'You did good': Sean takes home Surfy

Feb. 4, 2018Posted by NawFuL

 

OAKLEY, Calif. — Confetti flew, the crowd cheered, and it was all pomp and circumstance as the NawFuL universe celebrated the crowning of a new champion. The Surfy Trophy is headed back to Hayward with Sean after a dominating season in which he rolled to a 15-game victory in the Gehlke Bros. Football Picks competition.

The last time Sean held the coveted golden statuette was four years ago, when in a similar ceremony it passed to his older brother for what would be the longest championship drought of the Junior Bro’s football prognosticating career. He reached the pinnacle of that frustration in 2016, when a late-season surge saw the Senior Bro come back to wrest the title away in a hard-fought contest, prompting Sean to remark that he might never win the Surfy again.

But those bad memories were laid to rest early in the 2017 campaign, as Sean bolted to a giant lead that he never relinquished. At 172-84, he notched the second best record to finish a season since GBF went online in 1998. That was a feat worth a major celebration, which is what awaited Sean when he visited Oakley on Jan. 27 for the trophy presentation.

Blue and red linen adorned the presenter’s stand upon which the Surfy stood aloft on a pedestal. A football-themed sign proclaimed “It’s not about how bad you want it, it’s about how hard you work for it.” A string of football flags stretched across the living room, and music filled the air courtesy of Amazon Alexa’s bluetooth speaker capabilities.

“It’s been so long, so long, so long… it’s been so long since you’ve gone…” crooned Dave Edmunds, verbalizing what was on everyone’s mind. True enough, it had been so long since Sean’s previous championship that President Barack Obama was just beginning his second term in office. The San Francisco 49ers were barely one season removed from a Stupor Bore appearance. The Philadelphia Eagles were coming off an NFC-worst 4-12. Everything runs in cycles, including Surfy victories.

As John Williams’ familiar Sunday Night Football theme played in the background, Sean took to the podium where he was adorned with a bobble football headband and received the trophy from his brother, who naturally had a small speech prepared.

“I just have to say that it sucks losing,” Glenn said, “but we were penalty-free and there will be no coach’s challenges,” he added, tossing out replica yellow and red flags for emphasis.

He then offered a blunt assessment of the 2017 GBF season: “You did good, and I didn’t.”

Audience applause continued as Sean popped the cork on a bottle filled with confetti, sending colorful streamers and bits of metallic paper across the room, some of the pieces lodging themselves on the football banner stretched above them.

The Junior Bro, not one for long speeches, did offer some insight into his successful season, and he critiqued how he could have improved it had he avoided some pitfalls along the way.

“If I had just bet against the 49ers earlier in the year, I would have done a lot better,” Sean said, clutching the Surfy. “At least I got the 49ers turned around about right. I started picking them when they started winning.”

In fact, there were few teams that Sean didn’t seem to own as the season ground on to its conclusion, including the two Stupor Bore contenders, Philadelphia and New England. Nonetheless, Glenn seemed optimistic that there wouldn’t be a Junior Bro repeat in 2018.

“I want that back next year,” Glenn said as Sean protectively hid the Surfy behind him.

“Losing sucks, but if I had to lose I felt good about doing it this year because four years running was a good run,” the Senior Bro said of his halted win streak.

The ceremony concluded with the Bros taking turns scooping up handfuls of confetti and tossing it about while Lily Allen’s rendition of “Mr. Blue Sky” sent the crowd away on an uplifting note. It was one of the more memorable moments in GBF championship history.

“The best thing about it is I don’t have to clean it up,” Sean said.

Week 17: No magic flags required

Dec. 31, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Sean remembers a time not so long ago when he was sitting in a pub watching his favorite 49ers lose to the Rams. "They had that game won before the refs started pulling the magic flags out of their asses." Flash forward to Week 17, when the Niners looked again like the Stupor Bore contenders they once were, and no amount of "magic flags" or other obstacles would have been enough to derail the Junior Bro's return to his status as Gehlke Bros. Football champion.

Week 16: The season of sharing

Dec. 25, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Christmas time. The season for gift exchanges of all sorts. And the Gehlke Bros were up to the task in Week 16, giving as good as they got in their split-filled football stockings. You'd think that this close to the end of things there would be no room for new firsts, yet we saw a couple of them on Sunday: our first split involving the Chicago Bears, and our first week that did not involve a gain or loss in the Surfy standings.

Week 15: A real page-turner

Dec. 18, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

The margin between victory and defeat can sometimes be as narrow as a game-winning field goal as time expires (just ask the 49ers) or a piece of paper (just ask the Raiders). Or in the case of the Gehlke Bros, it can be as huge as an entire football field — which is roughly the distance the Senior Bro would have to span in the next two weeks to prevent Sean from capturing the Surfy Trophy for the first time since 2012.

Week 14: Blooming late in December

Dec. 11, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

There's no shame in being a second-half team, especially if you are in the hunt and peaking in time for the playoffs. It's an enviable characteristic of many NawFuL champions, and has been a factor in a few Gehlke Bros. Football seasons over the years. But it's a fine line between being a late bloomer and just another also ran; you've got to hit your peak, but you have to do it while there is still a reasonable chance of success.

Week 13: Let's figure this out

Dec. 4, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

"Losing streak" isn't a phrase that we've associated with the Junior Bro this season, but after back to back weeks that saw him lose three games off his overall lead, it might not be unfair to call it a slump — albeit a mini one — following seven straight winning weeks. But Sean returned to his winning ways in Week 13, and in so doing inched closer to his goal of reclaiming the Surfy Trophy.

