Week 4 Results

Playing by the Rules

Fish Tales

Unfortunately (or not) for the Wallyball community, this has been a busier-than-usual work week. So today I am going to let the Internet take over with the story of Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky. I have no idea if they played football at any level, but until last week, they were known as one of the top teams on the competitive walleye fishing tournament circuit. Although let’s be honest, until last week had any of us actually heard of the competitive walleye fishing tournament circuit?

All it took to get a little notoriety was some good old-fashioned cheatin’. From CNN:

The would-be winners of the nearly $29,000 prize were disqualified from the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament after it was discovered their fish were stuffed with lead weights and fish fillets – a moment documented in several viral videos shared on social media. Steve Hendricks, who along with his teammate won Team of the Year after the two apparent cheaters were disqualified, hopes [Runyan and Cominsky] face the maximum penalty as a result of the cheating scandal that’s rocked the competitive fishing world. “I just hope they get them for everything they can for what they’ve done,” said

“They picked up a fish that should have weighed about four pounds and they set it on the scale and it said eight,” Hendricks told CNN Tuesday. “And then they put the rest of their five in and it came up to 35.”

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources collected evidence from the incident Friday and is preparing a report for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, spokesperson Stephanie O’Grady told CNN.

Jason Fischer, the tournament’s director, told CNN he was immediately suspicious when one team’s fish weighed almost twice what he expected they would at the Cleveland championship weigh-in.The walleye in the bucket looked like they should each weigh around 4 pounds, but the total weight indicated they would have to be at least 7 pounds each, he said.

“I thought, there’s just no way,” he said. “I could also hear the crowd grumbling, like ‘no way, there’s no way. I physically felt the fish, I could feel hard objects inside the fish,” he said.

“Everybody was going nuts,” Hendricks said Tuesday. “This is a rare thing,” he added, saying that “99.9% of the group” competing does not cheat. “It’s a great group of guys out there doing what they love, and it’s just a shame we had to deal with this.”

Over the years, Runyan and Cominsky have won thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, including a boat. I encourage you to check out the videos via the links below (or just search for fishing tournament cheaters):

https://youtu.be/0xd_iuWon9A

https://twitter.com/Billyhottakes/status/1576246821139070976?t=sxGaoFVHgssbkMGE2HhA2w&s=19

What is the world coming to when people are cheating at chess and fishing?

 

The number one rule in cheating

Don’t make it so obvious. Remember that when you videotape someone else’s Super Bowl practice or sideline signals. Only deflate the footballs a little bit.

 

Winning fair and square

Since there’s no evidence that vibrating anythings will give you an advantage in Wallyball, and since the meager prize package offered in Wallyball removes any incentive for cheating, we know that our leaders are staying unbeaten the old fashioned way. Intelligence and luck.

Scott K, Jose, Ryan, and Carter are now a perfect 4 and 0, but this last victory didn’t come easily.  Jose and Ryan watched the Packers hang on to win a game that shouldn’t have been that close, while Scott had more than a little cause for concern when Jacksonville raced out to a 14-0 lead.

Unfortunately, JP fell off the pace. Maybe he missed Carter’s “Take the Lions” memo by a week. Or maybe he thought they had enough grit to beat the Seahawks at home. Unfortunately for all of us, Seattle’s decent start has removed the “always pick against them because they’re tanking” strategy.

Definitely not cheating

Just very unlucky. So far this season, Dave B has chosen: Denver in Russell Wilson’s homecoming, Cincinnati against a Cowboys team with no Dak, the Chiefs against a bad Indy team, and the Super Bowl champion Rams. That’s not the formula I would have guessed would lead to an 0-4 start. I expect his luck will turn around very soon, but if it doesn’t: he’ll have a chance at some prize money and Scot’s utmost respect. He can be the Hue Jackson of Wallyball.

Given the poor starts by a handful of the other Wallyball regulars, Dave is far from clinching the consolation prizes.  Wally, Steve, Andy, Bret, Al, Colin, and Dave are only one victory ahead of him. Paul matched a couple of Dave’s picks earlier in the season, but he left the Winless Lounge last week thanks to his Chargers. And for understanding that the time to pick any team is not when they are SFSLOTW™

Bold Pick of the Week

Credit to Carter for once again going against the grain and being the only one to take the Giants. It’s hard to say that picking against the Bears on the road is bold, but we really didn’t have much else to choose from this week, because the boldest picks lost.  There should be honorable mention for Wally and the Jays, because choosing a team quarterbacked by Mitch Trubisky is always bold. And risky. Unfortunately, picking against the Jets on the road is no longer a sure thing, especially in the AFC North, where they are tied for first in that division.

We did, however, have a Scare of the Week.

Twelve of us figured this would be a good week to take Green Bay at home in prime time against the struggling Patriots.  It should have been. It barely was. But I’m guessing that the Barrys and Oteros, Dave E, Cheryl, Tim, Colin, Scot, Al, Gregory, and Doug all prefer an overtime win to the alternative. Al, Andy, and Colin were happy to take any victory at this point.

Steve’s Five Star Lock of the Week™

This week we found out that SFSLOTW™ is not completely worthless, but maybe it’s time to move away from the “Anti Jax” strategy. Or maybe the “S” should stand for “Scott,” because the lock of the week helped him stay on top of the leaderboard, while Linden and Eric were able to even their record.

For those who like to take chances, the FSLOTW should be Tampa Bay, or maybe Jacksonville, but we may need them later. So let’s throw caution to the wind and go with the Vikings. Sorry, Jay. 

Good luck this week to all!