Volume 23 Issue 1 April 30, 2011

OFFL News

Foster leads Tim to title

Rodgers joins

Favre as MVPs

Fanball is done!

Fanball closes its doorsBut RealTime wants our business

Saint Louis, MO - March 28, 2011 - RealTime Fan-tasy Sports lnc ("RTSports") announced today that it has purchased from Liberty Sports Interactive, lnc. ("Fanball") its MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA fantasy commissioner league assets.

"We are extremely proud to be the new home of Fanball's commissioner leagues," said Mark Hanna, President of RTSports. "The leagues will have all thelr data -- including all league history -- kept completely intact when they move to RTSports.com. We will strive to provide the same great product that the Fanball users have become accustomed to over the years." Hanna stated that Fanball users will be allowed to access and modify their leagues as usual on Fanball's website up until the time they are trans-ferred to RTSports, sometime in May. Fanball's users will be alerted of the move ahead of time.

This is the third asset acquisition for RTSports, which acquired Fantasy City Sports in 2009 and Web League Commissioner last year.

"RealTlme Fantasy Sports is a perfect home for the Fanball commissioner leagues," said Jim Enright, Vice President of Fanball. "Their technology, exper-tise and ability to innovate quickly will produce a seamless transition for these valued commissioner customers."

RealTime Fantasy Sports, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is a top fantasy football provider. The 2011 football season will be the 17th year RTSports has provided fantasy commissioner services. RTSports also has pay-to-play games, unique content, exten-sive player notes, video updates, free draft guide, mock drafting tools and more.

A plea from RealTime

The big change for the 2011 OFFL season probably won’t be anything that the NFL does. It will be that Fanball is shutting down after being the league’s website for about seven years.

Fanball posted on its website in Febru-ary that the league would shut down in June, meaning the OFFL will have to find a new site for next year.

A few days later, RealTime Sports Inc.,

mnade a pleas for ou business. It can be seen on the right on on at Fanball.com.

I spent a couple of hours pulling as much important information as I could find off the site to keep for safekeeping. I would encour-age all owners to go there and look through the message, stories, and stats and download whatever they think is important. Because soon, there will be no going back to Fanball.

The owners discussed possible new hosting sites with Yahoo and ESPN being the most popular. A decision will have to be made by early August at the latest and all owners are encouraged to weigh in on the site they think is best.

We should be looking for a site that is relatively cheap, but that also provides many of the services that you’ve come to expect from Fanball and maybe a few more.

This topic will be on the agenda for the free agent meeting in June.

Tim finally gets a title after 22 years

Tim Lee is shown receiving the champi-onship travelling plaque from Commission-er J.J. Lockwood. Lee is beaming with joy since it took him 22 years to get his name on the damn thing. (Photo by someone)

Finally!After 22 seasons, hundreds of trades,

thousands of games, and hours and hours of anguish, I finally won my first OFFL title.

My failure to win the league I had cre-ated a legend that was beginning to take on a life of its own.

People would come up to me that weren’t even in the league and they knew I had never won it. I had become a fantasy football punchline.

But while, I was taking the heat I always felt like I was a little bit unlucky. That with a little luck and some good timing, I could finally get my name on the plaque.

If you really want evidence that speaks to the luck of the league, here it is. If you listed all 22 of my rosters side by side, I’m not sure this lineup makes the top 5. Every-one talks about the mid-90s Lee-Thal Weap-ons of Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young. In the late 1990s, I paired Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss and led the league in scoring again. Only one of those teams even reached the championship game.

That may be the biggest shock of all … I’ve been in the playoffs more than anyone else, but this was only my second champion-ship game! Bad luck or bad coaching? I’m going with luck, it’s better for my ego.

So how did this team manage to raise me to heights that some of the OFFL’s greats couldn’t? Here’s what I think

Depth – I had my share of stars (Philip Rivers, Arian Foster, Calvin and Andre Johnson) but I also had backups at every position. Too many times in the past I focused on young talent on my bench. I was always looking for the future. This year I focused on players who could help me this year.

