Author Topic: My Fantasy Football Experience  (Read 10227 times)

MrStash2000

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My Fantasy Football Experience
« on: September 07, 2015, 12:22:15 PM »
You will only get this if you play fantasy football but I must share my story about my league. Yes I know, fantasy football is not the most mustachian experience but I justify it because I usually win money in my league and have come out substantially ahead.

Anyway I play in a big money league with about 16 other players and the pot is $2400. Most of these guys are broke and the guy who handles the money is like +30K in credit card debt. Well last night, a trade involving the broke cash handling guy occurs:

Calvin Johnson
FOR
Torrey Smith and Alfred Blue

We have had the league for 8 years and I've never seen a move this bad. Of course he tries to justify landing Calvin and everyone is steamed. But it gets stranger.... The commisher vetoes the trade then not two minutes later they tweek the trade a hair and the commish pushes it through.

Yes I know ... Why give the broke guy the entry fees if he is massively in debt? I am facepunch worth fo' so.

But oh well lesson learned.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2015, 12:31:58 PM by clarkevii »

joleran

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2015, 09:45:31 PM »
I don't know anything about football, but I put $20 in to join the work league this year because first of all, that got me free chicken wings for the draft, but secondly, it's $20 for a once a year thing that may end up in fun joking around with work people.  I ended up getting first place in the draft by some automated ranking system, guess we'll see how the season goes.

Trifecta

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2015, 10:36:45 PM »
I would have the guy who gave up Calvin explain his thought process. Giving up a 2nd rounder for a couple of late round fliers sounds like collusion to me.  Any  big money league needs a trade veto/voting option by the other owners imo.

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patchyfacialhair

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2015, 11:04:00 PM »
Ugh. I was the commissioner of a league for the last few years. I hated chasing down guys for their contribution to the pot, reviewing bullshit trades, and getting that text 5 minutes before game time on Sunday that someone doesn't have internet access and needs their flex spot filled. Inevitably, every year, multiple people would show up to the draft with a sob story as to why they couldn't afford/bring their $20 dues. Sad and annoying depending on how you look at it. Agree w/Trifecta that any big money league probably needs some sort of democratic process to prevent one-sided trades.

This year, I've quit fantasy sports, and hope to go back to just watching the games for fun.

Random thought as I was typing this out: Smack talk: perhaps post some links to MMM directed at "Mr. 30k Credit Card Debt." Perhaps it'll get under his skin that you're working towards freedom while he's stuck getting buried by his exploding volcano of ridiculousness (unless of course the CC debt is for something unfortunate like medical bills etc, gotta be somewhat classy). If your league is anything like the one's I've participated in, anything goes on the message boards...

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2015, 05:23:03 AM »
Ugh. I was the commissioner of a league for the last few years. I hated chasing down guys for their contribution to the pot, reviewing bullshit trades, and getting that text 5 minutes before game time on Sunday that someone doesn't have internet access and needs their flex spot filled. Inevitably, every year, multiple people would show up to the draft with a sob story as to why they couldn't afford/bring their $20 dues. Sad and annoying depending on how you look at it. Agree w/Trifecta that any big money league probably needs some sort of democratic process to prevent one-sided trades.

This year, I've quit fantasy sports, and hope to go back to just watching the games for fun.

Random thought as I was typing this out: Smack talk: perhaps post some links to MMM directed at "Mr. 30k Credit Card Debt." Perhaps it'll get under his skin that you're working towards freedom while he's stuck getting buried by his exploding volcano of ridiculousness (unless of course the CC debt is for something unfortunate like medical bills etc, gotta be somewhat classy). If your league is anything like the one's I've participated in, anything goes on the message boards...

I can safely say the 30k in credit card debit is not from medical bills. This league is like the most anti-mustachian group around. Did I mention where we held our draft? Shreveport. Yes it was fun but it was a three day weekend of gambling for most. Of course they all won money (rolls eyes). I live in Dallas so I just drove up and back in the same day.

