Fantasy Football by the Numbers

What can I say, I love football.  I really enjoy watching the games on Sunday and have been involved with fantasy football since 2006.  Well that is great you might think, but what the heck does fantasy football have to do with personal finance.  Not a whole lot...

at least when you think like a rational human being.  But I am not normal.  Far from it.  So without further ado lets break down my line up in financial terms...

Quarter Back: Andrew Luck
This position in my league is really the breadwinner.  Delivering constant points you might say Luck is my big cap stock or my index fund.  QBs in my league need to always be putting up points, but they are rarely drafted until later rounds (unless it is a brees, manning, or rodgers). 

I got my hands on Luck at pick number 77 in the 7th round.  At that late he was a steal!

Wide Receivers: Demaryius Thomis, Calvin Johnson, T.Y. Hilton
In my league we don't play PPR we play standard scoring format.  In other words your wide outs do not get points per reception, they only get points based on yards and touch downs.  I went with the zero back strategy this year and drafter D.T., Keenan Allen, and T.Y. Hilton.

How did I end up with Calvin "Megatron" Johnson.  I bought low.  When Megatron was hurt his owner was shopping him low and approached me with a few trade options.  I decided that I should probably part with Frank Gore (even though Gore was coming off of some really nice games).  I hope that Megatron is fully recovered and plays well through out the rest of the season.

Keenan Allen was shipped away in a meaningless trade because he became as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop.  He was a bad stock, and fortune smiled upon me when I was able to rid myself of him.  We all make bad picks once in a while.  The key is to not let that bad pick stick around to long, or it will start to smell up the rest of the team or portfolio. 

D.T. and T.Y. are actually proving pretty useful and putting up some nice points.  They were essentially small cap funds when I drafted them and have had some very nice returns, but they often fluctuate in points per game.  One week can be boom and the next week can be bust.  So far it has been mostly boom for one and bust for the other so they work well together.

Running Backs: Frank Gore, Bernard Pierce, and Knowshon Moreno
Well this category was not my strong suit, or even close.  I waited until round six to snag Gore.  He gave me some useful weeks and then I traded him for what hopefully will become a productive Megatron.  Gore was kind of like the hot stock that Kiplingers always touts.  By the time you read about buying, you should probably be thinking about selling.

Pierce was a bust and I dropped him from team, traded for him later, and dropped him again.  I made a mistake twice with him.  He became kind of like our financial mistakes that we can't quite seem to get over.  I liken this to buying a lottery ticket.  Even though you don't win, you look around at others occasional fortune, convince yourself that you can do it to, and repeat your stupidity.  Congrats.

Moreno would have been a great snag at pick number 125.  He was going to be Miami's feature back and scored 19pts right away.  Then he injured himself.  So he sat on my bench for weeks until he came back.  Then he injured himself again because he came back to early (ala What is going to happen to Romo this week?).

You might be wondering why I am still writing and not pounding my head on the table due to a horrible RB core...

I didn't give up.  I dropped, traded, and scoured the waiver wire.  I picked up Ahmad Bradshaw and Fred Jackson.  These two backs were not drafted and have become substantial pieces of my team.  They provide a good lesson in that where others see no value, there often is.  Nothing risked, nothing gained.  Now hurry back from injury F-Jax and lets get back to domination!

T.E. Julius Thomas
My tight end was actually my second pick of the draft.  He has turned in some bad weeks, but I am confident that he will regain his dominance.  He has a ways to go maturity wise, but I am confident in Peyton to develop him as a tight end. 

Defense: Seahawks
One would think that this would have been a safe pick.  At pick number four however I made a big mistake and probably left points on the board.  I figured Seattle would put up at least 15pts a week for me.  NOPE!  This is like the stock you buy, and then it instantly tanks.  So you hold and hold and hold.  Then you hold some more.  I don't even know why I am still holding, but I just can't bear to release them until they contribute something. 

Kicker and IDP: I simply stream the kicker every week and look for high individual tackles with my individual defensive player.  Not a whole lot to say about these two positions.  They are not exciting.  They can win games for you however or lose them.  Kind of like how your insurance policies aren't exciting.  You don't really pay attention to them until you need them.  Then they can really save your bacon.  So make sure they are in place!

Bench:
In my league we are allowed to have 5 bench spots.  Currently this is the breakdown...

QB: Phillip Rivers and Ryan Tannehill(picked up Ryan for bye week 10-he will go if he doesn't perform)
WR: Doug Baldwin and Mike Evans
RB: Bobby Rainey
T.E.: Dwayne Allen

I know that is 6 players and I only have room for 5 but since we are on week 10 (colts/chargers) some of these jokers are playing:)

My bench is kind of like an emergency fund.  You need to make sure you have it set up, not to earn great returns(pts), but to be there in case of emergency (bye weeks).

So that is my fantasy football team, currently 6-3 and second out of twelve.  I have put up the most points so far though!

7 Financial Takewaways
1. Invest in a variety of ways (Index, Small Cap, Mutual Funds, etc...)  Diversify!
2. Make sure you have a breadwinnner or minimize risk as best as possible.
3. Take some risk, and cut the crap when your gut tells you to.
4. Don't buy just because the experts are touting the merits of an investment or assest.  In fact that may be a good time to sell.
5. Sometimes you have to make the same mistake twice (or more) before you learn from it.  Better late than never.
6. Check to make sure your insurance policies are covering your butt!
7. Make sure that emergency fund is in place and accessible, you never know when you may need it.

That's all for now football freaks, see you on the waiver wires!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Net Worth Update: January

Old School's (negative) NET WORTH!!! First Edition

Net Worth Update: October 2017