COLBY HALL
Est. 2004
LAST SEASON
Greatest title defense ever? There’s no other way to describe Colby’s 2023 campaign. We had three previous teams win back-to-back titles. I did it in 1999-2000, with a squad that won ten games, averaged 1,423 per game, finishing second in the standings and scoring. Bob did back-to-back in 2010-2011. His repeat squad went just 6-7, finishing sixth in scoring and earning the 7-seed. Neatock is the third repeater, doing it in 2017-2018. Like Bob, he went 6-7 and also earned the 7-seed, finishing 7th in scoring. He just performed a perfect trade that allowed him to take down the two-seed and one-seed to that second straight title.
For Colby, his repeat was rarely in doubt, even with a sluggish win-loss record through six weeks. He began the season 3-3, despite scoring over 1,450 in five of his first six games. He would produce three straight weekly high scores in weeks 7-9 and would finish the regular season with eight straight victories.
The wins would continue in the postseason, finishing the year with 11 straight wins (only the second person to achieve this), pulling off the in-season triple crown, winning the title, finishing as the top seed and earning the scoring crown, with no other team with 2,300 points of him. His 26,653 total points (1,568) would be the fifth most ever scored in a full season.
CAREER
I know Colby won’t be happy (is he ever?), but the back-to-back titles “only” lands him the five spot. The reality is, his production, when you count the entire career, is pretty similar to Griff. While Coomer has had twice as many trips to the finals than Hall and Griff has owned Colby in the playoffs, I had to move Colby ahead of Griff because A) he’s averaged a better points per game average and he doesn’t have a five-year run without a postseason trip on his resume.
Anyhow, one thing Colby has always been is consistent. He’s only missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons once in his career. That was 2016 and 2017 and if my memory isn’t failing me, that 2016 squad was looking unstoppable at the end of the season, but luckily for all of us, an 0-6 start to a season was too much to overcome.
He began his career as a playoff regular, making it to the show in 10 of his first 13 seasons. In that time, he reached the semis in half those postseason trips and reached two title games (losing to Griff in 2005 and 2015). Between 2016 and 2021, Hall hit a slump, producing one winning season (going 7-6 in 2018) with just two playoff trips (both ending in the quarterfinals). Yet, those six seasons have been nearly forgotten after going 26-8 over the last two years, with again, two championships.
Overall, Colby sits at .500 for his career (144-144), which is sixth best in the league. He averages 1,339 points per game, which is 7th best. His average finish in the standings is 6.55 (7th in the league) and his average finish in points is 6.20 (tied for sixth best). On top of his four trips to the finals and two titles, he has earned one top seed and three scoring crowns. Only myself and Bob have more scoring titles.
MORE FUN WITH NUMBERS
Colby has reached the playoffs in 13 of his 20 seasons. That’s 65%, which is only 8th best in the league. However, he’s 13-11 in the playoffs. His .542 win percentage in the postseason is sixth best. His 1,399 points per game in the playoffs is fifth best. He’s 7-6 in the quarterfinals, 4-3 in the semifinals and 2-2 in the finals. He has four of the top-30 highest scoring games in the postseason, led by his 1,945-point effort in the 2022 Finals against Neatock. However, he also has two of the top-10 lowest scoring outputs in the playoffs, scoring 781 in the 2006 Quarterfinals (9th lowest) and 739 in the 2005 Finals (7th lowest). In that game, Colby lost by 1,143 points, which is the largest ass-kick in the title game and third all-time in the postseason.
He did play in four of the top-25 highest combined score in the postseason and he won three of those contests. His best blowout was in 2011, when he defeated Griff in the quarterfinals, 2,197-1,227. Their 3,424 combined points are the 12th most. And the last thing regarding the playoffs, Colby’s 2022 squad scored a total of 5,321 points in their three postseason games; the fifth most ever in league play.
Mr. Hall has scored over 1,500 in 31.25% of his contest, which is the third most in the league. On the flip side, he’s failed to top 1,000 in 11.11% percent of his games, which is the fifth best percentage in the league. Meanwhile, his opponents have failed to hit a grand in 12.15% of his games, which is the second lowest in the league, while these same foes have topped 1,500 in 27.08% of his games (tied for fifth most).
When it comes to weekly high scores, Colby has delivered a weekly high in 8.33% of his games, which is 7th best, while he’s faced a weekly high in 6.82% of his games, which is the third least by any team. He’s produced the weekly low score in 6.44% of his contests, which is the fifth least, while he’s faced the league’s lowest percentage of low scores (just 4.92%).
Let’s go streaking…Colby’s current 11-game winning streak is tied for the 6th longest in league history. He needs to win his first three in 2024 to tie the record of 14 in a row. His longest losing streak is seven straight, which he did in 2018-2019. That remains tied for the 13th longest losing streak in league history. On top of winning, he’s scoring at least 1,000 a lot lately. Colby has topped 1,000 in 35 straight games, which is the 5th longest streak ever. To break the all-time streak, he’ll have to top 1,000 in his next 28 contests. On top of that, Colby once scored over 1,250 in 16 straight games (2013-2014), which is tied for the 4th longest streak.
Currently, Colby has avoided a weekly low score in his last 29 contests, which is the longest active streak. It’s tied for the 30th longest streak. Colby’s longest stretch without a weekly low score was 40 straight weeks. He did that back in 2003-2006 and that’s the 13th longest streak. On the negative side, he once went 45 weeks (2010-2014) without a weekly high score, which is the 12th longest in league history and he once went 24 games without scoring 1,500 (2008-2010), which is tied for the 7th longest streak.
And finally, when it comes to single game accomplishments, Colby’s best game was in 2011, when he scored 2,197 points in a win over Griff in the quarterfinals. He has topped 2,000 a total of six times. Colby has also been involved in four of the top-15 combined scores all-time. The best was in 2022, when he defeated Bob, 1,991 – 1,934. Their 3,925 combined points is the fourth most ever scored in a contest. Hall’s largest ass-kicking was in 2005, when he defeated Eric, 1,842-737. The 1,105-point difference is the league’s 22nd largest.
Of course, points don’t always produce wins. In 2004, Colby scored 1,796 points in a game, but lost to Calderon. At the time, it was the second most points scored in a defeat. Now it’s sitting at number nine. Fun fact, of the top-17 highest scoring points scored in defeat, four of those teams lost to Colby, meaning Colby is the only person in league history to defeat four teams that scored over 1,700 points.
Colby is one of just four current league members to lose a game by just one point, when he lost to Jeff, 1,405-1,404 in 2014. His lowest point total ever was 514 points, in a 2007 defeat to Molly. That’s the 16th lowest point total ever scored. And finally, in 2007, Colby lost to Calderon, 652-617. Their 1,269 combined points remains the fourth lowest scoring game in league history.