2012 Championship Report

In one galaxy the mighty Sith has been beaten. Blasted in the wing of his TIE Advanced +1, the dark lord ricochets out into space. He will return, rebuild his empire (with the third pick in the draft), and restore order to the galaxy . . . .

In another parallel universe, the mighty Sith has met his match with the one who is true to the powers of the force. "Obi-Wan has taught you well." says the father to his son. They each fight to their last breath. Good prevails! But not by the hands of the padawan, for, it was the the "chosen one" all along who was - - - - destined to bring balance to the force.

The story ends.

Until Disney starts it up again in 2014; let's hope they don't ruin a classic [fingers crossed].

I hope you all had as much fun as me this season. 

Both BFFG Paid and Free leagues are settled. I expect Yahoo to update the results of the brackets tomorrow morning. In the meantime, expect the final scores from yesterday to stand. Below are the final standings and awards. Those of you who paid dues and placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, can login to LeagueSafe soon to retrieve your prize.

Congratulations everybody!

BFFG Paid

***League Champion - DC In Yo Face - 300 - 12th pick***

**Runner Up - CarefreeCFC - 200 - 11th pick**

*3rd - Discard After Use - 100 - 10th pick*

4th - Mojo Nipson - 9th pick

5th - He Hate Me - 1st pick

6th - Terrorizors - 2nd pick

7th - SvvashBucklers - 3rd pick

8th - Mad Ravens - 4th pick

9th - Rolling Rockers - 5th pick

10th - Knights of N. Hill - 6th pick

11th - Baltimore Smasher - 7th pick

12th - Whatchu Talking Bout - 8th pick

BFFG Free

***League Champion - The Commish - a one-handed clap - 10th pick***

**Runner Up - Turd Fergusons - a pat on the back - 9th pick**

*3rd - Goingfor3 - the irony of your name - 8th pick*

4th - Renegade Roughnecks - 7th pick

5th - Super Heater - 1st pick

6th - Bitchtits - 2nd pick

7th - Tuck&Roll - 3rd pick

8th - Squealer Squashers - 4th pick

9th - FUPAscoopas - 5th pick

10th - FourLoko - 6th pick

  

   

End of Season Report

Fellow team owners - this is it! The championship weekend is here! It looks like we will have our league champion crowned this Sunday night. Since the Monday Night Football season finale ended last week, we will have our league's superbowl little sooner this year. Also, this is a special heads-up: there is a Saturday game this weekend: get your lineups in order and good luck.

I'm happy to be playing for first place in the free league and seventh place in the paid league. I'm also pleased to see how engaged everyone was in the league this year. We have definitely grown to become - what I believe to be - one of the most competitive leagues around. Cheers to you all!

I have a lot of important announcements about changes to the league, all of which will be effective next year - so bear with me. Here is a quick list of what's coming.

1. change to the league name
2. change to the league sizes
3. change to starting roster
4. change to trade rules
5. change to player acquisitions

1. Name Change

I've been wanting to change the name of our league for a long time. The BFFG (a.k.a. Baltimore Fantasy Football Gurus) is so bad I'm ashamed of it. I'm pleased to announce that this horrible name will officially retire after this season.

"What's the new name?" you ask. Well, I wanted to come up with something that fits with the kind of league we have. So, I though about how everyone manages their team and how I felt about the league in general.

The first word I thought up was, "business." I feel like our league is a business because everyone takes it seriously. That's what I like about it! Sure there's some jive - a little trash 'talkin - but mostly it's a steady-pragmatic race to the top. Each week you can count on your opponent to make moves and set their lineup for their best chance to win. Our league is very business like indeed.

So "business" is the theme. Here's a look into my brain during the creative process for coming up with the new name. Brace yourself ;-)

A business . . . "The Business" . . . "Big Business" . . . things that are a business . . . downtown . . . Wall Street . . . 80's Wall Street movies . . . "Risky Business" No! . . . "Wall Street" Yes! . . . "Gordon Gekko" hmmm . . . Gordon Gekko's lines in the movie . . . "Greed is good." Bingo! "GREED IS GOOD FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE!" It's settled.

