No wonder he looked familiar. A little bit older, but not that much. All you MathBussers would recognize this Laurier Bus 111 prof.

Wizard’s wife started joking with the kids in front of me that one day hopefully they would get a passing grad from the old prof. As I paid for my sub and started to leave I quipped: “that old prof passed me when I was in his class”.

Prof McCutcheon stared me up and down and said: “When were you in my class?”. Feeling long in the tooth I responded: ” Fall of 91 - Bus 111 “. Looking sentimental he replied “Ah yes. A recent grad are you?”.

Not feeling so old anymore I mentioned that I went on to get my Math / Bus degree and am working locally. He wished me well as I went on my way.

Now here’s hoping I catch up with ole Prof Furino some day. That man never forgot a face.

Just when the team was looking unbeatable, I took injuries to my top QB and my top RB and there was no way to stop the plummet.

I proceeded to lose the remaining 5 games of the season and backing my way into the playoffs thanks to tie-breaker policy. Most of these games were heartbreakers where I was passed by my opponent on the final game of the week.

The final humiliation came during the last 3 games: the remaining 2 in the season and the 1st playoff game. All three games were against the same opponent due to bizarro scheduling and playoff rules for determining matchups. Each of those games were lost because of the performance of his remaining player on the final game of the week. The most humbling of all being my elimination last week. His no-name of a WR decided to have a career game and a fantasy windfall: 23 points. By a WR that equates to 200Yds receiving, 2 TDs and 11 receptions. That is unheard of! The result was my opponent topping the century mark to my 84.5 pts. 84.5 pts will win games 95% of the time! No other player in the pool last week topped 80 pts….except for my opponent.

H2H is a fickle master. You can put your best guys out there, post a great score and still lose. It leaves me thinking what could I have done? There’s no blame I can place on myself in this instance. Not like last year where playing a different WR would have made the difference.

The good news is that I can let it go. There’s nothing I could have done outside of the bizarre notions. For example, I owned his no-name WR in week 3. Back then he had potential but was not showing it. After dumping him he turns his game around and becomes a WR2 type receiver. If I had kept this guy, it is likely that he would not have defeated me. But that is such a stretch that I can’t even use this as an excuse to place blame on myself.

With everyone being sick to some degree it was not possible for someone to pick up the slack. We had to find a way to co-operate and always keep in mind that this will only be for a few days. Take any comments with a grain of salt.

Somehow we managed to get through unscathed.

I’m sure it will happen again when there will be no rest for the wicked during time of sickness. Hopefully not for a while. Now that the initiation has taken place, I will be better prepared and my expectations properly set.

This is going to be one loooooooooonnnnnnnngggggggggg winter. Crap.

It’s funny, I was a HUGE fan back in the 80’s and into the early 90’s. Patrick Roy was a god and huge reason why I’ve been able to brag about those years and the 2 cups Montreal brought home during that span. He was truly an exceptional goaltender.

But age and wisdom can tarnish any image. As I’ve matured and entered my middle age, I clearly see that a great athlete does not by default deserve adornment. Patrick’s antics off the ice over the past few years (fights, altercations) and the encouragement he gives his children to win at no cost have exposed him as a less than stellar role-model.

The irony is, back in the day, in order to be a Habs fan required a passionate hatred towards the Leafs. Thus, as much effort was spent ‘dissing’ Wendell Clark as was spent promoting the glorious might of Patrick Roy. As their careers came to a close, I grew to appreciate Clark. He wasn’t a ‘phemonal’ hockey player. Not a superstar like Roy. But he scored more points than most others. What he brought to the table was a presence. An ability to lead his team by example. Nobody played harder than Clark. He would do all the things that needed to be done on the ice. It took their retirements for me to see that.

Oddly, I felt the Roy ceremony a little stiff and forced in my eyes. The Clark ceremony seemed much more passionate and sincere. One of them is Hall of Fame bound. The other one probably won’t make it. Seems a little strange to me.

Olivia loves Dr. Mario. It’s funny what game attract her attention: Pengo, Ms. Pacman, LadyBug…but not Robotron–I think she’s a little scared of that game because of the sounds it makes between screens. One things for sure though, she loves watching me play, just like a certain cousin of hers used to enjoy doing when he was about her age (and younger).

