Before anything else...I'm looking for a quality photo of Steve Barenholtz. I'd like to replace the one I'm using in the memorials graphic. Click the 'About Us' tab on the league site to see what I'm referring to. Thanks. And now for the regular blog nonsense.....
It's funny how life is. Two weeks ago I was, well, ambivalent at best about moving forward with the league, and now I'm in 'Let's F'ing Go!' mode. And when I'm feeling that way, I tend to post crap, even if I know it is generally for my own benefit. 😼
League/Site Stuff:
We are at 75% paid as I type this, with 9 of 12 teams in the bank. Teams that have paid have received their waiver cash bonus. That window closes on Thursday at Midnight.
A few owners took it upon themselves to 'overpay', which is appreciated. But rather than pocket that extra money, I'm going to put it to use in one or two of the following ways:
➤Swag Handouts...You can never have enough Hughes-branded crap, right?
➤Trophy Upgrade... I had to rent a forklift and do some remodeling to get my 2024 trophy from the flatbed to my home office. I may not get something quite that big for the '25 champ, but a one-tier upgrade from the Crown Awards catalog might be in play.
➤A 'tip' for our tech guru... 'TOS' (short for THE Ohio State) has been a fixture in the MFL commish forum for a very long time. He is responsible for most of the customizations and mods I've used through the years. And when I get in trouble (which is often), he's always ready to answer my dumb questions. And he does this for many other leagues and does it all without any compensation. If you take a look under the hood of the new template, for example, there is a huge amount of coding involved. It's time for me to toss him a bone, even if it is just a virtual Starbucks card or something.
Speaking of the site... I'm mostly done with it. I'm going to add some of the in-season modules when the time comes, and I do like playing around with the graphics, but for the most part, what you see now is what we will use.
I moved several things over here to the News blog. The Ed Hughes Tribute page, Banners page, Championship Hughes News editions page, and the Rules page, to be specific. You can find links to them over on the right-hand side of this page. The box that had been on the front of the site with info on our league, Coach Hughes, and three of our former owners is now found under the About Us tab.
I've swapped out all the non-division weeks on the schedule. I just randomly matched up weeks and swapped 'em since with empty rosters it doesn't matter who is squaring off in any week just yet. I also swapped some division weeks (3 for 5 and 12 for 13). I left weeks 1 and 14 as is because the Flyers versus the Heroes to open and close the season is kind of a tradition. tradition.
Draft Info... I haven't talked to Mike to see if he and Lynne are up to hosting again this year. They may still be in Colorado. Other options include a place like Cactus Cove (site of our last two postseason meetups), one of several breweries with good web access, or just doing it all remotely. I'll update as needed. We will draft on September 1, which is Labor Day.
Coming Soon:(or at least eventually) to a league near you: As of late I've been giving a lot of thought to some of the more memorable moments in our 45 years of doing this. Gary Hamman's David Overstreet pick is always the first thing that comes to mind, but that's far from the only highlight (or lowlight). Some time before the season starts I want to post an entry with some of the memorable moments that have made the Hughes League what it is.
An in-season get-together was mentioned in my first email. I think it might be fun if we can find the right date, game, and venue. I don't want to spoil our post-season gathering so maybe mid-season for a fun Monday Night game would work. I'll give it some more thought. We could even have a FaceTime session going so the OOT guys could check in.
And I've also been thinking that we are not that far off (knock on wood) from our 50th season. I've always said jokingly that we will go to Vegas for that year's draft and have showgirls, etc. The problem is I hate Vegas. Like I really hate Vegas! My one visit was one too many. Therefore, I've been mulling over some alternative plans. I'd love to have every owner in one room for that 50th draft. That's probably a pipe dream, but I still want to try. So a location that is easily reachable to everyone would be helpful. Atlanta sort of 'splits the difference' travel distance-wise and it's an airline hub with flights arriving from everywhere. The fact that there is a lot to do there is gravy. I could see us having our draft and visiting the College Football Hall of Fame. We visited there for the 2015 UH Peach Bowl Game, and it was a highlight for sure. 2029 is a long way off. But I like thinking about it.
Yes, indeed we are! Hopefully, you saw the email I sent this past weekend. In it I outlined a few things about the league homepage and the 2025 season. I have more news, so I'll compile it all here.