Week 12: Doing the splits on Thanksgiving Day

Nov. 27, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

At its essence, Thanksgiving is the celebration of three things: Food, Family and Football. In the NawFuL, it is also the celebration of something else: the end of the bye weeks, that twilight zone between 16-game schedules that end with Week 4 and resume in Week 12. And we acknowledge the conclusion of that long football fast with a football feast on Thanksgiving Day.

Week 11: It's not easy being green

Nov. 20, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

You know you're having a NawFuL season when your sights are no longer set on winning a championship, but on merely winning games — something that the Senior Bro has not excelled at in 2017. It has been eight weeks since the four-time defending GBF champ last gained ground in the Surfy standings, so finishing Week 11 without falling further behind qualifies as a great achievement, let alone actually chopping into Sean's massive lead. But it's not an optical illusion; yes, the progress arrow on the weekly stats chart moves from a steady crimson to a rare shade of green.

Week 10: Search for silver linings getting tougher

Nov. 13, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

By now you are well familiar with the storyline: Sean won another week of Gehlke Bros. Football picks — his ninth such achievement in 10 weeks — widening his lead in the Surfy contest to 16 games in the process. But in the never ending search for silver linings to the dark, miserable cloud that has been the Senior Bro’s season thus far, there was a wee glimmer of hope in Week 10: Glenn lost just one game in the standings and moved ahead of King Chaos for second place overall.

Week 9: Everybody's doing the Junior Bro Stomp

Nov. 6, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Two, three, two, three, two, three… It may not be much of a dance move, but it’s the only one you need to know when you’ve got the smooth moves of the Junior Bro as he shuffles and glides his way through the 2017 Gehlke Bros. Football season with the Surfy in sight. You’ve seen it before. It’s one of those nostalgia routines that comes back around every few years and seems to be all the rage this season. It’s called the Junior Bro Stomp, and here’s how you do it:

Week 8: October curse haunts Senior Bro

Oct. 30, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Halloween night notwithstanding, the most frightening thing about this October has been witnessing the unprecedented collapse of the Senior Bro’s prognosticating prowess, which started on Oct. 1 and continued unabated in Week 8 as Sean widened the growing chasm in the Surfy standings to 12 games.

Week 7: Soaring like Eagles, falling like Giants

Oct. 23, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

The Senior Bro may have returned from his Mexico cruise at the start of October, but apparently his football prognosticating skills are still on vacation somewhere south of the border — precisely where he is in the increasingly polarized 2017 Gehlke Bros. Football season standings after an abysmal Week 7 showing that now finds Sean with a double-digit lead in his quest to retake the Surfy.

Week 6: 7-Up

Oct. 16, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

The Junior Bro has gotten used to being seven games down in the Surfy standings over the past three seasons, but seven to the good is unfamiliar territory, and it comes on the strength of his third straight week of multi-game pickups. So as Sean celebrates his 42nd birthday on Tuesday, perhaps he will also want to hoist a can of 7-Up in acknowledgment of a position he has not been in since the final week of the 2012 season — the last one in which he won the championship.

Week 5: A Roethlisberger kind of day

Oct. 9, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

On paper it looked like Week 5 should be dominated by road teams, and indeed it was; 10 of the 14 games were won by the visitors. Unfortunately for the Senior Bro, most of those winning performances were not the ones he predicted. Sean’s picks meanwhile were substantially closer to the mark, and the end result was a rout that puts the Junior Bro firmly in control as the leader in the Surfy standings once again.

Week 4: Eight splits? Why not

Oct. 2, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Maybe it was something in the water down in Mexico, or perhaps it was the frigid temperatures of Oregon’s Cascade range, or maybe it was just the excitement of doing a live Sunday morning picks call for the first time this season. Whatever it was, the Gehlke Bros turned in a wild week of prognostications that hadn’t been seen in a while — eight splits.

Week 3: Taking a knee for civility

Sept. 25, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

During a week in which both Bros were hitting the road for parts unknown, and the games on the field were overshadowed by feuding over the president’s unfiltered comments concerning ongoing player protests of the national anthem, it was easy to miss the fact that Week 3 in the NawFuL actually contained some meaningful football action. And for the first time this season, the Senior Bro notched a winning week.

Week 2: Great week still grating when you're 13-3

Sept. 18, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Week 2 was the sort that makes it appear deceptively simple to pick winners in the NawFuL (just witness the sea of green on our picks chart), and if anyone was looking for an upset or two to shake things up in the Gehlke Bros. Football standings, then it was a NawFuL time to be out on that limb. It isn’t too many weeks you’ll go 13-3 and wind up in the cellar, yet that is exactly where the Senior Bro finds himself in the Surfy race as the 2017 season heads deeper into its opening quarter.

Week 1: Never too soon for a bye

Sept. 11, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

Is Week 1 too early for a bye? Not if your team plays in the state of Florida and there is a category 5 hurricane bearing down on you, which was the case in Miami where the Dolphins were supposed to host the Buccaneers on Sunday before Irma came to call. Instead, the game was postponed until Week 11, and we were faced with a short schedule for the season kickoff.

Celebrating our 20th year online

Aug. 23, 2017Posted by NawFuL

 

We're getting excited at Gehlke Bros. Football for the upcoming 2017 season. Not only will the Senior Bro be gunning for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Surfy Trophy, but this year marks our 20th season on the internet. That's quite an accomplishment for a bunch of professional amateur prognosticators. And the site itself has come a long way since 1998, when we still used animated gif explosions and smiley faces to denote winners of split games.

Graphically speaking, we're a little more sophisticated these days. But functionally, our site and annual rivalry between the Bros — Glenn and Sean — is just as fun and intense as it ever was. We've been commemorating our milestone this month on Twitter with a daily look back at the highlights of past seasons as we count down to the Sept. 7 kickoff. We hope you'll follow along as the Gehlke Bros. battle it out for the 2017 Surfy.