ANNOTATIONS for the SEPTEMBER 2015 TOP TEN SCOREBOARD

• We celebrated TWO YEARS at Hitch this month, fifty events in Leslieville, with the second annual Christopher Hitchens Cup! It was so tightly competitive that no team truly swung for the fences. The top score from either of the two events in September, good for thirteenth highest score of the month, was the 93 points that won the Trusty Rumpets the Cup on the 28th of September!
• Our highest score, outside of the Top Ten, belongs to TWO teams this month! Well, two halves of the same team that is! The Queen's Beaver tied with The OG Q.B. with 94 points on the 15th of September, at Lou Dawg's Ryerson!
• Our highest score in the month of September belongs to a first time team on the last day of the month! Zappa! surprised the field with the sixth highest score all-time at Cardinal Rule, earning the High Score on this list and at the Original Home of Trivia Club for the month of September 2015, with 172 points!
• Breakfast at TIFF scored the highest at Lou Dawg's Ryerson in September, doing so on the 15th of September, with 154 points! The win also entered this team into the FIVE-TIMERS CLUB! This makes for TWENTY-FOUR teams so far, in 2015, that have passed the Sesquicentennial Mark!
• Seven scores on this month's Top Ten came from a Trivia Club event at Lou Dawg's Ryerson, while the other three took place at Cardinal Rule!
• The highest score of the month, from a team in a losing effort tied at 105 points! The Cunning Stunts reached that mark on the 1st day of September, losing to The Bastards by eight and a half points. Gauis Baltar 2020 reached that mark a week later on the 8th of September in a losing effort against The Queen's Beaver.
• Three teams appeared twice on the Top Ten for September. The Queen's Beaver took the fourth and sixth spots, The Bastards grabbed the fifth and ninth spots, while Breakfast at TIFF (formerly know as Gauis Baltar 2020) took the second and eighth spots.
• September's Mean Team with 122 points are The Queen's Beaver!

It's that time of year again, for the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League! The fantasy sport for the comedy geek, Trivia Club's Saturday Night Live Fantasy League uses an only slightly disputable scoring system to turn the comedy institution that SNL has become into your new favorite pass-time! As was noted in the first post about this League:

What started, as the epitome of counter-culture television in the 70’s has, 39 seasons later, become an institution. We all know the story, Johnny Carson no longer wanted to have packaged re-runs of the Tonight Show shown on Saturday nights so NBC suddenly had a late night slot to fill on the weekend. Though it was an island of television that WAS watched, it was still considered low-risk enough that, hey why not, let’s give this wry Canadian kid a chance to make something of it with a group of Second City and Lampoon vets from Toronto and Chicago. 

With it becoming such a mainstay in pop culture, and as notable on television (even more so, it could be said) as The Simpsons that brings the kind of changes that not even The Simpsons have had to dealt with. I’m talking about what a sports organization has to deal with. Legendary casts give way to rebuilding years, every five years there seems to be a crises, cast members once derided as the reason ‘everything is horrible’ are given tearful goodbyes (usually off-air, unless you’re Krisen Wiig).

We are now in our third season of the Fantasy League, and it's amazing to say that we've doubled once AGAIN! Yes, in our first year it was a ten-person League, in our second year it was a twenty-one person League, and now the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League consists of six Groups, numbering FORTY competitors in total from across Canada and the United States, and also Ireland! It's a pleasure to have so many people involved, as we also see the most stable cast transition from season-to-season of SNL in our existence as a Fantasy League!

Now you may have noted the "Groups"? Yes, we've done away with the tiered "League"-system of our second season, noting that with the growth of the SNL Fantasy League it will be much easier going forward to have a level playing field! Certainly, there are certain awards and acknowledgements that will be given out across the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League (look forward to those), but when it comes to a true CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM, look to each specific Group to name their own!

With that in mind, let's go over the Scoring System for Saturday Night Live Fantasy League's Season 41! After that, we'll introduce the Groups, and the teams within that have drafted both their Cast and Prospective Hosts in hope for the highest point total possible!