The Hughes League Site: The 2025 site is more or less good to go. As I noted in the email, the site is now using a simplified template that will easily carry over from one season to the next. It's clean, simple, quick, and (I think) attractive. I muddled around with quite a bit of the code and trashed it a few times over the past couple of days, but it should be nearly in final form now. A couple of things still need fixing, and I hope to get those worked out soon. The problems are cosmetic and mostly minor.
The customized view on mobile devices is not currently working correctly.FIXED
The league logo (the shield on the front page) is out of proportion.FIXED
Some tabs have incorrect/missing icons.FIXED
The text in the 'Rules' tab refuses to stay 'left-aligned'.FIXED...Rules now located here on the News blog.
Only #1 above is very important.
Please visit the site and poke around. I will be adding modules as time goes by. I have not put some of the 'in-season' modules in place. I think everything else is there, but you are going to have to look in a different place to find some things. The most important tools are located in that row of icons to the right of the shield. If you have issues, be sure to let me know.
BTW...in trying to keep things tidy on the site, I have removed the special tabs, including the Coach Hughes Tribute, the historic banners page, the Champions Hughes News Editions page, etc. Those can now be found right here on the Hughes News site over in the right column. (EDIT)..The Rules page is here as well.
I tried a bunch of the different color (theme) options as I was tinkering. You might have noticed the site in red, blue, etc. if you were visiting over the last few days. I finally decided on the 'brown' theme, which is closest to what we have had for several years. In the future, I might give the defending champion the choice to pick the color theme.
Payment: I'm currently collecting payment for 2025. The cost to each owner is $18. That covers the $100 MFL league fee, the $25 for Primetime Draft, and the trophy, which has run about $85/$90 with shipping. (I paid more last year for mine, but I paid the overage out of my pocket.).
I will not be sending endless nagging emails this year. You have several options....
My Venmo address is @Robert-Andrews-91
You can send me a check: 15051 Peachmeadow, Channelview TX 77530.
Or send the fee via PayPal. There is a PP button on the '25 league site, and the amount is already programmed in and includes an extra amount to cover the fees PP collects from me for accepting payment. Please pay promptly.
Once you pay, I will send the league invite and unlock your franchise. As of Monday afternoon, I've collected enough for the league fee. I have paid Myfantasyleague for the 2025 season.
As an inducement to pay promptly, I will add $10 to the waiver budget to every team paid for by August 1.
League Stuff/Misc: There are no rules changes for 2025. I thought about formalizing a rule about 'missed lineup deadlines,' but those will continue to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and I will do what I've done for 45 years: try to use my best judgment and strive to do right by everyone involved.
I have the draft scheduled for Labor Day, September 1st, at a site to be determined or online. I will maintain this Hughes News blog this year as I have in the past. As I mentioned in the email, I'd really like to get more engagement this season. I have a few ideas, such as a Houston watch party. Maybe on a Sunday or Monday night later in the season, we could try to get together and watch an NFL game. Our postseason get-together is always a good time, and more of that sort of thing can't be bad, right?
Stay in touch...read your email and this blog. Please pay for your team if you haven't yet done so.
-commish
Ellis is spending some time in California with her folks. As an unofficial Disney Princess she was super excited to meet a bunch of them over the weekend!
Peter F'ing Gabriel, boys and girls. He still kills it. Seeing his show was a long-time goal. So glad I was able to be there.
If you haven't already, you'll be receiving an email containing the 2025 Hughes League Yearbook. If you haven't been reading the blog or your emails it is my new way of getting the league history and stats into the hands of those who care about stuff like that.
It was a fun project and motivated me to research some numbers that have previously been buried across numerous files and programs. The Yearbook contains the data pages that were found in the EHFL Links module on the website. You will also find pages (tabs) for every league franchise going back to our founding in 1980. Emailing the info means I don't have to go through the issues I've had finding and maintaining hosting sites.
I have enhanced some of the numbers from previous stat pages a bit. I went through my Hughes News archives and found the final scores for every playoff game. Those have been added to the Playoff History page.
It took a bit more work to find the PPG for every team through our 45 seasons. The more recent seasons were right there on our websites for previous years. But finding and sometimes calculating the data from the previous years was a bit harder. But it's all there. Check out the All-Time Standings page and you will see the PPG as well.
As you might imagine scrounging through those old Hughes News issues and Stat Sheets brought up some interesting numbers. Here are some of the better ones...
In 1983 the Nats scored ONE point in Week 6 then rebounded with weeks of 56 and 57 points. Back in those TD-only days, numbers could really go to extremes.