Drafting – Taking league MVP Foster with my first pick after watching four other owners pass on him (BC, Walkers, Burners, Davastators) was key. If I don’t have Foster,

I don’t win a title. The selections of Darren McFadden, Dez Bryant and Austin Collie gave my talent and depth at positions where there was lots of injuries. But I screwed up, too. I passed on Michael Vick (we all did)

to take Kevin Kolb late in the first round. I wanted a player who could help me THIS year.

Schedule – I got off to a hot start -- that guar-anteed me the division title about halfway through the year. That meant I could

avoid that damn wildcard game which I’ve had little success. It also meant I could make some trades to increase my depth heading into the playoffs. Had I started off around .500, I might have panicked like I’ve done many times in the past.

Luck – Let’s face it, after 22 years the Roulette ball was bound to land on me at least once.

Thank god, I finally won it. Stop by and see the plaque some time.

The 2011 OFFL Winter meeting was held on February 19 at the home of Rick Bough in Fithian.

The meeting was attended by Bough, Mike Carnahan, Tom Durbin, Dean Grimes, Philip Huchel, Tim Lee, Todd Lee, J.J. Lockwood, Mike Trask, and Dale Wise.

Those who were not in attendance were Dave Cox (lives in North Caroli-na), Bill Brinkoetter, Dean Grimes, and Dale Wise (all vacationing in Florida), and Pete White (watching a presenta-tion of Annie at Hoopeston Area High School).

There was much discussion con-cerning the new 18-game schedule put forth by the NFL owners, and possibly finding a way to get off Week 17 of the OFFL schedule. By the time the meeting was over, they owners had decided to hold off on everything and wait and see what happens with the NFL labor issue.

The next gathering of the owners, the free agent meeting, was set for June 26. Commissioner ? will be in charge of making the arrangements for that occasion.

The MVP for the season was split between Arian Foster, Generals, and Aaron Rodgers, Davastators.

The Rookie of the Year was Dez Bryant of the Generals and Tim Lee was selected as Coach of the Year, for the first time in the 22-year history of the OFFL.

Meeting hears lots of talk,

accomplishes nothing

Let’s face it, af-ter 22 years the Roulette ball was bound to land on me at least once.

1989 Chad Barnes1890 Mike Trask1991 Mike Carnahan1992 Chad Barnes1993 Dave Cox1994 Dave Cox1995 Mike Carnahan1996 Chad Barnes

The roll call of champions

1997 J.J. Lockwood1998 Dean Grimes1999 Dean Grimes2000 J.J. Lockwood2001 J.J. Lockwood2002 Mike Trask2003 Pete White, John Broughman

2004 Dave Cox2005 Philip Huchel2006 Bill Brinkoetter2007 J.J. Lockwood2008 Philip Huchel2009 Bill Brinkoetter2010 Tim Lee

Things you should know (but probably don’t)

KING Walkers

BrosHawks

Generals

QUEENDouble Ds

BurnersTalkers

Pro-Phils

ACESBC

DavastatorsGrizzBills

1 -- BC2 -- Double Ds3 -- Walkers4 -- Burners5 -- Talkers6 -- Davastators7 -- Bros8 -- Grizz9 -- Phils10 -- Hawks11 -- Bills12 -- Generals

The OFFL 2011 Winter meeting had many similarities to previous winter meet-ings: basketball on the TV, lots of loud argu-ments, plenty of talking and debating, and new rule ideas that got shot down.

The debates this year covered two top-ics, both that have been discussed many times before.

I proposed getting off Week 17 of the NFL schedule. My rationale was that the

Scheduling, waiver rules discussedmany injuries and benchings that occurred drastically affected the way the champion-ship was played. I even had a couple of suggestions that were typed up. None of them passed.

I also discussed what we would do if the NFL went to 18 games. The owners decided to wait and see how this comes out closer to the beginning of the season.

Dave had originally brought up during

the season a plan to replace a player on your roster who went on IR. In a nutshell, the owners thought that was the reason for a 20-man roster. There was a lot of debate about going to a waiver system, but nothing could get the attention of a majority of the owners. For a while, I thought that this was going to be a radical change for the OFFL, but eventually the momentum for this died out.

Maybe next year.

