The Season Within The Season 2008
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — I don’t want to talk about last year. Seriously. I’m over it. It was so
long ago I haven’t even thought about how I had the arguably the most dominant team in
Retired Orangemen Fantasy Football League history and somehow managed to finish in third.
THIRD?!?!
With New England’s dynamic duo of quarterback Tom Brady and receiver Randy Moss, I
stacked up point totals like the fat kid at the local buffet stacks plates. It didn’t even matter
that I used backup running backs all season, or that I couldn’t even tell you who my other
receivers were (Nate Burleson and Santonio Holmes, actually), I flat-out dominated. Well,
aside from that week where the Patriots were on a bye, but we don¹t count that.
Then, it happened.
I lost. In the playoffs.
Remember the Pats’ game against the Jets in Week 15 with the wind and the rain and the
sleet and the mud? Yeah, I don’t. Because it NEVER HAPPENED.
But it did.
Brady’s stats that day read like my own circa 1997: 14 of 27, 140 yards, zero touchdowns, an interception and a 51.5 rating. And
that was a week after a 399-yard, four-TD blitzing of Pittsburgh. I was full of such hope that the Gregg Moore Trophy would finally be
mine. But when I saw that week’s weather report I felt as confident as barbecue sauce-covered pig making it alive out of a biker bar
(read: not very).
I lost and it wasn’t even close.
The dream was over.
A long offseason of “what-ifs” and “what-coulda-beens” followed, and knowing that ’07 was my final with Brady (stupid three-year
rule) I prepared for a life without my superstar. So I penned an homage to the man, a parody of “American Pie” titled “New England
Guy” and got ready for the 2008 ROFFL Draft and upcoming NFL season by doing something I had vowed never to do — research.
I also decided to up the ante among the other 13 ROFFL members and start a podcast. This being 2008 and all, I thought why not
push my technological skills to the next level and make something that everyone could enjoy week to week. (And by “everyone,” I
mean 13 other dudes.)
So my new podcast (located at cbrock723.podbean.com if you¹re curious, and I know you are) got me amped up and ready to go for
this season. Plus, it made me learn who exactly Jonathan Stewart is, among other sleepers, and who to pass on — cough, Marvin
Harrison, cough — when my turn came around.
And when it came time to truck down the east coast, navigate my way over the George Washington Bridge and down the Garden
State Parkway to a little place called Atlantic City, N.J. for the sixth straight year, I did so thinking that this is finally going to be my
year.
And then Parker, the defending champion, drafted Eli Manning in the eighth round when he already had Donovan McNabb. Which
threw me in Rich Kiss-panic mode and forced my selection of Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson, who took the league by storm
last year but who suffered a concussion in the preseason and hasn¹t practiced in weeks.
With Moss (my top keeper), Arizona’s Anquan Boldin, and Tampa Bay’s Earnest Graham, I was thinking Manning would be a prime
sleeper to take me back to a money Bowl Game. But now my entire season rests on the Browns (I also have their high-talented tight
end Kellen Winslow), a franchise that last won anything in 1964. (Note: There was no Super Bowl, Internet or Gatorade back then,
that¹s how long it’s been.)
Just goes to show that even in fantasy you have to expect the unexpected. Your star player can go down, or in this case, be taken
down off the board, in a moments notice.
So much for preparation. (But please listen to the podcast.)
— Chris Brockman cares more about his fantasy football team than you do.
Track his progress at www.retiredorangemen.com.
long ago I haven’t even thought about how I had the arguably the most dominant team in
Retired Orangemen Fantasy Football League history and somehow managed to finish in third.
THIRD?!?!
With New England’s dynamic duo of quarterback Tom Brady and receiver Randy Moss, I
stacked up point totals like the fat kid at the local buffet stacks plates. It didn’t even matter
that I used backup running backs all season, or that I couldn’t even tell you who my other
receivers were (Nate Burleson and Santonio Holmes, actually), I flat-out dominated. Well,
aside from that week where the Patriots were on a bye, but we don¹t count that.
Then, it happened.
I lost. In the playoffs.
Remember the Pats’ game against the Jets in Week 15 with the wind and the rain and the
sleet and the mud? Yeah, I don’t. Because it NEVER HAPPENED.
But it did.
Brady’s stats that day read like my own circa 1997: 14 of 27, 140 yards, zero touchdowns, an interception and a 51.5 rating. And
that was a week after a 399-yard, four-TD blitzing of Pittsburgh. I was full of such hope that the Gregg Moore Trophy would finally be
mine. But when I saw that week’s weather report I felt as confident as barbecue sauce-covered pig making it alive out of a biker bar
(read: not very).
I lost and it wasn’t even close.
The dream was over.
A long offseason of “what-ifs” and “what-coulda-beens” followed, and knowing that ’07 was my final with Brady (stupid three-year
rule) I prepared for a life without my superstar. So I penned an homage to the man, a parody of “American Pie” titled “New England
Guy” and got ready for the 2008 ROFFL Draft and upcoming NFL season by doing something I had vowed never to do — research.
I also decided to up the ante among the other 13 ROFFL members and start a podcast. This being 2008 and all, I thought why not
push my technological skills to the next level and make something that everyone could enjoy week to week. (And by “everyone,” I
mean 13 other dudes.)
So my new podcast (located at cbrock723.podbean.com if you¹re curious, and I know you are) got me amped up and ready to go for
this season. Plus, it made me learn who exactly Jonathan Stewart is, among other sleepers, and who to pass on — cough, Marvin
Harrison, cough — when my turn came around.
And when it came time to truck down the east coast, navigate my way over the George Washington Bridge and down the Garden
State Parkway to a little place called Atlantic City, N.J. for the sixth straight year, I did so thinking that this is finally going to be my
year.
And then Parker, the defending champion, drafted Eli Manning in the eighth round when he already had Donovan McNabb. Which
threw me in Rich Kiss-panic mode and forced my selection of Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson, who took the league by storm
last year but who suffered a concussion in the preseason and hasn¹t practiced in weeks.
With Moss (my top keeper), Arizona’s Anquan Boldin, and Tampa Bay’s Earnest Graham, I was thinking Manning would be a prime
sleeper to take me back to a money Bowl Game. But now my entire season rests on the Browns (I also have their high-talented tight
end Kellen Winslow), a franchise that last won anything in 1964. (Note: There was no Super Bowl, Internet or Gatorade back then,
that¹s how long it’s been.)
Just goes to show that even in fantasy you have to expect the unexpected. Your star player can go down, or in this case, be taken
down off the board, in a moments notice.
So much for preparation. (But please listen to the podcast.)
— Chris Brockman cares more about his fantasy football team than you do.
Track his progress at www.retiredorangemen.com.