Projects Overload

 

As I've mentioned previously I've been digitalizing my old Hughes League paperwork, mostly newsletters and stat sheets from our 'paper and mailout' era. I quickly discovered that the binders were missing many of the Hughes News Championship Editions. I suspect that I had at one time pulled them with hopes of making copies for a now-forgotten project. I had no Hughes Bowl game writeups from our seasons prior to 1989. I was also lacking a few more recent versions. 

EDIT: In scrolling back through the newsletters that did survive I found a line in the 1989 News that stated it was the first Hughes Bowl edition in several years. I was involved in the airline industry in those years and Christmas time was always crazy busy so perhaps they were not published at the time after all.

A little background...the first decade of the Hughes News and stat sheet was done by hand. I bought my first computer in 1991 and beginning that year I produced our newsletter with it. It was still a 'print, copy, mail' enterprise for a while. I always thought the 90s News issues were the best. Then we moved online later in the 90s using some early commish programs. During those years I posted the news in various forms on the 'net. The format for those years was mostly just text-based which was really a step down from the stuff I'd been doing with MS Word. 

Eventually, I stopped the 'weekly newsletter' and began blogging. That seemed more efficient and gave me the chance to use graphics again. But through all this one thing remained more or less constant...a Hughes News Championship Edition. It's always been one of the things I've enjoyed about the league. So when I discovered some were 'missing' or (gasp) never produced I knew that I'd have to get to work to rectify that. I do realize that I'm likely the ONLY one who cares but that's okay, I'll have fun my way, and you can have fun your way.

In (re)producing these missing/lost Champs Editions I tried to stay true to the Hughes News newsletters of the era I was working with. In filling in the decade of the 1980s I tried to give them the feel of that decade's style. Back then I used a typewriter, press-down letters for the headlines, glued down the occasional piece of clip art cut from newspaper and magazine ads, made corrections in ink, and sometimes added whole handwritten sections. By the middle of the 80s, I'd bought a box of custom-made league stationery and used that. The very first few years I used plain paper or stuff I cribbed from my job at the Houston Post. If you look at the ones I have done to fill in that decade (everything from 1980 through 1988) you'll see those things plus the usual typos, dumbass misspellings, cross-outs, and misaligned headlines. 

To make these as true-to-form as possible I dug up a bunch of typewriter and headline fonts online. Back in the day, I was always running out of certain letters or numbers on the sheets of press-down letters late at night. I would fill in the gaps with what was on hand. On these reproductions, I've mixed some fonts to produce the same effect. I also let most typos go uncorrected unless it was a boxscore number. 

The later issues that I've just finished include one or two that were originally sent as emails and/or posted online on text-only pages. The 2007 issue was originally a News Blog post that I've brought over to newsletter format. Finally, I did 'modern-style' Editions for 2012 and 2013. These had been done as very brief blog posts back then and I thought I owed the championship owners, Bobby and Paz, a better product.

Finally, I got the newsletters into a standard size and arranged them in chronological order. The latest Champions Edition is at the top of the pile and then they go from 1980 to 2021. I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out the 'parade' of fame by clicking the Championship News tab on the website. Or just click here. I'd like to hear your comments as well. 

Now that I have finished this project I'm going to get back to the original one I had planned for this summer..archiving our history. Wish me luck.

I hope everyone is having a good off-season. Talk soon.

-commish

The late Mike Nesmith provides us with this terrific song. One of my all-time favorites. Enjoy.

And here's my little beauty.  Both actually.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Same Old, Same Old

Well, as promised, Myfantasyleague has made the 2023 home pages available. I have updated our site for the fall season. This is the link. You can also just change the year in any bookmarks/links you have on your browser and that will get you there. I know I mentioned switching sites at some point but as I noted in the last post we will stick with MFL through 2023.

Back a few weeks ago when I posted the yearly wrapup here I mentioned several changes that I was thinking of implementing. Many of these have been addressed and put into play on the new site. Others are still up in the air or I just haven't tackled them yet. Let's look at them one at a time:

These were the changes that I was certain about:

1) We will go to a dedicated tight-end lineup spot for 2023... That's been configured. We will go with what I call the industry standard lineup requirements: I QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, plus a Flex player from among your RBs, WRs, and TEs. I considered going with a one-player minimum at RB and WR but in my discussions with a few owners, it didn't seem very popular.  In the chart, the red number shows how you can use your flex player.