2011 Divisions

2011 Draft Order

QBs, WRs up for grabs in JuneThe free agent meeting has been set for June 26. New commissioner Mike Trask will

provide us with the specific details as we get closer to the season.Below is the list of free agents that will be available. I’ve written this before, but if

you need a stud QB or big-time WR then you are in business. If you want to reload your RB or TE shelf, then you may be in trouble.

PLAYER NFL 10 Team PTS POS1 -- Brady, Tom NE Grizz 93 QB2 -- Bowe, Dwayne KC Talkers 84 WR3 -- Manning, Peyton Ind Walkers 78 QB4 -- Manning, Eli NYG Pro-Phils 72 QB5 -- Flacco, Joe Bal Grizz 69 QB6 -- Welker, Wes NE Grizz 43 WR7 -- McNabb, Donovan Was Burners 42 QB8 -- Johnson, Andre Hou Generals 42 WR9 -- Witten, Jason Dal Double Ds 38 TE10 -- Romo, Tony Dal Double Ds 33 QB11 -- Fitzgerald, Larry Arz Pro-Phils 32 WR12 -- Jones, Thomas KC Bills 30 RB13 -- Moss, Randy Ten BC 30 WR14 -- Favre, Brett Min Davastators 30 QB15 -- Driver, Donald GB Bills 24 WR16 -- Ward, Hines Pit Bills 24 WR17 -- Marshall, Brandon Mia Walkers 12 WR18 -- Thomas, Pierre NO Bros 6 RB19 -- Gonzalez, An. Ind Walkers 0 WR20 -- Jackson, Vincent SD Talkers 0 WR21 -- Vinatieri, Adam Ind Bills 101 K22 -- Rackers, Neil Hou Pro-Phils 98 K23 -- Gould, Robbie Chi Burners 83 K24 -- Prater, Matt Den Bros 76 K25 -- Longwell, Ryan Min Bills 66 K26 -- Packers GB Pro-Phils ST

1

8

13

1823

Rodgers, Foster split MVP trophyFirst tie for MVP since 1995

For the first time since 1995 the OFFL owners couldn’t decide on a single Most Valuable Player. Back then it was Emmitt Smith and Brett Favre. This year it was another Lone Star RB and Green Bay QB – Arian Foster and Aaron Rodgers.

Foster led the Generals to the champi-onship and was a 1st team All-Pro scoring 90 points. He was the league’s highest scorer (non-K) for most of the year before a slow finish allowed a couple of QBs to pass him. Foster then kicked it in gear in the playoffs and scored 12 points in the championship game to guarantee Tim his title.

Aaron Rodgers became the third time a Packer QB has been named league MVP. Favre won back-to-back MVPs in 1995 and 1996. Rodgers, who was only second team All-Pro to Tom Brady, scored 93 points and led the Davastators this season.

Both Rodgers and Foster received three first-place votes.

2007 MVP Brady lost out of a three-way tie by one vote.Here is a rundown of the voting:Arian Foster (3) 30Aaron Rodgers (3) 30Tom Brady (2) 29Dwayne Bowe 13Peyton Hillis 12Drew Brees 3Calvin Johnson 1Adrian Peterson 1Peyton Manning 1

2009 -- Drew Brees, Hawks2008 -- DeAngelo Williams, Bills2007 -- Tom Brady, Grizz2006 -- LaDainian Tomlinson, Bros2005 -- Shaun Alexander, Talkers2004 -- Peyton Manning, Walkers2003 -- Priest Holmes, Bros2002 -- Priest Holmes, Bros2001 -- Marshall Faulk, Hawks2000 -- Marshall Faulk Hawks1999 -- Kurt Warner, Burners1998 -- Terrell Davis, Smallcox

The history of MVP awards1997 -- Kordell Stewart, Walkers1996 -- Brett Favre, Smallcox1995 -- Brett Favre, Smallcox Emmitt Smith, Weapons1994 -- Emmitt Smith, Weapons Steve Young, Weapons1993 -- Jerry Rice, Tations1992 -- Emmitt Smith, Tations1991 -- Jim Kelly, Compactors1990 -- Randall Cunningham, Grizz1989 -- Jerry Rice, Tations

Tim earns first Coach of the Year honor

Cowboy WR Dez Bryant rode an October hot streak to the 2010 Rookie of the Year Award.

