Happy 4th of July!!  Don't even think about missing Joey Chestnut in action later today...



In the ongoing Fantasy Guy series, Refuses To Participate Guy and his first cousin Never Pays Attention Guy will be profiled:

Refuses To Participate Guy (RTPG) is the kind of guy who drafts a team and then is never heard from the rest of the season.  No posts, no responses to trade offers, and next to no transactions/moves.  In the vast majority of cases, RTPG will not be in contention for a league title and he is absolutely no threat.  However, occasionally a perfect storm occurs and RTPG's team simply can't be beaten.  This happened a couple years back in my fantasy basketball league when RTPG drafted a solid team, nobody missed more than five games all season because of injury, about eight of his players had career years, and he only needed to make four moves.  RTPG simply rode the wave, didn't respond to trade offers, and coasted to victory.  I don't think he made one post the entire year.  Not even when it was clear that no other team could catch him.  The next season this guy wasn't as fortunate and finished well out of contention as per the norm.  

First Cousin Never Pays Attention Guy (NPAG) is great to have in a fantasy league because it's like taking candy from a baby...or in this case money from someone who is never going to win.   This is the guy who drafts players who are out for the entire year (e.g. Greg Oden), drafts players that don't have a prayer of putting up good numbers, doesn't submit a lineup on a regular basis, repeatedly leaves players in his lineup who are doing poorly, or leaves players doing extremely well on the bench indefinitely.  NPAG is usually a happy-go-lucky guy who keeps in touch with old friends by taking part in their fantasy leagues.  Certainly no harm in that as NPAG is probably getting out of the league exactly what he wants.  However, I've also been in a couple leagues where NPAG has literally no idea what is going on.  You know, like when NPAG drafts a blocking back like Mack Strong in the 6th round and wonders why everybody is choking back the laughter.   Although I've been known to be pretty competitive at times, I'll often provide a helping hand to NPAG's who don't have a clue.  After all, it's only right...