Ermgah already timez?

As I wait for the football season to begin, I have decided to return from a hiatus of blogging to try and inject a dose of renewed interest in this game that we call FF NU THANG.

It still intrigues me that there are people on this planet that find enough pleasure from reading this blog that they would demand I do it more and eagerly await the return of my writing.  The fact that I can count the number of these people with one hand does not take away from how honored I feel that my work is appreciated by at least two or three people.

So it's time to bring back the #LULZ and do a happy dab dance.

I will also give a shout out to Jeff, who held down the blogging fort two seasons ago.  I was reading some of his blog posts from before, and they were lit.  Bomb.  He kept it 100.  Did I use those right?  Instead of my Panthers-centric point of view and constant references to the NBA because the NFL is so daggum boring, he provided in-depth knowledge about the NFL in its entirety (and even knew the coaches names??).  And his usage of gifs?  Lit. Bomb. 100.  Inspiring enough for me to learn how to make my own gifs (see below.. and future posts heheheheheh).

Anyways, for those of you still reading, I present to you the four main questions I have before entering into the 2017-2018 FF NU THANG season with ado no further:

1. Wait, who won last year?

Oh yeah, I cared so much I almost forgot.

And to win 2 championships in the past 4 years is as close to an FF NU THANG dynasty as anyone can lay claim to, besides the questionable back-to-back championships David Lin had in the so-called Fantasy dark ages (Lin, 2013).

So, congrats Gabs.  You have achieved somewhere above Seattle Seahawks status and below New England Pooptriots status.

2. Rule changes?  What rule changes??

Ladies and gents, the results are in:

This came as no surprise to me, since we've used Yahoo for so long, and in spite of its shortcomings and questionable security measures, it's hard to break old habits.  Plus, Russians ain't got nothin' on Murca.  Except Piroshkies - those are bomb.com.ru

Also, no surprise here.  The move to auction two years ago seems to still be a big hit, and the flexibility to be able to draft David Johnson, Antonio Brown, AND Le'Veon Bell has been appreciated by at least Aaron.  Plus, it keeps people engaged during the whole draft.  Unless you're Aaron, in which you are only engaged at the very beginning and the very end.

A total split.  See - everyone's vote counts!  Democracy still works.  In fantasy [football].  What this means is since the old rules were 6 points for throwing TDs, and there was not a majority to change that rule, we'll keep it at 6 points for throwing TDs.  Clearly, the Pig's arguments were not strong enough to convince the masses.

In terms of impact on the game - I would agree that QBs have gotten a boost in points since the NFL has shifted to a pass-happy league, but it's not like people were paying top dollar for QBs in the past two years' drafts.  Just last year, Andrew outbid everyone (mainly me) and got Cam for $38, which was the highest amount paid for a QB last year.. wait wait I have something for this..

..while WR DeAndre Hopkins went for $70 (#LULZ @ David Lin aka RIP Kobe - it was a good career, but sorrynotsorry for ending it with your team at dead last instead of out with a bang) and RB David Johnson went for $66 (ok, actually a good pick, Aaron).  Furthermore, Cam was probably valued higher for his ability to run in TDs, not just to pass.  So really, switching to 4 point throwing TDs would only give running QBs a bigger advantage, and the impact of that change wouldn't have been as great as some might have thought.  Ultimately, the scoring would just normalize itself out.  It's all relative right?  If your QB gets less points, so does mine.  Unless he's Cam Newton.. of 2015.

Finally, we get to an actual rule change!  Fun fact - if we had implemented the 6-team playoff rule last year, David Li would have been champion instead of Gabs, because he wouldn't have had to face Duke in Week 15, since Duke (who finished 2nd) wouldn't have even made the playoffs.  The way I saw it, it really came down to this: Were we going to take a March Madness approach and give the VCUs and Butlers of our league a chance to make the championship game (read: Duke deserved to finish 2nd), or the College Football Playoff approach where a single loss during the regular season could make or break your playoff hopes, and leave the playoffs to the powerhouses of the season (read: Duke had no business being in the playoffs)?  I personally preferred the former, because my team has historically been one of the ones fighting for the 7th or 8th spot.  But I can see the value in being more selective and rewarding a good regular season performance with a bye for the 1 and 2 seeds.  I'm ok with this change, and hope it will make people fight a little harder during the regular season.

