remains the same.

If we continue to play and move to another site I will figure out a way to reward the Second Season contest winners. It'll depend on the available waiver systems.

2024 Changes... Other than dropping a roster spot and adding a 2nd IR slot I seriously doubt we will make any changes, especially if we are on MFL. If we move to a different platform all bets are off as we may need to adapt to what is available wherever that happens to be.

I may experiment with a different template for MFL in case we stay there. I've had some issues with both of the 'hosting' sites I use, Imgur for photos and OOOwebhost for the stat files and a few other things. It's become a pain to deal with those sites and a new standard template might help me out.

Worst to First Quirks... I recently did some cleanup of a few of the stat pages (the ones found on our site in the Links module). As I was tweaking the All-Time Standings report it struck me that The Legend and Pirates both went from last place in their divisions to first from '22 to '23. In fact, they went from last to the top two seeds. Being the stat nerd that I am I knew I had to dig deeper and see how common that division jump was over our history.

I was surprised to see that it wasn't all that uncommon. Thirty-four clubs have made the jump from 'worst to first' since 1981. A caveat here...I went through the stat sheet pretty quickly and a team might have gotten past me. I was looking at win/loss only. Ties for the best record or worst record in a division both went into the mix. 

No need to list all the instances I found but I came across a few things worth mentioning...

-In 81/82 the Nationals went from last in their division to become an undefeated championship club.

-In 83/84/85 The Giants went from 3-11 to a title and then back to last in their division. 

-In both 94/95 (Knightriders & Attica) and 97/98 (Strawmenn & Giants) two teams pulled off the worst-to-first trick. Attica and the Strawmenn were champs on the back end of those. The Flyers (95/96) were another team in that decade to go from last to a title.

-In 06/07 all THREE last-place teams (Bombers, Bliz, Nats) won the division on the rebound. The Bombers won the 2007 title.

-Two teams have reversed their fortunes for the better in each of the last three seasons. Flyers and Sticks in 20/21, Heroes and Strawmenn in 21/22, and as mentioned previously, Legends and Pirates last season.

Happy Valentine's Day from Ellis Rose!

-

Change of Venue for Houston Meet-up

 

After checking the weekend forecast and scoping out the Nett Bar again I decided it would be best if we met someplace with more available inside tables and an atmosphere more geared to a bunch of old farts like us (not you, James).

So let's head for Cactus Cove on West 11th on Saturday, around 2 p.m. I'll be there early to grab us a table and to make sure everything goes on Padilla's tab. You're welcome to come early as well.

The address is 3333 W. 11th which will land you between Hempstead and Ella. Click the map above to expand it and see the location. The webpage is here: Catcus Cove

I will be emailing, texting and/or calling with this info a few times. Please RSVP so I know who to expect. Thanks and I hope to see everyone there.

Let's Celebrate Our Three Time Champs...the Strawmenn!

It's that time again! Let's get together and raise a glass (of iced tea of course) to Mike Padilla and his Hughes Champs, the Strawmenn. I'm keeping our options open but with nice weather, I'll head for the Nett Bar Shady Acres at 2 pm on Saturday, February 10. The address is 1717 W 22nd St. It's a fun place with good food, a coffee bar, and the usual beer options. I'll try to nail down an outside table for us so look for the trophy when you get there. 

SEE NEW POST ABOVE FOR UPDATE

The indoor seating is limited and the place is popular so I have a backup plan in case the weather isn't ideal. Please monitor your email, phone texts, and this blog for the latest updates. 

Also...heed the warning below. It's easy to end up in the wrong place. You can click the map to enlarge it.

Be aware, that there is ANOTHER Nett Bar, the original location, on Nett Street south of I-10 near Washington Avenue. If you are using a map app and put in 'Nett Bar' you'll likely have a nice time but it won't be with us. It would be best if you went to Nett Bar Sbady Acres. The place is just west of the intersection of Ella and 22nd. 

Parking can be problematic as it is at so many of these spots these days. You may have to park down the block.

A few tidbits about the Strawmen and/or the Hughes Bowl gleaned from the historical records...

This is the second consecutive year both Hughes Bowl teams entered the game as Wildcards. In 2022 the Bliz and Bombers got to the game after two playoff wins. Before that, you have to go back a decade to 2012 (Giants-Rbacks), 1986! (Sticks-Nats), 1983 (Bombers-Nats) and 1981 (Strawmenn-Flyers).

There have been ten occurrences when the two teams came from the same division. The last time was 2020 with the Nats and Giants. 

