Let's call it karma. Many of you may have forgotten, but it's a little-known fact that I once won three consecutive titles in this league. I try not to mention it too often; I have a reputation for modesty I need to uphold. And I suppose it's possible that perhaps luck played a small role in me getting those titles.
So I suppose this is a partial repayment of my karmic debt.
We all know that the Psychotic Ninjas are the least relevant team in TTFFL this season. And at 0-4, I thought the Fantasy Gods were actually smiling on me. I got Adam to cough up Tony Romo and LeSean McCoy in exchange for the underperforming Tom Brady, and Ryan Williams, who was done for the season almost as soon as the deal was done. I saw that as Adam's karmic comeuppance for the fact that he still hasn't paid his dues HALFWAY INTO THE SEASON --- but apparently the Fantasy Gods weren't done screwing with me.
After 12 of the 14 week 5 games, the Ninjas were sitting pretty. The Golden Grahams had only managed a measly 35 points --- Roethlisberger and Brown combined for 4, MoJo and CJ0ke combined for 1 more. I had a 34 point lead, Jackie Battle and Jimmy Graham left to play against a Jets defense which is a shell of its former self, and Marques Colston --- who is becoming my own personal fantasy Voldemort.
No way I could lose this game.
I didn't expect much from Jackie Battle, and I certainly didn't get it. But it shouldn't have mattered. No way Marques Colston scores more points in a game than Jimmy Graham, and sure as hell no way Colston outscores Graham by enough to make a difference in the game. But then Graham turns his ankle and puts up a donut, while Colston only had the best fantasy game of his career (no joke), and the Grahams make up 24 points of their 34-point deficit.
A close call, but hey, the Jets D isn't what it used to be. Not without Revis. And the Texans have a solid O-line and rarely turn the ball over. As long as the Jets don't get a defensive TD, I'm in the clear.
Then from out of nowhere, Joe McKnight returns a punt for a TD. But the Texans otherwise only yield one interception, and although Kevin came close, I hold on for the two point win.
I mean hey, it's Kevin. Like he would come out on the winning side in an amazing comeback. I get the win, I'm finally off the schneid, and with a well-stocked roster --- McCoy and Graham are studs, and Harvin and Wayne are two of the hottest WRs in fantasy --- I'm poised to knock Taylor off his perch in week 6, and I'm on the comeback trail.
Only --- not so fast.
In their game against the Eagles, Roethlisberger threw a swing pass to Rashard Mendenhall, which he ran in 13 yards for a score. In real time, Roethlisberger's throw was considered a lateral, making Menendhall's score a 13-yard rushing TD. But word came down from Elias today that the play is going to be re-scored as a 13-yard passing TD, which makes little or no difference in Mendenhall's fantasy point total, but which adds another half-dozen points to Roethlisberger's. And by extension, to the Golden Graham's.
So the Fantasy Gods not only dumped a load on me, they toyed with me first.
In fairness, this probably just counts as fair repayment for my 2009 playoff victory over Kevin, in which I picked up Josh Cribbs and threw him into my lineup the day before the game, and he scored two punt return TDs --- which normally wouldn't have affected my score at all, if it weren't for the fact that the scoring rules changed at the start of the season --- at Kevin's suggestion.
So as bad as this was for me, it still probably doesn't balance out that game, which was a playoff game after all. But this is one difficult pill to swallow.
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