Ask ArenaBoy
By Richard Giorgi
Championship Calibre
Man did my season start out badly.
If you've been reading my column, and I'm not assuming you have been, I lost James Roe early, spent time without Chris Jackson, had Aaron Garcia break his leg, had Bobby Sippio get waived, had Clay Rush get injured, had Dan Alexander mysteriously miss time and had Rashad Floyd get off to a very slow start.
At 0-4 early, with the defense of my Arena Bowl title in serious doubt, I wasn't a happy man. At that point, I would have been happier watching David Blaine submerge himself in a giant tank of water with a oxygen tank and pretend that it was some kind of amazing illusion. I would have been happier being locked in a room with my Senior Prom date and the guy she decided to make out with at our shore hotel, right before she walked out with the Squeeze album I had won playing the wheels. (It was Argybargy, for accuracies sake.)
But I'm no quitter. I had a winning record in each of the five seasons I'd been playing Arena Fantasy ball. Although I was only two games away from securing that first non-winning season, I'm just not the type who can be resigned to losing.
James Roe came back in that 5th week, and with Chris Jackson down I picked up Jamin Elliot. Miraculously, I won. Then I picked up Ben Nelson, getting over my "can't have two guys from the same team" prejudice. I'll tell you, those predetermined rules of success can surely lead you swiftly down the road to failure. Flexibility if the key to survival. Reinventing yourself in the face of doom. Just ask the dinosaurs. Or Anna Nicole Smith.
I went on to win 7 of my last 8 games, finishing second in my division and earning a playoff berth against the #2 seed. The #2 seed who I helped by advising the pick of Derek Lee, who had scored 58 against me the first time we met. The same Derek Lee who scored 48 against me in the first round of the playoffs.
Somehow, I won that playoff game, thanks mainly to Rashad Floyd's INT return for a touchdown. I won by 2 points. Four players on his team scored in single-digits, while each player on mine had double-digits. I had what I needed... a chance to defend my crown. Problem was, I was up against the #1 seed, the team that had handled me twice easily in the regular season, the team that had an 11-1 record and had set a league high score of 234 fantasy points in one game. IN ONE GAME!
Well, at least I had made it that far. If I had played every week of the season against my Arena Bowl rival, I would have ended with a 4-9 record. He had Damien Harrell. He had Mike Horacek. He had Terrill Shaw and Clint Dolezel and Will Pettis. He had Remy Hamilton.
I had no chance.
Ben Nelson caught two 4th quarter TD passes, balancing out Damien Harrell's big 4th quarter and leaving me just a point behind. One point. The slightest of margins in the fantasy world. In my opinion, it's better to lose by 40 than to lose by one. One point defeats lead to second guessing, to cursing defenders who come and jump on the pile and deprive your DS of a solo tackle. You think about every extra point that bounces off the upright. One point loses help you determine the exact moment when your player failed to get that extra yard, let a pass drop off his hands or got pushed out inside the 5-yard line as the clock ran down.
I prepared myself for the worst.
But when Dan Alexander recorded a tackle during kickoff coverage early in the 4th quarter of the game against the Avengers, I was up by 1. One point. It was my one point now.
And that margin held up. Giving me wins in 9 of my last 10 games and a second consecutive Arena Bowl title.
I've told you this story for two simple reasons. First, I want some credit for coaching my way out of a big hole. I want some credit for winning back-to-back titles. I want some credit for keeping active on the waiver wires and sticking with the plan I thought would help me win it all when I drafted that team.
And the second reason?
I'm not sure I have a second reason. Wasn't the first reason good enough?
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