Bryant, of the champion Generals, scored 48 points. He was second in rookie scoring behind Sam Bradford.

Bryant was a double threat for the Generals when he got on the field. The Generals also had the Cowboys ST, so when Bryant would take a punt return back for a TD, it counted twice.

Bryant got an important start when the Generals’ WRs were on bye weeks. He scored twice, once on a return, and turned a Generals’ loss into a win. Since the game occurred on Monday Night Football while the league had gathered at Hooters helped propel his season to prominence.

Sadly, Bryant didn’t get many opportunities after that because of injuries and team depth.

Bradford actually got more first place votes (four), while Bryant earned three.

TE Rob Gronkowski, who set a rookie TE record, finished in third place.

Here is the voting for Rookie of Year.

Dez Bryant (3) 19Sam Bradford (4) 16Rob Gronkowski 8Mike Williams 4Jahvid Best 1

Bryant uses “special” skills to win ROY Award

It took a title, but I finally won a Coach of the Year award.With a strong draft, good lineup selections, and a couple of trades, I managed to put together all the pieces for a title. I was a unani-

mous choice, picking up all seven first-place votes.Not only was the team good enough for a title, but it also set a record for most wins in a season. With 11 regular season wins and

two more in the playoffs, the 13 wins put me one above a group of others who recorded 12 in one season.

Brother-in-law Bill finished second in the championship game and in the coach of the year award.

I just hope it won’t take me 22 more wins to win another Coach of the Year award.

Here is the voting.Tim Lee (7) 24Bill Brinkoetter 16Tom Durbin 5Philip Huchel 1Todd Lee 1Mike Carnahan, Rick Bough 1

Here are the last 10 award winners.2010 -- Tim Lee2009 -- Bill Brinkoetter2008 -- Philip Huchel2007 -- J.J. Lockwood2006 -- Bill Brinkoetter2005 -- Philip Huchel2004 -- Dave Cox2003 -- Pete White, John Broughman2002 -- Pete White, John Broughman2001 -- J.J. Lockwood

Here are the last 10 winners of the award.2010 -- Dez Bryant, Generals2009 -- Matt Stafford, Burners2008 -- Matt Forte, Generals2007 -- Adrian Peterson, Phils2006 -- Maurice Jones-Drew, Bros2005 -- Heath Miller, Daves2004 -- Ben Roethlisberger, Army2003 -- Anquan Boldin, Walkers2002 -- Clinton Portis, Destroyers2001 -- LaDainian Tomlinson, Bros

Last year on Fanball, I ran an article trying to determine who the Owner of the Decade was and while I threw lots of stats out there, which seem to point to the Bros, the owners who responded said that it was J.J. based on his three titles in the previous ten years.

So, here I go again. I believe that the best franchise of the last 10 years, has been the Bros, although they have only one title. Not only do I think that J.J. is not the best owner, I think that Bill is the second best owner of the last decade and that Philip’s decade is just as good as J.J.’s.

Here’s my logic. There is a whole bunch of luck in this game. Any single game can go to either team, and a playoff series (or two, or at most three games) can be won by the less talented, but luckier team. However, over the course of 140 games (10 seasons worth), I think you get a truer sense of greatness.

Over the last 10 years, the Bros fran-chise has won 10 MORE GAMES than the next closest team. They made the playoffs 8 of the last 10 years. They have only two seasons with fewer than 8 wins (7 and 5).

Chad hasn’t more than 8 wins since 1994! I understand that this league is all about

the postseason and the titles. You don’t have to be in a conversation very long before that topic comes up. But in the last decade the most successful owner in the postseason isn’t J.J. Sure, his two titles (2001 and 2007) and two second place finishes (2008 and 2006) are very impressive. But Bill has two titles (2009 and 2006) and three second place finishes (2010, 2004, and 2003).