The Strawmenn are now fifth in playoff appearances with 21, and are tied for fourth in playoff games played (33). They are 3-5 in eight title games played, winning twice in five tries as a Wildcard, and once in three shots as a division champ. Their eight Hughes Bowl appearances are good for sixth among all franchises.

Enjoy this video featuring some of my favorite performers, Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Jackson Browne performing one of my favorite songs.

Putting a Bow on the 2023 Season

Looking Back, and (maybe) forward......

Well, our 44th season is now history. Gonna toss out some thoughts and ideas here in no particular order.

I looked at the Yearly Best chart in the EHFL Links on the website and this was the 15th time the team with the best record (or was tied for the best record) went on to win the championship. I'm not sure if that is surprising or not. And there have been 12 seasons in which the highest-scoring team became the title holder. I would have thought that there would be a higher correlation for that than the best record but whatever.

You'll probably be happy to know that I can't see any rule changes on the horizon with the possible exception of changing the roster limit. I thought 18 players was too many.  It puts a crimp into waiver claims which to me is a good chunk of the fun of doing this. I also got the impression that NFL players were falling by the wayside at an alarming rate. I didn't do any research beyond my team but at that the Flyers had each of their top 8 or 9 picks sidelined for at least a game or, in the cases of DHenry and Anthony Richardson, exit a game in the opening minutes (twice in DH's case). 

So dropping a roster spot but adding a second IR slot may be the way to go. I have a poll on the site but it got little response. I'll figure it out. 

I've updated all the stat files that I link in the EHFL Links section of the league home. I've created a banner for 2024's league page on MFL But that doesn't mean we will return to MFL. There is a chance I will move the league to one of the many other free options available. I've had teams on ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, NFL.com, and Fantrax (baseball). All have advantages and disadvantages. One thing they all have in common is they are less work for the commish. MFL has (by far) the most flexibility when it comes to rule options, customization, etc. But to be honest, I'm getting tired of maintaining the league site. 

I could go to ESPN and have a league up and running in five minutes and never have to think about anything except my lineup until I do a championship newsletter. The downside of that is those leagues are zero fun. Again, I'll figure it out. 

And there's always the chance that I won't feel like doing this anymore. I've gone back and forth over the last few years on continuing. I'll think things over and decide later this spring or over the summer. I will 're-up' with MFL when next season's site is available but I won't pay for 2024 until I know I want to push forward.

Speaking of stat pages (and we were just a bit ago) I recently got to thinking about the lineup options we had this year given the new 'two flex player' rule. That allowed for six possible lineup configurations. Those are:

1 RB 4 WR 1 TE

1 RB 3 WR 2 TE

1 RB 2 WR 3 TE

2 RB 2 WR 2 TE

2 RB 3 WR 1 TE

3 RB 2 WR 1 TE

So I spent (far too much) time building a spreadsheet to help me determine how the lineups were used and the results they produced in terms of W/L and PPG. I was mildly surprised to find that two of those options (in red above) made up 149 of the 178 lineups submitted through the Hughes Bowl, about 84%.  One of the choices (in blue) was not used even once which surprised me considering Brownstein is still an owner. 😅

You can check the complete results by clicking here or by going through the 'EHFL Links' section of the homepage. Just look for Lineup Data '23. I should have labeled the spreadsheet data better but I think you can puzzle out what it indicates. My take? To be honest I don't know what to make of what the data shows. I had a feeling going in that one config (1/4/1) would produce points at a higher rate than the more traditional 2/3/1 lineup. I was a bit surprised by how many times 3 RBs were used. Overall I think one season isn't quite enough to jump to solid conclusions. Anyone who dares to delve into the data and send along his thoughts will get a bronze star from me.

Other Stuff:

I'm pretty much done with my postseason work. The Hughes News Hughes Bowl issue is printed and framed. You can see it on the league page under the Championship News tab. Mike's trophy is here. All the stat sheets are up to date and posted. I even have the Team Profiles updated for 2024. I usually let that slide until August. The 2024, 45th season banner is ready if we return to MFL.

Saturday, February 10 will be the date for our Houston owner's gathering. Mark off the date with a tentative time of 2-ish. We'll likely meet somewhere on the west side of town as usual. I have a few locations in mind but I'm going to wait until the week of the meetup to decide on a location. I want to see what the weather will be. 

The Postseason contest is live. I've sent out invites via email. Request a re-send if you need another invite. You have until the kickoff of Saturday's first NFL playoff game to enter and choose your players. But I will be headed to the Texans-Browns game that day so I won't be able to help you if you wait that long and have an issue getting in. Waiver cash goes to the top two finishers ($30/$15). I found it particularly tough to fill out my team this year. A couple of the NFL clubs had crap for offensive options. Also..be sure you click through the lineup submission process. It's easy to skip over that last page after you put in your tiebreakers. Good Luck. 