Your host is impersonated, but doesn’t appear: 2 points

In sketch along-side former SNL cast member: 2 points

In sketch along-side former (but not that night's) SNL host: 5 points

Lorne Michaels dares to acknowledge your host: 5 points (plus 5 points if your host pulls a “Tracey Morgan” talks down TO Lorne)

Breaks/Laughs during a sketch: minus 2 points

Causes cast-mate to break: 5 points (multiplied per cast member)

Open-mouth kissing: 10 points

Kissing: 5 points

Crying: 5 points

Sings/Dances: 5 points

Blurkled Nudity: 5-15 points (both boobs/full front will get you 15, 10 for one boob, 5 for a butt shot)

Swearing (productive; per word): 2 points

Swearing (destructive; per word) : minus 5 points

Jumps through window/door/wall: 2 points

GOODNIGHT

Isn't hugged by any cast member when saying goodnight: minus 5 points

Doesn't thank the cast when says goodnight: minus 10 points

Embraces Musical Guest first: 2 points

Embraces Cast Member first: 10 points

SEASON OVERALL

If SNL featuring said HOST gets 5.0 rating or higher: 15 points

MUSICAL GUESTS

Each week, the team owners will submit the titles of the TWO SONGS that will be performed by the MUSICAL GUEST of the week, no later then 11PM EST on the day of that GUESTS appearance. Guessing the first song correctly is 5 points, the second song correctly is 10 points. Guessing the correct song(s) but in an incorrect order is 2 points.

SEASON 41 DRAFT RESULTS

HARTMAN GROUP

• Long live the King! Eagle-eyed followers of the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League may notice that two-time Phil Hartman Trophy winner, The Ignorant Sluts, ended up getting the last pick in the Cast Draft! Like the other eight-team Groups, the Cast Draft is picked round-to-round in as mathematically balanced a way as possible. Still, you can still hear Matthew Smith swearing loudly if you listen hard enough (to our Deep Thoughts live draft recording for the Hartman Group).
• Megan McKay was welcomed into the Hartman Group this year, having played last season as Santa's My Boyfriend! With War Horse Can Dance, she picked up the fifth slot in the Cast Draft and fist pick in the Prospective Host Draft!
• Though the Billion Dollar Murrays do NOT select Bill Murray, Mark Wahlberg Ate Mark Wahlberg does them one better by drafting team namesake John Cena as a Prospective Host!
• Remember, the team who has chosen first in the Cast Draft has never won! Though things look bright for The Team With You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party, The Ignorant Sluts won the first two Phil Hartman Trophy's with the fifth and third overall picks respectively.
• (UPDATE: OCT 26/15) Tina Fey has picked up appearance points for War Horse Can Dance, while Desolate Isle, managed by Deep Thoughts on SNL host Rob Moden, get their first Host Pick in three seasons with the Elizabeth Banks hosted episode on November 14th!

RADNER GROUP

• The Radner Group returns, and last season's last place competitor for the Gilded Radner got the first pick in the Cast Draft! Yes, things are looking brightly for My Doll's Name Is Jenny!
• The returning Skanky Little Prostitutes drafted second in the Cast Draft, the same spot which Three-Legged Jeans had drafted from last season to win the Gilded Radner!
• A surprising trend this year saw Kate McKinnon drafted twice faster then any other Cast, as would be expected with the second-consecutive Emmy nomination and Ghostbuster role, but also Taran Killam being drafted in the second round MULTIPLE TIMES! Though their numbers were similar last year, it is Taran Killam who has gotten more points then any other cast member the first two seasons of Saturday Night Live Fantasy League. Surprisingly this perspective Blue Chipper, from the Commissioner's perspective, will still have something to prove this season!
• Jennifer Lawrence is the highest chosen Perspective Host chosen across the League this season, off the strength of both her fame and charm, and the fact that with Hunger Games coming to an end this season she HAS TO host, right? POSSIBLY NOT, with can't miss Host Pick Amy Schumer taken off the board early thanks to Saturday Night Live's earliest announcement yet in terms of season-starting Hosts, team's this season had more of an uphill battle then usual in selecting celebrities!
• (UPDATE: OCT 26/15) Skanky Little Prostitutes picked up appearance points for Tina Fey's multiple cameos during the Tracy Morgan-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live, and are also the sole Saturday Night Live Fantasy Leaguer to have correctly predicted DONALD TRUMP hosting on November 7th, doing so with the final pick of his Group's Prospective Host Draft! Lil Baby Aidy will also pick up Host points when Elizabeth Banks hosts on November 14th!

