Rivalry Week(s) 2022

This is Year 2 of the double Rivalry Week, so just a reminder that we will each play our rivals in Weeks 1 and 14, with $25 on the line each time. I'm writing this between classes, so not a lot of time for preamble (or to think of new bowl names, as you are about to see). 

Here are our 2022 Rivalry Weeks matchups, ranked in order of the average points from each matchup:

1.(tie) Esco vs. Weissbard - 14.0 Points - The Halloween Prank Bowl V
1.(tie) Gutman vs. Marco - 14.0 Points - The Dad Bowl V aka The Father of Two Bowl III
3. (tie) Alan vs. Levine - 12.5 Points - The Unexpected Shade Bowl II
3. (tie) AGD vs. Bennett- 12.5 Points - The Last Remaining Duo Bowl
3. (tie) Ajay vs. Kumpf - 12.5 Points - The Madden Champ Bowl
6. Barnard vs. Nick - 12.0 Points - The Best Email Writer Bowl
7. Billy vs. Zacherman - 11.0 Points - The Drive to the Draft Bowl

Here is the raw data:

Some thoughts:

• As usual, Barnard was the most desirable Rival, as only Bennett, Billy, and Zacherman had him below average. He was followed relatively closely by Gutman, as a near repeat from two years ago has been quickly forgotten in favor of remembering that he has two small children.
• AGD was the least desirable Rival, which is understandable given their historical success.
• People were most split about Alan as a Rival. Nine teams had them in their top 6, while four had him in their bottom 3. Given that he usually either totally bombs or wins the whole damn thing, that makes sense, and supports my theory that Alan is FALAFEL's Eli Manning.
• Everyone was pretty consistent with both Billy and myself, as no one had really strong feelings about facing a monster RB duo/trio or having root against the disabled guy twice a year.

I'll get the schedule updated on ESPN before the draft on Saturday. See you all soon.

2022 Season Preview

Running a little late on this, but when you're stuck in a chair with an IV in your arm for 6 hours, it gives you time to think about the important things in life. Like updating a very niche blog for a long-running fantasy football league that has lain dormant for months yet somehow has been investigated for ad-clicking fraud. But I digress...

I'll send out an email for Rivalry Week on Monday, but before we get to that, it's time to do the annual audit of how each team has stacked up throughout FALAFEL history, and what changed since last year.

We'll start with an overall ranking of our current teams, which can serve as a guide to both Rivalry Week selection, as well as the Division Draft. All historical data in the sidebar has been updated, though with 10 of our 14 teams within one game of .500 last year, there were relatively few large changes. Marco experienced a fairly large drop due to his poor record and relative lack of games played compared to the rest of the league, while Weissbard had the largest rise, though he still remains below .500 overall despite nearly winning three of the last four Stevens Bowls. 

After 13 years, the league is all relatively clustered around .500, though there are some exceptions. The big milestones to watch this year are the race to 100 wins (with Zacherman, Barnard, and myself all in play), as well as the race to 100 losses (Weissbard, Ajay, Alan, and of course Bennett are eligible). It's still amusing that the potential 100 win teams have 1 chef's coat between us (and none before last season), while the bottom dwellers have 3 coats and 2 hats (obviously Bennett has nothing). Stats like that make tiering the league somewhat difficult, so I'll lean on a mix of recent and overall results.

Here is where Points Above Average stand heading into this season:

Levine maintains his lead here, while Billy brings up the rear despite a strong season. Shouts to Bruno who did more damage in one year than anyone else has come close to over many years.

Based on the information above, here are the tiers heading into Rivalry Week and Division Draft:

1. Levine
2. AGD, Kumpf, Zacherman
3. Weissbard, Esco, Nick, Marco
4. Gutman, Barnard, Ajay, Billy
5. Alan, Bennett

Weissbard, Barnard, and myself are Division Captains, and are all in different tiers, so should make for an interesting division draft.

As always, I'll end with a look at overall points scored in FALAFEL history:

Rivalry Week instructions come out Monday (and hopefully a new blog picture), so stay tuned and start thinking about your rivals.