Spring 2014: Jon Cook joins the league.
June 9, 2014: Andrew Melton joins the league.
June 19, 2014: The original 10 members are finalized as Paul Miyake & Chasen Rogers join the league.
July 18, 2014: Jon Cook is the first to secure his spot in the inaugural draft by sinking a cup in the first round of the draft decision challenge. The official Jackman Trophy is voted on.
August 15, 2014: The Inaugural Draft occurs at 8pm Pacific/11pm Eastern.
August 15, 2014: Many members of the league barely make it on time to the inaugural draft. Melton wears a t-shirt, Mike wears a Prater jersey, the rest wear suits. Paul is invisible in Chicago.
October 20, 2014: After a brutal 0-6 start by both Paul M and Andrew M, the two teams meet off in a battle to decide tenth place. Paul’s team pulls off the victory 95.1-70.7.
December 2, 2014: In the aftermath of a situation requiring a quick constitution vote, all 6 playoff spots were not yet set in stone going into the 13th and final week of the inaugural season. Jon C’s underdog victory over Chasen secured his playoff spot. Ian C’s weekly high score placed him in the #1 seed after an exciting high-scoring matchup between Garret H & Alex J determined the final spots. Garrett’s 143.2 - 137.1 victory secured the final playoff spot and allowed Chasen R to maintain his playoff bye over a red-hot Patriot-lead Alex team.
December 9, 2014: The first round of the inaugural playoffs were as exciting as the well-matched regular season predicted it to be. In the consolation round, Paul M’s team almost scores 100 and Mike S annihilates Andrew V. after losing the previous week.
On bye, Ian C’s team is the highest scoring team in the league and Chasen R’s team is the second lowest scoring - a trend that would almost perfectly continue the following week…
In the first round of the winner’s bracket, a great showing by Eddie Lacy and Matthew Stafford give Jon C’s team the leg-up on the Andrew Luck-led Ian A’s team. With a poor performance from Mark Ingram and a disaster from Demariyus Thomas, Ian A is eliminated. In the same vein, a great show from Jamaal Charles helped Alex J beat Garret H, but the real story was Peyton Manning’s 2.7 fantasy points. Peyton had only gone below 20 points TWICE all year, and the lowly number was a nail in Garrett’s playoff-hope shaped coffin despite great performances from DeMarco Murray and Joique Bell.
December 16, 2014: The second round of THE JACKMAN playoffs continued the excitement of the first, with each team in the winners bracket again scoring over 100 points.
In the consolation round, Paul M’s team mysteriously does well again scoring 95.6 points against Mike S. Andrew V. returns to victorious form over a season-long-slumping Andrew M. Ian A defeats Garrett in the winner’s consolation with absolutely no person paying attention.
In the winner’s bracket, Chasen R’s team again under-performed and looked to be decimated by Alex J. But, during Sunday night football, Dez Bryant made things interesting against a not-so-great Eagles defense. After having no player reach 16 fantasy points, Bryant lights up for 29.4, but is 26 yards shy of defeating Alex’s team. And, in a housemate battle, Ian C and Jon’s teams both score the highest points-for of the week. Despite great games from Le’Veon Bell and a better-than-before game from Matt Ryan, Ian C cannot get points out of Rashad Jennings in his flex spot. Jennings was injured on his first hand-off of the game and never returned, giving Ian 0.3 points. This, in addition to a great game from Jeremy Hill and an astounding 30.3 points from Odell Beckham Jr. brought Jon C to the finals and knocked the commissioner to the consolation game.
December 23, 2014: In the final week of the inaugural season of THE JACKMAN, scores were low as NFL playoff spots locked in. Only Mike S scored over 100 points in the down week (thanks to a 36.4 pt performance by Russell Wilson), as he gave Andrew M his third consecutive playoff loss. The only other person to lose all 3 weeks of 2014 playoffs was Garrett H’s team, as he lost to Ian A’s team a second week in a row of the consolation bracket. Somewhere in the world Paul M’s team continued to do well as its 89.5 were the lowest of his playoff points in a loss to Andrew V. In the 3rd place game, Ian C neglected to check the Sunday morning active list and as such received 0 points for play T.Y. Hilton. Likewise, Chasen R neglected to remove J. Edelman from his lineup and received -9 points from a Cardinals defense wrecked by Seattle. Luckily, M. Lynch was a big part of Seattle’s offensive explosion, and the RB leads Chasen to a victory.
