My First Season In Fantasyland (Part 3)

With my entire starting lineup back in place for Week 9, I was hopeful the Isms would turn things around and get back to their winning ways. I also did something a little unusual. This was around the time that Terrell Owens, who had not been signed by anyone and who hadn't played all year, held a public workout and generated speculation that he might be picked up by an NFL team. Needing a better option at WR opposite Larry Fitzgerald, and no longer needing a backup defense, I took a chance and dropped the Tennessee Titans "D," adding Owens to the Isms roster. It turned out to be a non-earth-shaking move, as T.O. couldn't get anyone to take a chance on him. Thus ended the NFL career of a sure-fire Hall of Famer. As for the game, the Isms beat the Gangiasinophonicons by about 40 points, so it looked like I was back.

For the first time all season, I made no roster moves during Week 10. As it turned out, I didn't need to, as my team was playing the Dakota Storm, the only team in the league not to have won a game. We won handily, by 33 points, led by banner weeks from Tom Brady (37.36 points) and Larry Fitzgerald, who finally played like Larry Fitzgerald (29.60). As for the Storm, they came close on more than one occasion, but they never did win a game during the season (bummer). After the win, Redskins QB Rex Grossman became available and Matt Cassell officially became Matt Cassualty!

Week 11 brought the Isms' showdown with the league's other powerhouse team, the Knights, who were sitting pretty with a 9-1 record, while we were at 8-2. The Knights had been upset in Week 10 by the Gangliasinophonicons, the same team I'd beaten easily the previous week, so I figured I had a chance. With a win, and already leading the Knights in overall points scored, I would reclaim the top ranking in the league, but a win would not be easy. Their ranking stud player was none other than Rob Gronkowski, the best TE in the NFL, this year. The Isms were still in first place in Division 1, but only by a game over the Walking Dead, who'd run off a five-game winning streak since starting the year 2-3.

My blueprint for a victory over the Knights was simple: With my top RB, Fred Jackson having been slowed by injury, I needed Tom Brady to go out and throw about five touchdown passes, but none of them to Gronkowski! It didn't happen. Brady scored only 21 points (he was out-scored by the Knights' QB, Josh Freeman!) , I got just 8 points from Jackson and Beanie Wells, combined, and the Isms got shown up, losing the game by nearly 50 points. Combine that result with the Walking Dead blasting Bolt Man by more than 100 points (ug-lee!) and we were now tied for first place in Division 1 with 8-3 record. The Isms still led in overall fantasy points, but the Dead had now won six straight! With seven teams vying for only six playoff spots, I was sweating it, because if I lost my last two regular season games, I could still finish out of the championship tournament!

Prior to Week 12, the Buffalo Bills decided they'd seen enough, placing Fred Jackson on injured reserve. I was suddenly without my best back! I dropped Jackson, replacing him with Chris Ogbonnaya, and moved Kendall Hunter into my starting lineup. Not to worry, though, as Brady and Wells had monster weeks, and my opponent, Sweet P, barely put up a fight, scoring only 51 points. The Isms won by more than 70 points! The Walking Dead won too, their seventh in a row, to stay right with me, just edging the Wildcats (112-109) in a showdown of playoff contenders.

With one week to go, the Isms(9-3), Dead (9-3), Knights (10-2), and Wildcats (8-4) were joined by the NW Boltz (8-4), Fox Hounds (8-4), and Washington Praetorians (8-4) as the playoff hopefuls. The Knights had been upset in Week 12 by the Boltz, so the Isms still had a shot at grabbing the #1 overall seed for the tournament. On the other hand, if I lost the final game and the Dead walked to their eight victory in a row, I would finish in second place, although my total fantasy points pretty much assured that I would not miss the playoffs.

I had to make still another roster move, as the Vikings put Michael Jenkins on I.R. I welcomed Damian Williams to the Isms. During Week 13 I found out what Fantasy Football is really all about. With my beloved Chargers having routed the Jaguars in a Thursday night matchup, all I could think of was how my fantasy stars were doing in their games. My final opponent was the NW Boltz, who'd just upset the Knights and badly needed a win. Our matchup went back-and-forth, and so did the projection of the winning team. It was very, very nerve-wracking, especially since the Boltz QB, Philip Rivers, had scored nearly 34 points. Tom Brady missed a 300-yard passing game, and the bonus points that milestone would have garnered, by 11 yards, winding up more than 10 points behind Rivers. I got decent contributions from Beanie Wells, Santonio Holmes, Devin Hester, and Nick Novak. Somehow, some way, the Isms managed to squeak out a win by exactly two points (101.86-99.86)! If there was a closer winning score in the league all year, I didn't notice it...

As for the rest of the league, the good news was that the Knights lost to the Black & Gold by 22 points. The bad news was that they'd still scored 135 points in the defeat, so even though both teams finished with 10-3 records, the Knights grabbed the top playoff seed over the Isms by less than 19 points! The other good news was that the Walking Dead finally had their long win streak ended in a loss to the Gangliasinophonicons. The Praetorians and Wildcats were easy winners, but the Fox Hounds came up flat in a loss to Team Ram Rod. The division winners were the Isms, Wildcats, Knights, and Praetorians. The wild card playoff spots went to the Dead and the Hounds, who finished about 40 points ahead of the Boltz. (The Boltz became the top seed in our league's consolation playoff tourney.)

I'll finish this review next week, with a look at what happened in the playoffs.