eSFL Insider Week 14, 2010
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First rounds of the Ballistic Bowl playoff and Gunner Cup
By: Josh Perdew, eSFL Correspondent
Welcome to the first round of the playoffs and the first round of the Gunner Cup. The brackets are set and some owners fired up. I have personally spoken to a couple of other owners over the last few days. Coach Bruce Fields, of the Fields Fanatix, said that he is geared up and ready to go. He seems to think his team is the favorite to win the Appalachian and the Ballistic Bowl. Coach Ron Kavanaugh of the Kavanators is not so happy with his draw in the Gunner Cup. He likely has the toughest road ahead to get his entry fee back. As for myself, I am happy that my squad was able to finish above the cut line and make the playoffs, but I have a tough road ahead of me as well. It’s never easy when you face one the league’s most recognized and most accomplished teams in league history.
I was looking back before I started this article at my preseason projections, final standings, playoff projections, and championship picks. I had a couple of team’s records fairly close, nailing Appalachian team Kavanators with a 7-7 record and Global team D Crownholders with a 3-11 record. I had Fields at 9-5 but he was able to grab an extra win and finish 10-4. I really whiffed on GMAN, as I projected him to win the Appalachian with a 10-4 record, yet he struggled all season long to an embarrassing 3-11. Vial’s Vigilantes were the garbage that we thought, but he squeaked out a win in week 12 to avoid league history as the only team to go winless. Whitmore and Texan Bruisers overachieved this season as I thought they both might not make the playoffs and made a liar out of me, and Perdew barely made it in despite the fact that I thought during preseason that he could be a favorite in the Appalachian division. As for the Global division, Temp lost a few more than I though and I also expected Boot Hill to be a little better than where they finished, but I was pretty much on target with McKinney and Pardue. Zima was the shocker with a nice run down the stretch winning 8 of their last 10 and capturing a playoff spot that I thought Frost would end up with. I had the Ballistic Bowl set up for Pardue and Perdew to meet and the Pardue Bruisermakers taking their first title. My projection for the championship game is still alive, but you will need to keep reading and tune in for another couple weeks to see if it comes true.
Enough with the flashbacks, so let us move into this week’s action.
I will start off with the Gunner Cup.
The top matchup in the Gunner Cup has to be Frost vs Kav. These two teams narrowly missed the playoffs and have squads very capable of taking the Gunner Cup title. Kav was knocked out of the Ballistic Bowl bracket in the final regular season game and he placed a lot of blame on his star wide receiver Dwayne Bowe. Bowe was one of the hottest players through the mid weeks of the season and had many other owners in this league talking about Kav making a deep run in the playoffs. Bowe had other plans for the Kavanators, and laid the golden goose egg in week 13 when coach Kav needed him the most. Coach Ron Kavanaugh had one quote in an interview earlier today, stating “Bowe’s goose egg was hard to swallow.” Frost was unavailable for comment, but like any other coach in this league, Frost will be ready to step up to the challenge that Kav will bring to the table.
GMAN, with a 3-11 record, will face the other 3-11 team, in the defending Ballistic Bowl Champion, D Crownholders. GMAN was in fact this year’s biggest disappointment after some folks had him atop the Appalachian Division. His wide receivers never got it together and his young running backs were beyond garbage. Throw in a quarterback injury, and this team was ruined. DCrownholders were projected to be near the bottom of the barrel in the Global Division as the defending champs drafted poorly and never really clicked all year. This team has been known to ruin a few other owners in years past, so keep your eye on this bunch as they might be spoilers in the Gunner Cup.
Boot Hill Balut will face the Vigilantes in their first round game of the Gunner Cup. Coach Ryan Rhodes made a few questionable calls as the new head coach last week and it cost his old man’s team some much needed momentum. Viall was beat down by the Pulverizers as his squad was coming off his 1st win of the season. Coach Ryan Rhodes is looking for his first win and just might get it as he got in my opinion the easiest Gunner Cup draw.
