Fastlane Fantasy Football (2017-18!)

[MJ DeMarco]

Yikes, it's that time again!

Our league will reopen again very soon (August) and if you played last year, you get to reclaim your spot. We have removed one player for being a dick.

If you played last year and don't want to this year, please let me know as I'd like to shave down the league to 12 teams vs 14. 14 is just too much and it makes the waiver wires thin.

OR, we can have TWO LEAGUES -- perhaps the forum has grown enough so we can support 2, 12 team leagues.

If you're interested, please post here and let me know.

If I recall correctly, the league dues last year was 200 so expect it to be around there.

If we run with a second league, maybe we can do one for 100.

 

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[ZCP]

Should we get @Andy Black to run an adwords campaign for team / owners?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Because I made the awful mistake of thinking Cutler was a startable QB in a matchup with MJ this week, I compounded that by making the mistake of watching the Dolphins-Saints game, as opposed to the usual Redzone viewing after which I only glance at SNF/MNF.

It's striking how bad the NFL's product is looking when you actually have to watch just one game. I've probably been insulated from it by Redzone.

When you watch an actual game it's a terrible mashup of a heap of adverts, rampart flags and commentary that often sounds like they're trying to be as safe and colourless as possible to avoid saying one thing wrong and getting fired. Apparently with added political drama these days, like more politics in sport is what the average viewer craves.

I don't know if it was always this bad or the world has simply sort of moved on so much from when I watched games years ago, but I'm wondering how long actual games can maintain decent viewership figures with so many other options now. I didn't watch that game so much as wade through it and now I'm thinking of the myriad of other things I could have spent 3 hours on.

I taped delayed the game, and man, even forwarding thru commercials and flags, it was unwatchable. I've been making a conscious decision to watch less and less, especially after last week when the NFL decided to become political. Seems they forgot why people watch -- to be entertained --it is now impossible to turn on the TV or the radio without hearing some type of political slant and/or agenda. NFL was a nice escape from that -- not anymore -- and now the games are frankly tough to watch when you throw in all the commercials, booth reviews, flags, etc etc.

If I wasn't in FF, I'd be done for the season. I've pretty much decided that I'll continue playing FF, but I won't be paying much attention and therefore, I don't expect to win in either league. I'm not throwing the season and being a Taco, but I'll go through the motions.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

But I'm still not waving the white flag on him yet.

I dropped him in my other league... tired of seeing Jordan Howard work third downs after already getting 29 carries in the game.

Looking forward to the trade deadline so I can stop fielding ridiculous trade offers from Hakuna Mata ... no, you're not getting LeSean McCoy for Demaryius Thomas.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

And this doesn't include the ridiculous ones that I rejected and deleted instantly!

Hakuna, you in sales?

Love the aggressiveness, no matter how annoying it has been.

 

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[BrooklynHustle]

Where there's a will, there's a way. Who do you have on the chopping block?

Rare footage on @Dylan in Africa/Hakuna Matata on fantasy football trades

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqS35FfcUE

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Good luck to those who make or made the playoffs! -

I can't believe I still have/had a chance to make the playoffs in the final week, albeit only a 7% chance by my calculations. All the stars must align perfectly!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Glad it's over.

However just a reminder for anyone not in the playoffs, there is a prize for the consolation bracket.

Some winners thus far:

Season Trophy: Regular Season Winner: Hakuna Makata (@Dylan in Africa)
Kiss Your Sister Trophy: Consolation Bracket Winner: TBD
Manager's Trophy: Highest Points Scored (Reg Season): Hakuna Makata
Unlucky Trophy: Most Points Scored Against (Reg Season): @KC Dash

 

[MJ DeMarco]

MJ, aces as always in your commissioning of the league. Please keep hosting this, as it has gotten very competitive

Thank you, appreciated. However I'm not sure if I will be doing it next year. The NFL has become unwatchable, and if I ain't watching, I can't effectively manage. Don't wanna be donating!

I couldn't wait for it to be over, not just this league, but my other one as well. If it ain't fun (entertaining) I ain't doing it!

That said, we'll have to see how a feel next year about it. A lot can change.

