2009 was a big year. Barack Obama became our first half-black 
President, while Michael Jackson, our first black-who-turned-white pop star died of a drug overdose. In fantasy, the Matt Neatock dynasty appeared to be taking shape, as he beat Calderon for his second championship in three seasons. Yet, little did we know that in 2009, it would be two different teams that would start to dominate the league.
While the Neatock era never really took flight, Bob Castrone and Griff Coomer took over the league, enjoying success unseen since the original Robio Murray days in the league’s infant years. Since 2009, no two teams have won more games (Bob: 54, Griff: 53) and they’re also the only two teams to make the playoffs every single season. Yet, while Griff was the only one heading in 2015 with six straight winning seasons in his back pocket, it was Bob who managed to turn all that success into fantasy glory.
While Griff did reach a pair of title games (losing in 2009 and 2014), he suffered quarterfinals upsets three straight years between 2010-13. On the flip side, Bob was swimming in championships, bringing home three mugs, including back-to-back titles in 2010-11 and was looking for a second repeat heading into 2015.
Prior to the start of the season, the commissioner had complete faith that Bob would continue his run. While I didn’t have him as the favorite (Calderon), I had him fourth in my preseason rankings. Yet, I had less faith in Griff, who began the year blowing off a solid keeper in Latavius Murray in round six, then trading up to get Adrian Peterson with the first pick, even though there were plenty of question marks the Vikings RB couldn’t answer until we actually saw him play. I picked Griff to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Well, Peterson proved quickly that he was back, while Emmanuel Sanders played like a WR1. Griff won some games, although he certainly wasn’t dominating. because both Cam Newton and Odell Beckham struggled with consistency, while Griff himself struggled filling a RB2 hole, switching back and forth between a pair of backup running backs, Charles Sims and Karlos Williams. Luckily, the savvy owner that he was, he guessed correctly often and after eight weeks was 5-3, although four of those wins came against the bottom five teams in the league (Robio, Molly, Don, Jeff).
Yet, coming off a week eight defeat to Matt, where Griff failed to score 1,250 points for a third straight game, most were penciling him in for another defeat in week nine as he faced the juggernaut that was Bob Castrone.
The Mug Life was dominating. Despite some concern at the quarterback spot (Matt Ryan), Bob was riding the league’s best backfield Le’Veon Bell and rookie Todd Gurley, along with stud tight end, Rob Gronkowski. He also had a pair of unexpected WR1’s in Larry Fitzgerald and Brandon Marshall. With those players, Bob potentially had five All-Robio skilled position players. He entered the week undefeated, winning 11-straight dating back to the previous season and was looking to become the second person to start a season 9-0.
Yet, a glimmer of hope poked through for Griff and the league when the week before, Bob watched Le’Veon Bell blow out his ACL. Plus that week, he would have to play without Larry Fitzgerald, who was enjoying a bye. Of course, this was Bob and Bob didn’t hope for victories. He had Lamar Miller on his bench ready to step in and then he kissed Bell goodbye, shipping the injured superstar off to Calderon for Dez Bryant, who appeared to finally be healthy.
GAME TIME
The contest began on a Thursday night. Griff had Gary Barnidge facing the Bengals and Bob had the Bengals DST taking on the Browns. Griff was desperate for a good start. While Barnidge was the league’s second best TE, being second best to Rob Gronkowski was like sex with my ex, he would have to overcome a wide gap. Unfortunately for Griff, the Browns tight end was held to just 35 yards and 70 fantasy points, while the Bengals D handed Bob a solid 174 points.
THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE:
MUG LIFE: 174
WELCOME 2 FLA, ASSHOLES: 70
In the early games on Sunday, Bob had more players going (5-4) and with the exception of Rob Gronkowski, who got just 94 points at home against a weak Redskins defense, his guys delivered some stats. Todd Gurley produced 278 points against a tough Vikings defense, while Brandon Marshall added 148 against the Jaguars. Yet, it was Bob’s replacement players who really stood tall.
Newly acquired Dez Bryant had his best game of the year, scoring 268 at home against the Eagles, while Lamar Miller exploded against the Bills. The Dolphins back had a pair of scores and 141 total yards, giving Bob a team high 402 points. If Le’Veon was going to be missed, it wouldn’t be that week.
