VPFL 2014

It's that time again. There is an extra spot open this year thanks to the Greenfield Grizzlies claiming last year's championship. Current members are: the White Buffalo, Nate, me, and Zek, the winner of the VP-AFL. That leaves six teams open for management; it's a keeper league so you'll inherit up to three players of your choice from last year's roster.

If you haven't participated before but would like to do so this season, please throw your name in the hat here now. I'll choose the six participants randomly.

2013 VPFL Champions

79 Greenfield Grizzlies
42 Fromundah Cheezheads

The Greenfield Grizzlies are your 2013 VPFL champion. It's been a banner year for the White Buffalo, as he also defeated me in our other fantasy league, 77-57 AND won his picks league at work as well. This will make him absolutely insufferable for the next nine months.

Thanks for playing, everyone, and the very small silver lining in the gargantuan cloud that is the Greenfield championship is that thanks to one of the permanent players winning the league, there will be six open spots next year instead of the usual five. I will post a call for volunteer players about a month before the season starts; as always, new players will be given the priority.

As for the NFL, here is to hoping that Leslie Frazier heads back to coordinating defenses and Bill Musgrave is doing something besides calling successive off-tackle plays for Adrian Peterson.

VPFL Championship

74 Greenfield Grizzlies
57 Bane Sidhe

80 Fromundah Cheezheads
79 RR Redbeards

The two top teams all season are meeting in the VPFL Championship Game. Greenfield has had a banner year; as it happens, I'm meeting the White Buffalo in the MFL championship game.

VPFL Week 13

127 Bane Sidhe (8-5)
50 RR Redbeards (8-5)

60 Fromundah Cheezheads (10-3)
44 Suburban Churchians (5-8)

73 Mounds View Meerkats (6-7)
67 Bradford Gamma Rays (5-8)

71 Bailout Banksters (6-7)
69 Greenfield Grizzlies (9-4)

86 Boot Hill Hangmen (4-9)
68 Mercury Marauders (4-9)

The playoff teams are set, all that remains to be settled is who plays where.  Right now, no one wants to face the defending champions, Bane Sidhe, who appear to be rounding into late-season form. And curb-stomping Nate? Well, let's just say the old Weeper was smiling that day.

I'm not discontent with my performance this season. Losing both Rodgers and Foster knocked me out of contention, but I still managed to score more points than two of the four playoff teams.

VPFL Week 12

52 Fromundah Cheezheads (9-3)
40 Mercury Marauders (4-8)

79 Bane Sidhe (7-5)
67 Boot Hill Hangmen (3-9)

55 RR Redbeards (8-4)
43 Greenfield Grizzlies (9-3)
56 Moundsview Meerkats (5-7)
50 Bailout Banksters  (5-7)

71 Bradford Gamma Rays (5-7)
68 Suburban Churchians (5-7)

At the close of Week 12, Fromundah Cheezheads and RR Redbeards both made the postseason. Greenfield Grizzlies got their fourth straight week in first place, despite a loss to RR Redbeards. Moundsview Meerkats leapfrogged the most teams this week, climbing from seventh place to fifth. Suburban Churchians wasn't as lucky, sliding from sixth to eighth. RR Redbeards has won seven consecutive matchups.

This is the weekly open NFL thread. And while the Vikings season has been a nearly unmitigated disaster, the ironic thing is that the decision to Percy Harvin leave appears to have been an even better one that the decision to let Sydney Rice go.

VFPL Week 11

97 Greenfield Grizzlies (9-2)
67 Bane Sidhe (6-5)

58 Fromundah Cheezheads (8-3)
49 Boot Hill Hangmen (3-8)

92 RR Redbeards (7-4)
71 Mounds View Meerkats (4-7)

75 Suburban Churchians (5-6)
43 Bailout Banksters (5-6)

90 Bradford Gamma Rays (4-7)
49 Mercury Marauders (4-7)

This is shaping up to be the least interesting Vikings-Packers game in ages. Two teams and no real quarterbacks between them. It may be time to consider running the single-wing.

