Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The 5th Year of The Wane McGarity Bowl is about to begin!!

My how time flies. In 2010 in an effort to make fantasy football more fun and competitive, the Wane McGarity Bowl was born. What started as an 8 team $20 buy in league has 5 years later, turned into a 12 team $50 buy in keeper league. No matter how many changes though, the one thing that is constant is everyone plays for one goal...to be the Champion of The Wane McGarity Bowl. When we last left off, yours truly was crowned champion in an epic finals showdown against Kenny Bybee. Winning last year was great, but that's the past, now we focus on Year 5 of The Wane McGarity Bowl where once again 12 teams compete for the ultimate prize. Let's once again get familiar with participants in this uncoming season.

The Players and Teams

The Reigning Wane McGarity Bowl Champion
Chris Puente (Arturo's Beans)
5th Season
# of Playoff Appearences-3
Previous Finishes-3rd in 2010
                             2nd in 2011
                             9th in 2012
                             1st in 2013

I feel like LeBron James after he finally won his first NBA Title. After a horrible 2012 and a disappointing Finals appearance in 2011, I bounced back and picked up my first Wane McGarity Bowl title. Led by a lethal dose of LeSean McCoy and Brandon Marshall, I was able to easily capture the championship last season against Kenny Bybee. There's too much competition to be cocky and do the LeBron "not one, not two, not three," thing, but I'm not satisfied with just one title. I'm hoping a repeat is in the books for 2014.

Kenny Bybee (Not Even Lying)
5th Season
# of Playoff Appearences-2
Previous Finishes- 5th in 2010
                               6th in 2011
                               7th in 2012
                               2nd in 2013

Finally Kenny had the kind of season that those who know him have been waiting for since the league's inception. Thanks to a mid season trade that nabbed him Calvin Johnson, Bybee's monstrous trio of Drew Brees/DeMaryius Thomas/Calvin Johnson led him all the way to not only his first playoff win but ultimately to his first finals appearance where he ultimately lost to me. Kenny has got to be the early favorite to win it all, because there's no doubt he'll be keeping Calvin Johnson and DeMaryius Thomas for this upcoming season and having two of the best receivers in the game is going to be a huge advantage. If he plays his cards right, he'll be a shoe-in for another shot at the Wane McGarity Title.

Robert Puente (The Bad Robofies)
4th Season
# of Playoff Appearences-3
Previous Finishes- 5th in 2011
                               6th in 2012
                               3rd in 2013

It's crazy to see Dad's progress from "just a placeholder team playing for fun" to "legit threat at winning it all". The numbers don't lie. He's never missed the playoffs and holds the all time record for most wins in a row during the regular season at 8. He was 1st place and got a bye and though fell short for the big prize, still was able to recover and beat Mike Posey for 3rd place and a share of the prize winnings. He did this all with a less than superb roster. The aura Dad brings with him is the vaunted "Dad Curse" where every team he plays against inexplicably loses it's ability to score. Will that trend continue this season? Can Dad keep breaking through or is a slump in the works? We'll see what happens this season.

Mayra Lopez (Bigger Balls)
3rd Season
# of Playoff Appearences-1
Previous Season Finishes- 10th in 2012
                                             5th in 2013

There's only been two girls that have played in the Wane McGarity Bowl, and Mayra made history by becoming the 1st to clinch a playoff berth last season. She came so close to upsetting Kenny in the 1st round of the playoffs but her WR combo of Alshon Jeffrey and Dez Bryant failed to score 11 points in the 2nd half of the last game of their matchup. Still, it was dramatic improvement from 2012's last place finish and there's no doubt Dez will be heading up her squad this year. Having Dez as the franchise player is no doubt step 1 for making even more history and winning the whole league.

Mark Freeman (Shock The Monkey)
2nd Season
# of Playoff Appearances-1
Previous Season Finshes- 6th in 2013

Mark's rookie campaign was a mixture of the highest of highs and lowest of lows. His fast start had him heads above the rest, but a horrible 2nd half slide had him barely hanging on to the last playoff spot before not only losing to Mike Posey in the 1st round, but also losing to Mayra in the 5th place game. A combinations of injuries (Gronk), Suspensions (Justin Blackmon) Underachievers (Victor Cruz) and in  Steven Jackson's case both injuries and underachievement are what did Mark in. It's a new season though and with a franchise back in Matt Forte leading the way, it won't be surprising to see Mark make a run at the Wane McGarity Bowl Championship.

