In football, we've always been a little ahead of the curve with our stats, and have been pushing the limits of roster complexity by having additional flex positions and allowing return yardage. And recently, we have added individual defensive players to the point where now we have 4 starting defensive players, in addition to a team defense. We haven't started drafting punters, but you better believe that as soon as Yahoo! adds that feature, we'll be figuring out what round we should draft Shane Lechler in (probably the 9th, if you had to know it).
Interestingly, leagues like this pretty much run themselves, once you have things up an running. And with as much momentum as we've gained in the 9 years since our start-up back in 2001 Baseball, we've been able to add on some innovations, including this space. The UPL Blog has been a fun little project, which we've undertaken (and are always looking for more authors!). But I think that need for a space like this really took off with the idea that we were going to try to extend the reach of the fantasy season by going with keeper leagues in baseball and basketball. And with any keeper league, you have to figure out new rules, like how you will handle keepers, the draft order, etc. The UPL Blog has let us make these announcements, even when Yahoo! doesn't have things ready to go. Part of the innovation has been things like doing a UPL Draft Lottery prior to the basketball season, which was a successful venture. I believe that we'll carry it over into baseball.
As much as I love thinking about how we've been able to improve the UPL, and having some ideas of where we want to go forward, that's not really why we play the game. At the end of the day, it's all about the jewelry.
| Sport | Year | Teams | Champ | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
| Baseball | 2001 | 10 | '90Reds | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone | Westy |
| Baseball | 2002 | ? | O.N. Thugs | ? | ? | ? |
| Baseball | 2003 | 11 | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone | Cheeseheads | SuckCurveballs |
| Baseball | 2004 | 14 | O.N. Thugs | Champaign Toast | Westy | GenEric |
| Baseball | 2005 | 12 | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone | Westy | SuckCurveballs |
| Baseball | 2006 | 11 | Phatsnapper | Westy | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone |
| Baseball | 2007 | 11 | O.N. Thugs (tie) | '90Reds (tie) | IamJabrone | Milwaukee |
| Baseball | 2008 | 12 | IamJabrone | O.N. Thugs | SuckCurveballs | JimmyDix |
| Baseball | 2009 | 12 | '90Reds | Westy | IamJabrone | O.N. Thugs |
| Basketball | 2002 | 9 | O.N. Thugs | Tweedledumm | C-Lauff | SuperFriends |
| Basketball | 2003 | 12 | O.N. Thugs | Westy | 3 Men & Afro | SuckBasketballs |
| Basketball | 2004 | 9 | Westy | O.N. Thugs | Sparty | Groove |
| Basketball | 2005 | 7 | Westy | O.N. Thugs | Milwaukee | Groove |
| Basketball | 2006 | 8 | O.N. Thugs (tie) | IamJabrone (tie) | SuckBasketballs | Milwaukee |
| Basketball | 2007 | 10 | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone | chowtime | Westy |
| Basketball | 2008 | 12 | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone | chowtime | Westy |
| Basketball | 2009 | 11 | O.N. Thugs (tie) | Stephan (tie) | Sparty | IamJabrone |
| Football | 2001 | 9 | I Giocatori | ChrisF | Dino | Panda Bears |
| Football | 2002 | 12 | I Giocatori | Westy | IamJabrone | GenEric |
| Football | 2003 | 14 | O.N. Thugs | Tweedledummer | I Giocatori (tie) | Tweedledumm (tie) |
| Football | 2004 | 14 | Tweedledumm | Tweedledummer | Cheeseheads | O.N. Thugs |
| Football | 2005 | 14 | I Giocatori | IamJabrone | O.N. Thugs | Yvonne |
| Football | 2006 | 10 | I Giocatori | O.N. Thugs | GenEric | IamJabrone |
| Football | 2007 | 12 | JimmyDix | O.N. Thugs | I Giocatori | Dino |
| Football | 2008 | 12 | IamJabrone | Stephan | I Giocatori | O.N. Thugs |
| Football | 2009 | 14 | Dino | Stephan | O.N. Thugs | IamJabrone |
First of all, does anyone remember anything from 2002 Baseball (# of teams, who finished 2nd, 3rd, etc.). Yahoo! doesn't have any records of that year. All I remember is that the O.N. Thugs won, and it was was the last year we did a points league, because for the 2nd straight year, the season was over by mid-July, and people stopped checking their team. And I seem to recall Greg finishing in the bottom half, and not being able to follow-up his inaugural victory. If you could help me fill in the blanks, that would be great.
