League Cup - Round 2 Recap

Montoya

Hubert and I each won handily to set up our second finals faceoff. Hubert is aiming for an unprecedented 4th League Cup, and I am looking for my first. If I win, I would become the first manager to win all 4 trophies in a career. I would also become the first manager to win 3 trophies in a single season.

Dufresne

Russell's Markinson hopes are officially in the hands of Amer, who took out Russell by just 9. Amer will be facing Drew, who is looking to make it back to Markinson for the 3rd straight season. Drew caught a break in the semifinals when Steve failed to replace the gimpy Andre Johnson, allowing Drew to win by a tenth of a point!

If Drew wins, he would become the lowest seed to ever qualify for Markinson, at 7. It would also be his first League Cup. Amer is looking to win his 2nd League Cup, and 5th trophy overall. Despite joining the league a year after its inaugural season, Amer is already the league's most decorated manager.

Bye Bye Eddy

The league is relegating Eddy to the sidelines, putting him out of his misery after he narrowly avoided breaking his own record for scoring futility. Dufresne, you are on notice, no more bye weeks next season. I have a couple of candidates in mind to replace him, and whoever I choose will significantly raise the level of competition.

Good luck in the final week of the season everyone!

League Cup - Round 1 Recap

Montoya

Hubert is the happiest manager in the league. Sitting in the hot seat for a Markinson bid, he saw the top 4 seeds all win their first round matchups, thus securing his spot in next year's Champions League.

By qualifying, Hubert remains the only manager to do so all 5 seasons. He also remains a strong bet to keep his hold atop the career wins list.

Montoya will be sending the same 4 teams as this season, the first time either league has seen that happen.

This week I play Andrew and Hubert plays Jeremy for spots in the finals. Jeremy and I are both still looking for our first Montoya Cup.

Dufresne

Russell's hot seat got quite a bit hotter after Steve took out Dean and Drew took out Jason, guaranteeing one of those bottom seeds a shot at stealing a Markinson bid in the Dufresne Cup finals.

On the other side, Amer breezed by Eddy and Russell squeaked by Nalu. Whoever wins between the two needs to win in the finals to secure Russell's return to Markinson.

Everyone is still playing, half of you for pride, so keep an eye on those rosters! Good luck!

Regular Season Recap

Markinson

Andrew, Hubert, and I finished the season with wins to finish 1-2-3 in the final standings, the first time a premier league has taken the top 3 spots in Markinson. And despite finishing in last place, Jeremy had the 2nd-highest point total, giving Montoya the 4 highest point totals in the league. Nonetheless, the parity was such that the 4 Montoya teams won 29 games, while the 4 Dufresne teams won 27.

Congratulations again to Andrew on being the best of the best for 2010!

Montoya

I officially won my first Montoya Championship, ending it on a losing note despite the 2nd-highest point total of the week, with Gina snagging the Heineken to ruin my victory lap.

I am heading back to Markinson for the 4th time, while Jeremy earned his 3rd bid by finishing in 2nd place, and Andrew earned his 2nd bid by winning Markinson.

Hubert is in line for his 5th consecutive Markinson bid, rallying impressively to finish in 3rd place with an 8-6 record despite starting the season 1-5. But he will have to sweat out the playoffs first. If Gina, Dan, Scott, or Lisa wins the Montoya Cup, Hubert's perfect attendance is toast, and he would join Dean as the only managers to finish 3rd in a premier league season and still miss out on a Markinson bid.

Dufresne

Amer's mission was simple: win his last game, win the title. He did just that, and in the process matched Dean with his second Dufresne Championship. If the pattern holds, Eddy will win the title next year. Oh well, so much for patterns.

With the win, Amer also set a new record for consecutive wins in Dufresne, with 7. He will carry that record into the start of next season.

Amer earned his 3rd trip to Markinson, while Jason earned his 4th by finishing in 2nd place. It is the second time Jason led his league in points but failed to finish atop the standings.

Dean also earned his 4th trip back to Markinson, and he did it with his second 100-point win of the season! This one by 107 over Eddy broke his short-lived 103-point record win over Drew just a few weeks back. I don't think Drew minds seeing that one wiped off the books.

Russell is in line for his 2nd Markinson bid, but like Hubert, he will have to sweat out the playoffs first. Nalu, Steve, and Drew will be trying to steal that spot, and Eddy will be participating as well.

At least one of and possibly both Russell and Nalu will have the rare misfortune of finishing a premier league season with a winning record and still failing to qualify for Markinson, joining Dean (and possibly Hubert).

Starling

I topped Jason by 32 points to secure my first Starling Cup (most points in either Premier League). Amer, Dean, and Andrew rounded out the top 5. It is the second time Jason finished 2nd in the Starling race, the first being in 2007 when he lost to Jeremy by 11 points. I am the only manager to have won a Starling Cup, Markinson Cup, and League Championship.

