FISO NFL ESPN Season 14

[Rick Spangle]

A little season summary.

1st Bookhouse Boys. Going into week 12, you’d have got fairly long odds on the Boys taking the title, but a combination of 3 wins to close out the year plus other results going their way enabled them to take their division - then a close-ish win over the Fish and a more comfortable victory over the Chingford Gingers got the job done. 2nd three years ago, the Bookhouse Boys are the 2020 champs - congratulations! One interesting point, showing the vagaries of divisional leagues - only three other teams scored fewer points over the regular season!

2nd Chingford Gingers. Engaged in a 2-way divisional battle with the Fulchester Fish for most of the year, just losing the division title battle in the last week to that tied game. From the wildcard spot, they had a good win over the #1 seeds Yorkshire Dragons, but didn’t have a great final, underperforming their expected points total by 22 - and the Bills Josh Allen put the final nail in the coffin on Monday Night Football. 3rd last year, 2nd this - where is this leading?!

3rd Fulchester Fish. Started off a bit shaky, only 3-3 after 6 weeks including a 39 total point horror show in week 6 (lowest score of the year), but 2nd half of season was much better and, courtesy of a tie against the Gingers in week 14, just managed to take the divisional title. Lost the semifinal in reasonably close fashion to the Bookhouse Boys, but pulled out a massive score in the 3rd/4th place playoff, mainly due to Alvin Kamara’s 52 point explosion. Not quite enough for the strange double of both the lowest and highest scores of the year!

4th Yorkshire Dragons. The “what could have been” team of the year. 6 straight wins to start the season, and a 10-2 record after 12 weeks meant they were the first team to qualify for postseason - then proceeded to lose the last two regular season games, the semifinal to the GIngers and were on the wrong end of the Alvin Kamara show in the 3rd/4th playoff.

5th Barry Crockers. 5th again, and first pick in the next draft again! A reasonable season, but being drawn in the same division as the Yorkshire Dragons was a bit of a handicap. So .500 on the year (7-7) but 2 wins in the consolation ladder games ensures them that coveted #1 draft slot.

6th Bruschi 54s. 8-5 going into week 14, and looking favourites to take the division, but a combination of results (their loss and Bookhouse Boys’ win) knocked them out. A big win in their first ladder game put them into a position to fight for the #1 draft slot next year, but they lost a tight one against the Crockers.

7th Get It Right Next Time. Last year’s champs dethroned! Despite that, statistically not a bad year (over .500 is always positive) but an 8-6 record not quite enough for the playoffs.

8th Crystal Tipps. One weird season here! Opened with 6 straight losses, followed by 5 straight wins - at this stage it was still technically possible to qualify for the playoffs, but two more losses put paid to that. 6-8 on the year, and two ladder games split 1-1.

9th Forest Tigers. A slow start (2-6 after 8 weeks) did for the 2019 runners-up Tigers - a 5-1 run over the last 6 weeks made it into a slightly happier season, but they had left themselves too much to do. A tight loss in the first consolation ladder game, despite a good score, knocked them down the final standings a bit as well.

10th X-Men. Never really got going this year - 2-8 after 10 weeks - and out of contention from quite early on. Two minor consolations - their week 4 score of 158 was the high score of the year, and they, with their 3-11 record, managed to outscore the eventual champs, the 9-5 Bookhouse Boys.

11th Cornish Tinners. A rough year for the Tinners, only managing three wins, and including a 6-game losing run between weeks 8-13. A last gasp win in the final ladder game saved them from the wooden spoon though.

12th Luck Skywalker. Flashback to week 6, with their 4-2 record - nicely poised for a good year? Not exactly - that was it in terms of victories for the year as they rattled off 8 consecutive losses to finish out the regular season, followed by two losses in the consolation ladder games to sink to the bottom of the pile.

So, final table.

Championship - Bookhouse Boys
Runners-up - Chingford Gingers
3rd - Fulchester Fish

4th - Yorkshire Dragons
5th - Barry Crockers
6th - Bruschi 54s
7th - Get It Right Next Time
8th - Crystal Tipps
9th - Forest Tigers
10th - X-Men
11th - Cornish Tinners
12th - Luck Skywalker


HIgh score of season - X-Men 158 (week 4)
Low score of season - Fulchester Fish 39 (week 6)



Draft order for next year:

#1 - Barry Crockers
#2 - Bruschi 54s
#3 - Get It Right Next Time
#4 - Crystal Tipps
#5 - Forest Tigers
#6 - X-Men
#7 - Cornish Tinners
#8 - Luck Skywalker
#9 - Yorkshire Dragons
#10 - Fulchester Fish
#11 - Chingford Gingers
#12 - Bookhouse Boys


Thanks once again to all of you for playing, hope to see you back for the 2021 season. Happy holidays!

Rick.