9/12/2005

World Championship of Fantasy Football

I write this post from Las Vegas, Nevada. Although I am out here for a business conference this week, I also had another "conference" of sorts this past weekend...It was called The World Championship of Fantasy Football. In short, it is a high stakes Fantasy Football gathering, that has 60 leagues of 12 teams a piece, all vying for $200K and a trip to the Pro Bowl.... Each league has a champion which is dictated by a week 12 Super-Bowl. This team wins $5K. From there, all league winners (plus a handful of second-place teams) vie for the big prize in a 4 week aggregate, roto-style point format.

To say I had been excited about this would have been a drastic understatement. I went with my buddy Jared, who also was a WCOFF virgin. Although we both had friends who went last year, we really didn’t know what to expect. We were equally anxious and excited to get to the event, pretty much talking non-stop the night before about players, strategies, predictions, etc.

Considering the amount I drank on Friday night, one would think that sleeping wouldn’t be a problem ….. WRONG! I was so excited for the draft, that I didn’t sleep at all. Fast forward to what seemed to be an eternity, 9 AM …. I registered for the event – joining my fellow 1400 men and 50 woman participants. They gave us fancy leather folders, an orange “lance Armstrong-type” bracelet and told us “good luck.” 10:15 the doors to the draft open, and you walk into a massive room filled with 60 tables in a large “U shape.” 30 minutes later, the organizers say a few words and have a color guard march in for the star spangled banner. Nick Bakay also had the mic for about 10 minutes and did a very funny speech on the multitude of random team names (i.e. “Seeking Suzy Kolber” among others), as well as gave props to the entire league for putting their money where their fantasy trash talking mouths were. (He drafted in Jared’s league … I wasn’t very impressed).

Anyway – the draft finally starts, and my heart is pumping very fast …. My “worst-case” scenario happens with the 8 guys I want going right before me on the 9th pick. No big deal, I pick my 9th guy in the requested fashion: “Running Back, Tiki Barber, New York Giants.” (This format continued throughout the draft, although it was a little strange, it kinda made the picks a little more formal, which I thought was cool under the circumstances). As soon as I get my first 2 guys, I text message about 3 of my friends including Jared who got Tiki AND the guy I wanted at 9 (Westbrook, who went # 8 in my draft). Jared has the 12th pick, so he came over to my table a little more frequently than I went to his … After the 8th round, they give everyone a 45 minute break. I felt like it was halftime of a high school basketball game I was playing in – but it was missing those great orange slices someone’s mom would pack. I reflected a lot on what I did the 8 rounds prior and what I needed to do in the later rounds….. Jared and I actually had many of the same players, which I was psyched about. No doubt that all the talking we did the days before influenced us both, but I think that’s a good thing….

The next 12 rounds flew by …. All 12 teams in my league knew what they were doing, which meant that every team looked scary to play – INCLUDING mine…. Although I was really happy with my squad, I was so mentally drained from the intensity, that I couldn’t really show it after the draft was finally completed ….

Jared and I agreed that best thing to do next was: Bet on the Ohio State-Texas game, buy a lot of Jack Daniels, and order as much fried food as possible. It was PEFECT. Him and I analyzed each other’s league’s in and out …. Concluding that my league was certainly more competitive (which is good for Jared), but that we both wouldn’t do anything different in the draft after-the-fact. That is a good feeling to have….

On Sunday – Jared and I were in Heaven…. Watching every NFL games, drinking and eating like fat-asses….End result … Both him and I are 1-0 in WCOFF! I’ll try and keep the blog updated with this throughout the year….

On a final note, if you know me at all, you know that the original “BigTime Fantasy Football league” is one of my biggest sources of pride. This league is different than the WCOFF in that it is 14 team, very competitive league that I started and will always be commissioner of. I can honestly say that I would rather win “The BigTime” than win the $200K at WCOFF. (that is IF I had to chose one or the other).

This being said, I really enjoyed the WCOFF experience and hope to do it again for years to come…. I will be recruiting other friends to join me next year …. Hopefully returning as the reigning champion.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what is the entry fee for this so called WCOFF? I'm surprised you didn't think to rename it the "WGOFF".

BG said...

Entry fee is $1750, but includes one night stay at the Hilton, plus a ticket to a lame party at ESPN zone.

Anonymous said...

Focus on winning the Fantasy Baseball League for once!!!

That's my greatest dream!
GO TRIBE
Dirk

Post a Comment