This weekend's FFL opponent was the division leader and I was one game behind him in the standings. I was up 35-28 going into last night's Tennessee-Houston game, but I was done and my opponent had Tennessee running back Chris Johnson going. Those who follow fantasy football know why I figured my goose was cooked, but for those who don't, Johnson had rushed for over 100 yards(3 bonus points in our scoring) his previous four games and had scored two touchdowns in each of the last three games. The dude has been on fire. His FFL points contribution those three weeks? 15, 15, 18.
Well, he ran for 151 yards last night but by some miracle he didn't get in the end zone. Those three points weren't enough for my opponent and so we are tied for first with two games left. What could be key is that I now own the tie-breaker over him since I have beaten him twice this year. There are two teams in our division that are just one game back though, so it truly is up in the air. The other division is pretty much the same way, but with one team in first and three more just one game back. In the 15 years or so that this league has been around I don't think I've ever seen that kind of parity.
I'm also glad to avoid what could have been a little controversy. We went online with the league last year, but one of the rules we retained was that you still had to call your opponent(or email) with your lineup. My opponent got 6 points from Steve Smith on Thursday night, but he never let me know that he intended to play him. Had Chris Johnson scored a TD last night those points would have mattered and I would have faced a dilemma: Do I cry foul to the commissioner? Or do I just let it go, since he probably would have started him anyway? The unfair advantage here is that if Smith had not scored on Thursday, my opponent could have claimed he didn't intend to play him and put another receiver in his place. Oh, and my opponent is the commissioner's son. The commish is a fair guy, but that would put him in a tough spot.
Going into last night my inclination was to let it go, but point out that this is the kind of thing that can lead to some hard feelings and split a league into factions. The other teams in my division also had an interest in seeing me knock off the division leader, it wasn't just me. If I were to let it go I might also be screwing them over, though they may not have found out.
I don't think my opponent was trying to game things, he's a pretty good kid I think, he was just a little sloppy with the rules. I'm glad that it's not an issue this morning, but I'm still going to point it out to him.
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