Hello everyone, and welcome to the 34th season of the Duncan family fantasy football league. It is doubtful there are many leagues around as old as our league. Four of us who played that initial season in 1990 are still in the league. Wayne, Butch, Paul, and myself were all in the first draft and are still participating 34 years later. Denny, Rob, and Geri have all been in the league for over thirty years, and this year will mark the 30th year for Chuck.
The original league was a dynasty league with eight teams. Over the years, we grew until we had fourteen teams. For a few years, there was a dilemma. We had others who wanted into the family league. However, we could not expand further until someone came up with the idea of starting a second league and having a European Futbol-style relegation and promotion. So, in 2016, we started the first division.
The first division is a redraft league, meaning it has a new draft every season. Currently, it is a ten-team league where four teams make the playoffs. The semi-final playoff matchups become the promotion games, as the two teams who make the championship have the option of being promoted into the dynasty division.
With two teams promoted into the dynasty division, we needed a method for determining which two teams got relegated back to the first division. The first relegation team is whichever team finishes in last place.
A tradition in the dynasty league going back to the beginning was that the teams who do not make the playoffs participate in the playdowns. Basically, in the playoffs, the winners advance to the Super Bowl. In the playdowns, the losers advance until two teams eventually meet up in the Toilet Bowl. Now, the loser of the Toilet Bowl is the second relegation team. It is an amusing concept, and now the Toilet Bowl has become more important than winning a championship in the Super Bowl, at least in this writer’s opinion.
We are going into the 8th season for the first division, which has become increasingly competitive. The best part is that now we could add lots of people and make the family league much larger. Of course, this level quickly became too large, so we added a third division in 2019.
The family division is for those who are not as, well, let’s call it, intense about competing in the league. To explain, for those of us who have been playing since the beginning, we really like beating the rest of the family and are competing rather seriously. The family division is more the just having fun playing in a family activity crowd. However, it is also where we will place people who join the league so they can compete to advance to the first division and eventually into the dynasty division.
In the past, we have only promoted one team out of the family division into the first division. They would replace the team that finished last in the first division. We may need to alter that this year as each league has continued to grow.
That is probably enough league history for today, so let’s get to the games. It is still very early in the year, but all three levels are starting to take some form. Let’s look at the games of the week for each division.
FAMILY DIVISION
Game of the Week
The London Snitches (Amy) are the only team to begin the year at 3-0 in the family division. They will need to take down the first year Columbus Rangers (Ben) who sit at 2-1, to continue their domination. This matchup will determine who takes early control of the standings.
FIRST DIVISION
The league’s competitiveness shows itself already, as no team has opened the year at 3-0 or 0-3. This division may be close all season, making every week important.
Game of the Week
The West Virginia Blacklung’s (Rob S) first year in the division has gotten off to a rough start as they opened 1-2. To right the ship, they must overcome the defending champion Baltimore Bulldogs (Katie), who have once again begun the year atop the standings at 2-1.
DYNASTY DIVISION
Game of the Week
The border war features the two teams that opened the season undefeated at 3-0. After this matchup, there can be only one.
Good luck and have fun. Hopefully, I will get another newsletter out next week.