 

[Richie Rich]

Congratulations to The Squatters - 2017 Fastlane Fantasy Football Champion! Well done sir! I deem you the dragon slayer! I didn't think anybody was going to be able to touch Hakuna Matata after he assembled his superteam by making/offering numerous trades that paid off and went on his run. Hakuna, my hat is off to you for your persistence and I really thought you had it in the bag, but that's football. Any Given Sunday. And I learned my lesson by taking Fantasy Football too serious and wanting players to get hurt: my team was bad after that and I never recovered. Gotta remember: it's just a game and there are greater tragedies. Thanks for another great season fellas. If this is the last time, it was fun, stressful and albeit an odd and injury riddled season. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. Be safe and take care of yourselves.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

That was fun. Congrats to @Likwid24 on his stellar playoff run

Holy shit @Likwid24 won? You mean I can hold his playoff moneys ransom in exchange for a detailed post on cross-fit?

If you're owed a prize, payouts will begin this week.

 

[Likwid24]

Looks like I "should've, would've, could've" kept Gurley and CJA.

Haha. Thank you for those two gems as well as cock blocking me from dropping Titans defense against the Rams. Those 11 points came in handy. =)

Holy shit @Likwid24 won? You mean I can hold his playoff moneys ransom in exchange for a detailed post on cross-fit?

Don't get me started on CrossFit. I can go allllll day on that. hahhahaha.

Looks like I'll have to start a new progress thread. =)

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

The prize pool has been disbursed.

Final results:

1st Place: @Likwid24
2nd Place: @Dylan in Africa
3rd Place: @BrooklynHustle

Manager's Trophy: @Dylan in Africa (most points scored)
Kiss Your Sister (or Brother) Trophy: @Zeke (Consolation Bracket winner)
Unlucky Trophy @KC Dash (most points AGAINST)

Notables:

@Veloce Grey -- 1st place for SMACK TALK. Went home empty handed.

@ZCP - The cheapskate trophy. Spent nothing on free agents and his team performed like it. Should have stuck with Cutler, Boobie, and Tebow.

I'm very proud of my 8th place considering I spent about 8 minutes a week on it, both in watching games and managing.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I'm not going to complain about how my players ACL's seemed to be made of spaghetti.....

However I did continue one record-the winner is either me or whoever knocks me out in the playoffs-

2014-me
2015-you with your giant waiver-built steamroller under the old rules, so it almost feels like a moral victory
2016-Richie Rich scored 190 odd to knock me out in the semi finals, full credit
2017-Likwid scored 171 against me in week 14, though you get an assist for calling my roster "atrocious" and "it's so bad that I can look at my roster and feel not so bad"

It's like I bring out the best in opponents. Scoring in other people, comedy in you. I'm going to award myself a trophy for it.

Ironically the week 14 roster that was so bad, got back Zeke and Juju by week 16 and if I had an opponent, simply playing the highest projected scoring players would have returned 167 points. My timing was just a tad off.

-not as off as the guy who spent Pick 77 of the draft on Darren McFadden to block me, then told me he'd happily pay that price for "6 weeks of RB1 production". Darren managed minus 0.2 points for the season, uninjured.

The time and detail that went into your thoughtful analysis was about how much time I spent on FF this year! No doubt you are has powerful as the emperor has foreseen.

 

[ZCP]

Unfortunately I am not going to play this year. Fortunately I have a pretty good reason… That will be explained in an INSIDERS call sometime this fall.

I sent the boss a contact us message. Just pm me for who I need to cover and I'll get info to MJ and get payment in.

You planning to just buy your own football team instead?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Lesson: bust on the man about cutler, get last draft spot. :/

Ha Ha you didn't know? The random draft generator takes into account "being-a-dick" karma.

 

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[ZCP]

Cutler was still on the board too. A D+ slipped right through his hands.......

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I've played FF long enough to know that the correlation between Yahoo draft grades and actual success is inversely correlated. I've only gotten an F from them once, and I won that year. So I'll take the D as a high honor.

That said, my draft objectives are A) Try to get Yahoo to give me an F and B) Try to screw over Big Carrot somehow.

Yet, it might be the NFLPA who will screw me over.

 

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[BrooklynHustle]

Does our league have an Injured Reserve slot?

Asking for a friend...

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Does our league have an Injured Reserve slot?

Asking for a friend...

Nope.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I can't say I saw the frenzied bidding war for Tarik Cohen coming....$77 of a $100 season FAAB budget!

I figured it was someone who didn't know the rules, like, you get $100 per week.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Only time will tell...

Could be Kevin Olgetree Redux

 

[MJ DeMarco]

As paying owners, it is our responsibility to look over the settings and understand their nuances before agreeing to play.

