2013 Travel Log

Full disclosure, this is long, and probably doesn't interest you.

So I didn’t do a whole lot of blogging during our time in Florida. I didn’t want to be one of those over-sharers (even though I kinda was on facebook/twitter).  I’m not going to give a recap on the Florida trip here so much, but a general summary of all of our adventures and travels in 2013.

So here are a list of the places we (or I) spent some time this year (places out of the ordinary anyways, so no St. George or Provo references).

San Diego for New Years, and all the cities that require getting there and back.

We went to Jerusalem (I went for a week, Jocelyn went for two).  So to get there I went from SLC to Houston to Newark to Tel Aviv (the airport in Israel).  While in Israel we went to a bunch of awesome places, but I won’t go into detail here. Suffice it to say there was lots of travel over there.  On the way back we flew through Newark again and then Denver, and back to SLC. I was originally supposed to go through Toronto on my way to Tel Aviv, but there were some delays and plane problems, so I went to Newark instead.  Kinda, bummed, but oh well.

So shortly after I got back, I flew out to Baltimore with EY.  I went through Minnesota to get there, so that was somewhere new for me.  I was out there for a couple of days, and then flew back (pretty sure that was direct to SLC).

I got back from that trip on Friday (I think) and then that next Sunday, I flew down to Orange County California also with EY. That was a few days as well.  Once I got home from that trip (that was a very busy 2 weeks) we didn’t have any travels for a while.

Once August rolled around, we packed up and moved out to Florida. We stopped in Nebraska, Maryland, and North Carolina along the way. While in Florida, we didn’t travel to far from the Orlando area (no Miami) except for the one time I went to the Rays/Red Sox game.

Once it came time to leave, we went from Orlando, to Louisiana, New Mexico, and then to St. George.  We also went to San Diego for Christmas, and then from there back to Utah.

What I learned, I can go work for Disney, spend 4 months surrounded by it, and still be upset I was in Southern California three times this year and didn’t go to Disneyland.  I feel like I have my priorities right. 

So now I will give you a big long list of the major interstates we drove on, and the major cities we drove through/visited.

I-4 (Florida)

I-5(California)

I-8(California)

I-10(Florida, Alabama, Mississippi)

I-15(Utah, Nevada, California)

I-20(Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas)

I-30(Texas – Very brief time on this highway)

I-35(Texas – Very brief time on this highway)

I bring you a break in interstates to rant about Texas. We drove through lots of small roads and cities on Texas…I kinda hate Texas for how much time I had to spend there. Back to your boring list of interstates.

I-40(Texas, New Mexico, Arizona – we spent a lot of time on I-40 because I didn’t want to take any smaller roads after Texas)

I-70(Pennsylvania, Maryland)

I-75(Florida)

I-80(Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana [at some point this was also I-90], Ohio,

I-95(Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida)

Now, in more or less the order that we drove through (or close enough that I’ll count) them, here are a list of cities that I think are important enough to be on this list.  There will be random paragraphs…only for the white space.

Lincoln, Omaha (oh Peyton Manning), Des Moines, Chicago, South Bend, Toledo (only included because BYU used to play them so often), not really but kinda Cleveland, and same with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington DC.  Richmond, Raleigh, Durham, Some other St. George (but not as cool), Savannah, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Gainesville, Tallahasee. 

Mobile, Hattiesburg (home of Brett Favre) Jackson, Monroe (that made me happy happy happy), Dallas (very not happy), Amarillo (the first big town we had seen since Dallas…which was like 9 hours earlier), Albuquerque (no walter white though).  Side note, if you made it this far, I’m sorry, but my real side note is we drove through 3 areas where 3 of the biggest TV shows of the last year are filmed. South GA (walking dead), Monroe LA (duck dynasty), and Albuquerque (breaking bad). I feel kinda awesome…more so than usual that is.  Anyways, here is the home stretch.

Flagstaff, some of the Grand Canyon, St. George (other than coming home from my mission, I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to see St. George…and get out of a car), Las Vegas, a bunch of California, which led to San Diego, and then Imperial Beach…from there we actually saw Tijuana.  We brought our passports, but never actually went through.  Kinda a bummer.

And now I’m in Provo, delaying homework.  It’s due tomorrow night, so I don’t feel too bad at the moment, but still. Anyways, if I can put homework off, I will. I will try and blog more, but no promises.  After this the 3 of you that read this are probably ok with that.

