ON SPORTS ~ Giselle Really DOES Wear The Pants...

I know you have been waiting with bated breath all week to find out how I fared in Fantasy Football. I'm sure that was top on your priority list. Well, drumroll please...........TA-DA! See that shiny trophy up above? It represents my dual victories. That's what I said. Dual effin' victories. I won both leagues. Beat all the guys. Beat all the girls. If I had entered a league pitted against cats I would have beat them too. Just sayin'.

So Mr. Invincible fell by 35 points to GiselleWearsThePants in our finals matchup. As you may remember from last week, I was very undecided with my Quarterback slot. So of the four I had hoarded on my roster I went with McNabb from Phillie. His game against Dallas meant the world to him and his teammates so I knew that #1 he would be starting, #2 he would be expected to play the whole game, and #3 that he had the potential for big points. Well. Let me just tell you this. I am glad I'm not an Eagles fan. Because McNabb and his Eagles sucked. Big time. After all my analysis and scrambling and overthinking - I should have just stayed with my QB all season - Tom Brady. He ended up with more points than any of my other QB options!

Oh well. No matter. My other players held up their end of the projected points bargain and my Running Back, Jamaal Charles, for the woeful Kansas City Chiefs ran roughshod all over the even more pathetic Lions, leading to a stellar day for my team. I'll have you know that Mr. Charles In Charge was just sitting there on the Available Players list for anyone to take. But it was my shrewd luck analysis that caused me to scoop him up a few weeks prior and I would like to take this opportunity in my trophy acceptance speech to say thank you Jamaal for propelling my team to victory. Your real life team may have been a real drag all season to play for, but you can stop by and look at my shiny trophy any time you need cheering up. You were my Finals MVP.

Andy saved some much needed face by beating The Commish in the Consolation Round - meaning he does not need to have the distinction of finishing last in the leage that his wife won. I would also like to give Andy a big shout out here in my acceptance speech - without him I wouldn't have had the opportunity to play. He recommended me to The Commish when they needed to fill a final slot in the league. And not because he thought I would be easy to beat. But because he knew I knew my stuff and thought it would be fun. I love that guy.

My victory in the Ladies League was rather laissez faire. I walloped my uninterested opponent for all the marbles by 100 points over the Finals 2 week combined total. I would have been REEEEALLY P.O.'d if I had lost this matchup. Her auto pilot roster with empty slots throughout still got her to the finals. There are some other angry women who tried to beat her and failed along the way. So I will still pat myself on the back for beating someone who wasn't even playing anymore. Maybe next year I'll start a Blogger's League provided people have the commitment to stick to it throughout. That really does make a big difference in the overall competitiveness and fun.

One thing I learned which surprised me? It made no difference whether I drafted my team myself based on research or if I let the computer draft it for me. And it made no difference if I actively modified my team, dropping & swapping out players each week or if I held steady, only making a change when someone got hurt. The end result - this year at least - was the same. I won. Did I mention that yet?

And finally - in the Pick 'Em Pool, I came in 66th and Andy came in 82nd out of about 120 players. We paid $100 total to play. And we won $200. So we netted $100! Not bad. But not as nice as our friends with the twins. The dad tied for 1st and the mom came in 2nd. Another player squeaked in there to tie the top spot and keep them from holding on to the top all alone. But I'm sure they'll get over it - they won about $700 throughout the season and their little boys surely create plenty of needs to spend their winnings on!

Fantasy Football and football pools kept our love of the game more inspired and resulted in bragging rights for me and some extra pocket money to pay off the Christmas bills - or put towards the shed project. Hope you enjoyed the ride. I'm gonna go strut around a little more while I can still get away with it.

ROUND-UP:
Boston Babe (Molly's Team) = 1st Overall, 7-6 (regular season) - Playoffs, Won Round 1, Advanced to Finals, Won Final
(modified this lineup for injuries only, ladies league)

GiselleWearsThePants (Molly's team) = 1st Overall, 8-7 (regular season) - Playoffs, Won Semi-Final, Won Final
Brady Goes To Miami (Andy's team) = 5th Overall, 5-10 (regular season) - Playoffs, Won Consolation bracket
~head to head (Molly vs. Andy) = I don't want to talk about it (0-3)
(actively modified this lineup, up against the boys)