Arya Ready For Some Football

Arya Ready For Some Football?
“Are you ready for some football?” – Hank Williams Jr.
To answer Hank’s Monday Night Football question, no, no we were not. The performance put up by Arya Ready For Some Football in Black Sheep Battle VII was nothing anyone could have expected, nor handled. In a league where, over the course of 666 (yipes!) regular season games (1,332 individual scores), only four times has a team scored 140 or better, Arya scored 144 and 145 in the two weeks comprising of The Black Sheep Battle. Arya’s top 3 performers combined for 172pts, which would alone would have beaten 9 teams and still won The Black Sheep. There’s not much more to say – that was nasty. Oh, wait, one more last thing to say… On behalf of The Family Battle Federation and its owners, of both mediocre teams and questionable morals, congratulations to Arya Ready For Some Football on becoming The 2019 Black Sheep. Alright Arya Ready For Some Football!

And the awards go to…
“The Black Sheep: Arya Stark slayed The Night King as an underdog. The FBF’s Arya? Not so much. Here’s some perspective on the 2019 Black Sheep’s epic season:

• Most points in a playoff game (289)

• Most points in a single post season (447)

• Most combo points in a playoff game (450)

• Largest margin of victory – playoff or regular (128)

• Largest margin of vicotry over a single post season (153)

• Most points in a regular season (1,240)

• Most points in a season (reg + playoff) (1,687)

• Most points faced in a regular season for a Black Sheep (961)

Damn Lies
“There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies, and statistics.” – Benjamin Disraeli
” • While Arya Ready won their first Black Sheep in their fourth Fighting Four appearance, Maryland Mad Bombers became the second team to win and lose a Black Sheep Battle (’13 Black Sheep; Minneapolis Pale Horses ’15 Black Sheep, ’16 loser).

• By going 0-2 in the 2019 playoffs, Dusty Desert Dogs and Minneapolis Pale Horses had their first winless playoffs, leaving only one team to have won a playoff game in every season, Maryland Mad Bombers, whose Black Sheep Battle loss was only their second post season loss ever (12-2 overall).

• The Jalopy Faces and Tucson Javelinas had the first ever FBF post season tie (176-176) in round two this season, becoming far and away the closest playoff game ever, edging out the previous closest game which was in 2017 when there was a 1pt win – The Jalopy Faces over Tucson Javelinas, 161-160.

Next Season
“Records are meant to be broken.” – Mark Spitz
After round 2 of the playoffs, everyone’s walking out of this season in their own way. Ryan’s Express got their 9th post season win by beating Pacific Mighty “O”. Unfettered Valor completed their second 2-0 playoffs in a row (were 0-8 the previous 4 playoffs), but Projected 15th still didn’t finish 15th. Cottonheaded Ninnymuggins hammered Fighting Irish Illini with the 2nd highest margin of victory ever, just behind Black Sheep Battle VII. Practice Squad found their favorite post season opponent, Scrappy Doo’s, against whom they’ve posted their 2nd and 3rd best post season scores against (’16 and ’19). Christmasland Wraiths avenged their 15 vs 16 match-up loss to Minneapolis Pale Horses from 2014 by winning this time. Javs and Faces, well, they tied, so… And Ashville Vipers snagged the proverbial bronze by beating Dusty Desert Dogs in the Fighting Four consulation game. For the three of you who wrote directly to Management, no, there is no “upper league” for Arya Ready For Some Football to advance to, sorry. For all the accolades Arya Ready has piled up in 2019, there are two things to remember…1) Arya Ready For Some Football is the 7th different Black Sheep over the 7 seasons of The FBF, and 2) Records are meant to be broken.

Sherlock’s Deduction (8-3) (2-1 in the playoffs)
“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock finished the 2019 being right…being very, very right. From Sherlock and Management, thank you for yet another great season of fantasy football. Seven season is quite an accomplishment – we can’t wait for 2020 to have another round of madness.

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – Management

Black Sheep Battle VII

Black Sheep Battle VII
“You become a champion by fighting one more round.” – James J. Corbett
“The first round of the playoff dealt out a couple close calls and a lot of thumping even if 2019’s round 1 had the smallest margin of victory for round 1 winners ever (avg 29pt margin of victory).

We’ll start from the bottom up. Christmasland Wraiths continued the streak of barely losing. After losing in Week 11 by 4pts and Week 12 by 3pts, the Wraiths lost to Practice Squad by 5pts in Round 1. Fighting Irish Illini who went 0-5 against out-of-conference opponents (finishing the season on skid from 4-3 to 4-8), faced Minneapolis Pale Horses (an out-of-conference opponent they didn’t face in the regular season) and took out some frustration, blowing their hooves off, 157-132. In one of two 5-7 showdowns, Unfettered Valor avenged their Week 1 loss to Scrappy Doo’s with some unfettered scoring, taking the game 192-141. The other 5-7 match-up saw Tucson Javelinas, with their 79-46 Week 12 loss to Cottonheaded Ninnymuggins fresh on their mind, return the favor with a 197-136 knockout. Projected 15th, in a step closer to their namesake, lost to Pacific Mighty “O” 177-146, failing to even the score from their Week 1 loss to “O”. Ryan’s Express beat up on The Jalopy Faces again, posting a wicked 196pts to the Faces’ 169. In Fighting Four action, Arya Ready For Some Football was too much for Dusty Desert Dogs to handle, cruising to a round 1 win, 158-133. Maryland Mad Bombers and Ashville Vipers traded blows for two weeks of scoring, but it was the Mad Bombers who were able to throw the last punch, seeing Carson Wentz launch them into the lead for good with a late 4th quarter TD on Monday night, capped by an OT TD which gave the Eagles and the Bombers their victory.

And the awards go to…fooled you. No awards in the playoffs.

Damn Lies
“You sit on a throne of lies.” – Buddy the Elf
• In the first round of the playoffs (two weeks worth of scoring), two teams scored less than a single week score from their regular season – Dusty Desert Dogs scored 133pts, which is forgiveably less than their FBF-record tying 151pts, but does tie their Week 9 score of 133pts…Minneapolis Pale Horses 132pts was less than their Week 3 140pts.

• For all Fighting Four round 1 victors prior to 2019, the average margin of victory was 46pts…in 2019’s round 1, the TOTAL margin of victory for both teams was 32pts (16 avg for those without a calculator).

• 2019 is the first time since 2016 that the number 1 team going into the Fighting Four made it to The Black Sheep Battle (Javelinas in 2016, Arya Ready in 2019).

Black Sheep Battle VII
“What have you been longing for?” – from Run, Run Rudolph by Chuck Berry
Yeah, Management knows what’s on everyone’s Christmas list, but only two are left with the chance to get what they’ve asked for. The 2019 Black Sheep Battle, or, Black Sheep Battle VII sees two opponents squaring off who bring their own records to The Battle. Maryland Mad Bombers have a chance to become the first repeat Black Sheep (Black Sheep II in ’14). The Bombers also happen to show up with their 2019 regular season point total (895pts) being the lowest point total ever by a Black Sheep Battle combatant. Arya Ready For Some Football on the other hand show up as the Black Sheep Battle combatant with highest ever regular season point total (1,240pts). This is also their fourth time in The Fighting Four, but first time in a Black Sheep Battle, leaving them poised to be the seventh different Black Sheep in seven season of The FBF if they can pull off the win.

Sherlock’s Deduction (8-3) (1-1 in playoffs)
“I never guess. It is a shocking habit.” – Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock loves stats and 1,240 > 895 is simple math to him. Sherlock picks Arya Ready For Some Football to win Black Sheep Battle VII.

Sincerely – Management