There definitely needs to be some democratic process in place for the trades. There have been some bad ones but this one takes the cake. It's a deep league so when one huge player goes to another squad it can really break things. Very lame that this happened before the season started but I will find another hobby....Though not before I plot my revenge.

Fishingmn

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2015, 05:26:03 AM »
Been playing FF since 1988.

I would have definitely vetoed that trade.

And I would highly recommend using something like Leaguesafe in your situation.

I do hold all the money for our league but it's only $80/person and I have a dedicated savings account at my bank to hold the money so there's no co-mingling of funds.

I'm a red panda

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2015, 07:03:10 AM »
Can you explain, for those of us who don't play (well, not seriously- but I've won a few years using auto-draft) what the trade has to do with the cost to play?

Do you pay for trades?

Why does the fact that the guy is broke have anything to do with the trade?

cripzychiken

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2015, 08:05:48 AM »
Can you explain, for those of us who don't play (well, not seriously- but I've won a few years using auto-draft) what the trade has to do with the cost to play?

Do you pay for trades?

Why does the fact that the guy is broke have anything to do with the trade?

I think it's more you are trusting $2400 to a guy that has shown he knows how to waste money.  Can he guarantee that come January that money is still in his bank account?

While some leagues do have transaction fees, that isn't the standard way.  My guess is the league in question is just a single entry pot, which is the most common (and easiest to run).

And the issue with the trade is the complete overpowering of one side.  The guy that got C. Johnson basically just so much stronger and now will be hard to beat the rest of the year.  In power terms, he just got a King (C. Johnson) in exchange for a 5 and 2 off-suit.  There is no way that any league would call that even.  So that means that there is likely something else going on (usually paying cash outside the league to get the trade - "hey I'll give you $100 for C.Johnson."

I'm a red panda

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2015, 08:20:04 AM »
Thanks for the explanation.

Basically the post was two stupid things (trusting someone with money and a bad trade); they didn't relate to each other- those were the dots I was trying to connect.

We only pay $20 to play, so I've never worried about the financial health of the person holding the money.

« Last Edit: September 08, 2015, 09:13:44 AM by iowajes »

crispy

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2015, 09:02:26 AM »
That's why I only play for fun in a couple of free leagues. Well, that and the fact that I stink at Fantasy Football!  It is a fun, free thing that my DH and I play together with friends.

Roboturner

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2015, 01:36:01 PM »
eh, Calvin will blow a hammy in the 2nd week, then the other guy's gonna look like a genius

MgoSam

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2015, 01:41:07 PM »
eh, Calvin will blow a hammy in the 2nd week, then the other guy's gonna look like a genius

I'm not doing fantasy this year, but I would think that picking up Golden Tate would be smart. CJ is going to be double or triple covered, and they don't have a strong run game (I think) so Golden Tate should be racking up the yards.

cautiouspessimist

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2015, 01:41:58 PM »
I have to admit, I don't really consider FF antimustachian...but I also don't generally play for money. My work league is $20, but no need to worry about whether it's still gonna be there since the commish just leaves it locked up in her desk drawer at work.

I should add it was very handy the first year I did it since I won and it coincided with my debit card being shut down due to someone stealing my identity. Non local bank, so getting a good chunk of cash kept me in groceries and gas until it could get resolved.

Roboturner

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2015, 01:42:18 PM »
One of the reasons I have Golden Tate on my team ;)

MgoSam

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2015, 01:54:13 PM »
One of the reasons I have Golden Tate on my team ;)

Yup! Good call. How many players are in your league and what round did you get him in?

