[League update] 2012: Year in Review

Blaupunkt (aka Matt)

It's time to crown another league champion.

Blaupunkt held off a late comeback to upset heavily-favored Correctamundo 90.5-87.78 in the Royale with Cheese championship game.

Blaupunkt coasted along in second place the entire season, quietly sticking behind a dominant Correctamundo. He easily took care of his first round game and, in an interview before championship weekend, felt confident that he could take down the team that had lost just one week all year.

Blaupunkt jumped out to a sizable lead early. Coming into Sunday's final game, Blaupunkt had a 28-point lead and looked like he would easily take the title. Correctamundo only had a running back - Marshawn Lynch - left. But Lynch made it interesting. He scored a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards.

Behind Lynch's 25 points, Correctamundo got within three points of Blaupunkt, but no closer.

This marks the first time in the short history of the league that the regular season champion did not go on to win the league championship. (Taking it to the next level won both last year.) But this was even more surprising (to me at least) because of the way Correctamundo dominated the league all year.

Blaupunkt asked after he won if he could get a real trophy, which is something I had considered. So I'm putting out a call: Let me know if you have an especially heinous trophy that we could pass around. It could be football, but doesn't have to be. We could change out the nameplate on it with a suitable trophy name. (If you have ideas for a good trophy name, also let me know.)




Some other notables from this season:

• Correctamundo was the league's top point scorer with 1,431.28. That is seven less than last year's high by Gangster Teddy Bears (now Team Squirrel Gravy).
• The best single week performance this year was Blaupunkt's 144 points in Week 2. 
• The best single-player performance in a week this year came during PerpetualMotionSquad's' resurgence when Doug Martin (RB, Tampa Bay) scored 51.2 points.
• Blaupunkt gets the most improved player award for going from next to last in 2011 to league champion this year.
• PerpetualMotionSquad, which conveniently shortens to PMS, wins my same-season comeback player of the year award. PMS languished at the bottom of the league for the first third of the season until I finally taught him how to play.
  
  He shot up the standings in the second half of the season and barely missed the playoffs. I'm interested to see how he fares in his second year. 
• Also, a shoutout to the ladies in this league, who may be more competitive than anyone else. I'm pretty sure most of the trash talk that came my way this year was from them, even from within my own house. Well done, ladies. 

This season felt very different from last, in a good way. We added 4 teams, which made the league more competitive. It seemed like positions 3-14 were virtually tied each week. One loss late in the season could mean the difference between playing in the championship bracket and not making the playoffs. 

We learned - a little late - that having a blog, Twitter and using video chats could make this a whole lot more fun and competitive. Never hurts to have more ways to interact and talk trash on Sundays and throughout the week. 

We (or I) also learned some lessons. Having two running back slots is hard with 14 teams. We'll adjust that next year. More to come on that in the summer. 

There is no plan to add more teams. We'd have to have an even number 16 is too much. There is a chance that a team will drop out and be replaced, but we'll stick with the 14 number. 

I had an absolute blast this year, and I hope you did, too. We're learning how to make this a great league together and I appreciate any input or criticism you guys have. 

Happy New Year! 

Corey

[Video] Championship preview: Conversation with Blaupunkt

I sat down with Blaupunkt Friday afternoon for the second part of our championship game preview!

We talk about how he feels playing Correctamundo, how he coasted along all season in second place and why he has three quarterbacks on the roster.

We worked hard to make this happen for two days (apparently Hangouts on Air don't like Apple mobile devices), so please watch! And thanks to Matt for taking time out of his convention in Chicago to record this.

Enjoy!


See my conversation with Correctamundo here.

[League update] We goin' to the Ship!

[Note: Sorry for the lack of an update last week. I was going to have a post and video for you Wednesday night, but my dog decided to go missing for 26 hours. We got her back safe and sound, but I was in no place to write about fantasy football. I hope you'll forgive me. ~Corey]

And then there were two. 

It all comes down to this. 

The final battle. 

One ring to rule them all. 

There we go. It feels good to get the cliches out.

One more week. It's flown by, hasn't it? It feels like just yesterday that we were huddled in front of our computers drafting players and making fun of Eve for selecting Michael Vick. But we have arrived at Championship Week.

Correctamundo has taken his rightful place in the championship game after Tom Brady helped him fight off a pesky Taking it to the next level. He'll face Blaupunkt, who beat Academic Probation and has quietly held on to second place in the league all year.

In the consolation final we have yours truly, who beat Chicks Dig Scars thanks to a (rare) long Chris Johnson run Monday night. (She wasn't very nice to me on Twitter during the game, thus the Vick joke above.)

He will face Big Kahuna Burger, who bent Something over a stool and spanked him until he called her "Daddy."

For Something's remarkably pathetic performance, he earned the first "Something's Rotten" award. I mean, you have to try to score 38 points with just one inactive player. It's impressive, like when the Panthers blow an 11 point lead against the Bucs in 4 minutes.

Congratulations on that and still having the worst team name in the league.

No Thursday night games this week, but the Falcons do play the Lions on Saturday night. Set your lineups accordingly.

Since this is the last league update before then, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Hope Santa gives you everything you asked for. Unless your name is Katie and you asked for a fantasy football win.

[Video] Championship preview: Interview with Correctamundo

I talked to Correctamundo Wednesday night to preview this weekend's league championship game. We talked about how it felt to win the regular season, his one loss, his close playoff win and how he feels getting ready for the championship game.

