I actually have 11.
Back in September, I explained why I decided to join so many leagues. I like to spread the risk around and once I joined multiple leagues, I quit sweating the minute-to-minute stuff and can actually enjoy the games.
A few years ago, I went in as a co-owner on a big money team at Antsports. The other owner, Joe, is a former co-worker of mine whose fantasy football expertise I respect. Neither of us lets the other get too high or too low on any particular player, and when one of us wants to hold a grudge against a guy like Chris Chambers or Lee Evans, the other is the voice of reason (or in Chambers’ case, the voice of confirmation).
We did pretty well in that big money league but the competition was fierce and we lost our second round pick to injury, so we finished in third place. It was a decent payday, but we thought it might be better to spread the risk around amongst several $50 leagues. We also liked the Antsports “victory points” format which awards two points for a win, two points for the top four point-scorers and a point for the #5-#8 point-scorers. Under a VP format, even if your team has the bad luck of having teams go off against it on a regular basis, you can still make the playoffs.
So this season we joined six $50 leagues and two $100 leagues at Antsports. They were all email drafts, which are slow enough so that if a pick comes up that we’re conflicted about, we have time to get on the phone and discuss it. Like most fantasy football leagues, the drafts are the most fun. I’d wager that over the course of those eight email drafts that we pretty much discussed every meaningful fantasy player in the league. Also, once the drafts are done, we split up the day-to-day operations so that we don’t have to discuss every single roster move or transaction.
In those eight leagues, our teams are a combined 54-34 (.614). While that’s not an awe-inspiring record, it includes one team that has had horrible luck (i.e. most points scored against, by far) and has a 2-9 record. So, without that team we’re winning at a 68% clip.
Of course it’s not fair to simply eliminate your worst team when talking about a combined record, so let’s talk about that unlucky team for a minute. Ironically, this was the team that Joe and I felt best about coming out of the draft. It was the only league where we had a pick in the top five. In fact, we had the #1 overall pick, so we were excited about drafting LaDainian Tomlinson there. While he is currently RB8, he hasn’t had the kind of season we were expecting. Still, he’s not the problem. At 2.12 and 3.01, we drafted Ryan Grant and Torry Holt, and I think it’s safe to say that both players have underperformed. Our fourth round pick, Ben Roethlisberger, has also been disappointing, so even good/solid picks at 5.01 (Calvin Johnson), 6.12 (Chris Cooley), 7.01 (Donald Driver) and 8.12 (Jay Cutler) couldn’t save this team.
Through 11 weeks, that team has 1,076 points, which is 9th in the league, so we should be fighting for a playoff spot instead of dwelling the cellar. Oh well, there’s always the consolation bracket!
In the other seven leagues, we drafted all over the back half of the first round. We drafted #6 twice (Barber, Gore), #8 once (Addai), #9 once (Barber), #10 twice (Gore, Portis) and #12 once (Brady). Clearly, that Brady pick didn’t pan out, and Addai has been pretty spotty all season, but those two teams are currently in first and second, respectively. In the Brady league, we also drafted Aaron Rodgers (11.12), which totally saved us, while the Addai team also features Rodgers (12.05), Reggie Bush (2.05), Anquan Boldin (3.08) and Dwayne Bowe (5.08).
Of those seven teams, four are currently in first place and one is in second. The other two teams are fighting for a playoff spot and are currently in sixth and seventh. (These are all 12-team leagues, so six teams go to the playoffs.)
I also have three teams on my own. One is in a league that Joe and I started several years ago that is made up of a few friends and friends of friends. It’s a 12-team keeper league and each season we get to carry four players (and sometimes one prospect) over to the next season. I was fortunate to win that league last season and am doing pretty well (8-3) this season.
This season, I was determined to try an auction league so I got into some random $125 league with a guy on the internet. Sounds shady, I know, but everything’s on the up and up. I am currently in third place with a 7-4 record and would be 8-3 if not for boneheadedly benching Matt Cassel last week for Phillip Rivers. (You know, the week Cassel threw for like 400 yards and three scores, while Rivers had his first bad game in forever? Grr.) I actually had Cassel in my lineup and took him out on Thursday afternoon deciding that Rivers has just been too good to bench. (It’s a two-QB league, so I’ve been making do with Rivers, Cassel and Matt Ryan.) Anyway, I feel pretty good about that team heading into the playoffs. I just made a trade – Michael Turner, Larry Fitzgerald and Kellen Winslow for Marion Barber, Donald Driver and Antonio Gates – which looked pretty bad last week, but given Winslow’s shoulder injury, it’s starting to look a little better. Turner has a brutal playoff schedule and I had a lot of depth at WR (Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, Dwayne Bowe, DeSean Jackson), so I figured Barber will return to his man-eating ways once Romo gets back into the swing of things.
Finally, I’m in an Industry Insiders League hosted by the Fantasy Sports Writers of America. My team is 7-4 and its 1431 points is the fourth-best out of 48 teams, which were split into four 12-team divisions. The playoffs start this week and it’s a total points format, but each team starts with their season average, so I have a little bit of an advantage over 12 of the 15 other teams that made the postseason. Even if my team takes a giant dump over the next month, I feel pretty good about making the playoffs given the stiff competition.
I was in 10 leagues last year, so 11 was no real shock to my system. Since I spend so much time researching fantasy football, I figured why not put that research to my advantage? Once all these leagues are complete, I’ll update everyone on how we did. For now, I’m pretty content with my 76-45 overall record, even if Chris Chambers managed to screw me in one league…when will I learn?
Hester, who has five career kickoff returns for touchdowns (including Super Bowl XLI), has yet to return a kick or punt for a score this season. The pressure of having to produce after being rewarded with a four-year, $40 million contract extension ($15 million guaranteed) evidently has taken a toll. The burden of trying to develop into a top receiver likely has done the same.
