News:

I remember well when I first caught the fantasy football bug. It was 2006 and I played in a league with a bunch of online gamers I knew. I had been enjoying watching NFL games for years but then this came along and it was like discovering you could put bacon in a grilled cheese sandwich. Like, why was I not doing this before?

It’s always nice to watch a genuinely good (or even just exciting) football game and it’s always nice to have a good fantasy week but every so often the two things align and it’s like grilled cheese with bacon. This Sunday and into Monday night, it became possible (at least for awhile) that I could actually end up with a first round bye. It didn’t happen but that time between “could happen” and “didn’t happen” is what it’s all about as far as I’m concerned.

In any event, congrats and good luck to those who locked down a spot in the top six and condolences to those whose dreams will need to wait another year.

Random Thought of the Week:

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes on the Yahoo league site, clicking on someone else’s matchup just takes you back to your own? I’ve had to resort to using StatTracker or the app.

Fantasy Shark Award of the Week:

Honourable mention to yours truly for rostering Charbonnet all season and starting him basically every week he was startable. The winner however is BK, who was also winner of the Guerendo sweepstakes and who did not waste time getting him into his line-up. In a pivotal win and you’re in scenario, he won and he’s in – now with an extra RB2 fresh and ready for a play-off run.

Guppy Award of the Week:

As BigPlay aptly noted, I’m more than a little confused by Mortley’s game plan this past week. He picked up Carr at noon on Sunday and put him in his line-up, while completely ignoring Roschon Johnson who had been declared out on Friday and had been knocked out of his previous game (literally and figuratively), to score a zero. Rather than drop someone Sunday and pick up another RB, he took a zero for the second consecutive week. It’s not like he forgot. It’s not that he couldn’t have won. It’s not that BK couldn’t have lost. It’s not that he couldn’t have won a tiebreaker. Enquiring minds want to know…

Smack Talk Award of the Week:

I always appreciate it when the Piper spins us up some lyrics. I also appreciate his salesmanship towards the consolation bracket but I think I still have to give the nod to Neil who dropped some original content in the form of snow pics and also nominated the Champ for the Lady Byng award. Don’t ask me why he spelled it with an eye.

Ceilidh is quiet to be sure but I would argue Brian might be more deserving. Can you get any more gentlemanly than taking a knee and giving your fellow league mate a play-off spot? I think not. That said, if Ceilidh is truly deserving of the Lady Byng, she can prove it this week by benching JJ and Kyren…

Welcome to Fantasy Hell Award of the Week:

It would be hard to convince me you can be more snake bit than the Piper this year. CMC was finally put out of his misery and as if that’s not enough, he’s had to watch Guerendo (who he had earlier in the year) take over on someone else’s team. He held on all year watching the likes of Bucky Irving and others take the torch from failing hands. If there’s any justice, he’ll put together a run and take the Porcelain Throne of Flatulence this year.