LiveLean

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2015, 03:22:54 PM »
I'm going to show my age here (I'm nearly 46) but I first played fantasy baseball in high school in 1985, just a few years after the original Rotisserie Baseball book was written. In 1985, you had to hand-score your stats weekly using USA Today (Wednesday for the American League and Thursday for the NL. Or maybe vice versa). It took 2-3 hours. In college at an ACC school in the late '80s we played ACC fantasy basketball. We all worked at the student newspaper and called around to other schools to ask them to FAX - yes, FAX - the boxscores from the previous night. (We told them we were running them in a news roundup in our paper, which we did sometimes to fill space.) This was when FAX paper came in rolls and curled. I later became a sportswriter at a publication where playing fantasy sports was part of the gig -- we wrote about it.

I pretty much got burned out on fantasy sports by the late 1990s. Too big of a time suck and I figured I should apply those same analytics to investing. My sons (12 and 10) and I got into FanDuel daily college basketball last winter. I'm encouraging them to use their math skills and hoops knowledge to come up with algorithms that can have us winning thousands a night. They're math whizzes and like to code. We'll see what happens.

Roboturner

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2015, 04:10:31 PM »
One of the reasons I have Golden Tate on my team ;)

Yup! Good call. How many players are in your league and what round did you get him in?

got him in round 6 in a 10-man league - decent WR2

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #17 on: September 10, 2015, 05:31:50 PM »
UPDATE

This is an ESPN league. About a month ago the Commish gave me league manager duties to update the website and he must of forgotten that I still had them.

Well after a week of debating on our message board we were getting no where. Anyone who disagreed with the trade or how it was handled would just get shouted down. So I put a stop on my check that was never cashed and about one hour before tonight's kickoff I decided to use some of the "league manager" privileges. I went in and and hit "reset draft button" and left the league.

Harsh - yes... But I wanted to get out. Not worth my time.

Eric

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #18 on: September 10, 2015, 07:25:12 PM »
eh, Calvin will blow a hammy in the 2nd week, then the other guy's gonna look like a genius

I'm not doing fantasy this year, but I would think that picking up Golden Tate would be smart. CJ is going to be double or triple covered, and they don't have a strong run game (I think) so Golden Tate should be racking up the yards.

That's been happening for 8 years now and Johnson has been one of the top receivers in both real and fantasy the whole time.  I don't see why that would change this year all of a sudden.  Dude's a man among boys out there.  Go Lions!

Eric

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #19 on: September 10, 2015, 07:26:25 PM »
UPDATE

This is an ESPN league. About a month ago the Commish gave me league manager duties to update the website and he must of forgotten that I still had them.

Well after a week of debating on our message board we were getting no where. Anyone who disagreed with the trade or how it was handled would just get shouted down. So I put a stop on my check that was never cashed and about one hour before tonight's kickoff I decided to use some of the "league manager" privileges. I went in and and hit "reset draft button" and left the league.

Harsh - yes... But I wanted to get out. Not worth my time.

Shit dude!  That could get you lynched!

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #20 on: September 10, 2015, 07:40:55 PM »
I will take my chances

crispy

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #21 on: September 10, 2015, 08:06:15 PM »
UPDATE

This is an ESPN league. About a month ago the Commish gave me league manager duties to update the website and he must of forgotten that I still had them.

Well after a week of debating on our message board we were getting no where. Anyone who disagreed with the trade or how it was handled would just get shouted down. So I put a stop on my check that was never cashed and about one hour before tonight's kickoff I decided to use some of the "league manager" privileges. I went in and and hit "reset draft button" and left the league.

Harsh - yes... But I wanted to get out. Not worth my time.

Gotta share the fallout from this! 

tanzee

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #22 on: September 11, 2015, 05:54:25 AM »
Fantasy sports drama....   I'm in semi-serious fantasy baseball league and there are constantly dramatic arguments about fairness, etc. 

Btw, I think fantasy baseball is the equivalent of index investing where stats normalize over 162 games.  Fantasy football seems more like daytrading to me, where on any given Sunday, some shmoe can come out of nowhere.  I prefer the long, predictable grind of fantasy baseball. 

