Even though there is one final week left, I think it's time that I talk about the two fantasy football leagues I am in. One I run; the other my frenemy runs. Both I have money in. And both I will lose money in this year.
The one I run is the one I won last year. I did mainly on a decision I made/discovered in an act of desperation. Kind of like the advent of Daily Fantasy Sports, I started turning over the whole roster I had Opening Day. Part of it was by necessity; I had some bye weeks coming up and I had to drop some of my players, and some of the others I had drafted simply weren't playing well.
In exchange, I needed to find players to pick up. But which ones? That's where I went to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports and SI.com, both of which run weekly free agent pick-up stories around every Tuesday, just before leagues usually allow waiver acquisitions. I needed help, so last year I started regularly, then religiously, looking and following their advice in getting players. And I couldn't argue with the results: I won the league I run, and I finished first-division in the other.
This year I did not do as well. With the possible exception of Tyreke Hill, I can't think of a single impact free agent that has helped me. Meanwhile, I had long losing streaks on both of my teams. I was so terrible in the league I run that I finished the regular season next-to-last in the standings, so no repeat for me, obviously.
I have to say that I attribute my losing seasons, and my cold streaks, to, ironically, not having a good-enough roster at the start of the year. I hold an auction in "my" league, while the other is a straight-up draft. Without knowing all the details, I had to hold my auction on a Sunday evening, which was when the family traveled a couple counties over to have dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and niece. I remember breaking away from dinner a few times to see how my team was forming, and it wasn't forming well. I think I had a chance to move it, but I decided not to, because hey, if my starting roster is bad, I can always change it mid-season like I did to much benefit last year. By the way, the other league, the draft league, was drafting the next day, and I couldn't make it at all because the family was going on our road trip starting that morning. Maybe, just maybe, if I was in position to actually go for the guys I really wanted, I would have had a better team to start off with, and thus a better team, period.
Having said that, I have recently gone on winning streaks, mostly on the back of the aforementioned Mr. Hill. In the other league I was in, the one I did not run, I finished third and won my first playoff game last week. Unfortunately, despite racking up solid numbers through Sunday, the guy I played against had Drew Brees, Brandin Cooks and Ezekiel Elliott, and they all came through with huge double-digit days. I was done before the Sunday Night game. And since this league only pays out to the two teams that make it to next week's title game, I'm done.
My only hope is the consolation championship in the league I run. I barely beat out my opponent this week and so I am in the NIT title game. The winner of this championship gets ... uh, $10? Better to win ten bucks than to not win ten bucks -- right?
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