I began drafting my ten teams this past Monday, June 1st. I started in the morning. The first two teams I drafted went over well. No problems. Everyone getting along and talking football - as it should be!
Then came the next three drafts for that day. BABAM! SMACK! KAPOW!
The next thing I know I was under attack. People I don't know insulting me, telling me I ain't shit and that I suck and ..... even one dumb-ass threatened me with bodily harm. I offered to give the guy my address via email if he sent a request for it. He didn't bite. Anyhow, I did report him and now he is banned from all of his teams for one year. I personally didn't care about the threat, there's not many who can take me one on one in a physical fight. I'm six foot three inches tall and know martial arts, boxed in youth as an amateur, wrestled in high school one year, so yeah, I know how to fight. But I did see the opportunity to teach him a lesson about running your "keyboard" mouth. Hopefully, he will learn from this. I doubt it though.
Anyhow, I couldn't believe the amount of hate I was getting from people I have never encountered before. Turns out my reputation as a FF player has spread further than I ever knew. You see, after the season I had last year and the year before, people are either "gunning" for me or "running" from me. Meaning they either welcome the challenge of playing against me or they don't want anything to do with me. Either way, some are very nasty about it on both ends.
Last year I played ten teams. Nine of them made the playoffs. All nine that made the playoffs went on to play in their league championship game. Three of the nine won their league championship. The year before, I played only five teams in ESPN leagues, but four of them made the playoffs and three of them went on to play in (and two won) their league championship. That's fifteen teams, thirteen playoffs, twelve championship games and five champions. In 2013 I also played an additional 7 teams in two other leagues (Yahoo! and CBS). Four of them made playoffs and three won their league championship.
That's a lot of success at a stupid little game. And let's make no mistake here, Fantasy Football is just a stupid little game to waste time with. But don't tell some people because for some, it's a matter of life and death. Seriously.
You can play for fun or you can play for money. These-days, I play for fun.
But yeah, the last three drafts on Monday I had a total of five people give me all kinds of hell just because I have won so much the past two years. The normal percentile of winning (making the playoffs) is right around 30 or 40 percent. I have been in the 80 percentile lately. And getting a team into a championship game is about 10 to 20 percent. Mine is right around 85 - 90 percent. Granted, my percentile in winning a championship is about 20 to 30 percent. Last year it was 33 percent. (3 of 9) or if you include the team that didn't make the playoffs, which I do, it is 30 percent exactly.
The previous year (2013) I had 8 of 12 teams make the playoffs, with six of them making the league championships and five of them winning it all.
I do not expect to continue this hot streak. And let's just call it what it really is - LUCK! - and nothing more. Of course, I give myself a great chance of winning by knowing who the better players are and everything, but it's still all just luck.
I do have a process that I go through and have been using this "method" to better drafting. It includes doing research on every team in the league and grading positions. I write them down and then make notes of their top five players. From there I put together a list of all the players I am willing to draft in each round. It normally goes from five to seven players a round. I draft as according to the final list. Then I number them in order and I go from there. But this year, the last three drafts on Monday and into the first two drafts of the day on Tuesday, jealous people did their best to knock me off my game. They somehow knew the players I was interested in and they quickly tried to draft them before I could.
They may have done their homework on me from my teams last year and my mock drafts this year. In one draft (an auction draft), I managed to get both of my top 2 quarterbacks. (Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers) This got some people very angry. You see, in an auction draft, everyone gets 200 fantasy dollars to spend on players. I got Luck for 26 dollars and Rodgers for 28. In contrast, running-back Eddie Lacy was bought for 54 dollars in that draft.
But my method doesn't include getting the top 2 QB's of the NFL. It mostly revolves around a core of 8 players. (1 solid QB, 4 top RB's, and 3 middle of the road wide receivers.) Then you place them around 8 other useable players including a top 10 Defense, a top 10 kicker and a pair of decent tight-ends. And basically, depth.
But I go for players that "I want" and that means for the most part, I rarely ever make trades. I might make at least one or two trades all year combined from all ten teams. Last year was a fluke and I made about one trade per team. (10 total combined) But hey, people offered me some really good deals. They offered people from my list.
The point is, all of this bullying and abuse didn't have to occur but there are so many stupid and hateful people out there that they don't realize that if they only asked me for my advice or something, I would happily share my method with them. But last year I was attacked by one bully and now this year, it was seven so far with one of them getting a one year ban. This doesn't have to be like this.
Anyhow, they didn't accomplish what it was they set out to do - knock me off my game - I still came away with some pretty good players on all of my teams. The thing about my method that works so effectively is, I can win with just about any QB, WR and TE, Def/SPT and K. The primary keys are RB's, and depth. If you got four top 15-or 20 RB's and you have good depth, you have a shot of winning. The only element you cannot acquire is, luck. (Unless it's Andrew Luck - lol) But you make your own luck with knowledge and confidence. But basically, I don't really care that much if my teams win or lose, I just enjoy playing the game. And that's where I hold the advantage over everyone in fantasy football.
Pictured at top left is the roster of one of my teams, Columbus Bandits. Because I stick closely to my list, all of my teams have about 12 same players on them. They are closely connected. I stick with my formula 80 percent of the time. Consistency is crucial for me. I am a creature of habit in FF.
Thankfully, the final three drafts on Tuesday went without incident. Everyone was friendly again. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil a good time. But when it comes to the internet, there are bullies everywhere, I am finding out. While I don't know what makes them tick, a part of me is saying that I never want to find out. Dark places are not the place to be snooping around. And inside the mind of a bully or hateful person, is a very dark and dangerous place.
I will keep playing because I enjoy playing FF. Only when I tire of the game itself will I stop playing, and consequently, probably stop watching real football. But for now, the bullies are just gonna have to give me their best shot. It probably won't change anything, but hey, the only way to shut up a bully is to stand up to them. And the best revenge against these nut jobs I have encountered this year in the drafts, is to win. Winning cures everything and - best of all - pisses off the nasty boys even more. lol
I guess next year in the drafts it will be an all out war. Better get my game face on.
i think this has to do with something that happened about five years ago remember that?
ReplyDeleteYes I do remember that. That explains a lot. Thanks for the comment.
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