Fantasy Football Forum Week 9: WCG Fantasy Tournament 1st Half Recap!

Man. It seems like the off-season just drags on forever. Then football finally starts up, and before you know it, the season’s half over. Crazy how time flies.

Anyway, since Jeff’s still out of town, I figured I’d just combine the Fantasy Football Forum article with the WCG Fantasy Tournament 2^nd Quarter Recap. One, because it just seemed more efficient, and two, because I’m busy and/or lazy, and just didn’t want to write multiple articles. Sue me.

For anyone unfamiliar, the WCG Fantasy Tournament is a 60 person tournament we hold every year. It is comprised of five 12 team divisions which operate independently. They each have a regular season, a 6 team play-off, and an eventual champion. However, the team that scores the most points in the championship games, wins the tournament, bragging rights, and the fabulous prizes listed at the bottom of this article!

Now that we’re all caught up, let’s take a look at the current standings as of Week 8:

I wrote 4 weeks ago that all the divisions were pretty competitive. That still mostly holds true, but we are starting to see some separation, both at the top and at the bottom of each division. Still though, as the saying goes: anything that can happen, can also happen in reverse. So if you’re sitting at the bottom of your division, hang in there! And if you’re at the top, don’t get complacent!

Top Scoring Teams

1. TJGobig (Kwit’n Iggy Smith It) - 1189
2. Bear0811 (Maserati Monsters) - 1119
3. NjBearsFan51 (no team name) - 1058
4. lemaster (Cohen the Distance) - 1039
5. GentlemanHalas (12 Angry Bears) - 1036
6. Beer Down1 (Danny’s Coffee House) - 1024
7. Lester Wiltfong (no team name) - 1022
8. TrubiskyandWhiskey (no team name) - 1017
9. jcneall (Sweet Butkus) - 1004
10. daniwah (Peanut Tillman No Jam) – 1002
11. jukethelesser (Mitch Betta Have My Money) – 1002

Through 8 weeks, we’ve got 11 teams who’ve scored more than 1000 points. That’s an average of at least 125 points per game. That’s a really nice start for all these teams, and points to how competitive this tournament has been so far. There is no one team that seems to be running away with things. Now, not all these teams are leading their divisions (it is a weekly match up tournament after all), but they do have to be considered among the favorites to win the tournament due to their respective team’s high scoring potential.

Odds and ends

When last we checked (week 4), there were 19 teams that had yet to spend a single cent of their FAAB budget on waiver wire acquisitions. Through 8 weeks, that number has dropped to 13. Of course, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been active on the wire, they just haven’t bid any FAAB yet.

Again, back in week 4, we only had a single team that had blown through their entire FAAB budget (Sandbag85). Well, he’s got company now as 4 other teams have joined him in the poor house. Hope you all got something good, cause you’re behind the 8-ball from here on out!

One thing that I will saw I’m disappointing in, is the shear number of teams that don’t have a team name! There are 20 teams, a full ¹⁄₃ of the tournament (!) that have unnamed teams. I honestly don’t even know what to say about that. It’s just...

Also, as a quick reminder, these are again the fabulous prizes everyone is competing for:

Division Champions get a sticker with their Division logo:

The overall Tournament Champion gets a custom illustrated shirt:

Great first half everyone, and good luck to all heading into the second! And as this post also serves as your Week 9 Fantasy Football Forum, feel free to sound off in the comments! Whether it be to ask for sit/start advice, or just to shoot the breeze about the fake sport we all love so much. Regular Fantasy Football Forum articles will return next week.

Bear Down everyone!

Jeff Berckes is the Fantasy Football writer for Windy City Gridiron, co-hosts the podcast Bears Over Beers, and can be found on twitter @gridironborn. WhiskeyRanger is a freelance graphic artist and Windy City Gridiron Contributor at not-so-large. You can find him on twitter @WhiskeyRanger29.