Two teams hit major bumps in the road this GW, with 5 starters not playing (including the 1st choice captain for each) and with only 2 players on the bench that get action. 352 Sizzle ends with an unimpressive 25, but at least gets 2 additional points from his VC. Top Shelf sees the armband shift to Baines, and doubles "0" and has one of his subs come on for "0" as well. I know there are still bonus points to come tomorrow morning, but with a margin of 11 needing to be overcome, I'm closing the book on this GW for the BE-Cup. 8. Top Shelf - [14 points (plus any BPs) - gw32] 7 teams left, 6 GWs to play, and a word of warning that the BE-Cup won't be taking any weeks off as we head down the stretch, so prepare yourselves to deal with the small number of games in GW34 and the large number of games in GW36.
7. 352 Sizzle - [42 points - gw33] 8. Top Shelf - [14 points - gw32] The scoring was as follows: 352 Sizzle - - - 42 Sasha Juniors - - - 43 Dynamo Teso - - - 48 ThiKu Mariners FC - - - 52 VegasVirgins - - - 53 ChrisSuttonsSlippers - - - 60 FC St. Pauli - - - 70 352 Sizzle had Silva as captain to get a nice 2 BPs doubled, but needed to have the "3" doubled as Sasha nicked 1 BP to stay alive, just barely. With this elimination, Dust is now dust. 2 teams each from the other 3 leagues. With 352 eliminated, Sasha now puts on the vest as the beneficiary of the AC Tig revival. Had AC Tig not been given the second chance, 352 would have exited in gw 25, and would have meant a goodbye to Sasha Jrs this week. But, Jrs are still alive, just barely, and one of the last 6 teams remaining. 42 points sets the season high for an elimination, and a reasonable score when you take into account that the average for all 32 of the rock teams was only 45.75. we now turn to gw34, with only 6 games in the cards, and it may well be a cruel departure for someone caught with players that they can't bring themselves to part with.
it's a cruel game sometimes. with 14 in gw32, you have to go, but your 76 would have beaten all of the remaining 7 teams in gw33.
a tricky gw for the be-cup teams without a full slate of games. as we head into monday's finale, there are three teams in the 20s, but all three have Van Persie as captain. at the bottom of that group is ChrisSuttonsSlippers, currently on 23 pre-bonus. CSS only has RVP still to play, so i'm going to project safety for the other two squads (StPauli and Vegas) who have a lead, RVP(c), and some additional players as well. in the non-RVP camp, ThiKu is currently at the bottom of the threesome (which may sound like something other than what I'm talking about), and only has Santos to play. as a result, i'll project safety this week for the other two teams (Dynamo Teso and Sasha), who have a lead over ThiKu, matching coverage with an Arsenal defender of their own, plus additional players. which means, it looks like: CSS = 23 points plus any bonus points plus Van Persie (c) vs ThiKu = 38 points plus any bonus points plus Santos some quirky things could happen, but it will likely take a multi-goal effort to make things interesting. certainly not out of the realm of possibility given Van Persie's season.
6. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [27 points - gw34] 7. 352 Sizzle - [42 points - gw33] 8. Top Shelf - [14 points - gw32] the non-RVP teams breathe a sigh of relief, happy to see another powerhouse exit. with Arsenal conceding early, it was possible that a single goal and bonus points would have been enough. but it was not to be as Wigan continue their late season escape. only two RVP teams remain and Dynamo is now the sole Sand-rep left. the final tally read: ChrisSuttonsSlippers - - - 27 FC St. Pauli - - - 37 ThiKu Mariners FC - - - 39 VegasVirgins - - - 46 Dynamo Teso - - - 57 Sasha Juniors - - - 60
No time for any analysis of remaining players right now, but there are still plenty of games to play. The two RVP owners will be looking to sneak through as he draws another blank. Through Saturday's games, the board looks as follows: ThiKu --- 14 FCStPauli - 19 Sasha - - - 19 Dynamo - - 25 Vegas - - - 26
FCStPauli - 28 + BPs + Agbonlahor(c) + Ream Vegas - - - 33 + BPs + M.Davies + Weimann Sasha - - - 31 + 6 + BPs + Lichaj + Bannan ThiKu --- 46 + BPs Dynamo - - 52 + 2 + 1+ BPs I don't see a lot of bonus points coming in for the bottom 3, but these tallies may change slightly before the gameweek finale. A quick look at the bottom 3.... FCSP leaves Odemwinge's goal and Taiwo's clean sheet on the bench in a week where points could not afford to be wasted. Agbonlahor has the armband, but is sporting a yellow box with a should injury having left game 1 of the double gameweek at the 47 minute mark. Vegas can't be second-guessed for giving the armband to RVP, but will have to watch the rest of this one nervously. Davies in the midfield would stand to grab 3 if FCSP were to see Ream get 6 for the clean sheet, so a certain amount of "cover" as the Virgins try to hold onto a slim lead. It will take a Ream goal or an appearance and something from Agbonlahor, but Vegas looks set to make the final 4. Sasha Jrs shrewdly give Tevez the armband, which equals 5*2. Combined with the good fortune of having Hibbert's 2 assists for 6 points come off the bench, Tarv may well have limped into the final 4.
