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.
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.
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.
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