Da Business

Bye weeks continue week 9 and will run through week 14. Plan accordingly. No International games week 9, but the international games return week 10 and 11 in Germany and Spain. No line up deadlines. Waiver wire runs on Thursdays, 5 pm PT/8 pm ET. Each team is permitted a maximum of two adds. Must include a drop for each add. No drops. No adds. Each player added is 5 bucks. No scraps. Waiver wire order is reverse order of points standing. Twelve through one round 1. Twelve through one round two. Weekly trade deadline is Fridays 9pm PT/midnight ET. Entry fee is 100 U.S. Dollars. You can Venmo me @Harold-Wenz. Look for the bearded guy wearing a Maybe Next Year t-shirt. Also, I accept PayPal and Zelle. And also, an old-fashioned check in the mail always works.

For The Record

Goocher (a.k.a. Gooch) – a powerful spiritual force or alter-ego that feeds off negativity, doubt and hopelessness. The force infiltrates innocent, unsuspecting sports fans and brings misfortune, misery, and a lifetime of sports fandom hardship. Lurking in the shadowy corners of the sporting world, this malevolent entity often goes undetected yet manifests itself in the most crucial sports moments. The Gooch is a master of disguise, slipping undetected and interjecting its anguish even in times of certain victory. With subtle whispers of alleged curses, the Gooch sows’ seeds of despair, turning moments of anticipation into lifetimes of disappointment and destitution. Under its influence, dreams of championship glory become distant memories, replaced by a relentless cycle of grief. The Gooch does not discriminate—it feeds on the universal vulnerability of belief, leaving its victims to wonder if their devotion to their team has doomed them to eternal sports sorrow.

Reverse Gooch – inciting the powers of the Gooch for your personal benefit; leveraging the misfortunes of the burdened souls in which the Gooch has manifested its powers to illicit the opposite result for your advantage. Essentially, gooching the goocher. A very risky maneuver due to the non-discriminatory nature of the Gooch’s influence and power, but if done correctly, the outcome can be very advantageous and rewarding.

Gooch-Proof – the act or state of sports franchises and/or fan bases that are protected from the negative powers of the Gooch. The most notable concentration of Gooch-Proofness is located in the Northeast portion of the United States, with the strongest footholds in the surrounding Boston metropolitan area.

Goochness – Exhibiting or mimicking powers of the Gooch. Manifesting misfortune and bad luck due to the repeated presence of Gooch-like tendencies or from lifelong Gooch interactions. Often misinterpreted as genuine Gooch powers, Goochness is just the inane ability to enable or foster gooch-like tendencies and outcomes solely stemming from direct perpetual associations with the Gooch.

Fading - In betting, to "fade" means to bet against a particular team, person, or public opinion. It is the opposite of "tailing," which means to follow and bet on the same pick as someone else.

Trash or Treasure

Speaking of Gooch Proof, Drake Maye and the Patriots just keep on rolling. Another 20+ fantasy performance for Maye, making that 6 of 8 weeks at 20+ points. Reverse Gooch: direct quote from last week’s Trash or Treasure, “now that the Commish has dubbed Saquon as trash, you’ll get a 40-burger this week. Guaranteed.” Well, it was close. Off by 2-points, 38-burger. CMC had a 7-week consecutive double digit fantasy streak going into week 8. It’s right about now where the uhh, the uhh, well, where it starts to get a little bit stinky. If I were TWT, I would unload CMC now before uhh, before the uhh, tides start to turn. You don’t want a neap tide rolling in. The lowest tide is called a neap tide and occurs when the gravitational forces of the sun and moon are at a 90-degree angle, pulling against each other. During this time, the difference between high and low tide is at its minimum. The term "neap" comes from an old word meaning "without power," referring to the weaker tides. Trust me, you don’t want to be around during a neap tide. The smells are horrid. Dead fish and rotten clams. And damn, Cam Skattebo was on the cusp of making the Treasure Board and then, yikes, not sure if your ankle is supposed to face in that direction. So disappointing as I had a Halloween themed newsletter in the works for next week featuring Cam Skatte-boo. Now back to the drawing board. Goochness: Mike Evans had 11 consecutive 1000 yards seasons. Whoops. Not this year.

