WHA, Part Deux - Postbecoming the Greatness It Never Wasn't

As a sports fan and former sports academic (technically speaking), there's nothing that intrigues me more than the possibility of an upstart rival league challenging the monopoly of the incumbent. With the money involved in today's sports industry, it's hard to imagine conditions being just right to create an opportunity with a reasonable chance of success. The existing league would have to be poorly run, have an even poorer relationship with its labor force, regularly test the loyalty of the fans, and if it wasn't even operating, that would be even better. I figured I'd never see such an opportunity within my lifetime. How could any league let things get so bad?

But this is exactly what we're seeing with today's NHL. Now on its second lockout in 8 years, the question we should be asking isn't whether there should be a rival league. The question is, why isn't there a rival league?

A Fart Is Forever - The UMass Ballers Season Revue

It's that time of year again. Time to pick up the pieces of our shattered fantasy football dreams. Time to look back and laugh at whoever drafted Ryan Mathews this time around. Time to take a deep breath, and grimace, because there's a familiar stench in the air.

That's right - in one of the most unlikely comebacks, Farts are Funny has become the first repeat champion of the UMass Ballers League. For a full review of the draft day bargains, busts, and clutch free agent grabs that led to this re-coronation, click below.

Roster Freak Out - Week 16

It's championship week, and put-up-or-shut-up time for the RFO column.

"... HELP ME."

Let's see if my merry band of misfits can upend any of the top-8 UMass Ballers.

No Laotian Ocean - Weekly Trivia!

We had a dandy of a geography question this time around, and only one had the correct answer: Laos is the landlocked Asian country.

A few more years in the Vietnam War and I'd have been a liar. All you grammarians out there can soak in that future perfect subjunctive I just laid down.

Congrats to the winner - let yourself be known to the masses in the comments.

Acolytes, you know as well as I do that it's the most wonderful time of the year. But in addition to fantasy football championships, it's also Christmas. So in the spirit of the holiday, I have some yuletide trivia for your egg nogged noggins.

Which of the following movies does NOT depict Christmas at any time?

• Citizen Kane
• Gremlins
• Star Trek: Generations
• Fargo
• Die Hard

Merry Christmas all!

Roster Freak Out - Week 15

I'm at risk of missing this weekend entirely due to moving into my new condo, but here are some quick hits (more like misses) for this week:

Can't even handle the blogging game right meow.

Brandon Squeeden - 9.66 points
Golden Terry Tate - 6.4 points
Bilal Kharmah Powell - 4.3 points
Dallas Clark Kent - 4.2 points
Jeff Cumberland Farms - 11.3 points (clutch bet on a Jet)
Darrius Heyward-We-Bey - 0 points (what?!)
Kris Bull Durham - 1.4 points
Phil Andre Dawson - 3 points
Cleveland Brown - -2 points

Not even going to bother adding it up, Cumby was the only solid grab.

Roster Freak Out - Week 14

Well, November was a solid month for the RFO, but my 4 week winning streak came to a close despite a couple very winnable scores in the UMass Ballers League.

Knocked out

This week I'm going to avoid putting my roster together piecemeal and post it early - check out the latest and not greatest.

Roster Freak Out - Week 13

Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those free agent team dubs (W's) rollin'...

Those 2 seconds when it's just staring down its own tail... priceless.