Playoff Layout

So this what the playoffs look like now (assuming Lynch doesn’t get hurt early, and totals 3.6+ points).

#1 – Chad

#2 – Ren

#3 – Tyler (wins his division, and is therefore guaranteed a top 3 seed, even if his power ranking/overall standing would have put him behind me)

#4 – Skyler

#5 – Jordan (had less points than Brady, but one more win)

#6 – Brady

However, if Lynch gets hurt or something, here is what the scenario would be.

#1 – Chad

#2 – Jordan

#3 – Ren

#4 – Skyler

#5 – Tyler

#6 – Brady

So the north division has their spots locked up at 1, 4 and 6.  However, bye weeks depend on Lynch not getting a concussion, or playing his worst game all year.  Though he has scored 3.7 this year, as well as 6.9 and 7.2, and I think that’s without injury.  So who knows. I could be wrong.  I had to double and triple check this and make changes.  So leave comments correcting me.  It’s not been my week. 10 and a half hours in a car leaves you loopy.  Also, had Matt won, he would have been in.  Brady would like to thank Trevor for the help.  Even after I gave Trevor grief about who to start, he still won.

Going into the last week

Let’s get to the obvious.  Rob, Geoff, Koko and Trevor are out.  What I’m about to say isn’t 100% certain.  I mean there is always the chance Jordan wins, Ren wins, and Jordan outscores Ren by 270 points, but it’s not likely. If there is a chance points come into play, I’ll let you know.  Otherwise, someone has a better record, or is leading by like 70 points and should be safe.

Win or lose, chad has a bye.  Ren has a bye if he wins, or Jordan loses.  Jordan has a bye if he wins and Ren loses.  The winner of Jordan and Tyler will win the division. If Jordan wins he has the better record, if Tyler wins, they have the same record and Tyler wins on points. Jordan is in the playoffs no matter what.

Now to the gray areas.  Of the teams with 7 or less wins, I’m leading Hukill by 40, who leads matt by 20, who leads brady by 7, who leads kyle by 40.  Check the standings on Tuesday, or the table at the bottom of the post for point/standing breakdown. 

If Matt or Kyle lose, they are out.  Winner of Brady/Skyler is guaranteed in.  I have a decent enough of a lead in points, that I should get in even if I lose next week, as long as my team doesn’t score an all-time low of like 70. 

If Hukill wins, the last playoff spot will be battled out by the loser of Skyler/Brady, Matt and Kyle (assuming they both win).  I have a 60 pt lead on Matt, and 107 on kyle, so I’m in a solid position even if I lose.  Brady on the other hand is down 7 on Matt and up 40 on Kyle, so that would come down to how much he scores vs how much Matt scores for a playoff spot.  Matt should be cheering for him to win, brady to lose, and tyler to lose just to be safe. 20 points behind hukill can be recovered in one week.

I feel like most everything can be deciphered from there, but I’ll break down the last 5 people real quick in best and worst case scenario (both within the realm of possibility…there will be no predictions of 60 point losses or anything.

Skyler: Best – win and in.  Worst – lose, everyone else win, likely beat matt and kyle by points tiebreaker.

Hukill: Best – win and get division title (but no shot at a bye). Worst – he loses, brady wins, and matt outscores him by 20, while he doesn’t outscore me by 40.  That happens and he’s out. Or brady could lose instead of me, but outscore hukill by 25.  He would also be out.

Brady: Best – win and in.  Worst – lose and have matt win, while not outscoring matt by more than 7 points.  That happens and he’s out…and/or kyle win and kyle outscores him by 40.

Matt: Best – win, Brady lose, Tyler lose.  He then ties them on record, and if he outscored hukill by 20, while staying ahead of brady in points, could take the 5^th seed.  Worst – Lose and he’s out.

Kyle: Best – win, Matt lose, Tyler lose, Brady lose.  He would pass matt in record, and then he would have to outscore brady by 40 and Hukill by 65 to claim the 5^th seed, and outscore only one of them for the 6^th seed.  It’s very unlikely Kyle makes it.  Worst – lose and out.

That’s it.  Here is the table of the teams, their wins, and their points.

