Before we get to the meat of the Mashup this week, this is just a reminder that this coming Sunday is our annual LEAGUE MEETING. This week we ask everyone in the league (just this once) to come to Grotto's Pizza on Snowden River Parkway in Columbia for an afternoon of idiocy and your chance to stare your opponent in the eye and tell him what you really think. Enjoy bar specials, cold beer, and pretty good pizza, not to mention a less than overcrowded bar area so you can actually enjoy the game in peace not worrying about rubbing elbows with some random Rams fan who just happens to be there that week.
Also tomorrow is the TRADE DEADLINE! All trades must be completed by tomorrow. If you propose a trade I have until Friday to consider it as commissioner.
On to regularly scheduled business.
This week, in honor of Veterans Day, the crack editorial staff at Mashup would like to honor those members of the MIISFFL community who have made positive contributions over the years. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MIISFFL:
WHERE ARE THEY NOW???
Thanks to the wonderful world of social media that is Facebook, we start our retrospective with old standby Pat Deegan, known for schooling the field with bad puns, clean humor, and always trying to make nice nice with everyone in the league. Nowadays, when he's not enjoying Disney on Ice, he spends his free time reliving his college days doing the bar crawl thing in Federal Hill. Fantasy football just wasn't nice enough for him to really try to school it.
Our next stop on the tour is Jeff Pham. Some of you might recall Jeff played in MIISFFL in year two, but back then the stakes were just not high enough for him. Our modern day Wolf of Wall Street saw dollar signs like Johnny Manziel, just not enough of them. Instead he's taken his talents to the NBA hardwood. LeBron or Steph? LeBron or Steph? He can't make his mind up!
Then of course there's our old buddy KSo. He was so enthralled by his vaccine study in California that he decided to stay our there where he offered his body for more weird experimentation. For the good of mankind he said. He attempted to make a return to the Fantasy gridiron in another league, but the FFL gods promptly smited him and said to get back on the table for another test.
In the Tar Heel state, Ben Gaz continues to do two things. One, he wears clothes, as he remains Never Nude. Two, he continues to wage his one-man war against the NFL and all things American football. Right now the two sides are at a stalemate, and despite his back-channel attempts at collusion with Jerry Jones to overthrow Czar Goodell, he very much remains an FFL vagabond. So he decided to become a father. Isn't that what you would do with your time in North Carolina?
Also in the old North state, when he's not farming tobacco, Eddie Campbell revisited his decision to quit MIISFFL numerous times, almost becoming a brother in arms with Gaz in his noble crusade, but decided to think better of it and stay in front of his computer amusing himself in other ways. In his spare time he likes cats, keyboards, and Robert Reich, not necessarily in that order.
Evan Wilkinson, you might recall, played in MIISFFL for the first 3 years, then unceremoniously quit when he moved out to Washington state on the wrong coast. Then we he saw his old college chums moving to North Carolina, he couldn't help himself and said, "Hey wait for me guys!" Now they are all happily reunited in the Triangle and they're trying to live happily ever after.
If anybody else has any other updates on notable MIISFFL alumni, send them to the Mashup. Sorry, no CODs.
How did the champ do? We are getting dangerously close to that point in the season where we have to rename this item "How did the current leader do?" Dewey is fading fast, alternating wins and losses since week 4, and his only saving grace is that he's only 2 games out of a wild card (albeit with several teams still in front of him). To say he would need a minor miracle to make the playoffs is an understatement. Gaz has a better chance of becoming NFL commissioner at this point. This week, the old commissioner exacted his revenge for his first razor thin margin of defeat way back in week 1 with his best output of the season, toppling the champ 131-94. Both managers needed tight end help this week, but Nick's tight end scored a touchdown. Dewey's didn't catch a pass. The tyranny of the kicker also caught up with Dewey as he was outscored at that position 17-6, thanks to kicker of the year candidate Greg Zuerlein. If Dewey doesn't win next week, that might be final death stroke which gets his own personal recap revoked. Meanwhile, Nick improves to 6-4 and in sole possession of the 1st wild card spot if the season were to end today, and only a game out of first in the NFC. Who knew??
Game of the Week: Chris has had a boom and bust season since it started. This week was a definite boom, and Jeff is getting close to being in the same boat Dewey is in, which is sad considering the white hot start Jeff had to his season. Chris scored a decisive 138-105 win over Newman behind another dynamic duo performance of Adam Thielen and Mark Ingram with 61 points combined between the two. Ingram is making a case for Fantasy MVP behind New Orleans 7 game win streak. Despite Tom Brady on his roster, Jeff cannot seem to recreate the magic of the first 4 weeks of the season as his scoring average has fallen to 89 points over the last 6 weeks, 5 of which were losses. His scoring average for the first 4 weeks (all wins) was a robust 126. Chris has had the reverse effect, seeing his scoring average erupt to 131 over the last 5 weeks, 4 of which were wins. That included a 184, top score in the league this season. If Chris can duplicate that production down the stretch, he might make the playoffs yet again.
Blowout of the Week: Nate saved a little face on Monday night, but he couldn't come anywhere near Bruce in this battle of the top two teams in the NFC, falling 111-75. Yeah it wasn't the biggest blowout of the week, but I couldn't recap Dewey's loss twice could I? Bruce actually had a fairly pedestrian output with AJ Green and the Rams defense carrying the water with 45 points combined. Maybe Bruce was that random Rams fan we were talking about earlier. Hmmmm. Like Jeff, Nate has fallen into the abyss after challenging scoring records in the early part of the season. His scoring average has plumetted to 83 over the last 6 weeks, 5 of which were losses. Kareem Hunt, who started the season as an MVP candidate, was on bye this week, but has not even come close to the kind of output that carried Nate in the first 3 weeks of the season. He needs to figure it out fast, or he's be figuring with the fatties as the draft approaches next fall.
Futility Bowl: JP raised a point of order about how the Jacksonville punt unit scored a touchdown on a fake, but it ended up not mattering in this one as Sean erased any doubt on Monday night with Jarvis Landry exceeding his floor scoring 12 points. JP can look to his 5 guys who scored less than 10 points on the day: Dak (no Zeke means no luck here), Amendola, Aaron Jones (injured), Doug Martin, and yes, the Jacksonville D, who had been a very trendy streaming play during the season. Despite the 93-77 result in favor of Sean, both teams sit at 5-5 and currently in a log-jam tie for the 2nd wild card spot. It's anybody's game.
This week's other results:
Tom (2-8) defeated Patrick (5-5) 107-86 (Hooray for Tom!)
Zach (8-2) defeated Kent (3-7) 100-93 (Will Kent be active on the trade block today?)
Weekly pot winner: Chris (138 points)
After the League Meeting we'll begin our playoff picture items for the rest of the season. See everyone at Grotto's on Sunday!
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