SPORTS BALL!!! v2.0

[Xprimentyl]

What is surprising me the most so far, 2 weeks into the season, Is the lack of panic here in Chiefs territory. They are 0-2, I was expecting meltdowns and demands for cuts and firings. Instead, all I'm hearing is "ehh, that first loss was in Brazil. They were having travel difficulties." And, "Well they only lost by 3 to the current Super Bowl champions." And, "we're getting Rice back from injury." As if Rashee Rice is something more than a decent Sophomore receiver who would be #2 or 3 on 85% of WR depth charts in the league.

But seriously, I'm not surprised there's no panic. It's only Week 2, you've still got the Risen Christ at QB, you've been to every Super Bowl in the past nine decades, and your two losses were to a defending Super Bowl champion and a divisional rival that are no slouches; this is a minor setback at worst. Now, if your two losses had been blowouts to bum-ass teams, there'd be some cause for concern, but as long as the '72 Dolphins remain the only team to go undefeated AND win the Super Bowl, no team should "panic" until I'd say Week 4 or 5 where any team should have worked out/identified the kinks and adjusted. If you're still struggling after a month's worth of regular season starts, the blood is in the water.

Oh, and you should also panic if all of your star players are made of paper mache, you're starting kicker can't kick for shit, and his replacement missed his first extra point, your first two wins were both "barely won" games, and you feel like your 2-0 start might be a facade. Thankfully, I don't know any teams in that very specific situation...

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I'm playing fantasy football for the first time ever as a guy at work peer pressured me into playing. Of course, I did my own draft vs auto-drafting, and of course, that netted me a draft grade of an F and the AI said I would be expected to go 3-12. I did draft Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins (and they didn't do much and Burrow is already out for the year essentially so I dropped them both), my backup QB I drafted was Baker (so not bad). I didn't realize how thin the really good wide receiving pool is. Aforementioned Tee Higgins and Mike Evans for me haven't done well. My best draft pick that the AI said I got according to where I got him was Isiah Pacheco and I already dropped him after he got like 5 carries in week 1 with Travis Etienne (and the Chiefs can't run the ball either). My best pick is probably Derrick Henry. I did get Brandon Aubrey for kicker that my friend said got the most fantasy points of any player last year. My tight end, LaPorta, has been pretty horrible so I picked up Zach Ertz and got George Kittle (as a guy dropped him because of the current injury). Over the last few weeks, I've done a lot of pickups (not including the aforementioned ones): Jakobi Meyers, Jauan Jennings, Matthew Stafford (was still out there), Daniel Jones (just in cause he's Sam Bradford this year and the Colts have a weak schedule), Deebo Samuel (he gets a lot targets at least).

After 2 weeks, I'm currently 2-0!!! Derek Henry saved me in week 1 with getting 30 points himself, I only got 92 points total, just enough to win. 2nd week, I won by 15 points; 97 to 82, Brandon Aubrey got 22 of those points himself.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm playing fantasy football for the first time ever as a guy at work peer pressured me into playing. Of course, I did my own draft vs auto-drafting, and of course, that netted me a draft grade of an F and the AI said I would be expected to go 3-12. I did draft Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins (and they didn't do much and Burrow is already out for the year essentially so I dropped them both), my backup QB I drafted was Baker (so not bad). I didn't realize how thin the really good wide receiving pool is. Aforementioned Tee Higgins and Mike Evans for me haven't done well. My best draft pick that the AI said I got according to where I got him was Isiah Pacheco and I already dropped him after he got like 5 carries in week 1 with Travis Etienne (and the Chiefs can't run the ball either). My best pick is probably Derrick Henry. I did get Brandon Aubrey for kicker that my friend said got the most fantasy points of any player last year. My tight end, LaPorta, has been pretty horrible so I picked up Zach Ertz and got George Kittle (as a guy dropped him because of the current injury). Over the last few weeks, I've done a lot of pickups (not including the aforementioned ones): Jakobi Meyers, Jauan Jennings, Matthew Stafford (was still out there), Daniel Jones (just in cause he's Sam Bradford this year and the Colts have a weak schedule), Deebo Samuel (he gets a lot targets at least).

After 2 weeks, I'm currently 2-0!!! Derek Henry saved me in week 1 with getting 30 points himself, I only got 92 points total, just enough to win. 2nd week, I won by 15 points; 97 to 82, Brandon Aubrey got 22 of those points himself.

