Tuesday, December 27, 2005

1 of 20

We here at DC Sports are chronic fantasy sports players. The Captain plays fantasy baseball, I have dabbled in soccer in the past, and we each play fantasy football. This season, I won 3 leagues - a 10 team league (1st at end of regular season, 11-3), the 6-team Blog League (4th, 6-8) and a 20 team league (8th, 7-4-2)... the last of which is my crowning Fantasy Football achievement.

Why? Consider that I rarely, if ever, miss a draft. I hate having Yahoo autodraft for me. I missed the draft for the 20 team league, but not because of something I did. The commissioner of the league changed the date of the draft without requesting approval from the other 19 players -- all because he wasn't going to be able to make his own draft. Imagine my surprise when I logged in on the night of the draft to find out that it had already happened. Players who missed it were outraged, mainly because anyone who knows they're going to miss a draft plan ahead - they don't ask the date to be changed just for them. So basically the commish inconvenienced 19 people so that he himself would not be inconvenienced. Some caught the change and made the draft. I was not as lucky:

My team after the draft [player name, (round drafted):
QB: Jake Plummer (4),
WR: Reggie Wayne (2), Darrell Jackson (3), Eddie Kennison (5), Koren Robinson (10),
RB: Priest Holmes (1), Marcel Shipp (7), Tony Hollings (15)
TE: Bubba Franks (9), Stephen Alexander (12), Ron Johnson (14)
K: Adam Vinatieri (6), John Hall (11),
DEF: Cincinnati (8), Miami (13)

I-66's Rules For a 20 Team Draft:
1) Draft 2 starting quarterbacks, even if you have to take a 2nd one early
2) Draft 2 defenses, even if you have to take a 2nd one early
3) Draft 2 kickers, even if you have to take a 2nd one early
4) Do not draft players who do not have teams
5) Do not draft 3rd stringers
6) Only draft players with whom you are familiar

Rules 1, 4, 5, and 6 were violated. And I didn't even show you all the rules.

Koren Robinson had been released by Seattle. He caught on in Minnesota and did well at the end of the season but at the time he was worthless. Tony Hollings was no better than 3rd on the Texans' depth chart at running back behind Davis and Wells, and I didn't even know who Ron Johnson was. I could tell from looking at my team that I had had at least the 4th overall pick since Tomlinson, Alexander and Manning would likely have gone before Holmes, but I found that I had been 3rd overall. Of course Holmes got hurt in the middle of the season. My WRs were the only saving grace on this team at the start of the season though there was nary a #1 wideout among them. Wayne is behind Harrison in Indy, Darrell Jackson got hurt early on but remained on roster, Kennison is a #1 wideout but Tony Gonzalez is the number one passing option in KC. Early on in the season I managed to trade Plummer (who I dislike but was playing decently) for Matt Hasselbeck straight up (to this day I don't know how that happened). I picked up Antowain Smith after McAllister got hurt. Other running backs used were Verron Haynes, Kyle Johnson and Chester Taylor. Disgusting. After Week 5 I was 1-4 and I thought the season was over. I would not lose a single game the rest of the way. I won in Week 6 (2-4) and tied twice consecutively with a score of 47-47 (surreal) in Weeks 7 and 8 (2-4-2) and then went on a 5 game winning streak to close out the season (7-4-2) and making the playoffs as the 8 seed. I went on to win all 3 of my playoff games 76-31 over the 1 seed, 57-34 over the 4, and squeaking by 39-35 over the 2. The final game was tied at 32-32 going into Monday Night Football with me needing Vinatieri to outscore Deion Branch - which he did - to give me the title. Also noteworthy is the fact that I faced the hardest road possible - beating the 1, 4, and 2 seeds to win the championship.

My team at the end of the season (original players in bold):
QB: Matt Hasselbeck
WR: Wayne, Jackson, Mark Clayton, Kennison, Chris Henry, Justin Gage
RB: Ryan Moats, Antowain Smith
TE: Jeb Putzier
K: Vinatieri, Hall
DEF: Cincinnati, Miami

Greatest. Fantasy triumph. Ever.

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