Good point. Your NO vote might be enough to squash the whole thing.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Seems there are 2 issues:

1) There is no way I can push the trade. At least I haven't found it.
2) Other managers VETOing the trade. I think it is lopsided, but not so lopsided that it warrants a VETO. Gurley could be this year's Bell and Bell's slow start could be indicative of the year.

I want to remind each other that this is supposed to be fun, not drama-filled.

 

[BrooklynHustle]

I was hoping the Fantasy Reaper (a term my nephew coined) would have got Hunt

Are we wishing for people to get injured over fantasy now?

I feel your pain. It sucks that those two had to get hurt, as they were prime for having monster seasons. The "experts" made playing Cutler out to be a no-brainer, at least in their opinion, while all but writing Newton off as a QB whose prime had passed. Granted, some of the "advice" they give is common sense to anyone who watches football and has a brain about who to start versus who to sit, especially when it comes to the big-name players; if you need Yahoo/Fantasy Live "experts" to tell you who to start and who to bench when it's obvious, I don't think Fantasy Football is your cup of tea. Hell, last year, Fabiano was adamant about fantasy owners of Drew Brees benching him for his game at San Diego, as he had a history of doing bad on the road. I had no choice but to play Brees, as I had no other QB and my contrarian viewpoint/action paid off, as Brees put up a solid game with a solid score, which kept me going. I know some will say I listened to the "experts" about Cohen and drank the Kool-Aid and you'd be right. I'm still team Cohen, as I believe he is the victim of being misutilized/underutilized by John Fox, who has taken over as Jeff Fisher as the NFL coach who has the talent, but for some reason, doesn't use it and his team suffers for it. That's another thing that drives me crazy: the "experts" tell owners to go and get these guys off of the waiver wire, but the very next week don't bother playing them. What? I just dropped a ton of my budget on a guy and now I'm supposed to bench him? It makes my head hurt thinking about it. Take my advice, for what it's worth (which isn't much) and if you do decide to listen to the prognosticators at Yahoo and Fantasy Live, take whatever they say and do the opposite. If they say zig, you zag. Go contrarian on their know it all asses.

Haha, I just make my own decisions and what happens happens. It's always my fault 100%. Great way to live & play

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VE4Y0Z2/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I just made another sale,

Who would have thought someone wanted "no touchdown" Demaryius Thomas? You found someone!

 

[Dylan in Africa]

Rare footage on @Dylan in Africa/Hakuna Matata on fantasy football trades

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqS35FfcUE

LOVE it. And this stretches far beyond fantasy football. Bottom line is... if you aren't looking to trade and make moves, you're missing out on opportunities to improve your squad. Same goes for life; find ways to work on your trade and improve yourself, or risk being passed up by those willing to do so. Go BIG or go home.

 

[Zeke]

And this doesn't include the ridiculous ones that I rejected and deleted instantly!

Hakuna, you in sales?

Love the aggressiveness, no matter how annoying it has been.

View attachment 16802

You have no idea how aggressive he is. I literally got 16 trade proposals from Hakuna Matata in the past 24 hours alone lol. easily over 40 for the year. Majority of those were followed by a DM telling how "DT can save my season and I shouldn't pass on this opportunity" haha

 

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[Zeke]

At first I thought he was just preying on me because of my terrible record. It wasn’t until I decided to give him a little of his own medicine and offer Ameer Abdullah for Antonio Brown that I found out I wasn’t alone lol.

I gotta give Dylan credit because this strategy has obviously paid off. I plan to use it next year hahaha

 

[Richie Rich]

It's like poker, usually the most aggressive wins. Some of the trades Hakuna Matata offered were comedy. He offered me DT, Stafford and Beast Mode for Doug Martin. It wasn't a bad offer, as he was offering quantity for quality, but I'm of the mind that I look at the team I'm offering the trade to and see what they are weak on. If I needed a receiver (I don't) or a QB (I don't), and Beast Mode's best days were in Seattle, then this trade would have piqued my curiosity; but I am hurting for solid RBs, as Freeman is banged up (please stay healthy!), Martin is ramping up and Cohen, well, you guys know all about him. It goes back to what MJ and other entrepreneurs say: fill needs and solve problems of your customers and/or other people. But I can't argue with his results, as his team is solid and he's first, so the proof's in the pudding. Looking at his roster, his best players are AB, Kelce and Mark Ingram. Dak is a solid QB, but benefits from defenses having to focus on Elliott, so if he's not in the lineup, Dak has to throw much more and Dallas' receivers are so so at best without the Elliott factor, who I will bet dollars to donuts he plays the entire season, with emergency stays and injunctions every week.