Shout Out

I want to send out a big 'thanks' to Orsini Magique for all his contributions during the YFF season.

A rookie to the game, he's a lock to finish 3rd in our group (with an outside chance for 2nd). Every week we traded many, many emails discussing YFF ideas along with the merits of certain picks and match-ups. Sounding boards that helped each other out while providing many laughs and wry EPL observations along the way. So cheers L'OM ;)

YFF Season End

First off, apologies for not being able to maintain my YFF thoughts & picks :( . When the holiday fixtures hit, they came thick and fast, with several consecutive weeks of double games, so it became difficult to post pre- and post-game comments in a timely manner.

So, here we are at the end of the YFF season. Let me recap. I have hovered in the 350-450 overall world ranking range for most of the second half of the season, yet could not seem to push further ahead. I always seemed to be one pick short of a really good week, often replacing or not selecting a player that ended up scoring well. The lesson here is to go with your gut picks in many instances, tempered with some match-up & form analysis. But most often, it seemed like my first instinct picks would do well; alas, I did not listen enough, LOL.

In our private group, I have led for most of the season, with my reign atop the table briefly interrupted on a few short occasions by my main competitor - let's call him "Andy" for now [here is our group]. I have held onto Ronaldo the whole way while he dropped him, C-Ron has been my ace in the hole, but it's been pretty much a wash. There's been plenty of trash talk along the way too, so winning bragging rights is crucial. Heading into this last week, on paper, he is ahead of me by a solitary point, BUT the Rovers-Spurs match from Thursday has not been updated. I have 3 players that he does not, from that match, so their points would technically put me in first ahead of him going into the last round of matches. May not be much, but in a tight battle, every point is critical. Here's what the last head-to-head match-up comes down to:

Me ----------"Andy"
Berbatov -- Berbatov
Fowler -- Owen

Ronaldo -- McCarthy
Milner -- Milner
Downing -- Downing
Bentley -- Kewell
Cole -- Cole

Dawson -- Dawson
Mokoena -- Mokoena
Onyewu -- A. Taylor

Schwarzer -- Robinson

It's gonna be a tight finish. I hope Kewell crocks himself 15 minutes into the game, LOL. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that Taylor is out following a foot operation, so hopefully my scrub defender Gooch can score a few points and win me that match-up.