It’s an interesting year in the SPFL as there doesn’t seem to be much separation at the top of the league. The Moops (8-1) and the Turtles (7-2) still lead their respective divisions, but each only have a one game lead over their current pursuers, the Thunder Monkeys (7-2) and Greased Lightning (6-3), respectively. If the season ended today, Heath’s Heroes and the Bright 1s would be our wild card qualifiers. But, if we had a shuffle in those automatic qualifiers, might a lesser winning percentage team with a strong point total be able to creep into contention? Here’s looking at you, Yesterday’s Corn (123 average, 3-6 record), or the Bull Rings (121 average, 5-4 mark), or the Piranha Brothers (119 average, 3-6), or, gasp, even the winless No Names (112 average). Nah, I won’t go that far.
It was a rough week league-wide last weekend, with six teams on byes, we had several zeroes in lineups and several ugly scores.
Moops 171 – Corn 142: The Moops kept up a torrid pace, led by Davante Adams (36) and Travis Etienne (29), but the Corn hung around, led by two “league winning” free agent pickups, Justin Fields (46) and Kenneth Walker III (30). In fact, the Corn’s score would have beat all but two teams in the league last week, the Moops, of course, and the Lightning.
1s 109 – Names 88: Hold your nose on this one, I think I’ll call it the high channel game of the week. The Bright 1s were led by Jalen Hurts (21) and Jaylen Waddle (19) while the No Names teased their first win of the year, led by King Henry (25) and the Tampa D (17), but alas no TE and no situational awareness of the SPFL waiver rules, waylaid their plans.
Lightning 181 – Midgets 130: The Lightning put up the top score of the week, thanks to Belichick’s D (41) and Cooper Kupp (29). A round of applause for the Midgets, who despite getting blown out, scored a nice 130 points, thanks to Joe Mixon’s magical Sunday (57).
Heroes 133 – Rings 101: The Heroes cruised to a W, thanks to Josh Allen (27) and Justin Jefferson (25) while the Rings had the Baltimore duo of Lamar Jackson (18) and the Ravens D (19).
Turtles 138 – Megatron 90: The Turtles kept their dream season alive with a big in-house win, thanks to Austin Ekeler (26) and Dallas Goedert (24), while Megatron had an empty starting spot and Patrick Mahomes (35).
Monkeys 118 – Brother 108: This one was tight, but ugly (I think there’s a juvenile joke in there somewhere, but I’ll move on) with the Thunder crew led by Christian Kirk (21) and Tom Brady (15). The Brothers, like several others, was short a player this week and nearly pulled off the victory, thanks to Tua (24) and Travis Kelce (20).
Next Week
- Moops/Brothers
- No Names/Megatron
- Midgets/Corn
- Rings/1s
- Lightning/Heroes
- Turtles/Monkeys
Don’t forget our upcoming trade deadline of November 19th.
I recently purchased a book by Dan Shaughnessy, Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics. Haven’t started reading it yet, but when I saw it, I had to have it because it made me nostalgic for what I think was the glory days of the NBA. I can’t tell you when I last watched an NBA game. It seems to have evolved into a one on one/three point shooting contest with no real blood, sweat, and tears involved. (Criticism coming from someone who doesn’t watch it anymore, LOL). I loved the NBA in the 80s and early 90s. When you needed an enforcer. When you had real rivalries. Magic/Bird; Bad Boys in Detroit vs Jordan; the Pat Riley Knicks; Barkley; Malone/Stockton; big men actually mattering and playing with their back to the basket. Loved it. To put it in perspective, I was as into the NBA back then as I am the NFL now. Now, I barely know who’s who and have no vested interest in any of it.
But it led me to thinking, who’s on my Mount Rushmore of NBA players? I did a little research on the top 10-12 players of all time and there’s a lot of consensus — Jordan; LeBron; Jabbar; Russell; Magic; Wilt; Bird; Shaq; Kobe; Duncan; Olajuwon; Oscar Robertson; Jerry West; Steph; Durant. That’s fifteen there. Probably forgetting one or two.
But … how can you pick a Mount Rushmore from that group? It’s hard because you have such different skills and positions. Maybe you could pick a starting team, but man, there would be some hard choices. Nevertheless, I’m on a Mount Rushmore kick, so my criteria is any of these four would be my top four players to start a franchise with. I don’t mean you could have all four, but if you could pick ONE player to start a franchise with … these would be my top four choices.
- Michael Jordan. I didn’t usually root for him back in the day, but he was and still is, the best. Just a sight to behold. If he was on TV, I usually watched.
- LeBron James. I’ve never rooted for him. I think he’s hypocritical and not a great teammate, but the sheer talent is undeniable. Winning a title in Cleveland is legendary.
- Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I never saw him play at the absolute height of his prowess, but even in his older days, he was still great. You can’t score points at that level for that long and not be mythical.
- Magic Johnson. My favorite player of all time, so I’m openly prejudiced. But man, he was fun to watch. He wasn’t fast, wasn’t a great shooter, but he was a winner and made everyone around him better. He was Magic. The ultimate teammate. His NBA Finals game filling in at center is something to read about. Lakers and Celtics in the old, hot, Boston Garden and that parquet floor. Lordy, that makes my heart race just thinking about it. Nothing can compare nowadays.
I venture to say, most everyone would agree with my top two. The next two, maybe not. Old schoolers will vouch for Bill Russell. He was a front office man by the time I became NBA aware, so I can’t really say. Definitely a winner. Statistics are not that great. Does that matter? Wilt Chamberlain. If statistics matter (on the court or in the bedroom … bada boom!), he makes the mountain. Kobe Bryant. Pretty darn close to the mountain in my book. What drive and determination. Bird. Rooted against him when it was happening, but love him more and more each passing year. Reading of his confidence and trash talk is just awesome. Just not enough longevity, I don’t think.
Anyway, more useless bar room banter from the Commish. Enjoy the games and best of luck.
The Commish