Check out a video of the interview below!

Look out for an interview with his opponent, Blaupunkt, coming soon.

[League update] Week 13: The Dream Crusher

I'll admit it. I may have gone a little overboard with the email a couple days ago.

I had just been waiting so long for the day that Correctamundo lost. And it finally came.

I have to say it was a little less sweet because the team that beat him didn't even play an active quarterback. That's like fumbling right to a teammate for a game winning touchdown.

But it happened. It also spawned a new award, named after the victor: The Dream Crusher (I couldn't have scripted that better).

The Dream Crusher will be an annual award given to the team that beats the last remaining undefeated team, assuming a team makes it to at least 6-0.

I know it's crazy, but there is only one more week left in the league. One more week for 7-6 teams and 6-7 teams to make a case for one of the eight championship or consolation playoff sports.

REMINDER: The tiebreaker is total points for.

This week's Thursday night game is the Broncos and the Raiders. Set your lineups accordingly.

Also, you may have noticed that I created a Twitter account for the league. Yes, I'm a massive nerd. But I think we could have some fun with that. I followed most of you, but if you have Twitter and I missed you, it's @RoyaleWCheeseFB.

I'm taking suggestions for what the profile picture should be. Fire away.

Good luck.

[League update] Week 12: Flacco to the rescue-o

Having your fantasy football fate hinging on Joe Flacco in overtime is a scary thing. Luckily for me, it worked out. So let's start this week's email with a big ol' "you got lucky" to me for beating Something by just 1.6 points and being the lowest-scoring winner this week.

I'll take it.

It just got real in our standings. Four people are tied for the fourth championship playoff spot. Five people are tied for the four consolation bracket spots.

Kudos to both Academic Probation and PerpetualMotionSquad, who are both on 5 game win streaks and have jumped up in the standings. Academic Probation was also this week's top scorer with 120 points.

And Kudos to Blaupunkt, who had the gall to put Cam Newton and RGIII on his bench in lieu of -- wait for it, Colin Kaepernick. (Cam was playing the Eagles. I could score four touchdowns on that JV defense.)

This week's Thursday night game: Saints and Falcons. And the biggest joke of a football game is Sunday when the Chiefs face the Panthers. Check out the ticket prices on StubHub for that one. Set your lineups accordingly.

Good luck! Only two weeks left!

Corey

P.S. Oh yeah. Correctamundo won. Whoop-de-do.

[League update] Week 11: How the other half lives

Your fearless leader is in the bottom half of the league. I know ... I know it's scary. I'm tied with friggin' PerpetualMotionSquad.

But have no fear. In our league, one game can change anything. I'm really just one of six teams tied for fifth. I'm only two games out of third.

I can't mess around any longer, though. There are three weeks left in the season. Three weeks to work your way into a playoff spot.

A note about the playoffs: I've set it so that the tiebreaker in the standings is your "Points for," to reward the teams that have had the best lineups.

Congrats to PerpetualMotionSquad for scoring a league high 111 points last week. And now he's texting me and talking trash. Katie, this is your fault for making me text him about setting his lineup.

And a super "You got lucky" to Correctamundo, who won with 77 points, just two more than Chicks Dig Scars. You have no idea how ready I was to send out the email when Correctamundo lost. I was like a kid at Christmas, thinking of all the puns and jokes I could make. But alas. ...

At this point I'm pulling for him to go undefeated. Then lose in the first round. It would be so sweet ...

Anyway, this week is Turkey Week so there are three games Thursday: Texans and Lions at 12:30, Redskins and Cowboys at 4:15, and Patriots and Jets in the night game. Set your lineups accordingly.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. And good luck this week.

Corey

[League update] Week 10: Sulking, blind squirrels and whatnot

I apologize for not sending out my weekly note before last night's game. I was too busy sulking after losing to Courtney.

Congrats to Correctamundo (and Big Kahuna Burger) for getting married and continuing to kick our asses. He had 108 points, the most of anyone last week.

The Dream Chasers squeaked by with 64 points. Yes, you got lucky.

And congrats to PerpetualMotionSquad, lending credence to the idea that if you actually pay attention and set your lineup, you will win games. He's won three in a row and has gone from last to 10th in the standings.

Speaking of standings ... The difference between 2nd place and 12th place is three games. Crazy. Five people are currently tied for 8th place.

So take your time setting lineups this weekend. These games are really starting to matter.

Good luck,

Corey

[League update] Week 9: The benching of Eli

Eli, Eli, Eli ... what are we going to do with you? Put you on the friggin' fantasy bench, that's what! THREE POINTS? 125 yards and a pick? You have to try to be that bad. You know who I'm starting instead? Joe "Oh no" Flacco. Enough said.

Big congrats to PerpetualMotionSquad for scoring a league-high 131 points. I'm glad that he's finally learned how to play fantasy football. Too bad he's still in last place.

No "you got lucky" award this week because everyone that won had a respectable score. Well done, guys.

The standings are really interesting. Aside from Correctamundo -- who we should all be calling Daddy by now -- the standings are really close. We have four teams tied for third at 5-4, three tied for seventh at 4-5 and the rest of the league tied at 3-6.

We're past the midway point of the fantasy season, so these games really matter.

And I'm playing Courtney this week. This is your one warning to set your lineup. No more help from me.

Tonight's game is the Colts at the Jags. Set your lineup accordingly.

Good luck!

Corey