Final Commissioner's Note

Note: This final commissioner's note is not actually an note from the Commissioner. It may not even be final. However, if you close your eyes and use your imagination, it works pretty well.

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Congratulations to all on a thrilling inaugural United Republic of Kenwood Fantasy Football season! What a wonderful year we had: from tight, unpredictable matchups to witty smack talk, from interesting avatars to a championship that came down to the two best teams and a final game between two star players, we really had it all. It was a season that will long be remembered by all participants.

Think about all the great stories this year:

Steve's Team, DNF
Okay, so this team didn't even exist this year. Still wanted to give a shout-out to the one non-participating URK member. You were never far from our thoughts and prayers, Steve. Thanks for your support from the sidelines.

Meyer Minions, 8th Place (Regular Season: 10-3, 1st Place)
Congratulations to the Meyer Minions for teaching us how a little luck can go a long way. They weren't the highest scoring team (far from it!), or the deepest. They didn't mess with their opening day roster much, or worry about choosing who to put in based on weekly matchups. That Dimmu Borgir smack talk was simultaneously infuriating and priceless. They simply won, at one point an unprecedented seven times in a row, putting together a phenomenal regular season. Truly, in a season of great stories, the Minions were one of the best.

The Schmuckinators, 7th Place (Regular Season: 8-5, 3rd Place)
Congratulations to the Schmuckinators for teaching us how to deal with adversity. They lost their top draft pick to injury for most of the season. They made a trade and watched as the player they obtained got injured the next week. They often buried their high scoring players on the bench (just shows how deep a team they were!). Despite all that went against the Schmuckinators, they still pulled out a solid campaign and were successful more often than not.


The Slackers, 6th Place (Regular Season: 9-4, 2nd Place)
Congratulations to the Slackers for teaching us how to overcome a crisis. Halfway through the season, they lost the best player in the league to injury. What do they do? Do they pack it in? No, they simply pick up one of the hottest young stars in the game out of free agency, plug him in, and go along their merry way. More than any other team, the Slackers showed us how timely roster changes and a few amazing players go a long, long way toward saving a season.


The Indomitables, 5th Place (Regular Season: 6-7, 5th Place)
Congratulations to the Indomitables for teaching us the value of persistence. They had a very good team, but got off to a slow start before ending the regular season strongly. Then came the playoffs and they were this close to pulling an upset in the first round. They lost, but instead of giving up, they regrouped and knocked off the number 1 and 2 seeds respectively to secure a 5th Place finish and end the season on a positive note. The Indomitables certainly were a great example of a team that never stopped fighting.

The Dread Naughts, 4th Place (Regular Season: 4-9, 7th Place)
Congratulations to the Dread Naughts for teaching us that timing is critical. So they didn't win a whole lot, and they were often inconsisent. They sure chose the right game to pull out their highest score of the season, parlaying a great upset in the first round of the playoffs into an upper division finish. Oh yeah, and that helmet avatar? Unique, to be sure. The Dread Naughts were one of a kind in this league.

Buller Berzerkers, 3rd Place (Regular Season: 4-9, 8th Place)
Congratulations to the Buller Berzerkers for teaching us to believe. They were the worst team in the league. Everything said so: the record, the stats, even the fact they missed the first few rounds of the draft. Only problem with this thinking was, it wasn't true. How could it be, when they beat the top team in the league two weeks in a row, and then pulled together an improbable playoff run to finish higher than all but two teams?!? The Buller Berzerkers showed us that we should never stop dreaming, and that we should never, ever give up hope.

The Bloorgles, 2nd Place (Regular Season: 7-6, 4th Place)
Congratulations to the Bloorgles for teaching us how to construct a great team. They were consistently the highest scoring, most explosive, and most feared team in the league, bar none. They took chances on hot young players, found stars that others overlooked, and even pulled off a lopsided trade (in retrospect, mind you) right at the deadline that nearly brought them a championship. In the end they came up just short, but the Bloorgles were the clear powerhouse of the league and have absolutely nothing to be disappointed about this season.

The Danimals, League Champion (Regular Season: 4-9, 6th Place)
Congratulations to the Danimals for teaching us how to win a championship. Despite a disappointing regular season, they had the right ingredients to be dangerous in the playoffs. They had a team deep enough to leave high scoring players on the bench and still win, they had the courage to keep tinkering with the team deep into the playoffs, and they had the luck to come together just in time to have their three best games of the season right at the end. A dark horse candidate just a few weeks ago, the Danimals put together a great playoff run and were a well-deserving champion.


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That about wraps it up from this end of things. I hope that everyone else had at least half as much fun as I did this season. I can't wait to do it all again next year! See you then!