The 1984 Giants averaged 37 PPG. Two other teams barely squeaked over 30 and seven clubs were in the low to mid 20s. It was one of the most dominant performances of the TD years.
In 1991 the Strawmenn scored 17 or fewer points in 11 of their 14 games yet managed to go 7-7 with that 14.9 PPG. Yes, that is the lowest average in our history.
In 2005, our second year of Performance Scoring, the Blizzard averaged 48 points a game. Two years prior the Bombers had a 40+ PPG with TD Only scoring!
Speaking of Performance Scoring...
When we entered the 'modern' world of Fantasy Football in 2004 I figured tied games would nearly become a thing of the past. But in that very first season, the Nats were involved in TWO playoff ties! They finished their Wildcard game with the Ridgebacks knotted at 109. That shouldn't have been an issue as I had a plan in place... a tiebreak player option was a MFL option. The thing was I had failed to notify the playoff teams that they needed to choose one. I couldn't retroactively revive our previous tiebreak (Total yards by starters) or just call the Tiebreak players a draw and skip to the 2nd tiebreak (TDs by Starters).
Luckily for me Bobby, who was to play the winner of that Nats-Rbacks game, suggested a three-team contest with the winner moving on to the Hughes Bowl. Ultimately, the Nats won that 3-headed Semi with 115 points to Bobby's 112 and Dave's 53. I was glad to escape what could have been a league-breaking mistake.
But, as you might have figured, the Nats and Giants played to a 79-all TIE in the Hughes Bowl. Tony Gonzalez' big day won the title for the Nats as their tiebreaker and that memory has faded into the mist. More or less.
BTW.. if you read carefully you may have noticed that the Nats won three rounds of playoffs scoring only three more points than their opponents!
Another interesting thing about that tied Nats-Rbacks Wildcard game is that the Nats went into Monday night trailing by 72 points(!). They chipped away all through the Chiefs-Titans game until KC quarterback Trent Green's TD pass with 32 seconds left gave Dan enough points to throw the Hughes League into chaos. According to my semi-hysterical Hughes News recap a penalty on the Titans had moved the ball from a spot (the Titan's 19) that would have given Dan six points and a win with that TD. Back then QBs got a point for every 20 yards. If Green had thrown that ten additional yards we would have avoided all that mess (and Dave would have suffered a heartbreaking, last-minute defeat).
Here is a list of all our playoff ties:
The Sticks pounded Attica 82-26 in the 1988 Semifinals. Attica crushed the Holes 81-27 in the 2002 Wildcard round. Those were both in the TD-only era. I started counting the number of times in the performance-scoring years that teams have failed to reach 80 points in a playoff game. I stopped at 40 with a long way to go. Crazy that teams could run up totals like that in the early years.
With the playoff scores in front of me, I dug for the highest and lowest game totals in our history. Because of course, I did. Breaking it down by scoring method, here is what I discovered:
Okay, maybe we should first do a 'Taylor Swift' and define the 'eras'. 😉 TD Only Scoring is actually TD+Kicker Points. It ran from 1980 thru 2002. Performance Scoring added yardage in addition to TDs and kicking. There were adjustments made during this period including PPR and 1/2 PPR for runningbacks and receivers. I'm not concerning myself with that level of detail. But I have defined the two lineup types which certainly made changes to our scores. From 2004 through 2017 we used seven players in our lineups. In 2018 we added an eighth player as a 'flex' option. These charts cover the extreme scores for all three scoring 'eras'. We'll look at Game Scores first.
Interesting things in the chart include my Flyers' involvement in the lowest-scoring games of the TD era—and winning both times. Attica was involved in both of the TD Era's high-scoring games, winning in 2003 and losing in 1986. The Bliz popped up three times.
And next is the rollcall of fame and futility...individual team playoff scores.
If I had included the top two scoring efforts in this chart you would have noticed that Attica had the second-highest game totals for TD and No Flex Performance games. He had 81 points in his 2003 Wildcard game and 135 in 2014, again in a Wildcard game, again a point off the top score in that era. I love stats!
I hope to eventually reconstruct scores for every regular season game in our history, Those from 2003 forward, our MFL years, won't be too hard. Those are just a matter of copying and pasting from each year's site into a spreadsheet and formatting them. The prior years offer a wide variety of challenges. Some I might already have as spreadsheets, others I'll have to glean from handwritten stat pages or reconstruct completely using Jim Nichols' team record pages that he kept for our early seasons. Hey, it keeps me off the streets, yes?