Around the NFL – Week 8

More revenge games this week. Rodgers went up against his old team, the Packers, and got rolled. Saquon feasting on the Giants again. Reminding them what a great decision it was to trade him to the Eagles. Here is an interesting stat or maybe just a coincidence. Not sure if the NFL keeps track of this kind of stuff, but the Commish does. This week featured 4 starting QBs that all played at the same college. Justin Herbert, Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Marcus Mariota all started this week, and they all played for the Oregon Ducks. Tyler Shough also played QB for the Oregon Ducks and came off the bench this week to replace Spencer Rattler. That’s 5 University of Oregon Ducks QBs playing in the same NFL week. I’m sure it’s been done before but not on the same weekend that the Ducks unveiled their Grateful Ducks uniforms. My time coming any day, don't worry 'bout me, no. Been so long I felt this way, but I'm in no hurry, no. Rainbows end down that highway where ocean breezes blow. My time coming, voices saying they tell me where to go. Derrick Henry is now 5^th on the all-time rushing TD list as he passes Walter Payton with 112 career rushing TDs. I still can’t believe Mike Ditka didn’t give Payton a TD in that Super Bowl blow-out. Another reason to hate the Chicago Bears organization. You’d rather give Refrigerator Perry a TD, than one of the greatest RBs in NFL history? Fuck Chicago and everything and anything associated with it. Not to mention that Chicago killed Jerry Garcia. Don’t believe me? Look it up. The Grateful Dead’s last performance. In a bed, in a bed. By the waterside, I will lay my head. Listen to the river sing sweet songs. To rock my soul. Okay, maybe the Colts are not frauds. Frogs? Or Frauds? Frog protection. Another 30+ point game for the Colts, which gives them 6 of 8 games of 30+ points on the season. Josh Allen became only the 2^nd QB with 70 career rushing TDs and now is the only QB in NFL history with a rushing and passing TD in 46 games. Hey, how ‘bout them Jets? J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. There will not be a winless team in the NFL in 2025. Here’s a stat that was a little disheartening if you’re a Cleveland Browns fan: the Browns haven’t won a game in New England in 33 years. For all you bettor’s out there, Happy Sports Betting Equinox! Monday marked the first day of the year when degenerate gamblers could place wagers on all 4 major sporting leagues on the same day with live wagering on NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. I hope you hit a 4-game interleague parlay. In Seattle this day also coincides with the last day that the sun will set post 6 pm. From now until the end of the year the sun will set before 6 pm and with daylight savings time only a few weeks away, sunset will be sub 5 pm. Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping. Left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain. Still remains. Within the sound of silence.

