One play that makes or breaks a season

[Shrink Attack]

Many people have stories about how a single play in a single NFL game completely makes or breaks their Fantasy season. Even though a Fantasy season is comprised of thousands of plays which individually make a difference, it's not unusual for one play to stick out and never be forgotten. I have my story this year, but I'm warning KJ right now that he may not want to read this. One single controversial play won me $70,000 as the Diamond League Champion.

Back in Week 3 on Monday Night Football, the Seahawks played the Packers in the infamous replacement ref game. With the Seahawks trailing 12-7 and down to their last Hail Mary pass play, I was losing 108.7 to 106.75 but my opponent had Green Bay Defense. When that desperation heave was (incorrectly) ruled a TD by the replacement refs, that knocked 6 points off the Green Bay Defense's score and handed me a 106.75 to 102.7 victory.

Now we've all won and lost games like this before, and yes there were many other close games over the course of the 16 game season. But I ended up winning the Diamond league H2H by only one game, and would have lost the tie breaker in points had I tied in H2H. That was $10,000.

More importantly, it punched me a ticket into the Diamond playoffs which I otherwise would NOT have made because I was not in the top 4 in points. Then I got hot the last three weeks, won the Diamond League playoffs, and netted another $60,000.

If it weren't for that one play, I wouldn't have won H2H or made the playoffs at all.

Did I get lucky? You bet I did. Does my signature at the bottom of my posts apply? Maybe. But every player who wins a Championship has to also get lucky. Usually there's one play that sticks out as the make-or-break moment that served as the tipping point for the season. This was mine, and I'll probably never get this lucky again.

[larry schechter]

I was the loser of that Sea-GB game. Ever since, I was hoping I wouldn't lose something because of the victory and 8 points I got cheated out of by those moronic replacement refs. I was disappointed I didn't win the Diamond playoffs, but I was relieved that the Sea-GB game hadn't mattered in the end. Or at least I thought that until I just saw this post today.

Holy shit, I had no idea Shrink attack made the playoffs only because of that. My heart sank realizing the refs may have cost me the championship after all...until a few minutes later when I figured out that KJ would have beaten me, anyway, in the playoffs. So if my team had scored 18 more points these last three weeks, those moron refs would have actually handed me the championship.

So KJ got screwed, just like millions of people who bet money on GB that week.

There's a lot of decisions we make every week, but the one that sticks out for me is using Freeman instead of Cam week 14. That cost me the championship. Also, if Coyotes had used Russell Wilson instead of Palmer week 15, he would have been #1 instead of #3.

[kjduke]

Congrats Paul, you were a playoff underdog but put up big points when it counted!

Two seasons in a row I've finished Top 2 in scoring over the full 16 weeks and had the highest Diamond playoff score, but just missed the playoff. Two consolation titles to my name. The replacement refs ??? I was at a bar watching that game with a friend, he was pissed because he lost a couple hundred bucks on that game ... little did I know what it could cost me.
Sigh.

[Shrink Attack]

Congrats Paul, you were a playoff underdog but put up big points when it counted!

Two seasons in a row I've finished Top 2 in scoring over the full 16 weeks and had the highest Diamond playoff score, but just missed the playoff. Two consolation titles to my name. The replacement refs ??? I was at a bar watching that game with a friend, he was pissed because he lost a couple hundred bucks on that game ... little did I know what it could cost me.
Sigh.

Thanks, KJ. I hesitated to post the story because I didn't want to make you feel any worse about the whole thing.

It really demonstrates how our Fantasy fates are dependent on countless factors (some known, and some not) of which we have zero control. Some of these factors slap us in the face and infuriates us. Others we never see or know about.

I can remember just before the Diamond draft I asked Glenn Schroter who he thought the best player in the field was. He said "KJ Duke".

He was exactly correct, I think.