*Yawn*.  The Cowboy and Banker ride into the sunset.
Ratings dip as viewers hope for more dramatic playoffs.
---------------------------------------------
In the pool’s last chance to swing the momentum in the regular season, it was more
of the same in Week 17: Robert “The Cowboy” Hassanali won his third week of the 
season, and the Banker collected another ten dollars.  Hassanali and Bill Ellis 
have now combined to win 7 of the 17 weeks this season, which is pretty awesome.
Ellis, clearly the 2007 Player of the Year, now has a commanding 49-point lead heading
into the playoffs.
        Beyond that, however, it was—like the NFL—another weekend of waiting for
something new to happen in the FMNFLP.  Eric Emerton, needing to complete a crazy
hail mary to retain a chance for his fifth Slate, left himself exactly one (we think)
combination of games, something close to a 100,000,000-to-1 shot, to qualify.  (It
didn’t happen.)  Wego briefly made a move at the line, but was virtually eliminated
by halftime of the morning games.
        Once again, nobody made a bold rush at Bill Ellis, and once again it wouldn’t
have done much good (Bill only missed 19 points).  JLee again took some moderate
risks to no avail, while Jennaroo once again went very conservative and has now 
slipped into playoff obscurity.
In other anticlimactic news, RaiderNation picked the Chargers, who won despite looking
uninterested in being there.  GiantNation almost fullboated the Patriots, who won
what *was* an exciting game until the Giants inexplicably left Moss wide open.  
The Colts basically let the Titans in, Adam Jennings forgot to submit his picks,
and it looks like we don’t have any nominations for a FunkyBowl site.  Furthermore,
it looks like Newbie just voted himself in for Pick of the Week.
Like we said last week, thank God for the Chuck Liddell fight (which was awesome).


Stats and Observations:

- Several people went 16-0 with the Patriots, but only Hassanali went 16-0 with 
the Dolphins.  We think he is the first poolster to ever go 16-0 with two teams 
in the same season.

- Bill Ellis was 15-1 with the Steelers.

- Bill Ellis was 71-8 with his picks of 11 or higher.

- Scott Wyatt and Wego went 20-0 with his picks of 15 or higher.

- Newbie went 2-14 with his 2-pick.

- Franzen had a losing record with his 16-pick.


SEASON 2007 in REVIEW
-------------------------
It was a “Season of Maturity” in the FunkyPool’s 14th season.  Almost as if trying
to win a bet, both the Godseys and Wyatts completely muffled themselves, and thankfully
for many, nobody really filled the void.  It was a peaceful year, free of personal
attacks, explosive rants, twisted statistics, or even arguments regarding the outcome
of any games whatsoever.  DOliver attempted to ignite “Game of the Week” but poolsters
of FMNFLP were too mature to take the bait.
Likewise, “Team Pride” was a phrase rarely mentioned in 2007, with irrational team
fanaticism seemingly pushed back into the category of “Things we did back in college
like running marathons on a whim or eating a pound of bacon because it was there
or sleeping with girls so that we could borrow their car in the morning.”  Only 
Bill Ellis was able to flaunt his Packer Pride and keep his dignity.  SuperChargerNation
was too powerful to find any competition, and the other teams (Broncos, Raiders,
Giants) were too pathetic to deserve any allegiance in a gambling sense.
It seems that “family pride” has transcended “team pride,” which is a nice trend.
Both Sabbes, both Godseys, and all three Wyatts (plus Ellis) won an individual week
in 2007.  More importantly, a healthy Finn Retsek, Jackson Godsey, and Jackson Oliver
entered the world.  And while Jack has donned a full Charger ensemble for every 
Charger game of his existence, even he knows it’s ok to take a nap in the second
half.
Mostly due to his phenomenal break from the gate, Bill Ellis clearly won the FunkyHeisman
trophy for 2007.  Continuing to shatter records involving last place finishes, it
seems inarguable that Franzen is our Clown of the Year.  And while Kevin Sabbe had
the best individual effort, the Brethren Cup goes to the Wyatts by a mere 18 points.


PLAYOFFS 2008 in PREVIEW
---------------------------
For a much deeper look at the rules and history of FunkyPlayoffs, see the “Playoff
Preview” in the 2006 archive of the stats page.  But in a nutshell…

There have been several occasions where the (aggressive) league leader has been 
caught in the playoffs.  But never before has a “conservative” pacesetter with a
30+ lead been caught from behind.  Not even close.  Money Retsek, Eric Emerton, 
and Bill Ellis himself have taken big leads into the postseason before, and they
generally stuck with the Vegas line and predictably steamrolled the opposition.
        The bright side for the underdog hopefuls?  There have certainly been instances
of individual ground-gaining.   Eric Emerton once picked up 63 points on the leader
in one weekend, and Chris Sabbe gained 52 in one weekend.  Over three weeks, Eric
Emerton once gained 80 total points on the leader, and Money once gained 65.  But
besides these two cases, nobody has ever gained more than 28 net points on a leader
over a 3-week span.
        In other words, it looks extremely likely that Bill Ellis will cruise to
his second straight Slate.  Last year, Bill had a seemingly easy time with a 4-point
lead over 3 different poolsters; this year, The Banker is leading JLee by 49 points,
and nobody else is within 80 points.   The good news is that JLee (and everyone 
else) is almost guaranteed a chance to gain significant ground against the Packers
and Patriots.  The bad news is that they’ll have to bet against the Packers and 
Patriots.
        In any case, congratulations to all the playoff contenders, and good times
to all…


Next Week!
-------------
JLee tries to set up a lunge at the Packers and Patriots.
ChargerNation at home against the Titans!
GiantNation on the road!

See ya then…