It looks like we will have a Sacko.  For the record, there was someone who did not vote "yes" or "no" but still put a Sacko punishment in "other" and therefore I am counting that vote as a "yes."  The Sacko punishment sounds interesting, and makes sense, but may be difficult to implement.  Here were the suggestions for a punishment:

• If there's someone (like Steve) who wants in, last place would sit out a season
• Buys Bojangles for everyone
• Winner picks outfit for loser to wear for a weekend
• Winner picks a new team name for loser to use the entire next season
• Designated blogger for next season
• 3 options from winner, voted on by league
• Up for anything

Here are my opinions on the suggestions:

• Last place sitting out for a season seems like too harsh a punishment.  That could just be me, though.  In terms of implementation, that would be easy.  In terms of motivating teams to not tank, it would likely work.  In terms of implications for our league.. just seems a bit too mean.
• Buying Bojangles sounds good to me.  The downside is implementation.  How are you going to get those Cali folks to buy us NC folks fried chicken?  Or those folks up north?
• Winner picks outfit sounds good and funny, but implementation becomes another issue.  Just how are we supposed to ensure that he or she wears said outfit for a whole weekend?
• Winner picks a team name for loser sounds like an implementable punishment, but is it punishment enough to motivate people to try not to get last if they are on that path?  It seems too mild.
• Designated blogger for next season.  Forget about trying to implement this - blogging is harder than you think, and whoever gets Sacko might not even get past the first blog post.
• The last two suggestions are too broad to comment on.

So it seems like the most intriguing option so far, in my opinion, is kicking last place out of the league for a season, but my gut reaction is that it's too harsh.  I'm surprised no one mentioned taking away auction draft money or FAAB money for the following season, or increasing the actual buy-in amount for just the Sacko for the following year.  We can continue this discussion about what the punishment should be, but something will need to be decided before draft day. 

3. How will Laura fare after a 4-year hiatus from FF?

I will admit that I'm somewhat sad to see David Lin leave our league.  It was fun making fun of how bad his team did, since he was previously so dominant and invested.  Kind of like Kobe's last year (refer to above) - it was both sad and amusing.

However, it has only made way for Laura's exciting re-entry into our league.  It's only been one year of separation from blogging for me, and I already feel my writing bones creaking.  I can't imagine trying to get back into the league after 4 years.  She says she played pick 'em, but I don't even know what that is.  And after she explained it to me, I'm not convinced it will be of any help in her return.  She also has the fact that she's never won a regular season or playoff championship in her tenure with our league working against her.

However, I know that Laura will return with a renewed focus, and if she is able to get over the initial adjustment to the league's rule changes, she'll be a dark horse this season.  I mean, she's already asked me for the past two years' draft results so she can study up on them before this year's showdown.  I told her what's going to happen, though: Aaron is going to spend all his money on three players, while Justina and I just sit back and save our moniez for the mid-level fliers - we will still have $200 when Aaron has $12 left to spend on 12 players.


4. Who will win this year?

Statistically speaking, the playoff champion will likely be someone who has never won it before.  To date, the title of playoff champion has only been enjoyed by less than half of the current members of our league: Luke, Eric, Gabs, Justina, and Andrew.  That leaves 7 other teams thirsty for the promised land, and something tells me this is David Li's year.  He's improved in leaps and bounds since he first joined the league, and I doubt he wants to have Justina constantly lording the fact that she's got more FF HOPKINSBLING than he does.  Because I would if I had one.  So my pick based on absolutely nothing is the Tortoise.  Slow and steady.