AZDude

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #23 on: September 11, 2015, 09:58:05 AM »
Too many people play fantasy football now, so there are no surprises and its almost all luck. Fantasy baseball though, that takes a special kind of geek to really get into(no offense intended), so its easier to win if you actually like that sort of stuff.


Chris22

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #24 on: September 11, 2015, 10:10:09 AM »
Too many people play fantasy football now, so there are no surprises and its almost all luck. Fantasy baseball though, that takes a special kind of geek to really get into(no offense intended), so its easier to win if you actually like that sort of stuff.

I got roped into a fantasy baseball league in my old office, told them I didn't want to join, then got guilted into it because "they needed enough people to make it work."  Fine.  Come to find out it was $100 buy-in.  WTF.  Never told me that, I never woulda joined.  $20 maybe, $100 F no.  Walked away.

I do my office FF league now, $40 buy in, great fun because it's less about FF and more about trash talking each other, pulling minor pranks like inserting losing screenshots into loser's .PPT presentations, that sort of thing.  We can only do 12 people, and there's a waiting list 3-4-5 people deep to get in when someone quits our employer or something.

tanzee

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #25 on: September 11, 2015, 10:34:50 AM »
Too many people play fantasy football now, so there are no surprises and its almost all luck. Fantasy baseball though, that takes a special kind of geek to really get into(no offense intended), so its easier to win if you actually like that sort of stuff.

None taken.  But I've been pouring over baseball stats since I was like 7 years old.  So I would be doing the reading anyways.  I've also been pretty successful and generally finish in the money. 

trailrated

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #26 on: September 11, 2015, 11:21:30 AM »
I got a call from a good friend saying that someone from their league dropped out and they needed one more person and he wanted me to join. I asked if they drafted already and he said no, so I agreed. Buy in was $100. After the transaction went through he told me he forgot to mention that it was a keeper league and the team I inherited got last place last year.

I was pissed, and after much bitching and complaining I was bumped up to the number one draft spot to make up for all the bs. To make things worse I only decided one person on the team was worth keeping...Jordy Nelson. Guess how that worked out for me the day after the draft.
:(

boarder42

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #27 on: September 11, 2015, 11:31:26 AM »
yeah you gotta share the fallout from that draft reset last minute. 

forummm

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2015, 11:34:19 AM »
eh, Calvin will blow a hammy in the 2nd week, then the other guy's gonna look like a genius

I'm not doing fantasy this year, but I would think that picking up Golden Tate would be smart. CJ is going to be double or triple covered, and they don't have a strong run game (I think) so Golden Tate should be racking up the yards.

I think they have a great run game. But backing up CJ with Tate is a good idea if Tate is still available (he shouldn't be).

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #29 on: September 11, 2015, 04:35:00 PM »
UPDATE 2.0

I must add a few things. When I hit the "draft reset" every player was removed from every team. I then took a moment to edit rosters and put one player back: Calvin Johnson (given back to his original owner). All other roster spots were left blank. Before I left I wrote an essay on why this whole thing was bunk. I also made a short iMovie featuring clips of Baldwin giving his famous speech in Glengarry Glen Ross. In both I stated if I were to continue playing that I would need two things to happen: 1 We get a veto system 2 We nix the Calvin trade. I didn't figure either would happen and I was right.

After the carnage our league message board lit up. Some owners had enough of the league altogether, some wanted me to get the boot, some tried to convince me to stay. I didn't really care because I wasn't going to be paying for a league that was broken. They took a league vote to determine my fate which I narrowly lost. A victory for the bullies.

The commish was able to put back the rosters last night (though he did a shoddy job). During their vote I decided to have fun one last time. I made a set of waiver claims since I knew my team was about to be locked. I made claims for: QB Donovan McNabb, RB Brian Westbrook, and K David Akers. I'm an Eagles fan so I might as well go down swinging. Turns out those waiver claims went through and I dropped 3 starters. I'm assuming those guys will be going into my starting lineup for the rest of the season.... free wins for my opponents?