It’s time to avoid the inevitable and perform some maintenance on the machine. It needs a new light for the marquee, and more urgently, I need to open up the control panel and clean things up a bit. The trackball is acting funny and I think there’s dust build up on the contacts….much like a mouse for the computer gets gunked up once in a while. The problem is that due to the design, I’m going to have to get inside and dismantle the control panel from the base. Not an easy task. It will probably take many hrs for this task and some extra hands.

For better or for worse, I think the better man won the election. I’m a little unsettled that the Democrats also took control of the Senate and the House. 2 ways to think about that I guess:

1) With control comes the ability to make the tough decisions quickly which often is the key to success.
2) With control comes the ability to make the tough decisions quickly which, without checks and balances, can run a country amuck.

I’m not saying that there are checks and balances with full control, it’s just that a few more things can get railroaded through that maybe should be further considered. But I do like the fact that hard decisions can be pursued. In our pitiful minority government up here in north-USA, we will be slower to react to the times.

Anyway, have fun America! Your in for one heck of a ride. Obama is a polarizing figure and there’s bound to be some crazy things down the road.

Oh yes, fantasy - a geek’s closest shot at managing a sport’s franchise. But hey, it’s fun, competitive and rewarding when one is successful.

Anyway, since 2006 I’ve had to retool my team by phasing out or trading off older talent that still has value and in return receiving young talent with upside that still has some current day value. It’s a hard task to not sacrifice too much of today to insure your team will be competitive down the road. I see too many owners in my league constantly tooling for the future at the expense of never having that team that will win in the now. After all, winning today is what really matters. What’s the point of always having that potential team that never achieves victory?

In 2007 I came OH so close to defending my title. A matter of mismanagement more than anything else. But the mismanagement comes from the fact that I had to make so many right decisions to squeak out the tight wins. My team simply wasn’t strong. A question of having too much young talent and not quite enough consistency to win.

This year is different. I have a great balance of youth and experience. And it is paying off. I am 1st overall at the halfway point. I know how precarious that can be, but for a single point in time I can say I’ve gone to places never before. Even though I won in 2006 and was close in 2007, I was never in the top 5 or 6 in the standings throughout the season. An underdog as you will. This year I am top dog and I got there last weekend by achieving something I’ve never done: top the century mark in points. Good thing too considering my opponent posted a healthy 73.5 which would win 95% of the time:

Now, always thinking about the future, I have a subtle weakness that I want to resolve: I have 2 WRs on the same team: Holmes and Ward. It is a weekly agonizing task to figure out which of the 2 to play on any given week. It is virtually impossible to determine who is going to perform better than the other as they are fairly equal.

It makes sense to peddle Ward on the market to a team contending for the championship this year. He is 10 years into his career and won’t really be part of anybody’s rebuilding effort. Therefore I would only get the most value out of somebody who appreciates his worth to help them TODAY. I have found one such candidate who not only is contending this year but is a HUGE Steelers fan. In return he has offered me Anthony Gonzalez (2nd year WR out of INDY) and a 2nd round draft pick. In my dynasty rankings I have Ward and Gonzalez virtually the same in value at this point in time. So on the surface the trade seems pretty good. Gonzo is a #3 reciever right now but if/when Harrisson goes bye-bye that will change since Manning believes in this young talent. This would certainly help my rebuilding at the minor expense of weakening my current WR strength. But the problem is that as a Steelers fan, he should be willing to give up more for the #1 WR and heart and soul of that team. A 2nd round pick is not that lucrative especially if he wins this season and ranks last in the draft order.

What I’m trying to get in addition into the deal is Brady Quinn for Vince Young. I have the volatile Young who just doesn’t project well. Quinn is a prototypical fantasy-type passing QB that is on the verge of coming out once the Derek Anderson experiment is over in Cleveland. I need to get this player from him now before he starts and the owner realizes his potential. I want to take that risk on. Unfortunately the owner is not interested in this part of the deal. But if he gets desperate enough I think I can work it. This weekend he is in tough and will likely lose. I will likely win especially if I can keep Ward for this weekend’s matchup. So my plan is to respond after the weekend and hit him up when is in a somewhat more desperate situation. Quinn is the man that will make this deal slightly more favourable in my direction albeit with some risk attached. But that is what needs to be done to be successful.

Here’s hoping.