Monday, 8/20/2018
6:07pm
My dad leans back in his chair at the kitchen table, wipes his mouth with a napkin, and drops this bomb on me: “My fantasy football draft is this Saturday! I’ll have to draft from Vermont.”
My heart drops. No, I knew my dad was in a fantasy league, he’s been in one since 2006. High stakes, same group of guys since the 90’s, $1,000 buy-in. Serious stuff. No, it wasn’t that he was going to be in Vermont for the weekend either. I knew that. My sister was being dropped off for her final year at school, and they would be gone all weekend. No. When he drops this thing on me, it made me realize that it was already late-August, and I hadn’t even had a thought about my own fantasy implications in the fall.
I have been playing fantasy football every year since the 8th grade. I’m hooked. Why? Because I’m really good at it. My friends stopped playing with me because every year, I’d take their money and they’d never see it again. It’s not even that I read every blog and article and try to out-smart the room. Here’s the kicker: I go off of pure intuition. Yeah, I check some background stuff to make sure that I’m not going to draft a third string perennial ACL rupture candidate. But for the most part, if I like a guy, I draft him/play him.
Here’s a stat. For the past 6 years, I’ve played in 8 leagues, won 5 league titles, and have had a record of 91 wins and 19 losses. My worst year came when I went 7-7 in my inaugural campaign, winning that year’s championship.
I’m not here bragging about all this because I want to impress you, or make you think I’m a stupid prick. I desperately needed to find a league, because time was running out. And God-forbid, if I ever went a year without playing fantasy football, my head would explode.
Tuesday, 8/21/2018
9:35 am
I decided to make a Yahoo! account and start fresh. New site, new rules, new people. I want to be in a league that’s worth something, that requires me to gamble a bit. Why? It’s fun, and who doesn’t like a little heart racing experience when it’s the fourth quarter of Monday Night Football and you need your #2 running back to get you 4 more points? I pour myself a glass of grape soda and get myself all situated.
9:36 am
I just spit out my grape soda. Holy shit was it flat! Besides, who the hell drinks soda at 9 in the morning? I’ll spend my evening doing a little research. Not too much, (remember what I said yesterday). In the meantime, I’m going to go eat a bagel and brush my teeth before they rot out.
Wednesday 8/22/18
8:35 am
So, after doing a little research last night, I think I have my overall draft strategy. I think I’m drafting running back in the first 2 rounds, getting two wide receivers, my tight end, and then pray that Drew Brees is on the board. In my league a passing touchdown is only worth 4. This values passing yards over passing touchdowns, so someone who accumulates that stat like there’s no tomorrow is more valuable. If he’s gone, I may wait until the last 3 rounds to grab my QB. You’d be surprised about how many solid guys there are in late rounds (Phillip Rivers, Matt Stafford, Ryan Tannehill). Again, I don’t want to disrupt my philosophy, and over think this. I won’t give this much thought until tomorrow at 5 when we draft.
Thursday 8/23/18
2:31pm
So, change of plans. My draft is actually scheduled for 11pm instead of 5 so yay me! I’ll make a cup of extra strong dark roast and be prepared to be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 1am to draft my kicker… yay….
10:44pm
I’m about to enter the draft room. I pick third, and by the looks of it, I’m going to draft Todd Gurley if he’s still available. If not, I’ll shoot for an Ezekiel Elliott or a David Johnson. We’ll see…
Friday 8/24/2018
8:49 AM
Draft went pretty well last night. Due to an auto draft snafu I selected TE Delanie Walker a few rounds early. Not a big deal, I have a solid well-rounded team.
QB: Matt Ryan
RB: Devante Adams
RB: Amari Cooper
WR: Ezekiel Elliot
WR: Jordan Howard
TE: Kyle Rudolph
FLEX: Lamar Miller
K: Dan Bailey
D/ST: Los Angeles Chargers
BE: Delanie Walker
BE: Carson Wentz
BE: Robby Anderson
BE: Tarik Cohen
BE: D.J. Moore
Here’s to three weeks of needlessly tweaking and messing around with before the season starts!
Sunday 8/26/18
This will probably be my last entry for August, but I wanted to share my Yahoo! draft grade. So according to them, I had a C draft. I honestly think that’s a load of bull, but I’m hoping that I can prove them wrong. I’m strong at running back, quarterback, and wide receiver. As long as I don’t start anyone on a bye week, I’ll win my fair share of games.
Danny Lovell – Contributor – WTF Sports
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