WRBL Week 3, 2016

The Wisconsin Rapids Bro League

Week 3
Our 3rd semi-official season of blaming Cole Walters for FIVE losing records.

Current Standings
Earn Division
Team ChowHounds (Darrin Aschebrook) 3-0 W4
Team Zurawski (Nick Zurawski 1-2 W1
Team Moon (Evan Moon) 1-2 L2
SNEEN MACHINE (Tyler Sneen) 1-2 L1

Paper Boi Division
In DeAngelo I Trust (Scott Aschebrook) 2-1 W1
TyRod Henke (Andy Todd) 2-1 W2
The Alec Crushers (Cole Walters) 1-2 L2
Team Swanson (Alec Swanson) 1-2 L1

Week Three Final Scores
ASCHEBROOK JR.  124 WALTERS  98
ZURAWSKI  137 MOON  114
TODD  154 SWANSON  71
ASCHEBROOK SR.  149 SNEEN  107
954

(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Hero of the Week: WR T.Y. Hilton (Team Zurawski)

Heroes of the Week: DF Kansas City Chiefs (Moon), WR T.Y. Hilton (Zurawski), RB Devonta Freeman (Aschebrook Sr.)

Zeroes of the Week: WR Kelvin Benjamin (Swanson), TE Rob Gronkowski (Zurawski), Owner Evan Moon (Moon)

Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune
Zero of the Week: WR Kelvin Benjamin (Team Swanson)

Upcoming Week 4 Match-ups & NFL Schedule (in CT)

Team ChowHounds vs. In DeAngelo I Trust

The Alec Crushers vs. SNEEN MACHINE

Team Swanson vs. Team Moon

TyRod Henke vs. Team Zurawski

BYE WEEKS: Green Bay Packers & Philadelphia Eagles

Thursday Game: Miami @ Cincinnati 7:25 PM

London Game: Indianapolis vs. Jacksonville 8:30 AM

Sunday: Tennessee @ Houston NOON

Cleveland @ Washington NOON

Seattle @ NY Jets NOON

Buffalo @ New England NOON

Carolina @ Atlanta NOON

Oakland @ Baltimore NOON

Detroit @ Chicago NOON

Denver @ Tampa Bay 3:05

Los Angeles @ Arizona 3:25

New Orleans @ San Diego 3:25

Dallas @ San Francisco 3:25

Kansas City @ Pittsburgh 7:30

Monday: NY Giants @ Minnesota 7:30

Bro...

Some sports weekends are awful just because the games are boring or poorly played and your fantasy team disappoints. It's in those moments that the following fantasy win or entertaining sporting event makes a fan feel a heightened appreciation for sports in general. No amount of prior sport enjoyment prepared me for this past weekend. 

Two weekends ago, my father wanted to be in attendance for some Billy Joel/Elton John cover singer concert and it sounded like something I might enjoy so he asked me if I wanted to go with since he wasn't sure whether or not he could convince my mother to go with him. I responded "Maaaan... I'd love to but, the MLB.tv free game of the day is Clayton Kershaw versus Jose Fernandez and there are very few events in the world that would convince me to not watch that.". Of course, the hype for seeing Clayton Kershaw return after two months on the disabled list was the driving force behind my decision to stay home that night but, the added bonus of being able to watch Jose Fernandez was something I would not pass up on either. 

The ace of the Miami Marlins' ace visibly enjoyed his time on the mound, as he always did, and had the quietest fourteen strikeouts I've ever seen (Granted, I was paying closer attention to how conservative the Dodgers' approach was with a very shaky Kershaw that night). The fourteen strikeouts weren't a big deal at the time because Fernandez did that all the time as he is a perennial Cy Young candidate. The game also happened to take place at Marlins Park, his home stadium and a place that Fernandez went 29-2 with a 1.49 ERA and just in general kicked ass at being a baseball player that inspired so many. (Example #1) (Example #2) (Example #3) (Example #4: Asks crying child for their autograph). That was his third-to-last start. Fernandez died this weekend at the age of 24.