So what do you think? LMK. I think it has a nice ring to it, and it signifies a good mindset for winning in fantasy football. 

2. League Size Pledge

The minimum and maximum numbers to run the Greed is Good FFL are 8 and 14. I have changed the maximum several times. Yahoo allows up to 20 teams. That is way too big! I have said in the past that I would try to recruit up to 16 teams, but after managing the league as your commissioner for 11 years now, I realize that 14 teams is the best-reasonable limit.

You'll notice when doing a mock draft that your choices for league size is also 8 to 14. These are really the best limits to set for everyone to have the most fun.

The order of team owner recruitment is as follows. (1) Invite all team owners of the paid league to rejoin. (2) Invite team owners of the free league to join the paid league. (3) Invite all team owners of the free league to rejoin. (4) Invite team owners in the paid league to join the free league (*if needed). (5) Invite new members to join either the paid or free leagues (*if needed).

3. The Flex Spot
Several of you have requested that I open up a flex spot, and I imagine that the rest of you wouldn't mind either. After giving this inquiry careful consideration, I've decided to deliver the goods. Granted! Next year I will replace WR #3 with a RB/WR/TE flex spot.

What I've learned about the flex spot is that it's actually more of a standard in today's leagues. There are several benefits: gives owners more flexibility (pun intended), balances the free agent pool, and increases the overall creativity of not only drafting teams but also setting lineups. Indeed, I'm convinced that adding a flex spot will improve the Greed is Good FFL.  

4. Promoting Trades
The only major feature that's missing from our league is trading. A lot of the players that I see dropped should be traded. There was not a single trade all year! Trading in fantasy football is an essential concept. We lack the experiences of "buying low" and "selling high." The trading block is a ghost town! Let's learn how to use this feature to our advantage.

The deadline to protest trades will be reduced from 2 days to 1 day. This makes trading faster than a waiver pickup.

I will also make repeated requests for team owners to update their trading block status. This does not mean you have to trade any of your players, but it's a good idea to think about it anyway. You never know what kind of deal you may be offered. You could be missing out!

5. Picking Up Players 
The limit for weekly acquisitions (or adding players to your team) will be changed from "no maximum" to 4 per week. This acquisition setting will be added next year to fix a loophole where team owners have the ability to deliberately churn players through the waiver process. Not that we have a major free agent vulturing problem in our league, but I have seen some questionable things go on in the transactions - so I want to put this legitimate fix in now.

And there you have it! Good season everybody!

Please respond with your questions and comments. I'd love to hear from you all. Thanks.



   

Kickoff 2012

The 2012 fantasy football season is finally here! I want to communicate a few points to my team owners before things get rolling.

Most importantly, the NFL season starts on Wednesday this year, which is irregular but exciting. All that fantasy drafting got me siked-up for watching football. So I'm glad it's starting early. NYG vs. DAL kicks-off at 820 PM tomorrow 9/5. It should be a great game with tons of fantasy impacting plays. Bring it on!

Yahoo made changes to the fantasy league pick 'ems. There's a different setup to it, and it's more fun if everyone takes part. If you want to keep up on the fantasy league pick 'ems then you need to make your picks before the first game of the week kicks off. This week it's Wed, but it will be on Thurs every week afterwards. Once the night games kick off, you'll be locked out of making picks. There's no incentive for it, it's optional, bragging rights, superstitions, whatever. Go to "matchup" then scroll to the bottom to find it.

A change to the league.
A minor change has been made to the playoffs settings in the paid league. This change could probably go unnoticed but I wanted to make sure everyone is updated. The playoffs reseeding set to "yes" means that if the #6 seed beat the #3 seed in round 1 then the #1 seed would face #6 in round 2 and #2 would face the winner of #4 vs #5. Got that? I believe this to be what most of you would expect the setup to be so I made the change. The Yahoo default setting follows the NFL with #1 facing the winner of #4 vs #5 and #2 facing the winner of #3 vs #6 regardless. LMK if you have any questions about that.

There's plenty of interesting things I can add about the draft. I'm impressed with how well everyone did. Some of you actually have a chance at beating me ;-) I don't have time for a full analysis but here is a list of the top 1st and 2nd pick-combos for both the BFFG Paid and Free leagues together.

