Three words that you never wanted to hear from your parents when you did something wrong as a child. You could handle it - almost prefer it - if they were angry with you. But if they said, "We're not mad at you, we're just disappointed", oh, man - absolute shame.
In my post last week, I shared with you the fact that no team has ever won the SCL Championship Game without winning their week 8 matchup. I put it at the end of the post so it would be the last thing that you read and, therefore, the most likely to remember. I tried to stress the importance of winning this week.
So, what did you do?
For starters, as a group, you went out there and delivered one of the worst week's of scoring that I've seen in a while. And, certainly the lowest scoring week of the season. By a long shot.
Before this week, week 4 was the lowest scoring week with a total of 1290 points for an average team score of 107.5 pts/gm. Low, but somewhat tolerable.
This week, however, you outdid yourselves. As a league, you scored just 1147 points, a reduction of nearly 150 points. And your average team score dipped to just 95.6 pts/gm. It was such an uneventful weekend that I actually went outside and played with my CITs (Commissioners In Training) on the trampoline.
To be sure, there were a few of you that got the message about the importance of a week 8 victory. Who Is You, for example, scored 158 points - their highest total since they tallied 169 points in the first week. And Do Not Panic exceeded their projected score of 104 points by 18 with a final of 122 points and a much needed win.
I should also point out that Who Is You and Do Not Panic were the only two teams this week that exceeded their ESPN projections.
But their performances were the exception this week, not the rule.
Coming in with the third highest score of the week, 109 points, the Thundabuddies not only knocked off the red-hot Golden Tate Warriors, but they also remained the only team with a low-score over 100 points. With their lowest score of the season at 105, this team is certainly looking like a playoff contender in the Cactus division.
Perhaps the biggest train wreck I watched this weekend was the game between Los Perros Locos and Badazz Bri. Before the game, the folks over at ESPN had Bri's players projected to score a total of 82 points for the week. And, that's exactly what they did - they scored 82 points.
Now then, if I were to tell you before the weekend that Bri would score 82 points and they were playing a Perros team that already had 17 on the board after Thursday night with 7 players left to play, including Zeke, McLaurin, Diontae Johnson and Dalvin Cook, you'd tell me that there's no way that Bri wins that game. In fact, ESPNs own FantasyCast app listed Bri's odds of winning at 8% before Sunday's games began.
But as the games progressed through Sunday afternoon, it became increasingly clear that the dogs were busy chasing their own tails while time was running out.
With all but one player on Los Perros Locos finishing below their projections, they would finish the game with the lowest score of any team this season, only 52 points - not even half of what they were projected to score. Badazz Bri's 8:100 chance of winning hit and they pulled off the upset.
I fully expected to turn on SportsCenter with SVP and find him and Stanford Steve discussing this game in their Bad Beats segment.
Another team that failed miserably this week was Chief Sticky Balls. After scoring 141 points in week 7 with a ragtag lineup because of the bye week, you'd expect big things for them with their starters returning. And you'd be wrong.
The Chief Sticky Balls scored only 75 points in week 8 and lost to a Baby Got Dak team that only registered 81 points, 33 points below their projections.
By the time it was all said and done, four teams would go on to set the bar to a new low for themselves with their lowest score of the season coming in week 8: Jergoff Passout, Chief Sticky Balls, Los Perros Locos, and Baby Got Dak.
One of the few disappointments that you could justify was Christian McMingle's 72-point outing. Sure, 72 points is terrible but have you looked at what they had to work with in week 8? No Dak Prescott. No Christian McCaffrey. No Gronk. No Antonio Brown. No Damien Willi - oh, wait, he played but left injured after two plays.
With all the injury designations, McMingle's roster this week looks more like a hospital intake list than a fantasy football team.
Lastly, we need to talk about inter-league play. Finishing 4-2 this week, the Cactus division is starting to pull away from their Sagebrush counterparts. On the season, the Cactus teams hold a 4-game lead and they're outscoring the Sagebrush teams by 15.4 pts/gm, on average.
I recognize that it was a strange week with a lot of unexpected performances so, no, I'm not upset...just disappointed. But, the good news is that it's onward and upward from here, right? Right?!?
SURVIVOR CHALLENGE
Although they won their matchup, Baby Got Dak was eliminated from the Survivor Challenge this week with a score of 81 points. To the dismay of Who Is You, who scored a league-high of 158 points, we're down to just four teams remaining and that means immunity has been removed. Here are the average weekly scores of the teams still competing:
Who Is You - 120.6 pts/gm
Jergoff Passout - 116.5 pts/gm
Golden Tate Warriors - 115.9 pts/gm
Pork Chop Express - 112.1 pts/gm
This is a good group that should make for an interesting finish to this contest.
PIGSKIN PICK'EM
Hats off to Chief Sticky Balls who was the only team that correctly picked the Saints to beat the Buccaneers this week. Because of picks like that, the Balls finished with 11 correct picks and inched a little closer to the leaders.
With 10 correct picks this week, Badazz Bri jumped into a 3-way tie for 2nd place with Los Perros Locos and Who Is You while Christian McCaffrey sits alone at the top despite a 7 for 15 record in week 8.
NOTE: I've seen two instances where ESPN's website did not give credit to someone for a correct pick. In both cases, pictures showing their correct picks were provided and I made the adjustments on our website. Please keep an eye on your selections and check back in on them before the games start to make sure ESPN registers your selection. If you still don't receive credit for a correct pick, please let me know and send me a picture of your selections. Additionally, the Pigskin Pick'Em standings on our website are the official ones. The standings shown on the ESPN website are incorrect.
COMMISH'S PICKS
I assumed the Cactus division would handle the Sagebrush division this week when I chose five Cactus team to win. As it turned out, I selected wrong on a few and finished 3-3 in my picks. Yet another disappointment.
Good luck in week 9!
-- Commish
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