When I had the bright idea for the randomly drawn 'Beat the Monkey' team in this year's Second Season contest I figured that the club would land near the bottom. Seemed like an interesting way to drop an extra $5 in waiver cash in most club's coffers for 2026. I had no idea it would cruise to 1st place.
I mean, c'mon. I made the team by using an online projection list and a random number generator. Literally a shot in the dark bunch. Turns out the random approach may be the way to go in the future as the Band Of Primates finished at the top, more than 50 points ahead of the best-scoring 'real' team, Dan's Our National Fish. So no $5 bonuses will be awarded.
Dan's win marks the third for him in the nine years we've been doing this in one form or another. Jack had won the previous two after Dan won the two before that. That means we've had five straight Scofield 2nd Season wins!
Dan finished just a few points ahead of James who seems to be our annual runner-up. Jack was third and Keith finished fourth.
I mailed out a .pdf file on Monday night with all the details. It will also be a pert of the new Yearbook which should land in your email's inbox any day now.
I plan to follow up with a big email and/or News blog post once MFL rolls the league sites over to the 2026 season. That usually happens within a few days of the Super Bowl.
--Later this week (I hope) MFL will roll the site over to the 2026 season. At that point I clear rosters and take a break for several months. Unlike last year when I first installed the new template and then had to wrestle with it endlessly over the summer, I really don't have much I need to do before next season.
- I'll randomize the schedule as always.
- Make the adjustment to the new roster size.
- Double-check that the dates for a draft and waiver schedule are correct.
- Adjust waiver $$ totals for 2nd season winnings.
- Choose a color for the thing.
That's pretty much it.
--I might have a change in determining draft slots, but that's up in the air.
--Expect a raise in the annual entry fee. Nothing crazy but the cost of a trophy has gone up significantly.
--The 2026 Yearbook is about to be distributed. I realize that it is mostly for my own amusement, but I'd appreciate you checking it out. I had a lot of fun putting it together.
Shown below are the latest pieces of my Ed Hughes collection. This program comes from Coach Hughes' first official home game as head coach of the Oilers.
The Chronicle's Oilers beat writer, Hal Lundgren, had a recap of the season opener in Cleveland. CEH was NOT happy with the on-field fight in that one which thinned out an already diminished O-line.
Here is the article in easy-to-read mode (click to expand).
The program, and others like it, are now posted to the CEH Tribute page.
Next is my second signed index card, this one was signed by CEH with an added 'coach' below his name. It is my third example of his signature joing my first index card and the '56 Giants team-issued card. I've added it to the Hughes Trubute page which is worth checking out if you haven't do so lately.
The late, great Diane Charlemagne. She did so much beautiful vocalizing on my guy Moby's songs. RIP
Bonus Track:
Ellis looking so grown up! 💖