1. RB/WR with 5
2. QB/RB with 5
3. RB/QB with 3
4. WR/QB with 2
5. RB/RB with 2
6. TE/WR with 2
7. QB/WR with 1
8. WR/RB with 1
9. RB/TE with 1

I went RB/RB with the 8th pick in the paid league and QB/RB with the 6th pick in the free. I'm surprised that there were not more RB/RB picks and that there were 3 TEs taken in the first two rounds in both leagues. Back in the day there were way more RB/RBs, and I thought that tactic would come back in 2012 with all the RB uncertainty, but I guess everyone wants their QB locked-up first in the BFFG, which I guess is understandable since a TD pass = 6 pts. That's good math'in y'all ;-)

My Top 6 Fantasy Football Big Bonuses

A fantasy football big bonus is a play that you don't expect to happen, but when it does, it pays-off in a big exciting way. Unlike: QB passing-TDs, RB rushing-TDs, and WR rec-TDs, which are expected and bummers when it doesn't happen, a rare big bonus play is what you'll talk about all week. It's what makes those unforgettable fantasy football moments. Here is a short list of my top 6 fantasy football big bonus plays.

#6 The Safety

Sacks in the endzone are an exciting way to earn points. Holding and intentional grounding penalties are not as much fun, but are interesting ways to gain points as well. Safeties can go unnoticed depending on how your league is set. If the safety is +2 then all other defensive plays should be set at +1 that way it gets the recognition it deserves. The team with the most safeties in 2011 was NYJ with 3.

#5 A 50+ Yard Field Goal

Kickers are probably the least exciting position on the standard roster. Their typical contribution comes in chip-shots for 1 or 3 points. Seeing a kicker set up for the 50-yarder is much more rewarding, especially if your league awards 5 points for the longer kicks. The top 3 big-boots from 2011 were David Akers, Seabass, and Phil Dawson, each with 7 +50-yarders.

#4 A DEF TD

You're happy enough if your team-D simply makes plays and holds-off from being scored-on. When they get in the endzone, it's a big time play and time to celebrate! The level of excitement is increased if your DEF is playing against any of your opponents fantasy players. The team with the most DEF TDs in 2011 was DET with 7. The next closest were BUF and CHI with 6.

#3 A RET TD

It's the play that has you screaming, "Go, go, go, ahhh, goooooo, YEAH!" Return TDs are certainly big plays since it may take the whole length of the field to make one. It is also pretty rare and usually involves a WR or RB who is lower on the depth chart. Devin Hester had the most in 2011 with 3 total ret-TDs. Randall Cobb and Ted Ginn Jr also had multiples.

#2 A RB 20+ Yard REC-TD

As important as RBs are to fantasy football, you're usually watching them run into big piles, or the pile runs into them, either way it's pretty deflating, usually. Big yard rushing TDs are no doubt exciting but you expect to get a few of those from your starters at some point in the season. When a RB goes long for the bomb and gets it for a TD, you go bonkers! Darren Sproles racked up 710 rec-yards and 7 rec-TDs in the air in 2011. The next best was Ray Rice who caught for 704 rec-yards and 3 rec-TDs.

#1 Opposing QB Throws a Pick-Six in the Redzone

Bear with me. In my league, the BFFG, a pick six thrown is -2. A passing TD is +6. So if the QB you face in your weekly match-up throws a pick-six in the redzone, that's a potential 8 point swing. Add on the possibility of you having the team DEF, in that play, and it's a whopping 15 point swing (-2 for the pick-six, -6 for the possible TD, +1 for the interception and +6 for the DEF TD). Rooting against your opponent's players is as much fun as rooting for your own. Almost nothing matches the drama of a pick thrown in the redzone, especially if it goes back the other way for a TD. Not only is this play huge in the real game but if you're rooting against your opponent's QB, then it's probably a tight match-up and this play can definitely put you in the win column. GB had the most interceptions in 2011 with 31. Philip Rivers threw the most pick-sixes with 4.

Please comment with your favorite fantasy football big plays.  

