WNQ Week 4: Trades and Ennui

Commissioner’s Corner: Taste the Tears

This happens to me every year.

No, not losing, or looking mighty terrible. Those things also happen to me every year, but that’s inevitable. Even the best teams (even Travis, Season Two Edition) have their bad weeks. Perhaps not this bad, but still, it happens.

I’m talking about Loser’s Ennui. This happens to me every year when my team starts looking horrible. It’s not that I lose interest in my team, it’s that it becomes harder and harder to write WNQ.

I think it’s two parts depression and one part hypocrisy. As my energy level wanes from the sheer hopeless of my season (and you will know my hopelessness to be at 100% whenever I play any Denver RB), I begin thinking, “who cares if WNQ is on time. The end is nigh.” I also begin questioning whether or not I can find anything relevant to say, and if I have a leg to stand on when criticizing others because, lets face it, I’m bad. Not, like, Jason bad. But still not good.

My resolution to all of you is that I will not succumb to the Ennui of being a mediocre team struggling to make the 6^th playoff spot so I can lose to Scott or Drew in the first round. I shall persevere. Taste the Happy, people.

And suddenly, piercing through the dark clouds, a ray of hope: a Trade.

We have never been a trader’s league. I’m not sure what the reason for this is. I think we’re all naturally suspicious of each other, and all a little bit too bright to ever pull a fast one on anyone else. I’m fairly confident that my Season 1-4 trend of being the Trader of Doom also did not help make anyone confident in using the trade as a viable option to build a team. 

However, I do think we are primed this year for trading. I know, I say this every year and it never happens, but I’m serious. The reasons are multiple. First and foremost, a 12-man league means fewer available players, thus necessitating trades. This is not new for this year, but still needs to be mentioned. Second, our league has turned into a free-for-all. Traditional powerhouses WASPs Limited and Jews of Evil are sitting 0-3 and are in desperate need of some life. Finally, with the fact that every waiver wire transaction will necessitate a $1 expenditure, trading is the only real means of a “free” player.

Whether or not this will lead to more trades is yet to be seen. However, this week we have our first team to team transaction: Travis is trading off DeAngelo Williams and Giovani Bernard for Andrew Luck and Pierre Garcon.

Let’s analyze, shall we? This is a no-brainer for Travis. Andrew Luck is performing well and while certainly not a sure thing Top-10 QB, he’s leagues better than the Has Been Gingers Travis has been relying upon.  Pierre Garcon is a monster and will likely be a strong, consistent WR for Travis to rely upon.

I would say Donel had the worst end of the trade, but just take a look at this team. Donel played the, like, 8^th string Seattle RB last week because the only other RBs on his team were DeMarco Murray and an injured Ray Rice. Donel’s RB situation is dire. While I don’t personally like DeAngelo Williams (see for reference: every year ever), I think Giovani Bernard has been playing well and might end up being a great RB. This trade seems like a win-win for the teams involved, but a lose-lose to all those teams like me hoping Travis finished 0-13.

And the performer of the week is…Jordan Cameron

WTF? #4 TE performance in our league ever. Who is this guy?

And now a video for your viewing pleasure…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_NmwtttzA8

Thanks to Scott for this one…I think this sums up most of our attitudes around the league.

Sad Week 4 Power Rankings

I refuse to rank anyone this week, because all and all we were a pretty disappointing bunch. We had one team over 100 points, two of our league's top franchises drop to 0-3, and Peter won a game with 74.7 points (add that to your "luck" index).  A few thoughts:

Drew and Dane really did play the game of the week with their nailbiter. Neither team looked very overall-good (Drew had two players under 1 point), but both have a number of playmakers able to get the job done. I maintain that Dane is itching for implosion with his lack of depth, but the Burleson injury can only have helped his WR corp...

Jason's maximum predicted score this week: 79. Officially the worst team?