Meanwhile, Griff overcame a tough outing by the Panthers DST (89 points) with two monster performances from his two best players. Adrian Peterson steamrolled the Rams for 346 points, while Cam Newton punched the Packers for 522. Add in Dan Bailey’s 130 and suddenly Griff was in a decent spot. Yes, he trailed going into the afternoon games, but he had three players to Bob’s two (and one of those was a kicker).
SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE:
MUG LIFE: 1,364
WELCOME 2 FLA, ASSHOLES: 1,157
Of course, if I ignored the team names and focuses on the facts that one team trailed by 207 points, but had three skill players left, while his opponent had two players left, including a kicker, I’d tell you I’d want to be in the former’s shoes. However, this was Bob…a man who once pulled off a two-point shocker in the quarterfinals over Masterson and in the previous year managed to hold a one-point lead in the fourth quarter, down two players, to win the title. My point, shit just went this guys way.
Griff had Odell Beckham going, but I could easily see him having a bad game against the Buccaneers. He had Emmanuel Sanders facing a bad Colts defense, but he had been struggling for weeks. Griff also started Charles Sims (a backup in Tampa) over Karlos Williams (a backup in Buffalo) and that already proved to be a bad decision as Williams had delivered 402 fantasy points earlier in the day.
For Bob, his kicker was arguable one of the league’s best (Brandon McManus) and he was facing a bad Colts defense in a dome. The other player he had was Matt Ryan. Normally, in our league a quarterback produced more than any other position, but Ryan had been struggling to get stats on the board, yet again, Bob being Bob, we just knew that Ryan would suddenly go for like 400 against a bad 49ers team.
In the end, Ryan didn’t score 400, instead settling for 246 points, while McManus was held to just one field goal and three extra points (60 points). Bob finished his day scoring a solid 1,670 points. It was the seventh time in nine games he had scored over 1,500. Prior to this game, Bob was 51-7 when he scored over 1,500 points.
Today though, would not be about Bob. Griff got a combined 450 points from Beckham (210) and Sanders (240), the latter scoring on a 64-yard TD in the third quarter. Yet, it was Charles Sims who handed Griff the victory.
Heading into the fourth quarter still trailing Bob, with 11 minutes to go in the game, Sims busted out a 59-yard run (118 fantasy points). Griff had the lead for the first time that week. Yet, he couldn’t seal the deal. Sims would add in just one more three-yard run, while both Beckham and Sanders were shutout in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Bob had Matt Ryan trying to rally his team. Down 17-13 with just under four minutes left to go in the game, the Falcons got down to the 49ers four-yard line. It was third-and-goal, Bob was down 45 points. A Matt Ryan touchdown would win the game for him and keep his undefeated season going. Ryan dropped back to pass and hit Justin Hardy, who was tackled on the one-year line. Bob got one point and was down 44 points.
It’s fourth down, one yard away from a touchdown, the clock ticking and what did the Falcons coaching staff decide…kick a field goal…down four…with a little over three minutes left. The field goal was good and the Falcons offense would never see the ball again. No more points for Ryan.
Of course at the same time, the Broncos trailed the Colts by just three, with six minutes to go with the ball. A 50–yard field goal wins the game for Bob. Even a shorter FG puts the game into overtime and keeps Bob’s hopes alive. Yet on the first play of the drive, Peyton Manning throws an interception. No big deal, right? Plenty of time to get the ball back. Nope, the Colts control the clock and play keep away for the game’s final six minutes. The Broncos never see the ball again. No more points for McManus. Ball game.
FINAL SCORE
WELCOME 2 FLA, ASSHOLES: 1,714
MUG LIFE: 1,670
Thanks to that one 44-point victory, the fortunes of two teams changed in 2015. Bob would suffer his first defeat of the season and suddenly all the jokes about handing him his fifth championship mug even before the playoffs began, all but disappeared. While he would wrap up both the top seed and scoring title, Bob would only break 1,500 once more time in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Griff would begin to dominate. First, Chris Johnson got hurt. This allowed Griff to pick up David Johnson and never look back. He finished the regular season as the two-seed with five straight wins and was declared the new favorite (by me) heading into the post-season.
In the post-season, Bob would dominated in the quarterfinals, scoring over 2,000 against Burrier, but he went down in the semis to Colby. Griff scored over 3,800 points defeating both Jeff and Matt, before winning his first title since 2005, crushing Colby.
After years of success, Griff finally put the cherry on top with a mug and with a scary trio of keepers heading into 2016, no more are we talking about the Bob dynasty, instead, we’re now talking about a Griff dynasty, as that one win in week nine may prove to be the changing of the guard.