In the accompanying chart, I’ve list all the owners. The first number is the total number of regular season wins over the last 10 years (Pete – 85, Deandale – 59). The sec-ond number is a postseason total. An owner gets 5 additional points for a title, 3 for a second place finish, or 1 if they made the playoffs (Bill – 20, Chad and the BC – 2)**

So, if you were putting together a play-off bracket, the Bros are the #1 seed with the Bills also getting a bye. The Walkers get the tie breaker and will play the Grizz (Todd has 9 more regular season wins, but J.J. has 7 more playoff wins in the decade). Philip

W POST TOT1 – Bros 85 13 = 982 – Bill 70 20 = 903 – J.J. 68 17 = 853 – Philip 72 13 = 855 – Tim 75 9 = 846 – Todd 77 6 = 837 – Tom 75 7 = 828 – Dave 71 7 = 789 – Mike T. 61 9 = 7010 – BC 66 2 = 6811 – Deandale 59 8 = 6712 – Chad 63 2 = 65

W POST TOT1 – Bill 38 14 = 522 – J.J. 36 11 = 473 – Todd 42 4 = 464 – Bros 38 6 = 444 – Philip 37 7 = 446 – Tim 37 6 = 437 – Tom 35 3 = 388 – BC 35 2 = 379 – Dave 37 0 = 3710 – Deandale 28 4 = 3211 – Mike T. 30 1 = 3112 – Chad 27 0 = 27

10 years 5 years

Bros are still my pick as the best owners of the last decade

would be matched up with Tim.Without a doubt, the hard luck loser of

the last decade is Dave Cox. He has had only one truly bad season in the last 10 (2002 with 2 wins), but he keeps getting edged out of the playoffs on tiebreakers. In the last five years he has never made the playoffs, yet here are his win totals (7, 6, 8, 8, and 8). Maybe he made a deal with the devil that we don’t know about to win that 2004 title.

What about the last five years? Well, that Bill and his two titles and one second place finish with J.J. in second place. Way in the back in Chad who is only averaging 5.4 wins a season and has no playoff appear-ances. Other than that it’s the same six teams who would be in the playoffs.

** What’s odd about that stat is for the OFFL’s first decade those would almost as-suredly have been reversed. We need to do a study sometime and try to figure out when Bill and Chad switched brains. My guess is that it occurred right about Y2K. Maybe there was some truth to all those fears.

In case you didn’t hear, Mike Trask is the latest OFFL owners to get in-volved in politics as he is the newest member of the Normal School Board.

2011 OFFL SCHEDULEWEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 Talkers @ Generals Generals @ Burners Generals @ Daves Hawks @ Bills Bills @ Ds Talkers @ Grizz Bros @ Phils Phils @ Daves Ds @ Hawks BC @ Walkers Hawks @ BC Bros @ Burners Burners @ Grizz Bros @ Grizz Walkers @ BillsDs @ Daves Walkers @ Talkers BC @ Phils

WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6Walkers @ Generals Generals @ BC Generals @ BrosHawks @ Bros Grizz @ Ds Hawks @ WalkersBC @ Bills Burners @ Hawks Bills @ DavesGrizz @ Daves Walkers @ Phils Grizz @ BCTalkers @ Ds Talkers @ Daves Burners @ TalkersPhils @ Burners Bills @ Bros Ds @ Phils

WEEK 7 WEEK 8 WEEK 9Generals @ Grizz Hawks @ Generals Ds @ GeneralsTalkers @ Bills Walkers @ Bros Daves @ HawksPhils @ Hawks Grizz @ Bills Talkers @ BrosBros @ BC BC @ Daves Grizz @ WalkersBurners @ Daves Talkers @ Phils Bills @ PhilsWalkers @ Ds Ds @ Burners BC @ Burners

WEEK 10 WEEK 11 WEEK 12 Generals @ Walkers Generals @ Phils Bros @ GeneralsHawks @ Bros Bills @ Burners Walkers @ HawksBC @ Bills Hawks @ Grizz Bills @ DavesGrizz @ Daves Bros @ Ds Grizz @ BCDs @ Talkers Daves @ Walkers Burners @ TalkersPhils @ Burners Talkers @ BC Ds @ Phils

WEEK 13 WEEK 14 Generals @ Bills Hawks @ GeneralsHawks @ Talkers Bros @ WalkersPhils @ Grizz Grizz @ BillsBros @ Daves BC @ DavesWalkers @ Burners Talkers @ PhilsBC @ Ds Burners @ Ds