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Post Week 6 SITREP

Let’s do this.

Trades

Trade 1: Two teams swapped first round draft picks (Kareem Hunt #8 overall, for Julio Jones #11 overall) to better their rosters at those positions. This was a good example of a win-win trade. Each team got something they needed, for a small price. Both gained in the end.

Advice:  This is the trade scenario you should look for – where one team has a shortfall, and you have an available asset to offer. Both teams need to feel they are gaining in one position, without sacrificing another.

Trade 2: Let me tell you this, I’m gonna start at an 11. Then I’m gonna take it to about a 15 real quick! One team doled out their top WR1 (Brandin Cooks) for…I don’t know…an untested, hammed up RB in a two-back set (Corey Clement), and a bye-week WR at best (Nelson Agholor), both from the same team – meaning both going on BYE at the same time leaving empty spots to be filled.

I’m going to open a discussion thread on this one, as I’m curious of everyone’s take on this trade. I see this as a big loss for one team playing in a PPR league who just traded away a WR1 on an NFL team whose QB just broke the all-time passing yards record, and a huge freebie for another team who now has two of the top fifteen WRs in the league. I guess time will tell on this one.

Advice: Announce your willingness to trade someone to the league (i.e., put them on the trading block), before making a deal, and let the offers come in. I guarantee you will receive very reasonable offers this way. Also, don’t accept the first lowball offer (pause) counteroffer, and utilize future draft picks with the option as leverage.

Strength of Schedule (SOS)

The Strength of Schedule looks at the differential between your actual W/L results and the W/L results if you had played each of the other 11 teams in the league that week. Ideally, each of us would be right down the middle, i.e., the top six scores each week would all win their matchups. Unfortunately, the top six results aren’t always matched up against the bottom six results.

Looking at the full data set, Davante’s Inferno looks to have had the easiest schedule to date, but DI hasn’t won any games in the lower 1/3 of the weekly results. DI’s just been bouncing around the middle landing gut shots. To be fair, DI lost a big one in Week 4 to one of only three teams that could have beaten him – ironically against his arch rival in the post GBJ era, Christian’s Brothers.

These two teams have faced each other three times in their last 5 matchups, counting last season. DI is up 2-1 in this 5-week span with a League Championship in tow. And wrote a hit play and directed it, so he’s not sweating it either.

I want to break this down further as Week 6 provided some great examples of wins and losses outside of the top-half/bottom-half metric. This is where the dagger digs the deepest. *You can click in the image below to expand it in to another browser tab.

Grabbing a win or dropping a loss in the meat of the weekly results is expected. But dropping a game after putting up 180+ is a stab in the fucking heart. This has happened six times already this season, and twice in Week 6. Luckily the pain has been evenly spread and no one team has absorbed this damage more than once.

What does this mean? This means that the swings in the SOS results are mostly happening in the middle 1/3 bracket. This means that you don’t need to look for that knockout punch (that huge waiver wire grab, or breakout performance); you just have to grind it out in the middle and exchange body blows to pull out a victory.

Keep profiling your players and their matchups, plan ahead for BYE weeks, and nickel-and-dime your expendable positions (K, DEF, LB) each week in order to gain an advantage inside. That’s when you will pick up wins in the middle.

Post Draft Standings

I like this chart. Not really sure what we can get out of it, but I like it. There’s a slight correlation, but really nothing you can get out of it at this point. I guess the lesser the gap between your number of wins and number of remaining drafted players is an indication that you are doing more with less; or maybe it means you drafted like shit. I’ll work on this one and apply some more factors.

It is clear that almost half the league has already dropped, lost, or traded away 40% or more or their drafted players. Only three teams have retained their original top eight draft picks – only one of which is in the top half of the league standings, proving these results truly are a mixed bag.

