For Your Amusement (Or Mine)

I really need to win the lottery, so I can devote more time to this blog.  I know you all love it so much --- hey, maybe you'd agree to make the role of Commissioner a paid position?  My hourly rate is pretty steep, but on the flip side, I could probably manage to post something every single week if I didn't need to work my day job.

Give it some thought.

Anyway, I'm here now, and I just wanted to mention a couple of things I've seen so far this season which amuse me.  For starters, there was Jason in week 9.  Something tells me he wasn't really trying:

At least Jason had the excuse that lots of his players were on bye or injured.  Pete, on the other hand, was just pitiful last week:

Happiness is . . . facing an opponent who is starting THREE Rams wide receivers the week their rookie QB gets his first start.  And it was especially happy for Adam, considering seven other teams in the league would have beaten him last week.

Maybe I haven't mentioned it recently, but WOULD SOMEONE ELSE BEAT ADAM PLEASE?!?

I was also amused when I saw ESPN's preview of my matchup with Aaron this week.  At one point, all of the little red check marks were on my side of the screen.  It's less amusing now that Aaron is winning.

Anyway, let's take a look at how everyone is doing, shall we?  Remember, there are only TWO weeks left in the regular season this year!  I probably should have set the trade deadline to be yesterday instead of next Wednesday.  Oh well, live and learn.

Adam has secured a first-round bye (I'm assuming Kubicek won't outscore him by 126 points over the next two weeks), but needs to match or exceed the Ninjas' win total the next two weeks to clinch the #1 seed.

YEC clinches a first-round bye with one more win, and clinches the #1 seed by winning one more game than Adam.

Kubicek has clinched a playoff spot, and can clinch a first-round bye if he wins both remaining games and YEC loses both remaining games.

Jody clinches a playoff spot with one more win, and even with a pair of losses, he'll make the playoffs unless two out of Taylor, Pete and Levi win out and outscore him significantly.

Then things get interesting.

Erstwhile league-leader Kevin, predictably riding a 5-game losing streak, clinches a playoff spot with a pair of wins, or one win and some luck.  Adding two more losses to the streak is likely to see Kevin battling to stay out of the basement this year.

Taylor, Pete and Levi seem likely to be duking it out for the final playoff spot, and Levi is at a considerable disadvantage, seeing as Taylor and Pete have both outscored him by more than 100 points.  So Levi clearly needs one more win than both Taylor and Pete, otherwise his season is likely over.  Taylor has a 40-point advantage on Pete, so winning out will likely secure the final playoff spot for him.

Mex has a significant points advantage over Taylor, Pete and Levi, so remarkably, he's still in contention for the final playoff spot.  He does need to gain a victory over all three of them, however, which is a long-shot, but not impossible.

Merrill has a theoretical path to the final playoff spot, but it would involve:

• Beating Pete and Kevin.
• Mex losing his final two games.
• Taylor, Pete and Levi all losing both of their remaining games.
• Outscoring Taylor by 161 points, and outscoring Pete by 120.

So I'm going out on a limb here and saying that Merrill won't be participating in the playoffs this year.

And finally, there's Jason and Aaron, and the less said about them the better.  Although I do want to congratulate Aaron for notching his second victory of the season last week --- against Jason, naturally.

Finally, a brief description of the new playoff format.  After 13 weeks, we'll identify the 6 playoff teams and the 6 non-playoff teams.  The playoff matchups for the bottom 6 teams will mirror those of the top 6.  Which is to say, the #11 and #12 seeds will receive a 'bye' into the bottom 4, just like the #1 and #2 seeds receive a bye to the semifinals.

After the first week of playoffs, the #1 and #2 seeds will play the winners of the matchups between the #3 - #6 seeds, and those four teams will play for the title.  The #11 and #12 seeds will play the losers of the matchups between the #7 - #10 seeds, and those four teams will play to avoid last place.

And the LOSERS of the #3 - #6 seeds will go into another bracket along with the WINNERS of the #7 - #10 seeds, and those four teams will play for next year's first overall pick.

Simple, right?