In any case, some interesting things to look at here. First of all in the roto leauges, the UPL has a definite Thuggish flavor, with the O.N. Thugs taking home 6 out of 8 championships in hoops, and 5 out of 9 in hardball. But that isn't to say that there isn't some competition in each. In both sports, there are repeat champs ('90 Reds with 3 baseball titles and Westy with 2 hoops titles). And those O.N. Thugs victories weren't all clean victories (a baseball tie w/ '90 Reds, and 2 hoops ties, one with IamJabrone, and one with Stephan). And recently, there have been some rumblings in baseball, where the '90 Reds have been champs 2 out of the last 3 years, and where IamJabrone has actually outperformed the O.N. Thugs two years running. In fact, the O.N. Thugs - IamJabrone interactions has actually started to look like a rivalry, with the two franchises going toe-to-toe on a regular basis, including this year's hoops rivalry which is essentially a dead heat between the two teams halfway through the season.
Perhaps the most impressive feat is in UPL Football, where resident savant I Giocatori has managed to win 4 times, with no one else able to claim more than one title. In fact, UPL Football has had the most diversity with 6 different champions over 9 seasons with 4 of those champs having never won a UPL title in another sport. Just for the record, we've had 4 champs in baseball and 2 in hoops.
We've had some unlikely champions throughout the UPL history. There was 2007 Football, where UPL newcomer JimmyDix not only rolls through the regular season as the #1 seed, but actually verifies things by rolling through the playoffs, en route to a championship in his first UPL experience, making UPL regulars like Schultzie and GenEric throw up in their mouths. There was 2004 Football, where Tweedledum and Tweedledummer played in probably the most unlikely football final in UPL history, with Tweedledum taking home the title, leaving Tweedledummer in 2nd place for the 2nd year in the row. This was a far cry from the Tweedledummer who neglected to look at the scoring rules, and decided that defense wins championships, and picked the Pittsburgh Defense in the 1st round back in 2002. And of course there was 2006 Baseball where Phatsnapper somehow took home a title, sandwiched between 17th place finishes every year before that and every year since.
And there have been some amazing wins by familiar faces. Like in 2006 Football, where I Giocatori backs into the playoffs with the 8th seed, at 6-7, only to punk Westy in the opening round, and then squeeze out two tough W's over the Jabrones and Thugs to win his 4th ring. There was 2007 Baseball and 2009 Basketball, where the O.N. Thugs were left for dead, lingering in 10th place or so at the half-way point, only to loudly storm back for championships, and betting on themselves along the way. In fact, the O.N. Thugs bet the Jabrones a dollar that they would finish ahead of them in 2007 Baseball. At the time, the O.N. Thugs were mired in 10th place, and the Jabrones were in 1st, so it appeared to be a sucker's bet, against the O.N. Thugs. What happened was a ridiculously rise into first, which resulted in the UPL Bill, which is signed by the Jabrones, carries the name of every UPL Baseball champion, and is currently the only UPL trophy. A similar story happened in 2008 Basketball, when the O.N. Thugs were decimated by injuries in the first half of the season, but managed to stay afloat long enough to wait for their players to get healthy and make a run at the title. Interestingly, in both instances, the O.N. Thugs actually managed to take a clean lead in the league, only to give back a half point on the last day of the season and end up in a tie for 1st.
As we open up the Twenty-Teen's, the UPL looks as strong as ever, with a healthy 14 team football season, and two healthy keeper leagues in baseball and basketball. Things should be exciting, as we move into decade #2 for the UPL.
-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)
11 comments:
As somewhat of a UPL history buff myself, I take great interest in this post. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Regarding 2002 baseball, you're correct, I finished in the bottom half. After my 2001 success, I got caught up too much in the party scene and it cost me dearly.