2) I will decide on a Wild Card qualification setup... There was some discussion of this at the owners' gathering last weekend. The general consensus was that the wildcard spots should be based primarily on records. At least that's the impression I got. So that's the route we will take. I've been a strong proponent of the sixth spot going to a points leader but it's not something I want to go to the mat over. Of course, points will be involved in any tiebreaks for division standings, postseason slots, and seeding. 

I will also drop the provision that automatically seeded the 4, 5, and 6 teams according to PPG. Those seeds will be based on records with standard tiebreaks.

3) I'm going to add a rule or guideline that addresses the situation that occurred this year in our title week...  The more I think about this, the more I think it is impossible to make a rule to cover every possible scenario. Using player average points for the two guys involved worked out fine this time. But what if a player in the starting lineup of one of our Hughes Bowl teams was coming back from a two-month injury and had only played a couple of times early in the season?  Or not at all? Or he'd been a waiver claim that week...could I use his average points for what he'd done while not on a Hughes roster? What if the canceled game occurred on the first Monday night of the season? I suppose I'd have to do something like use the following week's scores for any involved players. 

The bottom line if there is no way to legislate a solution to everything that could occur in the NFL. I'm just going to have to use my best judgment in these situations with some help from trusted owners. Hopefully, we never have to deal with a player going through what Damar Hamlin had to go through ever again. He was very lucky. The next player might not be so fortunate. 

4) Added Jan 20... I am going to adjust the price structure to include the cost of the League trophy and other swag that goes to the champion... Done. I paid for the 2023 league as soon as I updated. The cost including an 'early bird' discount was $80 (Okay, $79 but let's not quibble). The trophy with shipping ran me right at $75.  The folks that provide the custom scripts that make the league site work like it does don't charge for their efforts. But I usually kick them a small tip via PayPal. They go above and beyond and do it for the MFL community without asking for anything. They will have extra work this year as MFL has re-done the league site menus (you'll notice that when you get there) and some of the scripts will require updating. They've already started this process!.

I think asking $15 per owner is not unreasonable. I will send everyone an email 'invoice' later this spring. 

That's all for the changes I considered 'locks' for 2023. The following are some things I mentioned in the year-ender that were possibilities. I've decided on some but others are still up in the air or needed to be resolved...

1) The tight-end addition will have an effect on how we select a lineup...  See above

2) I've considered moving on from Myfantasyleague... Again, see above. Changing sites just isn't worth the possible hassle.

3) I'm leaning toward changing both rushing/receiving yards and passing yards to fractional scoring... This is happening. See the chart below for a full scoring rule list. The changes are to QB passing (.04 points per yard rather than one point per twenty) and rushing and receiving yards (.01 per yard instead of one per ten). 

One byproduct of the above is that scores will now go to two decimal points. I'll learn to live with that.

4) I may go in and revise (and streamline) the tiebreaks...  I'll look at this later in the summer.

5) This blog may go away... I'll look at this later in the year.

6) ... I've played around some with the possibility of carrying over unused waiver cash from one year to the next...  I've thought about this some. It's a feature that I've come across in a few leagues. I dunno what the point would be but I thought it was something worth considering. Probably not worth the effort.

A couple of other things worth noting... 

I will put a schedule in place using Random.org to mix up the non-division weeks. I've played around with it and it works. 

I have not touched the new season calendar. There's no point in adjusting draft dates, etc. until I know the NFL schedule which gets released this spring. IOW...don't postpone your trip to Rome based on the date of the draft on the calendar right now.

Finally, the website, as noted above, has a new menu system implemented by Myfantasyleague. Not terribly different from what we are used to. But the options for submitting lineups, looking at rosters, and things like that have been rearranged. They are all still there, just in a different drop-down menu order.

A new addition I noticed just today is the 'All Reports' link under the 'Help' drop-down. It provides you with just what it says, all the reports in one place, broken down into categories.

#ellissayshello

Shenanigans Abound

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Second season Contest Results... Dan and James finish first and second and will have some additional waiver cash entering the 2023 season. Congrats!

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We had an enjoyable trophy presentation and general bull session this past Saturday. Sorry that Hogan couldn't be there due to my poor planning but some of us have to keep the world spinning (and the grocery stores open) on the day before Super Bowl so we appreciate Hogan's efforts.

We spent a lot of time talking about Houston sports, the Super Bowl, and especially the Hughes League. I believe the general opinion is that the current setup makes for a competitive league. I know a few owners miss the keeper system (one or the other of the many keeper systems we've had anyway) and, to be honest, I prefer keepers of some kind. But I also like keeping my life simple. Redrafting does that.

