Newberg Vs. Heath

Well here we go.  It comes down to this.  This is the match up that’s been brewing since Swami League’s inception seven seasons ago. Two of the leagues biggest mouths finally square off in the Swami Bowl: Mark Newberg who has 2 (asterisk) tiles and Guy Heath, who is looking for his first gloriously redeeming Swami crown. It’s ok, we know who we’re rooting for.

Newberg, who has been on top of the standings from the first minute this year, has seen his lead diminish little-by-little. Not that Newberg has fallen off of his pace, the Heathen has just been very consistent, having not succumbed to any streak of low-win weeks while Newberg was amassing his initial multiple double-digit wins.  Heath, by similar measure has kept pace to Newberg by stringing together respectable over-.500 weeks to keep Newberg within aim then finished off the season strong.

Mr. Newberg wants to become “the most decorated Swami”, and surpass Ivan Soto for the most titles with 3.  Even though the first title came before expansion in a meager 3-man league, the title counts albeit with the dreaded asterisk.  “I’m not sure how valid that first championship is” Heath says, “But since my shelf is empty, how can I measure another man’s accomplishments?”  “I’ll let you know a couple of Sundays from now, right after the victory parade.”

This season Newberg got off to a monster start with 4 straight 10-win weeks, a fiery pace that really never let up as he followed with two 8-win weeks, a 7 win, and 9-win week.  It really seemed that this may be just like 2007, when Newberg had the most impressive season to date, when he went tape-to-tape and won his last championship.  He can do it again here in 2014, but not without a fight from Guy.

This was to be the “Year of the Heathen”, and in any other year it would have been a sound title run.  Up until Week 10, Heath didn’t have any bad runs, averaging 8 wins a week, but only hitting a double-digit 10-win week just once. Week 10 was the only low point (4 wins), but then came the usual late season drive.  “I always seem to pick it up late in the season as I get used to the patterns of certain teams by November. However, the past few years I was only making up for lost ground at that point in the season.”  This year however there was not much of that “lost ground” due to the over .500 start, and the late season post-Thanksgiving drive (a.k.a. “Turkey Gravy”) helped make some gains on the vast Newberg lead. There was even a surge from Kevin VanSchaick that pushed Heath down to 3rd in mid-season.  “I was a little worried about VanSchaick, but I was more worried thinking Newberg was going to run away with this thing, so I was only looking in one direction with one solitary thought: Get Newberg.”

Streaks are what make or break a season.  We’ll see soon who’s streak will prove more powerful: Newberg’s first half streak with 4-straight 10-win weeks–or Heath’s 5 double-digit wins in the last 6 weeks of the season? It’s early lead vs. late surge for all the marbles.