First weekend "I have created a monster!"

OH MY GOODNESS!! FANTASY FOOTBALL!! WHY ARE YOU SO AMAZING!?!?!

Andrew Luck? AMAZING

Jason Witten? AMAZING!

Montee Ball? Not so much...but IT'S OKAY because this is so much fun!

As B-Rad said to me today "I have created a monster" and it might be true.

Thursday was just a rough day for me and real life bullshit is getting in the way of my football enjoyment. We were so busy at work that night that even though the TV was on in the club house I didn't really get to watch anything that was happening with the Broncos and the Ravens. So I only caught the last quarter of the game while laying on the couch being depressed about the state of things. n

I was upset because I took a risk in my line up that didn't pay off.

I spent about 30 minutes debating who my flex should be. I decided on T.Y. Hilton. Then when I talked to scuba Steve he said it was smarter to play a running back. So I switched Hilton for Montee Ball, and that was the wrong decision.

Montee Ball got the ball a fair bit in the 4th but he couldn't get through the defense at all! He earned me 2.40 points and damn it sucked.

I was feeling really discouraged. Yet as B-Rad and the Boyfriend kept saying, there is still a lot of football to be played. B-Rad also reminded me that it's better to trust my gut then take advice from someone else.

FINALLY it was Sunday. B-Rad and I both roll into work both of us hung over. Both of us a bit down trodden. Until I reminded B-Rad that its sunday! I swear he actually inflated!

I absolutely hate that yahoo predicts and give percentages of who is going to win because all day I was predicited to lose. At one point I had a 15% chance to win, then i have a 50% chance to win, then I had a 20% chance to win! It was an emotional roller coaster!

Believe it or not, my saving grace was David Wilson. He sucked so badly (-2.4 points) and was on my opposing team. He made Ball seem a winner with his two points.

Also Jason Witten is a beast.

So I won my first game of fantasy football and I am addicted.

I meant to post this before Thursday but things have been so busy. Between my friend getting married next weekend and the Museum I volunteer at having a party the following week I just haven't had the time.

However this upcoming week I am once again the underdog. I rotated my roster, pulled Ball, put my back up tight end in as my flex and we'll see how things pan out.

A break from fantasy football - to talk about Peyton Manning.

I think that my boyfriend (and almost all men in/from/around/ever associated with Indiana) love Peyton Manning.

I understand I didn't grow up watching the Colts or Football. I understand he has had some excellent commercials. I understand that he helped to made the Colts a great team and helped to earn them a lot of money. That money they used to build Lucas Oil Stadium (worst Stadium name ever?) and all this other stuff for the Colts.

However I think I finally understand this whole Peyton Manning mythic.

Traditionally I have struggled with people who partake in celebrity hero-worship. It bothers me how often people take the time and brain space to think about people who they will never meet or who will never think of them in return. Wasting time reading about who is wearing what and who is banging/cheating on who is like brain rot. It provides nothing to actually promote an intelligent conversation with another person. If all you ever do is read/listen/pay attention to meaningless things, doesn't that make you meaningless?

However, I think people don't think of Manning as a celebrity, I think people see him more as a wizard.

I spent a lot of time reading Harry Potter. Not just as a child either. So when I say wizard, I really mean amazing fictional character.

Harry Potter gives you a young boy who has a interesting set of difficulties, a background that he as to live up too, a few fantastic friends and 4,100 pages (American Hardcover editions excluding Tales of Beedle the Bard and HP texts) of action, adventure and drama.

Manning has football background that he has to live up too (football DNA really) and an interesting set of difficulties (parts of his spine are fused together!), a few fantastic friends (once the Colts, now the Broncos?) and the most important element a bunch of games fulls of action. Hours of distraction for people who are forced to deal with everyday life.

I use Harry Potter as an escape when life is just too freaking hard to deal with. When I have had a shitty week, work has been rough or someone is being a diva I typically find myself in some layer of the HP universe (book, movie, fan fiction, or movie sound track). Peyton Manning is the every day person's Harry Potter!

So, I guess I have to be patient when my boyfriend rambles on about how AMAZING Peyton Manning is. How he is a true athlete and a champion and all that jazz because Manning is almost fictional!

I will just have to start talking more about Harry Potter.

Introducing the Night Terrors

Ray Rice                  RB
Darren Sproles        RB
Jason Witten            TE
Andrew Luck          QB
Reggie Wayne         WR
Steve Smith             WR
Giovani Bernard       RB
T.Y. Hilton              WB
Montee Ball             RB
Cincinnati                DEF
Martellus Bennett    TE
Michael Floyd         WB
Philip Rivers            QB
Justin Tucker           K
Ryan Tannehill         QB
 

Wavier
Dropped Philip Rivers 
Added Josh Gordon    -WB

Yahoo.com Fantasy Grade - B 

Draft day (two of two)

So since our first draft was all kinds of silly. We needed to reschedule.

