Well, Well, Well... the seemingly invincible Blizzard took one on the chin this week, and now, combined with another Sticks' win, the Kuhlmann has tightened right up. Those two clubs are a notch (at least) ahead of the Hughes League pack and headed for a showdown in about a month. Which reminds me....
Byes,..Bliz (#1 seed) and Holes (#2)
WC Games: Legends (#3) vs. Nats (#6) and Sticks (#4) vs. Bombers( #5).
Elsewhere across the league... the Legends have quietly emerged as the leader in the Lombardi Division. They are tied with the Bombers (a big winner this week!) and hold a Week 1 win over Bobby. That's a Week 14 rematch to look forward to.
....the Nationals remain right on the Holes' heels 😏, but, like the Sticks, they lost the first matchup, which adds a bit more of an uphill tilt to their efforts to win the Barenholtz. Their rematch comes in the last week of the season. Buckle up! The R'backs, at 4-4, are very much in the picture. In the first division go-round, they beat the Holes, then lost to the Nats. Both games had razor-thin margins. It's worth noting that they are the only team currently outside the projected playoffs to be at .500 or better.
Yes, we have FIVE teams at 2-6. Five. That's pretty weird. I've mentioned previously that seven wins can often come with a Wildcard slot, but the way things appear this year, it is tough to visualize a playoff path for any of those clubs. Maybe I'm being pessimistic. All I know is that I got a terribly lucky and much undeserved win this week and went to bed thinking maybe I was getting some fortune smiling at me. But the first email I get is a lineup from my next opponent, the Sticks. A guy can't even enjoy a moment of respite from a shit season. LOL It was soul-crushing, lemme tell ya!
A Gentle Reminder... a lot of the IR'd guys we picked up on spec earlier are now hitting the active NFL rosters. Once they are off the IR, you'll need to activate or cut them before the system will allow you to make any roster moves.
The Ed Hughes Page... As I mentioned last week, I've been picking up some new items for my Ed Hughes collection, and they have all arrived. New to me are game programs from his 1971 season with the Oilers and his appearance in the '53 Gator Bowl with Tulsa, a Topps trading card that shows CEH, a ticket from his debut on the sidelines (shown last week), and various photos, some bought, some found on the 'net, and more.
Nearly everything is now posted on the Tribute page. I've also rearranged the page to get it into chronological order (more or less). I'm still editing text and researching some of the photos. But the page is ready for viewing. Click the link to the right and let me know what you think. It's not mobile-friendly, so a desktop view is best. I'm working on perfecting my skills in various areas, such as limiting photo size, etc.
Did You Know?... With my recent interest in expanding my Ed Hughes collection, I've found a few interesting facts about his life and career while digging through publications and websites. For example:
- He is listed as having played for the Hamilton WildCats of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) in 1949, which meant he was (presumibly) playing amateur Canadian-rules football before attending college. From the sketchy details available about that league, it was not 'rugby' as we know it, but indeed the 110-yard version of football played in the current CFL. That's my assumption since the Hamilton franchise played for the Grey Cup in the '40s.
- He played football at North Carolina State, Cameron Junior College (OK), and, finally, Tulsa.
- He began and ended his coaching career at the collegiate level, returning to coach at Tulsa in 1959 once he retired as a player, and finishing with a year as the defensive coordinator at Division III Lake Forest College in 1990.
- His younger brother Dick followed him to Tulsa to play football and, in 1956, led the Golden Hurricane in rushing yards. He was drafted by the Steelers in 1957. He played just one game that season (two carries for six yards in their season opener vs. Washington) and was out of the NFL after that.
- Tulsa was in the Missouri Valley Conference along with the Houston Cougars in 1952 and 1953 when EH played there. They split the two matchups. Houston won in 1952, finishing first in the MVC, but Tulsa was ranked higher (11th vs. UH's #19 finish in the AP poll) and got an invite to the Gator Bowl, where they lost by a point to #15 Florida.
- EH's brother-in-law was Dick Nolan, a long-time NFL player and coach. They met as rookies with the '54 Giants and had two separate stints working on the same NFL staff over the years.
I Should Know Better, But... when your team isn't on the right track, you have a lot of time to think about other league-related matters. Lately, I've been thinking about roster size, IR slots, that sort of thing. I even got to musing about a 'taxi squad' spot. It would entail a drafted or claimed rookie that is put into an inactive slot until an owner decides to 'promote' him. Once active, the player is not eligible to be put back on the taxi squad but is treated like any other rostered player.
Two things I know... 1) the taxi squad slot is available under the MFL system, and 2) anything we do has to be fully automated within the system. In other words, I do not want to have to monitor it as commish.
I have to look more closely into it. I'm not sure, for example, if an owner should or would be able to fill the taxi squad slot once his original rookie was activated. My initial thought was that once the drafted rookie is activated, the slot goes away, but I'm not sure if that is an available option.
Your thoughts, as always, are very much welcome.
Never stop, Jim Kerr. Never stop!
Oh, the same goes for you, Peter Gabriel!
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