Associated Fantasy

"Its fine to have ability, but the ability to find ability in others is the true test" -Lou Holtz

Fantasy Addicts 

Kizzy The Sheep Herder

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FANTASY ADDICTS – Joining a very small group of teams who have won the Fantasy Addicts Championship, 2017 league rookie, Kizzy’s Krackbacks have shown just how much they like winning, sheering Black Sheep 586-529 and rounding off a dominating rookie season.  It’s the first time ever that a league rookie has won the League Championship, but meigzoh’s Krackbacks have been building towards it since their Week 1 debut, and accomplish it in high style, beating a past Champion to get there.  The 2017 Championship also happened to be one of the more competitive Championships in League history.  After a string of blow out final match-ups, you’d have to go all the way back to the 2013 and 2012 League Finals to find one with a closer final score.  The Krackbacks actually led by just 12 points after the first half of the two-week match, before winning with the 57 point margin they took in Week 17 to put it away.  It was also the first time in a few seasons that so many NFL teams had starters on the bench in Week 17, filling the second half of the Addicts Championship with more replacement players than the NFL strike season, and ultimately, making it a more difficult test of fantasy prowess.

The Championship is a fitting cherry on top of the season that Kizzy’s Krackbacks had, losing just 2 games through the enitrety of 2017.  In their Week 1 league debut they put up over 300 points, the only team on opening weekend to do so, beating league powerhouse Mighty Pats, 317-166, and putting the league on notice that they were going to be a contender.  Their Week 1 performance was just 2 points shy of being named Offense of the Week and they came in second in defensive scoring as well.  In Week 2 they struggled against Black Sheep in the pair’s first ever meeting, but still pulled out a win, 299-283, again with the second highest offensive score of the week.  The Krackbacks faced The Great Khalil in Week 3 and again went back above 300 points, 7 points short of the week’s high score in their 326-235 victory.  It was the first time they were able to break through as the top offense of the week, and did it with a bang, posting 191 offensive points, good for #23 on the league’s All-Time Single Game Offensive Performance Record.  In Weeks 4 and 5 they stumbled for the only two times in their 2017 campaign, losing 228-297 to fellow league rookie Suspension Freaks XL and then to the league’s winningest franchise, monkeys on ecstasy by a narrow 271-281.  Both of those opponents would go on to be playoff teams and the Krackbacks would beat them each in later rematches.

Kizzy’s Krackbacks’ 2017 Schedule

Rebounding after their back to back losses, the Krackbacks wrestled a tigh victory from the Hostiles, 288-284 in Week 6, and then stole another close one, 245-237 against the rebranded WhyNots, 99 Bortles of Beer.  In Week 9’s final game of the 2017 round robin, Kizzy had a date of destiny with Defending Champion On The Rox who they summarily defeated, 253-226, to position themselves in first place with a 7-2-0 record for the start of the Ladder Schedule.  The Fantasy Addicts League breaks down their 13 week regular season into two parts, the round robin in Weeks 1-9 in which every team plays every other team once, and the Week 10-13 Ladder Schedule to close the regular season out.  In Ladder Scheduling, teams are matched weekly by their standings rank, #1 vs #2, #3 vs #4, etc, and Kizzy’s Krackbacks started out on the ladder, the same way they started the round robin:  with a win against Mighty Pats.  Since losing to the Krackbacks in the season opener, Mighty Pats had gone on to produce their own 7-2-0 record and were right on Kizzy’s heels, trailing by just 78 total season points, but the Krackbacks would extend that advantage by a win and a hundred points, beating Mighty Pats decisively 338-236, and again breaking into the record book, this time placing 5th on the Offensive charts with 219 points scored offensively.

Still ranked #2 despite the loss, Mighty Pats were forced to face Kizzy again in Week 11, and again they suffered a loss, this time 315-270.  In Week 12, after starting the season 3-4, thanks to a 5 game run and a magical knack for climbing the ladder, monkeys on ecstasy had scrambled into the number 2 spot to put their 8-4-0 record on the line, but for the 3rd week in a row, the Krackbacks topped 300 points and defeated the monkeys 315-296.  Then, in the regular season finale, Kizzy would once again face their 2017 whipping boy Mighty Pats, and defeated them for the fourth time, 250-199, to finish the regular season as the Ladder Champion, ranked #1 with their 11-2-0 record.  On top of their standings record, meigzoh’s Krackbacks also finished as the top scoring team of the regular season, and thanks to a rule installed just this season, they would get to choose their semifinal opponent from the elligible teams after enjoying a well deserved Week 14 bye.

The team with the season’s best record has only won the Addict’s Championship twice in league history.

The 2017 Addicts Wild Card Game featured Mighty Pats and Black Sheep, with the winner to advance to the semi’s.  That turned out to be the Sheep, who won 309-257 and appeared to be getting hot at the right time, posting their second consecutive 300 point game.  Had the Mighty Pats won the Wild Card Game and advanced, it’s quite likely that the Krackbacks would have selected them for their Week 15 semifianl opponent, to try and beat them for a fifth time, but instead they set their sights on their fellow rookie, Suspension Freaks XL, who were the post season’s #3 seed.  That left the #2 seed monkeys on ecstasy to take on Black Sheep, and insured that for the first time, a league rookie would find their way to the Championship.  The Sheep bested the monkeys on one arm of the bracket, topping 300 for the third week in a row in the 362-267 victory, while the Krackbacks went toe to toe with the Freaks, eventually putting them away late on Monday Night Football, largely on the arm of their quarterback Jameis Winston and his 46 points.

In the two-week League Championship, Krackbacks vs Black Sheep, the first half in Week 16 was serious edge of your seat fantasy football.  Neither team managed to extend a lead by more than a dozen or so points from start to finish – literally, from the very start, to the very finish, and there were no less than 9 lead changes throughout the weekend.  The lead changed for the last time, late in the fourth quarter of Monday Night Football, as Kizzy moved into the lead, finishing the first half with the score at a close 298-286.  It would not be the last lead change of the game, as the Week 17 second half went off just as close.   Both teams’ rosters were filled with replacement players for the Championship’s finish, some were calculated investments and some were dart throws; some paid off and some did not.  Black Sheep regained the lead early on a touchdown scored by one of their replacements, losing it again just minutes later thanks to a touchdown by one of Kizzy’s replacements.  The Sheep made one more push, taking the lead a second time, late in the fourth of the early games, and managed to hold onto it into the late games, staying out in front through all of the 1st and part of the 2nd quarter before Kizzy’s Krackbacks took control of the game and held the lead for the rest of the day, coasting to a 587-530 win and the 2017 Fantasy Addicts Championship.