Memoirs of a Champ - The Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seventeen
I won't lie to you and say that my passion and level of excitement about fantasy football has stayed the same all these years (I have 2 kids now, life is busy). Looking back at my 2014 Memoir after my first Championship, I wrote an absolute screed delving into draft strategy and the way I approached fantasy football in general; you will not be getting that kind of document out of me this year. If you're interested, you can go back and read my 2014 post, it's still very relevant to my feelings on fantasy football and draft strategy even to this year. I think everyone has kind of gotten more sophisticated in their understanding of fantasy football from our humble beginnings in Houston Pizza, and reading a strategy guide like my old post isn't nearly so valuable. Given how competitive our league is, I think it goes to show the high level of knowledge and strategy that people bring to the table.
What I did find interesting about reading that old memoir and just how similar many of my thoughts have been is that it demonstrates the value of having and trusting in a system. Rather than obsess over results, developing something that works and sticking with it is one of the most important things you can do. This isn't exactly something deep or profound, but it's always worth keeping in mind. Being the first 2-time TFLOEG Champion goes to show this, as does the minimal amount of movement that shows up on the TFLOEG All-time Winning % chart (this will be posted below). Outside of a truly unfortunate year like Steve experienced last year, big jumps up or down the chart are few and far between.
You might be thinking that this is already a lot of words for someone not feeling as passionate about fantasy football as he once was, and you might be right, however the absolute excitement that once coincided with fantasy football has been replaced with something less prominent but perhaps even more valuable. TFLOEG has become a stable, important part of my life; it allows me to connect with all of you in a way that likely wouldn't have occurred otherwise. My life without the connection brought about by Fantasy Football would be worse off, that much is clear to me. I'm running a CFL Fantasy League where we input stats manually each week, because the alternative is to lose the connection and enjoyment that came through fantasy, and the TFLOEG is on another level from that one.
Things change, the league grows, Curtis leaves for reasons I can fully appreciate, we get a new member in Brett who I'm excited to see what he brings. But in the background, the league has become something more than just a yearly time-sink. It's a system and an institution, and it's the people who are part of it, and those are the things that really matter.
I'm not going to dwell for too long on what went right to help me win the league last year. Antonio Brown was a big part of it, as was trading for Devante Freeman last offseason. Melvin Gordon and Jordy Nelson came my way through in-season trades. Meanwhile, Andrew Luck, Pierre Garcon and Kyle Rudolph were all championship game starters who I picked up off the waiver wire who acquitted themselves well. There's no one way to build your team and win, and that's part of what makes fantasy so much fun.
Fantasy also comes down to levels of luck that you have no control over, the difference between winning it all or the heartbreak of defeat is razor thin. I was fully prepared to trade the draft pick I used to take Demariyus Thomas to Aaron at the draft last year after he took Gio Bernard; I liked my fantasy starters at WR and thought that having 2 picks in the early rounds would make up for losing out on the better player. Demariyus became a key piece for my team last year, and without him I don't think there's any way I would have had the same level of success. I almost torpedoed my season 10 minutes into the start of last year's draft, and only luck and Aaron's unwillingness kept it from happening. Don't take things too serious and don't overthink yourself.
For everyone worrying about the quality of their keepers and how it might hinder your team going forward, stop it. I thought my keepers would be locked in for years with Brown, Lacy and Hopkins...and of those 3 only Brown is left. Things change, and the future is open. And while I admit that sometimes teams need to look into rebuilding and setting themselves up for future success, fantasy takes place one season at a time. Don't let thoughts about the future harm your chances of winning a championship this year.
I don't know what Last Place Wisdom will look like this season, it will still be around even if it's less consistent or takes on some different form. It will certainly contain less political references this year, watching people cheer on censorship and political violence against people they don't like has burned me out. Modern day politics can and should burn to the ground to allow for the truly important institutions, like the TFLOEG, to flourish in its stead. Apologies to Aaron is this makes his Keith is a crypto-fascist jokes during the podcast more difficult, I know he'll continue to blow the podcast out of the water in any case.