League Leaders

QB – Tannehill4President (Jared Goff, 53.95 points, Week 4)
WR – SKOLya’gain (Tyreek Hill, 47.05 points, Week 1)
RB – Reason to Kerrigan (Alvin Kamara, 43.10 points, Week 1)
TE – Christian’s Brothers (Travis Kelce, 29.90 points, Week 2)
K – The Brady Bundchen (Stephen Gostkowski, 22.00 points, Week 6)
DEF – SKOLya’gain (Baltimore, 61.50 points, Week 6)
LB – Whitey Ford’s Team (T.J. Watt, 18.00 points, Week 5)
Single Game – Bagel Time (226.75 points, Week 4)

I’m off to lift weights and drink a couple thousand beers with PJ, Tobin, Squee, Donkeydong Doug, and Matt Damon. The pain begins in Week 8. #TheJuiceReturns

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The Lombardi Three – Through Week 7

Since the National Football League began in 1920, only one team has played a complete perfect season (both regular season and playoffs): the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who won their fourteen regular season games and three postseason games, including Super Bowl VII, to finish the season 17–0–0. The Dolphins briefly extended their winning streak into the next season before losing to the Oakland Raiders on September 23, 1973.

1972 Dolphins-TeamPic2

It has often been reported that the surviving members of the 1972 Dolphins would either gather to drink champagne when the final undefeated team earned its first loss, or send a case of champagne to the team who beat this final undefeated team. The head coach of the 1972 Dolphins, Don Shula, did boringly deny this in a 2007 interview with ESPN. On August 20, 2013, four decades after their accomplishment, President Barack Obama hosted the ’72 Dolphins noting that they “never got their White House visit.”

Dolphins Fan

Why do I bring this up? Dolphins fan #1, Tannehill for Vice President (see above), knows what sort of legacy he was protecting and, quite fatefully and appropriately, dismantled Air Jordy in Week 7 crushing any hopes of a perfect, undefeated season.

Not that the 6-game winning streak was anything to brag about (Packer Cave went 8 straight in 2012, and Reservations For Six finished 7 in a row in 2013) but Air Jordy had been averaging 218.25 per week, 35 points per week more than his closest competitor, the White Wes Welkers, and 59 points per week more than the league average. Those averages took a slight dip in Week 7 after the pummeling by T4VP but don’t sleep on the League Leader. Air Jordy is healthy, has Big Ben coming back, owns the top 2 ball-carriers and 4 of the top 10 ball-catchers in the league. He faces IJamAllDay in Week 8, who is currently riding a 3-game win streak.

No matter where you sit in the standings right now, know one thing – you are only one game separated from half of the league surrounding you. The bottom 6 squads are only one game apart. Spots 2 through 6 are also only divided by a single win. This is about as balanced as it can be, I mean, half the league is going to lose each week. It’s that game of inches you have to play to get that next win and push yourself up to the next bracket. Two wins and you are in the top half of the league. Plenty of time left to find your OBJ (fuck that guy forever).

WHO’S HOT: IJamAllDay, Schoolya’gain and Lake Hickory Swallops have won 3 out of their last 4 matchups. The Swallops was hit with a Bench Swap this year so I imagine that chip on his shoulder is only going to make him more voracious. The White Wes Welkers are averaging 209.3 over the last 3 weeks and about the luckiest son-of-a-bitch I know. Trading Charles for Gronk right before the injury…it doesn’t get any luckier than that in fantasy football.

WHO’S NOT: Bagel Time has dropped 3 out of the last 4 showings after a strong 3-0 start. And despite the Week 7 takedown of Air Jordy, Tannehill for Vice President has lost another top tier RB for the season. This loss only decimates the RB field further and limits his options for recovery. But if anyone can do it, it’s T4VP. Despite the forthcoming Rest of Season (ROS) Analysis, I anticipate a rematch in the playoffs. You heard it here.

