Welcome back to The Golden Shovel! It's been nearly a month since the last time I wrote one of these. Mostly because the commissioner got mad at me for trying to make fun of his wife. Told me I had to either be nice or I was fired. But, due to increasing demand, he was forced to re-hire me... with no limits. So, without wasting any more time, let's jump right into it. As always, people will be buried. Continue reading at your own risk.
First, let's talk about boosts. There are only two weeks left in the season, so if you have two or more boosts, you might as well use them. If you don't use them, you lose them. Here's what boosts everyone has left:
Ben- No more boosts
Carl- All 3 boosts
Chris- Bench boost and captain boost
Madelyn- Team boost and captain boost
Austin- Bench boost
Tess- Bench boost and captain boost
Jeff- All 3 boosts
Jacob- All 3 boosts
Now, on to my favorite part of these posts... let's talk about who's winning and who can't catch Ben. Of course, the three people who still have all three boosts despite the warning last week have not caught Ben. Jacob dropped below Tess in the standings after failing to use a boost. And Jeff and Carl still remain at the bottom of the standings.
Carl seems content to finish the season with less than 200 points, Madelyn is still not quite good enough to break into the top 3, Austin is permanently stuck in fifth place, Chris can't get to second place like he wanted, and Jacob had a bad week because his Kofi Kingston luck finally ended.
Tess has climbed back into second place but is still a mile behind Ben in total points. That could be because of Ben's 14 seasons of experience, but it's probably because his team is better. Just like Roman Reigns, she shows up some weeks and doesn't do anything on other weeks. I'll probably get fired again for making fun of her, but oh well. It's what I do.
Since it's been so long since I wrote one of these, I've decided to do 5 quotes instead of 3 for this one:
"Next time I want to finish in 4th place, I'll ask your advice on who to start..."
-Ben, week 5
"Ben, you need to stop."
-Chris, week 6
"I'm going to take my talents to AEW fantasy wrestling."
-Ben, week 6
"Use my 'get me to second place' boost."
-Chris, week 7
"Crap! I was trying to get to 400 before Chris got to 200..."
-Ben, week 7
The Ben and Chris rivalry has continued to be the main provider of my quotes of the week for most of the season. But, with Chris in 6th, a postseason meeting between the two teams seems rather unlikely. As does a potential Madelyn vs Chris match and a potential Ben vs Austin match.
However, with every team getting an opportunity in the playoffs, anything could happen. There's even a pay-per-view tonight and those can cause huge changes in the standings. It's still anyone's game (except for those who didn't pay their entry fees, since that's required to be in the playoffs).
As a reminder, the #1 team after week 10 will receive a bye into the championship game (Summerslam). #2 and #3 will receive a bye into the second round of the playoffs. All other teams will participate in the first round. Only one team can win each round. Winner of the last round faces #1 for the championship.
Extreme Rules is tonight. Make sure to set your team. Or don't. We all know some of you won't. Make sure to stop by next week where we will again make fun of everyone except the first place team (unless I get fired again). Until then, good luck to all!