In the first ever JACKMAN Championship game, things looked a bit like the previous (2013-2014) NFL Super Bowl. Odell Beckham Jr. AGAIN lights up for over 25 points and Jeremy Hill picks up a TD and almost 150 yards for Jon C’s team. The NY Jets despite losing to the Patriots, played strong defense and held Tom Brady to only 10.3 points and all other Patriots players under 10. Alex J’s do-or-die-by-the-Patriots strategy had brought him to the big game, but stopped him short of a full victory. Despite 0 points from Dwayne Allen and 1 point from J. Landry & his D/ST, Jon C pulls off the victory to become the first JACKMAN champion ever with a 95.8-66.3 win over Alex J.
August 18, 2015
The 2015 Draft occurs after much voting and changing of dates. A 5-player roster expansion draft occurs after the all-rookie cycle draft. Drafting started over 40 min late after video connection issues with Alex J and Andrew M. Paul M and Garrett H arrived bearing tidings of great pizza. Jon C and Chasen R ate too much pizza. Andrew V and Ian A iced Chasen R, Ian C, Jon C, and Michael S (who refused to play, like a baby). Good times were had at Uptown Lounge afterwards. The 2015 season was underway!
Week 12 (November), 2015
After the Thanksgiving games and Sunday match-ups that follow, the playoffs are set with one regular season week left. Both Ian’s secured bye’s barring unprecedented scoring the following week. Garret, Jon, and Alex were all but guaranteed spots going into the week, but a victory for Paul and a loss for Chasen secured Paul for the #6 seed. The playoffs were set and only first-round seeding could be adjusted in the final week of the regular season.
December 8th, 2015
Jon continues his hot streak in a victory over the first-place Ian A in the final week of regulation. The final 3 weeks of the regular season, Jon’s team was the top-scoring squad by a margin of at least 15 points in each of those weeks.
December 15th, 2015
Alex continues playoff success with a victory over Garrett 121.8 - 63.2. Andy Dalton was injured early and Garrett’s team had little chance against Brady and co. David Johnson scored 12 points to begin a very successful playoff run. In a much closer match-up, Paul’s team barely pulls off the upset on Jon’s red-hot team 104.4-101.2. Despite Beckham’s 28.6 and Palmer’s 20.7, Jon’s explosive team was undone by an even-showing of “Sleeper City.” Allen Hurns and Alshon Jeffery both posted over 16 points for a balanced team.
December 22nd, 2015
Paul’s wildcard run ends as Ian C edges him out 105.4-96.1. Despite having a -3 D/ST (a staple for the season), Ian’s team was lead by Jordan Reed’s 20.4 point performance. Freeman, J. Jones, and Forte all posted above 16 points as well. Paul had 3 players to Ian’s 0 left to play on Monday night. Despite Stafford’s great 22.1 point performance against a lowly Saints defense, it wasn’t enough. History was made on the other end. Ian A’s team has never been the lowest scoring team before, but a 75.2 showing occurred in the semi-final match-up against Alex. A negative D/ST and under 5 points from AJ Green, Fitzgerald, and L. Miller marked a low point for the #1 seed. Even if Ian A’s players were ready, Alex’s team put up the best postseason numbers for 2015 in this game. His 155.1 points was most boosted by a 20 point D/ST in NE (vs. TEN) and an astounding 40.9 point game from David Johnson.
December 29th, 2015
In the aftermath of a finals with much greater numbers than the previous year (253.4 combined points compared to 164.1 points in 2014), Jordan Reed set the pace for Ian C’s team with a 2 TD performance for 24.9 points on Thursday night. Julio Jones’ grab over two Panthers defenders for a 70-yard TD was clutch, but the real story is Patriots fallout to the NY Jets. Coming in with only 2 losses on the season, Tom Brady gave his worst fantasy performance of the year and Brandon Marshall found the end zone twice. There were medium to low showings from the rest of Alex’s team save his RBs. DeAngelo Williams put up 27 and David Johnson got almost 19 in a continued late-season dominance. But it wasn’t enough for 3 WRs on Ian’s team putting up greater than 19 points. The victory was secured with Ryan Tannehill at starting QB and Tim Tebow cheering from the bench like he had all year.