SLEEPER: RGIII’s Company, aka REDSKINS, aka Formerly GBJ, aka Genetic Black Jesus, is the ultimate sleeper squad. How this great white shark is not in the top 3 right now baffles me. If you drop his dud in Week 6, he is averaging 184.9 points per week, and has already put up an unreachable league high 280.90 in Week 3. Currently 10th, I guarantee he’s in the playoffs competing for the trophy again. The Rest of Season Analysis (source: confidential (I can’t give away all my secrets)) has him as the second strongest finisher in our league. Winter is coming. You heard it here.

REST OF SEASON (ROS) ANALYSIS: Strength by Position: Based on the rest of your matchups, each one of these positions is stronger than your scheduled opponents. So, essentially, man up in the other positions if you want to compete and kill this analysis. You may have done ok thus far, but this analysis takes in to consideration future matchups – not only your fantasy opponent, but the NFL matchups you and your fantasy opponent’s face.

And take a look at that – strength in WRs dominate the league, not the QB position. The top 3 QBs are currently on the rosters of teams in the bottom half of the league, and projected to stay there. This is a PPR league – Point Per Reception, not Point Per Completion (which is a scoring mechanism by the way, and a potential add-on for next season). Points per completion, at 1 point per, would be an interesting add. It would be nice to see our QB position have a little more impact on the league. Something to think about.

ROS Analysis

We have not reached the halfway point yet in the season. Still plenty of time. Be good or be good at it. Enjoy your weekends.
-The Commish

POSTSCRIPT: Prior to the development of a playoff system in the NFL in 1932, four teams, including the 1929 Green Bay Packers, also had an “undefeated” season. However, according to the 2012 NFL Record & Fact Book, under NFL practices at the time, from 1920 to 1971 tie games were not included in winning percentage. So, these four teams were recorded with perfect win percentages of 1.000.

1929 PACKERS-TeamPic

*I have one last little nugget for you. As you know, exhibition games are generally not counted toward standings, for or against. That said, the 1972 Miami Dolphins lost three of their preseason “exhibition” games in 1972. Just something funny to throw at one of those rare Dolphins fans you meet.

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Offseason Review

I’ve been waiting 4 long months to formally publish this – fuck Odell Beckham Jr.
Fuck him up his rookie ass.

I have to apologize. Apologize for letting the total disappointment of this season manipulate my responsibilities as league commissioner. Apologize for not giving the season its due coverage and not giving props to League Champion Money Manziel that each of our past champions received. Although, it was September before Genetic Black Jesus had seen anything from me in our first season. Either way, MM was sent his trophy and I will cover his season in detail in an upcoming post.

In defense of my sparse league coverage this year, I was selected for a highly-competitive executive program with the DoD which put me on the road and out of pocket for most of the entire fantasy season. From October to date, myself and approximately 60 other execs from across the globe got together and spent 1 to 2 weeks a month traveling to work with different agencies in DC, Massachusetts, Korea, Hawaii, California, Georgia, and most recently Texas. All secret squirrel shit, but just wanted everyone to know that I was out of pocket for my customary league analysis, season updates and general tomfoolery.

Back to OBJ. That motherfucker single-handedly won the fantasy football playoffs. More than 92% of fantasy football platforms reported their League Champions as having OBJ on their roster. If you were lucky enough to have picked him up off waivers when Victor Cruz went down, you essentially found Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. If only the rest of the league knew that there was nothing they could do about the absolute rampage of fantasy points he was about to lay down at the end of the season.

To put that in perspective, OBJ ended up ranked third all-time for rookie fantasy wide receivers. Pro-Football-Reference.com collects fantasy points using fractional scoring to provide a rankings reference. If we use their rookie wide receiver rankings, Beckham finishes third. His 204 fantasy points trail only Randy Moss’ 235.7 in 1998 and Bill Groman’s 221.4 in 1960. Other than Moss, to find the only receiver to score more fantasy points than him in a rookie campaign, you need to include AFL seasons back to 1960. OBJ’s season ranks third-best in the past 55 years. Fuck that guy.

