Knock on wood, but I think we might have just completed our first controversy free race. Either that, or we've entered the "It's summertime and I gave up phase".
Darcy 152 points Foliage 60 points French Canadians 52 points B-rent -20 points (Did not finish an Adam Petty joke that was in poor taste) Zero Degrees of Banking 60 points Diggs 18 points
*I'll paint Diggs' House Pink (for free) if Janet actually knew she was starting Ekstrom.^ ^I'll spit on Diggs' House (for free) if Janet knows Ekstrom's first name without using the Internet.
For last week's race The Real Digger, who's site has intentionally not been linked to until now, nailed the prediction of Michigan's Winner by picking Denny Hamlin. Granted, Denny Hamlin is so hot lately he could win an Iraqi Election, it's not that surprising or genius, but I'll give credit where and when it's due.
At long last, all of those road course "ringers" that Chuck drafted may pay dividends. It could also rain, thus negating their qualifying efforts. Either way, instead of sending my picks in on Monday, as per uze..., I'm waiting until Sunday morning when I can get a live and up close look at the contenders.
I'm thinking Ol' Max Papis will get his first start of the year for my team. Maybe Kevin Conway, who gave out Extenze weiner pills at the Tweetup in Charlotte, is an undercover road course superstar. I doubt it, but I wanted to mention that he gave out weiner pills. I tried to get some, but some lady got the last dose. Nuts! (Loosely related pun intended.)
And here's a special note to Johnny B. Crook: I read your snarky comments about being 6-10 races ahead of the "cellar dwellers". That sort of thing will get you shot in the old west. Around here, you just get kicked in the ass. I recommend that you just worry about your team, and I'll worry about mine. The season isn't even half over yet, and there's still plenty of time for one of your drivers to have a career threatening crash, like Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder. And when that happens, you better believe I'm not going to share a rental car with you.
The petard you're hoisted by will surely be your own.
I'm not so sure it was a Helluva Good Race, but it is over, so that's good. We don't have to worry about a boring race like that for another... *gulp* 8 weeks. Why does Michigan host 2 races per year? Politics. I'm sure things will change when they finally finish "Shuttin' Detroit Down". Here are the results from this week's race.
Diggs 29 points
Kyle 0 points
Kurt 30 points (Top 5, Lap lead)
JPM 0 points
Keslowski -1 points (1 lap down)
Brent 49 points
Kahne 30 points (Top 5, Lap lead)
Martin 0 points
Burton 15 points (Top 10)
McMurray 4 points (Lap lead, 1 Lap down)
Chuck 35 points
Biffle 15 points (Top 10)
Kenseth 5 points (Lap lead)
Lagano 15 points (Top 10)
Bowyer 0 points
Crook 85 points
Stewart 25 points (Top 5)
Hamlin 60 points (Win, Most laps lead)
Edwards 0 points
Truex 0 points
Mulligan 37 points
Johnson 15 points (Top 10)
Jeff G 25 points (Top 5)
Newman -1 points (1 Lap down)
Ragan -2 points (2 Laps down)
Janet -5 points
Junior 15 points (Top 10)
Harvick 0 points
Mears* -20 points (DNF)
Ruetimann 0 points
*Janet can't start Mears. He's not on her roster, he's on Crook's. Unless there was a really crappy trade I don't know about.
Side note, present company included, the collective jerk quotient of this 'friendly' fantasy league is astronomical. Every player has complained about Digger's work as commissioner. What's worse is that I was the only one that called him on his birthday today. Shame shame, league.
An otherwise very boring race kicked the excitement up a notch on the final lap of the 510 mile (4 additional laps were completed on the 2.5 mile "Roval") Pocono event.
After the leader, Dennis "Denny" Hamlin, crossed the line as the white flag waved (which, under NASCAR's current rules means that this will be the final lap of the race, come hell, high water, or Harry Gant) chaos ensued.
The other lead lap cars also took the white flag. If a catastrophe were to occur after the leader takes the white flag, the automatic scoring robots would 'freeze' the field, locking each driver into that finishing position. (All in the interest of safety, mind you. Competitors aren't even allowed to race for position after a caution flag is waved.)
Wouldn't you know it, that knucklehead Kasey Kahne decides to earn some gas money by mowing the lawn on the backstretch as he works towards completing the lap. As luck would have it, he traversed over a soggy spot in the yard, and his car was upset (he wasn't the only upset one that day).
What ensued was a very ugly wreck that involved many cars. NASCAR, those bastions of safety, acted in the interest of all competitors and safety crew members and quickly waved the yellow flag. The scoring robots froze and the race was decided. Dennis Hamlin, ahead of the crowd when the Yellow waved, was awarded the victory. When the scoring robots froze, each position was locked in. That being the final lap of the race, those locked positions became the finishing positions for each competitor, as no more racing was necessary or allowable.