5. FC St. Pauli - [31 points - gw35] 6. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [27 points - gw34] 7. 352 Sizzle - [42 points - gw33] 8. Top Shelf - [14 points - gw32] The scores: FC St. Pauli - - - 31 Sasha Juniors - - - 38 VegasVirgins - - - 42 ThiKu Mariners FC - - - 51 Dynamo Teso - - - 57 I didn't see it but understand Agbonlahor came on for the last 20 minutes and had a header over the bar late that would have made the difference since he was sporting the armband. Sasha and Vegas survive a close one, but that's all that's required. On to another challenging BE-Cup week, this time with a surplus of games being the factor that makes it interesting.
With all of the double gameweeks, it is too early to draw any conclusions about anything. After Saturday (not including bonus points still to come): Dynamo Teso ... 15 Sasha Juniors ... 24 Vegas Virgins ... 25 ThiKu Mariners .. 31 Everyone has at least 10 games to play, and Dynamo has the most with 13 to play. Vegas is the only one whose captain is done for the week, and Sasha Jrs still has the captain (Adebayor) to play twice. (Will he play twice?) ThiKu has a risky play with 4 midfielders in the ManCity-ManUnited game (Silva/Yaya/Nani/Valencia), so potential of high reward but some serious concern if goals are hard to come by.
The progress from Saturday to Sunday, with Monday a.m. bonus points, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday games still to come: Dynamo Teso ... 15 => 23 ThiKu Mariners .. 31 => 31 Sasha Juniors ... 24 => 38 Vegas Virgins ... 25 => 60 It would look pretty comfortable to conclude that the big day from Torres, Walker, et al. for Vegas moves them forward. We'll check in again after tomorrow's game is in the books.
Plodding along, we've now got the Saturday and Sunday BPs added in, as well as the game points (but not BPs) from Monday's Manchester Match. The Saturday -> Sunday -> Monday scores read as follows: Dynamo Teso ... 15 => 23 => 29 Sasha Juniors ... 24 => 38 =>45 ThiKu Mariners .. 31 => 31 =>46 Vegas Virgins ... 25 => 60 => 74 While Dynamo is in trouble at the moment, the Teso machine still has games to come from Schwarzer, Enrique, Cabaye, Sturridge, Adebayor, and captain Dempsey. The previous high elimination mark for this season was at 42, and that's certainly in jeopardy, but Dynamo needs some points, as fast to avoid the chop this week.
4. Dynamo Teso - [59 points - gw36] The scores: Dynamo Teso ... 59 ThiKu Mariners .. 71 Sasha Juniors ... 87 Vegas Virgins ... 96 The scores go off the chart for the gameweek finale. Dynamo Teso makes a mad rush at the end as Adebayor comes good on the last game of the week, but falls short with the highest elimination of the season. On the one hand, you expect it with so few teams left, but that will provide no comfort to the team that has to exit.
And we now get to the nitty gritty of the decision to let AC TiG back into the competition back in gw13. Sasha Jrs is currently holding the Tig-Asterisk. Given the second chance, Tig ended up being eliminated in gw25, which saved 352 Sizzle. 352 then ended up departing in gw33, which saved Sasha Jrs (by a single point). Had none of that happened, gw37 would be for the Cup between ThiKu and Vegas. As it is, they will need two more strong performances, not one, and they still have to deal with Tarv. 3 teams left, 2 weeks to go, good luck.
