Here We Go!

 

Crunch Time... Twelve weeks down, two to go, and things have gotten, well, interesting to say the least. The Sticks took the drama out of the Kuhlmann Division with a win over the Blizzard. What had looked like a huge battle a month ago turned into a routine win. 

The Heroes and Flyers secured division wins, keeping the Legends and Bombers within range. They meet in two weeks, a traditional closer. Will a playoff spot be on the line? Hey, I haven't gone through all the tiebreaks, so maybe one of them is already DOA.

The Holes and Nats both won to get to 9-3, and they each could do no worse than 9-5, obviously. The Bliz could go 9-5 but lost to both these two, so I think I am safe in assuming that both the Nats and Holes have spots locked up. They also meet in Week 14, and that one could be for the division and a bye. Buckle up!

Things (I think) I know:

• Sticks have won their division and clinched a bye
• Holes and Nats have (I'm fairly certain, see below) clinched playoff spots
• Pirates, Rbacks, S'menn are eliminated from playoff contention
• Two Wildcards are still up for grabs, with the Bliz (7-5) and Bombers (6-6 with a chance at the division) having the inside track. Lincoln has the edge on the Lombardi Division, but could drop to a WC contender
• Multiple teams from the Lombardi may qualify, but the permutations give me a headache
• Figuring this shit out isn't as much fun as it used to be 💀

So, with the Sticks, Nats, and Holes holding three spots, let's look at the rest of the teams not yet eliminated....

Legends 7-5/2-2 1st Lombardi. 

To Play: Heroes and Bombers. (1115 points scored in last 5 games)

1-1 vs Flyers, beat Giants & Bliz, lost to Heroes & Bombers

Blizzard 7-5 2nd Kuhlmann. 

To Play: Smenn and Pirates (900 in last 5)

Beat Heroes, Giants, Bombers, Lost to Flyers and Legends

Bombers 6-6/2-2 2nd Lombardi. 

To Play: Flyers and Legends (1162 in last 5)

1-1 vs Heroes, Beat the Flyers; Lost to Legends, Blizzard, and Giants

Giants 5-7  3rd Barenholtz, 

To Play: Holes and R'backs (1029 in last 5)

Beat Bombers and Heroes; Lost to Legends, Flyers, and Blizzard

Heroes 5-7/3-1 3rd Lombardi via current tiebreak vs Flyers

To Play: Legends, Flyers (1113 in last 5)

1-1 vs Bombers; Beat Flyers, Legends; Lost to Bliz and Giants

Flyers 5-7/1-3 4th Lombardi via current tiebreak vs Heroes

To Play: Bombers and Heroes (1115 in last 5)

1-1 vs Lincoln; Beat Giants and Blizzard; Lost to Heroes and Bombers 

I did this in a hurry, so I could very well be full of crap on some of this. Please feel free to check my work. 

The chart below shows numbers from the last 5 weeks, Potential Points on the left, and actual Points Scored on the right. I used it to configure the notes above; take it for what it's worth. 

Click to expand:

Vote Early and Often!... Jack commented last week in response to my waiver-related complaints by suggesting that we reduce the size of our rosters by one. Doing so would dump a dozen bodies into the open market and make the pool of players more attractive. And I'll add that it makes roster management a bit more challenging. I'm on the fence here; I truly have no preference. I posted a poll to get everyone's take. 

As of this writing (Tuesday morning), we have 11 votes cast. The poll will remain open until Midnight on Wednesday. Hopefully, the lone holdout will weigh in by then. If not, I will use my proxy to reach 12 votes, according to our rules. 

A few weeks back, I mentioned a Taxi Squad slot that would be a rookie who wouldn't count against your roster until activated. (There were a few more parameters as well.) I'm not sure if that would negate the roster size reduction or enhance it. LOL Somebody help me!!

The Site, what say you?... We are nearly a season into using this template. While I really do like the look, I do find myself annoyed at a few 'features', and I'm soliciting opinions on a few things.

• I dislike and generally ignore the Notifications box that jumps up (sporadically) when you enter the site. It doesn't seem to be there every time, but when it is, it's annoying.
• The yellow banner that tells you who has entered is less annoying, but I dislike it as well. LOL
• Do you care about the scrolling headlines? I sometimes pay attention to the names of injured guys, and I do look at the leaders on occasion, but I wouldn't miss it if I deleted it.
• Thirteen weeks in and I still hate the waiver page. I find the team and position dropdowns to be slow, the filters over the free agent lists next to useless, and the difference between the 'Place Bid' and 'Make Claim' buttons less than obvious. (See the next paragraph)

Let me know your thoughts on the new look. I think it is 'clean', but maybe not as intuitive as the old layout. 

Site Related: Again today, I pushed through a claim I intended to be a bid. I've spent a lot more time logged in as commish this season than I did in the past. The template creator has posted tweaks to be implemented, and I like to putz around with stuff anyway (it's like a new toy). And some stuff is just easier to get to as commish. Combine that with a more convoluted waiver page and it adds up to wearing the wrong hat half the time. Maybe I need to put a big note on my monitor. 👮

Here is this week's Top 5...

1. Sticks (0.5)
2. Nationals (0.25)
3. Holes (0.25)
4. The Sticks' Bench Guys
5. Legends (or maybe the Heroes, Bombers or Giants, I dunno)

• Also receiving votes: Lionel Messi, Shohei Ohtani's dog 'Decoy' 🐕, and hmmmm....nobody in the Hughes League TBH
• Not receiving votes: The rest of us, Manchester United, 610 Loop eastbound @ I-45
• First place votes in parentheses. 

I'm not a John Meyer fan, but I thought this was pretty awesome. 

Ellis has perfected the 'One Chopstick' method of enjoying her chicken Pho. 

And she is somewhat less than excited about her after-school t-ball program. She told me, "Baseball is too tricky!"  🤷🤣   

But a cakepop ALWAYS makes her happy!