It looks like the league will carry on though there are about 6 owners that could care less right now. I am so pleased I was able to get the stop on the check in time. This evening, I'm still getting text messages from some of the owners that don't get it. Trash talk mostly and for the most part I'm just ignoring them.

I am sure with all the shenanigans that have taken place, even before the season has started, that there will be more epic silliness occurring.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 04:48:54 PM by clarkevii »

Roboturner

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #30 on: September 11, 2015, 04:48:46 PM »
See, you are a commish, so just trade all your best players to your buddy's team for scrubs and push the trade through. NO VETO SYSTEM

marty998

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #31 on: September 11, 2015, 05:16:08 PM »
This is fascinating.

In the case of obvious shenanigans, why can't there be a disqualification rule in place? i.e. my league, my rules, no correspondence entered into etc etc.

I mean, you don't have to pay out the winnings if someone is "cheating" (in whatever manner) do you?

It's not like this is all enforceable in a court of law? Surely not...


MgoSam

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #32 on: September 11, 2015, 06:07:30 PM »
FF is being taken way too seriously. It's meant to be a fun game that can lead to some good ol' trash talking.

forummm

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #33 on: September 11, 2015, 06:12:35 PM »
FF is being taken way too seriously. It's meant to be a fun game that can lead to some good ol' trash talking.
Also a way to make the games more interesting. I never watched or cared about football until my brother invited me to his league. Then I started spending a lot of time on it because it was interesting for what the players did (who cares what real teams win).

It's kind of like gambling is for people. If they have to watch a game they don't care about they will place bets on it so that the game becomes more interesting for them.

trailrated

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #34 on: September 14, 2015, 12:06:03 PM »
FF is being taken way too seriously. It's meant to be a fun game that can lead to some good ol' trash talking.
Also a way to make the games more interesting. I never watched or cared about football until my brother invited me to his league. Then I started spending a lot of time on it because it was interesting for what the players did (who cares what real teams win).

It's kind of like gambling is for people. If they have to watch a game they don't care about they will place bets on it so that the game becomes more interesting for them.

+1 it makes a random game that you would normally never care about somehow responsible for if you win or lose that week. So happy football is back!

MgoSam

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #35 on: September 14, 2015, 12:08:42 PM »
FF is being taken way too seriously. It's meant to be a fun game that can lead to some good ol' trash talking.
Also a way to make the games more interesting. I never watched or cared about football until my brother invited me to his league. Then I started spending a lot of time on it because it was interesting for what the players did (who cares what real teams win).

It's kind of like gambling is for people. If they have to watch a game they don't care about they will place bets on it so that the game becomes more interesting for them.

+1 it makes a random game that you would normally never care about somehow responsible for if you win or lose that week. So happy football is back!

I completely agree in that it definitely helps make a game interesting. My point was that spending an insane amount of money is unwise in this pursuit. My dad used to gamble on games "to make it interesting," and I would get really pissed off, mostly because he didn't know shit about football. He would place money on the Patriots cause Brady is good, and fail to realize that Brady is injured, and didn't both to educate himself because putting his money on the line.

forummm

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #36 on: September 14, 2015, 05:14:14 PM »
My dad used to gamble on games "to make it interesting," and I would get really pissed off, mostly because he didn't know shit about football. He would place money on the Patriots cause Brady is good
That's a great reason to bet on things. Just as long as no one else knows Brady is good.

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #37 on: November 26, 2015, 12:57:57 PM »
Man i am glad I left this league!

patchyfacialhair

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #38 on: November 26, 2015, 04:35:52 PM »
Man i am glad I left this league!

New shenanigans?

MrStash2000

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Re: My Fantasy Football Experience
« Reply #39 on: November 26, 2015, 07:26:07 PM »
No just commenting after Calvin scored 3 TDS in one game. The guy who got the better part of the trade currently is 2nd overall.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!