Various updates...

League history project... My current project is digitalizing the league's history from 1980 to the present. It's been something I've worked on off and on over the last few years. I'm now working on 2011 and 2012 so I've made some good progress. I'm determined to finish it up this time. Hopefully, I'll get it done this spring/summer. One thing I discovered was that I didn't do a Hughes News special for the Hughes Bowl in 2012, won by the Giants. Or if I did one it's been lost to time and computer shuffling. I rectified that yesterday. Congrats, Rick...11 years late. LOL

(click to enlarge)

I'll have a lot more to say about the digitalizing project in a future post here. It's been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! And sending twenty+ binders of paper to the recycling bin has been very satisfying.

2023 league site... I'm just not in the mood to start over at a different site for the coming year. I don't especially feel like looking into the settings/options these other sites offer. Moving might require more tweaking to our scoring setup and/or our lineup requirements. Ugh, who needs the hassle? I'll stick with what we have and will make only the change in the tight-end requirement that has been discussed. For the last few years, Myfantasyleague has made the new season sites available in the week after the Super Bowl. Rather than wait for everyone to pay before I renew (the cost rises as time passes) I will pay up to get the early bird discount this year. But I won't grant access to unpaid teams. It's not about the money, it's about the fairness of some paying and some riding.  

I will factor in the cost of the league and the trophy and 'bill' everyone once we are officially committed to 2023. 

Second Season contest... Today is Super Bowl Sunday and later tonight we'll know which two owners have won some bonus waiver cash for 2023. See the email I sent earlier this week for details. 

That's it for this news post. I'll have another entry once we have the 2023 site online and I'll have info on payment and more on my history project. 

In the meantime try and make yourself as happy as my sweet granddaughter Ellis Rose!!

#ellislovesherspaghetti 

The Brady Bunch

Edited to fix several a shitload of typos on Sunday night. 😒

With Tom Brady hanging up his spikes, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at his EHFL career. He played what, 23 seasons in the NFL? Pretty crazy when you think about it. Full disclosure: I'm not particularly a Brady fan, OTOH... I'm not a Brady hater, either. I've mellowed over the years and I don't get riled up over much when it comes to sports. I consider having watched him play in person to be a privilege. Hard to argue with playing at a high level for over two decades and seven titles.

I was surprised at some of the things I found as I dug back through the years and looked at his time in our league. A few notes: I have a boatload of Hughes League records but some things are lacking, like transactions for a few seasons, and keeper lists for a few others. So I had to make my best guess on a few of these 'how he got here' things. But I do have all the team/player points and who started weekly for all of Brady's time in the league.

What follows is a short blurb on each season of Brady's EHFL career. Below all of that is a chart with his record as a starter as well as his postseason record. I believe that he played on a team or two that made the postseason but for which he made no playoff starts. Those are not reflected in the chart. 

2000: This was Brady's rookie season in the NFL. He wasn't drafted into our league and wasn't claimed at any point. No reason for anyone to take notice as he wasn't a highly touted prospect and was sitting on the Pats' bench behind Drew Bledsoe.

2001: He was passed over in our draft but he took the Pats' starting job and was claimed by Rick in Week 3. (True Fact: Rick dropped Jets WR Anthony Becht to claim Tom Brady.) Brady started for the Giants in Week 7 and had 12 points (2 TDs). He started four more times that season for the Giants, sharing the job with Chris Chandler and Elvis Grbac, Those names will put a little perspective on how long Brady has been around. 

2002: Hogan drafted Brady in the 9th round and he ended up making more starts than Brett Farve who had been a keeper for the Heroes. Brady finished just ahead of Favre in points.

2003: The Giants took Brady first overall in our draft and then took Steve McNair in the 4th round. McNair made nine starts to Brady's four. Rick went to the Hughes Bowl with that combo but lost.

2004: He's listed as a 5th-round pick for the Giants but he might have been a keeper. Either way, he only got two starts (Matt Hasselbeck got most of them) before he is traded to the Flyers for TB RB Micheal Pittman prior to Week 10 and gets four starts to close out the season. 

2005: The Holes take Brady in the 6th round. He got only two starts as Jimmy also had Brees and Eli Manning. How did I beat him in the Hughes Bowl?

2006: He went in Round Three to the Bliz and thus began a long relationship with Paz' club. This season he started nearly every game and was 6th in QB points in the EHFL. He didn't have much help and the Bliz went 4-9.

2007: As a keeper, he led the Bliz to the playoffs (lost in the Semis) and had a monster year as he finished first in scoring, some 60 points ahead of Tony Romo and 90 better than Peyton Manning. 