Therein lies the dutch rub. Our co-Commissioner, J. Diggs, determined, after some thought, that those drivers that raced each lap of the event until they were no longer allowed to race should be awarded a DNF. Dat's not fair. I mean, that stands for Did Not Finish, which, in our league incurs a 20 point penalty.
This is how Holy Wars get started and wage on for centuries.
I follow the school of thought that those lead lap drivers who crashed on the last allowable and possible lap of the race, did indeed race until the finish. In fact, they caused the finish of the race. When I shared my point of view with my co-Commissioner, he had some choice words for me: "Stop your bitching, it's a DNF."
Our co-Commissioner has worked tirelessly at a thankless job to update the stats and the scoring all season. His fine work is not unappreciated. He's had to be firm about the rule requiring competitors to send in their picks weekly. Some people don't like that rule, but we wanted to keep our players involved all year. I can honestly say that we have a 100% participation level at this point in the season.
I just don't understand why logic can't prevail in a situation like this. I mean, official NASCAR statistics are even reluctant to assign a DNF to the race results. Do I believe DNFs exist? Sure! My new favorite driver crashed into the wall, rendering his car undriveable. Repairs were not made, and he didn't return to the race. That's a DNF if there ever was one. NASCAR statistics might not say "DNF", but Jamie McMurray did not finish that race.
I think we have a really different situation with the last lap incident at Pocono. DNFs mean nothing to NASCAR point standings, but they carry a stiff penalty in Sweetest Temptation land. Let's use the discretion we have to make a wise decision.
Like Teen Wolf's dad and Spider Man's Uncle said, "With great power comes great responsibility." I think we have a responsibility to be reasonable.
What are your thoughts? How should this unique situation be handled?
If you're new to this Fantasy Sports League (Who am I kidding? I'm probably one of 3 people to ever visit this site) you may not know the intricacies of our Fantasy Racing League. Allow me to tell a long story to get to the point. (What? You're not paying by the word for this blog.)
For years, SweetestTemptation Fantasy Racing was hosted by Yahoo! . (Exclamation then period? Question mark.)
Their format was as follows: Pick 2 "A" level drivers from a list of 10 and "start" 1 each week. Pick 4 "B" level drivers from another list and "start" 2 each week. Pick 2 "C" level drivers from a list of former Red Lobster employees and "start" 1 of them each week.
You could only start a driver 9 times in a season, so switching them often was a necessity-if you actually cared.
As you might predict, Chuck started Hermie Sadler for the 9th and final time by the 9th race and it became apparent that he no longer had interest in the competition. Janet used up Dale Earnhardt, Jr. by the 5th race in the season. (I don't know how that's possible. She really likes Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) Next thing you know, the points lead was to be decided by only a couple of players, and most people totally lost interest.
So, out of necessity sprang invention. Digger and I laid the groundwork for an all new, never before used Fantasy Racing format, based on the tenets of Fantasy Football. We even had a 7 round draft!
I should post these rules in a separate space, but here they are:
Send in your team's 4 starters before the Green Flag drops. For each race, the drivers will earn or lose points based on these accomplishments-
Win 50 Top 5 25 Top 10 15 Lap Lead 5 Most Laps Lead 10 DNF -20 Laps Down -1 per lap Make Chase 35
If your drivers aren't sent in by the green flag, you will start the 4 lowest scoring drivers from the previous week.
And therein lies the rub. Well, it's a rub with just a few players.
Our League's Fearless Commissioner is of the view "If a driver doesn't start an actual NASCAR race, he does not finish the race, therefore he shall earn negative 20 points."
For example, if Dick Trickle is on my team, you know, for the heck of it, but I don't start him, he doesn't cost me any points riding the bench. If, by the start of the next race, I haven't submitted my starting four, the lowest four point earners of the previous race become my new starters. Thus, Dick Trickle enters my starting 4. Unless a miracle happens, he's not starting an actual NASCAR race.
Should he earn zero points for not winning, finishing in the top 10, or leading a lap? Or should he earn negative 20 points because he didn't finish the race? That's one of the fundamental disagreements threatening to tear this League apart. Reminds me of Christianity.
So, Chuck was slapped with some penalties for have 2 non-starters/non finishers. He would like to keep starters starting until noted otherwise.
To keep the toilet swirling, he demanded proof that our commissioner (who has been suspected of unscrupulous behavior beforehand) has actually submitted picks to another player prior to the start of each race. I, being the receiver of said picks each week, could vouch that he has certainly done so. Instead, Digger forwarded every email of picks to every player in the league this morning, thus clearing his name. (Maybe.)
All seemed nice and quiet until, Crook, enraged by the overflow in his precious Hotmail account from 1997, sent a profanity laced clip from the film "Half Baked":
So where are we at the end of the day? Still no resolve for the Did Not Start=Did Not Finish debate. Still no resolve for the "I don't want to email my picks every week" conundrum. But we do have a new leader...