An interesting note: throughout the 2015 playoffs, Mike S never lost a game. His 2-year playoff record is 5-1.
March 5th, 2016
The 2016 Coaches Conference was held in Santa Barbara at Mike S and Paul M’s residence. Food, drink, and Rocket League were enjoyed the night prior and in the morning the coaches gathered together (Andrew M Skyping in) to establish rules involving rookie-only drafts, cut days, and monetary incentives to avoid tanking in the late portion of the season. The conference concluded with a flag football game.
July 8th, 2016:
The 2016 Draft is held at Ian, Ian, Chasen, and Jon’s house in the late evening. Alex drives down from Fresno, and Melton gives his appearance via Facetime. Most members wear jerseys that were given at the coaches conference a few months prior. The draft is a smooth one, plus or minus Michael drafting CJ Prosise and then wanting to take it back for Jordan Howard. This year’s draft was the first rookie-only draft day. Teams have over a month to submit 27-man rosters to the commissioner before ESPN is updated and waivers open up. Drinks, GoT, and (ultimately) Saturday morning cartoons were enjoyed by those who stuck around.
October 16, 2016:
The third annual Buffalo Wild Wings Sunday occurs with Ian A, Andrew V, Ian C, Jon C, Paul M, and Chasen R in appearance from SB County. Alex J drives from Fresno and Andrew M drives from the bay. The league donates to charity while at BWW and may or may not have influenced a raffle result in the process. Many wings and much beer was consumed.
November 15th, 2016:
After winning the first nine games of the season, Ian C is given his first loss by his housemate and one who shares his name, Ian A. With three weeks left in the regular season, the battle for playoff spots 3-6 continues to be close as it has been all year. At this time, teams in spots 3-8 are all within two games of each other. Even more interesting, Andrew M, Garrett H, and Chasen R all hold 4-6 records in spots 6, 7, and 8 respectively. Each of them will play the other two during these last three weeks and that may decide the final playoff spot of the 2016 season.
November 29th, 2016:
Heading into week 13, a season marked by great parity for most of the league looks exactly like it has all season: teams in spots 4-8 all within a game of one another. Only three teams are guaranteed playoff spots heading into this final week of the regular season and the teams in spots 6-8 all have the exact same record with two of those teams within 20 PF of each other. To make matters more interesting, two of those teams (Garrett and Andrew M) play one-another in the final week, the loser being eliminated from the playoffs and the winner only receiving a playoff spot depending on other games and PF totals. Michael S, Ian A, Andrew M, Garrett H, and Chasen R all hope to secure spots as the five teams looking to occupy three spots.
December 6th, 2016:
As the dust settled on the final week of the regular season, Andrew M rose victorious over Garrett H to secure the final playoff spot for the 2016 JACKMAN season. His 119.4 points scored in addition to an Ian A victory over Chasen R and a Mike S loss to Ian C means that he actually secured the #5 playoff spot, moving Mike to 6th and Ian A into 4th. The stage was set for the playoff bracket. Ian A would face Andrew M and Andrew V would face Mike S with Ian C and Jon C on BYE for the first round.
December 13th, 2016:
The first round of playoffs began with what looked to be close games. At the end of it all, however, there were clear winners on each side. Ian A had the second highest score of the week as he defeated Andrew M in Andrew’s first playoff game. Despite -1 points from Dez Bryant, Ian found success in Carlos Hyde (26) and the recent pickup of the Falcons D/ST (26). Melton had a disappointing week with under 3 points from Jimmy Graham and Mark Ingram, but the big story was Melvin Gordon’s injury early in his game. That all but sealed the deal. Despite this, Melton actually had the second highest score among non-BYE teams with 90.5 . On the other side, Mike S defeated Andrew V as Theo Riddick was a late-scratch and Drew Brees only put up 4.5 points. Mike’s QB Russell Wilson, only put up 5.5, but points from Frank Gore, Todd Gurley, Jordy Nelson, and Dontrelle Inman were enough to beat Andrew. Garrett H defeated Chasen R and Alex J beat Paul M in the consolation bracket. On BYE, Jon C had 106.1 points and Ian C had 134 points (Le’Veon Bell set a Steelers rushing record and had 47.8 points).