So I get a text from Mr. Anderson the following day (Saturday) saying "Monday, 5pm" and I respond with "okay, hopefully I will be out of work"
He shoots back. "Nope, just taking a poll to see if it will work"

A few hours later "Tonight, 10:15pm. BDubs"
I respond with "Cool. do we need to be there are 10:15 or before"
He shoots back "just taking a poll about tonight"

I am at work and chatting with B-Rad during all of this. B-Rad says that BDubs is a great place to have a draft. So I am excited, plus I am also excited to hang out with everyone again for a second night in a row. more beer, more fun.

about 8 I get a text that says "10:15 draft tonight, remote draft. doing it from home"

To put it lightly I was bummed out.

So 9:45 rolls around and I hop on yahoo and B-Rad gets on Facebook to talk me through my first draft.

Suddenly its 10:15 and my heart is beating. We enter the draft and it is the coolest thing ever.

I feel that I did pretty well. I started out picking up the strongest running back available to me as the 8th slot in a snake draft (a snake draft is 1,2,3....12, Then 12, 11,10...1, Then 1,2,3... you get the picture). I got Ray Rice and Darren Sproles. My next step was to get a tight end (as B-Rad recommended) and I picked up Jason Witten.

Some strange things were happening in my draft. I read the research and listened to my coach and everyone was saying don't get a QB in the first round. However Mr. Anderson got Tom Brady and RG3 in his first and second round. Then there was a rush on quarter backs. I wanted Andrew Luck, so I took him in the 4th round. I think if he would have been ranked higher i would have been shit out of luck because the top 8 QBs were gone by then. Then I went with wide receivers (Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith).

Then another strange thing happened. B-Rad said defenses don't really start to go until after the 10th round. However round 6 the first Defense is picked. I try to follow the advice given to me I pick up another RB, WR and RB but defense are going by round 10 I get the best I can which is Cincinnati.

In round 13 I learned an important lesson from the Draft. Pay attention to the bye weeks. I wanted to pick up a backup QB and I go for Philip Rivers. B-Rad (via facebook) tells me I just wasted a pick

I HAD NO IDEA WHAT BYE WEEKS WERE!!!! For those of you who don't know - bye weeks are the week that team isn't playing. I picked a back up QB who has the same bye week as my first pick QB which means, week 8 I won't have an player in that position who can pick up points. I am flipping out!!!!

I recover as best as I can, I get my kicker and Then get a 3rd QB - Ryan Tannehill.

The lesson for this day was that it might be a good idea to know about the structure of the football season BEFORE the draft.

Draft day (one of two)

I just want to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE DRAFT DAY!!!

Our draft actually happened twice and I loved every minute of both.

Originally I was really nervous about the draft. I was afraid everyone was going to see right through me and my lack of football knowledge. Nothing says fake like showing up to a football draft and not knowing a single player other then Andrew Luck. So B-Rad and I prepared.

The whole week of work before the draft we watched the cheat sheets and compared PPR and Standard league players. Scuba Steve gave me his pointers on which Running Backs to pick up and when.

We discussed practically knowledge like: resist taking a QB in the first round because running backs are more important. Try to take a top Tight end in the third or forth round. Don't reach for a good defense they don't typically go until the 12th round. Don't even worry about Kickers, they are all almost the same.

So finally draft day has arrived. My friend Mr. Anderson picks me up after work and we ride out to a bar in Warren called Ashley's. We are told the had wireless and ample amounts of amazing beer. Both of these claims were incorrect.

So when Mr. Anderson and I get there we set up our computers and try to get on the internet. No luck. More people show up with their laptops. Still No wireless. We bring the manager over, he restarts the router. Still no wireless. The draft clock is ticking down. They won't give us access to the employee wireless. There are like 8 to 10 people frantically trying to get online.

Then we go into auto-draft. The commissioner is pissed since when he booked our reservations they promised the internet would work and that they would be happy to have our draft party.

Not only was the draft a bust, but so was our server. We spent the next few hours drinking, talking and making fun of our server who we actually wanted to file a missing persons report for. She also called me and my friend BabyCakes.

The best part of this whole experience is what I felt a whole lot more comfortable with the people on my league. They didn't seem to care how much experience I had or that I wasn't a football fan. Or that I prefer the Colts over the Lions (I kid, they actually did care about that one).