Back to apologies. All this OBJ nonsense made me realize that I made a few fundamental mistakes this season that would have tilted the results in one or two team’s favors. We all remember the Bench Swap debacle in Week 6. Had we allowed the Bench Swap to have taken place the current league champion wouldn’t have even made the playoffs. The farthest OBJ would have been able to take Money Manziel was 7th place. Schoolya’gain knows this reality better than any one of us as she received the shit end of that deal. I have adjusted the Constitution to properly take in to consideration the period for stat corrections. We will continue to use Bench Swaps next season. Two teams are carrying over their Bench Swaps earned last season and I am still interested to see how that little, dark experiment plays out.

Apologies are in order for the way we conducted the waiver wire this season. I set it up to benefit the worst teams in the league, to be more democratic and balance out the overall strength of each team as the season progressed. Each week the lowest ranking team had first crack at free agents. This reset each week and the top ranking teams never got a shot at picking up anyone. This ended up adversely affecting the strength of those teams that drafted well, and worked hard throughout the season. Many of the teams in the league voiced frustration about this. Next season I will return the waiver wire to an even playing field. Each team will get an equal crack at free agents. Priority will simply be based on who picked last. That line will carry over from week to week.

Lastly, I am removing all of the bonuses. If your guy has a great game, he has a great game. There is no reason to rain bonus points on a guy when he breaks some irrelevant threshold. The point differential between a guy with 99 yards and a guy with 101 yards is unnecessary. You get what you get going forward. We won’t be breaking any league records this way, but there is nothing more fair than just applying the exact points that you earn. Let’s just call it another experiment and see how it works out. All that said, I will maintain the 1 point “score tuning” that NFL.com doesn’t account for – like Field Goals made over 50 and 60 yards. Check out the Scoring Sheet next season for details.

It wouldn’t be a new season without a few new changes. We’ll continue to fine tune, throw wrenches and talk shit. Stay tuned for some end of season stats, league trophies and a puff piece on our 2014 League Champion, Money Manziel.

-The Commish

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TL3 QUARTERLY Volume 3 Issue 1

You Are Not Alone
Your running back is either (1) seriously injured, (2) facing an indefinite suspension, or (3) presently beating the shit out his fiancé, wife, mother, or one of a sundry of illegitimate children. This third scenario eventually placing him in scenario 2. He may even be beating the shit out of one of his colleagues on the field. There is nothing like the level of class and sportsmanship that comes with those millions of dollars in the NFL.

The only positive to come from all of this, fantasy-wise, is that you are not alone. The RB core has been debilitated over the first four weeks of play. Only a few of them were performing as expected anyway, so maybe we aren’t missing much. I don’t know. Maybe this hit too close to home for me – watching my #1 Draft Pick, again, go down early in a flaming heap of pathetic shit. Things are looking up though. Doug Martin made an appearance. Jamaal Charles looked like Jamaal Charles last night with 3 TDs against Belichick’s Brady Bunch. And word on the street is that we’ll see Rice, Peterson and Dwyer at some point this season. The NFL can’t keep a good criminal down.

PPR
More importantly, the first 4 weeks of play have shown that this is now a passing league and the Wide Receiver is king. The Point-Per-Reception (PPR) change this season has opened up a whole new level of scoring for us, and some longevity at that position’s value. This really does make sense – the tailback position has been devalued in recent years and there hasn’t been a running back drafted in the first round since 2012. Why not take advantage?

Breaking down the top 3 WRs and top TE for each team, let’s take a look at who has capitalized the most from this change. Some are doing more with less and some are not taking advantage of the available players out there. Reigning champ, RFS, can easily boost his PPR Strength from 155 to 139 with little to no effort. I hesitate saying that going in to Week 5 facing yours truly, but something must be said. 