As promised, here are the winning percentages from the league. Despite my strong year, I still wasn't able to knock Dawson or Stan off the top of the leaderboard. Clarke and Steve made big changes this past year, moving up and down respectively. I'm excited to see how Brett does taking over a team with a lot of potential, and also seeing which teams from last year are able to take a big step forward.
4 days til the best day of the year! Try not to let belt intimidate you too much at the draft, because for the first time in league history I get to be the one to say this again: I'm the champ.
What I did find interesting about reading that old memoir and just how similar many of my thoughts have been is that it demonstrates the value of having and trusting in a system. Rather than obsess over results, developing something that works and sticking with it is one of the most important things you can do. This isn't exactly something deep or profound, but it's always worth keeping in mind. Being the first 2-time TFLOEG Champion goes to show this, as does the minimal amount of movement that shows up on the TFLOEG All-time Winning % chart (this will be posted below). Outside of a truly unfortunate year like Steve experienced last year, big jumps up or down the chart are few and far between.
You might be thinking that this is already a lot of words for someone not feeling as passionate about fantasy football as he once was, and you might be right, however the absolute excitement that once coincided with fantasy football has been replaced with something less prominent but perhaps even more valuable. TFLOEG has become a stable, important part of my life; it allows me to connect with all of you in a way that likely wouldn't have occurred otherwise. My life without the connection brought about by Fantasy Football would be worse off, that much is clear to me. I'm running a CFL Fantasy League where we input stats manually each week, because the alternative is to lose the connection and enjoyment that came through fantasy, and the TFLOEG is on another level from that one.
Things change, the league grows, Curtis leaves for reasons I can fully appreciate, we get a new member in Brett who I'm excited to see what he brings. But in the background, the league has become something more than just a yearly time-sink. It's a system and an institution, and it's the people who are part of it, and those are the things that really matter.
I'm not going to dwell for too long on what went right to help me win the league last year. Antonio Brown was a big part of it, as was trading for Devante Freeman last offseason. Melvin Gordon and Jordy Nelson came my way through in-season trades. Meanwhile, Andrew Luck, Pierre Garcon and Kyle Rudolph were all championship game starters who I picked up off the waiver wire who acquitted themselves well. There's no one way to build your team and win, and that's part of what makes fantasy so much fun.
Fantasy also comes down to levels of luck that you have no control over, the difference between winning it all or the heartbreak of defeat is razor thin. I was fully prepared to trade the draft pick I used to take Demariyus Thomas to Aaron at the draft last year after he took Gio Bernard; I liked my fantasy starters at WR and thought that having 2 picks in the early rounds would make up for losing out on the better player. Demariyus became a key piece for my team last year, and without him I don't think there's any way I would have had the same level of success. I almost torpedoed my season 10 minutes into the start of last year's draft, and only luck and Aaron's unwillingness kept it from happening. Don't take things too serious and don't overthink yourself.
For everyone worrying about the quality of their keepers and how it might hinder your team going forward, stop it. I thought my keepers would be locked in for years with Brown, Lacy and Hopkins...and of those 3 only Brown is left. Things change, and the future is open. And while I admit that sometimes teams need to look into rebuilding and setting themselves up for future success, fantasy takes place one season at a time. Don't let thoughts about the future harm your chances of winning a championship this year.
I don't know what Last Place Wisdom will look like this season, it will still be around even if it's less consistent or takes on some different form. It will certainly contain less political references this year, watching people cheer on censorship and political violence against people they don't like has burned me out. Modern day politics can and should burn to the ground to allow for the truly important institutions, like the TFLOEG, to flourish in its stead. Apologies to Aaron is this makes his Keith is a crypto-fascist jokes during the podcast more difficult, I know he'll continue to blow the podcast out of the water in any case.
As promised, here are the winning percentages from the league. Despite my strong year, I still wasn't able to knock Dawson or Stan off the top of the leaderboard. Clarke and Steve made big changes this past year, moving up and down respectively. I'm excited to see how Brett does taking over a team with a lot of potential, and also seeing which teams from last year are able to take a big step forward.
4 days til the best day of the year! Try not to let belt intimidate you too much at the draft, because for the first time in league history I get to be the one to say this again: I'm the champ.
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