Not everyone has won a championship. But everyone has had a team that probably should have. I present to you, each person’s greatest team to NOT win a championship. And yes, I’ll rank those too.
#1 Rich Calderon – 2019 Season Based on career rankings, Rich’s 2019 is the 8th greatest season ever produced in Robioland Football. He became just the second person in league history to begin the year with nine straight victories and finished the year with just one defeat, becoming only the third person to do that. Obviously, he earned the top seed, while finishing second in scoring. However, his 1,550 points per game average for the regular season was the fifth best average ever. In total, he would break 1,500 ten times that year, including twice in the postseason. He earned two weekly high scores, no weekly low scores and went an impressive 5-2 against the top half of the league. Oddly enough, because my team was so dominate last year, I can’t really recall a time when Rich was ever the favorite to win it. Anyhow, his only two loses that year were the me. If Rich’s team could have pulled out a victory in the title game, this team would’ve finished the year as the greatest ever.
#2 Jeff Greenblatt – 2016 Season While Calderon earned the top spot on this list, he helped assure that Jeff landed in the two spot. Jeff’s 2016 campaign proved to be the 12th best season of all-time. That tends to happen when you finish the season with 11 wins and the top seed. On top of that, Jeff finished second in scoring that year, just 429 points behind the top spot. He topped 1,500 a total of eight times, scored three weekly high scores and going 5-3 against the top-six. In the quarterfinals, his team shit a brick, scoring just 905 points. It was the lowest single point total by a top seed in the quarterfinals ever. Yet, Jeff still escaped with a 905-840 win over Burrier. The following week he more than doubled his output in a win over me, before eventually losing to 2-seed Calderon in the title game.
#3 Bob Castrone – 2015 Season Bob has done many great things in Robioland and in fact, he has three seasons among the top thirteen. Oddly enough though, two of those three were seasons where he failed to win it all. His 2017 team went 12-1, but lost in the title game. Yet, his best non-title squad, based on the digits, was his 2015 squad. Defending his 2014 title with ease, Bob rolled out of the gate with eight straight victories and looked destined to repeat, as was easily leading the league in scoring as well. Even a week 10 defeat to Griff seemed like a hiccup, as it took Bob 11 weeks before he failed to top 1,400. Still, around that time, Bob lost Le’Veon Bell for the season and failed to have his handcuff. Meanwhile, Griff picked up David Johnson off the wire and was dominating. Despite the fact Bob won 11 games, earned the top seed and scoring crown, the second seed Griff looked like the favorite heading into the postseason. In the quarterfinals, Bob topped 2,000 to prove the doubters wrong, but in the end, the doubters were right, as Bob was upset by Colby in the semifinals. In was the third time in five weeks his team failed to get over 1,400 points. Overall, despite finishing with the most points that season, Bob only broke 1,500 five times, earning one high score. He did go an impressive 7-2 against the elites and never dipped below 1,000 that season. To this day, this season is ranked 10th all-time and is the highest rate team to not even reach the finals.
#4 Eric Vozzola – 2012 Season Eric has not done a lot of great things in this league. In fact, 19 years into this experiment we call Robioland Football, Eric has produced just three winning seasons. That’s it. However, one of those seasons was a really good one. In 2012, he stormed out of the gate with five straight wins, including a pair of weekly high scores. Unfortunately, the winning didn’t remain consistent, as he finish the year 4-4. It certainly didn’t help that three of his opponents he faced scored the weekly high score. Still, he finished with nine wins and his first and only scoring crown, as no one else was within 900 points of him. Once in the playoffs though, lady lucky seemed to shine a light on him. He cruised to two straight victories, facing only a 6-seed and an 8-seed, as the top two seeds were eliminated in the quarterfinals. In finals, his boys showed up big time, producing what would be at the time the third most points ever scored in a title game. Unfortunately for him, he was facing me. I had just four players score 1,708 points. With the rest, I scored the second most points in a title game, defeating Eric, 1973-1871. In the end, Eric topped 1,500 a total of seven times, never dipped below 1,000 and had two weekly high scores. Oddly enough, he played nine games against the top-six that year, tied with a few people for second most. He went just 4-5, which means he is the highest ranked team to not have a winning record against the elite competition that season.
#5 Rob Masterson – 2011 Season After a decade of misery in Robioland, Masterson seemed to turn that corner. He scored that typically week one win, lost in week two, despite scoring 1,600 and then kept on winning. He would be 3-1 through four, 6-2 through eight and by the time the regular season came to a close, Rob had won a career best nine victories. More importantly, the record wasn’t a fluke. Rob would break 1,500 eight times, never dipping below 1,o00 and scoring three weekly high scores. He became just the second person to average over 1,500 points per game in a regular season. So why isn’t this season not rated among the top-10? Because everything Rob did, Molly did slightly better. He won nine. She won ten, taking the top seed, while he settled for the two spot. Worse yet, this great team failed to escape the quarterfinals, as Rob lost to Bob 1625-1623. This remains the second closest postseason game ever. When it was all over, Rob scored over 1,500 eight times, producing three weekly highs, going 4-3 against the top-six. This is the second best season to not win a single playoff game. The first? 2011 Molly.
