News:

Didn’t we have us a time? Were you not entertained? I know I was.

Three contests in Clan McDonald with play-off implications came down to the wire. The thrill of victory (maybe even the surprise of victory?) and most definitely the bitter sting of defeat. Dispassionately, we know Thursday night counts the same as what happens Monday night. There is no “in the lead” or “coming from behind” but it’s impossible to resist the allure of that artificial drama. It’s been a minute since I’ve stayed up late on a Sunday or Monday night to watch the last of my (or my opponent’s) hope extinguish but I certainly have done it a time or two.

In league news, Yahoo won’t speculate in odds or probabilities so mathematically, ten teams are still alive with two weeks to go. Factoring in points (which as far as I know is the tiebreaker used to determine who makes the play-offs) Grid and the Brown Dawgs are basically in now. That leaves seven teams and three spots I think. Things may look a bit clearer this time next week but I would bet against it looking entirely clear.

One more housekeeping item: Remember there are three Thursday games and also a “Black Friday” game this week!

Random Thought of the Week:

It should come as no surprise that Yahoo’s wording is a bit confusing on tiebreakers. As a reminder, here’s how I understand it. Ranking determines the order of standings in the regular season, including who gets into the play-offs at the end of Week 14. Teams are ranked according to record (win percentage), followed by total points for. This is not an editable setting by commissioners, so it applies to all Yahoo leagues.

Once the play-offs begin, it’s different. A play-off tie (however unlikely) is broken by determining which team has the best regular season record against their play-off opponent.

Our league is set to use play-off reseeding, which is a small way of rewarding the teams with the best regular season records. As far as the value goes, my opinion (based on purely anecdotal evidence) is that reseeding makes very little difference in the grand scheme of things. Teams can stagger into the play-offs on their last legs with a great win-loss record. Teams can also steamroll into the last play-off spot on a hot streak. Add injuries and the like, there’s often little correlation between seeding and which teams are actually the best teams.

Shark Move of the Week:

This is a tough week for choosing award winners in Clan McDonald because while we had teams that made good, impactful line-up choices, we also had teams that underperformed as a whole. We also had a fair number of teams whose line-up choices seemed heavily influenced by the number of players they had on bye. Did I start Keenan Allen because I’m a genius or because I didn’t have anyone else? The obvious answer is “yes”.

In the end I decided to give the Shark award to Ken. There was the high score but also Bucky Irving who’s been “okay” but was far more than okay this week. He also had alternatives to Bucky (unlike many of us). Congrats Ken!

Guppy Move of the Week:

To continue with a theme I touched on last week, I am giving the award to a number of us who did a pretty dreadful job of managing Week 12 byes. This happens easily enough and it happens every year but it’s especially bad when it’s this late in the season, you’re fighting for your play-off life and projections have you in a 51% / 49% contest with your weekly opponent yet you have five or six players on bye. I realize the NFL schedule is weird this year and Week 12 had a crazy number of teams off but for those of us who end up missing the play-offs by a game, it’s going to be hard not to look back at Week 12 and wonder what might have been.

Smack Talk Award of the Week:

I’m thrilled by just how hard you made this decision this week. Neil pointing out that I lost by a single drop of Guinness was some pretty funny shit but was it a drop of Guinness or a single salty tear? Neil also sorta called the goose egg from Quentin Johnston, which is something I wouldn’t have been able to say out loud within earshot of the fantasy gods. Andy did some great work this week and Grid jumped in as well but in the end, who can resist a good dick joke as Mooglar deftly pointed out how Neil’s johnson came up more like a mini-sizzler. Where’s that little powder blue pill when you need it?

Welcome to Fantasy Hell Award of the Week:

I’m not sure it’s possible to isolate a single dismal achievement from the healthy list of dismal achievements we managed this week. Wasting a 50-burger from Barkley is some legendary, fantasy hell hall of fame level shit. Quentin putting the cherry on top with that dropped pass was like watching Jean van de Velde on the 18th hole at the ’99 British Open (anyone feeling old?).

That said, has anyone ever lost or won a fantasy matchup by less than 0.06 points? I’m not going to attempt to look that up. I’m just going to say “no”.

On Thursday I was mentally prepared to get dunked on this week. No Chase, no Kamara, playing the first place team who was projected to win by 20 points? Yeah, good luck. I set my line-up and started thinking ahead to Week 13 but then the fantasy gods had to get involved. “Let’s give this chump some false hope”, they said. And by Sunday night, they did – and then they took it away.

Oh well, on to Week 13…