The best part of the holidays—other than the presents and the opportunity to gorge on delicious foods that for some reason only come out at certain times of the year—is the chance to spend quality time with family members and friends without a care in the world.
The good news for 12 teams in the CI Fantasy Football League is they’re no longer burdened with worrying about the fate of their teams and where they’ll display that 2018 championship trophy since they were eliminated from contention this week. It’s a Christmas miracle.
There were a few updates in the first round of the playoffs and we’re hoping to see a few more as the quest for the third annual CI Fantasy Football championship continues. You’ll notice there’s only one CI staffer still standing, but editor-at-large Craig MacCormack faces a tough semifinal matchup this week in his quest to bathe in glory for a third straight year and make Pat Riley some money in merchandise sales.
Here’s a look at all of this week’s action:
Group 1 Commissioner: Ray Lyons
Playoff Round 1
(4) Savi Controls 178 pts
(1) Diversified 192.9 pts
(2) T1V 277.7
(3) Waveguide 266.9
CI Commisioner Trash Talk: The semis are complete…and #1 seed Diversified scored a 35-point win in week 15 to erase a 21-point deficit and move on to the championship round. In the #2 vs #3 match up, T1V held on for a 11-point victory in the 2-week match up that went down to the wire…with T1V scoring 277 pts to Waveguide’s 266 pts. In the consolidation bracket, there were 2 standout performances…Speco Technologies with 262 pts and Canon Projectors with 246 pts. Good luck to the championship matchup starting next week, T1V vs Diversified!
Group 2 Commissioner: Shawn Tobin
Playoff Round 1
(4) Magic Skol Bus 205.6
(1) Winning as a Service 225.7
(2) Banner Clique 192.5
(3) Team SureCall 236.3
CI Commissioner Trash Talk: Derrick Henry will be getting free cell boosters for life after his 6 touchdowns powered Team SureCall over Banner Clique in Round 1 of the playoffs. In the other playoff matchup, #1 seed Winning as a Service advanced with a 20-point victory over the 4-seed, Magic Skol Bus.
Group 3 Commissioner: Craig MacCormack
Playoff Round 1
(1) Team Guhl 73
(8) Guns N Rosens 63
(3) Mac Daddies 94
(6) Team Sansivero 60
(4) A Case of the Mondays 122
(5) The Lukes O Hazzard 68
(2) Rolls Royce 123
(7) Team Durham 48
CI Commisioner Trash Talk: The four top seeds all took care of business, moving on to the semifinals in convincing fashion, with only Team Guhl struggling to pull out a victory in week of lopsided scores. Team Guhl will look to beat A Case of the Monday for the third time in six weeks and avenge one of its two losses in the semifinals, while the Mac Daddies look to take another step toward a three-peat by matching their Week 14 success against Rolls Royce in the other Final 4 matchup.
Group 4 Commissioner: Tom LeBlanc
Playoff Round 1
(1) Skol Vikings 243.1
(4) Team Luisi 233.5
(3) Team Gasparo 309.7
(2) Can You Diggs It?! 227.2
CI Commisioner Trash Talk: OK, so maybe I flew off the handle with my early analysis last week. Perhaps I shouldn’t have written in my draft copy that No. 1 seed Skol Vikings was sent “home for the holidays.” Perhaps, as league commissioner, I should have realized that the two-week playoff round was only at a midpoint. Perhaps I should have taken the time to learn some basic information about the league I’m running.
These are all valid points. That’s why we have someone else copy-edit our work before it goes live. But, as I always say (after making an obvious blunder), hindsight is 20-20. We now know that Skol Vikings completed a come-from-behind victory over Team Luisi, 243.1 to 233.5, to advance to the finals. Meanwhile, all the nasty and dismissive things I wrote about No. 2 seed Can You Diggs It?I proved valid. Indeed, it was unable to overcome No. 3 seed Team Gasparo. The finals are set. Skol Vikings and Team Gasparo over the next TWO weeks for CI Fantasy Football glory.
See last week’s CI Fantasy Football update here
Group 5 Commissioner: Chelsea Cafiero
Playoff Round 1
(4) Smiling Malards 216
(1) Team Schutzer 144.9
(3) The Evil Empire 180.2
(2) 2 Gurleys One Cup 221.7
CI Commissioner Trash Talk: Round 1 of the playoffs is done, as the Malards left Schutzer in the dust by over 30 points to earn a spot in the two-week championship round. Meanwhile, the Gurleys wiped out the Evil Empire by an even larger margin to earn the other spot in the title round. All four of these teams could’ve had an equal chance at the title, but the loss is perhaps most devastating for Schutzer, who was favored to win it all since the beginning of the season. Maybe next year.