PPR

Leaderboard
By Week 3 of our maiden season (2012) there were no undefeated teams. By Week 4 of last season (2013) everyone had a dink on their record. We are through 4 weeks in 2014 and still have 2 undefeated teams. Air Jordy and Packer Cave sit at the top of the leaderboard, tied for 1st at 4-0 with only 7.5 points separating them. These two dynamos are averaging 190 points per week, but the fact that they have faced the least amount of production to date shouldn’t worry the competition – yet. Air Jordy and Packer Cave’s opponents have scored a league-low average of 153 points and 143 points per week, respectively. This trend will likely continue for Air Jordy in Week 5 as he faces 12th-seated Reservations For Six. Packer Cave has a tougher matchup as he faces the 2-2 White Wes Welkers who have put up over 205 points twice in the last three weeks. 

Just one game back, IJamAllDay and E-40 at 3-1 have put up strong showings but both have had to endure losses to standout performances from Air Jordy and the Lake Hickory Swallops. The Swallops, taking down then undefeated IJAD, continue to improve each week, with production up 25% from Week 1. E-40 has worked the waiver wire intelligently and managed to scoop up every backup RB for the aforementioned core of RBs on the mend. We’ll have to see how this plays out for him. 

Speaking of waiver wire – did anyone notice a few weeks back when REDSKINS (formerly Genetic Black Jesus) stuck Josh Gordon in his back pocket? With Gordon’s suspension reduced to 10 weeks, versus the expected season-long hiatus, he will be available in Week 11. Being the #1 WR in 2013, this was essentially a bonus first-round draft pick for REDSKINS. Already having the 5th highest points in the league, and ranking 3rd in PPR strength, this pickup could wreak havoc on the last 6 matchups of the season. 

Don’t get discouraged yet. Don’t trade away your best players because you MAY get someone on the waiver wire. Don’t rely on NFL.com’s projections – they are shit. Do your homework. Don’t forget to utilize your two Reserve (RES) positions if needed. This allows for you to take any injured or suspended players and place them in a ‘Reserve’ spot in order to not have to drop them. This frees up that available space on your bench for a free agent. To bring that player back out of ‘Reserve’ you will obviously have to drop someone off your bench to make room for them. Only officially listed injured (IR) or suspended (SUS) players can be placed in Reserve. *I don’t agree with being able to place suspended players in Reserve, but I have no control of that feature. It’s two free spots, use them. 

Bye weeks are in play so pay extra attention to your lineups. Playing someone your best one week, then playing the next guy with 4 players on BYE is tremendously unfair to the other teams in the league, and violates the terms of the Constitution. Don’t be that guy.

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Draft Lottery Winner

The Live Draft will be Saturday morning August 30th at 11am eastern. That’s 8am for the west coasters and somewhere in between for you middle-America bozos. According to the TL3 calendar, that’s 7 days out. This is another reminder to GET – YOUR – SHIT – TOGETHER.

Air Jordy and Packer Cave have run a series of online and offline randomizers and the winner of the 1st Overall Draft Pick is….
MONEY MANZIEL

The rest of the teams fall in to place based on the rules of the Constitution. The following draft order can be reviewed on the league homepage under League / Draft Info. The Weekly Schedule was also randomized.

1. Money Manziel
2. Reservations For Six
3. Schoolya’gain
4. White Wes Welkers
5. Air Jordy
6. Bagel Time
7. IJamAllDay
8. Lake Hickory Swallops
9. REDSKINS
10. LockinUWL
11. Packer Cave
12. Eastside Forty-Ounces

I do have an update on league membership. We have discharged the Lincoln Co. Chavezes, Put a Bird On It and The Goonies to seek out professional help. Let’s face it, those cats had a problem. They were addicted to NOT playing fantasy football well. Keep up the average effort boys and girls.

We have subsequently added Eastside Forty-Ounces! E40 has several years of fantasy experience and will be tough competition. Don’t sleep on this FNG.