I've never played fantasy football. To me, it feels like having a stake in multiple games and getting tangled up in the analytics would be stressful and take the fun out of watching, but I know millions of people play it every year, so it must have SOME appeal I'm not getting. Anyway, good luck with your team.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I've never played fantasy football. To me, it feels like having a stake in multiple games and getting tangled up in the analytics would be stressful and take the fun out of watching, but I know millions of people play it every year, so it must have SOME appeal I'm not getting. Anyway, good luck with your team.

You don't have to do too much. I feel like my confidence pool (where I pick who wins every game) requires more knowledge of what's going on in the league (how every team looks, what's the injury status across the league vs just my like 20 players), plus there's a bit of money on the line. I've had to reshape my team quite a bit because I did draft poorly, but looking at the players available to pick that are leftover, it's not that difficult. Zack Ertz, for example, had a lot of targets for leftover tight ends and he's on a good team. I focused on getting players on good offenses vs just good players. I wasn't even going to draft Justin Jefferson, for example, because their QB is an unknown. Or I'm not going to take any from like the Bears or Panthers. I'll take from teams with known good offenses.

 

[Kyrian007]

I've never played fantasy football. To me, it feels like having a stake in multiple games and getting tangled up in the analytics would be stressful and take the fun out of watching, but I know millions of people play it every year, so it must have SOME appeal I'm not getting. Anyway, good luck with your team.

Never got into fantasy football much myself. Played 2 seasons to try and fit in at work. Auto-drafted, only made changes to the roster when an injury or a bye prompted a push notification I set up so as not to look like an idiot. Finished top 5 both seasons, the winner both seasons were ladies here at the office that were picking either the color jerseys they liked better or the more handsome players. I figured a game that favored such a "hands-off" approach (in my experience) wasn't really worth investing much effort in.

Now, a football centered game I DID get into for a while... unfortunately never took off and got popular like fantasy football did. A little over 20 years ago there was a bar-trivia based game that you could sign into and play at participating bars. The questions ran on tv's in the bar. You had a rechargeable peripheral device to input your answers... it tracked your score, it tracked your bar's score regionally and nationally... it was fun. And the company had a football game that was awesome. Before each play from scrimmage, you would pick whether the play was a run or a pass. Runs could be left, right, or middle. Passes could be left, right, or middle; and short, long, or back (screen.) The more specific you made a guess, the more points the guess was worth. And the longer a streak of completely correct guesses you made, the bigger an increasing amount of bonus points you would land. So the good strategy was to put in very specific big point guesses. Like "this will be a long pass over the middle" or "this will be a screen to the right." And when you hit, make simple just "run" or "pass" guesses to continue to net the bonus points as a partially right guess would get you some points... but it would reset your bonus points to 0.

And we had a good team. A group of guys that watched tripleheaders at our bar every Sunday and would pretty regularly be top 5 nationally ranked during a game. Once we even won a bus trip to play a rival group head-to-head at their home bar a state over. But after a few years, my job made me work hours that precluded being able to spend 10 hours in a bar every Sunday. I'm not even sure that game exists anymore, but that was a lot of fun.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Never got into fantasy football much myself. Played 2 seasons to try and fit in at work. Auto-drafted, only made changes to the roster when an injury or a bye prompted a push notification I set up so as not to look like an idiot. Finished top 5 both seasons, the winner both seasons were ladies here at the office that were picking either the color jerseys they liked better or the more handsome players. I figured a game that favored such a "hands-off" approach (in my experience) wasn't really worth investing much effort in.

Now, a football centered game I DID get into for a while... unfortunately never took off and got popular like fantasy football did. A little over 20 years ago there was a bar-trivia based game that you could sign into and play at participating bars. The questions ran on tv's in the bar. You had a rechargeable peripheral device to input your answers... it tracked your score, it tracked your bar's score regionally and nationally... it was fun. And the company had a football game that was awesome. Before each play from scrimmage, you would pick whether the play was a run or a pass. Runs could be left, right, or middle. Passes could be left, right, or middle; and short, long, or back (screen.) The more specific you made a guess, the more points the guess was worth. And the longer a streak of completely correct guesses you made, the bigger an increasing amount of bonus points you would land. So the good strategy was to put in very specific big point guesses. Like "this will be a long pass over the middle" or "this will be a screen to the right." And when you hit, make simple just "run" or "pass" guesses to continue to net the bonus points as a partially right guess would get you some points... but it would reset your bonus points to 0.

