2015 Football Champs: Punching Donkeys

In a rematch of the 2009 championship, C’s Punching Donkeys once again triumphed over Beaver Damn! by a final score of 97-90. In doing so, the Donkeys not only became the first back-to-back football champs in Idle Time fantasy sports history, but, with their third overall title in the sport, they join the ranks of the Idle Time elite.

Only the Donkeys (football), Pine Tar Heroin (baseball), and The Fundamentalators (basketball) have three trophies in a single sport.

Although it was a balanced effort up and down the lineup, Punching Donkeys put the pressure on early with a 30-point performance from Kirk Cousins on Saturday night. Cousins, who C modestly called “a midseason bye week replacement,” is yet another example of the kind of waiver wire magic and free agency resurrections that have become the hallmark of the Punching Donkey dynasty.

A Brief History of Idle Time Fantasy Trophies

like a little pewter pat on the back

In 2010, after winning the Idle Time baseball league, I bought myself a trophy.

Yeah. I know how that sounds.

But winning these leagues is hard. It’s a freaking achievement. And the season prior was the last time that Yahoo offered the optional League Champion Bobblehead as a premium add-on to its fantasy baseball service. Nothing in 2010. I had to fend for myself. And for twenty bucks (less than what Yahoo used to charge) I ordered a sweet little pewter-headed slugger. And it’s personalized, no less.

Many of you long-time Idle Timers might remember, but for the newbies: all the snazzy content that Yahoo provides for fantasy sports enjoyment wasn’t always free. In 2006, they debuted their Fantasy PLUS service for football and, later that year, for baseball (but never basketball — always the neglected stepchild, the Godfather III of fantasy sports). For $130 per league, every manager enjoyed such features as scouting reports, a record book for virtual in-season achievements, a StatTracker for “watching” games, and… a league trophy, mailed to the winner’s door several months after sealing the deal.

2014 Football Champs: Punching Donkeys

originally posted on the League Page by Matt Di Gino:

For the first time in the 11 year history of Idle Time football we have a repeat champion. I’d like to have us all pause for a moment and reflect on what a testament to parity and competitive balance that is. It speaks volumes about the leadership that you are all enjoying. Technically last year was the first repeat franchise, but with a completely different manager, this one is more deserving of praise.

How did the Donkeys do it? He’s an adaptor. A mere 5 years removed from his first title, an entirely revamped roster with the exception of P-Rivs easily crushed the cocky Ball-Licking co-managers from Hastings Law. And he did it with Lamar Miller. While Tenacious O wallowed in another playoff-less campaign reluctantly dragging Reggie Kardashian onto the field every week, PD plugs Lamar Miller in and gives him the proper motivation and guidance to excel.

Lamar Miller…

really makes you think.

2015 Hall of Fame: Choose the Football Finalists

choose wisely

So that inaugural Hall of Fame election didn’t happen during this year’s Convergence, as originally planned, but we’re getting our act in gear. Before the end of the fantasy NBA season and the opening minutes of MLB we’re hoping to have a ballot in everyone’s inbox.

To get there, of course, we still need to generate another list of finalists. Recall that, a few months ago, many of you voted for the five Idle Time baseball greats worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. Now we’ll do the same for football. Expect one more poll like this, for the basketball nominees, sometime in January.

The twenty players on this list of football semifinalists represent each of the sixteen current teams in the league. Once the five finalists have been chosen, we’ll post some Idle Time résumés, like we did for baseball, as reference prior to casting votes.

The Convergence Is Upon Us

It’s the Golden Season again. For three weeks, all three fantasy planets align.

The baseball playoffs begin tomorrow. Locusts held off the Try Hards, so they join Choo and a Half Men as the two Wild Card teams this year. Will’s team will face off against last year’s runner-up Yam Attack, while Jimmy’s squad takes on AL East leaders Chief Knock-a-Homa. Let the SP streaming commence.

Meanwhile Giancarlo Stanton helped Pine Tar Heroin earn a first-round bye, just as explosive youngsters Jose Abreu and Billy Hamilton did for Henry Rowengartner.

Draft Night 2014

With all respect to FX’s The League (and I suppose recognition is in order, given the fact that three of Idle Time’s team names derive from the show), eight-team fantasy football leagues are for chumps. Give me sixteen teams, four divisions, and as close to a dynasty keeper format as the quorum will allow.

And yes, Draft Night is still exciting.

This year we went all high-tech with an internet-assisted lottery randomizer. draftlotto.com allowed Matt to enter in last year’s non-playoff teams, all ten of them, with an appropriate number of balls in the hopper for each. Each eligible team was listed with an email address and the first-round results were sent out simultaneously to everyone involved. In case you weren’t in the lottery draw, or just need verification of the process, the settings are saved on the site here.

We got a late start on the proceedings, and the keeper deadline has been pushed back to tomorrow, Friday, August 22. That gives you a weekend to prep, research the current crop of rookies, conduct a few mocks, and hydrate responsibly for the Draft on Tuesday night, August 26, at 8:00 PM.