Dynamo Teso picked up an additional 4 points today. I believe it was Fulham bonus points, but not positive. It wasn't enough to change the result, but since this is a record high score for the season for an elimination, the final revised tally should read: 4. Dynamo Teso - [63 points - gw36]
It's not over, but Sasha Jrs will need a miracle of sorts. Bonus points for the Saturday/Sunday games still to come, and then still a couple of games to play, Sasha Jrs have 30 points with Maloney and DiSanto to play. ThiKu is done, with 45 points + BPs + 3 autosub points. I don't know if there will be any others, but I feel pretty comfortable giving 3 bonus points to Yaya. So, ThiKu has at least 51. Can Malony and DiSanto rack up at least 21 points? Vegas has soared to the top of the AllRocks table, at least for the night, and has bonus points coming, as well as a game still to be played by Torres. As noted previously, this would have been the BE-Cup final absent the ACTIG revival, so we'll now look to next week to see if Vegas can win it for real.
3. Sasha Juniors - [38 points - gw37] 4. Dynamo Teso - [63 points - gw36] End of the road for Sasha Juniors. Thiku puts up 52 points and Vegas rumbles on with 64. They now go head-to-head to determine the Cup Winner. Congrats and good luck.
GW38 final scores: ThiKu Mariners FC -- 57 Vegas Virgins -- 33 We end up with an asterisk on the trophy, as Vegas would have won it last week but for the decision to revive the AC TIG team. There was a chain reaction that followed, with Sasha Jrs staying in a few extra weeks before handing the asterisk to ThiKu last week, and ThiKu then taking care of business. Other than the asterisk, the ThiKu victory puts to rest any woulda, coulda, shoulda claims that many might have had about just needing to get past their elimination week. If you scored less than 57 points in gw38, you weren't going to win it this year. Most of us didn't. Hats off to ThiKu!!! As for the asterisk, while well-intentioned back when the BE-Cup modification and TIG-revival occurred, the AC TIG decision looks suspect with the benefit of hindsight since the revived team TIG ended up floating as aimlessly at sea as had the original ship. A flurry of activity with the wildcard in gw12, but no transactions since gw16 and the captaincy long since left on Sessegnon. Vegas will have to stew on that one during the offseason. Second in the BE-Cup, second overall, but 1st in Small is nothing to sneeze at (and something I know nothing about!) along with a RockHard Championship if I've read correctly. A stellar season for some, but no doubt the spreadsheet is going to be rebuilt from scratch and be even bigger and stronger next season. Top Shelf ended up with the lowest score for an elimination at 14 points in gw32 and Dynamo Teso ended up with the highest score for an elimination at 63 points in gw 36. Here are the final standings for all 32 teams: 1. ThiKu Mariners FC -- 2011-12 BE-CUP WINNER 2. Vegas Virgins - [33 points - gw38] 3. Sasha Juniors - [38 points - gw37] 4. Dynamo Teso - [63 points - gw36] 5. FC St. Pauli - [31 points - gw35] 6. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [27 points - gw34] 7. 352 Sizzle - [42 points - gw33] 8. Top Shelf - [14 points - gw32] 9. FC Touchline Ban - [39 points - gw31] 10. Pittsadelphia FC - [25 points - gw30] 11. Pork Soda - [30 points - gw29] 12. Denocmuppet - [24 points - gw28] 13. Lees Summit Rangers - [22 points - gw27] 14. Park Lane - [27 points - gw26] 15. AC TIG - [15 points - gw 25] 16. Rockville Gunners - [32 points - gw24] ** First Tiebreaker** 17. blechs_dawgs - [22 points - gw23] 18. KeyserSoze Wanderers - [18 points - gw 22] 19. Jedi Padawans - [30 points - gw21] 20. BiggerBoat - [25 points - gw20] 21. Cassville United 27 - [20 points - gw19] 22. In off the post - [24 points - gw18] 23. London St. Germain -- [30 points - gw17] 24. ColdDogSoup - [29 points - gw16] 25. Glorydaze fC - [27 points - gw15] 26. Aviators - [19 points - gw14] 27. Yellowcake Phantoms - [19 points - gw13] 28//27. wewunwunce - [24 points - gw12] 29//28. FC Weymouth - [25 points - gw11] 30//29. Ram it in There! - [26 points - gw10]* 31//30. Kopite Juniors - [20 points - gw9] 32//31. FC Springfield - [27 points - gw8]**