League Notes:MFL has rolled over the leagues for the 2025 season. I will decide soon whether to move forward with this thing. They are offering a $20 discount for renewing before the summer. That would make the cost for our league $90. This is $20 higher than just a few years ago. It's not an unreasonable cost when you consider we spread it out over 12 teams but it is approaching a point where I may seriously consider moving this thing to ESPN, NFL.com, or the like.
I've been reluctant to consider moving in the past because I know I'd miss the customization MFL allows. However, I have seen that the new owners are advertising for programmers, which might mean an overhaul is being considered.
If I renew and set up for the 2025 season, I will hold off on scrambling the schedule, which I do every season. I want to wait until the NFL announces its schedule so we can avoid playing division games during those dreaded '6 Team Bye' weeks. That may not be possible but one can hope.
Unless something significant comes up this will be the last Hughes News for a while. I'll send out emails when and if we crank up the '2025 league.
Ellis is joined by her cousin from Evanston, Baby Aìda!
Love this one from Rufus Wainwright and Sara Bareilles
Aaaaand we are done. With the Saturday meetup and the Second Season Contest concluding we can safely say goodnight to the 2024 season. First things first...
The Second Season...
Okay, I've never watched any of the Pirates of The Caribbean flicks but I know that the main guy's name is Jack. That seems appropriate today as Jack and his Pirates won the Second Season contest and came from back in the pack to do so. Here are the Top Four finishers and their waiver $$ rewards:
Jack $35
Keith $20
Dan $10
Bobby $5
Bobby ended up beating me for the last cash spot by less than a point and a half. Sound familiar?
I had mixed feelings about this year's version of the contest. It was more work to set up and maintain. OTOH we had a good response (11 of 12 teams participated) and the less restrictive method of choosing players kept more teams in the mix to some extent. Feedback is always welcome.
Saturday Fun:
Six of us got together (James was the foto guy so he's not in the picture) on Saturday and we spent several hours swapping stories and memories and kicking around the league and its history. Bobby had family commitments which caused him to miss it again but we're solving that by scheduling next year's gathering at his house.! 😉😀
Cactus Cove is a pretty nice setup for us. After the Kentucky hoops watch party ended, we commandeered the big table. Prices are reasonable, the food is good, and the folks are friendly. It worked out fine. (But I still think we were shorted a plate of our apps! LOL.) Thanks to Bobby, who forwarded me some money toward our tab, and to Padilla, who gifted me with a personalized beer glass commemorating the '24 Flyers title. TY, Bobby and Mike!
League Doings:I have not considered any changes for the league. I think we are at a sweet spot with roster numbers, transaction limits, and IR limits. I've heard no complaints about the scoring system. I always welcome suggestions and ideas on how we can improve.
If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will see that the cost of our league site is now $110. That's the second (or third?) bump since MFL changed ownership a few years ago. I know office rents in Austin can get crazy, but jeez. There is no mention of the Early Bird discount that they had previously. They may still do that. EDIT:Link in above paragraph fixed
Our standard trophy cost was up $10, I think.* I could go cheaper with a plaque or one of those fake marble old-school deals but I think everyone likes the engraved acrylic trophies.
I will calculate the league costs for 2025 and let you know. I'm not going to bug everyone about ponying up this year. That gets old for everybody. Please pay promptly. I will send only one or two reminders.
I was going through our old newsletters and saw that I charged $45 a team in the late 80s when we were paying off for high week and division titles, etc. The cost per team is less than half that now. Just saying.
*= I spent extra on my trophy this year but that came out of my pocket.
EDIT: I'm going to have playoff week waivers run the same as regular season waivers. A blind bid session processing on Wednesday night, and an FCFS window that runs from Thursday morning through Sunday kickoff. NFL scheduling quirks may dictate a tweak or two but other than that this is much simpler for everyone.
Be On The Lookout:I've been busy with a project that puts all our statistical history in one spot, an Excel workbook. I have gotten tired of jumping through the hoops needed to post all the things you have found in the EHFL Links module of our league site.
Doing it this way I can send it out once a year and not have to worry that the hosting site has booted me or cratered. I have found that I can convert the thing to a Google Sheets workbook for those without Excel. It probably won't have the same formatting but it should be comparable.
