History
2019-20
Winner: Matt Gordon
Side Pool Winner: Wes Gilbert
2018-19
Winner: Travis Tambone
Side Pool Winner: Wes Gilbert
The Empire strikes back, or in the case of the pool, for the third year in a row. Travis is establishing a dynasty and it is fitting he won along with the Patriots in a game where the MVPs were the punters. Perhaps the pool should initiate an investigation into Travis’s activities, one suspects there may be a spy-gate type scandal lurking in the shadows. Regardless, most of the pool was so tired of seeing Patriots in the Super Bowl (or “superb owl”) that they chose Rams just to feel good about themselves, which on game day left Trav more or less on his own with most spurious of underdogs ever to play in a championship, no one doubted your team Tom Brady. The Super Bowl this year (while admittedly a close game) was the antipode of probably the most exciting game of the season which was the 54-51 overtime win by the Rams. It was overall an odd year for the pool, only two weeks saw people in the top 10 weeks category as no one could really get a handle on who would win; and there was little in the way of controversy as the players were almost ubiquitously little angels on and off the field with the exception of Kareem Hunt who rightfully got booted off the AFC-leading KC Chiefs for covering up an assault on a woman. And speaking of the Chiefs, the play of QB Patrick Mahomes and his signature “no-look” pass was absolutely unreal to watch this year. And to wind up the oddity of the year, there is perhaps no weirder coincidence than newly acquired Redskins QB Alex Smith breaking his leg in a game on the very anniversary of former Skins QB Joe Theisman’s career-ending broken leg (not to mention the score was the same 23-21); doesn’t bode well for Alex.
2017-18
Winner: Travis Tambone
Side Pool Winner: Gord Lyall
This year parity was simultaneously established and annihilated in both the league and our pool. The Patriots made yet another Super Bowl appearance but lost to the upstart Eagles who led the charge of a new playoff class in emergence. For our pool we saw something incredible that would be hard to repeat- six out of seven members with a winning scenario still alive at the Conference round of the playoffs. But in the end we have the same two winners as the year prior in both the regular pool and 2.0 respectively. While Warren led for almost the entire season, tough competition within the pool week in and week out allowed Trav to have historically one of the worst weeks in the pool, fall behind the pack, and then claw his way back through underdog upsets to put himself in a position to win at the Super Bowl. He then hedged his bets to solidify a first or second place result with another dog pick but won outright, dropping Warren to fourth opening room for Wes to steal second. It was a hard year to make predictions, I think many were lost in the woods on any given week, and yet, despite very few weeks on the top ten board, total scores were comparable to any other year. So another paradox, it was a tough non-momentous year that contained milestones and records. (Of note, Gord and Trav squeaked past Sandra for highest scoring week in pool history). This seems to correspond with how the NFL season played out. We saw the “any given Sunday” storyline week to week; upsets became the norm and many injuries to significant players drastically shifted the landscape (not to mention yet another suspension crisis, this time surrounding Zeke Elliot). And somehow, Donald Trump managed to infiltrate our sacred sport with dirty politics, condemning players who took a knee for social justice. This year had been anything but banal. It wasn’t very good but it certainly wasn’t bad.
2016-17
Winner: Travis Tambone
Side Pool Winner: Gord Lyall
It was an odd end to an odd season. Somehow, the Atlanta Falcons blew a 29-8 lead in the fourth quarter to give the Pats yet another improbable Superbowl win. It was quite unbelievable to watch. Thankfully our pool already had Travis as a decided winner, there appears to be more logic in how our pool played out than the NFL season in its bizarre entirety. The year began where the Broncos left off- a victory over the Panthers. Newton and company, gave it a much better effort, evidenced in the fact that Miller only sacked Newton 1.5 times. But “superman” still got smacked around and through a determined rookie qb (Simian) and a missed Carolina fg at the end of the game, Broncs prevail 21-20. And it was all downhill for the Panthers from there who failed to make the playoffs; the Broncos did no better after a 4-0 start. In this first week there was four one-point games, and two games that ended with a missed fg. And things just got weirder and weirder after this. We had games that ended with extra point attempts blocked and returned for game winning tds. We had Kapernick and others refusing to stand during anthems in protest of police brutality. We had the LA Rams playing in the dilapidated Los Angeles Coliseum and running out of water to hydrate its guests. We had fourth round rookie quarterbacks (with a strong o-line and generational-talent back in Ezekial Elliot) bring the Cowboys franchise back from the dead. We saw Raider nation unfurl the flag in resurging “autumn wind” only to be one-and-done in playoffs after Derek Carr’s season-ending injury. And then we saw the Cowboys fall to the most unlikely of passes by the uncanny Aaron Rodgers. (One parallel with our pool would be Matt’s resurrection as he channelled his inner Rodgers and went from last place to second by the end of playoffs). Both the Cowboys and the Raiders teams won a first-place schedule next year. And then there is Mr. Brady. Missed the first four games due to cheating, comes back and gets his revenge. It seems appropriate. Goodell fucked with the wrong obsessive athlete with a chip on his shoulder. Apparently Brady not only restricts his diet to the most horrendously healthy options but he and his trainer plan his work-out schedule two years in advance. When the Broncos went to the Superbowl the year prior, Brady followed his schedule as if he was playing in the big game. Can you imagine what deflategate hearings would have done to his schedule? Bellichek articulated it best at the victory parade: “No days off!” I wish Bill could have given such sage advice to Michael Floyd before he failed his breathalyzer test all the way on to the new championship roster.
