Season 14 – Week 5 Picks
Season 14 – Week 5 Picks
Greetings high rollers!
Four weeks down, four weeks of the regular skeeson left. As we enter the second half of skeeson 14, the one thing that’s becoming clear is that this skeeson is wide open with a lot of team and individual trophies still up for grabs.
On the team side, two teams cracked 1100 last week with FKA Daddy (1137) and It Ain’t Easy Being Skeezy (1135) going large. The last four weeks are going to be fun to watch with 10 teams currently averaging more than 1000 points a week. With lots of DNRs to be made up, we might not have a good sense of the team to beat until week 8. And once you get beyond the top 10 teams, there is less than 125 points a week separating teams 11-20. Put it all together and you have week 8 already shaping up to be an epic night with multiple teams jockeying for the top spot, and many teams just hoping to make the playoffs to have a chance at Super Saturday XIV (if you haven’t put April 2nd in your calendar yet, please do it now!).
Just five rollers cracked the 400 mark in week 4, led by Chris Martin (Conspiraskee Theorists). There is another battle shaping up for the MVSkee this season, given to the highest average score, as Chris trails Pat “Alan” Bassett (Trickskee Little Hobbits) by less than nine points on average, and Chris has a DNR in hand. If the skeeson ended today, Chris would need to roll a 468 to win the trophy by 0.25 points.
As for other individual trophies, no one has a clear lock on any of them at this point – Duke tells me the race for the 40 Streak, 50 Streak, 40/50 Combo, and Hundo trophies is as competitive as they’ve been in a while. Chris Martin has three 40 Streaks, but is followed closely by Eric Siegel (Ain’t Easy Being Skeezy) with two and another seven rollers have one apiece. Steve “Pinball” Robinson (Han Rolo) has two 50 Streaks, but there are five rollers right behind him with one apiece. The 40/50 Combo race is intense, as Robert “Robo” Arguello (Trickskee Little Hobbits) leads with three at present, but five rollers have two each, and a whopping 19 other rollers each have one. Pat currently holds the hundo lead with 83, but Chris and Brian Aldridge (FKA Daddy) both have DNRs to make up and could close the gap or even take the lead.
These next four weeks are going to be awesome, and something tells me this wide-open skeeson will carry on into the playoffs and Super Saturday…every ball matters!
Tough week on the prediction front with a 1-3 record to bring me down to .500 [Editor’s Note: I knew you were just an average Joe] on the skeeson. Another DNR got the best of me as I likely would have had one more correct to stay one game on the plus side. Oh well, let’s get to the matchups this week, and some funky lines from Duke.
6:30: No Mike In The Plumbers Shed (-333) vs. One if by Lane Two if by Skee – If they show up, Plumbers will only be rolling for their third time this skeeson. Despite perhaps being a little rusty, they are heavy favorites against One if By Lane – Ethan, Lily, and Melody – in what I believe is the biggest line of the skeeson thus far. For the life of me I can’t give that many points, so I’m rolling with Two if By Skee.
7:30: Skeeing Is Believing (-44) vs. The Night is Dark and Full of Skeeballs – Another team that has only rolled twice so far, Skeeing is Believing, has been Jekyll and Hyde in their two matches with an 878 and an 1127. And wouldn’t you know they’re back on “the lane of broken dreams” this week against The Night is Dark – Christina, John, and Kyle. I like the underdog in this one in a match they could (should?) win outright.
8:30: Duke I Am Your Father (-111) vs. I Skee Drunk People – An interesting matchup of two teams that each have big outliers on their team totals. Duke rolled an 1149 in week 3, but hasn’t cracked 1000 in the other three weeks. I Skee Drunk People came out firing with a 1028 in week 1, but haven’t cracked 900 since. It’s a lot of points to give, so I’ll go with Team Drunk.
9:30: 50 Shades of Skee (-22) vs. Brewskees – 50 Shades of Skee – Christina, Greg, Jannelle – have been team consistency so far this skeeson with three totals in the mid-to-high 800s. Brewskees, on the other hand, have been all over the place with a 753, 897, and 927 in their three rolls so far. In a matchup on lane 3, I’ll take Brewskees in another match the underdog could (should?) win outright.
10:30: Han Rolo vs. Trickskee Little Hobbits (-33) – A matchup of the league’s #2 and #3 teams in a battle that we could see again come playoff time with Super Saturday, maybe even the chalice (?!?), on the line…perhaps the match of skeeson 14 so far. With Dionne improving each week and Robo a top 10 roller thus far, I think Trickskee will prove to be just a little too much for Han Rolo at this point of the skeeson.
Week 4: 1-3
Skeeson 14 to date: 8-8
Skee you on the lanes!!