Evans World 2012 – Week 8

SIGH.  I wish I could say I’m enjoying this FF season.  My mediocrity is getting the better of me.  Even the NFL Pass on my DirectTV isn’t helping much … of course, it’s still cool as hell to watch 8 games at once.  Someday my man cave will be fully operational and the experience will be even better.  Until then, I’m saddened by my continued losses and dismal outlook for the rest of the season.  I will endeavor to not let my own teams’ downturn affect my ability to praise/mock the rest of you bastards.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

• There weren’t any record lows, but I think the matchup between Gary and me was the lowest total scoring matchup in recent memory.  I’d go back through the books to confirm, but it’s too depressing.  I’m sure Berk had a bad week one week against me or Gary, so we’ll just say that Berk has the record on this one.  Good win, Gary, even if it doesn’t fill you with the hope that you should feel at the prospect of the remainder of your season.
• Nathan, you know I love you man, but for the love of God do not change your team anymore.  If the winning streak of the past 5 weeks is showing you anything it’s that your team is solid.  I appreciate you looking for the best deal and keeping the league competitive, but I’m not sure you’ll find anyone else in this league who wouldn’t sit on a team like yours and ride it out.  Correct me if I’m wrong, folks.
• Learn another valuable lesson from Uncle Brad, folks.  For years I berated Tom for failing to check the lineups on Sunday mornings.  I checked mine last Sunday … but not thoroughly.  As such Jordy Nelson, whose injury I had missed during the week, gave me a big fat goose egg that could have been avoided.
• Jason wins!  Congrats, dude.  I knew you had it in you.  The record losing streak is ended.  Now, you need to focus on staying off the record for the worst regular-season record.  Three more wins and you’re safe.
• Poor Ritchie.  His 110.32 points would have beaten 7 other teams in the league … except of course the one team he was matched against.  Sorry, dude.  Ritchie has a tough schedule, in case you didn’t notice.  The remainder of his matchups are all against teams vying for a playoff spot.  Time to win and then win big to get you back in the total points ranking.
• Looking at the points, it’s pretty clear there is a significant difference between the top 5 teams and the bottom 5 teams of our league.  The top 5 teams are averaging nearly 100 points a matchup consistently.  That to me is a sign of a solid lineup and good judgment in selecting your starters.  Kudos to you all there.  The biggest thing I see is a massive gap for the rest of us to try to catch-up.  I honestly don’t think the champion of our league is going to be decided by point total or maybe even their team record.  Instead, it’s going to be decided by how well you do in that one crucial matchup.  Exciting!
• I’m sure this point/record discrepancy is due to only 10 teams in the league.  I’ve just gotten too used to 12-team leagues I guess.
• Despite the shitty game Romo played, he still would have gotten 12 points for Marshall.  Weird.
• So, did anyone else think that the Steelers’ throwback uniforms were some of the ugliest things ever created by mankind?  Yeah, me too, and I’ve even gone to some “modern art” museums that had better looking crap than that.  Ugh.  I get nauseous just thinking about them.
• Atlanta is pretty damn good.  I think the NFC playoffs are going to be all about who can beat up on Matt Ryan enough to win the game.  My money is on the Giants or Bears at this point.
• Wow, did the World Series just happen?  Zzzzzzz.

WEEKLY AWARDS

• MVP – This week the clear winner is Michael Crabtree for Tony G.  What a way to finish out the week and finally have the breakout FF performance Tony has been waiting for!  I don’t expect to see it happen again.  LOL.
• Honorable Mention – Gotta give this one to Jason and his Giants DEF that sealed the deal against Berk and ended the losing streak.  Not to mention they played one hell of a game.  Even still, with all those turnovers, that game should have been a much bigger blowout than it was.
• Best Owner Choice – I really liked Ritchie’s lineup this week.  Even though he was limited by bye weeks, it was some good selecting on his part.  But, I’ll give the award this week to Tony P. and Doug Martin.  Martin is one of the other FF finds of the season.  As things continue to improve in Tampa Bay, and I expect them to over the next 1-2 years, Martin is going to be a solid FF RB, probably a second/third-rounder next year.
• Unfortunate Bench – With all the bye weeks this week there was really only one choice:  this one goes to me for benching Lloyd in place of the injured Nelson.  I still would have lost to Gary, but I’d have felt better about it.
• Lawrence Philips Award – This week the LPA goes to the NFL for trying to delude itself into thinking there’s a viable market for football in England.  Please.  There might be some untapped sources of money there.  Hell, there might even be some British citizens who like a good brawl complete with full pads and helmets.  I don’t buy it.  The European market is completely focused on soccer, and that’s not going to change in our lifetime no matter how many games they play overseas.  Didn’t they learn that with NFL Europe???  The part that bugs me the most is asking teams to travel to England, disrupting a year’s worth of training schedules and preparations, just for a marketing scheme that has no chance of working.  Do they honestly think a team can travel that far and back and then just settle right back into a 4-day practice/prep period?  If so, why not make every team do it at least once a season?  It’s all bullshit and money … just like LP.  Give it up, NFL.  You want to expand, try talking to the sports monkeys in Canada.  They have somehow maintained some good baseball teams up there, and the CFL has helped to rehab and develop potential NFL players for years.  Time for a new merger, perhaps?

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE NCAA …

• Mindi and I had a good time at the Michigan game.  We got free tickets from a vendor through my company, so we had no control over where we sat.  Turns out we sat on the south end zone surrounded on all sides by Michigan fans.  To their credit, they were all great people.  They knew as soon as Robinson went out that the game was over.  I’m amazed they made as much noise as they did.  And they didn’t treat us badly at all.  Somehow I doubt we’ll get the same treatment in Ann Arbor, but it was fun. 
• That being said, it was still another lousy win by the Huskers.  Discipline missing on the field again.  No leadership.  Couldn’t turn red zone opportunities into touchdowns.  Mindi put it best … do we really want to be in the Big 10 Championship?  Why take another opportunity to embarrass ourselves so much?
• I thought it was incredibly classy for both teams to come onto the field and honor Marcus Lattimore after his injury, one that is almost certainly the end of a promising career.  You don’t see honor like that on the field often, at any level.  Well done, gentlemen.
• I so love to watch Colorado getting slaughtered this year.
• Iowa, wtf?  I honestly think they need to start thinking about “rebuilding” years.

LOOKING AHEAD

• I’ve got a feeling Nathan has one more trade in him.  Nathan, take a look at my team and see what you’d give me for Dwayne Bowe.  But, if you sit on that team, I don’t blame you for one second.
• Lots of 4-4 teams battling it out, including me, Ritchie, Mike and Gary.  Time to separate the men from the giants, folks.
• I think the battle of the brothers between Marshall and Nathan won’t happen this week, but will instead be postponed until Thanksgiving in the backyard. 

Have a great week everybody!