Week 15 Recap

Well, that was a wild ending to the regular season.  Below is a recap of how everything shook out:

The Consistency Award goes to DJ. He grabbed on to 1st Place in week 1 with both hands, and never let go.   He knocked out 9 wins on the bounce before suffering his first defeat to Adam in week 10.  He may feel slightly nervous, having taken his foot off the gas and losing his last two matchups.

Matt was similarly consistent, desperately holding on to 7th place the first two weeks, before parking himself in the basement and never leaving.

Chris also had a pretty smooth ride. Launching himself in to 2nd place in week 4 and never really leaving. He had a quick scare in week 10, falling to 5th, but promptly pulled himself up by his boot-straps.

Adam was in the playoff mix all season, only falling below 4th place twice, in week 9 and week 14.

Josh had a volatile season, bouncing from 2nd, to 7th, to 3rd, back to 7th, before settling in the 4th – 5th range. His squeaky bum victory over Jason in the final week allowed him to slip in to the final playoff spot.

Andy’s season is a tale of two halves. He was as high as 2nd and 3rd in the first half of the season, then fell to 7th, and never got above 6th in the 2nd half.

Rob should consider firing his team’s Manager, not once did he ever occupy the top 4. He and Matt are the only ones to not flirt with the playoff spots at least once.

After a rough start to the season, Jason found himself in 7th place in week 5.  He then went on a 5 game win-streak, also winning 7 out of the next 8. Unfortunately for him, he lost his final 2 matchups, and just missed out on the playoffs.

Congratulations to DJ, Chris, Adam and Josh for making the playoffs!

Now for some League clean up:

Rob woke up Monday morning to 250+ text messages, and probably thought somebody died. The group text was on fire with some pretty hilarious banter. Personally, I took it all as cheeky fun, but just to be thorough, I will address the issue brought up.

Some League Managers took issue with Adam dropping the Baltimore Defense to his bench, and leaving an empty roster spot. All of Chris's players had completed their games, his score was locked in at 118.5 points. Adam was ahead by 2.1 points, with only his Defense to play in the Sunday night game. With the possibility of a Defense scoring negative points, Adam's move is considered strategy, as he went from 99% probability of winning to 100% probability of winning with how he managed his lineup. This move is a protected exception to the Farley Rule,and is clearly stated in the rules.

However, because there was an objection, and this involved the Commissioner, a third party Delibertor was brought in to adjudicate. This process is also clearly layed out in the rules.

Jim Reitz, a man with good fantasy football knowledge, and a friend to all, was retained as the Deliberator. The names of the League Managers involved were not shared, and only the facts were given, to ensure an impartial and fair judgement. Below is the information that was shared with Jim, and his decision.

The 3rd party Deliberator found no issue with Adam's strategic move, and ruled that it was lawfull.

To be thorough, I presented the same information to several other members of other fantasy football leagues. Below are their responses.

The Deliberator, and four other 3rd party individuals, found no issue. This matter is closed.

There were many comparisons of this situation to Matt's violation in week 9. Some key differences are:

1. Matt failed to start a complete lineup due to carelessness. He did not manage his lineup until after the 1pm games kicked off, this resulted in him not having available players to put into his lineup.

2. Matt would have won his matchup, and defeating DJ would have had league-wide implications. This affected everybody.

3. Adam edited his lineup in a strategic way, to ensure his victory. Conversely, Matt failed to edit his lineup, and ensured his defeat.

These rulings are final, there will be no changes to Judgements.

Now, onto Rob's violation of The Farley Rule. Josh Jacobs was listed as inactive 90 minutes before the Thursday Night game. Rob did not remove Jacobs from his starting lineup. Rob is found guilty of failing to start a complete and competitive lineup. Considering the circumstances, which are:

a) Rob, and his opponent Matt, have both been eliminated from playoff contention, and this match had no meaningful impact on the league as a whole, or any other league managers individually.

b) Rob won the matchup anyway.

Rob get's away with a Warning.

Well, that's everything. There was also a lot of discussion of changing league rules, fee structures, and other miscellaneous items. All of these will wait until after the completion of this season.

Good Luck to all who made it to the post-season!