HOLLYWOOD SABBE WINS OPENER FOR SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON

Defending Champ suffers epic stumble out of the gate

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Last year, in the first week of using the "spread format," Kevin Sabbe burst from the starting line ahead of everyone and captured Week One.  Like a certain FunkyDomer running a SLO City 5k after a night of partying on Palm Street, Kevin drank a bottle of beer in the shower, had the cops tell him it was a "5k, not a 5-keg," took off ahead of everyone while wearing a red-white-and-blue headband, and grabbed the early lead/glory/fame before collapsing and watching almost everyone else in the race pace him by.  Figuratively, of course.  Literally, he won Week 1 and then fell well beneath the playoff line before the season was over. 

    This year, Kevin is hoping it's a new year.  Of course, he still wants to wear an American headband and drink a beer in the shower (in that order), but he's planning on making the most of his mulligan.  After catching the biggest fish on this year's Fishing Trip, he actually improved on his last year's Week 1 victory by doing it with perfection.  Kevin became just the 4th poolster to go 7-for-7 in a week, which bodes will for his chances of making the playoffs (see below).  Furthermore, he's showing no signs of letting up -- he's already hit his 7-pointer this week, and we haven't even watched Sunday Morning Countdown yet. 

    Meanwhile, defending champion Mike Godsey is going in the opposite direction, in historic fashion.  After taking the very early lead in Emerton's college spread pool and started yapping about it, he missed two straight late college games, then all 5 college games the following week, and went 0-for-7 in the FunkyPool.  And yes, he had the Bears on Thursday night.  In what should be coin-flip situations, Godsey has now missed 15 straight games, and his 0-for-8 to start the NFL season. 

    Also collecting money in Week 1, GRrrrrrrr (a British rookie who nevertheless is following an old tradition of Giants fans who don't actually pick the Giants) finished 2nd, Bill Ellis and Dave Winter are once again off to fast starts (hoping to finish in the Top 10 again), JD took 5th place, and the "pint-sized" nephew of Chris Sabbe (?) (does it get any smaller than that?) earned himself a popsicle by finishing 6th.





Perfect weeks, Perfectly weak weeks, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?  WHAT DOES IN MEAN?

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In this week's "Peek at the Stats," we focus on Kevin Sabbe's perfect membership and Mike Godsey's "start," which somehow reminds us of Adam Jennings passing out in a gutter while wearing a Santa Claus costume for Halloween, and we ask: What does it mean?  Godsey spent the week telling nobody that cared or was even listening that his season was "already over" and that he was "mathematically eliminated."  Mathematically eliminated, maybe not, but statistically limited?  It sure looks that way.

    Last season, 4 poolsters (JE, EH, MB, and DE) were skunked for a week, and they finished the season in last place (33rd), next-to-last, third-to-last, and 19th place, respectively.  Two other poosters (NR and JN) failed to make picks for a week, and they finished the year 26th and 29th. 

    Meanwhile, back to Kevin's manhood, only 3 poolsters had a perfect week last season, and they all made the playoffs.  Godsey was perfect in Week 5 (and won the Slate), and EF and JD finished in 4th place and 8th place. 

    The early statistics seem to back up the obvious observation that in a pool full of coin-flip situations, if you pick 7-8 in a row correctly (or 7-8 in a row wrong), you're pretty set or pretty screwed.  And picking the Bears the next week doesn't help.  To put it in perspective, Godsey would have to perfectly predict 8 straight coin flips just to get back to the middle of the pack.  It looks like the Slate is up for grabs. 



Next Week

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Three different Week 1 money-winners put points on the Packers-Bears game, and all three hit the Packers.  Meanwhile the bottom two poolsters both lost with the Bears.  We looked for some rivalry games but it looks like almost the whole pool is cheering for the Raiders, Giants, or Niners, and none of them are playing each other.  KS is theoretically a Dolphin fan, and they're hosting Raider Nation, but that's about it.  See ya then...