MYERS GROUP

• Along-side the Hartman Group, the Myers Group is the only other eight-team Group!
• Where to begin? Not A Strong Swimmer picks up what looks to be a strong team, even with the final pick of the Cast Draft! In fact, though it might look it, no Cast was chosen consecutively in the Myers Group Cast Draft, giving Kate McKinnon the chance to be the first pick for Organic Wifi but also the fifth pick to third-year participant Dan Akroyd Rage, while Taran Killam goes both fourth to Colin Jost's Ghosts but also seventh to another third-year participant Suck It Trebek! ANYTHING could happen, with the Myers Group!
• Rob Schneider going in the fourth round of the Myers Group's Perspective Host Draft stands as our favorite left-field pick, even more then Donald Trump and Kermit the Frog!
• (UPDATE: OCT 26/15) Tina Fey picks up appearance points for Organic Wifi! The announcement of Matthew McConaughey hosting on November 21st, will pick up points for The Vondrukes, the only team to choose the McConaughey!

FARLEY GROUP

• Along with the Myers Group, the Farley Group is a good mix of first, second, and third year teams! Of course the difference with the Farley Group is that, as a six-team Group, not just their Perspective Host Draft but also their Cast Draft was snake-style, meaning first team picks last in the next round and last team picks first.
• Unknown at the time of the Drafts, was if any other Featured Cast member would be upgraded to the Repertory Cast other then Kyle Mooney! Explaining his being drafted prior to his cohorts, especially fellow Good Neighbor Beck Bennett, in every Cast Draft save for the Farley Group and This Team Has Everything's selection of Beck Bennett first. Of course, Bennett would also be upgraded to Rep, alongside Kyle Mooney as well as Sasheer Zamata.
• Druncle selecting near unknown Daisy Ridley first in the Farley Group's Perspective Host Draft is her highest result, though it is no surprise that every main cast member of the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was a very popular Host Draft selection!
• Murry'd With Children's wonderfully left-field selection of Kermit the Frog is shared by none other then reigning Gilded Radner winner Three-Legged Jeans of the Radner Group.

BELUSHI GROUP

• Taran Killam is the first selection in both the first AND second rounds of the Belushi Group's Cast Draft, going to The Night Crawlerz as well as Nuni and the Hair Chair!
• The Night Crawlerz are the first team to get points from multiple Hosts, with appearance points from both Tina Fey, as well as Alec Baldwin, in the Tracy Morgan-hosted third episode!

POEHLER GROUP

• The Poehler Group is our only Group made up entirely of first-time participants!
• With the luck there-in, Taran Killam not only falls to Round Two of the Cast Draft for both of his selections, but Haders to the Left was also given the chance to select both of last season's top point-getting Cast! Even with two Featured Cast to supplement McKinnon and Killam, having BOTH of the perspective top Cast on one team makes Haders to the Left a dangerous team to the rest of the Poehler Group.
• In news that will make Rob Moden, the manager of Desolate Isle in the Hartman Group, and host of our Deep Thoughts on SNL podcast happier then anyone else, Cobie Smulders was selected in the tenth round of the Poehler Group's Prospective Host Draft by Heather From Work! Smulders was a favorite Host pick of Moden's in the first year of the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League!
• (UPDATE: OCT 26/15) Tina Fey picked up appearance points for their semi-namesake team Lazy Sunfeys, while International Nasty Girl$ will get points based off of the performance of November 14th Host Elizabeth Banks!

Stay in the conversation through-out all of Season 41! Trivia Club would LOVE to hear feedback on the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League and how we could even improve on it all, or just how much you love it! Comment in the blog's comment section, on Trivia Club's facebook page or on our twitter. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST! Subscribe to us on iTUNES! Do the same on YouTube!

Russel Harder hosts Trivia Club at Hitch (1216 Queen St East) every other MONDAY, at Lou Dawg's near Ryerson (76 Gerrard St E) every TUESDAY, and Cardinal Rule (5 Roncesvalles Ave) every WEDNESDAY!

ANNOTATIONS for the AUGUST 2015 TOP TEN SCOREBOARD