Fantasy 101: The Run-Down, Heading into Year 3

I just realized that the UPL Blog has just had it's 100th post, and we're closing in on the end of the UPL Blog's 2nd year in existence. Time flies, I suppose. Since the start of the UPL Blog, we've seen two more O.N. Thugs hoops championships, one of which was an unexpected tie w/ UPL Newcomer Stephan. And interestingly enough, we are coming down the stretch again, with another potentially exciting final week of fantasy hoops in play. We have also seen two championships from the Jabrones, the first in 2008 Baseball, followed by a 2008 Football championship, which set up the first potential non-O.N. Thugs Tiger Slam (holding all of the championships, but not in one calendar year) in 2009 Basketball. The UPL Blog has also coincided with a return to the top by the '90 Reds and a new UPL Champion, Dino.

There have been contentious trade scenarios, innovations in our draft orders, and the creation of keeper leagues in our roto formats. And of course, there has been speculation on my part about the potential success of the O.N. Thugs, with mixed results. Interestingly, there has been much less analysis about the O.N. Thugs, and more speculation of the moves of the other franchises of the UPL. I believe that one of the more interesting developments in the UPL is the analysis done in the pre-season analysis, between the draft recaps and the team previews. Those writeups are fun to write, are great for understanding the fantasy landscape, and are great to look back on after the season is over.

One thing that the UPL Blog hasn't been quite as successful at is with it's hope of incorporating the other UPL owners' voices. After all, many folks believe in the power behind the wisdom of the crowds (though, I have to confess that I'm of the opinion that the crowds are generally idiots). C-Lauff and CJ had originally signed on to be co-authors, but have not chimed in quite as much as originally hoped. One of the originally targeted authors, Greg, ventured off on his own to create his own Baseball Fantasy, where UPL banter is prominently featured. And UPL Newcomer Pauly has recently done the same. So there is some other UPL chatter, other than the message boards and the UPL Blog. Hopefully, this will continue to grow.

As always, the goal of this blog is to get an interesting, lively discussion going, and every once in a while, you have me making bold statements and outrageous claims. I don't really know how successful we've been. But in any case, for the UPL Blog, it's 101 posts down, and who knows how many more to go.

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)