One is Luck, Two is Skill

Turns out writing these is not as fun, post-embarrassing first-round playoff exit. In a strange fucked up world I am going to spin zone into oblivion so I don't jump off the big bridge in Toledo: The "good news" is this isn't the first time it has happened to me. While the next few paragraphs will be more of a self-reflection on my season this year and the past season I want to encourage you to do the same yourself in your past season so you can hope to ironically be me. 

Back when I coached at Pacesetter, my boss at the time (not the sick fuck sexual predator who was my kind of boss that just got arrested by the DEA and taken out of his office in handcuffs as CFO of a major corporation down in Texas on lifetime charges of child sexual abuse/child pornography/having a relationship with a child from the ages of 10-16 whom I brought to Put-N-Bay with us for a weekend/played soccer weekly with us for a year or so) was a guy named Jimmy Walker.

Here is a photo of the child sexual predator who will be serving a lifetime worth of charges and myself hanging out coaching children's soccer. 

Here is another photo of the child sexual predator who should be dead and I hanging out coaching children's soccer.

Jimmy (not the psychopath seen above who needs to be killed on spot) once challenged me on the pitch to a crossbar challenge. Jimmy played professional soccer and is very connected with Aston Villa the premier league team and now coaches soccer at a high college level. I took him up on the crossbar challenge, he went first and missed from about 20 yards out and I followed him up and banged that bitch square of the crossbar. God opened up the skies and let me feel what heaven felt like and was the best moment of my life until post my celebration Jimmy Walker said 6 words that forever changed my life: One is luck, two is skill. So I wind up taking my second shot from 20 yards out and shank the absolute shit out of this ball and wasn't even close to the crossbar. Jimmy smiled, didn't say a word, and just walked away. 

This Year: you've heard me say all year that fantasy football is luck and I stand by that statement to a degree. I still to this day believe my team is better than Alan's, which isn't taking anything away from him, but as of last week I had: WR 1 and 2 on the year, WR3 who has been top 10 since he returned, QB1 on the year, two 10 point runningbacks, and throughout the year never falling below top 3 in total points for. 

Last Year: Similar year in that I was a scoring leader throughout the season and here is my playoff game against Brian.

I lost by 2 points in the first round because Scary Terry got concussed on the first or second drive against the cowboys and Kelce who had 92 receptions for 1125 yards and 9 TD the season went for 5 points even though the chiefs scored 48 points as a team in that game. If some chance I would have scored 3 points in that game I would have won the next week:

And wouldn't you know it in that next week here is what Kelce did:

So not only would I have been in the finals but had a decent shot at winning it looking at the point totals in the finals (it doesn't give me what I would have scored in week 16 as in week 15 I had won the "5th place" game). 

All of you after reading up to this point are saying: Why are you making me read you bitch about your fantasy luck and I don't pity you for being a cocky dickhead all year while sending me bullshit trades weekly. I do see why you would think that and yes there may be some truth to that but that isn't my point. The fact of the matter is: this is a 12-man league, 6 make it in the playoffs, and the top 2 get a bye week. We are now wrapping up our 2nd year in the league and yes there will be changes in the upcoming years but that doesn't change the fact that One is Luck, Two is Skill.

In these last two years, 4 out of 6 playoff teams have been the exact same people: Matt, Lukas, Will, and I. Going even a step further, Lukas is now in back-to-back years and earned himself the first-round bye. Let that sink in for a second, in a game of "luck" he is now on his second year in a row being a top 2 player in the league and attempting his second run at winning the whole goddamn thing. On the flip side Cody, Kirk, Dustin, and Chris have now failed to make the playoffs in back-to-back years. 

Fantasy is to a degree luck but like Jimmy Walker once said "One is Luck, Two is Skill" and now I will be reflecting on my past two years of complete and utter embarrassing first-round exits in an attempt to see what I could have done to prevent them. For those other 3, two-year playoff teams, maybe refine your skills and look back to trades or changes you could have made to improve and push yourself to a finals win. For those 4 two year non-playoff makers, maybe think back to why in a game of "luck" you now have acquired the skill of being a loser. Because if you have read any of this, to my belief my team was better than both Brian's last year and now Alan's this year but because of "luck" and Brian and Alan doing enough to get into the playoffs I now instead have to join you losers and watch as the final 4 of Doug, Alan, Lukas, and Matt battle to see who wins it all. 

All that being said the two teams I think will be squaring up in the finals versus each other will be:

Doug v Alan. 

My Brain,