And we had a good team. A group of guys that watched tripleheaders at our bar every Sunday and would pretty regularly be top 5 nationally ranked during a game. Once we even won a bus trip to play a rival group head-to-head at their home bar a state over. But after a few years, my job made me work hours that precluded being able to spend 10 hours in a bar every Sunday. I'm not even sure that game exists anymore, but that was a lot of fun.

Now THAT sounds like fun, and not sure if it still exists in the exact format you recall from 20 years ago, but I know for a fact a lot of bars have general trivia games exactly as you described, except instead of a peripheral, you download an app to your phone, and answer from there. I'm almost certain there has to be something similar specific to sports and live games.

And I think the reason it didn't catch on is that, as you said, 10 hours in a bar (if you're really trying to compete and not just play casual over a couple of beers) is a massive commitment, probably gets expensive really quickly, and you have to be there; you can't participate from your couch, while cooking out at home with friends, or some other place you can grab food and refreshment without having to wait on a waitress or bartender.

 

[McElroy]

They should patch those walls with broken front wings picked up after the crashes.

 

[Xprimentyl]

They should patch those walls with broken front wings picked up after the crashes.

Yeah, Baku was a mess [for me] all weekend. Road circuits already pucker my asshole, but Baku uniquely distresses me as some of its turns just don't seem feasible at F1 speeds, like Monaco's infamous hairpin; every time I watch them go into that turn side-by-side, I grind my teeth wondering how in the hell they manage.

In other sports news, my Niners squeaked out a last-second win to beat the Cardinals and get to 3-0 and first place in the NFC West. The fanbase is celebrating, but I'm still not sure our record is a reflection of who we are, or at the very least it's not an indicator of sustainable success. We have a lot of work to do, and we need our key players healthy and back on the field.

But the most joy I got from that win came from my buddy, a Cowboys fan. His Cowboys were incredulously getting murdered by the 0-2 Bears at the same time a holding call against the 49ers in their own end zone gave the Cardinals a safety and a 2-point lead. He texted me "let's go Cardinals!!!" thinking at least he could take some pleasure from my misery, but we managed to respond with a field goal for a 15-16 win. I texted back "ok, animal lover, you like Cardinals? How do you feel about Bears?" No response...

 

[Xprimentyl]

Welp, my Niners suffered their first loss, emphasis on "suffered;" it was completely our fault. Two turnovers, and both returned for touchdowns in our 26-21 loss to Jacksonville. Fucking JACKSONVILLE. That last pick Purdy threw looked like it was INTENDED for Jacksonville, that's how ill-advised that throw was. So in a better universe, we won 12-21. I don't know what it is; we seem to lack creative play-calling, insisting on running it up the middle 90% of the time for chip yardage and inevitable 3rd and short where we again try the middle or a sweep and get stuck punting. Definition of insanity. At no point did I see a pass downfield with any confidence we'd establish ourselves as a multifaceted threat. I find it hard to believe our entire dynamic hinges on our injured players. We keep saying "wait until Kittle is back, wait until Aiyuk is back, etc.," fuck that; we have games to play UNTIL they get back, and we need to utilize the talent we have on the field NOW!!

My last remaining hope for yesterday's spate of games was for Micah Parsons to get to Dak Prescott at least once in what I hoped would be a dominate win for the Packers over the Cowboys, and of course the gods denied me that joy as well, giving me the sack I wanted, but in a tied game in the end. I've never seen Cowboys fans so happy to tie. Jerry Jones probably broke his arm patting himself on the back denying Parsons an outright win and justifying what is arguably one of the dumbest trades in league history.

 

[Kyrian007]

Welp, my Niners suffered their first loss, emphasis on "suffered;" it was completely our fault. Two turnovers, and both returned for touchdowns in our 26-21 loss to Jacksonville. Fucking JACKSONVILLE. That last pick Purdy threw looked like it was INTENDED for Jacksonville, that's how ill-advised that throw was. So in a better universe, we won 12-21. I don't know what it is; we seem to lack creative play-calling, insisting on running it up the middle 90% of the time for chip yardage and inevitable 3rd and short where we again try the middle or a sweep and get stuck punting. Definition of insanity. At no point did I see a pass downfield with any confidence we'd establish ourselves as a multifaceted threat. I find it hard to believe our entire dynamic hinges on our injured players. We keep saying "wait until Kittle is back, wait until Aiyuk is back, etc.," fuck that; we have games to play UNTIL they get back, and we need to utilize the talent we have on the field NOW!!