December 20th, 2016:
The second round of the third annual playoffs was a lopsided one. Alex J in a consolation game had 109.5 points - good for third highest score in the league. Four teams finished in the 70’s and one team in the 50’s. It seemed every player who had a good week was on Alex J’s, Jon C’s, or Ian C’s rosters. In a battle of the Ian’s, Ian A had his fourth-lowest score of the fantasy season (79.9) as Dustin Hopkins (kicker) puts up 10 points - good for 3rd best on his roster. On the other side, Devonta Freeman had a 3 TD day against the 49ers (31.5 points) and LeSean McCoy had 2 TDs against the Browns (28.9 points) leading Ian to score his season-high 165.1. In Jon C vs. Mike S, newly acquired Todd Gurley only puts up 3.6 points for Mike’s team. Of the starting lineup, only Russell Wilson finished above 12.5 points (20.4). Jon C had double-digit scores from Carson Palmer, Jordan Howard, Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Jeremy Hill, and Matt Bryant. Jon C was victorious 112.8 - 71.6
December 27th, 2016:
In the first 3rd place game for money, Ian A rebounds to put up the top score of the week with 146 against Mike S’ 107.3. Most of Ian A’s team had double digits, but standouts included Andrew Luck (24.7), Jay Ajayi (26.9), Dez Bryant (23.4) and Travis Kelce (22) who scored on an 80+ yard screen pass against the Broncos. Both teams played better than their previous matchup. In fact over half the league scored over 100 points in week 16 of the 2016 season. As for the finals, it was a matchup of the only two previous winners of THE JACKMAN thus far, Jon C and Ian C. Jon started off Thursday night well. Odell Beckham Jr. put up exactly 150 yards against the Eagles. Zach Ertz on Ian’s team could only muster 33 yards - his lowest output since week 8. Most NFL games were played on Saturday (Christmas Eve) this year and the morning games highlighted LeSean McCoy with 20.5 points. The afternoon Falcons game was important, as Ian C had Matt Ryan (20), Julio Jones (6), and Devonta Freeman (8.8) playing. Despite this, one of the biggest winners of that was was Jon C as he had the Falcons kicker Matt Bryant who made 4 FGs and finished with 19 points. Christmas afternoon held another important game. Ian C had Le’Veon Bell and Jon C started Antonio Brown, both for the Steelers. Bell finished with 2 scores and 25.7 points, but Brown won the game with a heroic goal line reach to score with only seconds remaining in overtime (15.6 points). Despite a great game by Jason Witten on Monday night (9.3, his second best all year), the chasm was far too wide. Ian C won his second-straight JACKMAN title 120.6 - 109.3
April 1, 2017:
Heading into its fourth year, THE JACKMAN league held its second annual pre-season coach’s meeting. Chasen R and Andrew M came down from the bay area. Alex J joined from the Fresno area. Andrew V came up from Ventura. Michael S and Garrett H were roaming around Asia. Most out-of-towners slept on the La Cumbre couch. Boozy Brunch was had. A pair of pants was saved from the clutches of an evil tree, and some draft day adjustments were voted on. Shirtless football was played and dance shows/afterpartys were enjoyed by all. The fourth season was officially underway!
June 24, 2017:
Draft day was one of many moving parts coming together. While Alex drove into town, Jon C, Ian C, and Chasen R all enjoyed a late morning start and beverages at a local wine tasting room. The crew moved over to the batting cage and were joined by Andrew V, Alex J, and housemate and friend Ariel. Let it be known that Chasen hit a baseball at 70mph on that day. When it came time to draft, everyone had arrived on time. Mike S and Paul M provided a ridiculous amount of beer as both of them were moving out of their previous residence in Goleta. Ian A had a crazy work day, Garrett video’d in from Taiwan and Andrew M video’d in from the bay. Those that remained after the draft enjoyed bbq, the board game Codenames, and the now-annual evening of Cheers to the Governor.
September 12, 2017:
The first week of the 2017 was one that went very differently than experts (and members of this league) predicted. Three of the top four projected teams lost. Five teams had under 90 points. The one highly ranked team to succeed? The Santa Barbara Sailors found gold in Kareem Hunt who scored 40.6 points in his first NFL game ever against the Patriots IN NEW ENGLAND. How’s that for a start?