The 'EHFL Yearbook', for lack of a better name, is just about finished. I should be sending it out in the next week. Thanks to Rick, Jack, and Mike Padilla for their assistance in this.
The late Gary Brooker. Through the years doing this incredible song.
The full version with all extra verses.
Gonna bow out with these from leftfield: Moby's Porcelain Live featuring the late Diane Charlemagne.
An acoustic cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game by Kfir Ochaion.
Officially it is not official but it looks to all the world that Jack has this 2nd season thing in his pocket. He's not leading but has several players that the teams ahead of him don't have. I'd do the permutations but they give me a headache these days. In short... Keith is a sitting duck, Dan has an outside chance to stay ahead of his kid, James can't catch the leaders and the rest of us are along for the ride.
While updating the statistical spreadsheets as I do after every season I came across some errors (Oh, the horror!) in my postseason numbers. I decided to just dig into the numbers and start from scratch. It's tedious work made more tedious by the fact that I need to double (and triple) check everything.
If any of you guys have a free half hour or so I would appreciate a second set of eyes to tabulate some team(s)' postseason record. Here's what this entails... From the updated Postseason results spreadsheet I would ask you to add up the following for a team:
Postseason Appearances (i.e. # of years a team made the playoffs)
PS Games Played
PS W/L
Division Titles
League Titles
W/L for each round as below
WC/1st Rd
Semifinals
Hughes Bowl
I have some teams finished (Flyers, Giants, Strawmenn) but with those teams, I could use a recount LOL You could do a couple of teams if so inclined. If you can help just send word and I will send you the updated Postseason results sheet (the one posted in the Links section of the league page is flawed). I can send along a tally sheet to make it easier.
This is all part of revamping and streamlining my stats workbooks. Uploading individual stat sheets to the Links section is a pain and the site I use is quirky. I'm consolidating all my numbers and history stuff into a single workbook which I can email to anyone interested. But that comes later. For now, I just want to get my Postseason numbers correct.
Thanks In Advance!
Now, see below for info on the Houston Meet-And-Greet!
Houston Meetup next Saturday! (Feb. 8)
Let's aim for 2 p.m. at Cactus Cove, the same spot as last year. I plan to get there early and hopefully nail down one of the big tables like we had last year. I also need the time to use the crane to unload my trophy from the flatbed. 🤣 Feel free to come as early as 1:30. CC is on W. 11th just west of Ella Blvd. In case you've forgotten you can check the map for the location.
Unless I hear otherwise I will be expecting all the Houston guys. The trophy, Hughes News Championship Edition, and maybe Ellis Rose, the Hughes League Queen, will be there!
First to worst is a thing and it bit David this week in the Postseason contest. After grabbing the lead in Week One he dropped to the bottom of the Week Two numbers. He's still in a money spot, though, and as they say in poker, "All you need is a chip and a chair!"
Rick took the permutation reins* and thinks James is going to be difficult to catch. I've been too busy to mess with that sort of task so I'll take his word for it. It's not surprising since James always seems to do well in this thing. Dan as well and his Fish are right there in second.
I had two goals when I decided to crank this up. #1 was to get as many of you guys involved as I could. #2 was to not finish last. At least #1 worked out. 💀
*=According to the googles it is 'reins'. Learn something new all the time.
Houston Meetup!
Targeting Saturday, February 8th. The day before the Super Bowl has become a tradition of sorts. Time and place are TBD but I'd expect it to be around 1:30 or 2ish at a spot on the west side of town. I thought Cactus Cove worked out pretty well last year so I'm leaning toward returning there but other spots, like one of the On The Kirb locations, NettBar Shady Acres (which I considered last year), or maybe Cottonwood on North Shepherd. I'm open to other suggestions.
I hope all the local guys can be there. Stay tuned for finalized details.
Keep Saturday, February 8th open for our annual Houston meetup! I haven't finalized a location but figure on something on the west side of town as usual, early to mid-afternoon. I hope all the local runners-up can make it!
Now... on to the regular business...
Well, David got off to a nice start in the Postseason Challenge, and he is on top of the pack after a week of Wildcard games. Keith is right on his tail, and then there is a gap to the rest of us. I use the term 'us' loosely as I'm currently trying to find a periscope to see above the water.
Then again, he has five players out of the NFL Playoffs now. Can the leaders sustain their momentum? It is interesting to see the different approaches to roster building. I took some time and posted the results below, with the eliminated players in red. You'll need to click the table to make it large enough to view.
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