Last week I said I was queuing up a different Ohio band for the write up. This week and next I’ve got The Afghan Whigs lined up for my missives. Founder Greg Dulli grew in Hamilton, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. He formed The Afghan Whigs in 1986. Their latest release is 2022’s LP How Do You Burn? Dulli has released some solo LP’s and is half of the duo The Gutter Twins with Mark Lanegan. I thought since the Browns opened the season with QB Joe Flacco as their starter then saw fit to trade him to the Bengals that The Afghan Whigs would be a nice tie in. Plus I think the Whigs are a killer band who not only have some great original tunes but some unique covers.
My world is empty without you, babe
My world is empty without you, babe
And as i roam my way alone
I find it hard for me to carry on
I need your strength, i need your tender touch
I need the love, my dear, i miss so much
My world is empty without you, babe
My world is empty without you, baby.
Our 2024 title was won by Big Daddy, though his six game winning streak came to an end last week, he is in position to repeat. Our 2023 title was won by The Sloppy Sparrows who had a strong team last year was looking to repeat.
Last year in week 5 I posted the following:
“Our biggest beatdown this week was a 40.44 pounding of Finkle & Einhorn (or is it Einhorn & Finkle?) at the hands of the not so Sloppy Sparrows. Don’t look now, but the Sparrows are starting to get their shit together and find themselves in 4th place in the most points race. Their weekly scores are reminiscent of last years point explosions.”
Then in week 6:
“Last week we had three blowout games. The Sloppy Sparrows continued their march to defend their title as well as climbing closer to the top of the most points standings by casting aside Devils Snare by 31.14 points.”
You’ve given me a true love
And every day i thank you, love
For the feeling that’s so new
So exciting so inviting
Baby, baby, i hear a symphony
A tender melody
Pushing me closer and closer to your heart
The Sloppy Sparrow were soaring through the 2024 season and legitimately chasing a back to back title.
From 2024 week 14:
“FNG scoring 151.82 pts is pretty respectable but that was matched in turn by the Sloppy Sparrows own 157.12. The Sloppy Sparrows now prepare the defense of their 2023 title.“
Week 15:
“Wow. Just wow! OFM! scored over 200 pts for the first time this season. The 209.36 pts scored are a season high for OFM! surpassing their previous high by over 36 pts. Sloppy Sparrows put up a very respectable 163.98 pts of their own. Under normal circumstances that would have been enough. Instead Rory will be home wrapping Christmas presents and the league will get a new champion.”
Then suddenly
Your lips are touching mine
A feeling so divine
Til i leave my past behind.
The 2025 season has not been kind to a number of teams. We’ve all taken injury hits. Some teams multiple injury hits. For whatever reason, Fantasy Karma has been putrid to The Sloppy Sparrows.
This past week that may have changed. The Sloppy Sparrows found her lips touching theirs and got a feeling so devine in a game where I don’t think even Rory expected to see, over 43 points from a player returning from injury. It was the highest in that players career.
More importantly for The Reckoning, has an an evil kiss from Fantasy Karma’s lips been blown over to The Reckoning? If so there is no devine feeling without the touch of her lips. Not only losing the game but The Reckoning lost their first round retained player, QB J Daniels. Back in week 4 The Reckoning lost their second round pick WR M Nabors to a season ending injury.
Prior to this week I still thought The Reckoning had better than 50-50 odds of traveling deep in the playoffs. Now? I dunno. I know Fantasy Karma can be a cold hearted bitch or venus of a goddess who we can’t get enough of. For many of us she’s the first classification. For a few teams, the second.
The Reckoning are wondering which one will show up the rest of the their season.
For now, their world is . . .
My world is empty without you, babe
My world is empty without you, babe
From this cold world i try to hide my face
But from this loneliness there ain’t no hiding place
Inside this cold and empty house i dwell
In darkness, in memory i know so well
My world is empty without you, babe
My world is empty without you, babe
Without you babe without you babe..
-(Briand Holland / Eddie Dozier / Lamont Holland).
WEEK 9 RECAP / WEEK 10 PREDICTIONS / MOST POINTS RACE
Week 9 Recap
It was a miserable week for my predictions last week. I hit on only 2 of them with 3 upsets upending my predictions.
Sleepy Squad <> Dinamos: In what I said would be a close game with Sleepy Squad upping their win total in the Ioffee bowl to 8 turned out to be an upset. Apparently Sleepy Squad had an issue with the time change over Saturday night as they fell short by nearly 30 pts. Dinamos up their Ioffee Bowl record to 5-7 with the upset win.
Anal Explosion <> Offsides Mother F*****!: One of the games I got right. It wasn’t as close as I thought it might be, but OFM! won with by almost 45 pts and now have the leagues best record at 8-1. Maybe they’re playing offsides.