Stevie Wonder and the late, very great Jeff Beck

Strawmenn Reign!

 

Congratulations, Mike!

Strawmenn 131.58    Holes 116.78

That was the final score in this season's Hughes Bowl, the 43rd title game in our history. Those 'double-decimal' scores look so clunky to me. Mike's trophy will have the scores rounded off! 🙋

I'm working on several things at the moment. These are the usual post-HB tasks. For one thing, I'm bringing our historical spreadsheets up to date. I'm also working on the commemorative Hughes News edition that we will present to Mike at the Houston get-together in February (details coming soon).

I haven't had time to dig up the usual trivia re: the big game but I do know that the Smenn's 131+ points ranks fourth in terms of game totals. The Top 5 ranking is as follows:

Holes 138 in 2018

Giants 134 in 2020

Settlers 133 in 2015

Smenn 131+ in 2023

Giants 128 in 2021

The Holes total is the second highest for the losing side. They rank behind only the 2018 Flyers who ran up 128 points.

The Holes are not the first team to appear in the Hughes Bowl with a regular season percentage of .500 or lower. It's happened four times previously. 

Blizzard 7-7 in 1998

Blizzard 6-7 in 2011

R'backs 5-7-1 in 2012

Bombers 7-7 in 2014

None of those teams won the Hughes Bowl so our 'streak' of having a  plus .500 champion continues. I've never looked at that bit of minute before. 

This is the third championship for the Strawmenn franchise as noted in the preview I did last week. It's Mike's second as the StrawBoss.  Overall the club is 3-5 in title games. Mark Kuhlmann won the first Hughes Bowl in 1981, our second year of existence. BTW...2024 will mean it's been 20 years since we lost Mark. All of you who knew Mark miss him as much as I do I'm sure.

Here is the engraving that will appear on the 2023 Hughes Championship trophy in proof form...

I'll probably update this post with additional game numbers and thoughts as the week goes on. 

A tentative date for the Houston meetup is February 10, Super Bowl Eve. I'm looking at a few possible venues. I will notify you when things are set but in the meantime, you can circle that date on your calendar. 

Happy New Year from Ellis and Leo!

Hughes Bowl 43

 

Two former Hughes champs advanced and knocked out the two owners looking for their first crown. That's how it goes sometimes. The Strawmenn and Holes won their semifinal games with almost identical totals. The S'menn continued to roll with a 123.24 to 89.60 win over division rival Portland. The Pirates' loss means that a #1 seed has fallen in the semis for a second straight year. 

The Holes 123.32 to 79.74 win over the Legends means we may have a second straight bottom seed as champ. Last year the Blizzard, inserted as the #7 seed took the title.

Here are a few notes and odds and ends concerning Hughes Bowl 43:

This is the first time these two franchises are opposing each other in the championship game. In fact, they have squared off only once in EHFL postseason action. The Strawmenn eliminated the Holes in the semifinals in 2008 on their way to the trophy.

The Strawmenn won the first Hughes Bowl in 1981 with Mark Kuhlmann at the helm. Mike Padilla steered the ship to the 2008 win mentioned above. BOTH of those came against the Flyers. They have lost twice since that Hughes Bowl win bowing to the Rats in 2009 and the Giants in 2019. Overall the franchise is 2-5 in Hughes Bowls.

Jimmy has four titles to his credit. The Holes won in 2001, 2011, 2016 & 2018. This is his ninth appearance and he is looking to get over the .500 mark. 

The Strawmenn were 10-4 this season while the Holes were 7-7 and the #6 seed but the two teams put up almost identical point totals. The Holes outscored the S'menn in 2023 by just 1.38 points over 14 games. So, while a 10-4 record and a #2 seed would make you think the S'menn were favorites, the points total tell a different tale. This one should be close. 

Thursday Addition....

Whatever formula the system uses to project scores has the Strawmenn beating the Holes 120.35 to 114.40. We shall see.

Best Christmas gift ever......

The Best Christmas Tradition Ever

It just isn't Christmas without a couple of dozen viewings of the great Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" which she performed on The Late Show annually for 23 years. 

This version is a fun one with pieces of her performances through the years stitched together seamlessly. 

I love this version when she was backed by the Air Force Singing Sergeants.

And the last one in Letterman's final season of The Late Show. She never sounded better. 

Merry Christmas Hughes guys!