Week 3 Previews
As the league owners start to shuffle back into the regular routines of life, the league goes into Week 3 with a number of interesting match ups. The two surprises of Week 1 - the Brents and Cookies will renew their Oshkosh match up. Word out of Oshkosh is that due to gentrification Steve Johnson's Oshkosh West is now the premier school in the city over Dan Weitz's (and my) Oshkosh North, but we all know that the Oshkosh North Orchestra still kicks anybody's ass. The teams are surprises because neither franchise has ever posted a .500 or above record. The Cookies have created quite a commotion as they have benched Emmitt Smith in favor of Terry Allen. Die-hard Cookie fans did not take this as a good sign. Johnson has yet to name a replacement for WR Joe Horn - perhaps James Thrash but hopefully not Scrote. The other match up of Week 1 winners pits arch-nemeses, Coroners and Cubists, against each other. Unfortunately, all of the vitriol is coming from one side as the Coroners are badmouthing the two-time champion like there is no tomorrow. Owner Chad Nuss was snickering about the Cubists' QB choice, Jeff George who he nominated for a Pussier. Owner Jason Moore says that they are both great. In fact, no one can get a bad word about anything from him. When asked if he liked to be punched in the gut, Moore responded, "It's better than being punched in the face." Nuss is only going with 6 Raiders which denotes a bit of respect for the Cubists. Two unhappy owners match wits with the Wookies and 44's. The Wookies lost a tie and Owner Will Mitchell has placed the blame on the "damn Electoral College." Peaks Island has been blanketed by anti-Modano propaganda and Mitchell is plotting to get the referees to strike. What would we do without Jerry Seemon? Mitchell is never happy to see Curtis Martin on the other side, just as Owner John Stoer has unpleasant memories of Wookie RB Terrell Davis. The 44's will not have to go against Ricky Williams - or for that matter Ben Coates - as they go for their first win against the Wookies. Einar and his Luvable Losers have a chip on their shoulder as they face the Walnut Creek Mountain Devils. The Devils welcomed the Losers into the league last year with a Week 1 pasting and went on to sweep the series and take any hope of championship gold away from Owner Steve Olsen. The Einar is happy to welcome RB LaDainian Tomlinson to the line up. Owner Rob Ouaou was stuck without a kicker as both of his guys had a bye this week, so he cut Kris Brown and brought on young, untested Jay Feely. Finally, the Bears and Envy renew hostilities. The Bears were the only team to beat the Envy in the second half of last year and both teams finished with a flourish. Owner Perry Missner is divided when looking at the Bear line up. Moss and Culpeeper go against his beloved Chicago Bears, but Alexander, Westbrook and Champ Bailey should get plenty of points against the hated Packers. Owner Randy Chambers doesn't have to worry about any players going against his beloved Skins, but he does have to worry about new recruit TE Desmond "2-2 points" Clark.
Preseason Award Favorites
Now, a quick look at the preseason picks for the awards. Seven teams responded to the first interview session, which was outstanding. First, a new category "He Make Me Want to be Deaf" for worst announcer showed little consensus - as did many of the awards - Dan Dierdorf picked up two votes and the others mentioned were Boomer, Joe Thiesman, Tim Green and that MNF guy. Jason Moore thinks all announcers are swell. The Pussier award go easily go to perpetual nominee Brent Farf as he received three votes. Stephen Davis' poor week 1 performance caused two Skins fans to sour on him. Jeff George, the Denver runners and even retired Michael Irvin were mentioned. Irvin commented, "I know something about Pussier." The Sneaky Pete trophy could go to about anyone. Five different QB's were mentioned from the once proud Drew Bledsoe to last year up-n-comers Aaron Brooks and Brian Griese and Jay "is for Jewish" Fiedler to even hopeless Quincy Carter. Eddie Kennison and Snoop Minnis were also mentioned. The Weinrich Rookie of the Year award was the only one in which there was agreement. Five teams selected LaDainian Tomlinson who had a strong Week 1. Two teams picked Chris Weinke, but that may be because his name sounds so funny. The Sweeney Defensive Player award looks to go to a linebacker. Ray Lewis and Donnie Edwards received two votes. Brian Urlacher and Kevin Hardy also received a vote. Warren Sapp also received a vote. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Edgerrin James won the La-la-la-lafontaine MVP award. He received three votes. Ricky Williams, Fred Taylor and Randy Moss also received votes. Finally, the Modano Mi Hermano Owner of the Year had some disparity. Chad Nuss and Dan Weitz abused the lack of a rule that they couldn't vote for themselves. Perry Missner and Jason Moore went with preseason favorite Randy Chambers despite his Week 1 loss. John Stoer continued to back the Einar, raising the ire of Weitz. Finally, Will Mitchell and Steve Johnson decided to be brown nosers by selecting media favorite Perry Missner for the award. He may be an outstanding writer, but this is an Owner of the Year award. No favoritism should be shown!
Historical Data
A few other historical notes that I found recently. The Cubists own the record for best record in a season: 14-3 in 1998, as well as the longest winning streaks: 12 wins a row in 1998 and 13 wins from the end of 1999 (5) through the beginning of 2000 (8). The worst season was put in by the Cambria Otters (now Devils) at 1-16 with 15 straight losses. The Devils won their first game in 2000 to break the streak. The second longest losing streak was put in by Ripon Good Cookies, Part II in 1998 with 6 losses. They won the next game, then went on to lose the last 5 games of 1998 and the first 4 games of 1999. The model of consistency has been put in by Chad Nuss' County Coroners who have not exactly thrilled anyone with three stright seasons of 8-9. Because of Will Mitchell's constant complaining, I did a short study of ties in Modano history. There have been 6. In 1998, the Bears and Smokers tied both times each winning once. That year, the Bears also beat the Envy in a tie. In 1999, there were no ties. In 2000, the Devils beat the Envy in a tie and Will's whining Wookies beat the 44's. This year's 87-87 tie was by the highest scoring.