I am Batman	9	1584.26
El Gordo	8	1685.18
P- Town	8	1417.88
Dixie	7	1502.8
Hukraine	7	1460.4
B EZ ON MY SNAX	7	1435.82
BHers	6	1442.82
Hit Squad	6	1395.98

Two Weeks Left

So due to the predictions of one team and his ability to make the playoffs, I decided to write a new playoffs scenario.  Also, at the bottom I am going to include some possible rule changes, format changes, site changes, and owner changes.

So the standings changed.  Some of my predictions happened, some didn’t. Some of my predictions were based on what I wanted to see happen, so I shouldn’t be shocked that I got them wrong.  Unless Ren falls apart and loses out, he will have a bye – just on sheer points.

Chad won.  That makes me mad.  I needed him to lose to have a shot at the division title. This is a big week for both of us.  I have to win by about 80 points to really have a tie going into the last week, but that’s not going to happen.  He will win the division as long as he doesn’t lose both games.

I’m no lock to make the playoffs, so beating chad would make sure I get in, as well as give me a chance at the division title.  Fortunately for me, Jordan plays Kyle this week.  If I lose and Jordan loses, then I’m tied record wise with Jordan and Kyle going into the last week. If kyle loses, that will keep me a game ahead of him no matter what.

Brady also has a big week against Geoff, he is projected for a nice big win, which will help keep him in the playoff hunt now that he has the same record as Tyler and Kyle.

I know already mentioned Kyle vs. Jordan, but a win for Jordan will keep him ahead for the division race. I’ll get to this later, but it’s likely that the South division will only have Ren in the playoffs, and Chad is most likely in. So winning your division keeps you from the elimination bubble.  If Kyle wins (by more than 6.64 points), he will pass Jordan in the rankings.

I’m not sure what to say about Hukill.  I thought he was the surging team (he still could be), but Koko has the highest current win streak (tied with chad) and could be the surging team. While he can’t catch anyone with 7+ wins, he could catch anyone with 6 if they lose out.  He needs Jordan to win his games to keep Kyle and Tyler at 6 wins.  That would put Chad, Skyler, Ren, and Jordan ahead of him, with Brady Kyle, and Tyler all at 6 wins (not likely, but it could happen). 

If the above scenario happens, BHers and Native Americans could still be in the hunt as well.  If Trevor wins out, he will have 6 wins.  That would be 1 more loss to Matt, but if he beat Ren this week, he would also end at 6 wins.  I think it’s all very unlikely, but if 6 teams ended at 6-7, it would then come down to total points, which I’m not going to guess because that’s even harder to get than wins.

Rob and Geoff, I’m sorry.  Better luck next year.  You can play spoiler to some other teams though.  In fact, I need Geoff to win out if I want a small chance to win my division.  Well, I think that’s everyone.  Now to the changes that could happen next year.

So there have been some keeper complaints: should we be able trade them and then keep them, should we be able to keep waiver wire pickups, should we get rid of keepers all together?  I’m ok with whatever.  Honestly, I’m all up for what is best for the league.  You can argue thinking long term is good for the league or playing in the moment is good for the league, and both have valid points.  I just ask that people be objective in their view of the rules. I don’t like how one year keepers are bad, but then the next year it’s great because you have a great keeper. So try and be reasonable. But it appears something needs to change.

One of the arguments for removing keepers is that it puts more skill and importance on draft day, which is everyone’s favorite day anyways.  My only issue with that, is it makes draft day longer, and sometimes we all take too long, or aren’t prepared, and 2-3 extra rounds would make that longer.  You can argue that’s good or bad, but it’s another way to think of keepers changing our favorite day of the year.

Tanking – it happens.  I have minimal issue with what Rob is doing because he is trying to build for next year, and it’s in the rules – I do hate that he is trading with people in my division, but that’s just me being biased and subjective.  However, I don’t want people giving up and not worrying about this year.  Plus now Rob has great keepers and has the inside track to next year’s 1^st overall pick.  Obviously, we can’t change this for next draft, because it’s unfair, but what if we have the winner of the consolation bracket get the 1^st overall pick? That way people still try all year long.  Other options would be to make the trade deadline earlier (that could be fine), or expand the playoffs to 8 teams. 

I will say straight up, I don’t like expanding the playoffs.  Sure, more people get in and will try harder, but that makes most of the regular season worthless.  The year I won it all, we had several teams with losing records in the playoffs.  If we expanded to 8 teams, how many teams would make it that wouldn’t really earn it? Plus, that 8 seed could upset the 1 seed in the first round.  There isn’t a benefit on seeding (because there is no bye week), the benefit is in the schedule and match-ups.  That is my opinion on expanding the playoffs.