Correction: I have to amend last week’s post to clearly identify this year’s Draft Party MC. The Regal Beagles have updated their appellation to the White Wes Welkers. Clever play on words buddy (hint: Game of Thrones). Big fan of the show, so me likey. The NFC North would likely be on that side of the wall.

Hope all is well. Looking forward to the usual BS on Draft Day next Saturday. I got a pack of blacks and a beat cd, get yo’ freestyle ready.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 5

Another season in the books, another newssheet, more stats, more charts, more tables, and like Lieutenant Dan, I’m rollin’! This season’s final issue is packed with this crap. Oh… and there is a little puff piece on our 2013 League Champion

RFS Team Logo 3.1

Dude went on a 7-game streak of terror to close this thing out and did it only scoring the 6th most points this season. Not to mention he did it without a single top-ranked player. For full coverage of his extraordinary run check out Faceless.

Congrats are in order to my personal favorite squad who vociferously “Schooledya’gain” over our second season. The Stepdads and Bagel Time donned 3rd and 4th place finishes, after barely making the playoffs seated 7th and 8th, respectively, sharing the trophy for Playoff Comeback. A listing of all the 2013 League Trophies, as well as a peek at the 2014 Draft Landscape, and a statistical look at our first two seasons in League History, all accompany this final, 2013 season issue of the Lombardi Newssheet.

League Commissioner,
The Stepdads

See Newssheets Archive for this Issue.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 4

Apparently, some of you think that I have way too much time on my hands. I’ve got a little secret for all of you – I was born for this shit. This comes as naturally to me as snow falls on the east coast in early December. In this issue of The Lombardi Three Newssheet, Bagel Time delivers his report on The Great Snow Storm of Week 14, I breakdown the pay-to-play structure I have been forecasting the past few weeks in Money Talks, Bullshit Walks, and we explore the past, present, and future of The Lombardi Three as we head in to the final week of our second season.

Issue 4 offers a detailed preview of the Final Matchup in Week 16, and introduces some Score Tuning I’d like to incorporate next season. I have also attached your updated, working copy of the TL3 Constitution.

By this time next week the season will be over. Both underdog, and crowd favorite, Schoolya’gain, will either have derailed the unstoppable freight train that is Reservations For Six, or she will be inevitably crushed in the forceful grip he has on the league title. Whichever fate awaits these two fantasy gladiators, next week we will have crowned a new champion.

League Manager,
The Stepdads

See Newssheets Archive for this Issue.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 3

The playoffs are…here.

That declaration just about sums up how thrilled I am about it. I really do focus my newssheet coverage on the prominent highlights each week, and I prefer to limit any narratives vis-à-vis my own team and my own players, but The Stepdads’ implosion, while quite pleasant and rewarding for the rest of you, is deserving of some light analysis in this week’s issue. I do take a look back at Week 11, which was a defining week for a handful of teams and had its share of controversial Bad Calls. Week 11 was the turning point for The Stepdads and the Hickory Swallops, as they both dropped the last 3 games of the regular season, barely surviving the playoff cut. In turn, Schoolya’gain and Reservations For Six went on terrifying 3- and 4-game win streaks, respectively, to capture 2 of the top spots in the playoffs and make their presence known. Meanwhile, the Regal Beagles dropped a dollar on a sweet steroid shot and Armstrong’d their way to 3-straight wins to close out the regular season and gain the top spot in the consolation bracket. Dream big Beagles – this was a hell of an improvement from last season’s 2-12 record.

Felicitations are in order. Genetic Black Jesus won the regular season trophy and won the award for most points scored. At an average of 180.18 per week, GBJ averaged 24.91 points more than the next strongest average in the league, LockinUWL. Through 13 weeks GBJ scored less than 159 points only once, and holds the single game record at 241.55 in Week 9. Stats, stats, stats…I’m so sick of seeing that luckster’s name next to all these stats.

