I was in the same fantasy football league since 2003 and was looking forward to playing again this year. But it appears that nobody wants to step up and be commissioner.
I can't say that I blame them. I was commissioner for a year and it stunk. It was like pulling teeth to get some people to pay the fee, and a lot of players would just stop participating altogether and leave half their team on a bye, giving their opponent that week a huge advantage.
But I still had fun playing in the league. The smack talk, the good laughs, the memories. Speaking of memories, it's a good thing I didn't let winning be the barometer for good memories or I would have very little. In the seven years that I played in this particular league, I made the playoffs once. That's crazy. You'd think I would have made it more than that just by accident. I mean, after all, we're talking about random players that nobody really has control over. There is some strategy involved, sure, but mostly, it's just freak luck.
I must have some pretty bad freak luck, though, because I'm like the Detroit Lions of my league.
A review of my fantasy history:
2003. "The Bubby Bristers." I was a fantasy virgin that year. When I was ranking the players for the automatic draft in my brother in law's Yahoo league, I didn't realize that runnng backs were so important. I had quarterbacks, kickers and defense ranked pretty high. As a result, I had Baltmore AND Tampa's defense. I also had Adam Vinatieri. My first round pick was Terrell Owens and I thought that was a pretty sound and smart draft pick. After all, TO was coming into his own. The only problem was 2003 was a very bad year for him. Go figure. Eventually, I traded him for Ricky Williams. It didn't help me much. I started off the year 0-6. I was initially given credit for a win in week 6 because Tampa Bay's defense was credited with a touchdown on a weird play during a Monday night game between them and Indianapolis. The Colts intercepted a pass, but the player fumbled the ball and a Tampa reciever picked it up and took it in for six. For some reason, it was considered a defensive touchdown. After a day or two, Yahoo took away those points and that was enough for another loss. It was so bad for me that year that my quarterback, Peyton Manning, threw six touchdowns passes against the Saints and I still lost that week. I finished in last place in the league. The one good thing to come out of that year was beating my brother in the first round of the consolation playoffs. My brother, who barely missed the "real" playoffs, figured that playing my pathetic butt would be equal to a bye and he'd go on and win the consolation bracket and reclaim his league fee. He was shocked when I had my best game of the year. Yep, that's me, always coming through in crunch time. Unfortunately, I lost in the "championship" round of the consolation bracket.
2004. "The Edmund Nelsons." That year wasn't much better despite educating myself on the ways of fantasy football and having the luck of getting the number 2 pick in the auto draft and selecting LT. Unfortunately, LT had his least productive year of any of the years in-which he was considered a top fantasy player. My brother had Peyton Manning, who would go on to break the record for touchdowns in a season, and cruised to his first League Thompson title. To show you how bad my luck is, my brother not only had Peyton Manning, but he also had another player that I had in '03: Curtis Martin. Martin did jack-squat in 2003, but rebounded for a huge year in '04. Whatever.
2005. "The Juiced Up All-pros." We actually had a live draft that year at Primanti brothers on route 60. That was a lot of fun and something I wish I could do every year. I was drafting near the bottom of the first round and most of the good running backs were gone by then. Therefore, I took Randy Moss, newly of the Oakland Raiders, in the first round. I think you remember how bad Moss was in Oakland. Anyway, I actually started off great. I was 3-0. In addition to Moss, I also had Chad Johnson and Reggie Wayne. And I thought I was a genius for picking rookie Cadillac Williams for one of my running backs. He started out like gangbusters but got hurt and my team slowly faded. I missed the playoffs by one game.
2006. "Tenacious T." I had the usual bad start of the first two years, opening at 1-3. The same weird luck that happened to me in previous seasons was happening to me again, like losing because my opponent's kicker put up 21 points or because Tom Brady scorched the Vikings for 50 plus on a Monday night. However, 2006 was my banner year. I recovered from all that bs and was rolling by the end of the season. Many were picking Tenacious T to win it all. I made the playoffs as a wildcard and actually felt like pouring a bottle of spring water over my head. I had a little fight song that I sung to myself every time I checked my fantasy scores. It was great. And remember how I defeated my brother in the consolation round in '03? Well, I went to 2-0 against him in postseason play as I whipped his butt in the wildcard round with a 164 point performance. A record for me. I'm telling you, I was flying high. It was like the end of the first Rocky movie when the bell rang just as Balboa had Creed staggering on the ropes. Unfortunately for me, I followed up my best ever peformance with one of my worst. I scored 58 points in the second round. But at least I had something to build on..........or so I thought.
2007."The Jack Trippers." Now this was a frustrating year. I had a really good team with some solid players. I don't remember them, but I do know that I scored the second most points in the league and STILL missed the playoffs because everyone had their big week against me.
2008. Can't remember name. Doesn't matter. I started off really strong, but couldn't keep up the pace. I was fading and asked my brother for a trade involving a good running back. He all but agreed to it. I can't remember the back's name. That's not important. What is important is I didn't go with my gut and pick up Thomas Jones from the waiver wire because of this agreed upon trade. My brother changed his mind and I missed out on Thomas Jones who went on to have a great week and rest of the year. I missed the playoffs because of it.
2009. Again, can't remember my team name, but I believe T was in there somewhere. Same old story. I started off really strong, but my season mirrored that of the Steelers. Never really beat anyone by a huge margin, and I never lost by a big number either. Unfortunately, I lost way too many games to players that I should have defeated, like people who never bothered to replace someone that was on a bye. No excuse for that. It always came down to the Monday night contest, and I lost too many close ones to get in.
So, there you go. A history of my lack of success in fantasy football. Why am I disappointed that I won't get to play this year?
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