What It Takes To be A Champ: A Memoir By The Reigning Champ

It's not about winning or losing, it's about having fun. That being said check this out:

Overall Records In TFLOEG History

John 29-14

Mike 24-19

Keith 22-21 

Dawson 20-9

Curtis 19-24

Shane 15-14

Andrew 14-29

Aaron 9-20

Sara 6-8

Win Percentage

Dawson Win 69%

John Win 67%

Mike Win 56%

Shane Win 52%

Keith Win 51%

Curtis Win 44%

Sara Win 43%

Andrew Win 32%

Aaron Win 31%

 What does it all mean? It means I'm the champ. (Dawson's not bad neither)

Since I thought about what this blog should be for a couple days before I ponied up and created the URL, I had to come to terms with how this blog could be sustainable. The answers I came up with were thought provoking insight, smack and character. Our blog needed to have a little of each of these in order to last. Smack is easy, as it's a second nature to most (or in extreme cases a first nature, I'm looking at you Shane) and insight can be a dime a dozen (it needs to be done in order to foster the discussion that comes from analysis/opinion); but character that needed to be the cornerstone. You can't catch lighting (read: character) in a bottle, so I needed to take a leap of faith. I needed to figure out from which angle I needed to come from to foster the first two answers out of the the last one. The idea was achieved as I became the villainous, pompous ass and it's soooooooo easy to back up all I have to say is, SCOREBOARD BITCHES! Keith is becoming the lovable underdog and Andrew a voice for those who look in the face of Fantasy Football and say "HEY! It's all luck!".  Hopefully more will begin to take authorship and create characters for themselves on this stage underneath the banner TFLOEG.

However, for the first time (and from time to time in the future) I'd like to do something out of character. I'd like to, metaphorically, undo my belt. After that I want to unzip my pants, remove my shirt/socks/underwear and stand nude, metaphorically, before you to create an atmosphere of unabashed honesty. Why? Maybe to give you guys a fighting chance, or maybe to clear my conscience. I'm going to let you guys know the secrets to usurping my throne and become champion of TFLOEG. 

Obviously, the above stats can be justified as "the time John won 100.38 to Keith's 99.54", pull down your pants fellas as these arguments go both ways (there was a Julio fumble in the semis of 2011, this was the difference between me being a two time champ right now). In my opinion, these "what ifs" are more of a Fantasy Football Theology topic more then anything (anybody want to start that article?)

I'm not going to give you a list of ten or of five, I'm giving you three steps. Three steps, two are easy and one is hard. Then you get to be like me, an arrogant cham-peen!

Step One: See the title at the start of the year and concentrate on it with positive thoughts. I'm just kidding it's super simple and in no way new age. Make A List. Copy and paste the rankings on any website and re-organize each position in the order you like them. These are called rankings and they are the difference between reaching for RB because they are flying off the draft board and taking that "lights out" WR that will end up with more points on a weekly basis. Championship teams are won on draft day in the later rounds, so instead of taking a kicker in the eighth to fill out your roster grab a backup WR/RB that in your opinion has the potential to be great. I got C.J. Spiller in the twelth round last year. I think Shane picked up Rob Bironas to back up Janikowski ;).

Step Two: You've always got to Be Active And Always Have A Plan. Who do I use for injury replacements? What people should I keep an eye on in the waiver pool? What if the opposing manager plays so and so? If you do your planning each week, it's simple. Look into individual player trends/targets/points to see who is on the cusp of being next weeks hot pick up and take him early (you can always throw him back). Be active in opening up trade talks with a manager who has certain gaps you can fill and minor disadvantage to your own team (just never trade rape or nobody will do business with you). I mean Keith doesn't trade with me out of some notion it'll come back to haunt him, but looking at his Dawson trades over the years it's hard to say he shouldn't cut him off! Dawson the Trade Rapist. Don't just plan from week to week, plan bye week replacements weeks in advance by looking at the schedule of players you need to pick up to replace a position and store him on your bench. Always stay active and aware of what's up. I have my ways of doing this, find out what works for you. Podcasts, TV, Internet or just taking a nice quiet emo walk (Mike has a good overall record) are some suggestions.  

Step Three: It's the hardest one as it's unteachable. Trust Your Gut. This is something you need to strengthen, like any muscle, until you can just shoot from the hip at will. If you dedicate yourself to step one and step two you're on the right track, but knowing when a player will be hot and when to cut your losses while your on top is hard. I'm not perfect, but I've had a good run (so far). In 2011 I saw Eli targeting Victor Cruz exponentially more times the Hakeen Nicks, but Cruz was dropping balls and, thus, not showing up on the stat sheet. I picked him up week 5 and I should have played him ahead of Mike Williams (Tampa) because he would have won me that week. I had a gut feeling, but didn't go all out on it. Since then I try to make up my team with "Desmonds" and "Lockes". My "Desmonds" will keep my team even keel (Brees, Graham, McCoy, Decker, Cruz, Vick, etc). But, my "Lockes" are my high risk/reward players and I try to play two or three of them week to week. After doing my step two homework based on my step one draft, my "Lockes" are people I will taunt you with or cry by myself over.

So, that's all there is to it. Start now and you can/will defeat me. 

I put my shirt/socks/underwear back on one limb at at a time. ZZZZZIIIIPPPP, button, button.

See you in less then two weeks losers!

-The Commish