THFFL Week 8 Recap – Save the Season

Week 8 may have been the turning point for a season saving win. Any last gasp of hope, any chance to make a run, it had to come this week with only 5 more THFFL regular season games left. Contrastingly, some owners may be faced with the realization that it’s Maybe Next Year. Let’s start out with the optimism of hope. Number 9 looked dead in the water just as recently as last week at 2-5. But a surprising victory in week 8 vs Uncle Rico may have N9 singing a different tune at 3-5. If the playoffs ended today, a 4-4 team would get the last Wild Card spot. At 3-5 that puts N9 only one game out of the playoffs. How quickly outlooks turn in fantasy football. Even N9 was calling it a year, folding his cards, riding it out with only 1 starting QB in week 8, but Chase Brown and Chris Boswell had other plans. And with a little Rico misfortune as Skattebo was well on his way to a 30-burger until that brutal ankle injury, coupled with a Josh Allen sub-20 output and a Golden goose-egg on Sunday night, N9 found themselves a doable 45-points down on Monday Night with Rico shooting blanks. N9 with a quintuplet of starters in the Nighter with Mariota, Hunt, Deebo, Kelce and the KC unit. Hunt tied his season best with 16 points, Kelce with a season best 17 points and Mariota and the KC unit chipped in with a respectable 24 combined and it was winner winner chicken dinner. Number 9 back in the “Hunt” at 3-5. Rico reeling with back-to-back losses stumbles to 4-4. Dare I say MoroXcan has risen from the dead at 2-6 a week before Hallow’s Eve? Sure, at 2-6 MoroXcan has an uphill battle, but a loss would’ve ended his season at 1-7. Week 8 is save the season week and MoroXcan definitely did that against a perennial post season participant TWT. It wasn’t pretty at 106-102, but you don’t get style points in the THFFL. Sure, MoroXcan had a couple of bagels, but he got a Breece Hall burger and on the day that George Kittle invented, National Tight End Day, he comes up big with a tuddy. MoroX had to sweat it out on Monday Night up 36 points with Worthy, while TWT countered with Mahomes and McLaurin. A heartbreaker for TWT as Mahomes one-yard short of the 300-yard bonus that would have given them 4 extra points for the106-106 tie. TWT will be up all night hitting the refresh button on the RT Sports game center page. How bout now? Refresh. How bout now? Refresh. That last pass looked like 4 yards to me. Keep refreshing TWT. That last yard is coming. I can feel it. Game of the week featured two teams vying for the overall one seed. The Scooby Doobies and Danger Russ. A matchup of two powerhouse teams, that unfortunately were de-throttled by injuries and byes with the Scoobies coming away with a 112-93 victory. Both managers scrounged together a workable starting lineup featuring only 1 starting QB and the double defense strategory. With the less-than-optimal lineups, this was going to come down to one outlier, one unexpected turn of events, a long shot, or perhaps a clever waiver wire add. Scoobs got the National Tight End Day memo and brilliantly plucked Oronde Gadsen II off the waiver wire and that was the difference in this chess match. Well, that and Bijan having his worst fantasy day on the worst possible day of the fantasy season for Danger Russ. I think there is a rematch in their future, but game 1 goes to Scoobie. Both teams are sitting pretty at 6-2. I would be remiss if I didn’t lead into the 3^rd 6-2 team also in contention for the overall one seed and that would be the Gooch-Proof Day Spa. They got a little scare this week from Je ne Saquon but ultimately held on for the 147-128 win. Both teams traded 38-burgers with Cook and Saquon respectively, but Day Spa got more production from the supporting cast and on National Tight End Day, Goedert shined with 2 TDs while Saquon’s rookie Warren didn’t find the endzone. TreVeyon Henderson leading the Pats backfield in week 8. Currently 44^th ranked fantasy RB, only 32 fantasy points out of the coveted 15^th spot. That’s another lock for you Day Spa. Three weeks tops and you’ll be in the money. Saquon followed the fantasy rules. Always play your 3 name guys on Monday Night. Fantasy Gods not happy with Saquon in 2025 as they fall to a league worst 1-7. Last but not least the Astral Cowboys putting a major dent in the Grim Reefers playoff possibilities with a 138-87 no-doubt-about-it victory. Is the Jordon Love, Tucker Kraft stack the stack of the season? We were all playing checkers, Astral was playing chess. Unbelievable. Love and Kraft combine for the 63-stack in week 8 and the second 40+ stack of the season. If you would have told me that “Kraft” was going to be a tasty stack, I would have assumed you were talking about a Ham and Swiss on Rye Bread stack with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Sevens were wild for Greefer in week 8, and not in a good way. Mark Andrews boycotting National Tight End Day and pretty much boycotting playing Tight End the entire season. Astral is in good shape at 5-3. Greefer sifting through seeds and stems at 3-5. I was lying on the grass on Sunday morning of last week. Indulging in my self-defeat. My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged, all twisted, wrong and beat. A comfortable three feet deep. Now the fuzzy stare from not being there on a confusing morning week. Impaired my tribal lunar speak. And of course, you can't become if you only say what you would have done. So, I missed a million miles of fun.

Just Another Lizard For Peace