Last Place Wisdom: Week Five - Fantasy Socialism

If you're all anything like me, I'm many of you are tired of hearing and talking about politics. I mean, we are nearing the end of the longest election cycles in modern history which has made for record numbers of facebook posts blasting Steven Harper and endless commercials referencing Justin Trudeau's hair, and despite my love for the subject it has even started to grate on me a bit. So to do you all a favour, I will not be telling you who to vote for, or turning this into an attack ad, or even telling you to vote at all come October 19th. I will be discussing socialism however, so buckle in and get ready for some hot PoliSci action.

Ok, I'm going to go an a rant here. I want to include a picture but Blogger is not letting me upload or link to any pictures at this time. So if you can use your imagination and picture The Communist Party, only with my head on Marx, John's head on Lenin, Mike's head on Chairman Mao (because China), with Andrew and Dawson rounding it out as Stalin and Castro, you will get what I had in mind. Unfortunately between Blogger being difficult, and me lacking the time, motivation and photo editing software to make this a reality, your imagination will have to do for now. I will try and do better next time.


For any of you who know me, it might come as a bit of a surprise that I have a certain level of sympathy for fantasy socialism. Part of this is because socialism doesn't work in the real world so fantasy socialism is all that's left, but part of it is because I just like to see a level of equality in the fantasy league. Don't worry, I'm not going to supporting stealing your keepers in some grand revolution of the proletariat against the bourgeois (to be honest, I'm more a part of the bourgeois than most, so that would make me a hypocrite (like many socialists)), but I have to admit that I have some sympathy for the cries of screw the rich and give to the poor when it comes to fantasy sports. It makes things an extra challenge for those who are in a strong position, while helping to keep things fun for those who fantasy karma might have dealt a bad hand for the season.

When it all comes down to it however, capitalism rules the day. The best way for weak teams to get better will be to draft well, find cheap value on the waiver wire and to make mutually beneficial trades. To be honest I'm pretty happy about the equality in the league this year. I don't think anyone but Dawson is guaranteed to make the playoffs, and no one as of right now is close to being eliminated, so hopefully this continues as the season goes on

Well That Surprised Me

• I think the opposite of me being surprised is for Jordan Reed to be out again with a concussion. He was someone who I could kind of feel happy about at the position, and now I'm back to relying on whatever piece is available on the waiver wire. If anyone has some extra TEs lying around, feel free to hit me up with a trade offer.
•  It's surprised me to see Andrew's team struggling, a lot of which has to do with the struggles of his Seahawks. Lynch and Graham are supposed to be the lynchpins of his roster (I didn't even mean to make any sort of pun, but laugh Dawson), and until they can get it going he might have some struggles. If Duke Johnson is able to become an consistent starter, it will help him in a big way.
• Curtis snagging DeAndre Levy off the waiver wire. I was hoping to be able to rely on Levy as my DP this year, as he's been one of the more consistent in years past, but Curtis was quiker than I was when it came to picking him up. 
• Getting this blog out before the PowerPowell Rankings. I guess John just must be having a busy week, but I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we're highly anticipating his hot beef injection of fantasy knowledge.

That Wouldn't Surprise Me

• If by the end of the season Stan's team is challenging Dawson for the strongest roster in the league. Stan has been incredibly successful even with getting pretty much nothing out of CJ Anderson and LeSean McCoy; I think both guys turn it around somewhat and then it's time to watch out.
• If my trade for Calvin Johnson ends up biting me in the behind somewhat. I wouldn't say I'm having cold feet,  but maybe Calvin Johnson is no longer a star. I wanted to shake my team up somewhat, and I think this certainly achieves that. If Johnson is anything like he has been however, I think I clearly got the best player in the trade and in that case I am happy. Both Dawson and I sold and bought players at potentially a season low value, so the end result will be interesting.
• If Curtis or Mike end up getting their 2nd win in a row this week. I think both teams are looking up, and while they both use another RB, their getting some guys back from injury and suspension who should help them out.
• I had some more nice things written here, but I ran into a technical error and they were defeated. You'll just have to take my word for it.

 Mr. Manager of the Week Award
The award is going to Mike this week. He's been fighting hard for scraps all season long, and it's starting to pay off. It's looking like he might have come out on the better end of his deal with Dawson, and he made a very smart pickup of Allen Hurns this past week. Winning the Boner Bowl is worthy of some extra credit as well.