The Loser League

The Football Outsiders run a fantasy football league called the loser league, where the object is to pick bad players. You're probably thinking that you could just pick guys who never play, but it's not quite so simple. If your loser doesn't participate enough, he's penalized with positive points. You can read the rules here.

One of the things that I like about the Loser League is that you generally avoid the heart-wrenching problem of having players on your fantasy team playing against your favorite NFL team. I have Daunte Culpepper on both of my real fantasy football teams, so twice a year I have to watch him play against the Packers, hoping that he does well personally in a Vikings loss, which is a morally suspect position to hold. With the loser league I only have this problem if I draft Packers (I did draft one. I'll give you a hint. His "name" rhymes with "bird"). In general though I can just cheer for my team to crush everyone without any reservations.

I have a team in the loser league that is doing quite well:

Al: Week 13 was won by Illegal Touching, from Ithaca, NY. Great team name. Ready to Crumble maintained a nine point lead in the season standings with a decent 46 point week. I don’t like this team’s chances of holding on for the rest of the year, though. With Craig Krenzel, Emmitt Smith and Martin Gramatica all missing time, it will be very difficult to keep up this pace. The best team in the top 10 may be the Electric Mayhem. Dr. Teeth and friends would be in great shape if Josh McCown can get his way back into the Cardinal lineup, but even without him this team’s in good shape. Rudi Johnson, Duce Staley and Kevan Barlow is as good of a RB trio as you’ll find in the loser league for the rest of the season. All are guaranteed to get at least eight carries a game, absent an injury. None are much of a threat to find the end zone, unless the Bengals get to play the Browns every week.

Here are your Loser League All-Stars from Week 13:

QB: Old School Drew Brees, SD – 1 point (27 passes, 106 yards, 1 fumble, 1 INT)
RB: Warrick Dunn, ATL – 4 points (11 carries, 43 yards, 2 catches, 9 yards)
RB: Tiki Barber, NYG – 3 points (15 carries, 38 yards)
WR: Larry Fitzgerald, ARI – 1 point (2 catches, 12 points)
WR: Clarence Moore, BAL – 0 points (2 catches, 9 yards)
K: Jay Feely, ATL – 0 points (0-0 FG, 0 XP)

(From Al and Vivek's weekly Scramble for the Ball column.)

Yes, that is my very own Electric Mayhem. And they didn't even have to ask about the Muppet reference.

Here is my loser squad with week 13 scores (I came in fourth for the week, I'm seventh over all):

QB	Josh McCown	15
QB	Joey Harrington	13
RB	Rudi Johnson	5
RB	Duce Staley	5
RB	Kevan Barlow	6
WR	Robert Ferguson	6
WR	Marty Booker	9
WR	Ike Hilliard	1
K	Paul Edinger	4
K	Billy Cundiff	13
Points That Count		34

I like my chances, and it looks like McCown will be back. If you're looking for a more unconventional fantasy game next year, you should definitely join the loser league. Especially if you're as bad at identifying good players as I am.