{Current
Mood: Fresh}
Good
evening,
The
good people over at thewarroom.com (@OwnTheWarRoom) have inspired me to write
the forthcoming piece.
Anyone
who plays fantasy sports of any kind has certain connections to certain players
for whatever reason. In this piece, I’m going to attempt to pinpoint my
favorite fantasy football player of all time.
Since
I’ve been playing fantasy football since 2004, this won’t be an easy process.
As far as the other fantasy sports I’ve recently taken up, basketball and
hockey, I may have an easier time deciphering favorites because I have less to
work with and the players and their performances are fresh in my memory. And
I’m delving into favorite players for other sports because I’m all about equal
opportunity and shit.
For
basketball, my favorite fantasy player has to be Paul George. This is only the
second year I’m doing basketball and I’m in an eight team league, but it still
counts. Mainly it still counts because I’m in first place by a pretty good
margin and am the first team to clinch one of eight playoff berths. This, of
course, means I’ll be losing in the first round to the guy who forgot he was in
the league before draft day and has left Kenneth Faried on his bench and Danny
Granger in his starting lineup all season.
But
anyway I drafted Paul George in the fifth round and, for where he was drafted
and who went before and after him, he is easily the MVP of Team Chalupa Batman.
I
don’t have a nemesis for basketball yet but I do have a nemesis for hockey:
Henrik Lundqvist. His crappy start to the season ended any realistic shot that
The Joan and I had to win this league in our first year with a team we took
over in the eleventh hour. The rotisserie format is one that I’m quickly
growing to despise for hockey.
However,
after a mammoth trade that saw us rid ourselves of King Fatass (as The Joan so
fondly refers to him), we were able to obtain the guy that is my current
favorite fantasy hockey player: Corey Perry. I’m going with Perry here because
of how, after a slow start, he’s turned it on since being traded to Team Don’t
Toews Me Bro.
And
now we come to football. Over the years, I’ve taken a liking to a lot of
players for a number of different reasons and anyone who has read my Fantasy
Manifesto (which was written for this site this past summer for your archived
viewing pleasure) will probably have a good idea of who I’m about to mention.
THE
HIGHLIGHTS
My
first ever fantasy sports draft pick was Brett Favre with the final pick of the
first round of a 14-team keeper league (CCFFL) in which I was given the final
pick and no keeper to start off with. Brett showed pity on me by having a Pro
Bowl season and helping me not finish in last (The CCFFL is a league where
draft order, standings, and payout are determined by total points). I also
drafted Corey Dillon and Javon Walker that year and they wound up having Pro
Bowl seasons.
One
of the things I’m most proud of in my fantasy career is drafting Aaron Rodgers
in this same league, easily the most competitive of the ones I’m in, in the
ninth round in 2008. I had drafted David Garrard a round earlier to be my
starter. He might have started once. Rodgers was easily my keeper. In 2011, I
struck gold again with my ninth round selection of Matthew Stafford.
In
this same league, I drafted Dwayne Bowe in his 15 TD season, I traded for Jordy
Nelson in HIS 15 TD season, & I drafted Jamaal Charles in round 14 in his
breakout season. In another league, I grabbed Arian Foster in the 11th round in
2010. He and Owen Daniels have been very kind to me over the years. These guys
all hold a special place in my fantasy heart (as opposed to my real-life heart).
THE
LOWLIGHTS
For
anyone who wants reasons as to why these guys are my fantasy football enemies,
I invite you to read my Manifesto (it’s more like a career retrospective from
2004-2011 rather than anything close to what Matthew Berry’s looks like):
Willis McGahee, Ben Watson, Michael Vick. Vick is a new addition after going
from helping me win a league in 2010 as a post-week one waiver wire pickup to
being available in the seventh round this past summer in another league and
forcing me to pick him because he was a good value at the time. PS – Matt Ryan
and Peyton Manning were still on the board. Live and learn.
THE
WINNER
All
rambling aside, it’s time to get to the meat, potatoes, and beer of this piece
(mmm, beer): my favorite fantasy football player of all time. This guy stood
out the most for a number of reasons and will be heavily featured in my
“Revised for 2013” Manifesto because he solidified his place in my fantasy
heart this past season:
Mr.
Clarence James Spiller
CJ
Spiller was never even supposed to sniff my CCFFL squad in 2010 when I first
drafted him. I was picking 13th of
14 teams and needed a QB in round five. Don’t worry, I’ve since adopted the
theory of going with my QB later in the draft although I foolishly broke away
from that theory in last years drafts which may help explain why last year was
the worst year I’ve ever had in fantasy.
The
guy picking last (#1 Fantasy, for those familiar with the Manifesto) didn’t
have a QB yet and I wanted Kevin Kolb. I also knew this guy was/is an Eagles
fan so I made sure to grab Kolb thinking that either Jeremy Maclin or Johnny
Knox would be there for me after he made his back to back picks. Freakin guy
took both of them. So I panicked and grabbed Spiller.
His
rookie season was nothing to write home about but he didn’t piss me off enough
to refrain from using him again in the future. So I swooped him up when Fred
Jackson went down in 2011 and reaped the rewards of some pretty good
performances to end the year and help me finish third in the league. He was a guy
I had high hopes for as a mid-to-late round RB in 2012. I didn’t plan on
drafting him in ALL five of my football leagues I played in last season.
Boy
am I glad I did, considering that the majority of the leagues I’m in are keeper
leagues.
Unfortunately,
the fact that he was on my bench for more games than I’d like to admit last
season across all five of those leagues helped attribute to my career-worst
year across the board. But Spiller led me to a lot of late season wins and
helped me believe, at least for a few weeks, that I could make some late pushes
and take home some hardware. Alas, 2012 was the first year since 2008 that I
didn’t win any league I partook in.
It
doesn’t change the fact that I’m heading into 2013 with a guy that a lot of
people are extremely high on, including myself. The fact that the highest draft
pick I have to give up to protect Spiller is a seventh rounder in the CCFFL
makes this the winner by a landslide in the vote for Ray’s favorite fantasy
player of all time.
Of
course, the fact that Spiller is only the second player I've ever drafted in
all the leagues I was playing in for a particular season, with Matthew Stafford
in 2010 being the other one which didn't turn out so well, helps his case as
does the fact that I had a lot of people questioning that pick and trying to
convince me (or themselves) that he wasn't going to amount to anything.
Add that to the fact that I've had him on my CCFFL squad in every year he's been in the league and you can almost say that I've watched him grow up right before my eyes, morphing from a high upside late round flier to a likely first round pick in 2013. That sort of thing bring us closer together, I believe. Well maybe not if you ask him because he has no idea who I am most likely, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
There’s
always the chance that Spiller will bust but his ceiling is too high for me to
ignore. And if Buffalo decides to add a QB with the ability to run (Geno Smith
or a FA?) or a second viable WR (Cordarrelle Patterson or a FA?) and take some
of the pressure off of Spiller, I will be all for this.
And
if Spiller can help me win one or both of the league championships
that have been eluding me since 2004 (CCFFL) and 2007 (ConVicks) respectively,
that would be the ultimate validation for my crappy fantasy season that was
2012.
Deuces,
-Ray
Ray Marz-
[FIVE-TIME
and current BWO United States Champion. Come watch me defend the BWO U.S. Strap
against Steve Off on Saturday, March 16th in Nutley, NJ <150 Chestnut
Street> and watch me square off with ROH’s Grizzly Redwood at the Ventnor
Educational Community Complex in Ventnor, NJ on Saturday, March 23rd]
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