Life is Just a Fantasy
Where have you gone, Aldo Nova? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...
I play a lot of fantasy sports. Probably too many, but I've found it's a pretty fun little hobby. I mean, I could be collecting stamps or something. Since I spend a lot of time participating, I thought I'd post updates from time to time. I'll start with this season's football leagues. The short version: I did quite poorly, with all three of my teams missing the playoffs. The ugly details, in ascending order of relative importance:
Bluegrass (Yahoo!)
Mudder City Mudders: 6-7, .462, 9th place, 1354.84 points
This is a 14-team league, so there's a 13-week regular season that allows for a three-week, eight-team playoff schedule. Autopick draft. The sad part is, I did better this year than I did last year, and I still failed to make the playoffs (45 points short). The trash talk is pretty lame, and when it's not getting personal, there's a lot of horse-racing discussion. I think I'm the only guy in the league that has essentially zero interest in the ponies, so the message board is pretty much worthless. Not sure if I'm going to re-up next year. Standout players: Joe Horn, Shaun Alexander, Pittsburgh's D.
World Football Association (Yahoo!)
Johnson Rods, 6-8, .429, 5th place, 1289 points
This is an eight-team league of which I'm the commish. It's a competitive league with a solid group of core guys. Autopick draft. I wish we could expand by maybe two franchises, but most guys seem to be interested in their pay leagues first (see below). My peformance in this league was particularly galling. Sitting in second place at 6-4, I was pretty much a lock for the playoffs. If you can do the math, you'll notice I lost my last four games, thanks to some boneheaded lineup moves. Still, had I scored a measly four more points in the final week, I'd have been the third playoff seed rather than sitting out entirely. Wait, it gets worse: Had I made the playoffs, my point totals--yes, I kept track even without having to, which is a sign of my sickness--would've meant I'd have won my first playoff game AND the title game vs. the dominant Ft. Miley Maulers. Basically, had I not benched Jimmy Smith the final week of the regular season, I would've won the title. I hate fantasy football. Standout players: Muhsin Muhammad, Shaun Alexander, Tony Gonzalez.
Chubby's (CBS Sportline)
Festivus Miracles, 6-8, .429, 3rd place (East), 1305 points
This is a highly competitive, 12-team league split into three divisions, meaning three division winners and one wildcard team. It costs $100 to enter, with the winner getting $700, second place $300. Live draft. It's my third year in the league; my three year record: 17-24-1. Ouch. After a 4-9-1 mark my first year and a 7-7 record last year, I was hoping for better things this season. I felt like I'd drafted better than ever--Ahman Green, Marvin Harrison, Stephen Davis, Darrell Jackson, Todd Heap, Tom Brady were my first six picks--and I ended up getting Pittsburgh's D early off waivers. Then the injuries hit: Davis and Heap went down early and missed most the year. Needing a second RB, I traded for Charlie Garner, who got hurt in the first game he played for me. I had picked up Drew Brees as a backup early on, so I then traded him for Duce Staley--not a particularly fair deal, but it was based on need; Staley ended up getting hurt IN PRACTICE the very week I got him. He never played a down for me. I made a couple of good moves--the Steelers' D, getting Jason Witten off the scrap heap to fill in for Heap--but the injuries doomed me to a 1-5 start from which I never recovered. Standout players: Green, Harrison, Brady.
As much as I enjoy fantasy football, it's fantasy baseball with which I'm truly obsessed. My beloved Windy City Wrigleys finished a disappointing fifth last year after cruising to a dominating win the previous season. We have a solid league, and it's one of the many reasons why I'm looking forward to baseball's return.
I play a lot of fantasy sports. Probably too many, but I've found it's a pretty fun little hobby. I mean, I could be collecting stamps or something. Since I spend a lot of time participating, I thought I'd post updates from time to time. I'll start with this season's football leagues. The short version: I did quite poorly, with all three of my teams missing the playoffs. The ugly details, in ascending order of relative importance:
Bluegrass (Yahoo!)
Mudder City Mudders: 6-7, .462, 9th place, 1354.84 points
This is a 14-team league, so there's a 13-week regular season that allows for a three-week, eight-team playoff schedule. Autopick draft. The sad part is, I did better this year than I did last year, and I still failed to make the playoffs (45 points short). The trash talk is pretty lame, and when it's not getting personal, there's a lot of horse-racing discussion. I think I'm the only guy in the league that has essentially zero interest in the ponies, so the message board is pretty much worthless. Not sure if I'm going to re-up next year. Standout players: Joe Horn, Shaun Alexander, Pittsburgh's D.
World Football Association (Yahoo!)
Johnson Rods, 6-8, .429, 5th place, 1289 points
This is an eight-team league of which I'm the commish. It's a competitive league with a solid group of core guys. Autopick draft. I wish we could expand by maybe two franchises, but most guys seem to be interested in their pay leagues first (see below). My peformance in this league was particularly galling. Sitting in second place at 6-4, I was pretty much a lock for the playoffs. If you can do the math, you'll notice I lost my last four games, thanks to some boneheaded lineup moves. Still, had I scored a measly four more points in the final week, I'd have been the third playoff seed rather than sitting out entirely. Wait, it gets worse: Had I made the playoffs, my point totals--yes, I kept track even without having to, which is a sign of my sickness--would've meant I'd have won my first playoff game AND the title game vs. the dominant Ft. Miley Maulers. Basically, had I not benched Jimmy Smith the final week of the regular season, I would've won the title. I hate fantasy football. Standout players: Muhsin Muhammad, Shaun Alexander, Tony Gonzalez.
Chubby's (CBS Sportline)
Festivus Miracles, 6-8, .429, 3rd place (East), 1305 points
This is a highly competitive, 12-team league split into three divisions, meaning three division winners and one wildcard team. It costs $100 to enter, with the winner getting $700, second place $300. Live draft. It's my third year in the league; my three year record: 17-24-1. Ouch. After a 4-9-1 mark my first year and a 7-7 record last year, I was hoping for better things this season. I felt like I'd drafted better than ever--Ahman Green, Marvin Harrison, Stephen Davis, Darrell Jackson, Todd Heap, Tom Brady were my first six picks--and I ended up getting Pittsburgh's D early off waivers. Then the injuries hit: Davis and Heap went down early and missed most the year. Needing a second RB, I traded for Charlie Garner, who got hurt in the first game he played for me. I had picked up Drew Brees as a backup early on, so I then traded him for Duce Staley--not a particularly fair deal, but it was based on need; Staley ended up getting hurt IN PRACTICE the very week I got him. He never played a down for me. I made a couple of good moves--the Steelers' D, getting Jason Witten off the scrap heap to fill in for Heap--but the injuries doomed me to a 1-5 start from which I never recovered. Standout players: Green, Harrison, Brady.
As much as I enjoy fantasy football, it's fantasy baseball with which I'm truly obsessed. My beloved Windy City Wrigleys finished a disappointing fifth last year after cruising to a dominating win the previous season. We have a solid league, and it's one of the many reasons why I'm looking forward to baseball's return.
posted by MH at
10:27 AM
1 Comments:
Test. This is only a test.
By
MH, at 11:20 AM
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