A Historic Title Run

Congratulations to the Tennessee Turf Turtles on their first ever SPFL Championship, the first ever female piloted franchise to claim the Farley Trophy, and for showing the benefits of perseverance (20+ years!), and proving that transactions can, in fact, be your friend!

However, before recapping the big game, I must address the Damar Hamlin situation. First and foremost, thank God for answered prayers. I just heard a press conference today that the U of Cincinnati doctors held and they confirmed that he is communicating by writing now and actually asked last night, “did we win?”. Wow. I don’t know about you, but unless they’re playing the Cowboys in the Super Bowl (I know, don’t hold your breath on that one, Commish), I’m a Bills fan the rest of this season.

That was the scariest thing I’ve ever watched on a football field. I told Mrs. Commish within five seconds of him going down, those team doctors are really worried about that guy. And we were both glued to the television for the rest of the night. I feared the worst, but have been buoyed by what I heard today. I’m sure he has a long, hard road ahead of him, but having a sense of optimism and hope about something is a wonderful respite in 2023 America. I’ve seen the power of prayer and community and love at work and it was phenomenal. I think that will play a big part in his recovery.

And I’m not going all Skip Bayless on here (for the record, I don’t like Skip and never have, but I think he was unfairly vilified in this instance), but I am also thankful (not in comparison to the reality, but merely in terms of fantasy football) that this cancellation didn’t affect our league or its ultimate outcomes. The Turtles were our clear champions. I play in a few other leagues online and I was in a championship game and had Josh Allen starting as my QB. I likely would have won the title and the cash, but the league host declared it a no contest and I lost. Fair? Probably not. But, c’est la vie.

I heard it a million times this week, that the “football doesn’t matter”. And that was 1000% true — it didn’t matter … when placed in comparison to Damar Hamlin’s life. But in a vacuum, that game did matter and Hamlin’s immediate question last night to his own doctors proves it. Thousands of fantasy leagues (I feel for those commissioners that were put in a tough spot. I was very fortunate), NFL home field advantages and playoff seedings are in doubt. Am I being critical of the decision? Nope. In the context of the moment, it was correct. You could look at Josh Allen’s face and tell football did not need to be played that night. It was just a terrible, scary situation and I’m thankful that the outcome wasn’t worse and that the evil NFL wasn’t placed in this difficult situation in a playoff game. Or a Super Bowl. Can you even imagine? Continued prayers for Hamlin, his family, and let’s go Bills!

SPFL Super Bowl

Turtles 173 — Bright 1s 146: The Turf Turtles claimed their inaugural championship in a clear and decisive fashion, thanks to fantasy MVP, Austin Ekeler (35) and the Jaguars D (31) — a waiver wire pickup just before the game! See? Those of you with waiver wire phobias? It doesn’t hurt and it can pay off! The Bright 1s were led by CMac (33) and the Giants D (23).

SPFL Consolation Bowl

Moops 152 — Lightning 118: It is believed that the Lightning remain in their depressive hibernation as the inactive Tony Pollard remained in the starting lineup, letting the Moops ease to that third place finish and reclaim their entrance fees. Mayberry was led by Davante Adams (36) — Matthew Berry tweeted, “Davante Adams tearing up a lot of fantasy third place games this week!”. Exactly! He cost a lot of teams semifinal losses. Dang it. Oh, and Amari Cooper added 27. The Lightning were led by the Browns D (24) and Josh Jacobs (21).

And so, another SPFL season wraps up. The first one with an auxiliary blog, which I hope enhanced your all’s seasons a little. I know that it did the Bright 1s, and I thank them for their online comments and personal feedback and streaming suggestions. It is genuinely appreciated here in the league offices. Congratulations again to the Turtles! And to the Bright 1s! Your prize money will be forthcoming, probably tomorrow, in the same manner that you respectively paid your entrance fees. Please let me know as soon as possible if that’s not okay.

I will be providing lists of potential “keepers” for each team at some point during the offseason and you will need to select if/who you want to keep well before the draft next year! And, again, I hope everyone plays again next year — after all, if the Turtles can do it, anyone can! JK! Hey, it’s been five long years since the Moops won a title. I think we finally have some parity! I love it.

Happy New Year and best wishes. Enjoy the NCAA title game and the playoffs. And if I post anything here in the offseason, I will also post a notification on our Yahoo league page.

Take care,

The Commish