I, too, also love UPL History. It's interesting to see how much the O.N. Thugs dominated throughout the decade, especially early on. However, as people began to get more comfortable with the respective formats and the numbers, the pack began to catch up a bit, making each season a bit more exciting to the end.
More importantly, I love how the UPL keeps good friends in contact with each other. Good times, good times.
C-Lauff - I like to think that the dominance is still continuing, and that we've just had a bit of a blip on the screen. Incidentally, did you finish 2nd in 2002 baseball? If I had to guess, it was probably one of those situations that we had early on where the season was basically over at the all-star break, and then you, Westy, and OD were scrambling to finish 2nd.
Greg - happens to the best of us. In fact, right now, I've got like 6 UPL Basketball groupies in the house feeding me grapes and cocaine.
I'd like to clarify my last comment by saying that your dominance has been relatively diminished. I mean, you haven't won a UPL baseball championship outright since '05 and you haven't won a UPL football championship outright since '03, however, you OWN everyone historically and presently in UPL basketball. All I'm sayin' is, I don't think we're going to be seeing multiple Roland slams anytime soon.
On an unrelated note, I'm really good at finishing second. A little TOO good.
Chairman, just make sure you don't give any of those groupies your spare key again...
And C-Lauff, yeah, you do have a knack for finishing #2. You're like the David Letterman of the UPL. Which I guess makes Roland Jay Leno. Following my analogy, Westy would be Conan: Just when he's about to hit #1, the fix is in and he gets kicked to the curb.
C-Lauff. Here's an interesting question. What sort of odds would Vegas put on a 2010 Roland Slam? And what sort of odds would Vegas put on the 2010 Roland Slam, if it was guaranteed that I would win football?
And I just got an interesting idea. Do they have 1 Euro notes? Or 1 Pound notes? We should find the $1 equivalent of other denominations to make other UPL trophies... And maybe we can use a 3-dollar bill for a Roland Slam...
Beginners luck! Woot!
This'll sound like an excuse, because it is, but I must say that my company blocking access to the UPL leagues killed me in the 2008/2009 seasons with a startling loss of flexibility.
It also killed my wit, as even after I adapted the fantasy sports apps available to the iphone it didn't include access to the board. I have faith in the Jimmy Dix Longballs to have a top 5 season, though. Now, who has white sox players I can trade for???
Don't use the apps. Just log in with your iPhone - you're paying for the internet access. May as well use it at work. I mean, what's the alternative? Actually do work?
Hmm...vegas odds. You're asking the wrong person. If you were guaranteed football, I'd say 2:1 odds. If you weren't, I'd say 15:1 odds. I'm not at all saying you're not the best fantasy sports manager in the UPL. I think you've consistently shown that you are. I'm just trying to say that you aren't quite as dominant as you were before. Which means that you're not going to win a Roland slam EVERY year, because other players are getting more savvy.
Hmmm...Roland, you want to take this thing international. I'm down. The equivalent in Euros is about 1.4 Euros. The smallest bill in Euros I believe is 5, so not sure that's going to happen. And the equivalent in pesos is probably like 10,000,000, which is kinda sweet....There's an idea in here somewhere.
And Greg, I really wanted to be Conan. I mean, I know he got booted from NBC, but he got paid $45 million to leave, so you can count me in anytime that sum of money is in play. =sigh= at least I'm not Leno.
C-Lauff
2:1? I'm flattered. I would have put a fair bet there at about 3:1 or 7:2. And if I get 4:1 odds, I'd bet that consistently.
You're on to something awesome, I think. Forget real money. We can get one of those dirt currencies, like the old Turkish Lira or whatever, where it's like 1.4 million to $1, and then make a UPL bill with a 1-million Lira note. I think that the current lowest is Vietnamese, which is like 18,000 for $1. They have a 20K bill, so that's perfect.
Love the idea of using foreign currency.
And for what it's worth, for 2009 baseball's final standings it looks as though you flipped 2nd and 3rd place.
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