Tag: IJamAllDay

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Things Are Not What They Seem

Asterisk I spent the last two weeks occupied with an NFL Media team of system developers regarding an issue that cropped up with our 2014 league results. They were communicating with me while the NFL Draft was going on. It was pretty cool. The results of our troubleshooting were essentially equivalent to…finding out that Santa Claus isn’t real. This is going to be one of my most interesting and challenging posts to date. Buckle up.

Let’s go back to two weeks ago.

Over the weekend of April 25-26, I was closing the books on the 2014 season, as you know. I record game scores and some key stats each week throughout the season in an offline workbook. That weekend I reviewed all the results and stats to make sure everything was accurate. Once my audit was complete, I issued virtual trophies and updated TheLombardiThree.com. Hopefully you took some time to read the posts.

My last order of business on the season was to appraise our 2014 League Champion’s results and post an article on his season. That Sunday morning, April 26, the League Champion was no longer listed on NFL.com as Money Manziel – it now indicated that the White Wes Welkers had won. As a matter of fact, the entire results of the season changed overnight, not just the League Champion. See below.

2014 Altered Results

The only management setting I tweaked that weekend was the activation of some of the virtual trophies. Nothing else was touched. Once I saw these changes in the season results I immediately pulled out my record of the season and began my investigation. I discovered changes in the scores of 19 matchups over the entire season. One of which, in Week 12, resulted in a change in Win/Loss between Bagel Time and REDSKINS. The change in this single game completely altered the playoff standings, and ultimately the results of the season.

How the hell did this happen overnight?!?! This is the question I posed to NFL.com.

During the last two weeks, I worked closely with one of NFL Media’s reps and his developers to figure out what happened. There was a technical glitch. This discovery was both an education in how our stat corrections work over the season (there is a statute of limitations), and a shocking discovery that the results of every NFL Fantasy season are not what they seem. NFL.com’s finding is posted below.

Letter from NFL

These guys stuck with me working on this even after I told them to just forget it at one point. I highly respect them for both working patiently with me on this issue and for continuously reinforcing a positive relationship with the customer (us) at the same time. I was ready to pull the plug on this platform completely for our fantasy league. But after this encounter we’re sticking with em.

There are a few ways to look at this going forward.

(1) By including all of the statistical corrections throughout the season, past the statute of limitations setting, this hiccup altered the season to what some would argue were the true results. I have suggested to NFL.com that they make this a league setting that we can manage. I think we should include all stat corrections that come in past the 5-day statute of limitations, at least throughout the regular season. That is the most accurate outcome. And I think it would add a fun twist to the regular season.

Or,

(2) Our season originally ended exactly the way it should have. We have the league settings in place that we do to prevent season-altering systematic events to take place. There needs to be some sort of control over the weekly results, otherwise the league is basically on auto-pilot throughout the season. I have insisted that NFL.com change our results back to the way it was at the conclusion of the season.

No matter how you look at it, there is essentially an asterisk on every one of our seasons. There could be an unrecorded tackle, or unaccounted yard out there that may have affected the results of each one of our seasons in one way or another. Because of this incredibly coincidental timing, we were exposed to that reality. Kinda takes the grandeur out of it for me. For each one of us that won or lost a matchup by a mere point or two, who knows how your season truly ended up?

 

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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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We Have Winners

So this Bench Swap experiment worked out after all. Well, for those of you who weren’t so blindingly loyal to an offensive line so atrocious that you stand no chance against the Lions at home. One shitty game was the deciding factor for 4 of the 6 teams at 11-5 who thought the Packers were gonna beat the Lions. The other 2 teams at 11-5 were the only teams to throw a bone to the Browns at home over the Ravens.

Yours truly actually submitted his form with an asterisk next to the Pack-Lions game, knowing that his allegiance to the Green and Gold was going to sink his chances at earning a Bench Swap. Loyalty sucks…and violates the #1 rule in fantasy football – play with your head, not with your heart.

More importantly, 2 teams have earned a Bench Swap! The winners are LockinUWL and Schoolya’gain at 12-4. See the Bench Swap page or the Constitution on the TheLombardiThree.com to learn how and when to exercise these Bench Swaps. They are eligible for use in Week 3, but will not help either team as Schoolya’ pulled off a nice win this week and Lockin’ has no one on his bench that performed well enough to warrant a Bench Swap. Keep a lookout over the next few weeks though as Schoolya’ and Lockin’ play the White Wes Welkers and Reservations For Six in Week 4, and Bagel Time and REDSKINS in Week 5. Watch out boys!

My advice: a win is a win, so use them as soon as you have the opportunity, as you may not have enough on the bench to use them later.

Well done this week everyone. Of note – everyone picked the Titans and Jaguars to lose, and only The Swallops picked the Jets to win. Till next year.

12-4 (WINNERS!)
LockinUWL
Schoolya’gain

11-5 (UUUGH – SO CLOSE!!)
Air Jordy
Bagel Time
Eastside Forty-Ounces
Lake Hickory Swallops
Packer Cave
White Wes Welkers

9-7
Money Manziel

8-8
IJamAllDay

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12 is the Magic Number

Well, that sucked again. But business first. There are still 3 deadbeat daddies out there who haven’t paid their child support. We need to incorporate some level of conformity to be fair to the rest of the players in the league, because halfway through the season (if your team sucks shit) you are that much less likely to pay your season dues at all. So that said, if League Dues aren’t paid by the conclusion of Week 4, I will disable the Add/Drop and Trade features on that team’s account. By the conclusion of Week 5 Roster Changes and Roster Options will be locked out. We are wrapping up Week 2 now so that gives you 2 full weeks to mow lawns, bag groceries, plant tulips, or whatever it is you have to do to pull together 25 bucks.

12 is the magic number people! Get those final Week 3 Ball Gazer forms to me before Thursday’s Buccs – Falcons matchup.

As far as Week 2 went, we were all toast by the conclusion of the 1:00 games. No one picked the Browns to beat the Saints, the Chargers to beat the Seahawks, or the Bears to beat the 49ers. The only 2 winners we all predicted accurately were the Broncos and Packers. Results follow. Nice work again E40.

9-6
Bagel Time
Eastside 40-Ounces

7-8
Air Jordy
IJamAllDay
Lake Hickory Swallops
Money Manziel

6-9
LockinUWL
Packer Cave
Schoolya’gain

5-10
White Wes Welkers

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No Bench Swaps Earned!

By the conclusion of the 1:00 PM ET games, there were no teams left eligible to earn a Bench Swap in Week 1. Out of the 11 submissions, 2 teams tied for “Least Worst” at 7-4, only 1 team picked the Texans, and no one picked the Dolphins or Titans.

Analysis: We aren’t very good at this. The Redskins aren’t very good at football.

7-4
Eastside Forty-Ounces
IJamAllDay

6-5
Schoolya’gain

5-6
LockinUWL
REDSKINS
White Wes Welkers

4-7
Air Jordy
Money Manziel
Packer Cave

3-8
Bagel Time
Lake Hickory Swallops

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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 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.