Eugene Lawrence (Great BolerosofFire)
2nd Season
# of Playoff Appearances-0
Previous Season Finishes- 7th in 2013

Eugene's debut season wasn't great..but it wasn't all bad either. On the bright side he  can say he finished better than his brother. An unfortunate injury to Julio Jones put a huge dent in Eugene's season. His regular season record was horrendous but he actually finished on a 4 game winning streak in route to winning the Michael Wiley Loser Bowl in the  consolation bracket. Eugene will have some tough roster decisions to make, and he's hoping that his 2nd season will be a lot better than his first. 

Matt Gonzales (Dr. Light's Robots)
5th Season
# of Playoff Appearances-2
Previous Season Finishes- 4th in 2010
                                           9th in 2011
                                           4th in 2012
                                           8th in 2013

Out of the original members still left (Me, Drew, Kenny,Albert, Ryan,Matt) Matt's the only one who hasn't placed in the top 3. He's come close on two occasions, but last year was a step back. A couple of heartbreaking losses cost Matt a playoff berth last season, but there's one bright spot for this upcoming season and it's a big one. No doubt Matt's keeping Jamaal Charles for next season and he's arguably the best running back in the game today. That's a huge start to Matt's team and if history is any indications Matt makes the playoffs following a non-playoff season.

Leland Lawrence (NEXT!!!)
4th Season
Playoff Appearances-2
Previous Season Finishes- 4th in 2011
                                           1st in 2012
                                           9th in 2013

I'm pretty sure Leland's ready for this season to start so he can put last year's disaster away for good. Leland was in prime position to repeat as champion as he had the #1 pick in a keeper league draft. He whiffed big time with the infamous C.J. Spiller pick and it was just one disaster after another. It'll be interesting to see how he approaches this season. He is a former champion, so there's no doubt if anyone can rebound it's him.

Andrew Mata (JTG's Warehouse)
4th Season
Playoff Appearances- 1
Previous Finishes: 2nd in 2010
                              DNP in 2011
                              8th in 2012
                             10th in 2013

It's been puzzling to see Drew finish near the bottom of the standings these past two seasons, especially since it seemed like he was one of the favorites to win it all last season with his Peterson/Bush RB Combo. Unfortunately that combo didn't play together too much due to injuries on both sides at different times of the season. Will he keep them together and hope for the run he had in 2010? We shall see.

Hoosier Daddy (Ryan McKinnis)
5th Season
Playoff Appearances-2
Previous Season Finishes- 8th in 2010
                                           3rd in 2011
                                           3rd in 2012
                                          11th in 2013

After two straight solid seasons in which Ryan placed 3rd and received prize money, he slipped all the way to 2nd to last. Part of it was a super slow start in the 1st half of the season and part of it was just unbelievable bad luck in the opponents he had in the 2nd half. Ryan will look to have a major turnaround this season and hope things fall his way a lot more than they did last season.

Albert Rodriguez (Channel 4 News Team)
5th Season
Playoff Appearances-3
Previous Season Finishes- 1st in 2010
                                           1st in 2011
                                           2nd in 2012
                                          12th in 2013

This had to be shocking outcome of all the teams. Albert flat out DOMINATED the first three seasons of our league winning the first two titles and advancing to a third straight finals only to lose to Leland in 2012. With a team consisting of Peyton Manning, A.J. Green, Alfred Morris, and Frank Gore, you would assume Albert would have been a major threat to winning a 3rd championship. Not only did he not win, or make the playoffs, even worse he finished dead last. With the talent he has in his possession, and the ability to keep two guys, there's no doubt that Albert won't be finishing last this season..but can he regain championship form?

So noticeably absent is Mike Posey. An "Original 8" member, Mike decided to call it quits after 4 seasons citing lack of time. This means a spot became open and so without further ado...

The New Guy
Alex Kronberger- Alex will join Mayra and Mark as the 3rd co-worker to join the Wane McGarity Bowl. As with all new players who initially join, I have no idea what to expect and Alex is a wild card in this league. He inherits a solid team that was 2.5 points away from making the finals. We'll see how he fares in his rookie season.





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