Evans World 2015 - Preview

Greetings friends, and welcome back to another season of Fantasy Football.  So, let's put it out there ... did you enjoy last season?  Well, if you were Mike or Nathan you probably did.  But I just got this sense that there was a lot less enthusiasm about Fantasy Football last year.  Sadly, when Gary called me and told me he wasn't going to participate this season, he said the very same thing to me.  Granted I had a lot going on last Fall in my personal life, so I wasn't able to focus on FF as much as I liked.  Even though I ended up in third place, I really didn't have much fun.  I'm sure you could tell in my lackluster, delayed blog entries. But there was no trash talking, no trades, no interaction in the league, and that's partially my fault.

Well, I'm going to try to do better this season.  FF isn't just about a good draft, good luck on the waiver wire or a trade that goes your way.  It's about the community that we share.  And what better way is there to encourage and enjoy that community than for me to come here in this blog and bash it (especially Tom) as often as possible?  I like to think that my thoughts and analyses of our league in this blog go a long way to building our FF community, although I wouldn't mind more trash talking and ... oh ... I don't know ... a fucking trade request every once and a while.

I hope you'll take this Fall to get reconnected in Evans World and find renewed joy in playing FF together.  I hope you'll come back to this blog each week for a little humor, a little trash talking and maybe some things you hadn't thought or heard of before. 

I've added FF notes on the side of the blog site to help you in your weekly research too.  No thanks required.  I really did it more for me than for you.

A few thoughts before our season begins ...

• I don't know about you, but I LOVE Keepers.  What a huge impact it has choosing the right players at draft time and before the next draft to shape your team!  We saw that a lot this year when Nathan basically started drafting his team for next year in the later rounds.  It's a great little addition to our league that I hope you enjoyed too.  If nothing else it's nice to be able to control some aspect of an auction league and keep at least one player you can cheer for and hopefully count on each week for a win.
• I thought everyone did a very good job this year in our second auction draft.  Berk pulled a 180 and left money unspent rather than spending it all up front.  We'll see which strategy works best.  Lest you forget, he came in 4th place last season.
• The team that intrigued me the most is Barry.  Barry didn't keep any players from last season, and he bet big on a handful of players.  And not just simple players, he's got 4 1-3 round players.  I think it will help more than hurt him, but time will tell.  Should be fun to watch.
• Yeah, Yahoo said that Nathan had the best draft grade.  I think he buys the system off.
• You guys missed out on some good fun in the Wendel basement during the draft.  I'm sure you were playing games with us during the draft.  I know we were playing tricks on you guys.  Berk picking up Jordy Nelson was a fun moment for us.  Plus, Mindi made yummy treats.  Your loss.
• In case you were wondering, here were the most expensive players this year:
• $67 - Demaryius Thomas (Keeper) - Tony
• $66 - Matt Forte (Keeper) - Mike
• $65 - Adrian Peterson - Marshall
• $58 - Antonio Brown - Barry
• $55 - Jaamal Charles - Tom
• My favorite deals of the draft were:
• I released and got Randall Cobb back for $8 less than the cost to keep him.  Not a bargain, but a win.
• Berk got Latavius Murray for a song at $16.  In the old system, he was easily a late second-round pick.  Berk also got Tom Brady for $13.  Even with the suspension, it's a steal for a Keeper next season, especially if Brady-Wayne (insert joke here) turns out to be a monster combo this year.
• Marshall got Peyton Manning for $12.  I don't get it.
• Kevin picking up both Cam Newton and Greg Olsen will pay off for him this year.  Count on it.
• For the record, I bought Ameer for Tom.  He'll be thanking me by Week 5.  Although, I did pick Tom's first 4 players and they were ALL on bye week 9.  Not so smart on my part.  It became a running joke in the basement, so I'm glad he took it well.
• I hate to admit it, but Nathan's team does look the strongest at this point and definitely had some good deals to build it.  Nice draft, jackass.  I hope Barry kicks your ass.

Okay, that's all for now.  I will do my best to provide a weekly blog on each Wednesday (it's the best day for me to write during lunch), but I hope to have some extra stuff thrown in during the season too.

Please, trash talk.  Make fun of Tom.  Mock Nathan's ever-receding hairline.  Bring on the Battle of the Brothers, Evanses, Browns and Wendels.  Don't let Mike repeat.  Have fun.  And above all ... let the Wookie (me) win.

Talk to you all soon!

The Commish