The HooToo Superbowl - Part Two
Created | Updated Jan 7, 2004
Part Two, The Big Match
Our sincere commiserations to all those many eager readers (both of you) who
have been forced to wait three weeks to find out the result of the 2003 Hootoo Superbowl - (but
you can't have been too eager, or you would have found your way over to the American Football Forum where a little searching could have unearthed
the details1).
PENKETH PATRIOTS -
126 Vs. BLATHERS MUGWUMPS - 85
Match Report
The first thing to be explained about this match for those who don't particularly follow the sport
is the rather special circumstances under which this set of games were played (by the real teams in
the NFL). As this was nearly the end of the regular season, several of the teams already knew their
fate - either they were safely through to the Play-offs or were completely out of contention. This,
of course, had an effect on how they would play their game - a team playing only for pride might find
it hard to muster the same determination as a team who required a victory to reach the post-season
with its chance of massive monetary gains. Another hidden booby-trap for the unsuspecting Fantasy
manager lies in the fact that a team already qualified for the Play-offs might think it wise to rest
some of its more valuable players2 in order to save them for the more important games to come. This is
where Blather's Mugwumps ran into trouble!
All season one of the stalwarts of the Mugwumps had been Stephen Davis the Carolina Running
Back, but as his team had sewn up their division and he was carrying a sore left ankle and knee it was
decided to rest him - result 0 points for Blathers! Darrell Jackson, the Seattle Wide Receiver,
aggravated his sprained left ankle - 0 points for Blathers! When you add in only 1 point from the
Tight End and 2 points each from the Kicker and Defence, you realise that Blathers did well to
manage a total of 85 points!
However a steady showing from the Patriots team, with strong scores in particular from QB Brad
Johnson (31pts), RB Priest Holmes (28pts) and WR Torry Holt (18pts), would have made it difficult
for anybody to beat them on the day. As Blathers was gracious enough to say - 'My best roster still
would not have been enough to defeat the Patriots this week. They really earned the win.'
3rd/4th Place Play-off
Wildmans Warpigs - 118 Vs
Friars 3.0 - 60
Friar was another to suffer from star players being rested to recover from injuries as RB Clinton
Portis was side-lined with a sprained right ankle and knee, the Kansas City Defence returning 0
points didn't do his chances much good either!
Wildman wasn't helped much by Kansas City either - in his usual disastrous QB selection, he
decided to go with Trent Green who provided a measly 4 points. With his usual blind luck, he was
rescued by RBs Fred Taylor (28pts) and Shaun Alexander (23pts) - and his usual stand-by, WR
Randy Moss (23pts).
5th/6th Place Play-off
Pennsylvania X-Men - 95 Vs
Bearwood Budgies - 70
This was the closest match-up of the weekend, but the Budgies were seriously hampered by a poor
return from star QB Peyton Manning (5pts3) and the non-playing of TE Doug Jolley. Sportingly, Jimi X kept QB Brett
Favre (39pts) and RB Kevan Barlow (30pts) on the bench, when wiser team selection could have
added another 41 points to his total4.
7th/8th Place Play-off
Glasgow Tigers - 124 Vs Blues
Sharks - 84
The Blues Sharks were probably the unluckiest team throughout the season, and the final match
was no exception with no scores returned by the entire WR section of Isaac Bruce, Charles Rodgers
and Reggie Wayne, cancelling out good work by RB Marshall Faulk (27pts), Kicker Billy Cundiff
(15pts) and the Seattle Defence (14pts). However even with everyone playing well it would have been
difficult to beat the Tigers whose solid performance especially benefited from a Baltimore double
act - RB Jamal Lewis (34pts) and Defence (29pts.)
Teams and Managers
- Champion Penketh Patriots Egon
- 2. Blathers Mugwumps Blatherskite the Mugwump
(League Commissioner)- 3. Wildmans Warpigs Wildman
- 4. Friars 3.0 Friar
- 5. Pennsylvania X-Men Jimi X
- 6. Bearwood Budgies Bright Blue Shorts
- 7. Glasgow Tigers Ku'Reshtin
- 8. Blues Sharks Blues Shark
For anyone who would like to know the details of how an American Football Fantasy League
actually works - then you should have read the previous article! Luckily, thanks to those nice people
at the Post, you can still do that over at the back issues.
Weekly Predictions Competition
Another source of innocent amusement for the members of the American Football Forum has been
our attempts to forecast the winners of every match throughout the regular season. After 16 weeks
and 240 games, the season entered its final week with the competition finely balanced - Blues Shark
and Wildman dead level on scores of 157-83 and Bright Blue Shorts just 3 behind them.
The competition went right down to the wire and all depended on the result from the San Diego v.
Oakland match-up, with San Diego winning to give the First place to Wildman by one
point5 168-88 and an average of 65.63% to Sharky's 167-89 and
65.23%.
With Bright Blue Shorts coming third and St Demon Drawer in
fourth place also over 60%, we actually had all but one of our 14 contestants with winning records.
As for the only losing record, it wouldn't be very nice to name names (but let's just say that he might
be better at writing for the Post and winning Fantasy Football Superbowls).
For anyone who has lasted this far down - You must have some interest in American Football, so
why not visit the American Football Forum? We're quite a
friendly group and we'll welcome anybody who would like to join in. Perhaps next season you could
take part in our amusements and show us how it should be done.
earlier injuries.3Almost bad enough to be a Wildman QB
choice.4Ah - the benefits of 20/20
hindsight.5I'd just like to thank my Parents, She who MUST be obeyed, and everyone else
....blah, ...blah, ...