VPFL Week 10

73 Greenfield Grizzlies (8-2)
64 Mounds View Meerkats (4-6)

75 Bane Sidhe (6-4)
51 Fromundah Cheezheads (7-3)

53 RR Redbeards (6-4)
46 Suburban Churchians (4-6)

69 Bailout Banksters (5-5)
58 63Mercury Marauders (4-6)

84 Boot Hill Hangmen (3-7)
47 Bradford Gamma Rays (3-7)

My season is essentially over, with both Aaron Rodgers and Arian Foster being sidelined by injury. Even so, there is NO excuse for last week's loss to the Grizzlies, as ANY starting quarterback would have been enough to give me the 10 points I needed for the win. But I simply forgot that Rodgers was out and started him.

So, it's looking like the four playoff contenders are Greenfield, Fromundah, last season's champs, and much to everyone's surprise, the slow-starting Redbeards.

VPFL Week 9

79 Greenfield Grizzlies (7-2)
74 Suburban Churchians (4-5)

58 Mounds View Meerkats (4-5)
45 Bane Sidhe (5-4)

76 RR Redbeards (5-4)
48 63Mercury Marauders (4-5)

66 Bailout Banksters (4-5)
65 Boot Hill Hangmen (2-7)

66 Bradford Gamma Rays (3-6)
60 Fromundah Cheezheads (7-2)

The Redbeards appear to be climbing back into it, even as I completely forgot to start Alfred Morris for this week. This is, as always, your NFL open thread, in which we will conspicuously fail to worry overmuch about the loss of the Vikings starting quarterback to injury.

VPFL Week 7

I haven't got the scores together yet, but in the meantime, this would be your open NFL thread.

VPFL Week 5

83 Greenfield Grizzlies (5-0)
52 Bradford Gamma Rays (1-4)
 
71 Fromundah Cheezheads (5-0)
61 Mounds View Meerkats (2-3)

80 Bane Sidhe (3-2)
49 '63 Mercury Marauders (2-3)

74 Bailout Banksters (2-3)
41 RR Redbeards (1-4)

75 Boot Hill Hangmen (2-3)
52 Suburban Churchians (2-3)

Not the best of starts for the Meerkats, especially not with Greenfield and Fromundah going 5-0.  But that will end this week, as the two undefeated teams meet; Fromundah has the nominal edge, and is up 16-0 after the Thursday game, but has to be deeply worried about Peyton Manning facing the outclassed Jaguars today.  I can sympathize, as the Meerkats would be 3-2 if it weren't for his 6 TD passes in Week One.

I'm quite pleased that the Vikings showed the sense to pick up Josh Freeman.  It wasn't all that long ago that he was being touted as the next great QB and I'm not convinced that the problem was him and not the Buccaneers. Regardless, when you've got nothing, the prospect of something is worth a shot. This is a quarterback's league, and if you don't have a top 10 QB, then you had better keep rolling the dice until you land one.  I'm not saying that Freeman is a long term solution, but we already know that neither Ponder nor Cassel are.

80 TD, 66 INT and a 78.8 rating for a 25 year-old quarterback isn't so bad, especially considering that he threw for 4,000 yeards with 27 TDs against 17 INTs last year.

VPFL Week Four

105 Greenfield Grizzlies (4-0)
78 Bailout Banksters (1-3)

91 Fromundah Cheezheads (4-0)
59 Suburban Churchians (2-2)

99 Bane Sidhe (2-2)
54 RR Redbeards (1-3)

79 Mounds View Meerkats (2-2)
76 Bradford Gamma Rays (1-3)

75 '63 Mercury Marauders (2-2)
67 Boot Hill Hangmen (1-3)

No Vikes this week, which is great because it gives Christian Ponder more time to recover from his "injury".  Which, if Leslie Frazier isn't completely crazy, will last as long as it takes for Matt Cassel to demonstrate that he is turnover-prone or not. Cassel missed some throws and got lucky on two possible interceptions, but on the other hand, looked like a real NFL quarterback, got the ball out quickly, and registered a higher QB rating than Ponder has ever recorded.