September 26, 2017:
After three weeks in the 2017 season, projections are all over the place as rookie running backs (led by Kareem Hunt) and the Patriots are the face of fantasy. Despite this, literally half of the league is 2-1 and the other half is 1-2. Alex Smith is QB2 at this point in the season and Stefon Diggs is WR1.
October 10, 2017:
The 2017 season continued to be an interesting and inconsistent on in terms of fantasy football. After five weeks, eight of the teams are 3-2 or 2-3.The only 4-1 team is Chasen’s “All Aboard the Wentz Wagon” who is sixth in the league in points for. Five weeks in, Alex Smith is still the highest-scoring fantasy player followed by Deshaun Watson and Kareem Hunt.
November 7, 2017:
After 9 weeks, there was one team at 6-3, four teams at 5-4, four teams at 4-5, and one team at 3-6. Literally every team could still make playoffs with four weeks remaining in the season. In a year marked with some major injuries (Rodgers, Beckham Jr., Watson, Olsen, D. Johnson, Luck, A. Robinson, D. Cook, Tannehill, Edelman) teams have shown resilience and have pushed forward. The road to the playoffs in the 2017 season was as tight as it has ever been! Added note: Garrett defeated Melton 83-69.8 when only playing 6 players. He didn’t check his lineup while in Taiwan and played Duke Johnson (bye), Hunter Henry (bye), Vikings D/ST (bye) and Pierre Garcon (IR). Tyrod Taylor’s 26.9 on Thursday against the Jets and Alvin Kamara’s 25.2 against the Bucs saved Garrett’s week.
November 14, 2017:
Heading into the 11th week (3rd annual Buffalo Wild Wings Week), there were three teams at 6-4, four teams at 5-5, and three teams at 4-6. With only three weeks remaining in the regular season, all six playoff seeds were up for grabs, and every team had a chance to make the playoffs.
November 28, 2017:
In the aftermath of Week 12 of the 2017 season in which every team in the league entered in technically still able to make playoffs, a clearer picture remained. Alex notated a full playoff picture post after an under-performing week against Ian A. Chasen won his 7th game of the year despite being 7th in scoring in week 12 (7th for the season at this point as well). Ian C had high score against Jon C (Julio Jones had 38.8 points with 253 yards and 2 TDs. For Jon, Antonio Brown scored 30.9 points). Andrew M held one against Andrew V and Garrett beat Paul on Monday night as DeAndre Hopkins netted 125 yards and JT hit 3 field goals. Now that the dust has settled on that week, only Paul is eliminated, though Garrett needs a greater than 200 point swing to make playoffs, so he is basically eliminated as well. Mike and Ventura have an uphill battle for the six spot while Ian and Jon look to hold on to their playoff berths.
December 12, 2017:
The first round of the playoffs of the 2017 season was completed with zero upsets in both brackets. In the consolation ladder, Garrett H defeated Paul M’s team in a low scoring affair. On the other side, Mike’s team scores 136.4 (3rd highest) against Andrew V’s 123.3, the second closest game of the week. On BYE, Ian C’s team scores a second-highest 140.2 points for the week and Andrew M scores the second-lowest 70.4 points. In the battle to move onto the semi-finals, Alex J’s team faced an uphill battle entering the Monday night game down over 80 points with three players left. Jon C had great weeks from Kareem Hunt (19.8), Jordan Howard (27.5), Antonio Brown (21.3), and Alex Collins (22.6). On Monday night, Jarvis Landry (16.6) almost outscored Tom Brady, Chris Hogan, and S. Gostowski by himself. Jon would move on to play Ian C in the semi-finals. In a much closer game, Ian A had all but his kicker play in the morning games and found himself at 95.4 heading into the afternoon. Chasen R’s team came from behind with a little help from Doug Baldwin (13.8) and Leonard Fournette (17.9), but the real story is Carson Wentz. After performing amazingly all season, Wentz put up 27.2 points in LA against the Rams to secure a 112.3 - 100.4 victory. Wentz went down with a torn ACL late in the game however and would be out the remainder of the season.
