Bob earns a third championship, becoming the league’s greatest team
Let’s face facts, Bob Castrone probably deserves multiple historical posts. It’s been that incredible of a six-year run, that was just topped off with back-to-back titles. When he beat Burrier in the 2011 title game, it had become official…Bob passed Robio as the greatest team in league history. Think about it, all the things I used to call myself the league’s top team, Bob can now lay claim to as well…and he’s accomplish it in four less seasons.
So let’s talk about this man we call Bob.
Prior to the six-year run, Bob had a Jeckel and Hyde type of career. In 2003, his first season in Robioland, he became the first team to start a season 5-1, but missed the playoffs. The following year he won a championship. He became the first team to do it without winning a weekly high score, although he did manage to produce six straight 1,500-point games.
Of course the following year Bob collapsed, starting 0-5 to begin the season, finishing the year 3-10. It’s what we call a standard title defense in Robioland.
However, starting in 2006, Bob’s dominance began.
Including playoff games, Bob would win at least nine games in four straight seasons, failing to reach the semis only once. The problem was, he wasn’t turning this production into championships. In fact, he had never even reach the title game.
Heading into 2010, thanks to some solid keepers, Bob was labeled the preseason favorite. Yet, he never really took control. I led the league in wins, while Calderon earned the scoring title. He didn’t even win his division, finishing the season just 4-3 down the stretch. He made it back to the post-season for the fifth straight year, but he certainly wasn’t the favorite as the #4 seed. Yet, God was finally on his side and the Devine One finally rewarded Bob with a bit of luck. His playoff opponents averaged just 884 PPG (the league’s worst) and Bob cruised to his second championship.
None of it was shocking. The man just knew how to win and eventually it had to happen in the post-season. However, in 2011 no one expected Bob to continue his winning ways. With Chris Johnson gone back into free agency, Bob didn’t have the greatest keepers (just Andre Johnson in round one, Vernon Davis in round 10 and the Packers D in round 14) and outside of Tom Brady in round two, few were impressed with his draft. Not only was he not predicted to win it all, I didn’t have him in the post-season.
At first, I looked right. Bob was just 2-4 and struggling to put up stats. He made a couple of big trades, but that still didn’t turn things around. Eleven weeks in and Bob was just 4-7. He would need to win out and still need help just to reach the post-season. Well, it was no problem. He won his final two, while all the teams around him fell. He squeezed into the post-season as the 7th seed.
Once there, lady luck remained on his side as he pulled out a two-point win against league stud Masterson, followed by a last-second 21-point win over Colby in the semis. By the time the title game came around, we just knew it was going to happen. Cam Newton ended up out-producing Drew Brees and Bob won the title quite easily. It was at that moment he became the league’s greatest.
Nine years into this experiment we called Robioland Football, the league belonged to Bob. He had rolled off six straight nine-win seasons (a record). The second longest streak was done by me, five straight (1999-2003).
During the end of this streak, Bob blew the cover off the record book when he not only passed Matt in consecutive 1,000-point games, he blew it away. The record was 24, but Bob rolled off 37 straight games (2009-2011). Stunning. Also during that time, he produced 11 straight 1,250-point games (from 2009-2010). It placed him tied with Griff for longest streak, until Neatock passed them both up with 12 straight.
While Bob has certainly benefitted from his opponents not scoring (he’s last in opponent’s points at 1,233 PPG), he is still a solid fifth in scoring, just 21 PPG behind Griff, who sits in second.
For kicks, he’s also can brag about…
His .538 winning percentage is tops in the league.
His 34-20 record in division play is first in the league.
His .750 post-season winning percentage is the league’s best.
In the end, thanks to the titles, Bob’s six-year run is the league’s best. The best part for him and the worst for us is there is no evidence that the streak is about to end.
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