Brinky Cup – Week 17

First things first: Mario wins the 2013 Brinky Cup.  Here are the final standings.

	Games Back	Week 17
Dark Mario	–	14-2
Marcus	8	12-4
Jodi Ann	10	12-4
Ultra Katie	13	14-2
Dark Lee	14	13-3
Nicole E.	17	13-3
Mario T.Y.	20	6-10
Reagan	19	9-7
Jenny	22	10-6
Tara	22	10-6
Lee	24	10-6
Lisa	26	13-3
Katie	28	12-4
Mario T.E.	29	9-7
Justin	29	10-6
Charlotte	36	9-7
Ruby	38	9-7
Brinkley	47	6-10

Mario wins, and Brinkley Bizarro-wins (bizins?).  Not only that, but they both finish off the season in top/bottom form, posting the best (Mario at 14-2) and worst (Brinkley at 6-10) Week 17 records.  Mario is joined in the Brinky Bowl playoffs by Marcus, Jodi Ann, Katie, me, and Nicole.  For each game I need each Bowler to send me or Katie the winner and the total number of points scored.  There are four games in this weekend’s wild card round:

• Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts (Sat 4:35)
• New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles (Sat 8:10)
• San Diego Chargers @ Cincinnati Bengals (Sun 1:05)
• San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers (Sun 4:40)

There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding the Brinky Bowl this year.  Will I make my picks or will I turn it over to Jenny?  Will Nicole even make her picks (she’ll be gallivanting around Europe with Justin for it seems like the next month)?  And…well, that’s it, really.  Maybe ‘a lot of intrigue’ was overselling it.

Brinky Cup – Week 16

There are just a few hours to go before the final slate of regular season games kicks off, and by this evening a new champion will hoist the Brinky Cup (from afar, of course).  Here are the standings after Week 16:

	Games Back	Week 16
Dark Mario	–	9-7
Marcus	6	11-5
Jodi Ann	8	10-6
Mario T.Y.	12	10-6
Dark Lee	13	8-8
Ultra Katie	13	11-5
Reagan	14	10-6
Nicole E.	16	11-5
Tara	16	8-8
Jenny	18	9-7
Lee	20	9-7
Mario T.E.	24	7-9
Justin	25	10-6
Lisa	25	7-9
Katie	26	11-5
Charlotte	31	11-5
Ruby	33	10-6
Brinkley	39	6-10

Mario and Brinkley have matching six-game leads and look like locks to secure the Brinky Cup and Bizarro Brinky Cup, respectively.  Marcus and Jodi Ann have yet to make their Week 17 picks, though, and–with their playoff positions secure–one or both of them could decide to pick a buttload of upsets in a last-ditch attempt to catch Mario.  That’s certainly what I would do, except that I’m thirteen games out and fighting for my playoff life.  Going into today’s games, Mario, Marcus, and Jodi Ann are virtually assured of making the six-person Brinky Bowl playoff field.  Katie, Lee, and Reagan hold the final three playoff spots, but the matter is far from decided, as Nicole E., Tara, and Jenny are four games or fewer behind.  It promises to be an exciting day of games, and when the dust settles late this evening…well, I’ll be in bed asleep.  The dust will settle even more by tomorrow morning, though, and I’ll reveal the two Cup winners and six Bowlers then.

For those who don’t know, the Steelers can still make the playoffs if they win today (vs. Cleveland) and the Ravens, Chargers and Dolphins all lose.  Cuppers aren’t required to pick against those three teams, but those who don’t should definitely feel a little guilty about it (besides Mario, who should feel a lot guilty).

 

Brinky Cup – Week 15

Week 15 of the NFL season is over, and the choking sounds you hear (outside of Dallas, at least) are coming from Ruby, Charlotte and—tragically—my lovely daughter, Jenny.

At the top of the standings, Mario gave up ground to Jodi Ann, Marcus, and, um, himself, but he retains a commanding seven-game lead with just two weeks remaining.  Mario is a virtual lock to reclaim the Brinky Cup and has a decent chance of taking the runner-up spot as well.  As disheartening as that would be for the rest of the field, it would at least preempt the complaints about spreadsheet integrity that waft in from the Philadelphia region every now and again.

Three of the six Brinky Bowl playoff spots are locked up (Mario, Jodi Ann and Marcus), but the final three are still very much up for grabs.  If the season ended now, Katie, Lee, and Reagan would take those last three spots, with Tara and Jenny on the outside looking in.  Poor Jenny tries so hard every week when she makes her picks, and her sister just picks her favorite mascot in each matchup.  Yet somehow Jenny’s lost ground to Reagan each of the last two weeks, and I’m strongly considering giving her my spot in the playoffs if I make it and she doesn’t.  I’m not concerned about her feelings—it is just a silly contest, and she knows that—but it seems increasingly clear that her future football fandom hangs in the balance.  Now that’s something that really matters.

At the bottom of the standings, Ruby (10-6) and Charlotte (11-5) turned in disgracefully above-par efforts while Brinkley dazzled with a league-worst 6-10.  In the slump for the Bizarro Cup, it’s all over but the crying—and no one cries like Brinkley.

	Games Back	Week 15
Dark Mario	–	9-7
Jodi Ann	7	10-6
Marcus	7	11-5
Mario T.Y.	7	10-6
Dark Lee	11	8-8
Ultra Katie	11	11-5
Reagan	12	10-6
Tara	13	8-8
Jenny	14	9-7
Lee	16	9-7
Nicole E.	16	11-5
Mario T.E.	19	7-9
Justin	22	10-6
Lisa	22	7-9
Katie	24	11-5
Charlotte	30	11-5
Ruby	31	10-6
Brinkley	37	6-10

Brinky Cup – Week 12

Another week, another collective dud–the race for the Brinky Cup is devolving into a zombie-like slow shuffle.  The Week 12 numbers speak for themselves: the best record was 10-4 (by preseason Lee), only 4 of the 18 Cuppers finished above .500, and the average number of wins was 6.5–in a week with a Steelers victory, no less.  Mario maintains his stranglehold on the top spot (take a moment to think about how weird that ubiquitous expression is) and new parents Jodi Ann and Marcus occupy the second and third positions, respectively.  Does that mean baby LJ is destined to win in her first foray into the Brinky Cup next year?  Does it mean she’s wasting her newborn Cup magic on her parents this year?  Does it mean nothing?  Is that too many rhetorical questions for one paragraph?

Brinkley is in control in the fall to the Bizarro Brinky Cup, extending his lead this week after Charlotte’s ill-timed 11-4 Week 11 debacle and Ruby’s 11-3 Week 10.  Both Ruby and Charlotte are still in contention, but neither can afford another week of double-digit wins.  There are five weeks left in the regular season with full sixteen-game slates the rest of the way, and this is the time when champions are unmade.

	Games Back	Week 12
Dark Mario	–	7-7
Jodi Ann	6	8-6
Marcus	7	6-8
Jenny	8	8-6
Mario T.Y.	8	6-8
Ultra Katie	9	5-9
Dark Lee	10	6-8
Lee	13	10-4
Reagan	13	6-8
Tara	13	6-8
Nicole E.	14	9-5
Justin	17	7-7
Lisa	17	7-7
Mario T.E.	17	5-9
Katie	21	4-10
Ruby	25	6-8
Charlotte	28	6-8
Brinkley	30	5-9