This has been a really fun fantasy season. I want to thank everyone for competing and for reading this junk I write too. And thanks to Dave for being the Commish again. Just a few comments to wrap the year up.

*Week 16 Review

I actually don’t like my games to be exciting. I want to be up by a lot really early. I was actually feeling pretty good during that Thursday game when he had 4 of his players going. Somewhere in the 4th quarter, I thought his team was pretty well contained and the Chargers were just grinding clock with a huge lead against the Titans.  Then some mother-fucker Charger RB named Hester fumbled the fucking ball and set up a Chris Johnson 30 yard TD run. I knew that was really bad news. The rest of the games were difficult. My team didn’t score any TDs. I didn’t have a single player break out, though no one was miserable. I expected at least 15 more points out of my team. I left just 6 points on my bench but it wasn’t enough. There are no easy games when it is single elimination.

Congratulations to Chris for a repeat victory. He had a really difficult road getting here with his RB injuries and a trade that was pretty much a dud. But he pulled through 2 though games. Heck, his last 4 games were must win.

Derek won over Kevin to get 3rd place but it is only worth 5000 yen more. He did it player a terrible DST and the right RB a week too late. I’m sure Kevin is happy about the generous payout structure.

*My team

I had a pretty amazing team this year. Fuckers didn’t show up for week 16 but still, great team. I finally realize why folks are so focused on RBs. I had 2 RBs that I could plug in every week and not worry much about the matchup. They were really consistent sources for points. I’ve had at most one good RB in the past on my team and having 2 really takes a team up a few notches.

My team and Chris’ team had strong RBs in common. But more importantly, we had great value at the RB position. I want to say Ray Rice was the best value player drafted this year but Rice was drafted Round 12. Ricky Williams was drafted Round 16. Benson was Round 10. Thomas Jones went Round 7.

Playing the wire was really difficult when you go last for pretty much the whole season. It took some brilliant foresight to pick up Jamaal Charles at least a week before anyone else. He’s going to go late first or early second round next year. Rice is going even earlier than that.

I expected a lot more out of Jennings but he wasn’t bad during the postseason. Of course, I traded for Calvin Johnson just for these 2 games. Fitz was as reliable as a RB.

*Draft Strategy

This year, I had a pretty well defined draft strategy. MJD (or AP if Derek was feeling adventurous) first round. RB or Brees second round. WR in the 3rd. WR or TE in the 4th. A WR or Romo in the 5th. It all kind of went to shit since the WRs I expected to go earlier didn’t go. I got to pick up 2 strong WRs in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I managed to get a few players I had on my list like Hester, Romo, Jennings and I even had Crabtree on there. I’m really glad I didn’t get some others like Portis and Braylon Edwards.

Next year, I think I will target a top TE again since having Gates was huge for my team. Having a strong kicker was important too. I expect to do the DST rotation next year too. I don’t expect to invest in a high pick QB. Crabtree is going to be high on my list. Addai won’t be on my team again even if he plays as well as he did this year. I couldn’t start him. But that was probably due to factors like having MJD and Rice. RBs like Ryan Grant and Kevin Smith might be useful backs but I don’t want them. Steady but frustrating. Terrible o-lines. I probably have to stay away from most rookies too. They go too early for the risks involved.

And I still don’t get why folks love Michael Turner. I’d have taken him second round this year and the same next year. But he’s going to go much higher than that. I get the high workload thing but I just don’t find him effective. I think Calvin Johnson is going to be great next year. Stafford can get him the ball. Pierre Thomas should be huge next year. I’ve had Jonathan Stewart on my team a few years now and he is just frustrating to own. He’s been hurt 2 years straight with the tendon problem. He runs behind Williams. But he has the ability to get huge points. Unless he gets traded, or Williams gets traded, I won’t touch him again. Don Brown is probably going to get stuck behind Addai again.

*Next year

I’m sure we will have a discussion on if we should have divisions for next year. I hope we fix our payout structure as well. I suspect it was just kind of overlooked this year. Looking forward to next year.

And here we are. The championship game. Chris versus Frankson. And Derek versus Kevin.

*Week 15 Review – Highlights from Week 15

Kevin’s team actually had me all freaked out. Well, more specifically, my team’s issues at WR had me all freaked out because I was up against Kevin’s team. Calvin Johnson and Fitz were dealing with injuries and the former had issues with his team even if he played. The thing is, I fucking targeted and acquired Johnson FOR this one game. The Cards can give up scores. It made me over-thinking things and sit MJD for Charles. I needed a fucking grand slam.

