The Year in Review - 2007
We had the draft at Bagpipes in Austin. Defending Champ Gary had a swell time holding dearly onto his trophy and anything else sporting a plaid theme. After a record setting season of 2006, LaDainian Tomlinson was the easy choice for the first pick. Neil, brimming with confidence (but little else), took LT first, fully aware that no WMDFFLer had ever won the championship with the #1 pick and only five of 13 made the playoffs. Emmitt picked Steven Jackson next, followed by Joseph Addai (Darrell), Larry Johnson (Jessie), and Peyton Manning (Brian). Mark ignored the Madden Curse (and all the expert's rankings) and picked Vince Young 6th overall. Mark’s excuse was that he was attempting to cancel out the curse he stuck on NFL QBs in previous drafts, picking an unripe Carson Palmer and a pre-doghouse Michael Vick who combined to score 7 points in two years for him. Thirteen of the first 17 picks were runningbacks. It was a tough season for runningbacks as only five of the top 20 drafted had good seasons. One notable exception was Travis Henry, who set a career scoring mark and will shoot for double digits in 2008 (as in children, not points). Mark got Adrian Peterson at #69, the 26th runningback chosen, and he scored 129 points (second to LT). Tom Brady and his NFL record 50 touchdowns fell to Keith at #14. The record was particularly remarkable as Brady, likely being advised by Travis Henry, also had a busy and productive year off the field (two super models, one baby). Randy Moss was the 10th wide receiver to go (to Jessie). He set a league record with 168 points. A little better than last season's 9 points with the Oakland Raiders, earning him the Comeback Player of the Year.
The worst early picks were Shaun Alexander at #7 (Keith, 30 points) and Rudi Johnson at 10th (Bobby, 27 points). The best late picks included Braylon Edwards at #113 (Steve, 105 points) and Tony Romo at #58 (Jessie, 213 points). While Tony had an excellent season, he played once again in Brady’s shadow. While the fans tolerated Brady’s simultaneous cavorting with the Brazilian Supermodel and becoming a dad by his ex, Tony’s fling with Daisy Duke rose to the top of the charts as the reason for America’s Team tanking (again) in the playoffs. Bobby was voted the preseason champ followed by Mike, Darrell, Jessie, and Gary. The Prom Night Dumpster Babies were voted the best team name, the third year in a row for Darrell. With Gary winning last season, Mark was by himself as the owner we would most like to win. Instead, the sentiment for Gary translated quickly to votes as the owner we would most like to beat, with Gary just edging out the perennial favorite, Danny. It should be noted that Gary put a lot of hard work into securing this honor in order to overcome Danny’s natural abilities and dominance in this category. Gary maintained his “winning” attitude throughout the season and right into the playoffs up until the brutal pasting he suffered at the hands of the Dumpster Babies.
The First Half: With Tom Brady, Keith won his first nine games, only losing to Steve with Brady on a bye. Jessie was 6-3 but had two losses where he scored 60+ points. Steve started 4-3, but the win over division rival Keith got him to 7-3. Mike started 0-4 until a scoring update on Friday allowed him to tie Neil. Even changing his team name from GFY, shortened here for legal reasons, couldn't change his fortune as after nine weeks Mike was 1-7-1. It wasn't for lack of effort though as Mike led the league with 27 roster moves. Like he says, "if you ain't first, you're last!", and in this case, he actually was last.
The Second Half: Keith's only losses were to Steve and Jessie in going 11-2 to claim the #1 seed. Jessie was the #2 seed with a 9-4 record. Darrell recovered from a 3-4 start to win the 3rd seed at 7-5-1. Mark lost the final weekend but a 6-7 record was good enough to win his sad division. Steve was the first wildcard at 9-4 while the defending champ Gary won his final three and the last wildcard at 7-6, all the while insisting things were going “according to plan”.
The Playoffs: In the first round, Steve easily eliminated Mark the Good 50-23, and Darrell kicked out the defending champ, 82-48. No repeat for you Gary. Jessie began the playoffs with a swagger to be expected from his high-scoring squad. Meanwhile, Keith “Rope-a-Dope” nervously maintained his humble, but calculated, predictions of imminent loss even while obliterating the Vatos Locos in the tuneup non-wild card game. In the second round, Tom Brady and Tony Romo had their worst games of the season. Keith lost to Steve 48-38 and Jessie lost to Darrell 38-27. This was one week after Jessie scored 77 and Keith 83, the high score of the year. For only the second time and first since 1998, neither of the top two seeds made the DangerBowl. Both former champs took their losses hard but consoled themselves knowing they advanced one week further than the immediate past champ.
DangerBowl XIV: Darrell was in his record fifth DangerBowl and Steve in his third. The winner would be the first to win a third Championship. Steve's first four draft picks were dead on as he got Carson Palmer (159 pts), Brian Westbrook (127), Reggie Wayne (102), and the Chargers (132). He added Braylon Edwards (105 pts) with his 10th pick. Darrell did not fair quite as well (to put it nicely). Only his first pick of Joseph Addai worked out with 125 points. He followed with Marc Bulger (58), Brandon Jacobs (37), Lee Evans (13), Javon Walker (8), Miami Dolphins (0). You get the picture. He did get some production from the Vikings and Ernest Graham.
Steve danced with who brought him, and the Chargers and his receivers each scored 10 or more for a total of 52 for the Fearsome Dalai Lamas. Darrell had a shot but Graham and the Vikings did nothing and he left 59 points on the bench. The result was a 10 point win for Steve, 52-42. This was Steve's third Championship since 2002 to go along with two Loser of the Year Awards. In fact, he went from worst to first, only accomplished once before (1998 by Arnold), earning him Comeback Owner of the Year. As the 5th seed, Steve is the lowest seed to win the title. His season ranks as the 8th best ever. Steve Durish holds the trophy once again.
After fourteen seasons, only Mark (14 seasons), Neil (9 seasons), and Emmitt (4 seasons) have not won a championship.
In the loser playoffs, Bobby and Emmitt both lost two playoff games to find themselves in the Cannibal Bowl to determine the Loser of the Year. Not good news for Emmitt, as the previous three seasons, Bobby had won the Cannibal Bowl game. Bobby won again with his best game of the season, 68-42. For the second time, Emmitt was Loser of the Year. After four seasons, we still call him "The Rookie". He is the first owner since 1997 to lose three loser playoff games. Emmitt is just the 4th team to not have a player score at least 100 points. His top scorer was free agent QB Derek Anderson of Cleveland with 85 points. Bobby had the highest scoring free agent, Kicker Nick Folk of Dallas.
Milestones: Jessie led the league in scoring, for the first time. Keith and Steve tied for best record at 13-4. After making the playoffs at 6-7, Mark lost his final four games to finish 6-11. Keith won Survivor for the first time as the last one on the island. Tom Brady was the MVP for Keith with a record 293 points. Randy Moss set a record for wide receivers with 168 points for Jessie. Darrell and Bobby started the most players with 30. After the season, we voted to have Terrell Owens and Randy Moss join the WMDFFL Hall of Fame. The Year in Review Links for 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 |