Denver is looking virtually unstoppable, but we've seen this show from Manning before. Don't bet the farm on the Broncos yet. New Orleans is looking formidable now that they've got Payton back, demonstrating that coaches are almost as important as quarterbacks in the National Football League.

I was pleased to see the Piranha of the Serengeti roar back in the late games after getting a complete goose egg from Andy Dalton subbing for the bye-weeked Aaron Rodgers. That's the sign of a well-balanced fantasy team; one that can win without a quarterback if need be.  Dare we detect shades of the 2000 Ravens?

VPFL Week 3

70 Greenfield Grizzlies (3-0)
68 RR Redbeards (1-2)

56 Suburban Churchians (2-1)
48 Bradford Gamma Rays (1-2)

92 Fromundah Cheezheads (3-0)
65 '63 Mercury Marauders (1-2)

97 Bailout Banksters (1-2)
54 Mounds View Meerkats (1-2)
44 Bane Sidhe (1-2)
38 Boot Hill Hangmen (1-2)

This is starting to look disturbingly like the year when I led the league in points scored and somehow managed to remain in last place until the last week of the season. Although it is encouraging that Matt Cassel is starting this week against the Steelers; at halftime of the first game, I predicted that Christian Ponder would lose his starting job after the bye week.

Cassel doesn't have to win any games with his arm, he just has to be competent enough to avoid turnovers, prevent defenses from putting eight and nine in the box and give AD a little room with which to unleash the purple greatness. And based on his performance in New England and Kansas City, he should be capable of doing that.

I still don't understand why the Vikings didn't go after Alex Smith last year. Of course, I'm still annoyed that they didn't make any attempt to go after Drew Brees when he was available either.

VPFL Week 2

68 Greenfield Grizzlies (2-0)
55 Bane Sidhe (0-2)

63 Fromundah Cheezheads (2-0)
43 Boot Hill Hangman (1-1)

88 Mounds View Meerkats (1-1)
72 RR Redbeards (1-1)

76 Suburban Churchians (1-1)
72 Bailout Banksters (0-2)

72 Bradford Gamma Rays (1-1)
51 '63 Mercury Marauders (1-1)


Balance was restored to the universe, as the Piranha of the Serengeti had little trouble tearing apart the Redbeards despite my leaving the Seattle defense's 22 points on the bench.  But it's nice to see that my backup defense, Kansas City, is capable of stepping in for the bye week as well as on the occasion where there is a favorable matchup.

I'm a little concerned about the Banksters, my opponent this week, and the 14 points they got out of the Kansas City kicker. But I like Aaron Rodgers against the Cincy defense and the Seattle DEF against what passes for the Jacksonville offense.  So, we'll see.

On the NFL side, I'm thinking that this would be Christian Ponder's last game as the Vikings starter for the season if it weren't for the fact that they are playing the Browns sans Trent Richardson. And with the Steelers and Panthers coming up next, he could easily make it to Week 11 before Leslie Frazier finally gives up on him. Despite the easy schedule, I doubt he'll be starting against Green Bay in Week 12 unless the Vikes decide to tank the season.

Matt Cassel was admittedly mediocre the last two years in Kansas City, but look at the coaches and offensive coordinator he had.  He still has 82 TD and 57 INT with a 6.1 yards per attempt for his career. Ponder has 33 TD and 29 INT with 5.5 yards per attempt. Who is going to give Adrian Peterson more room to operate? I'm not saying Cassel is an All-Pro or anything, but he does appear to be a low-level starter as opposed to a career backup QB like Ponder.

