"It's over... it's all over" - Nick "Rabbit" Warren.

Semifinals Recap

Babel def. Rabbit, 134.63-118.54:

Let's go back to week ten, to the Great Yahoo Outage of 2012. No one was bitten harder than Mark Babel, who didn't get to play the QB of his choosing (Carson Palmer), and lost by less than a point as a result.

This week, Carson had his revenge.

Palmer himself only had 9.50 points, but his teammates came through with flying colors. Michael Crabtree scored 26.27 and the Cincinnati defense put up 23.00. Matt Prater's 9.00 was Babel's low mark.

Rabs had a good week, but was done in by crappy games from Roddy White (2.13) and Vernon Davis (1.33). This was his first playoff loss in three years.

Matt def. Ed, 114.32-91.62:

Matt won his eighth game in a row without too much trouble. Sure, it was close for a while, but by the time the early Sunday games were over, Matt was in command. Andre Johnson (26.13), Eric Decker (23.73), and Stevie Johnson (21.33) put together a wide receiver week for the ages.

Ray Rice (4.20) picked a horrible time to have a lackluster week for me. This marks the second year in a row I have lost to Matt in the semis.

Fifth-Place Game

Derrek def. Mike R., 112.56-91.03:

My apologies for not previewing this.

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums: Babel continues his nice year-end run, scoring 134.63 and leading the way this week.

Slapped Heartbeat: My 91.62 was just not good enough.

Weekly MVP: No one was bigger for Babel than the Bengals defense. They put up 23.00 on Thursday night, setting the tone for his major upset.

Dud of the Week: Vernon Davis's 1.33 was awful for Rabs, who needed every point he could get.

Season Postmortems

Nick "Rabbit" Warren (Pralines & Dick, 12-2, 3rd/4th):

Fresh of two straight Blingabowl victories, Rabs put together the best Blingaleague season we've yet seen. Losing his first playoff game, however, means that this season was a disappointment. To make matters worse, he won't get to keep Arian Foster any more. At least he still has A.J. Green for great value.

Expected wins: 8.659

Ed Gross (Half of a Horse, 9-6, 3rd/4th):

Another year, another playoff berth. But after making some shrewd miseason moves (acquiring Ray Rice and Marques Colston), I'm a bit disappointed. And I'll get to keep Rice for no worse than the 11th overall pick.

Blingabowl V Preview

Harrison Hammers (Matt, 12-2, #2) vs. Artifish Inteligents (Babel, 8-7, #6):

Matt leads all-time series, 3-2.

Babel's had quite a season. He went through the aforementioned Yahoo technical issue. He had twin girls. He entered week thirteen in eighth place, needing a lot to go right to just reach the playoffs. And now he's one game away from the Sanderson Cup.

It's fitting. In 2008, Babel went 11-2, but bowed out in the semis. In 2010, he went 8-5, and lost in the quarters. Last year, he was leading his week thirteen game heading into Monday night, and a win meant he would get a bye; he lost, and missed the playoffs.

Matt's had a quite a season, too. Perched in third place most of the year, he edged ahead of Mike R. in the final week, earning a very important bye. He dispatched his semifinal opponent with the ease of the best team in the league. Which he just might be.

All year, there were four top-tier Blingalegue teams. Babel's trying to defeat all four in a four-week span, like he's facing videogame bosses.

I've picked against him each time. Why stop now?

Pick: Harrison Hammers.

Third-Place Game Preview

Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 12-2, #1) vs. Half of a Horse (Ed, 9-6, #4):

Rabbit leads all-time series, 6-1.

I'm gunning for my second-straight third-place finish. But in a year where I've been locked into fourth place for nearly the whole season, losing this game seems appropriate.

Pick: Pralines & Dick.

Draft Lottery

The odds for getting the #1 overall pick are:

Richie: 27.75%

Rob: 17.53%

Pulley: 14.14%

Pat: 11.04%

Kevin: 10.13%

Schertz: 9.54%

Allen: 4.96%

Dave: 4.9%

Sunday Huddle

I'll be around, if anyone wants to have a pre-Christmas football hangout.

Closing Thoughts

Good luck to both Matt and Babel.

E$

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