2015-16
Winner: Gord Lyall
Side Pool Winner: Sandra Letts
The proverbial monkey off Gord's and Peyton Manning's back. It does not get much sweeter than winning a pool off the back of one's favorite team. Go Broncos! Warren led pretty much the entire season, and won first pick for the Superbowl (the deciding game). Warren understandably went with the red hot 17-1 Carolina Panthers who had destroyed the Seahawks and Cardinals in back to back weeks. Many saw a similar fate happening to the Broncos after they squeaked by a limping Steelers and banged-up Patriots. But Von Miller and the John Elway constructed defense had a different idea. In what was one of the most dominating performances from a defender, Miller did not allow a single dance or dab from the phenomenal Cam Newton. Other highlights (or lowlights) of the season was a negative score for a week; the antics of Johnny Football, and the Peyton Manning/ Brock Osweiller benching saga throughout what was a very tumultuous season for the anniversary world champions. This year also featured our first playoff sidepool. While the design of it was not a success, it did accomplish the main goal which was to have a winner from the pool of members not in the race for first. Version 2.0, however promises to be better.
2014-15
Winner: Ranon Bult
This season came down to the Conference Finals. As Tom Brady eviscerated the Colts with his deflated balls, Gord's season came to an end and Ranon emerged champion. A couple playoff games were a microcosm of the season both Detroit (against Dallas) and Baltimore (against New England) had their games in their hands, much as Gord had an early lead for the first half of the season. Neither was able to close out their games, and like Ranon, Dallas and New England came from behind to seize victory. Well played. Two controversial teams met in the Superbowl, Seattle and New England. "Ball-gate" vs. Marshawn Lynch's "ball grabbing." The Superbowl was an eventful one this year coming down to the final seconds of the game. Despite being down by 10 in the fourth quarter Brady mounted a come back which surprised very little prompting Gord to comment, "oh probably" when it was suggested that Brady will drive the ball down the field.
Winner: Travis Tambone2013-14
Our sophomore season was the year of Trav. His consistent weekly scores allowed him to strategically pick his way through the playoffs, making the Superbowl a non-issue, which was fitting as the game itself came out as a surprising dud. Congrats to Seahawks fans, but as a Broncos fan myself this year was a bitter pill to swallow in the end. Highlights and lowlights of the season include Matt Stafford's last minute fake downing of the football for a td to beat Dallas, more records for Peyton Manning (with some nice wobbly touchdowns), a meltdown between RG3 and Coach Shanahan and the Richie Incognito bullying scandal.
2012-13*
Winner: Ranon Bult
Due to frustration from the NHL lockout, this pool was started at week 12 as a trial run for bragging rights. It was a success and set the framework for another Gordon Head sports pool. For the most part, Ranon led the whole way through. However, Gord went from being last by 40 points in week 15 to second by only 7 points going into the Super Bowl. This made the Super Bowl the deciding game for the pool with a three person standings shift in the balance. Almost a microcosm of the season, Ranon's pick Baltimore dominated the first half of the game going up 28-6 by the third quarter. After a bizarre power outage San Francisco amazingly comes back to within 3 points of Baltimore before running out of time, thus securing the pool victory for Ranon, dropping Gord to third, and Mack up to second.
* This was a test year, a shortened season, and the scoring was altered from 2013-14 on. Therefore, no records of this are included in all-time records.