RIP Jose Fernandez 1992-2016

Growing up watching golf sporadically for the past two decades, the most dominant golfer that I have ever seen is Tiger Woods. In his prime, everybody rooted for Tiger Woods whether it was for his backstory growing up in the sport or the fact that he was so fun to watch win. Nobody has inspired more kids to turn to golf in this era of young, dominant golfers than Woods. From the 1950's through the 1970's, nobody did more for the sport of golf than Arnold Palmer. He made golf a sport that people tuned into on their televisions when televised golf was in it's baby stages. Palmer was the third-richest athlete post-retirement (behind Michael Jordan & David Beckham) based on endorsements and earnings made throughout a wildly successful career. With all due respect to Woods and Jack Nicklaus, it seems like no golfer was ever easier to root for than Arnold Palmer because there was no more fan or media accessible golfer in the history of the sport than the man with the drink named after himself. Even though I never met the man (though I do know a bunch of people who have on separate occasions) nor saw him golf in his prime, I always make sure to tune in for every major where he, Nicklaus and Gary Player tee off as the three legends of the sport. It's something everyone should have seen at least once and truly appreciated. Palmer died Sunday evening at the age of 87.

Curtis Compton/Associated Press
RIP Arnold Palmer 1929-2016

The old saying about how "bad news always comes in threes" certainly held true this weekend as my aunt Linda passed at the age of 66. None of you likely know her but, she shares a common interest with plenty of you (I assume) in that she was a major Wisconsin-specific sports fan and would call my dad or I at least once per week (many times more than once) to discuss the topics of the week that only Wisconsin sports fanatics care about ("Are the Badgers this good or is Akron that bad?"). The one odd story that I have about her involves my e-mail address.

It was 15 years ago when the internet was fairly new to our household and we (my parents & I) wanted to enter some contest that everyone who applied needed to have a Yahoo! e-mail and be of age (18+). Unfortunately, I was obviously not 18 yet (I was like 7) and my dad called up my aunt (mom's side) Linda so that they could use her name for my entry into this contest (Again, I have no recollection of what the contest was or why I needed to falsify my identity as a woman 45 years my senior. Just Andy Todd things I guess). Linda gave my dad permission over the phone to enter said competition and we did not win but, I kept the e-mail for more than a decade because I was too lazy to change it and I had already started fantasy sports leagues and following other things for e-mails and notifications under the andyboomer95 (Linda Frost) account. It's a weird memory but, considering how long I used this account, it stuck with me as just another example of her being willing to do anything for family, especially the children of the family.

If you need any examples for how awesome, unbelievable, poetically beautiful or unpredictable sports can be, Linda's Badgers won this weekend, Linda's Packers won and Linda's Brewers likely won the last game she was able to watch as she watched them every night. As for Jose Fernandez's former team? this all actually happened. 

Sports.

Scoring Leaders
QB
Drew Brees 69 (TODD)
Aaron Rodgers 64 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
Cam Newton 61 (ASCHEBROOK)
Ben Roethlisberger 47 (SWANSON)
Carson Palmer 45 (MOON)
Matthew Stafford 40 (WALTERS)
Kirk Cousins 27 (ZURAWSKI)

Russell Wilson 24 (SNEEN)

Eli Manning 12 (SNEEN)

Philip Rivers 11 (ZURAWSKI)

Blake Bortles 10 (WALTERS)

RB
DeAngelo Williams 64 (ASCHEBROOK)
David Johnson 63 (ZURAWSKI)
LeSean McCoy 54 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
C.J. Anderson 50 (WALTERS)
Devonta Freeman 48 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
Ezekiel Elliott 44 (MOON)
Latavius Murray 44 (SWANSON)

Lamar Miller 40 (SNEEN)

Mark Ingram 39 (ASCHEBROOK)