December 19, 2017:
In the aftermath of the second round of THE JACKMAN playoffs, the help from a bye week was made known and the first ever stat-skewing kickers duel took place. In the consolation ladder, Garrett and Mike score huge points (good for 3rd and 4th overall in the league) as Garrett beats Mike 125.1-114.5 . On the other end, Paul defeats Andrew V in a low scoring affair 78.9-54.9 . In the first ever kicker-duel, Greg the Leg out-duels The Holy Gost by a score of 10-8. In the winners brackets, Ian C and Jon C have a high scoring fight to re-match last year’s finals. Jon took an early lead Thursday night when Kareem Hunt found the end zone twice (and had a very close play that could have been a TD not count) and scored 32.6 on the night. Then Cam Newton thwarted Aaron Rodgers’ return with a 31.5 effort early Sunday morning. Then the afternoon happened. The rest of Jon’s players (not D/ST) couldn’t muster double-digit points and Antonio Brown left his game against the Patriots early as Ian C’s team rallied behind Le’Veon bell (22.5). Devonta Freeman sealed the deal Monday night with 25.4 as Ian C defeated Jon C 155.5-113.7 . After a low-scoring week on bye (70.4), Andrew M’s team had a lot to prove against the people’s-favorite Chasen R squad. Chasen was at a disadvantage having lost Carson Wentz the week prior (Nick Foles’ 25.5 was a good substitute though), and Leonard Fournette was ruled out before game time leaving Chasen to utilize players from his bench. Even with 16.4 from Latavius Murray and 24 points from Robbie Gould (K), he had too many low scoring players (Funchess 1.9, Baldwin 0.6, Cook 1.7) to take on Andrew M’s team. For Andrew, even with -0.1 from Jimmy Graham, a great showing from RB’s Ingram (27.1) and Gordon (22.9), Aaron Rodgers one game back since injury during the season (21.9), and good performances from T. Hill (14.8) and J. McKinnon (13.8) lead Andrew M to a 132.9-99.5 victory over Chasen R.
December 26, 2017:
In the final week of the 2017 JACKMAN season, history was made. In the “last place” game Mike S’s team puts up week-high 138.6 against Andrew V’s week-low 65 points. Garrett beats Paul 80.2-68.9 and remains one of two opponents Paul has not yet beaten after four years in the league. Elsewhere, Ian A defeats Alex in their post kick duel 77.2-65.6. These scores would seem that this was a low week in fantasy, but three teams were able to capitalize on big performances to score over 100. In the 3rd place game, Jon C had his kicker (Harrison Butker) as his highest scoring player at 17. However, both of his RBs pulled off 16+ points and his D/ST ended with 13. Chasen, coming off an impressive Nick Foles performance, found his Carson Wentz replacement only able to score 8.5 on Monday night. Chasen’s standout plays were Larry Fitzgerald (18.7) and the Cardinals D/ST (21). A 1.1 performance from Devin Funchess and 1.3 from Cameron Brate brought Chasen down however as Jon defeated him 110.9-93.7 . The championship game saw two-time champion Ian C versus finals newcomer Andrew M. Ian entered the week as a 14-point favorite. Andrew M’s team played a consistent week despite a bad Saturday start from Case Keenum (9.4) and Jerick McKinnon (5.1). TDs for Ingram (12.6), Melvin Gordon (18.8), Crowder (10.7) and Smith-Schuster (13.5) kept Andrew up during the week. Though he had a good performance from Julio Jones (14.9) and LeSean McCoy (14.7) on Sunday and Le’Veon Bell on Monday night (15.7), Ian saw lows from Brandin Cook (2.5) and Dak Prescott (5.4). It was a week of points left on the bench for both teams as Andrew M left Kirk Cousins (22.8) and Bilal Powell (20.5) on his bench. Ian C left Matt Ryan (14.2), the Chargers D/ST (14), Ted Ginn Jr. (15) and Wil Lutz, K (13) on his bench. After Prescott’s poor showing, Ian had little hope to come back on Monday night with the Steelers and Eagles both having games. When it was all said and done, the new blood won as Andrew M defeated Ian’s third finals performance by a final score of 101.2-85.5 .