Preseason jitters - Standard leagues compared to PPR leagues

I don't know about other people who play FF, but I have dealt with more nerves then I care to admit.

When I made the decisions to play this year, my friend Mr. Anderson (Yes, people really call him that) offered me a spot in the league he plays in. His good friend is the commissioner and there were a few opens slots. Over Monday night dollar beers I was told that it was 20 dollars to play but it was "a-maz-ing".  Might I add this was over three months ago.

20 bucks is a lot when you have a master's degree and no one wants to give you a job. So you work part time at a golf course to pay off your student loans and you live with your parents when you are 26. (sorry that was really just venting). However I decided back in June that I was going to do this. Putting up the money has just made me more serious about the whole thing.

So now that I had a league, I had to actually learn about fantasy football.

Thankfully working at a golf course has provided me with many football loving coworkers. So I started asking around. I heard my boss Scuba Steve (yes, we actually call him that) is really in to FF. So I ask him for advice. All he says to me is "Just watch the cheat sheets."

Then I found a hidden gem, my co-worker B-Rad (yes, I actually call him that too). When B-Rad heard that I was getting into fantasy football, we suddenly became bros. Then he became my coach. That's right. I have a FF coach. B-Rad, the best coach this side of...well Lake Michigan I think.

Suddenly I found myself in conversations I wasn't prepared for. For Example "Is your league a standard league or a PPR league?" 

For those of you who don't know (like I didn't know) the difference between the leagues is how they are scored. ( WARNING: if you aren't interesting in learning about FF skip to below the red section)

Standard leagues are scored - six points for touchdowns (quarterbacks often only receive for points for passing scores), one point for every 10 rushing or receiving yards, one point for every 25 passing yards, mine 2 for interceptions or fumbles 
 (linked to my source)


PPR leagues are scored by passing, rushing and receiving points. Here is a points breakdown I got from Footballguys.com
Passing -

• yards passing - One point per 20 yards (e.g., 240 passing yards = 12 fantasy points)
• 4 points for every passing TD
• Minus one point (-1) for ever interception thrown
• 2 points for every 2-point conversion.

Rushing -

• Yards rushing - one point per 10 rushing yards. (e.g., 100 rushing yards = 10 fantasy points).
• 6 points for ever rushing TD
• 2 points for every 2-point conversion

Receiving

• Yards receiving - one point per 10 receiving yards (e.g., 73 receiving yards = 7.3 fantasy points)
• 6 points for every receiving TD
• 1 point for ever catch
• 2 points for every 2 point conversion

I learned that depending on how your league is set up to score will change the value of specific players. Thankfully I found this out before the draft. B-Rad and I had been preparing for a standard league draft, not a PPR. I am still not 100% sure how this is going to effect everything but once our first game happen I am sure it will make more sense.
Finally when my boss Scuba Steve realized I was serious about FF he gave me some advice too! Which really surprised me since I figured he didn't like me. Too bad his advice was WAY above my level of understanding.

Look, Fantasy Football is already bringing me closer to people. Now I have an awesome bro/coach in B-Rad and Scuba Steve and I have a topic we can actually talk about together. 

Well, it's almost football season.

When I told my friends I wanted to play fantasy football this year, I was met with confusion.

There was some laughter, some jokes but even more people asked me why.

Why would a 26 year old woman with no previous interest in football want to play a game that involves stats, time and most importantly football?

Some of my friends mistook my interest in fantasy football as a way to get closer too/impress my football loving boyfriend. This is incorrect. I love my boyfriend, but this season isn't for him. It's for me.

I want to play fantasy football for me.

I want to gain a greater appreciation for one of America's past times. I want to be involved in conversations about football. Most importantly I want to try something new.

Now my football backgrounds is limited. I was in color guard in High school and for one year in college. Which meant I not only watched but I attended several seasons of football games. I have dated football fans and one of my exes was an assistant high school football coach. I have sat through Super Bowl Parties. I taught football players at a teaching assistant during my master's program.

But frankly I am from a hockey family. We never watched Football growing up.

I am not disinterested in sports. I played golf in High school. I swam as a child. I even played roller derby for almost two years before a knee injury took me off skates for good.

While football never seemed interesting to me, there is something about football that millions of other people love. Frankly I want to know what that love feels like. I want to cheer for people I don't know. I want to go to a game and drink beer and trash talk like the best of them! I want to talk to people about how so-and-so played. I want to feel the excitement of victory and the sadness at the end of the season.

I think the best way to become a part of the football culture is to fully immerse myself and that is with fantasy football.

So here goes a grand personal adventure.