   

     

  

BFFG $$ 2012 dues info and scoring settings

I am using LeagueSafe for the third time this season. It has worked very well the past two times. Not only does it make collecting dues a whole lot easier, but payouts are also way more simple. If you win, then you simply login and collect the reward. You may choose from check, check card or electronic transfer. I won, and chose the check card, and it worked out well for me. They even give you the option of printing a trophy on the check card if you like to show off ;-) LeagueSafe has good customer service. They primarily handle problems through email, which I have found to be just fine. Each time I contacted them with questions they were very responsive and gave me assuring answers. I recommend new team owners to Google LeagueSafe and read up on them. You'll find they are very legit.

The BFFG has run with the majority of the following settings for 11 years now. My goal is to make sense of fantasy scoring by representing the most relevant NFL player stats to the league's scoring categories. Points are primarily awarded for yards and touchdowns. There is no points-per-reception (a.k.a. PPR). The BFFG is considered to be a 'QB heavy league' since 6 points are awarded for a passing TD as opposed to the common default setting of 4 points. Here are the scoring settings.

Offense	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Passing Yards	25 yards per point
Passing Touchdowns	6	4
Interceptions	-1
Rushing Yards	10 yards per point
Rushing Touchdowns	6
Reception Yards	10 yards per point
Reception Touchdowns	6
Return Yards	20 yards per point	0
Return Touchdowns	6
2-Point Conversions	2
Fumbles Lost	-1	-2
Offensive Fumble Return TD	6
Pick Sixes Thrown	-1	0
Kickers	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Field Goals 0-19 Yards	3
Field Goals 20-29 Yards	3
Field Goals 30-39 Yards	3
Field Goals 40-49 Yards	4
Field Goals 50+ Yards	5
Point After Attempt Made	1
Defense/Special Teams	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Sack	1
Interception	1	2
Fumble Recovery	1	2
Touchdown	6
Safety	2
Block Kick	1	2
Points Allowed 0 points	10
Points Allowed 1-6 points	8	7
Points Allowed 7-13 points	6	4
Points Allowed 14-20 points	4	1
Points Allowed 21-27 points	2	0
Points Allowed 28-34 points	1	-1
Points Allowed 35+ points	0	-4
4th Down Stops	1	0

  

Episode XII: Return of the Guru

A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away . . . .

Once again the desperate rebellion finds that it's no match for the unrelenting genius of The Empire. Puny jawas scramble to find a safe planet, while the Death Star surges through space leaving asteroids in it's wake. The so-called Jedi ramble excuse after excuse in hope to disparage the consistent success of the SvvashBucklers who make use of their flaws and continue to dominate the galaxy . . .

Fantasy football is back my padawans.

How will the saga continue?

One thing is for sure.

You don't know the power of The Dark Side.

Standby for the payment request from LeagueSafe. Then register your team in Yahoo. And prepare for your doom. 

  

Ravens' DEF style is right for the future of the NFL

Considering the recent news on Junior Seau's death and CTE, assume there will be some NFL rule changes in the future. The changes will probably focus on the defensive side of the game, significantly restricting hard tackles and flat-out banning hits to the head. This is likely to negatively affect the performance of defensive plays for a lot of teams with the exception of the Baltimore Ravens.

Sure, the Ravens are known for their tough defense. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs and others have definitely laid some pretty hard hits on players in the past. But recently the Ravens defense, as a whole, has been criticized by their fans - of all people - for not hitting hard enough, missing tackles and flat out not dominating like they use to. This jive spreads around despite the fact that the Ravens were one of the top overall defenses last season.

Perceptive Ravens fans should notice that the defense has evolved to play a more dynamic game. Ravens D goes for the ball. They are not about hitting just for show. Their style has been called as having, "high risk, high reward." The reward is hopefully a, "loose ball!" That's exciting! But the losing-end of the risk typically results with fans shouting out their frustrations, "ugh, just tackle the guy!"

Indeed a missed big play doesn't look good but this gamble is the right way to play in preparation for the future. Defensive plays focused on trying to strip the ball will replace the frequent hard hits. I believe the Ravens are one of the teams already focused on making this adjustment. #purplepride