Fantasy Comeback

[Royal]

It’s the fourth quarter of the Sunday night game, under 30 seconds remain and the team with the ball is down two scores. An interception returned for a touchdown moments before have turned the contest into essentially garbage time slinging. Miles away, in a living room with all available tv, laptop and cell phone screens tuned to the action, it all comes down to this… will Eli Manning throw a somewhat insignificant touchdown and complete one of the greatest comebacks never to matter?

A friend of mine came to visit me this weekend before heading off on a backpacking trip in Europe. The timing was advantageous as we got to share in the excitement of the NFL’s opening weekend – and equally as exciting, the year’s first matchups in our shared fantasy league.

My visitor – manager of THE DRUNK BASTARDS (We’ll call him “Gus”) – came into the weekend with the confident swagger of someone who got an astronomical performance out of Peyton Manning. A 51-point showing from the Broncos star had put Gus in cruise control driving towards an easy 1-0 record. We laughed about the unfortunate draw for the manger of team ShowMeYourTDs (“Larry”)– his opponent. To wait all year for fantasy football and have one of your opponent’s players singlehandedly crush your hopes in a historic Thursday night performance is cruel.

So on comes Sunday. Some chips, some dips and pigskin nirvana. We watched and together we kept an active interest in my fantasy matchup, as his was so squarely out of reach that it required little of our attention. Every once in a while, Gus would comment “touchdown for so-and-so” indicating points for his team, but there was no excessive celebrating – hardly even a fist pump. His opponent, Larry was putting up a tepid line, with 14 points between both his running backs and a wide receiver.

As the afternoon games ended, the score showed:

THE DRUNK BASTARDS – 103 – Left to play: 1 – H. Nicks NYG

TEAM ShowMeYourTDs – 50 – Left to play:2 – E. Manning NYG, V. Cruz NYG

Sown up to say the least. Closing a 53 point gap with two players is a very tall order, and when your opponent has one of quarterback’s favorite targets going? Tom Cruise. Mission impossible. So, Gus and I sat back and enjoyed the Sunday night battle between the Giants and the Cowboys carefree.

What transpired in the next 60 minutes of Fantasy Football was the stuff of legends. Manning overcame a couple of early interceptions to throw for over 400 yds, 118 of those to Victor Cruz, who salsa danced three times in the endzone – an area where Hakeem Nicks was not allowed.

Gus was still able to laugh about the prospect of a Larry comeback by Cruz’s second touchdown, by his third he turned to me and made a confession.

“Now I’m nervous.”

s it turns out, he was right to be frightened. When the Cowboys punted and gave the ball back to NY with 2:41 left ShowMeYourTDs found itself down only 6 points. Here it was, Eli in the 2 min drill at Cowboy Stadium – if momentum continues a solid touchdown-ending drive avoiding Hakeem Nicks and THE DRUNK BASTARDS will have blown a massive lead.

And then… the backup Giants runningback turned around a little late and tipped the screen from Eli right into the loving arms of Brandon Carr, who took the interception up the field. “YES”, it was a wave of emotion for Gus, thrilled about the -2 pt. pick against Larry’s quarterback until the Cowboy defenseman sprinted into the end zone. “SHIT,” he responded as he realized Eli would immediately get the ball back, likely with intentions to find Cruz deep quickly.

Eli got the ball. Moved the ball. Found himself on the on the brink of the endzone with roughly 10 seconds left in the game. Then, he did the inevitable, threw an insignificant touchdown in the last moments of Week 1 and ruined my friend Gus’ perfect fantasy season.

THE DRUNK BASTARDS – 114

TEAM ShowMeYourTDs – 114

We all know that a tie is like kissing your cousin, but a tie after holding a massive lead? A tie after getting one of the largest point totals from a fantasy player you’ll ever see? That’s like kissing a pillow that you’re pretending is your cousin.

So, what is your all-time biggest fantasy horror story? Have you ever seen a worse non-win than my friend Gus’?



http://midwaymadness.com/2013/09/the-cr ... back-ever/

[Pigeon]

Dallas had a horror story tonight after losing after a 23 point half time lead. Coach states Romo changed from the run play and threw an interception to seal the Packer win.