I didn’t feel so good Thursday night. MJD had 26 on my bench and that game just didn’t play out like I expected or rather feared. But Jennings had a great TD grab for some 12 points early and my team scored their season average. Charles actually did as well as I was hoping. Even the DST I selected did well. I actually had targeted the Saints and Denver DSTs but they didn’t go back on the wire. Glad they didn’t.

Kevin’s receivers didn’t go off and his RBs didn’t either. Shame about Harrison. My suggestion for a RB showdown last week would have fucked me over. Double shame about Stewart. I’ve had him on my team and he does this all year.

Chris and Derek had a really close game. They had nearly the same amount of players playing at the same time and the score was pretty close the whole time. But AP needed just one more TD for Derek. The Vikings were miserable when he needed them to shine. Shame about Foster. Must have been a tough choice deciding between him and Morris. Chris doubling up on points with every Rivers TD throw to Jackson is pretty hard to beat.

*Best plays and worse plays (yeah, that’s right, not worst, just worse than the best)

Starting Foster over Morris

Sitting MJD

Sitting Calvin Johnson

Starting Matt Forte at Baltimore

*Interview – Thank you Chris for your response.

Newsletter: What went well for your team this season?
Chris: Well, I’m in the championship game for the second year in a row, so I’ve got to be doing something right. I was pretty lucky to make it into the playoffs at all, though. It was kinda like in Top Gun when Maverick and Goose get in after that other guy broke down.

Newsletter: What didn’t go so well?
Chris: I dealt with some injuries during a few crucial weeks not too long ago which almost shattered my chances of making the playoffs. That trade with Kevin seemed like it was royally fucking me over until very recently.

Newsletter: Do you feel that you made any mistakes or missed any opportunities you should have capitalized on this season? If so, what were they?
Chris: I felt like I could have made some more trades this year. I’m still not sure whether or not the Thomas Jones trade was the right move or not. I guess we’ll see this weekend. I also took Dwayne Bowe as one of my top receivers. Yeah, that really worked out didn’t it.

Newsletter: Which of your guys has been the most surprising success?
Chris: Cedric Benson, without a doubt. Talk about draft value. He’s playing better than a lot of the guys that were taken in the first round. I also didn’t expect Chris Johnson to do this well. He’s been standing on his head for me pretty much all season.

Newsletter: Which of your guys has been the most disappointing?
Chris: My wide receivers have been terrible this year.

Newsletter: You made this trade with Kevin that didn’t work out for you for a few weeks. In fact, it nearly took you out of the playoffs because your other RBs got hurt. But Jackson did well last week and pretty much won you the game this week. How do you feel about the trade now?
Chris: Like I said, I’m still not sure about that trade. I needed to trade up to get a good receiver, and it seemed like a good deal at the time. We’ll see how he does for me in the finals.

Newsletter: What did you think of your chances for winning against Derek before the game? How about some gloating now that you won?
Chris: I knew it was going to be a good game. If you asked me that question back in like Week 5, I don’t think I could’ve taken Derek. His team was scary. No gloating for me. I’ll gloat if I beat your ass, Frankson. Until then, I’m happy enough knowing that Derek lost to the D-D-Douchebags.

Newsletter: What are your thoughts on the championship game?
Chris: Let me say congratulations to you, Frankson. I was pretty sure you were going to the finals this year. All that hard work payed off didn’t it? I guess that’s what happens when Fantasy Football is your full time job.

I just hope both of our teams come out to play. Nobody wants to see a blowout in the finals.

Newsletter: What was your draft strategy going into the draft? How did it play out? Did you stick to your plan?
Chris: My draft strategy was to pick awesome players. So yeah, I kinda stuck to it. Aside from Dwayne Bowe, that fat piece of shit, I came out alright.

Newsletter: Do you think we should have divisions next year?
Chris: The divisions were fun in the sense that it made it seem like a real league. Sure, why not?

I also want to thank you for writing this newsletter every week. People have not been posting any smack talk on the homepage, and it’s been fun reading this newsletter every week. Good luck to you in the finals.

*Looking forward

I’ll be going with the Bengals for a DST next week. I actually took them a few months ago for this game but KC has been doing much better recently. I need to figure out what to do about Calvin Johnson if Stafford comes back. I’m not sure Jennings has another big game in him.

Chris will hope to get more Rivers / Jackson action and I’m going to hope it goes to Gates. Hope the Titans roll double coverage on Jackson and try not to give up the big play. I’m going to activate my shrine so mess up Chris Johnson but he is going to kill me, I’m sure. Fucking Benson runs against KC. Chris has great matchups at nearly every position.

Derek and Kevin will go at it for 3rd.

Good luck.