Week Three: Just a bit too busy for football..

This week for Fantasy Football was a bit hectic.
Thursday night was my friend's bachlorette party. We got crazy in Detroit and got to watch very little of the game as we were bar hopping.
Friday was the rehearsal and dinner.
Saturday was the Wedding. It was beautiful. My handsome boyfriend was in town to enjoy it with me. We danced, the wedding was lovely and my friend Tricia was stunningly beautiful.
Sunday my boyfriend and I got to snuggle and watch football together. Something we never get to do since we rarely get to spend weekends together.

Then MONDAY I GOT ROBBED!!

I actually feel like Tyra Banks right now.

BE QUIET, FANTASY FOOTBALL! BE QUIET! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? STOP IT. I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE YELLED AT A FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAM LIKE THIS!!! WHEN MY MOTHER YELLS LIKE THIS IT'S BECAUSE SHE LOVES ME! I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOUR! HOW DARE YOU? LEARN SOMETHING FROM THIS!

I lost. AGAIN but this time by .04 of a point. .04!!!!!

Final scores were 98.26 to 98.30. Yahoo later adjusted my score down (for some reason I haven't figured out yet) to 97.58

I lost by 4 yards. FOUR FREAKING YARDS.

Then my Defense had some CRAZY SHIT happen to it.

So my defense is Cincinnati. They scored 18 points, then I looked back and they had 12 points. Mr. Anderson explained to me that the Cincinnati defense intercepted the ball. Then fumbled, recovered and then scored a touch down. The NFL and Yahoo were determining how those points would be rewarded. I guess after Cincinnati fumbled and then recovered it was no longer considered the defense playing but the offense?

I also made the mistake of not playing Josh Gordon. I picked him up early but he was still suspended for the first two games of the season. (he had codine in his system after a drug test). Instead I played Steve Smith and Reggie Wayne (who collectively scored just under 14 points). T.Y. Hilton scored a whopping 2.3 points.

I guess the colts are changing their offensive strategy from a passing to a running game. I don't actually know what that means but its messing with my points and I want it to stop!!!!

Week two: This week is so much like my first boyfriend

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

This was a disappointing week for the Night Terrors. We lost. Big time. By almost 50 points.

Jason Witten who was amazing last week only delivered 2.7 points. Reggie Wayne? 7.5 points.

Ray Rice has a hip injury and he is my top running back. He only scored 4 points!

Martellus Bennet was the only saving grace of this week with 23 points.

The very worst was that the QB I played this week was Michael Vick. Shit head, dog fighting Michael Vick. He scored 37.22 points against Andrew Luck who only scored 20.64 points. I got knocked into the 11th position on my league because of that.

I really felt that this week was like my first boyfriend.

You have a small crush on a guy with some nice hair, and low and behold he asks you out (drafting). It's all exciting! It's fresh and new. YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND (Fantasy Football team)! You flaunt it to your friends (winning team). You tell everyone about them (players and your win). Then suddenly, you realize you don't really like that guy (football), you just the idea of having a boyfriend (or team). You don't really see eye-to-eye on some things (who starts and who doesn't) and some of their behavior is embarrassing (how they play).

When you are young and you fall out of like with a guy you break up with them.
When you are playing fantasy football and you fall out of like with your team, that is what they call fantasy football.

Mr. Anderson told me, if I was getting pissed off I was doing fantasy football right.

I guess I am doing it right this week.

RECAP
NIGHT TERRORS ARE NOW 1-1
lost 86.44 to 136.42

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.

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 

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.