Menace Bowl I: Nick def. JP
Menace Bowl II: Kent def. Patrick
Menace Bowl III: Zach def. JP
Menace Bowl IV: Patrick def. Gaz
Menace Bowl V: Eddie def. Sean
Menace Bowl VI: Sean def. Eddie
Menace Bowl VII: JP def. Kent
Menace Bowl VIII: Dewey def. Zach
Menace Bowl IX: See Below
Combine this with JP's well noted worst-to-first-to-worst proposition from the last few years, and you can clearly see that it does not take much to go from the #1 overall pick to league champion, and you don't have to fall far to get back to the #1 pick either. Anybody has a shot any year. That's what makes it great! Eventually, however, we knew that we would be in this business long enough that somebody, ANYBODY, would have to have their name engraved on the MIISFFL trophy for a second time. After all, the Packers won 2 Super Bowls before anybody else in football got their first.
Once again, in the final mashup, we award the MIISFFL Fantasy MVP. The Fantasy MVP is not necessarily the player who scored the most fantasy points, but the player who (in the judgement of the commissioner) had the most to do with their manager's success. Take that player out of the equation, does that manager make it as far as he did? Generally, playoff berths are a necessity for winning, although that doesn't necessarily have to apply. Last week, we introduced our top 5 nominees from the previous week's All-Fantasy team. This was a really tough decision this year, but as in previous years, I don't think anybody can argue with who ultimately won the award. First, the losers:
4th Runner Up-Le'Veon Bell (Pittsburgh Steelers)-Le'Veon has been a mainstay on the MVP lists over the last few years, winning the award on 2014 propelling Sean to a title. As mentioned in previous mashups, it's super hard to win it twice, but one thing is sure that he will be at the top of the draft in 2018 as he is ineligible to be kept.
3rd Runner Up-Kareem Hunt (Kansas City Chiefs)-Hunt came out of the gate like a house of fire scoring at least 24 points in each of the first 3 weeks including a 44-point savagery of the Patriots in week 1. Then he went into hiding I guess as the rest of the Chiefs treaded water for a while there in the middle of the season, bottoming out at a big 3 points at Week 12. He turned it on again toward the end though propelling Nate to the playoffs and eventually the Menace Bowl.
2nd Runner Up-DeAndre Hopkins (Houston Texans)-Hopkins has made it a habit lately of making circus catches, bailing out guys named Savage and Yates, doing his best Odell Beckham impersonations circa 2013, but it just wasn't enough to strike gold in this category.
1st Runner Up-Carson Wentz (Philadelphia Eagles)-Wentz surprisingly led the Eagles to the NFC East crown and made Nelson Agohlar and Alshon Jeffrey look really good. Then they traded for Jay Ajayi. Yeah that didn't really make a difference, but Bruce's team needed a little luck in Week 14 to make the playoffs...then Wentz shredded his ACL. While that didn't really make a difference as far as the MVP voting as most of the award is for the regular season, it was metaphoric as he just missed it by the ligament in his right knee.
That means that the winner by split decision this year of the 2017 MIISFFL MVP Award is:
TODD GURLEY (Los Angeles Rams)
Todd Gurley is no Gurley Man. He wins the 2018 MIISFFL Fantasy MVP, and he sold a few extra Georgia Bulldog jerseys to celebrate. Who cares about NCAA rules anyway? This is the big time! Gurley only had 1 week where he failed to score double digits including ending the season with 2 of the biggest statement games of the year in the playoffs. Now playoffs don't ultimately matter for a fantasy MVP for the regular season, but hey it adds a nice little touch. Congratulations to Todd Gurley! Now why does he care whether or not Cam Newton can fly?
Cam Newton and Zach have had a somewhat tumultuous relationship. In Zach's rookie year in 2011, he rode Cam's rookie season to a fantasy title. Alas, the marriage was short lived as that was the final season before the keeper rule was implemented in MIISFFL, so Zach had no chance to keep Carolina Cam. In his mourning he turned to many other quarterbacks to try to fill the void: names like Cutler, Rivers, and even Rodgers. This year he found one in DeShaun Watson, but just as the relationship was starting to take shape, bang! Watson became the latest victim to the contagious disease that is the torn ACL. Following a last second loss to the commissioner the following week, most people at that point started to write off Zach's season, but he refused to go quietly, patching together a roster of quarterbacks that eventually won for him the AFC title and #1 seed in the playoffs. In the Menace Bowl, he decided to give ol' Philip Rivers a try, despite his winless record against the Maryland Terrapins. Like most QBs on Zach's roster not named Watson, he failed to make projection. Yet, that was just a minor blip on Zach's scoresheet. Did I mention that he also had the league MVP? Yes, that would be Todd Gurley. When the bright lights of the playoffs came on, Gurley turned it up a notch, recording the highest running back score of the season with 48 points! That included over 250 yards from scrimmage and 2 touchdowns. Zach also claimed another MVP candidate in DeAndre Hopkins who may not have had a stellar fantasy day, but in what might have been a foreshadowing of future events, made one of the stupidest catches in recent memory, bobbling a ball in the end zone, grabbing it with one hand, getting both feet down (and even surviving the ground). Did I also mention that Zach had Melvin Gordon, who wasn't even an All-Fantasy player, but still pounded out 128 all purpose yards and a score for another 20 point game. If you've been paying attention, you would have noticed that I have not even mentioned who Zach was playing. Oh yes, that would be Nate, not that it really mattered as Zach's squad was clicking on all cylinders with perhaps saving his best for the playoffs. Kareem Hunt had a decent, but not an MVP performance (as was his entire season), Gronk made his projection, and he made the pickup of the week playing the Bears defense (against the Browns). But this was over before Monday, and that was despite Nate holding two players to try to save the day on Christmas Night. Nick Foles is not Carson Wentz and Crabtree is well...Crabtree. Ouch. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Nate puts up no resistance, and by a final score of 148-100, the champion of MIISFFL for 2017 is, becoming the first two-time winner of the Menace Bowl in league history.......
ZACH JOHNSON!!!
Zach takes home more cash than anybody else in league history thanks to his history second title, and we now can finalize the payouts to be made at the spring meeting:
Zach-$475, trophy (Champion and 4 weeklies)
Nate-$160 (Runner Up and 2 weeklies)
Chris-$90 (Semifinalist and 3 weeklies)
JP-$75 (Semifinalist)
Jeff-$10 (2 weeklies)
Tom-$5 (1 weekly)
Patrick-$5 (1 weekly)
Sean-$5 (1 weekly)
Dewey currently possesses the trophy, and thus will engrave Zach's name in the trophy to be presented to him at the Spring meeting.
And now we have the final draft order, determined by reverse order of standings as judged by the current version of the MIISFFL constitution:
1) Kent
2) Tom
3) Dewey
4) Patrick
5) Sean
6) Jeff
7) Bruce
8) Nick
9) JP
10) Chris
11) Nate
12) Zach
Our next league event is the annual Spring Meeting where we will pay off the winners and present the trophy. Stay tuned for info on that event. Also, in celebration of Jeff Newman's upcoming nuptials, we will be having another official MIISFFL League Celebration in LAS VEGAS over St. Patrick's Day Weekend! If you feel like you're lucky, you should come.
No really you should.
In any event, this is the final mashup for the 2017 season. As always we look forward to 2018. We bid a fond farewell to the 2017 season and once again congratulate Zach on his second title. Adios amigos!
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