WEINKOPF.COM FOOTBALL POOL WEEK 8 UPDATE:
SUPER BATMAN, SUPER CHILD
 SuperBatman Ebin Hirschman is four years old. He goes to pre-school. He lives on a steady diet of happy meals, and plays pee-wee soccer in his spare time. He also scored an awesome 81 points this week in the Weinkopf.com Football Pool, besting the next closest competitor, Geoff “Go Lions, No Really” Brown by 5 and An Unverified Groin Injury Bob Smiley by 9 points.
How good was Ebin? He successfully picked the lowly Arizona Cardinals to upset the San Francisco 49ers—and he also gave them all 14 confidence points.
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING
Yes, I know I’ve done a pretty dismal job producing updates. All I can say is that new responsibilities at work and fatherhood have taken a serious bite into my free time, but I’m getting the hang of things. Hopefully I’ll start posting more, more often. Meanwhile, you all could help mightily by making generous use of our public blog.
Anyway, there’s some updating to be done around here:
BELATED KUDOS
Mr. Groin Injury will never forgive me if I don’t mention that, yes, he was the winner of last week’s pool, with an impressive 85 points—more than anyone had scored since week 3. After a slow start, Bob is certainly on a roll. He’s almost worthy of the One To Watch honor, except that there is a more deserving recipient out there, but more on that later.
Then there was the winner of Week 6—yours truly, the Mighty Mighty Pats Fan—making me the only pooler to win two different weeks on the season. In fact, if it weren’t for Geoff the Lionhearted, I would be in third place overall, having put some room between myself and former #3 Tim Nicely for Governor.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I failed to trash talk Flipper Lynne over her Miami Dolphins’ and their grand choke to the Mighty Mighty, AFC East-leading New England Patriots in Week 7. Yes, the Fish did rebound to thump the Chargers on MNF. Too bad they can’t play San Diego every week, maybe that way they could win the division!
WINNING WHERE IT COUNTS
I’m coming to realize that a weekly win ain’t worth a hill of beans. After all, Pool Leader Jason “NinerInch Nails” Hirschman hasn’t won a week since Week 1 (although he did with an incredible 111 points. Then there’s Grogan’s Heroes Kenny Scagel, who hasn’t won a single week, yet holds onto second place overall—trailing NIN by a mere 5 points.
Kenny, too, could be the OTW, but he’s not. More on that later.
FIDES, VERITAS, LABOR
It’s worth noting that this year’s pool has been very kind to the Middlesex School class of ’91, of which Grogan, NIN, and yours truly are all members. Between us, we hold three of the top four positions. Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah! Elliott Trommald would be proud.
Good to see all that education has been put to good use.
SCAGELS FADING
Yet for all of Grogan-Kenny’s triumphs, the rest of his family isn’t faring as well. Wife Lone Star Lizzie has dropped to seventh place, and son “I can throw the ball!” Mac is down to ninth. Don’t get me wrong—three top-spots is nothing to sneeze at, but, overall, I think we’re looking at a big-picture, Scagel downward spiral.
SPEAKING OF DOWNWARD SPIRALS…
True to form, Ben “Iron City Steel Co.” Kepple has neglected to get in his picks two weeks in a row. He does this every year, at about this time. Having begun the season with a boast, his performance then suffers, and then he bails. What’s the matter, Benny, the water too hot? Or are the Steelers just that bad (and you don’t have Kordell to blame any more)? Stick around, for once. We like your company. And we’d love to see how you’d fare over a whole season.
Dave WhyNots Coher, by the way, has officially bailed out—after getting burned multiple times when Yahoo! failed to recognize picks he made from his cell phone. And what’s up with Matthew “Un Dia Normal” Rubush?
NO QUITTER, HE
One pooler who hasn’t bailed is Dru’s Picks—and hats off to him for sticking around. Apparently Dru misunderstood the confidence-point system, ranking his top game #1 rather than #14, and so on. This continued for several weeks, thus explaining his weak 17th place showing. But now that Drew has figured the game out, we should all be on our toes—his totals have been up for the last three weeks.
Drew deserves a little help regaining lost ground. To aid him along, I hereby present him with the anti-hex known as the One Not To Watch honor. He should be breaking the Top Ten in no time.
So who is the OTW?
Easy: Defending champion Stacey “WildStyle 75” Pressman. After a rough start at the bottom of the pack, WS75 has been on a tear, clawing her way back up to fifth place. Given her track record, we lucky few who happen to sit above her in the ratings pile ought to be worried. May the hex work its magic.
NOW FOR SOME FAMILY STUFF
In the Klash of the Kids, Ebin’s triumph brings the overall tally to: Mac, 5.5; Ebin: 1.5; and Mighty Mighty Monniemoo Monica: 1.
It’s not even close.
HUSBAND v. WIFE
Kenny bested Lizzie again, taking a 5-3 lead on the season. And Tim has beaten wife Kelly “VV” Nicely for three straight weeks, for a 6-2 advantage.
FORT WORTH v. SANTA PAULA
The Scagels continue to dominate the Nicelys, beating them in combined scores again—for the eighth consecutive time, to continue their shutout.
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER
Brother-in-law Groin Injury Bob beat me by one point on the week, making that two out of the last three, to bring the season score to Yours Truly, 5; Groinman, 3. I’m still ahead, but it’s getting a little uncomfortable here … And Matthew Rubush’s no-show has allowed big brother, Hail to the Redskins Scott, to tie up the season battle at 4-4.
REVISITING SOME OLD QUESTIONS
Can NinerInchNails Jason hang on to first place?
Barely, but Kenny has him in his sights.
Can a slumping Spurrier Fan Cris stay in the top ten?
Negative—twelfth place and falling.
And if God is a Dallas Cowboy Fan why is Rob Hays doing so badly?
Clearly God has shifted his alliances. Wow, I haven’t liked seeing Tampa Bay win this much since the Super Bowl.
NOW FOR SOME CLOSING QUESTIONS
Willy Kenny claw his way into first?
Will Stacey continue her ascent?
And will one-time champ Jersey Girl Cris ever recover?
Stay tuned to find out! And if you get a chance, post a blog while you’re at it!
Yours,
Chris, the MMPF
posted by Chris Weinkopf @
5:20 AM
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10/29/2003  |
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