The Rhinos Wallow

      When I tuned in to the game and learned that Dick Butkus passed away Thursday I somehow just knew that my WAS pick was screwed. Of course I was not alone, nor was I the hardest hit. With all due respect, it sure would have been considerate if he could have hung on for one more day. In truth I guess he had a worse day than we did. GrumpieBear on the other hand had a very good Thursday. More about that in the POW section.

     Assfault sent me an email Sunday night. In his short note he penned, "Chicago, give me a break." I really can't disagree with your sentiments Scott. Apparently the Commandos did not want to go Bear hunting.

      One game that surprized me this week was the SF-DAL beatdown. I thought Dallas had a pretty good chance of winning Sunday but by the end of the game they looked like they should be relegated to a lower league. As the Chainman would say, "They were beaten like a red headed step-child".

      Just an observation - in the offseason the Raiders wanted rid of Derek Carr and released him. They picked up Jimmy Garoppolo as a free agent (3 years, $72.75 million contract), at least partly because of old New England ties. The Saints, who picked up Carr (4 years, $100 million contract) currently have a 3-2 record and Las Vegas after their MNF win are 2-3. Maybe things will change but at present I fail to see what was achieved here.

      Athletes Foot sent in his intro this week. Kyle wrote, "Hey, I was invited by Davis(the Brady bunch) and Alan (New Orleans Taints). I live in Sherwood Park, Alberta. This is my first time ever doing an NFL pool, I've always done NHL! Growing up I was always a Patriots fan. I guess I could say I'm more of a Raiders fan now! I couldn't think of a clever team name and I was dealing with a gout flare up, so Athletes Foot popped in my head for some reason! Glad to be part of the pool, it's more fun each week as I learn the ins and outs a bit more! " Welcome to the pool Kyle and I can honestly say that we are all glad that you didn't have a flare up of Jock Itch or worse when you were seeking a name for your franchise.

      For those of you new to the pool - my brother in law, The Rotter considers the Email of Hope to be the equivalent of reaching the Red Zone in football. Ross will write a weekly article and track the EofH recipients each week until week 17. There is no EofH on week 18 as all of the games are played on Sunday that week. His articles are sometimes about sport and sometimes about something totally unrelated but whatever they are about they are often informative and interesting. I hope you enjoy!

The Rotters Report

I have written about Peanut Butter Joe before, but since his passing on May 8, 2023 from Alzheimer’s disease, I think he deserves another look. I consider him to be the biggest influence on worldwide professional sports of anybody. So, who was Peanut Butter Joe?

Here is a quote from someone contributing to the Lionbackers.com page: ”I had the honour of watching Joe Kapp play. He's the toughest quarterback I've ever seen wear a Lions uniform. He was affectionately known as Peanut Butter Joe in Vancouver because he was the spokesman for Squirrel Peanut butter. He's not the fastest QB, nor did he possess the strongest arm. Matter of fact, his passes looked like wounded ducks. He was also well known for his partying ways. He was "traded" to the Minnesota Vikings for a Canadian kid named Jim Young. He led the Vikings to the Super Bowl but lost. He was the first QB to play in the Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and Super Bowl. If my memory serves me correctly, instead of running out of bounds he ran over a linebacker and knocked him out. He was that tough.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Bud Grant, head coach for the Minnesota Vikings, knew of Joe Kapp from his days as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. So a trade was arranged between the BC Lions and Vikings. Kapp’s first year (1967) at Minnesota was not a good one. He led them to a 3-5-3 record. The next year, he led the Vikings to their first playoff appearance but lost the game to the Baltimore Colts. In 1969, Kapp led the Vikings to the Super Bowl where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-7. That year, Kapp tied the record for most TD’s thrown in one game (seven). He is still tied with 7 other players for this record. That year, Kapp refused to sign the NFL Standard Player Contract and the Vikings released him in 1970. He signed with the Boston Patriots who were 1-1 at the time. That contract made him the highest paid QB in the NFL. Kapp had a very poor year with Boston leading them to a 2 and 12 record. When the year ended, Pete Rozelle insisted Kapp sign a Standard Player Contract. Kapp refused and that was the end of his playing career.

Kapp started an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, claiming the standard NFL contract was unconstitutional and a restraint of trade. Four years later, Kapp won the summary judgment, however he did not receive any money from this judgment as the jury ruled that Kapp was not damaged. The summary judgment did have a huge effect on the NFL, a new system was instituted and a multi-million dollar settlement was made between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

This ruling had an effect on all other world professional sports including MLB, NBA, NHL, CFL and European Soccer. It is the reason why you hear about Restricted Free Agents (RFA), Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) players and huge player contracts in professional sports. It is also the reason why I think Peanut Butter Joe was the biggest influence on professional sports worldwide.

The Email of Hope

This year the Rhino is sending an email to every franchise for everyone to see who has a chance of winning money for the week. Only those mentioned in the email will get credit for the following standings. For the first Email of Hope standings this year, there are 4 Franchises tied for first with 6 Emails of Hope each. They are: Jet Picker; TTT Man; Watt’s Up and Oldhusky.270. There is no money involved winning first place, only prestige and bragging rights.

Note: the winning dollar amounts are a week behind as the winners are not known at time of writing.

The Monica Award - If only Hummer could have earned 6 more points he could have won $10. I am sure that that would not greatly effect his household finances but would have eliminated him from Tin Cup contention. Maybe next week... or maybe not!

    The POW Award - This week's POW award was won on Thursday night by GrumpieBear who was the only one in the pool to pick "Da Bears" to best the Commanders. Nine franchises had Washington for 200 points and the average loss for the entire pool was about 85 points per while Fred made 200 on his pick. BadGasBrown and SassyChassis also received consideration for picking the Jags to upset the Bills but while the game in the UK was rated higher by the pool, Bruce and Krystal only picked it for 16 and 28 points respectively. Great picks all of you! Well done!

    The Celler Dweller - Geofferson Starship failed to lift off this week. Geoffery earned a dismal 228 points in a week where the winner was over 600. When you pick the games in the order they are on the CBS scoresheet you cannot afford to miss the first 3 picks. Chi, Jax, Pit were the teams that destroyed his week.

   Without further ado, this weeks winners, and we honour and congratulate them are....

1st - Murrman When he realized he was a contender Sean wrote in, "Well this is better than being the Cellar Dweller! I’ve been in a slump for quite awhile. Let’s go 9ers! " Well, it certainly is better Sean! I know, not from personal experience but because a friend told me that once.

2nd - Genomania - Nicholas did not respond. Maybe he was so surprized to win that he did not know how to react.

3rd - The Rotter - Ross wrote to me on Monday, "So let me get this straight, I need my last place team pick to lose in order for me to get third place money for the week. How often does that happen" Actually, more often than you would expect Ross. Quite often if you pick a heavy favourite for a low value you are a lot better off if they lose. Luckily for you, you lost your pick this time.

4th (T) - Muttley - Sandra needed a 49ers victory in order to be among this week's winners. She wrote, "Woof woof woof. Go 49ersGo." Well, they certainly must have heard you Sandra. Ask anybody for Dallas, if you can find them as they slink home, wearing some other teams jerseys. Note to self - best not ask the Cowboys if they appreciate the "Jerseys" pun!

4th (T) - XFiler2 - The XFailure's hopes of placing second or third this week disappeared as quickly as the Cowboys hopes. It took a Las Vegas victory for him to get a share of 4th place which does remove him from Tin Cup contention.

My qoute for this week might appeal to the Big Bad B's. Dave Barry once said, "Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.. I hope you are not self concious about your wardrobe Easton.

       'Til next week then...

          The Rhino