VPFL Week 1

93 Greenfield Grizzlies (1-0)
87 Mounds View Meerkats (0-1)

85 RR Redbeards (1-0)
52 Suburban Churchians (0-1)

80 '63 Mercury Marauders (1-0)
55 Bailout Banksters (0-1)

90 Boot Hill Hangmen (1-0)
63 Bradford Gamma Rays (0-1)

90 Fromundah Cheezheads (1-0)
84 Bane Sidhe (0-1)

Not a bad start for the Meerkats, just not a winning one. It's hard to recover from being down 51 points thanks to The Game Where Peyton Went Off, but I had a chance and if Arian Foster and Alfred Morris hadn't both choked in the late games, I would have won.

In the NFL, the continued inability of Christian Ponder to play quarterback in a manner consistent with an NFL starter looks to spell out a long and tedious season for the Vikings. He has a decent line now, he has some decent receivers, and he has Adrian Peterson. A middle-aged nun should be able to throw for 200 yards and 2 TDs in that situation, but Christian Panic can't even manage to throw a ball out of bounds without throwing an interception.

As far as the other teams go, New England looks weaker than in recent years, while Kansas City looks like it could be one of this year's surprise playoff teams. Granted, Jacksonville is bad, but even a bad team is usually capable of making it past midfield against another bad team. Andy Reid and Alex Smith are both significant upgrades from last year.

This is, as always, your weekly NFL thread.

VPFL 2013 draft

The live draft will be at 4:45 PM Central today.  For those of you not playing in the VPFL, please feel free to discuss other NFL-related news, such as the completely unsurprising fact that Mr. Tim Tebow is presently unemployed.

I like and admire the man. He is good man. He is a fearless Christian. But he is simply not an NFL-caliber quarterback. I mean, I'm a Vikings fan. In recent years, I've seen the Vikes start The Tarvaris Jackson Experiment, Christian Ponder, and even Joe Webb.  I've seen some very bad quarterbacking over the years.  I can still remember seeing Bob Lee and Steve Dils start behind center.

And I would have more confidence in any of them than in Tim Tebow.  You can trust Tebow to do two things on the football field. He can get you some yards on the ground and he won't turn over the ball.  That's not nearly enough to be a quarterback in the NFL.

UPDATE: Well, if nothing else, it seems I won the draft.

BEST DRAFT WINNER!

        Moundsview Meerkats
        Manager: Vox

Best Draft is awarded to the team with the most projected season points based on weekly optimal starting lineups. 

VPFL 2013 managers

Here are the new VPFL 2013 participants.  With the exception of Waterboy, each manager was randomly selected.  Each manager, including Waterboy, was randomly assigned an existing team.

VP-AFL Champion: Waterboy: DC Hangmen
iridium190: Bailout Banksters
onefiver: Lunar City Gamma Rays
John in Highland Park: SEND EMAIL ASAP
Buddy E:  SEND EMAIL ASAP
Revan: Fromundah Cheezheads

If one of these managers is not able to respond within two days, Slamdunk is on deck.

Remember, new managers can EITHER change the City name or the Nickname.  Not both. I hope to be able to pick a draft date soon.

VPFL 2013

It's time to get the epic fantasy football league rolling again.  In 2013, the league will consist of the 2012 Champions Bane Sidhe, the Mounds View Meerkats, the RR Redbeards, the Greenfield Grizzlies, the champion of the VP-AFL, and five new team managers.  If you have never participated in the VPFL before and would like to take over one of the five open teams in the league, please put your name forward in the comments today.  Note that it is a relatively competitive league and in seven years, only the Alamo City/Swamp Spartans have ever repeated as the league champion.

[Long rant about Mounds View's three first-place regular season finishes and zero VP Bowl wins omitted for reasons of space and blood pressure.]

I've already sent invites to the Redbeards and Grizzlies, so the Sidhe and the 2012 VP-AFL champion should email me.  Open teams will be randomly assigned; team managers are allowed up to three keepers but are not required to keep anyone.  Please note that you are permitted to change EITHER the team location or nickname, but not both, except for Bane's team, which is always named "Bane X" in memory of the late and much lamented member of the Dread Ilk.

No doubt the bastard was tickled pink at seeing the favored Meerkats denied last year's championship.  He may have even cracked a smile.