Other changes could be to change tie-breakers. I feel like basing it on record and then points is probably the most accurate representation of someone’s season.  However, if we wanted to make tie-breakers based on head-to-head results to make individual games matter just a little bit more, I’m ok with that.  It would change things to some degree.  I believe the year I won, had we gone to head to head tie-breakers, Brady would have made it ahead of me, I would have moved down to the 6 seed, and Ren would have been eliminated.  I don’t think I would have won that year. So there’s something to think about.

I was thinking there is the possibility of putting the divisions up to 4, with 3 teams each.  That way we could play each division team twice (4 total) plus the other 9 teams (13 games total now) and still have the playoffs go from weeks 14-16.  It’s not great, but it could fit with some of the rule changes (like if we wanted to expand playoffs). Part of the reason I suggest that is because there is one opponent we don’t play every year, and this would change that.

Geoff mentioned switching to ESPN.  I have no issues with that, but I don’t know everyone else’s feelings.  My only concern is having to get everyone to adjust to the new page.

So Konner will be going on a mission at some point, and we will need to replace him.  If we stick with our “tradition” theme we often go with, we should probably have my brother Logan replace him or Tommy Leavitt, since they were both original members of the league in 2006.  However, if we want to find someone else, or widen the pool, we need to find a way to do that.  I was thinking start up a minor league.  We won’t drop anyone down to it, but we have enough interest that we could start up the minor league, and the winner can move up to replace Konner.  Plus we have a pool of replacements if anyone quits, dies, or sucks too much.

Please comment on any of the possible changes.  Feedback is always encouraged. To encourage more feedback, I was thinking of creating a competition committee of 3-5 members that can go over rules and make rule changes.  So let me know what you think of that as well.

Fantasy Football Musings

So in all reality, there are too many weeks left to really analyze playoff scenarios.  There are so many what if's that it's hard to go over every scenario.  So here are the most likely scenarios, based on projections, my gut, and past performances.  Not a lot of player projections though.  So anyways, here we go.  To access the league page click here.

Things I hope: That I win it all again.  Ok, now to the real stuff.

Things I know:

1 - Ren has wrapped up his division.  He has a 4 game lead over Matt (who is number 2 in the division) with only 3 games left.

2 - Rob is out of the playoffs. Other out of the playoffs that will likely happen: Geoff, Koko, Trevor.  Here is why.  At 3 wins, they cannot catch Ren, Chad, Jordan, or the winner of Skyler/Brady (or both if we tied that game) even if those people lose out.  They would then be tied record wise with the loser of Skyler/Brady and Kyle (if those people lose out) and would then depend on points for the tiebreaker.  However, counting on people to lose out or win out is a tall order.

3 - So to make a visual of that last point, Jordan, Ren, Chad and winner of Skyler/Brady's week 13 game will end with 7 wins minimum (Ren already has more, and Jordan and Chad will likely win one of the next three to end with more than 7 wins).  So if you want a shot of getting into the playoffs, you need to get to 7 wins. 8 wins to make a strong case. 9 Guarantees it. 6 teams could get to 9 wins if everything bounces there way.  But really only 5 have a shot since Brady and Skyler can't both get to 9 wins...also, it is a big if for all of those teams to get to 9 wins.

4 - My division will be crazy if Brady beats Chad and I beat Geoff.  The top 3 teams will be 7-4.  That could be fun.

Things I will speculate on:

1 - Geoff, you are my bro, and if I had to suit up and go to McLaren's with anyone from this league, it would be you. However, I think I beat you this week.  The projection will likely change when you update your roster, but still.  I want to believe I will win.  As this is my blog, I can do that. Plus it makes #4 up above possible.

2 - Jordan loses to Koko this week. And maybe to Kyle next week.  I'm sorry, but I just don't love Ryan, Ridley, Richardson or Wallace.

3 - Hukill could go on a run. He has some really good running backs, and I don't like it. I'm glad I don't play him again during the regular season.  Speaking of scary, chad with megatron and CJ2K's schedule...it scares me.

4 - T Rich is getting so many dump off passes this game, I hate him less than when I speculated on number 2.