My last remaining hope for yesterday's spate of games was for Micah Parsons to get to Dak Prescott at least once in what I hoped would be a dominate win for the Packers over the Cowboys, and of course the gods denied me that joy as well, giving me the sack I wanted, but in a tied game in the end. I've never seen Cowboys fans so happy to tie. Jerry Jones probably broke his arm patting himself on the back denying Parsons an outright win and justifying what is arguably one of the dumbest trades in league history.

I still am completely amazed how the Packers/Cowboys tie even happened? I mean, OK... the Packers are only really just better than average. But I generally have Dallas down with NYG, Panthers, and probably Jets. Cowboys fans kind of have a point. A tie probably WAS an incredible upset. And I just have to laugh that anything other than a loss helps to "spoil the tank." If it keeps them from just barely missing a 1st or 2nd overall pick... even funnier than a loss keeping them from missing the pick.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I still am completely amazed how the Packers/Cowboys tie even happened? I mean, OK... the Packers are only really just better than average. But I generally have Dallas down with NYG, Panthers, and probably Jets. Cowboys fans kind of have a point. A tie probably WAS an incredible upset. And I just have to laugh that anything other than a loss helps to "spoil the tank." If it keeps them from just barely missing a 1st or 2nd overall pick... even funnier than a loss keeping them from missing the pick.

The general Cowboys fan mentality is a sunk cost fallacy; they've invested so heavily into being "America's Team," they'll take any non-loss as a massive "WE TOLD YOU SO!!!" Until their defense can prevent 40 points, it will matter little that their offense can put up 40 points. The way it looked Sunday, they are one injured Dak Prescott away from a losing record in December. That game was basically the Chiefs from last year, except instead of squeaking out a win, they managed a tie. Congrats?

 

[Xprimentyl]

Ugh, the USA showed its ass at the Ryder Cup. Nevermind losing decisively to Europe, American fans heckled and threw beer at the European team and their families. Disgusting behavior. I don't know what level of nationalism leads people to think this kind of thing is ok, but I KNOW thinking that kind of behavior is an acceptable expression of pride in defeat is about the dumbest, most American thing the rest of the world expects from us. I'd like to think we can do better, but as long as the dumbest of us yell louder than the rest of us, I guess that is just what we are. I'm sorry, European players; they don't act on behalf of all of us, but I completely understand if it's enough that you avoid all of us going forward.

https://www.cbssports.com/golf/news/2025-ryder-cup-everything-rory-mcilroy-said-about-verbal-abuse-from-fans-at-bethpage-after-europes-victory/

 

[Xprimentyl]

My Niners play the Rams tonight; there's a good chance I'll refrain from even watching. Short week and missing a LOT of our starters does not bode well for us, so I don't really see the point in getting myself worked up over an exercise in futility. Who knows? Maybe we'll pull it off somehow; stranger things have happened, and I've personally got a decent track record of my team pulling off an upset whenever I don't watch, so... Might put on a movie and just watch the score on Google; hard to get too excited/infuriated when it's just numbers on a screen, and not actually seeing my team floundering and probably racking up more injuries. I can watch ESPN talk shows if I want the gritty details about how we got drug around for 3 hours.

 

[Xprimentyl]

My Niners play the Rams tonight; there's a good chance I'll refrain from even watching. Short week and missing a LOT of our starters does not bode well for us, so I don't really see the point in getting myself worked up over an exercise in futility. Who knows? Maybe we'll pull it off somehow; stranger things have happened...

We fucking did it!!! It wasn't a decisive win, but we came out swinging to take a healthy lead, the Rams clawed to shore that up, and we ended up fighting them into overtime where we got a FG followed by a goal line stop to deny the Rams a victory!! We won 26-23, and it was glorious. I'm hesitant to say it, but Mac Jones looked... "better" than Purdy at QB. Maybe it's because we're basically a different offense with so many game wreckers being out? When Shanahan is forced to dig deep into his bag, when you take away his "bwankey," does his creativity emerge? Or was it that with all our game wreckers being out, the defense didn't know where to focus? I dunno, I'm reminded of the Ship of Theseus paradox: if, over time, you replace every original board of a ship with a new one... is it still the same ship?

Don't know, don't care; we WON!!!

