It took 81 games for Rich Calderon to win three in a row, 2008
You know, it ain’t easy winning three in a row. You have to be either really good, or more often than not, really lucky. Hell, three former league members (Tim, Stephanie and Justin Acerno) never won three-straight games. Don’t get too excited though, Tim played in only two seasons, while Steph and Justin played in one each. Combined, they play in only 56 game.
Yet, prior to 2008 everyone else in the league had won three straight games in their careers. Some did it quickly (David won his first three games, as did Justin Hanright), while others took a little longer (Eric took two plus seasons, 29 games total) to win three in a row.
Of the 19 people who won three games in a row, the average person took 11.2 games to do it. Thirteen did it in their first season. Of course, when I say everyone else, I am of course not talking about Rich Calderon…at least not prior to 2008.
You see, after five years of Robioland football, Rich had never, ever won three in a row. Sure he came close…
In his first season, he won back-to-back games, scoring a combined 3,412 points, but then he ran into a 2,119-point wall called Robio. He returned with two more solid wins, but fell asleep against David. He then entered the ’03 semi-finals on a two-game winning streak, but Burrier dropped him like a bad habit.
In 2004, Rich won nine games and a playoff game. Three times he won two in a row, but never could make it three.
In 2006, he started off 2-0, but fell to Masterson. He would win two in a row again in weeks five and six, but lost a sad one to Robio, 969-848. That defeat would actually be the start of a four-game slide.
In 2006, Rich had two opportunities to do three straight wins, but both times, he failed to break 900 in the third game.
In ’07, he again rolled out 2-0, but again was stopped when his opponent broke 2,000. He had one more shot that season three weeks later, but again couldn’t break 900, losing to Bob 891-880. It was getting pretty sad by this point.
Calderon would enter 2007 with 74 career games in Robioland, with no three-game winning streaks. The next worst streak was Eric’s 29. After a month of football, it didn’t look like the streak would end just yet. Rich dropped three straight games after a week one win. He would bounce back, winning two straight games, but the wins weren’t impressive. He didn’t score a ton, while neither opponent cracked 1,000.
Heading into week seven against Matt, few gave Calderon a shot to pull this out. Not that he wasn’t better than (1-5) Neatock, we all just assumed that either Matt would pull 2,000 out of his ass, or Rich would only score about 800.
However, this year was different. This game was different. This time, Calderon finally pulled it out. He disposed of the “defending champ” quite easily, 1,510-,1082. It was Rich’s first three-game winning streak.
Amazingly, he didn’t just wrap it up and call it a night there. Instead, Calderon kept winning. He would win four more games (seven in a row total) before running into that Robio wall again in week twelve. By the time the season ended, Rich had won his first division title.
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