Records

No season-long records fell this year.

Dean came up 1 Heineken shy in either league of Scott's record 10 in 2006. He also came up 1 Heineken shy in Markinson of Amer's record 5 in 2008.

Andrew put up a ton of points in both leagues this season but came up 62 points shy of Jason's record 3,478.98 in 2007. Andrew also came up just 37 points shy of breaking Dean's Markinson record 1,794.42 in 2007.

Hubert did break a few records that aren't kept on the books officially. After finishing the previous three Markinson seasons with 67, 67, and 62 moves (the 3 all-time highest totals), he finished this season with a whopping 77.

And after finishing Montoya last season with a mind-numbing 88 moves including playoffs, he already has 104 this season before playoffs have even begun!

In the 9 seasons Hubert has played, he has easily led the league in moves in every one of them. And it's not like he's just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic; he leads all managers in career wins.

League Cup

Onto the playoffs, where bottom-4 teams get a second shot at Markinson (not to mention a major trophy). No bottom-4 team has ever won a League Cup, though Jason did win one from the 4-spot to steal a Markinson bid, back in 2008. The bid of course came at Dean's expense. Dean finished 3rd in Dufresne that year but was put on the bubble by Amer, who earned his spot by winning Markinson over, who else, Dean. Dean then reached the Dufresne Cup finals but lost to Jason. It remains the only time Dean has missed out on Markinson.

Eerie parallel? This year Hubert finished 3rd in Montoya but was put on the bubble by Andrew, who earned his spot by winning Markinson over... Hubert. And Hubert has never missed out on Markinson...

Good luck in the playoffs, everyone!

League Homepage

One Week To Go

Markinson

We are all just playing for pride this week. The new champion of champions is Andrew, the first manager to ever clinch Markinson before the last game of the season, even though he will finish with the fewest wins of any prior champion. Only 3 games separate 1st and 8th, by far the most parity we have had in Champions League. Andrew also continues the tradition of Markinson first-timers winning the league.

With this championship, Andrew joins Amer as the only managers to win a League Cup, League Championship, and Markinson Cup. Neither has won a Starling Cup, so the race for the Career Quad is still on.

Montoya

I clinched my first Montoya Championship, joining Amer and Andrew as the only managers to win championships in both leagues.

With Andrew's Markinson Championship, he and I are guaranteed spots in next year's Markinson. That leaves one more guaranteed spot, which will go to either Jeremy or Hubert. If Jeremy beats Dan or Hubert loses to Scott, the spot is Jeremy's. If Jeremy loses, Hubert wins, AND Hubert outscores Jeremy by 35, the spot is Hubert's.

The remaining spot will go, as always, to the winner of the Montoya Cup.

Dufresne

Amazingly, 4 teams are within a game of 1st-place Amer, though realistically the championship is down to Amer and Jason, with Russell and Dean holding a puncher's chance and Nalu hoping for a miracle.

For Amer, it is simple. Beat Russell and he is the champion for a second time, joining Dean as the only repeat champions in any league. He can still be champion if he loses, so long as Jason loses to Drew, Russell doesn't outscore him by 43 points, and Dean doesn't outscore him by 66.

For Jason, it is also pretty simple. Beat Drew and have Russell beat Amer, and he is the champion.

Russell needs to beat Amer by 43 points, have Drew beat Jason, and not be outscored by 24 by Dean, and he is the champion.

Dean needs to beat Eddy, have Russell beat Amer, have Drew beat Jason, and outscore Amer by 66 and Russell by 24, and he is the champion for a third time. Dean, if you have another 195-point game in you this season, now's the time.

The Markinson picture is too murky to analyze. No one has clinched a spot, and only three of Amer, Jason, Russell, Dean, and Nalu will have guaranteed invites after this week.

Starling Cup

I have a slim 10-point lead on Jason and a 59-point lead on Andrew.

Record Book

I have the most combined wins with 16, so with only 5 games left to play, Dean's record 22 wins in 2007 is safe.

Andrew has the most combined points with 3,219.34. He needs to average 130 points in his remaining two games to break Jason's record 3,478.98 points in 2007. He's been averaging 124 points through 26 games, so it's doable.

Dean has 8 combined Heinekens, so with 2 games to go, he can tie Scott's record 10 Heinekens in 2006.

With another Heineken in Markinson, Dean would also tie Amer's record 5 Heinekens in 2008.

With his 6th straight win, Amer tied the record he already shared with Nalu for longest winning streak in Dufresne. So a win this week against Russell would give him the championship and the outright record.

Good luck in the final week of the regular season! If you are already out of the running, start thinking ahead to the playoffs, and hope for the best.

League Homepage