My projections for the Gunner Cup first round games are:
Kavanators will knock off Frost with a stellar rebound performance from Dwayne Bowe. Frost will get a nice 30 points from Adrian Peterson, but fall to Kav. Kav 159 Frost 144
DCrownholders will once again be on spoiler alert with a victory over GMAN. Gman will finally get the game from Chris Johnson that he was looking for all year. Johnson will gash Indy for 45 but the Jet trio that Dcrown has will be enough for a win. DCrown 153 GMAN 133
Boot Hill and Vial will be the lowest scoring game in the first round with two clubs that can’t find solid performances from their leaders. Boot Hill will win this game, but the score won’t be high enough to move to the next round. Boot Hill 148 Vial 98
Ballistic Bowl Bracket, 2010
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This is where things get real interesting in this league. This is the cream of the crop in the eSFL. This looks to be some of the toughest matchups of the season. None of these teams want to walk away this week with a loss and have to drop down into the Gunner Cup. The regular season division champs have selected their first round opponents and the remaining teams are set.
In the Global Division, Coach Ron Pardue of the Bruisermakers, has selected McKinney Rednecks in the first round. I would have to say that Pardue is very ballsy selecting a team that finished second in the division and beat Pardue head to head in both meetings. Pardue has some late season injuries that could bury him. McKinney is led by Arian Foster and Michael Turner. Pardue is led by Michael Vick and Roddy White. Neither of these teams have a title under their belt, but McKinney did play for the title back in 2005 but fell short to Temps Texas Boys. These teams are tied at 3-3 in head to head record all time.
The other Global division game has Zima Ruskies taking on Temps Texas Boys. Zima has a title from 2004 and Temp has a couple of titles from 2005 and 2006. Zima won both games in the regular season with Temp putting up his two worst performances of the year in those games. It is nearly impossible to beat a team three times in one season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens here. Temp is led by the Peyton’s (Manning and Hillis) and Zima is led by Drew Brees. Temp has the all time head to head lead with an 7-5 record versus Zima coached teams.
In the Appalachian Division, top seed Texan Bruisers have selected Whitmore Workhorses. The Bruisers won both meetings in the regular season versus Whitmore and will try to accomplish the tough task of knocking off a team three times in one season. The Texans are led by Andre Johnson and Eli Manning. Whit is led by Joe Flacco and Steven Jackson. Both of these teams are seeking their first Ballistic Bowl title. The Texan Bruisers have split 2-2 head to head versus Whitmore, but more importantly, the Bruisers ended Whit’s playoff run last season in the first round.
In the other Appalachian division game, Fields Fanatix will take on their rival Perdew Pulverizers. Perdew has owned the regular season matchups against Fields with a career 5-1 record over the past three seasons. Fields has won the only postseason matchup in 2008 when he went on to the Ballistic Bowl but fell to the Boot Hill Balut in the title game. Fields has been the big dance 3 times in the past 7 years, but has failed to win one. The Pulverizers will be the only test for Fields in this year’s bracket. This rivalry will be producing the game of the week. I suspect that the winner of this contest will represent the Appalachian in the Ballistic Bowl and the loser of this game will capture the Gunner Cup.
Ballistic Bowl Projections:
I think Pardue has made a critical mistake by choosing McKinney in round one and I think this choice will once again doom this Pardue team into another disappointment and a first round exit of this year’s bracket. McKinney will move on to the Global Division Championship game. McKinney 167 Pardue 148
I must give Zima some credit with the best play of the year. In week 10, in dire needs of a quarterback, Zima played a quarterback that touched the ball 10 times all season and had not attempted a pass! The guy scored 2 touchdowns and got him 14 points. It was enough points that week to win his game and continue a nice win streak that eventually got him to this point. He will be in need of another miracle play like that this week to knock off Temp in round one. Temp has a 7-7 team that many believe are mediocre at best. Temp needs to make a statement this week and show that he belongs in the bracket. Temps Texas Boys will knock Zima into the Gunner Cup bracket with a rebound performance from Peyton Manning and take on McKinney in round two. Temp 159 Zima 138
Texan Bruisers and Whitmore have been the biggest overachievers in the league this year. Both of these teams have won games that they had no business being in. I have mentioned that it is nearly impossible to knock off one team three times in this league and the decision to take on Whit in round one will haunt the Bruisers for weeks to come. The Whitmore squad will make the Bruisers pay for that mistake and move on to round two. Whit 153 Bruisers 140
Fields and Perdew will be the game of the week. This rivalry will continue for years to come. The winner of this game will be the Fields Fanatix. I believe this is the year the Fanatix break the hex that has nearly forced coach Fields to quit. He continues to dominate the Pulverizers in postseason play when the pressure is on. Fields moves on to take on Whitmore in round two. Fields 168 Perdew 137