Matt Forte 38 (SWANSON)

Todd Gurley 33 (TODD)

DeMarco Murray 26 (ASCHEBROOK)

Ameer Abdullah 25 (TODD)
Danny Woodhead 25 (ZURAWSKI)

Eddie Lacy 24 (MOON)

Christine Michael 24 (SNEEN)

Charles Sims 23 (ZURAWSKI)

Carlos Hyde 22 (SWANSON)

Melvin Gordon 17 (WALTERS)

Frank Gore 15 (ZURAWSKI)

Spencer Ware 15 (TODD)

Doug Martin 14 (WALTERS)
Theo Riddick 9 (SNEEN)
Jeremy Langford 7 (WALTERS)
Adrian Peterson 6 (MOON)
Giovani Bernard 4 (SNEEN)

WR
Mike Evans 68 (ASCHEBROOK)
Antonio Brown 65 (WALTERS)
Larry Fitzgerald 61 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)

Jarvis Landry 59 (TODD)

Brandin Cooks 49 (WALTERS)
DeAndre Hopkins 49 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
Odell Beckham Jr. 46 (SNEEN)
Allen Robinson 45 (SWANSON)
Demaryius Thomas 44 (MOON)

Amari Cooper 43 (MOON)

Jordy Nelson 43 (TODD)
A.J. Green 41 (SWANSON)
Alshon Jeffery 40 (SWANSON)

Eric Decker 39 (SNEEN)

Julio Jones 39 (ASCHEBROOK)

T.Y. Hilton 31 (ZURAWSKI)

Jeremy Maclin 29 (ASCHEBROOK)
DeSean Jackson 27 (ZURAWSKI)
Brandon Marshall 22 (ZURAWSKI)
Donte Moncrief 19 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
Willie Snead 16 (SNEEN)
Dez Bryant 14 (SNEEN)
Golden Tate 14 (WALTERS)
Keenan Allen 12 (ZURAWSKI)
Randall Cobb 12 (TODD)
Sammy Watkins 12 (ZURAWSKI)

Travis Benjamin 10 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)

Stefon Diggs 8 (TODD)

Julian Edelman 8 (WALTERS)

Emmanuel Sanders 6 (TODD)

TE
Greg Olsen 49 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)

Travis Kelce 41 (WALTERS)

Jordan Reed 34 (SNEEN)

Julius Thomas 31 (MOON)
Delanie Walker 27 (TODD)

Hunter Henry 10 (TODD)

Dennis Pitta 10 (ASCHEBROOK)

Eric Ebron 9 (SWANSON)
Jason Witten 8 (ASCHEBROOK)
Zach Miller 7 (ZURAWSKI)

Martellus Bennett 3 (SWANSON)

Jared Cook 1 (ASCHEBROOK)

K
Justin Tucker 41 (MOON)
Dan Bailey 33 (WALTERS)
Adam Vinatieri 31 (ZURAWSKI)
Graham Gano 30 (SWANSON)
Stephen Gostkowski 29 (SNEEN)
Mason Crosby 22 (ASCHEBROOK)
Steven Hauschka 22 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)
Brandon McManus 22 (TODD)

DF
Minnesota Vikings 46 (TODD)
Denver Broncos 37 (ASCHEBROOK SR.)

Kansas City Chiefs 37 (MOON)

Houston Texans 28 (WALTERS)
Carolina Panthers 26 (SWANSON)
Seattle Seahawks 24 (ASCHEBROOK)
Green Bay Packers 16 (SNEEN)

Cincinnati Bengals 13 (ZURAWSKI)

Philadelphia Eagles 12 (TODD)

Hypothetical Standings
Team ChowHounds 3-0
In DeAngelo I Trust 3-0
Team Swanson 2-1
TyRod Henke 1-2
The Alec Crushers 1-2

Team Zurawski 1-2

SNEEN MACHINE 1-2
Team Moon 0-3