Last Place Widsom: Home to unspeakable fantasy power and persuasion
If you haven't listened to the latest Jordan Peterson podcast with Camilla Paglia, I couldn't recommend it more. Hearing Dr. Peterson be brutally honest in calling out crazy women as being crazy was a refreshing moment unlike anything I have experienced for some time. It brought me a great deal of joy; hearing someone speak a truth like that no matter what is rare and far between, and anytime one can experience that is an instance worth commemorating. I'm not going to tie this to fantasy football at all, I just felt like sharing it.
It sure seems like a lot of time has passed since the last blog, but perhaps that's simply because personal and work circumstances have made for a couple of crazy weeks. From a technical perspective I couldn't be happier about how Election Day went, as it was nice for the months of hard work to pay off in a positive way. From a results perspective, I have no complaints or shock at the results either. There's not a lot of upset people or dramatic debates taking place in out city right now, so a pretty status quo council was to be expected.
In case you haven't realized it, the full extent of my power of persuasion is now complete. With Stan dropping Bennett today, every team that I called out in my Clean Your Room segment last week has let someone go. Maybe this is due to the fact that they were obvious, poor performing, poor upside players, or maybe reading Scott Adams for the better part of a year has given me insight into persuasion that I never had before. In either case, it has given me things to think about as I continue to write on how people can improve their fantasy squads.
Small and Continuous Improvements
If you spend much time listening to Dr. Peterson at all, you hear his idea about the power of compound interest can apply to improving one's position in life. Even if you just make your life better 1% each day, the way that adds up can lead to massive changes and improvements. In a sense this works for fantasy as well, even small and minor tweaks on your roster can pay big dividends when it comes to the outlook of your fantasy team. I look at my own fantasy team, where early on this season my biggest issue was having a bench filled with under performers and washed up veterans that I couldn't rely on at all. Now, my bench has been filled with guys I can at least feel somewhat ok with starting, like Collins, Agholor or Brown, even if they're no one's definition of world beaters.
This probably seems like common sense to most people in this league, we certainly don't lack for waiver wire action, but I think it is still a point worth stressing. Mike in years past has gone from basement dweller to playoff contender due to a series of marginal improvements and shrewd moves. Travis this year could be another example of this process paying off.
It's also important to remember that this process isn't always linear; being active on the waiver wire means that at some point or another you will likely give up on a valuable player sooner than you should have. I gave up on Devin Funchess too early for example, but you shouldn't let this fear stop you from trying for those marginal improvements. I managed to replace Funchess with guys like Brown and Agholor, who had also been given up on by previous owners too quickly. Guys might bounce around to multiple teams before finally clicking, so it's worth it to take the shot when you can.
This isn't limited to the waiver wire either. Clarke has basically built his team on the back of small improvements over many, many trades. Getting an extra draft pick, or even moving up 2 or 3 slots in player rankings, can make a significant impact on the outlook of your roster. Mike and John's recent trade might be a good example of this. Brees and Prescott are pretty interchangeable in my mind, so while Marvin Jones might seem like little more than a throw in, he could be an important piece to Mike's team, especially if Tate deals with injury concerns for a time.
Unlike last week, I don't have list of actionable items for each team to take to improvement their position. I do have a general principle to encourage everyone to continue to pick up guys Gio Bernard and Ty Williams who might just be that piece to make you a little bit better.
Mr. Manager of the Week Award
It's going to my preseason darling Andrew this week. To have the record he has with the injuries he has has been quite the performance, and he deserves some recognition. It's all the more weird because Andrew has been incredible reluctant to make drastic roster moves in light of those injuries, but in some cases this has paid off. He held on to AP when plenty of other owners would have dropped him weeks ago, and he took the chance on Alex Smith, who hasn't let him down yet. There's a legitimate chance he beats Clarke this week, and it wouldn't totally surprise me if it happened.
On the Next Last Place Wisdom
It sure seems like a lot of time has passed since the last blog, but perhaps that's simply because personal and work circumstances have made for a couple of crazy weeks. From a technical perspective I couldn't be happier about how Election Day went, as it was nice for the months of hard work to pay off in a positive way. From a results perspective, I have no complaints or shock at the results either. There's not a lot of upset people or dramatic debates taking place in out city right now, so a pretty status quo council was to be expected.
In case you haven't realized it, the full extent of my power of persuasion is now complete. With Stan dropping Bennett today, every team that I called out in my Clean Your Room segment last week has let someone go. Maybe this is due to the fact that they were obvious, poor performing, poor upside players, or maybe reading Scott Adams for the better part of a year has given me insight into persuasion that I never had before. In either case, it has given me things to think about as I continue to write on how people can improve their fantasy squads.
Small and Continuous Improvements
If you spend much time listening to Dr. Peterson at all, you hear his idea about the power of compound interest can apply to improving one's position in life. Even if you just make your life better 1% each day, the way that adds up can lead to massive changes and improvements. In a sense this works for fantasy as well, even small and minor tweaks on your roster can pay big dividends when it comes to the outlook of your fantasy team. I look at my own fantasy team, where early on this season my biggest issue was having a bench filled with under performers and washed up veterans that I couldn't rely on at all. Now, my bench has been filled with guys I can at least feel somewhat ok with starting, like Collins, Agholor or Brown, even if they're no one's definition of world beaters.
This probably seems like common sense to most people in this league, we certainly don't lack for waiver wire action, but I think it is still a point worth stressing. Mike in years past has gone from basement dweller to playoff contender due to a series of marginal improvements and shrewd moves. Travis this year could be another example of this process paying off.
It's also important to remember that this process isn't always linear; being active on the waiver wire means that at some point or another you will likely give up on a valuable player sooner than you should have. I gave up on Devin Funchess too early for example, but you shouldn't let this fear stop you from trying for those marginal improvements. I managed to replace Funchess with guys like Brown and Agholor, who had also been given up on by previous owners too quickly. Guys might bounce around to multiple teams before finally clicking, so it's worth it to take the shot when you can.
This isn't limited to the waiver wire either. Clarke has basically built his team on the back of small improvements over many, many trades. Getting an extra draft pick, or even moving up 2 or 3 slots in player rankings, can make a significant impact on the outlook of your roster. Mike and John's recent trade might be a good example of this. Brees and Prescott are pretty interchangeable in my mind, so while Marvin Jones might seem like little more than a throw in, he could be an important piece to Mike's team, especially if Tate deals with injury concerns for a time.
Unlike last week, I don't have list of actionable items for each team to take to improvement their position. I do have a general principle to encourage everyone to continue to pick up guys Gio Bernard and Ty Williams who might just be that piece to make you a little bit better.
Mr. Manager of the Week Award
It's going to my preseason darling Andrew this week. To have the record he has with the injuries he has has been quite the performance, and he deserves some recognition. It's all the more weird because Andrew has been incredible reluctant to make drastic roster moves in light of those injuries, but in some cases this has paid off. He held on to AP when plenty of other owners would have dropped him weeks ago, and he took the chance on Alex Smith, who hasn't let him down yet. There's a legitimate chance he beats Clarke this week, and it wouldn't totally surprise me if it happened.
On the Next Last Place Wisdom
- The moves I subconsciously placed into your heads this post come to fruition.
- We wonder if anyone will be able to stop the Dumptruck
- I find myself with more time to devote to imparting fantasy wisdom after finishing my job at City Hall
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