BLINGABOWL IV EDITION

Semifinals Recap

Rabbit def. Derrek, 109.47-98.71:

It may look like an average winning margin, but Rabbit was sweating his Blingabowl bid until late Sunday night.

Thanks to Terrell Owens's early injury (0.00 points) and disappointing weeks from Arian Foster (7.63), Maurice Jones-Drew (7.53), and Jacob Tamme (4.53), Rabbit found himself with less than a one point lead entering the Packers-Patriots game Sunday night. He did have the Patriots' defense going for him, but Derrek had Donald Driver.

Of course, Driver was nearly silent (4.13 points), and the Patriots' defense (14.00) scored a defensive touchdown, sealing the deal for Rabbit. He advances to the final two for the second-straight year, and he has keeper Vincent Jackson, who put up a wild 32.93 points, to thank.

Derrek fought hard in a losing effort. He got very good weeks from Drew Brees (20.35 points), Stevie Johnson (15.20), Darren McFadden (15.10), and Rashard Mendenhall (16.00). Even Sebastian Janikowski (15.00) had a good week. If the Giants' defense (2.00) had held onto that lead againt the Eagles, we might have had a colossal upset.

Ed def. Allen, 123.23-75.56:

This game was close after the Sunday noon games, but then Ed's key players played. And it was over quickly.

Ed put up his point total despite having zero players hit 20 points. Seven of his nine starters, however, put up at least 12 points.

Allen's team finally turned into a pumpkin, as only Marques Colston (10.67 points), Jonathan Stewart (11.97), and the Falcons' defense (15.00) scored in double figures.

Fifth-place Game Recap

Pulley def. Babel, 119.07-89.84:

Eli Manning (26.45 points), Jamaal Charles (22.20), and Jason Witten (24.67) led Pulley to a win over Babel.

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums: The Leavitt Langoliers put up a nice 123.23 points.

Slapped Heartbeat: Optimus Prime stumbled to a low score of 75.56.

Start of the Week: Rabbit had one of the worst weeks at choosing starters I have ever seen, as nearly every benched player would have been better off that those he did play. Of course, the big exception is Vincent Jackson, whose 32.93 points saved the day.

Misplay of the Week: Derrek said, "I knew I should have played Edwards." He's right, but it wouldn't quite have made up the difference against Rabbit, as the Jets' WR's 13.33 points were only 9.20 more than Donald Driver had.

Blingabowl IV Preview

Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 12-2, #1) vs. Leavitt Langoliers (Ed, 10-4, #2):

Two years ago, Pulley raised the Sanderson Cup as a #5 seed. Since then, no seed lower than #2 has reached the Blingabowl.

For the second-straight year, Rabbit enters the championship as the #1 seed. The class of the 2010 Blingaleague, Rabbit trots out a stud QB (Peyton Manning) and two stud RBs (Arian Foster and Maurice Jones-Drew). His WR corps, while not stud-laden, is also very strong. He's been at or near the top of the standings all year, winning the Team Blangums award for weekly high score six times, including a four-week run from week eight through week eleven.

Post-draft talk installed Ed as the consensus Blingaleague favorite, and he met expectations. He too was near the top of the standings all season, though his bye was in jeopardy thanks to a two-game losing streak to end the year. Chris Johnson may have righted the ship, putting up two good weeks in a row. Antonio Gates, despite being injured now, carried Ed for several weeks at the beginning of the year; Roddy White assumed that role towads the end of the season, and this past week, the whole team was firing on all cylinders.

It looks to be another great Blingabowl. For the second year in a row, both participants deserve the Sanderson Cup. Only one will get it, though, and Rabbit's team has been better all year. Pick: Pralines & Dick.

Third-place Game Preview

D's AutoPicks (Derrek, 8-7, #5) vs. Optimus Prime (Allen, 8-7, #6):

Derrek wants to finish in the money for the second year in a row. It appears that Allen's run of good fortune may be over, which means D should be $48 richer. Pick: D's AutoPicks.

Season Postmortems

(* - subject to change)

Derrek Drenckpohl (D's AutoPicks, 8-7*, 3rd or 4th):

The way Derrek manages a fantasy football team, you would never know he's seven hours ahead of us, in a country where "football" means something totally different. Stevie Johnson was an excellent midseason pickup, complimenting a team of solid auto-drafted players. While D's absence at the draft may have forced him to draft a QB earlier than anyone else, Drew Brees had a fine season for him. Rashard Mendenhall and Darren McFadden were as good a one-two punch at RB as any outside of Rabbit's stable. Only D's collection of aging WRs was disappointing, as Donald Driver and Chad Ochocinco both had mediocre years.

Allen Clark (Optimus Prime, 8-7*, 3rd or 4th):

Allen's strange year has been documented well in the Gazette, so I won't rehash in detail. Despite his all-Carolina backfield sputtering most of the year, Allen hung tough. Matt Cassell was a superb pickup fairly late in the year. Dustin Keller and Greg Olsen provided Allen with solid TE play. Selecting Reggie Wayne fourth overall provided consistency all year. Allen could do a better job of picking up depth during the year (DeAngelo Williams and Clinton Portis have remained on his bench despite being placed on injured reserve weeks ago), but at least he got the two-week run of starting bye-week players out of his system.

Draft Lottery

Odds of getting the first pick:

Pat: 28.34%

Mike: 21.23%

Kevin: 14.81%

Matt: 14.20%

Dave: 13.27%

Rob: 8.14%

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully you've all enjoyed reading the Gazette as much as much as I've enjoyed putting it together. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or things you think could be improved.

Eddo

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