 

[Phoenixmgs]

We fucking did it!!! It wasn't a decisive win, but we came out swinging to take a healthy lead, the Rams clawed to shore that up, and we ended up fighting them into overtime where we got a FG followed by a goal line stop to deny the Rams a victory!! We won 26-23, and it was glorious. I'm hesitant to say it, but Mac Jones looked... "better" than Purdy at QB. Maybe it's because we're basically a different offense with so many game wreckers being out? When Shanahan is forced to dig deep into his bag, when you take away his "bwankey," does his creativity emerge? Or was it that with all our game wreckers being out, the defense didn't know where to focus? I dunno, I'm reminded of the Ship of Theseus paradox: if, over time, you replace every original board of a ship with a new one... is it still the same ship?

Don't know, don't care; we WON!!!

I kept picking the Niners to win last year and they kept losing and I keep picking them to lose this year and they keep winning...

 

[Xprimentyl]

I kept picking the Niners to win last year and they kept losing and I keep picking them to lose this year and they keep winning...

Keep picking us to lose then, please!

 

[Kyrian007]

I now have another thing I can't believe I'm not hearing here in Chiefs country. Their K, Harrison Butker, has missed at least 1 kick in each of his first 4 games. He went 4 for 4 on PAT's last night... but he missed the FIELD on a crucial kickoff, giftwrapping Jacksonville's game winning TD drive. ANY other fanbase, with a kicker that is that level of a liability, would be screaming for a firing. But I'm just not hearing a peep from a generally very spoiled fanbase.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Week 5 of the NFL is in the books, and boy howdy, we had some stunners. My underdog Niners kicked it off Thursday upsetting the Rams, and apparently it was a rallying cry for all underdogs around the league. Winless Saints beat the Giants, the Broncos handed the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles their first loss, the Texans absolutely trounced the Ravens in their own house, the Cardinals beat themselves against the Titans with the most bone-headed mistake of the year so far, the Patriots beat the Bills, and last night, the Jaguars beat the Chiefs. 5 games Sunday were double-digit comebacks, which I heard was some sort of record, not an "all-time" record, but significant enough to be noted.

I now have another thing I can't believe I'm not hearing here in Chiefs country. Their K, Harrison Butker, has missed at least 1 kick in each of his first 4 games. He went 4 for 4 on PAT's last night... but he missed the FIELD on a crucial kickoff, giftwrapping Jacksonville's game winning TD drive. ANY other fanbase, with a kicker that is that level of a liability, would be screaming for a firing. But I'm just not hearing a peep from a generally very spoiled fanbase.

Tell me about it. We had to run Jake Moody out of town early this year. "Liability" is a polite term for how terrible he was for us; he was an objective THREAT to our success, and as banged up as we already are, the last thing we needed was to bank any games we might be able to play close on his leg.

I know this isn't exactly a hot take sentiment, but I feel bad for kickers. Teams "settle" for their most valuable contribution (FGs,) or "give up" and punt because offensive plans fall apart. Elsewise, the extra point, the LEAST of their contribution, is basically expected, and when they miss those, everyone focuses their disappointment at the guy who nobody wanted to see on the field in the first place. They only time they're celebrated is when they pull it off in a clutch situation, and at that point, when the high of the white-knuckle win wears off, focus becomes about how the team should not have been in that situation in the first place. Basically, "do your job, otherwise, sit down and shut up; nobody likes it when we need you." Definition of a thankless job.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I won my first week in the confidence pool by changing my 13 point pick of the Bills (vs the Falcons) to the Falcons as that was the only chance I had and the Falcons pulled off the upset. Then, I needed the Bears to win even though I had picked Washington to win but I put less points on that game than everyone else so the Bears winning propelled me from 2nd place to 1st place; Death, Taxes, and MOODY!!!

 

[Xprimentyl]

I won my first week in the confidence pool by changing my 13 point pick of the Bills (vs the Falcons) to the Falcons as that was the only chance I had and the Falcons pulled off the upset. Then, I needed the Bears to win even though I had picked Washington to win but I put less points on that game than everyone else so the Bears winning propelled me from 2nd place to 1st place; Death, Taxes, and MOODY!!!

Congrats on the unlikely jump to first place. I imagine these past two weeks have flipped a lot of people's fantasy teams on their heads. Is this the year of the underdog?

And fucking Jake Moody... WHY COULDN'T HE DO THAT WITH US?!?