The Regular Season Champion

One of the tedious jobs of being commissioner is figuring out the final payout structure.  You send out constant emails and post several messages on the league board and usually get no response.  What has happened in years past is once someone is guaranteed a payout it’s AMAZING how vocal they all of the sudden become.  This year of course was no different.  This year the question was, would the person with the best record during the regular season and the #1 seed win anything?

 The number one team in the Detroit Pigskin Dynasty league started out the season with an EIGHT GAME WINNING STREAK.  He was 8-0 going into the bye weeks.  His team ended up being 9-2 and had clinched a playoff spot BEFORE Thanksgiving ever came around.  This was obviously the first time this has ever happened and I don’t see this ever being repeated.  I know you’re wondering what players his team consisted of, and trust me, it was absolutely STACKED.  Take a look for yourself:

QB:   Tom Brady

WR:  Wes Welker

WR:  Steve Smith

WR:  Brandon Marshall

RB:   Michael Turner

RB:   Arian Foster

TE:   Jimmy Graham

And he actually had a hard time setting his line up from week to week because he had Victor Cruz on his BENCH.

So this all leads to that fateful phone call one day that I all so vividly remember:

“Hey do I get anything for having the best record this year?”  - Regular Season Champ

“You know I have sent out constant emails about this, and are you ADMITTING DEFEAT ALREADY? Loser.” – Commissioner Fahey

“ I know, I know, but I think the best record should get something, maybe something from the free agent transaction fund.” – Regular Season Champ

“That’s actually not a bad idea and sounds fair...I will send out one final message, and if it is not met with any objections, I will finalize it.”  - Commissioner Fahey

And oh boy, for once, this idea was shot down IMMEDIATELY.  Here are some actual quotes taken from the league message board. 

“As a deadbeat, I know I don’t have a lot of clout in this argument, and neither do I pretend to. But as the inaugural first place regular season winner, I was upset early in the playoffs and my only compensation was a s#@tty a$$ tenth pick the next year. I say that's the luck of the game. You’re team finishes in first place at the end of the regular season, it should at least win ONE game in the playoffs “

“....But back to the important matters:

I agree with the decision for the waiver money just being part of the percentages. After all, 3 people getting paid out of 10 is enough for the league - don't want to dilute the winnings too much.

Also, don't go to Puerto Rico for vacation -- it would be a major rip off.”

The final decision had been made and we ending up just paying the top three finishers.  $100 buy in...first went with $600, second went with $300, and third ended up with $100.  The free agent fund (in this league we established that you get ten free moves, every move after that costs $1) be split up the same way, 60%, 30%, 10% to the top three finishers.  That seemed to be the most popular and widely accepted pay out structure.

But there was still the idea -- should the person with the best regular season record win anything?

Then came the birth of the regular season champion:

Wait a second, now you're thinking, "If that team was so good, then how did it end up losing?"  Well, it took a five-touchdown, 44.88-point performance from Drew Brees to defeat him, and his team still only loses by the score of 114.88 to 110.90.  We're talking less than four points here.  AND THE BEST PART ??
(or the worst part, however you look at it)

I was with the regular season champion watching the New England vs. Denver game (with live fantasy scoring) when Tom Brady had THREE -- count them, THREE -- chances at a QB sneak to get into the end zone, and was stopped every time.  The regular season champion literally lost going to the Superbowl by LESS THAN A FOOT.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=311218007&period=4

I recommend clicking on the link and start reading at "New England Patriots at 8:41"

Then go to the part were it was 2nd and 4 at Den 13..............

There is no point of this picture other than the fact we mentioned the GoDaddy brand in our social media class and it reminded me that I got my picture taken with the Original Go-Daddy Girl Candice Michelle along with WWE Diva Maria.

The Calvin Johnson....MISTAKE !?

Welcome everyone to entry #1 of the Detroit Fantasy Football Blog.  I am your host, Mr. Patrick Fahey.  The reason for this blog is a personal branding project for social media 553.  The motivation for this blog is the pride, joy, and the ultimate frustration of fantasy football.  Fantasy football is a way to keep in touch with friends, socialize with family members, and have some social comradery at work.   Not only do I play fantasy football, I am the commissioner of two HIGHLY competitive leagues and let’s be clear here, I would not have it any other way.   Let’s face facts , when you have grown men tuning into a Monday night football game to cheer on a field goal kicker, you know something special is going on.

