Emerton Sweethearts Ride Bus To Final Stop: Half Moon Bay
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In a season characterized by anticlimax, Championship Sunday -- which looked
so wide open at kickoff of the first game -- was over before a quarter of
the games were completed. Eric Emerton, in an outrageously bold and
unnecessary move, picked the underdog Steelers to prevail and opened the
door for the hopeful poolsters behind him to gain some ground. That door,
however, was promptly slammed in their faces as Jake Plummer finally started
fumbling and throwing interceptions like he used to. With a 24-3 lead at
halftime, Emerton could comfortably assume a gigantic FunkyBowl advantage,
and likewise assume the huge likelihood of winning his unprecedented 4th
Slate.
The convincing Steeler upset was also huge for his wife Diane, who rode
the Bus alongside Eric to the final stop. Not just picking the Steelers,
but picking them for 10, she leapfrogged defending champion Bill Ellis and
father-in-law Robert Emerton within about 10 minutes of regulation play.
And she leapfrogged them so significantly that they were eliminated before
the second game even started.
The bummer for Diane, and FunkyPool fans in general, is that she is
probably looking at only a SuperPick's chance at winning her first Slate.
The best she can do (with a Carolina upset) is pull within 32 points of her
husband. More likely, with a Seattle win, she'll be about 60 points back.
The chances of her picking the correct team by the exactly correct margin of
victory in the Super Bowl are extremely long -- but (as evidenced by Bill
Ellis last year), it is possible.
Speaking of Bill Ellis, the champ fought valiantly throughout the
playoffs, but he finally has to surrender the Slate. Unless Carolina wins
significantly (6 or more points) and he falls behind Mr. Emerton, Bill will
finish in 3rd place. It was quite a run for the champ, who began the
playoffs in 10th place and more than 100 points out. After 5 decent
seasons, Bill has now run off 3 straight seasons in the Top 5 -- a feat
previously accomplished by nobody but Money Retsek, and DOliver.
Unless Carolina wins by 6 points or more (and he finishes 3rd), Mr.
Emerton will finish in 4th place. After a extraordinary first half of the
season (2 weekly wins, and 8 out of 10 weeks in the money), Mr. Emerton
suffered through a mediocre second half and a tepid playoff run. Still
though, a fabulous season overall for Godfather Emerton. It's his 2nd Top 5
finish in a row, and he's only been in the league for four years.
Looking ahead: FunkyBowl X:
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This is the first FunkyBowl featuring a husband and wife competing for the
Slate. Never in the pool's history has there been FunkyBowl participants
related in any way, whether husband-wife, father-son, brother-brother,
boyfriend-girlfriend, or even roommate-roommate. Ex-roommates is as close
as it gets.
If Carolina wins the Championship game, Diane will possibly have a
chance to win the FunkyBowl the "traditional way." 32 points back, she'd
have to pick the opposing team that Eric picks, and pick them to win by at
least 24 points. And then she'd have to hit it. This all seems unlikely.
More likely, she'll avoid headgames altogether and just try and make the
SuperPick (the correct team by the correct margin). If this is the case,
Eric will have to decide whether to "cover up" the pick he thinks is
correct, or make the pick he thinks she'll make (which may be the same pick)
in order to end the FunkyBowl at kickoff.
If Seattle wins, Diane will be 60 points out and have will have little
choice but to go for the SuperPick.
In the past, FunkyBowl attendees have notoriously kept the FunkyBowl
picks secretive from those failing to attend, but this year we think Weekly
Recap can get the dirt and publish them at kickoff. We may even be able to
publish them in advance.
See ya then...
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