Chris.Derecola

Lets recap how my fantasy football season went this past year. We won’t even talk about the unpleasantness that is the Dallas Cowboys.

Work League ~ 5-8 for 10th of 12
I don’t even really know what to say about this one. I knew walking out of the draft that my team sucked and some questionable trades through the year made sure it didn’t have any delusions of greatness. I spent most of the year deciding between the Ravens RBs and paid the price. The players were out there but because of school (at least that’s what I’m blaming it on), I didn’t watch the waiver as closely as I should have. The guy that ended up winning was because he watches waivers like a hawk. For what it’s worth, there were 5 teams in this league at 6-7 and two people with that record made the playoffs.

Father/Son League ~ 6-8 for 8th of 10
I drafted well and started 4-1 as a result. Then I had some really bad lineup and injury problems and dropped the next 5. I didn’t make any waiver moves during those 5 loses and again I’m going to blame school for that one. I picked up the next 2 games to move to 1 game out of a playoff spot but returned to my sucking ways the last 2 weeks and plummeted down the standings. Probably the most unfortunate thing about it is I was the team with the weekly high score the most weeks in the season… and we no longer pay on that. How I managed to do that and lose, I’m not quite sure. Oh that’s right, in keeping with tradition I had the 2nd highest points against. At least my dad got 2nd place again (I beat him last year).

Family Pick’em ~ 128 correct (141 won) for 5th of 9
What can I say other than I was middle of the road all year long. I’m pretty sure it’s because I suggested we up the entry fee 40% this year. At least I managed to beat the two people who missed a week and got high score 2 of the weeks.

I think this is the first year since I’ve been playing fantasy football (10+ years) that I haven’t made the playoffs in any of my leagues. I managed to lose to the teams in both leagues that weren’t being actively managed, so I guess I deserve it. Mark it down as one of the more disappointing years in football for me.

As you may have heard, we spent Christmas in Atlantic City. With no family local for the holidays, time winding down on my school break and a desire for just the two of us to get away, we decided it was time to take a break. We drove up to The Borgata on Christmas Eve and stayed two nights, with a quick road trip to have Christmas dinner with my sister’s family and my mom. We ended up spending 12 of a 49 hour period in the car but I guess that’s the kind of stuff we do.

I spent a lot of time haunting AC in my college days, but that was a fairly long time ago. The Borgata wasn’t around then and since people say it’s the most Vegas-esque casino there, we had to check it out. It’s large, fairly upscale, the casino is freakin’ huge and even the cheap rooms are furnished well with nice bathrooms. It’s not nearly as ridiculous as some of the casinos out west but it definitely has that Vegas feel… especially when compared to other places in AC.

We had a “nice dinner” at Ombra on Christmas Eve and while the food was pretty good, the service and ambiance were just plain horrible. It’s worth mentioning I had osso bucco and the marrow was just plain amazing. The sauce with it tasted a bit manufactured, but the marrow made that okay. The dining room was surrounded by glassed-in wine racks on 2 sides so even though there couldn’t have been more than a dozen and a half tables in the place, we had to basically yell at the waitress to place our order. Well, that was if we could find her. I wasn’t exactly keeping track, but I’m pretty sure we were seated 10 minutes before we saw her and waited another 20 to after dessert for the bill. Overall, bad times.

Things didn’t go quite so poorly on the casino floor. I played nothing but craps and managed to only lose $10 during the course of the trip. I started off pretty poorly and it wan’t long before I dropped the first $80. Eventually one of the tables got hot and I was up ~$175 before giving a good bit of that back when the table cooled off. I spent the remainder of the winnings over the course of Christmas night and finally ended down in the final roll. Spending $10 for hours of entertainment and free ($1 tip) drinks? That’s a better ROI than a movie and definitely a win.

As a side, if you ever find yourself rolling along Route 40 in South Jersey, be sure to stop at the Elmer Diner. Not only is it a classic diner in every sense of the word, they also deep fry their scrapple instead of griddle frying it. It’s fantastically delicious and if done right, it’s actually better for you because a crust forms and keeps the oil from seeping in.

Christmas Day in the Borgata. It ain’t Vegas but it will have to do. We decided to get away for a few days but couldn’t let on because we surprised my Mom at my sister’s house in NJ. More details to come in the next few days.