 

 I am in charge of running a friends and family league, “Detroit Pigskin Dynasty,” and I also run my work league, where I am currently employed at Comcast.  Both of these leagues are in their fourth year of existence and have provided me with enough material for some legendary tails that have been responsible for some excellent entertainment throughout the football season.   You will find that I will be jumping back and forth between both leagues to provide you dedicated followers with some interesting reads.   Ultimately you will see that being the commissioner is not very enjoyable, and is often a thankless job.  It is necessary though that you have a well ran league with input from every member to come to fair decisions, or you end up with grown men complaining.   And I am not in the business of hearing grown men complain.  

 

This was the first year ever that I did not make the playoffs in either league.  This is a painful admission to make.  On a positive note, it is good to see I have gotten past the denial stage and proceeded towards acceptance.  (In the Comcast league, I literally lost out on going to the playoffs by 3.02 points; all I had to do was beat the last place team in the entire league, the team with only ONE win all year, but we will cover this on a later date, as the scars are still fresh from this loss and I still feel pain and agony when I think about this.)  I would like to tackle how I got into this mess in the first place.  The Draft.  Leagues are often won on free agent pick-ups and how you manage your team during the year, but the draft lays the foundation for your team.  Hell, the fantasy draft is an unofficial holiday to all men (and women) everywhere.

 

As fate would have it, I pulled the fourth pick in both leagues this year.  I ended up going with Andre Johnson and then with Phillip Rivers in the second round.  Yep, disaster written all over it.  The absolute worst part?  I debated forever, and I MEAN forever going with our very own Calvin Johnson with the #4 pick overall.  (I wish I was joking - check out the video below.)  Seriously, I still have nightmares over the brutal mistake that I had made.  

 In the Detroit Pigskin Dynasty league, Calvin was taken #7 overall and the very next quarterback, the very next pick in the second round, was Drew Brees.  Not only did Calvin lead all of the WR’s in touchdowns, he lead the WHOLE NFL in TD’s for like the first six or seven weeks.  And well Drew Brees kind of speaks for himself.  If I replace my top two picks with those guys, not only am I guaranteed a playoff spot, hell I could have steam rolled my way to the superbowl.  (I’m in fear of doing the math because I don’t want to confirm that I’m probably right.)

Now I know what you are already thinking.  Why did this clown not draft a running back?

 

I will give you a couple of reasons but this one should stun you.  The WINNER of the Comcast league drafted Arian Foster with the 5^th pick………AND TRADED HIM…….for Hakeem Nicks.  His final roster looked like this:

QB:   Drew Brees

WR:  Hakeem Nicks

WR:  Stevie Johnson

WR:  Jabar Gaffney

RB:   Michael Bush

RB:   C.J. Spiller

TE:   Aaron Hernadez

K:     John Kasey

DEF: Chicago

 

Bench:  Beanie Wells, Plaxico Burress, Eric Decker, Benjarvus Green-Ellis, Ben Tate, Houston Defense

The superbowl winner had a backfield that consisted of backups.  Anyone that has experience with fantasy football knows THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR.   Halfway through the year you can always pick-up a running back that will give you solid production, but an ELITE wide receiver is hard to come by.

In the Detroit Pigskin Dynasty league the eventual winner had the #10 pick.  The wrap around pick can do some damage if done correctly as the winner went with the combo package of Roddy White and LeSean McCoy.   LeSean McCoy was an absolute steal here so late, but the story here is that the winner had Matthew Stafford AND Cam Newton on his team.

The winner (technically) got LeSean McCoy in the second round with the 11^th pick.  However you look at it though, either being the 10^th pick or the 11^th, McCoy out performed EVERY running back drafted ahead of him that were considered top 5 picks.  Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Jamal Charles are a few busts to name.  McCoy led every running back in the touchdown department.

Another reason I don’t like taking a running back so high?  The Superbowl runner-up of the Detroit Pigskin Dynasty league had the #3 pick and went with Chris Johnson, who was on the bench for a majority of his year.  His starting running backs near the end of the year were Frank Gore and Shonn Greene.

It’s a risk to draft running backs so high with many examples of players becoming busts.  Of course, the injury factor comes into play here, so calling them busts might not be fair.  But that should further prove my point.  Hell, Jamal Charles should have known not to have an altercation with Roary….right?

With Drew Brees going in the second round of both of my leagues, Matt Stafford getting drafted late, and Cam Newton not even on anyone’s week one roster, I could easily argue that Calvin Johnson should have been the #1 overall pick.

So what do you think - that I’m wrong right??  Well the easiest way to prove that is to post your championship rosters.  I’m intrigued to know.