2008: Once again he was a Bliz keeper. Brady's season ended with an injury in Week One. 

2009: Kept for another year by Paz and Brady was fifth in league QB scoring but they missed the playoffs.

2010: Still a Bliz keeper. Brady was 6th in scoring but only started five games. Paz went with Kyle Orton (you'll have to ask him, I can't explain it). Orton had a nice run for a while but he cratered to end the year and by then the Blizzard was out of the race so it didn't matter who started. 

2011: Brady was 4th in the league in scoring in his sixth season in Boulder. He carried them to the Hughes Bowl but couldn't pull out a win.

2012: This was Brady's seventh consecutive year with the Blizzard. He started all season and was second in points to Drew Brees. The Bliz won their division but were KO'd in the first round of the playoffs.

2013: He was kept again and led the Bliz to the Hughes Bowl. They were crushed by the Bombers but it wasn't Brady's fault... he was the only player they had to score in double digits. 

2014: After seven seasons in Boulder Brady was not kept (Paz opted to draft Drew Brees) and so was drafted by the Flyers in the sixth round. He had a subpar year finishing eighth in scoring among QBs and the rest of the Flyers were just as mediocre and they missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, Paz looked really smart in letting Brady go... he won the title with Brees.

2015: The Holes drafted Russell Wilson in the 4th round and then took Brady in the 7th. Brady ended up taking over as the Holes' starter in Week 5 and he finished 2nd in points in the league. Jimmy's club lost in the Hughes Bowl. 

2016: The Holes kept Brady who missed the first month with an injury. He took the starter's job back immediately from Joe Flacco (who had done very well). Brady had a fine season with the fifth-highest PPG among QBs and led the Holes to a league title. He didn't perform especially well in the postseason but the Holes were very strong and it didn't matter.

2017: The Holes kept Brady and he helped them be the #1 seed with the fourth-highest point total (just a point back of Alex Smith). But that wasn't enough to return to the Hughes Bowl. They were bounced out in the Semifinals.

2018: Brady's time with the Holes was over and he was taken by the Giants in Round Two. He started most of the season but gave up a few starts to Dak Prescott. The Giants squeezed into the playoffs as the #6 seed but lost in the Wild Card round. Brady was 18th in EHFL points.

2019: Brady was drafted by the Bombers in the 10th round and made two starts early in the season but made way for Aaron Rodgers in Week three. At midseason, he was traded back to the Giants for a future 7th-round pick. He made one start as Joliet won the first of three straight titles. The Giants used Jameis Winston and then (once he returned from an injury) Drew Brees as their starter.

2020: Drew Brees was the Giants' keeper but Rick picked up Brady in the sixth round. He started a couple of early season games and then took Brees' starting job. He was back in top form and except for a couple of weeks when Rick started Taysom Hill (Brees was IR'd) he held it through the club's second championship season. Brady was the MVP of the Hughes Bowl with 33 points. 

2021: The Giants cut ties with Brady and he was taken by the Bombers in the 4th round of the draft. He more-or-less alternated with Jalen Hurts as the starter and the Bombers made it to the Wildcard round. Brady got the postseason start. 

2022: For the last time Tom Brady heard his name called in the Ed Hughes League draft. Keith grabbed him in the 7th round and Brady started 10 games in his final season. Let the record show that Brady made his last start in the last regular season game of 2022 and he posted 16 points for the Sticks as they lost to the Strawmenn. His last EHFL victory as a starter came in Week 12 as he put up 20 points and helped the Sticks defeat the Pirates.

Click the chart to enlarge it. There is a bit more Tom Brady trivia below it.

Brady's first EHFL start came in Week 7 of 2001 for the Giants. He put up 12 points (2 TDs) in a 47-46 barnburner of a loss versus the Ridgebacks. Peyton Manning started for Dave and had 13 points. That one additional point that Manning got from an extra-point conversion pass to Edgerrin James proved the difference in our game.

His first win as a starter in our league came in Week 10 of that same 2001 season when he put up a 6-point performance as the Giants downed Attica, 32-12.

Brady was in the lineup for five Hughes Bowl clubs. He won the big game with the Holes in 2016 and the Giants in 2020. 

And that's a look at Tom Brady and his long Hughes League career. He played for seven teams, won 86 of 170 regular season starts, 9 of 17 playoff starts, and was a Hughes Bowl MVP. I wonder if he's as proud of that as he must be of his NFL stuff.