Tuesday, January 09, 2007
2006 Our Sick Game Year in Review, Part 1
Someday in the future when historians look back at the 2006 season of Our Sick Game, several words are sure to come to mind: fantastic, glorious, dramatic, courageous, tragic, suspenseful ... just to name a few. The 2006 season produced a lifetime of classic moments on the world’s grandest stage. This season alone featured six lead changes, the final one coming prior to the last day of the season. This season both teams used their insurance policies, to varying degrees of success. This season both teams capitalized on their Moneyball selections, although neither 4th of July pick managed to come through. From the peaks to the valleys, the 2006 season of Our Sick Game will never be forgotten. Here follows Part 1 of the year in review:
Sweet Valley Death entered the 2006 season hungry, looking to avenge its disappointing showing in 2005. S.V.D. set the tone for the season by striking first on January 6 when its Moneyball selection, Lou Rawls, died at the age of 72 from brain and lung cancer. This earned S.V.D. a stunning 56 points right off the bat. Both teams coveted Lou Rawls during the draft, but by virtue of having the first pick, S.V.D. was able to select the five-tooler, who more than lived up to his pre-season hype. Just over one week later, S.V.D struck again, this time with two-time Oscar winning actress Shelly Winters. Her death at the age of 85 earned her franchise an additional 15 points, extending its lead to a seemingly-insurmountable 71 point lead. Ewing Oil managed to get on the board before the month ended, as Coretta Scott King’s death at the age of 78 helped earn 22 points for her team. After the first month, Sweet Valley Death held a substantial 71-22 lead.
Not content to let Ewing Oil savor its brief taste of success, Sweet Valley Death answered back within a week when Al Lewis, who played the character of Grandpa on “The Munsters,” died at the age of 82. With 18 more points, Sweet Valley Death held an 89-22 lead just five weeks into the season. On February 25, Ewing Oil got the jumpstart it desperately needed when its Moneyball selection, the legendary Don Knotts, died at the age of 81. His 38 points narrowed Sweet Valley Death’s lead to 89-60, but less than two weeks later the 2006 season of Our Sick Game was turned on its ear. The death of Ewing Oil’s Dana Reeve produced a record non-Moneyball point total of 56, and propelled Ewing Oil into the lead, 116-89. Once trailing by 71 points, three deaths in three months had suddenly given Ewing Oil a 27-point lead of its own.
This frenzy of death showed no signs of slowing down, but slow down it did following Reeve’s death. The months of April, May, June, July, and August failed to yield any deaths for Ewing Oil or Sweet Valley Death. That isn’t to say there wasn’t any action of significance. In the July 4th Supplemental Draft, with its first pick Sweet Valley Death selected Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas and the Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. With its selection, Ewing Oil drafted “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian. Unlike in 2005 when Ewing Oil’s selection of Peter Jennings proved successful, neither 2006 supplemental pick fulfilled their potential. By the end of the month, however, Ewing Oil would make a controversial decision that would change the course of the season, if not history itself.
TOMORROW: Part Two of the 2006 Year in Review
Sweet Valley Death entered the 2006 season hungry, looking to avenge its disappointing showing in 2005. S.V.D. set the tone for the season by striking first on January 6 when its Moneyball selection, Lou Rawls, died at the age of 72 from brain and lung cancer. This earned S.V.D. a stunning 56 points right off the bat. Both teams coveted Lou Rawls during the draft, but by virtue of having the first pick, S.V.D. was able to select the five-tooler, who more than lived up to his pre-season hype. Just over one week later, S.V.D struck again, this time with two-time Oscar winning actress Shelly Winters. Her death at the age of 85 earned her franchise an additional 15 points, extending its lead to a seemingly-insurmountable 71 point lead. Ewing Oil managed to get on the board before the month ended, as Coretta Scott King’s death at the age of 78 helped earn 22 points for her team. After the first month, Sweet Valley Death held a substantial 71-22 lead.
Not content to let Ewing Oil savor its brief taste of success, Sweet Valley Death answered back within a week when Al Lewis, who played the character of Grandpa on “The Munsters,” died at the age of 82. With 18 more points, Sweet Valley Death held an 89-22 lead just five weeks into the season. On February 25, Ewing Oil got the jumpstart it desperately needed when its Moneyball selection, the legendary Don Knotts, died at the age of 81. His 38 points narrowed Sweet Valley Death’s lead to 89-60, but less than two weeks later the 2006 season of Our Sick Game was turned on its ear. The death of Ewing Oil’s Dana Reeve produced a record non-Moneyball point total of 56, and propelled Ewing Oil into the lead, 116-89. Once trailing by 71 points, three deaths in three months had suddenly given Ewing Oil a 27-point lead of its own.
This frenzy of death showed no signs of slowing down, but slow down it did following Reeve’s death. The months of April, May, June, July, and August failed to yield any deaths for Ewing Oil or Sweet Valley Death. That isn’t to say there wasn’t any action of significance. In the July 4th Supplemental Draft, with its first pick Sweet Valley Death selected Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas and the Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. With its selection, Ewing Oil drafted “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian. Unlike in 2005 when Ewing Oil’s selection of Peter Jennings proved successful, neither 2006 supplemental pick fulfilled their potential. By the end of the month, however, Ewing Oil would make a controversial decision that would change the course of the season, if not history itself.
TOMORROW: Part Two of the 2006 Year in Review