Truth is, all those stats mean jack shit! The awards are virtual and these accomplishments earned him a #1 seed in the playoffs. That’s it. It’s anyone’s trophy at this point (well, any of the 8 of us in the playoffs). Lincoln Co Chavez took this stroker down in Week 6, so anything’s possible.

There’s so much to look at this week, it’s overwhelming. I sat down Monday night, post Week 11, and took my notes for Bad Calls. I’ve been going through the playoff scenarios since. I hope you enjoy the notes I’ve included in this week’s issue.

League Manager,
The Stepdads

See Newssheets Archive for this Issue.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 2

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I said this would be quarterly, but this is way too rad and way too much fun for me to not send another Newssheet out before Week 12. And technically, quarterly is defined as 4 per annum. This is officially Issue 2 so I am way behind. As far as you know.

Let’s get the administrative crap out of the way and address the minor racket raised over a “vetoed” trade this week. Without going into the depth I did for the teams involved, this was not my call. As disputed as the trade was, and as much as we all wish that GBJ’s team plane would violently crash in to a shallow ocean of dull-toothed, shark-infested waters, the reality is the trade was accepted in error. I vetted that error and cancelled the trade. I did the same exact thing in Week 5 for two other teams without question. NFL.com does not have a ‘Cancel’ button for you or me to administer this type situation. The officially labeled ‘Veto’ button is our only way to rectify and cancel a trade. I have squashed any beef between the parties involved and continued truckin’.

All that said, this business really brought to light a couple of interesting topics for discussion. Check out the ensuing notes on Trades, Acquisitions, and the emergence of the Lombardi Three Constitution in this week’s issue of The Lombardi Three Newssheet.

League Manager,
The Stepdads

See Newssheets Archive for this Issue.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 1

Attached is the inaugural TL3 Newssheet. This will replace my draft and regular season memos/correspondence each season. My plan is to send these out quarterly – once after Week 4, once after Week 8, once after Week 12 (prior to the last week of the regular season), and one final issue with a recap of the season.

Nothing would be more radical than to get contributing input that I could publish along with it each week. If you’ve got something to say, or would like me to add something specific for everyone, please let me know. This is a very rough draft and will obviously be better tailored as we move along. Hope you enjoy it.

Good luck this week. I wish it was possible for all of you to lose, but I dream big.

LM – The Stepdads

TL3 Newssheet

It’s been another month and another 4 weeks of play. Only 5 weeks remaining of regular season play. Only 5 weeks to make or break your playoff standing, and there are still 9 teams only a game apart. If you don’t think there is still a chance to win this thing, find another league to play in.

Our two frontrunners, Genetic Black Jesus and Lake Hickory Swallops, are averaging 176 and 162 per week, respectively. GBJ has had a heavy dose of good fortune (low injury, high consistency) while The Swallops have kept their nose to the grindstone and made some smooth pickups each week, building on an already imposing roster. The Swallops, riding a league-leading, 5-game win streak, were able to pinch Woodhead and the Colts this weekend after previous owners had to grudgingly release them to fill BYE spots in Week 8. I have a feeling this will catch up to some teams in Week 9.

Packer Cave, The Stepdads and LockinUWL were able to put together 3-game win streaks through the first 8 weeks but have been generally inconsistent in the W-L column. With 7 players on BYE, and having to redecorate the locker room, The Stepdads were especially fortunate after last week’s freebie delivered by the comatose Goonies. The Goonies – maybe they were being held hostage by the Fratellis, who the fuck knows.

We should all send our sincerest sympathies to Bagel Time after tragically having the two hottest players in the NFL for Week 8 on the bench. Andre Ellington and Marvin Jones were scoring machines in Week 8 and accounted for more than 73 fantasy points between the two of them. This only codifies the aforementioned grand fortune that GBJ has enjoyed. Stay positive BT – you are averaging more than 167 per week over the last three.

See Newssheets Archive for the full Issue.