Finkle & Einhorn <> Devils Snare: The other game I got right. The two game string of scoring over 170 pts for F&E came to a crashing halt. Devils Snare with a respectable 147.46 pts won easily by almost 29 pts.
Big Daddy <> FNG: The music came to a stop! Our second upset of the week. Apparently FNG got tired of starting the weekend games from a TNF hole. Big Daddy’s TNF point total ended up being a putrid 9.54 QB points. On Sunday a zero WR slot made it to much to over come. FNG’s win didn’t come without warts as their combined 6.5 pts from both RB’s could be cause for concern. In this game anyway that was easily masked by two players posting over 30 pts each. One of those was a surprising 35.70 pts from QB C Williams. Where did that come from? FNG’s win halted Big Daddy’s six game rave.
The Reckoning <> Sloppy Sparrows: So much for curses and seasons from hell for the Sloppy Sparrows. This game turned out to be upset number three. And if one wasn’t paying close attention they missed how quickly this game turned. The margin of victory for the Sparrows was almost 18 pts. The Sparrows got 43.3 pts from wr B Bowers who returned to the field after missing the last 4 weeks. For the record the 43.3 pts scored where the highest in his career. Talk about Fantasy Karma!
Week 10 Predictions – updated 11/05/2025 11:00pm
The Reckoning <> Offsides Mother F*****!: If it seems that these two teams just faced each other it’s because they did. Back in week 8, and OFM! won easily. My models all show that OFM! will win this week too. Some of the models show it as a close game, but still leaning in OFM!’s favor. Add in the disdain that Fantasy Karma seems to have for The Reckoning and you get another “W” for the team with the league’s best record. OFM! pushes their record to 9-1.
Big Daddy <> Sleepy Squad: When I feed the numbers into my models they are all consistent in that there is about a 20 point spread in the outcome. Sleepy Squad stumbled last week in the Ioffee Bowl. Big Daddy stumbled last week due to a putrid performance on TNF. That won’t be the case this week. Though there is that eye opener of a game on Sunday morning for RB Taylor. But he’s unstoppable on any continent. The Squad boys still moping from the Ioffee Bowl results while Big Daddy gets up off the mat and snags the “W” to get back on track.
FNG <> Anal Explosion: The question here is this. Has FNG recovered from the hangover from their upset victory last week? And can Anal Explosion snap out of their scoring slump suffered last week? If they do, they get the “W” but if not the “W” will go to FNG. The models are forecasting a close game. Some say FNG wins while some say Anal Explosion wins. Both teams have some bye week players not playing but FNG’s players are more important to their lineup. Anal Explosion probably takes this game.
Finkle & Einhorn <> Sloppy Sparrows: Last week F&E’s streak of scoring 170+ points came to a thundering stop. The Sloppy Sparrows are coming down from an upset high on a beatdown of The Reckoning. The models are showing a close win for F&E. There is actually one model that spits out a tie! THAT, has never happened before! The Sloppy Sparrows and Fantasy Karma seemed to have kissed and made up last week. How can I go against that? Sparrows Karma for the win!
Devils Snare <> Dinamos: Both teams are coming off of decisive wins last week. Devils Snare is on a two game winning streak. Dinamos are trying to stark a two game winning streak. But the only streaks the Dinamos have had this year are losing streaks. Collectively the models predict a close game in favor of The Dinamos. There is an outlier prediction that makes it close. Take out the outlier prediction and The Dinamos get an easy win. Devils Snare is starting two waiver wire acquisition QB’s. That makes this game a toss up. But I have to predict a winner here don’t I? I flipped a coin and I’m going with The Dinamos for the win.
Most Points Race
The top four positions did not change. The Reckoning holds a 3.3 point advantage over OFM!. That will probably change this week with OFM! passing The Reckoning to move into second place. Both teams are still around 100 points behind the leader Big Daddy.
| RANK | TEAM | CHG | PTS | PB |
| 1 | Big Daddy | – | 1508.50 | – |
| 2 | The Reckoning | – | 1408.98 | 99.52 |
| 3 | Offsides Mother F***! | – | 1405.68 | 102.82 |
| 4 | Devils Snare | – | 1290.44 | 218.06 |
| 5 | FNG | 3 | 1289.62 | 218.88 |
| 6 | Anal Explosion | -2 | 1276.54 | 231.96 |
| 7 | Sleepy Squad | -1 | 1273.08 | 235.42 |
| 8 | Finkle & Einhorn | -3 | 1265.50 | 243.00 |
| 9 | Dinamos | – | 1241.48 | 267.02 |
| 10 | Sloppy Sparrows | – | 1178.82 | 329.68 |