It's TIME FOR YEAR 9 OF THE WANE MCGARITY BOWL!

So this is my attempt to reestablish the blog after taking most of last year off due to well frustration being the #1 reason (I got sick and tired of recapping my unbelivable losses) but also just burnout. It may not seem like it, but this blog is very time consuming. I was posting 3 posts a week (the matchup recaps, matchups and predictions, and Thursday Night Overviews/Player awards) and by the time I would come home from work, do my usual work out, eat dinner, shower, then spend 1-2 hours doing the weekly writeup (more so the first two posts then the Thursday Night Overview one) and it was just exhausting. I felt bad, because I know some of yall really enjoy the blog and my musings, but I just didn't have the energy last year to keep it going. I'm going to try to see if there's a more streamlined approach that won't take as much time because I really like having this oral history of our blog (my biggest regret has always been not recapping the inaugural season). So..we'll see how it goes, but I can't make any promises. Right now I have time to kill so I don't mind taking some time to do the inaugural league write up and once again reintroduce everyone back to the league! So last year, we had probably the most unlikely champion we've ever had in Mark as he narrowly edged out Kenny in yet another Wane McGarity Bowl Classic. Mark's team was proof that you don't necessarily need a stacked team of studs to win it all, you just need a nice balance of the right players the right time. So anyways..here we go to kickoff Year 9, let's once again introduce everyone who's playing this year. We have zero new changes for the first time in a couple years.

THE REIGNING WANE MCGARITY BOWL CHAMPION
MARK or MARC OR MARCOS "WHATEVER THE CHAMP WANTS"  FREEMAN(Shock The Monkey)

6th Season
Connection To Me: Friend From Stripes

Playoff Appearances:3

Previous Season Finshes- 6th in 2013
                                         10th in 2014

                                         2nd in 2015

                                        10th in 2016

                                          1st in 2018

Last year's champion went on an unbelivable 8 game winning streak to close out the season. He barely eeked out me and Kenny by a total of 4.96 points to capture his first ever Wane McGarity Bowl Championship. Mark actually has a pretty underrated track record since joining the league back in 2013. He's actually been to two Wane McGarity Bowl's in the last 3 seasons. Will he be the first one to do something that hasn't been done since Albert and win back to back titles? We shall see

Kenny Bybee (Easy Beasley) 

8th Season
Connection To Me: Best Friend Since Middle School
Playoff Appearances:  3
Previous Finishes- 5th in 2010
                               6th in 2011
                               7th in 2012
                               2nd in 2013
                               7th in 2014
                               8th in 2015
                               DNP in 2016   

                                      2nd in 2017 

So after year hiatus Kenny came back and made an immediate impact right away. Unfortunately injuries to key players (DeShaun Watson and Antonio Brown) were just too much to overcome and Kenny ended losing by a little less than 3 measley points thanks to the ineffective play of Alshon Jeffrey and Jay Ajayi in the final game of the championship. In a dubious honor Kenny became the first team in our league to make at least two Championship games and not win either. Kenny's hoping that the 3rd time will be the charm this year.

Chris Puente (Rigmas Forever)

9th Season 

ME!!

Playoff Appearances:5

Previous Finishes-3rd in 2010
                             2nd in 2011
                             9th in 2012
                             1st in 2013
                            12th in 2014

                             4th in 2015

                           11th in 2016

                             3rd in 2017

Well...for once it was I who had the Rockyesque comeback. I was 2-6 after Week 8 and left for dead with no margin for error if I wanted to make the playoffs. Literally so many things had to break my way for me to sneak in (the most obvious being...WINNING). Thanks to a couple last second desperation trades in getting Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, and Carson Wentz, I not only won out the season but made the playoffs as a 6th seed. I easily beat Ryan in Round 1 before losing to the eventual champ Mark by less than a point. A stupid lineup decision cost me my 2nd championship after I stupidly started Ricky Seals Jones over Eric Ebron. Had I stood pat, I would've not only beaten Mark but beating Kenny as well in the final. Ah well.. them's the breaks right? It's been 5 years since I've won it all, and nothing would make me happier than recapturing that glory again.

Alex Kronberger (SCLSU MudDogs) 
5
th Season
Connection to me: Friend from Stripes
Playoff Appearances: 3
Previous Season Finishes: 5th in 2014
                                           9th in 2015

                                           1st in 2016

                                           4th in 2018

Alex followed up his championship season with a pretty successful season. He not only broke the "championship curse" which had followed former champions for years in not making the playoffs after winning it all, he finished 1st in the regular season and got a 1st round bye. He came up short in the playoffs and then lost to me by less than half a point for 3rd place. Still in 4 seasons, Alex has 3 playoff appearances so he has more than proven to be one of the more formidable players in our league. 

Andrew Mata (BABY CARROTS)
8th Season
Connection To Me: Cousin
Playoff Appearances: 4
Previous Finishes: 2nd in 2010
                              DNP in 2011
                              8th in 2012
                             10th in 2013  
                             6th in 2014
                             6th in 2015
                            12th in 2016 

                             5th in 2017

It's crazy to me that after making the Finals in our first ever season, then taking a one year break, Drew has had 6 straight seasons of sub 4th place finishes. He's actually made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 seasons, but just can't seem to get past the 1st round. Last season, injuries obliterated his team but boy did he find a hell of a combo to keep in Todd Gurley/Delvin Cook. If he does indeed keep those two guys and they stay healthy, this could be the most dangerous team Drew has had in a long while. He'll definitely have a strong chance to break that streak and make it back to the Wane McGarity Bowl.

