HOG Report®

Another "totally useless" edition of the HOG Report®…. "We'll serve no swine until its time!" (Paul Mason Wine).

In an effort to make the HOG Report® more enjoyable, we have made some changes to the format. We evaluated the honors and content and feel that we need to focus on 4 things... the HOG of the Week, TOP HOG by division, Wildcard HOG, and the HOG Market Report.  Occasionally we'll add extra content just to be controversial or humorous. This week we have IN OUR OPIGNION. And of course there's always a surprise at the bottom.  We hope these changes enhance your reading experience. Enjoy... The Editor.

HOG of the week - Bulger and Company have helped the Buffs to their 3rd straight win. Each victory by 2 points coming on Monday Night. First down by 35 points they get BYE the Pigskins, then being tied they get past the Southsiders who lost 2 defensive points, and last Monday down by 24 points they marched right past the Blackcats. If it weren't for Manning-to-Harrison's magic on Monday night 4 weeks ago, they'd have 4 straight win in a row. Not only that, but they were the high scorer this week too. A fantastic accomplishments for the early season's self proclaimed league doormat. Please give it up for our HOG of the week, the Buffalo Soldiers!

TOP HOG by division - The groupHOG thing got disgusting, so now we have change this section to TOP HOG by division. The C Division has a 18-14 record, the TA&T division are 17-15 record and the Doomsday division are 12-18-2. The Bear Necessities at 6-2 are the TOP HOG here, but are starting to feel pressure from the newly energized Puck Fackers. The Rough Riders at 6-2 are clearly the TOP HOG here posting a solid victory last week over the aforementioned Bear Necessities. The C4 Explosives are the TOP HOG here at 5-2-1 with the Pigskins close behind.

Wildcard HOG - The Boss Hog is our Wildcard HOG.  The Pigskins lead in all categories - Breakdown, Points, and Power Rating. All that counts in the SFFL is Breakdown. The Pigskins have a 61-26-1 mark. The Puck Fackers are close behind by 6 victories. Too bad the playoffs don't start tomorrow. There's four more weeks to go and the Pigskins have some starters on bye in week 10. Many questions come to mind - Can they hold on? - Where's Widow? Oh, they're 48-40. Hey like I said... 4 more weeks to go!  Anything can happen.

IN OUR OPIGNION - The SFFL wildcard selection this year is based on the non-divisional leader with the best breakdown record, aka "Mike's Rule".  Our minimum waged beat reporter has given Widow a lot of crap about this, at the same time just poking fun - more fodder for the HOG Report®.  We wrote earlier in the year in support of the "Power Rating" as being a better measurement.  In fact we had asked that the Supreme Ruler, in his infinite wisdom, consider this next year since we believe it is a more thorough and comprehensive measurement.  The Power Rating takes into consideration each teams record, points scored and breakdown.  The debate continues here on C4 not only because of the wildcard selection but also because there's a certain baseball league in debate on whether to go "Breakdown" for the whole season.  The argument being that weekly head-to-head schedules can sometimes turn out to be just plain unlucky for teams, whereas Breakdown Records truly measures the better teams.  For example… Widowmakers beat Rough Riders 112-103 last week.  Rough Riders, the second highest scoring team that week, lose the game (unlucky) but go 10-1 in breakdown.

I discussed this further with the Widowmaker last week, and I must say I came away with a better understanding of "Mike's suggestion" or thinking for now.  He firmly believes the Breakdown Record to be a more valid and reliable measurement than the Power Rating.  His argument points out the inconsistency with using points as a factor in the measurement.  A team could score 70 points or 20 points and lose to everybody.  The breakdown record would be the same (0-11), but the points category fluctuates by 50.  In this example, since the power rating has points as a factor, it could potentially drop a team in the standings dramatically one week.  The reverse is true where a team could score 90 points or 150 points and beat everybody that week.  The power rating for this team could boost a team dramatically in one weeks time.  Widowmaker noticed this to be true in some actual examples - most recently the Bear Necessities.  For weeks the Bears Necessities had the best record and power rating.  This week their Power Rating dropped them from 1st to 5th.  Why?  They have the best record still.  But points scored and breakdown record are coming into play against them.

