Have you ever gone undefeated?

[wpayers]

My miracle year was 2001. Went undefeated based on great luck with FA/waivers (Dominic Rhodes, Stacey Mack) and late draft picks (Priest Holmes, Garrison Hearst).

 

Have won a title again but never came close to a team like this.

 

QB - Brooks/Fielder

RB - Alexander/Holmes/Rhodes/Hearst/Mack

WR -TO/Holt/Boston/Horn

TE- Pollard/Clark

[runner2847]

I went 13-2 last year en route to the championship in my biggest money league. One of my losses was by only 1.5 points and the other was by 4 points. Standard scoring and I averaged 128 points with the 3 highest weekly point totals of any team in the league. I was ridiculously lucky to strike gold in the draft on all my middle round RB picks (McGahee, Jackson, Sproles) and had shady anchoring my lineup. Pretty sick team and I barely had to do anything all season in terms of WW pickups to keep it rolling. Exact opposite of this year as I'm only currently starting 1 out of my top 5 picks, but still managed to finish 2nd overall to get the bye to the semis this week.

[McBoog]

I went

16-0

15-1 (lost championship game )

16-0

 

This was a three year run in a 12 team redraft with up to five keepers. The core of this team was Kurt Warner, Issac Bruce, Cris Carter, Marshall Faulk. So it was a while ago!

 

I haven't seen it since. I think statistically it was one of the most improbable runs possible!

[McBoog]

Come to think of it, I have seen many more winless seasons in many different leagues (even had one myself).

 

The one I had I was the 5th highest scoring team but my points against was almost 300 points higher than the next closest. That year, the 7th highest scoring team finished second but had the lowest PA and lost first round of playoffs.

 

It would be interesting to look at, but the biggest "luck factor" in FF might be the PA factor in success, especially today. As well prepared as most players are in this hobby with the Internet making information too easy for lazy GMs to be as prepared as diligent ones, I have seen many leagues come down to the last week for two or three playoff spots and records much tighter in more recent years.

 

For the rest of this post and as a point of reference, the first FF QB I ever drafted was Dan Marino! The league was scored with Touchdowns Only.

 

In the three year run I mentioned above, I was always the best prepared for the draft and constantly heard "Who?" while drafting players past round 6. This was when you had to buy magazines, watch a lot of ESPN and make your own cheetsheets from scratch. I even used to have lists of players targeted for each round past 6. You had to understand that Trent Green came from the same system in Washington that Martz was running in STL and that the pieces were there for an offensive explosion when few others saw it coming. You had to know that the unknown backup, Kurt Warner, was an accomplished NFL Europe player and Arena League star with a solid QB coach and have the faith to draft him in case Rodney Harrison blew out Green's knee in a meaningless pre-season game. And you had to know this while living in San Diego (or wherever else) where there is little news about the Rams and their off season. It took a lot of work and research to be "the team to beat" walking out of your draft. There was no "The Huddle or My Fantasy League" or any other viable Internet provider. I ran the whole league from an excel spreadsheet and got the stats out of the newspaper. Back then, because it was so labor intensive, most commissioners played for a reduced entry fee and for free in some cases (as a commish I payed at least half in leagues over $300). I don't play in those leagues any more as, IMHO, FF is much more luck than it used to be and I think a lot of it has to do with how even the playing field is now in terms of information. Even then, it was more luck than skill once the season started. A good draft could carry you to a championship and a bad draft would bring smack from other GMs like, "Thank you for your contribution". It was MUCH harder to recover from a bad draft and key injuries back then.

 

A good example of this is a guy like Alfred Morris. I would almost always be the GM that would get that guy two weeks before anyone else had an idea he was on the radar. Now, you just go into "Free Agent Forecast" and hope you are higher on the waiver wire than all the other GMs that have The Huddle or some other premium FF service. There are many more "blind squirrels" finding nuts without having to work at it, and frankly has turned me way off of FF in general. The commercial where the guy picks, "T.J. Hooshamachives" (or whatever he said) and ends with, "Championship!", is exactly what I'm talking about. Those guys NEVER used to sniff the playoffs and now they actually win leagues (this is when I stopped playing in leagues that were more than $25 because it became too much like gambling).

 

Back then, the "10 minute ticker" really was the only lifeline to what was going on and in a Pavlovian response to the sound that was played when they started it, you would run to the TV to see it scroll by if you were in the kitchen getting a beer. The ESPN recap at night would only give you a general idea of how you did, but was an absolute, "must watch". I would compile the stats Tuesday morning, calculate the winners and fax or hand deliver the results. Players then had 24 hours to verify and challenge my results. Sunday ticket? Heck, I remember having to sit through a Bears/Falcons game on San Diego TV when they both sucked because of "contractual obligations" just to see that ticker. Sunday Ticket has now made it impossible for the die hard FF player to skip a game and watch only their favorite NFL team on the tube and use those other three hours to take the kids fishing or on a hike or invest a little more weekend snuggle time with the honey.

 

I really used to have a lot more fun playing back then. It was more challenging and there was a lot more suspense. My interest has fallen way off, and beside my one BOTH league, I play a couple, sucky, free teams in yahoo just to keep in touch with who all the players are and what is going on around the NFL. FF players are much more in tune with what is going on with the entire season as opposed to those single team, die hard fans that only care about their team. This is why the Texan fans down here were shocked and dismayed at the loss to the Pats. But, the FF guys at work, like me, we're not as amazed that happened.

 

Winning in FF has always been a majority of luck and I'm sure some of this will garner the ire of the younger Huddlers. But, as even a playing field as it is now with all the easy info and techno technology, it is harder to set yourself up for good luck to break your way. Now, the mantra of FF has truly evolved to, "I'd rather be lucky than good"!

Edited December 16, 2012 by McBoog

[stevegrab]

out of about 1,037 Leagues that I've been in since '94. Nope.

 

 

Averagint over 50 leagues per year, I think that's quite a few more than Henry Muto

 

In almost 20 years in my league nope, I think we've had a couple one loss teams, and not sure if they won the title.

[fingfootball]

went 15-1 one year. lost in the superbowl.

[wpayers]

 

Averagint over 50 leagues per year, I think that's quite a few more than Henry Muto

 

In almost 20 years in my league nope, I think we've had a couple one loss teams, and not sure if they won the title.

 

 

"Averaging" 50 leagues/yr...yikes!!! what was the high point? I am not worthy!

[Scorcher]

I was in one league where a guy went undefeated including the playoffs.