#6 Colby Hall – 2014 Season Points scored is the most important factor when we try to figure out who is good and who isn not. However, it’s not the only factor. Think about it. Colby has twice led the league in scoring, including 2018 when he broke the all-time regular season scoring record, yet neither time was Colby considered the favorite heading into the postseason. Based on the numbers I use, the best team he has produced that failed to win it all was his 2014 squad. That team was damn good. After a week one defeat, Colby rolled off six straight wins. Sure he dropped three of his last five, but in all three cases, his opponent scored the weekly high. He would end up winning nine games, despite the fact his foes scored the third most points. Unfortunately for Colby, his best year was the same season Bob has his best year. Bob ended up first in wins and points, while Colby finished second in wins and points. Of course, a title game matchup could put Colby over the top. Of course, that didn’t happen. Instead, Colby was stunned in the quarterfinals by 7-seed Griff. Oddly enough, Colby’s three best scoring seasons have produced zero playoff wins (0-3).
#7 Robio Murray – 2010 Season In 2010 I became the first team in league history to win 12 games in a regular season. I lost in week one and then would go on to eventually win 14 in a row (a record). Of course, that team benefitted from facing the weakest schedule, as my foes scored the lowest amount of points that year. My team broke 1,500 just twice in the regular season, failed to hit 1,000 once and had a weekly high score only once. I averaged 1,366 points per game, which was good enough for third best. In the postseason, my sleeping giant awoke, going back-to-back 1,700 in wins over the 8-seed and 7-seed. Yet, in the title game, my team took the day off and failed to score 1,000 in a 1283-948 title game defeat to Bob. It was the third time in six seasons I lost in the finals.
#8 Griff Coomer – 2004 Season Griff’s 2004 season is the oldest season on this list. Having lost three of the league’s first five title games, Griff was tired of playing second fiddle. Leading the All-Florida division, Griff dominated out of the gate, going 7-1, having produced three games over 1,500, but no high scores. Despite dropping three of his final six games, Griff still managed to finish 10-4, easily winning his division by three games and earning his first ever top seed. He finished fourth in scoring overall, but just 567 points behind the leader. With a playoff that consisted of red-hot Bob (five straight 1,500-point wins) and the Jersey Division that featured Burrier, Calderon, Masterson and Colby; four playoff teams and the top three scorers in the league, Griff wasn’t consider the favorite. Yet, in the first two rounds of the postseason, despite failing to top 1,400 in either, Coomer managed to win easy and was back in the title game. Facing Bob, who had won seven-straight, the game was a low scoring affair. Griff had a late lead in the finals seconds of the week’s last game, but a Trent Green interception put Bob back up top and for the fourth time in six seasons, Griff was a bridesmaid, not a bride. When it was all said and done, Griff’s 2004 season is currently ranked 30th of all-time. He had no weekly high scores and only four games over 1,500, but he did go 4-1 against the elites and that helps his numbers.
#9 Matt Neatock – 2014 Season Here is the third team from this season to end up on this list. The 2014 campaign belonged to Bob. He easily won the top seed and scoring crown. By the time he wrapped up the title, his team was labeled the best ever (until 2019). My point…it’s easy to forget what anyone else did that season. For Matt, he battled Colby for the second spot all season, starting the year 6-2, before dropping three of five. He would finish 8-5, earning the third seed, finishing third in scoring, despite twice failing to hit 1,000 and earning the weekly low score both times. Matt is one of just two teams among the top-32 to have two weekly low scores that season. In the quarterfinals, he easily got past Masterson, like everyone did at the time. In the semifinals, Neatock avoided Colby, who was upset in the quarterfinals and instead crushed 5-seed Molly, who failed to hit 1,000. In the finals though, no one really gave Matt a chance against the mighty Bob. Yet, heading to into the fourth quarter of the last game, he was down one, with two players left (Bob had none), but that one point proved to be too much to overcome and Neatock had to settle for runner-up. That season remains the 31st best season ever.
#10 Rich Burrier – 2011 Season Burrier’s best season was 2003, when he won his only league title. I would have assumed that his best non-championship year would have been around that same time period where he rode LT to a ton of wins. Yet, I was wrong. In 2011, in our final year of divisions, Rich won his division despite producing just a 7-6 record. He began the year 6-1, but after a weekly low score in week eight, he would drop four in a row and five of his last six games. Still, he did managed to break 1,500 a total of six times, producing one weekly high score, which was good enough for third in scoring. His 1,444 points per game remains the second most he’s ever produced in a season. Still, with all the losing down the stretch, no one was putting their dollars on Burrier. Yet, he pulled off an impressive 1760-1617 victory over Neatock, one week after losing him. In the semifinals, thanks to a pair of upsets in the quarterfinals, Rich got to face 8-seed and easily won that. Just like that, Rich was back in the title game, where he proceeded to fall to Bob, who was busy earning back-to-back titles. Rich’s 2011 season is now ranked #42 among all seasons.
#11 Don Vozzola – 2007 Season Don has two mugs in this league. He earned those in 2006 and 2008. Yet, both those seasons are ranked below his 2007 campaign. You see, he earned those titles as a 7-seed both times. In 2007, things started slowly. He dropped his first two and was 3-4 after seven weeks. However, a 5-1 finish gave him a career high eight wins and the division title. More importantly, Don produced his only scoring crown, after hitting over 1,5000 five times, including a 2228-point effort in week nine. Still, his 1,421 points per game remains the second lowest for a scoring champ. Anyhow, the wins and points all proved meaningless, as he fell to 7-seed Calderon in the quarterfinals. A year later, Don would get his revenge, knocking off 2-seed Calderon in the quarters. Anyhow, this season remains Don’s best, at #53 on the rankings.
#12 Michael Evangelist – 2019 Season Sorry, one season in and it proves to be Mike’s best and worst season in the league. Of course, he replaced Marc, who replaced Molly. Both produced top-25 seasons that failed to earn a title. In Marc’s final season, his 2018 squad finished 17th best, after earning a top seed. In 2011, Molly had both the top seed and scoring crown, averaging over 1,500, but lost in the quarterfinals.