March 11, 2018:
The 2018 Coach’s Conference was held in Santa Barbara. Brunch was enjoyed by all coaches sans Garrett H at The Brewhouse in Santa Barbara. Andrew M presented the league with customized glass beer steins for each league member as a gift from the winnings of his 2017 campaign.
June 24, 2018:
The 2018 Draft - The “Year of the Remote Draft” - took place in Santa Barbara (and Huntington Beach, and Ventura, and Fresno, and SF, and North Carolina, and Taiwan). Most teams admitted to having done very little research entering the draft, but picks went without a hitch throughout. Jon C made trades to get back into the draft, and Alex J was involved with most draft-day trades. Even with the geographic space, teams were ready to go and ready to start a brand new season of THE JACKMAN league. Jon C hosted the SB gang and made tacos for those visiting. Garrett prepared to be in CA the following month and Ian C left for his trip abroad the next day.
October 9, 2018:
5 weeks into the 2018 season and in its early stages, it has become the “unfair random schedule” season. Mike S and Garrett H find themselves atop the league at 4-1. The following three 3-2 teams (Ian C, Jon C, Paul M) all have more Points For (PF) than any of the 4-1 teams. Additionally, Garrett’s team is 6th in PF (and beating out 7th by only 0.5), but is the only team with under 500 Points Allowed ¶ after 5 weeks with 478.8 (next lowest 505.3). In other league news, Chasen had set a wedding date and Alex acquired a puppy.
November 20, 2018:
Heading into week 12 the “season of the brutal schedule” continues as teams in the bottom half of scoring each week would often play one another leading to two teams in the top half of scoring on a given week facing off. With two weeks left in the regular season, Jon C’s team is second in PF at 1302.6 (trailing Ian C 1354), but was in 5th place at 5-6 despite being over 40 PF in front of the 3rd team. At this point in the season, 9 teams were still technically alive in the playoff hunt. Half the league (spots 5-8) was either 5-6 or 4-7. It will also be noted that Paul M’s team has surged to 7-4 (3rd place) and 4th in PF since the first overall selection of Saquon Barkley in the 2018 rookie draft. In two weeks, the annual Buffalo Wild Wings Day would be held.
November 28, 2018:
Heading into Buffalo Wild Wings Week (the final week of the 2018 regular season), 9 teams were still competing for playoff spots. In essence, Jon C, Alex J, Chasen R, and Garrett H were all battling for the 6 seed (Jon’s team was 2nd in PF at this point). Mike S and Ian C had locked bye weeks, but spots 3-5 were also in limbo as Paul (3rd) played Ian A (4th) and the loser would likely push Andrew M (5th) up a spot if Andrew won that week. The seeding was wide open for the final week of the 2018 regular season!
December 5, 2018:
The Annual Buffalo Wild Wings Day was a success with all 8 stateside members in attendance (Garrett H and Ian C ate and drank together in Taiwan as well). Notable moments were the Blazin Wing Challenge (all but Jon participated), Jon ordering a Cap’n Crunch shake at 10:30am, Mike being food poisoned (possibly by a $5 sausage), Andrew V drinking his Miller Lite straight from the pitcher, and Alex J complaining about the Blazin Wings Challenge. As far as the games are concerned, the final week of the regular season was wild. After defeating Ian C one week prior to keep his playoff hopes alive, Alex J was handily defeated by Mike S. Ian A defeated Paul giving him 3rd seed in playoff and moving Paul all the way from 3rd to 5th. Garrett H’s victory over Jon C was one of the biggest upsets of the year. It gave the 9th place Garrett to move into 6th and knocked the 3rd highest scoring team on the season out of playoffs. Jon had been the most notable victim of the brutal schedule in the 2018 season and is easily the best to team to have never made playoffs in league history so far. That left Chasen R’s game against Andrew M. After forgetting to change his lineup, Chasen played Carson Wentz over 1st overall QB Patrick Mahomes and left DeSean Jackson in his lineup even though he was inactive. Still, Chasen was somehow still in the race on MNF when Wentz played against Washington. Chasen needed 22.8 points from Wentz to complete the comeback victory and take the 6th seed - and playoff opportunity - away from Garrett. When the final whistle blew, Wentz had finished with 19.8 points, just 3 shy of allowing Chasen to continue his season. It was a BBW* day to remember!