Ryan McKinnis (Hoosier Daddy)9th Season
Connection to me: College Friend
Playoff Appearances: 4
Previous Season Finishes- 8th in 2010
                                           3rd in 2011
                                           3rd in 2012
                                          11th in 2013
                                            8th in 2014

                                          11th in 2015

                                            2nd in 2016

                                            6th in 2017

Ryan had this weird season, where his team looked like crap and played like crap, but he just kept winning and had the 3rd best record despite having the 4th worst points in the league. He then immediately destroyed in the playoffs, losing to me by nearly 58 points and then to Drew by a little over 53 points in the 5th place game.  A lot of that was due to missing Zeke for a large part of the season. Well now, Ryan's going to not only have a full season of Zeke, but also of Leonard Fournette should he chose to. It's scary that Ryan was able to make the playoffs with such a weak cast, so imagine a team with these two guys for a full season? 

Eugene Lawrence (Rocket Man)

6th Season
Connection to me: Brother to our good ol' "Internet Guy" Leland

Playoff Appearances: 3

Previous Season Finishes- 7th in 2013

                                           3rd in 2014

                                           3rd in 2015

                                           4th in 2016

                                           7th in 2017

This was Eugene's first time to miss the playoffs since his first season of playing back in 2013. Still 5 years in and his worse finish has been 7 isn't too shabby at all. He's won the consolation bracket twice, and has two 3rd place finishes. Always a threat to win it all, we'll see if Eugene can use that Consolation Bracket win to his advantage.

Robert Puente (BigBadBob)

8th Season
Connection to me: Dad

Playoff Appearances: 4

Previous Finishes- 5th in 2011
                               6th in 2012
                               3rd in 2013                                

                               9th in 2014 

                               5th in 2015

                               8th in 2016

                               8th in 2017

So Dad has this weird knack for his team peaking in the consolation bracket for the 2nd straight year. After another pretty bad finish to the regular season, Dad managed to make the Consolation Bracket Finals for the 2nd straight year before losing the Eugene. Because Eugene elected to pick 12th, Dad gets the #1 pick in this year's draft which mean he gets the best of what's left out of the non keepers. That combined with Dad's keeper prospects and this could seriously be Dad's best year and shot at making it to the championship.

Albert Rodriguez (Channel 4 News Team)

9th Season
Connection to me: Friend from Eckerd (Now CVS..yep..we've known each other THAT LONG)

Playoff Appearances: 5

Previous Season Finishes- 1st in 2010
                                           1st in 2011
                                           2nd in 2012
                                          12th in 2013

                                           4th in 2014

                                          10th in 2015

                                           3rd in 2016

                                           9th in 2017

A rare off year for Albert, who's still trying to capture that Dynastic Glory he had in our first three seasons of our league's existence. 3 straight Wane McGarity Bowl Appearances is something that I doubt we'll really ever see again just because of the unpredictability of our game. His poor season last year can be attributed his reliance on a super disappointing Raiders combo of Amari Cooper and Derek Carr. He's still has a great track record and will always be in the mix of championship contenders. 

Leland Lawrence (No Soup For You)

8th Season
Connection To Me: Blowout Card Forums Member. Answered an open call I posted on there. The one and only "Internet Guy"

Playoff Appearances: 3

Previous Season Finishes- 4th in 2011
                                           1st in 2012
                                           9th in 2013
                                          11th in 2014 

                                           1st in 2015

                                           7th in 2016 

                                          10th in 2017

This is one of the more perplexing stories of the league. Coming off a 2nd championship, it looked like Leland was ready to DOMINATE the league for the future with a killer Todd Gurley/David Johnson combo. Unfortunately Gurley bombed beyond belief in Year 2, resulting in Leland trading him to me(then me trading him to Mike who then didn't keep him leading him being Drew's 1st round pick) and then last season David Johnson suffered a season ending injury early in the season and Leland just never got back on track. The thing is, once again Leland is in prime position to rebound and it's GOING TO HAPPEN..his luck will correct and it can be as soon as this season. 

Matt Gonzales (Light's Broken Bots)

9th Season
Connection To Me: Cousin

Playoff Appearances: 3

Previous Season Finishes- 4th in 2010
                                           9th in 2011
                                           4th in 2012
                                           8th in 2013

                                           1st in 2014

                                           7th in 2015

                                           9th in 2016

                                          11th in 2017

Ever since that glorious championship win, still regarded as the most memorable moment in our league's history, Matt's teams have unfortunately regressed downward for 3 consecutive years. Unfortunately underperformances and a total lack of running game most of the season derailed Matt's season last year. Matt's hoping this will be the year he rights the ship and becomes a contender once more.

Mike Posey (Woe Is You)

7th Season
Connection to me: College Friend

Playoff Appearances: 3

Previous Finishes: 6th in 2010
                              8th in 2011
                              5th in 2012
                              4th in 2013

                             DNP in 2014

                             DNP in 2015

                              6th in 2016

                             12th in 2017

Yeesch..in what was by far his worst season ever in our league, nothing could go right for Mike. Worst record in the league and worst points by far. He never recovered from the Beckham/Hunt trade and just didn't have anything to work with in regards to the rest of his roster. It can't be worse then being last so there's nowhere to go but up for this upcoming season.

And there are our 12 teams. I really think this could be a season where multiple contenders will be vying for the gold!! Can't wait until we get closer to the draft!1