Week 1 Results

Week 1 Results

 

This week's theme is "fun"- as in: as we welcome our new players, we hope this is as much fun for you as it is for us.  

 

Of course, winning is fun.  

Congrats to three of our newcomers: Ryan, Scott I, and Scott K and the other five of us who didn't overthink week one and took Baltimore... or should I say- took the team playing the Jets: Carter, Cheryl, Gil, JP, and Jose. If you are new to Eliminator-type pools and you're not sure how to map out your season, just figure out who's playing the Jets or some other team trying to tank. It won't get you all the way to the finish line, but it will help.  The other problem with this strategy is when the team trying to tank plays a team doing even worse.  Like one that fumbles twice at the goal line.  

 

More on that in a moment, but first let's call out our other winner- Jay B, who chose the-team-which-Jose-refuses-to-refer-to-by-name.  Good 5 point win against the Raiders. Sadly, the Bolts might be pretty decent this year.

 

Tanking, part 2.  

Do you know what is not fun?  Putting your faith in a Hackett: something any USC or Chiefs fan from the 90s should know better. Shame on me.

 

I thought the Seahawks were going to be one of those teams tanking for the draft pick, so week 1 was a great chance to get Denver out of the way.  Who didn't think Russell Wilson was going to put up 30 points and beat Seattle in a laugher?  That's why this game was Steve's Five Star Lock of the Week. Unfortunately, even though the Wallyball analytics team had sound analysis, there is no sql script that could account for strange coaching decisions.  Joining Steve on the losers board are Bret, Andy, Dave, and Al.

 

 

Wallyball was fun in 2020 when you knew from the start that the Jags, Jets, and Giants were going to be atrocious. That left plenty of options each week, and for one half last Sunday, the Giants were living down to expectations.  Paul, Tim, and Wally would like to know what happened to Tennessee in the second half.

 

Tennessee and Denver were not the only no-brainer picks last week.  Who didn't like the defending AFC champs at home vs the new era of Pittsburgh football, also known as "The best we could do was Mitch Trubisky"? 

 

Apparently the best the Cincy O line could do was yell, "Boo" at the guys rushing past them.  Reminds me of the UCSD Intramural game when I got a holding penalty for trying to block someone at least twice my size with probably 10x the football knowledge.  Dave scolded me... not for holding, but for trying to block.  

 

Along those lines, the intramural PAT team of Paul (long snapper), Steve (holder), and Jay K (kicker) was a heck of a lot better than the Bengals were last week.  For those of you who did not play UCSD intramural flag football,some background.  You actually weren't allowed to kick extra points- you had to run a play for the PAT.  Until the game where Jay B game running off the field, handed me his flags and before you know it Dave, Eric, Jay B and teammates improved as human goalposts and Jay K kicked it straight down the middle. We got no points, but it sure was fun.  

 

What was not fun last week was negative points for Eric and Doug.

 

Playing in the rain can be a lot of fun.  I'm sure many of you played mud football in the rain when you were young.

Playing in the rain can not be a lot of fun when you are a young QB who played all his college home games in a dome.  I would have had the Niners as at least a three-star play.... instead they were a 0 star play and thanks to that debacle in driving rain in Chicago. The Trey Lance era sent Colin and Linden to the cellar.  Hopefully they won't stay there long, but if they do, at least we have consolation prizes. 

 

Money is fun!  

Congrats to our first money winners, even if they might have preferred a win instead of $2.50.

Greg, Gregory, Jay K, and Scot picked Indy last week expecting a win against a bad Houston team. Perhaps they needed a reminder of how the Colts have kicked off each Wallyball campaign:

• 2020: lost to Jacksonville. It was the only game the Jags won last year.

• 2021: lost to Seattle.  The Seahawks finished last in their division.

We might automatically disallow any Indy picks next year for week one.  Oh, and the Colts' capacity for disappointment is not limited to Week 1.  For those of you thinking of saving them for Week 18, go online and see how well that worked out last season.

 

The four above didn't get a win, but they also didn't get a loss.  Instead they earned a small amount of money (actually very small) for picking the first game this year that ended in a tie.  

 

Excel is fun!

OK, so maybe that one is debatable, but please feel free to use the tools on the attached spreadsheet.  You'll see the standings, the weekly picks and results, a dropdown at the top right that shows how each person did when they picked a given team, and a table at the bottom that summarizes each person's remaining picks on the season.

 

Makeup picks are no fun.

With that in mind, please send your picks to us at wallyballuc@yahoo.com.  Saturday night would be great so that we can send out a list of picks once they've all been made.  Also please don't duplicate your picks.  This happens a few times each year.  You can use the Excel tables to help keep your picks straight.  As the season goes on, I will sort them from best to worst so that you know which good teams you can still take.

 

Good luck this week... and have fun!