2017 Fantasy Football Final Standings

Scandalous League

   Polk High Panthers (Craig DiBella)

We didn't make any major changes entering the 2017 season. We added a new twist to the Toliet Bowl, though. Starting this year the two Toilet Bowl teams will each kick in $50 at next year's Auction to cover the bar bill and to serve their fellow owners drinks all day. We returned the same owners as the previous season.

Top 5 Auction Prices:

$136 - Aaron Rodgers (Eric)

$130 - Tom Brady (Chris)

$125 - Le'veon Bell (Loftus)

$117 - Russell Wilson (Rick)

$116 - Ben Roethlisberger (Mike W.)

Playoffs:

Championship Game #1: Grid Iron (Paul) defeated Just Call Me Dushi (Matt L.), 144.5 - 109.5

Championship Game #2: Polk High Panthers (Craig) defeated the Frozen Tundra (Eric), 105.0 - 72.5.

Toilet Bowl Loser: Massive Nassiffs (Jeff)

Fantasy Bowl: Polk High Panthers (Craig) defeated Grid Iron (Paul), 101.5- 91.0.

As predicted by The Commish, the Championship game came down to the final game of Week 16. Paul needed Michael Crabtree, who averaged 11.5 a game this season, to get him 10.5 points for the victory. With 10.5 points being possible on one single scoring play, Craig needed to wait until the every last play of the game to make sure he'd win. Crabtree ended with 0 catches and 0 points and Grid Iron left with the loss.

The 2017 Playoffs featured 4 teams that had all missed the playoffs the year before. Grid Iron led the pack for much of the year and finished with a strong 12-2 record. The #2 seed, The Polk High Panthers, were one of two teams to beat Grid Iron in the regular season. The #3 seed, The Frozen Tundra, limped into the playoffs after being decimated by injury. By the time Week 15 hit, the Frozen Tundra were built more like a fantasy baseball team than a fantasy football team and the starting lineup didn't have enough firepower to win. The Wild Card team was Just Call Me Dushi. The Dushi were trending up at the end of the season, winning 7 of their last 9 games, and looked like they were built for an upset. It was not meant to be for the Dushi, as they lost by 35 points in the opening round.

Craig was telling anyone that would listen that 2017 was a rebuilding season for the Polk High Panthers. He said he wanted to make the playoffs, but needed some things to go his way for that to happen. It's safe to say that some things went his way. Judging his team on names alone didn't put Craig near the top of any pre-season projections. Craig carried Cam Newton, Jonathan Stewart, Larry Fitzgerald, and Brandon Marshall into the season. Questionably, he also carried Jamaal Charles, Ryan Fiztpatrick, Jason Witten and D'Angelo Williams in, as well. He added Jay Cutler and Josh McCown as his #2 QB rotation, Dalvin Cook, Mike Gillislee and LeGarrette Blount as his running backs, T.Y. Hilton and Jeremy Maclin as his WRs, and Gronkowski as his TE.

Once Dalvin Cook and Brandon Marshall went down, things were looking bleak for the Polk High Panthers. Somehow, he got very consistent results on a week-to-week basis. Only once all season did he score less than 86 points. That put his team in the position to win every single week. Josh McCown stepped up and became one of his team MVPs. Jerrick McKinnon did a decent job replacing Cook. Free Agent pickups like Robert Woods, Marquis Goodwin, and Gio Bernard stepped up when started and helped Craig maintain that consistency down the stretch and into the playoffs. The 2017 Polk High Panthers were a hard-hat and lunch pail team. They went to work every week and scored just enough to win. We all know that it takes a bit of luck and circumstance to win at fantasy football, and Craig made it work with very little margin of error. He proved to all of us that it's not about the names, it's about scoring points each and every week. It's a satisfying way to win a championship.

This was Craig's 4th Fantasy Football Championship and 5th Scandalous League title, overall.