	Record		Points		Breakdn		Power
Rough Riders	6-2-0	Pigskins	663	Pigskins	61-26-1	Pigskins	32
Bear Necessities	6-2-0	Widowmakers	660	Puck Fackers	55-33-0	C4 Explosives	30.5
C4 Explosives	5-2-1	C4 Explosives	653	C4 Explosives	54-32-2	Puck Fackers	28.5
Puck Fackers	5-3-0	Puck Fackers	635	Rough Riders	50-37-0	Rough Riders	28
Pigskins	4-3-1	Rough Riders	632	Widowmakers	48-40-0	Bear Necessities	25
Blackcats	4-4-0	Bear Necessities	632	Buffalo Soldiers	47-39-2	Widowmakers	24.5
Southsiders	4-4-0	Buffalo Soldiers	583	Bear Necessities	47-41-0	Buffalo Soldiers	17
Widowmakers	4-4-0	Blackcats	573	Blackcats	39-48-1	Blackcats	16
Buffalo Soldiers	3-5-0	Southsiders	547	D-Teasers	36-51-1	Southsiders	13
P-Cubed	3-5-0	D-Teasers	536	Southsiders	35-53-0	D-Teasers	9
D-Teasers	2-6-0	P-Cubed	522	P-Cubed	30-56-2	P-Cubed	7.5
Flea Flickers	1-7-0	Flea Flickers	480	Flea Flickers	20-66-2	Flea Flickers	3

The table above details all teams in order by Record, Points, Break Down and Power Rating.  Interesting to note how closely each measurement tracks... and "Where's Widow?" 

The SFFL is structured in 3 divisions which will turn out 3 divisional winners.  But we need 4 teams for a championship playoff.  It may have been simpler if we had designed the league into 4 divisions, but we didn't.  So what's wrong with selecting the Wildcard by Breakdown?  At this point in the season and as the table points out, nothing.  In the end it's one of many equally deserving means of ranking and selecting the next best team from the remaining bunch.  We could probably even go with most points scored since it is tracking very closely with Breakdown and Power Rating too less a couple exceptions.  So it appears that it really doesn't matter if we select by Breakdown, Power Rating, or even Points!  The good news is we will have 4 teams going head-to-head in the playoffs…  and it will not be based on Breakdown.  The league would suck if everything was based on Breakdown.  Head-to-head is more fun, and isn't that what fantasy sports should be all about?

So owners say, "What's the big deal."  As DT has pointed out in the past, "It's just a game."  There's some simple truth to these statements.  Isn't fantasy sports just a game?  Are we not gambling on a weekly basis?  Don't we take a gamble on free agents?  Don't we make managerial decisions based on match ups?  "Should I chance starting Aaron Brooks this week against Tampa Bay or go with my back up against Atlanta's crummy defense?"  Last time I looked we all paid $67 to play and we all try winning money each week.  Yes, it is a game… a game of chance.  Just have fun!

HOG Market Report - a quick look at what we've got left in our Piggy Banks and what available on Free Agency and Waivers. Remember, transaction forms are due by 6pm tonight.

SFFL Teams	FAAB	FREE AGENCY		Waivers
Blackcats	$23	QUARTERBACKS	WIDE RECEIVERS	Rich Gannon – QB
Puck Fackers	$17	Tommy Maddox -QB	Darnerien McCants – WR	Jay Fiedler – QB
Widowmakers	$16	Rich Gannon – QB	James McKnight - WR	Steve Beuerlein - QB
Pigskins	$14	Joey Harrington - QB	Kevin Johnson – WR	Justin Fargas – RB
Bear Necessities	$12	Brian Griese – QB	Justin McCareins – WR	Ladell Betts – RB
Rough Riders	$11	Kyle Boller – QB	Eddie Kennison – WR	Bill Schroeder – WR
P-Cubed	$8	RUNNINGBACKS	Justin Gage – WR	James Thrash – WR
Southsiders	$7	Arlen Harris – RB	ODDS AND ENDS	Dante Hall – WR
Flea Flickers	$5	Correll Buckhalter – RB	Itula Mili – TE	Andre Davis - WR
C4 Explosives	$4	Kevin Faulk – RB	Daniel Graham - TE	Kevin Johnson - WR
D-Teasers	$3	Shawn Bryson – RB	Gary Anderson – K	John Hall – K
Buffalo Soldiers	$2	Lamont Jordan - RB	San Francisco - DST	Cleveland – DST

That's all folks! Except for the humorous portion of our show...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The HOGustine Theater Experience presents...

 

A

beloved

classic

for

the

whole

family

 

 

When:  October 31st

movie will start 8pm sharp!

 

Where: HOGustine Theater

Here's a map...

We're conveniently located

off College Avenue...

Turn on Baugh Dr

and then right

on HOG Drive.