Last Place Wisdom: The End of a Decade

Last Place Wisdom has been conspicuously absent for some time now, but with the Championship soon to be decided, I felt like a rundown on the state of the league is in order. The last time I wrote, I was extolling the virtue of tuxedo Pepe and the good fortune he was sure to bring to my fantasy team. For all my bluster at the time, I knew I basically would have needed to win out to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, that did not happen, which let my avatar to become something more appropriate to my feelings on fantasy football at the time. But despite how tiresome fantasy football can be when you’re losing, there deserves to be another blog post before we crown the 2019 champion. This is going to be rapid fire, in order for me to cover off as much ground as I can.

·      We’re going to have a new league champion, which I personally find exciting and good for the league as a whole.

·         Shayne’s the undeniable favourite; everything kind of came together for him this season with Jackson, Ingram, Ekeler and Waller joining what was an already strong core of players. I’m not sure how I will feel if Shayne wins, his yearly rants after experiencing fantasy disappointment has become a league staple, however his reaction after winning it all might be just as good.

·         Brett only narrowly snuck into the playoffs, but his team has overcome adversity and disappointment in getting here. As the person in the league that I know the least, I have less strong feelings about him winning, but he’s been a solid member of the league ever since taking over his team and it would be well deserved if it happens.

·         I should’ve provided an update on my team after missing the playoffs; my team just wasn’t good enough this year and the league is so competitive you have to consistently be either lucky or good in order to make the playoffs. Yes, trading Jacobs and Brown for Mixon didn’t help, but it wasn’t the difference between making the playoffs or not (at least Mixon vindicated me a little by the end of the season). My real downfall was inconsistent QB play and the inability to find a flex player I could rely on.

·         Speaking of needing to be both lucky and good, no one shows that better than Dawson who probably has the 2^nd best roster at this point, but missed the playoffs after getting unlucky and losing plenty of close games. Dawson didn’t even face horrible luck in having teams score a whole bunch of points on him, he just needed to have one game break his way and it didn’t happen.

·         John continued his regular run of playing the highest league score in the semi-finals; this is now the 3^rd year in a row it has happened. It really needs no further elaboration at this point, John hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2013 but the ultimate prize has eluded him.

·         Since my last post, there has been plenty I could have written about if I was at the point in my life where long, highly detailed blog posts were a regular occurrence. My sports team won a Championship for the first time since I was ~6 (you might remember me raising that point in previous LPWs regarding why we love sports at all). I was rejected from my “dream job” (that I could have realistically been selected for), bringing up shades of bucket lists and professional goals. Maybe these points will make their way to the blog at some point in the future, or maybe it will take a future real-life bonezone for them to fully get their due.

·         2019 was a new low for me in terms of seeing new movies that were released this year; I plan on continuing my tradition and writing a rundown of my top 5 films of 2019 (which happen to be my only 5 films of the year, unless I decide to go watch Star Wars between now and then.) Spoiler alert, Joker is #1, and I’ve already written quite a bit about it if you’re part of #bonezone, however I continue to think about the film so maybe I’ll still come up with something exciting.

·         I literally just realized that after the Championship this year, this will be 10 years of the TFLOEG being in existence. I feel like the 10^th anniversary should have received a little more fanfare on draft day, but in any case I think it calls for some proper reminiscing which I’ll do at a later date. But as the last Last Place Wisdom, before the last game, in the first decade in our league, I wanted to take a moment to mention how much I appreciate everything and everyone that the league brings to my life in particular. I know how hard it is to maintain firm, meaningful institutions and friendships in the face of modern pressures, responsibilities and the demands on each one of us, but in its own little way I think TFLOEG has managed to do that. I have to say that seeing a Slack notification come up; whether it’s football, shinfo, meme or bonezone related, it has truly become one of the highlights of my typical days. Thanks for taking part in it for so long, for committing to something bigger than yourself, and for hopefully having as much fun doing it as I have.

On the Next Last Place Wisdom

• All I want for Christmas now, is for there to be a TFLOEG 10 year anniversary spectacular Podcast featuring a wide range of special guests and blasts from the past, before John goes off gallivanting (or at least before year 11). I’m willing to help make this a thing.