5 - I don't think Matt makes the playoffs.  He needs to win out to get to 7 wins, and that just isn't a good scenario to be in.  He has to play Ren, and I already mentioned 4 other guys that will get to 7 wins (or more)

Well that's it. I don't want to speculate anymore or else I'll be up all night.  I'll try and write throughout the next two weeks once we know more.

Getting Last Night Out of my System

I have the tendency of either caring way too much or not enough about something. I'm either super passionate or totally indifferent towards most things. Go big or go home right?

Well this drives my wife crazy. She would rather I was moderate about everything. Unfortunately I'm just not that way. And because I'm so passionate about certain things, I get emotionally attached. If things go well, I'm happy, if not -- well it's probably best to not talk to me.

And this leads me to last nights game. As a BYU fan, I'm very passionate about my team, and because we lost, I'm rather unhappy about it. My thought is maybe if I get all my thoughts out here instead of spamming people on Facebook, I'll get over it sooner. So anyways, here goes nothing. Here are all the things that I'm mad about.

Our offensive play calling: I'm beginning to remember why we let Anae go a few years ago. The play calling was too predictable and not very effective. Jocelyn made the comment that she has started learning more when you should pass or when you should run, and that BYU wasn't doing so well at it. I get that we didn't want to abandon the run, but the Utes D line was not giving us that option. Once we started playing a quick tempo pass game on the mid routes, we moved the ball much better than running for three yards, running for two yards, trying to throw for 20 yards, then punting. Then again maybe the deep pass stuff wasn't all Anae's fault.

Taysom Hill: I like Taysom Hill. I think he will be a good QB and I think he has gotten better at passing as the year has gone on. That being said, he holds onto the ball far too long and then goes for the deep throw. However, at least he can throw it deep unlike our last QB and he doesn't throw it so high that it's a threat to be picked like two QB's ago. Hill needs to stick to the quick short and mid throws, build his confidence and skill, move the chains, and only go deep on the last play of the game or half.

Cody Hoffman: Just kidding, I love Hoffman. I blame the subjects of the previous tow paragraphs for him not being involved in the first half.

The Refs: They were bad on both sides of the ball. Everyone has a right to not like them this game. After two bad weeks in a row, they should be out of work for a little while.

BYU fans: I liked the showing up early part, but we got down and quiet too soon. We got to do better at being loud. Speaking of which, we are supposed to be loud on defense, quiet on offense. I think BYU should require all freshman to take a half credit class called how to be a real fan 100.

Ute fans: I just want to say I agree with Max Hall. I mean uh...crap. In all honesty 99.9% of the Ute fans were fine. I have no qualms with you. Your team was better and you should enjoy it. The 0.1% (or less) I have issues with were a few I saw on TV and a few I saw on Twitter.

To those at the stadium I didn't like by just seeing you on tv (there was only 3 of them that did this). I can understand you cheering for your team, but gloating to every BYU fan around you and motioning them to be quiet or sit down after a big Utah play is just dumb.

I don't know if you feel secure that no one at BYU will do anything to you, but there is no way you could get away with that at most other sporting venues (on any level) so please don't do it.  It just makes you annoying to everyone around you, and then when someone responds, you call them names (jerks, mean, classless, hypocrites, etc) and act all hurt. Speaking of calling names.

To a person on twitter I won't call out by name -- Throwing out blanket statements like I don't like BYU fans because they are all classless is Max Hall like. Don't stoop to that level. Doesn't your mean spirited tweet also prove you are lacking in class at worse or overly emotional at best? Give the BYU fans the benefit of the doubt that they are being over emotional too, because I know I was.

Well that's it I think. I certainly do feel better, but that might all change in 10 minutes, so who knows.  My teams went 2 for 3 on the weekend, so I can't get too mad.

100th post: My thoughts after the passing of my cousin Shelly

For my 100^th post I wish to pay a small tribute to my cousin Shelly, and to a smaller extent, my family, and even smaller extent to those of you who are close enough friends that you might as well be family

Today, my cousin Shelly passed away.  It wasn't totally a surprise because I was told a few days back just how bad her health was, and how it was getting worse.  Still, it’s always sad when family passes away.
 

When I heard about her health I started to think about my memories of Shelly.  Now to be fair, we are about 5-6 years apart, so we weren't particularly close, so coming up with memories took a little longer than I would have liked, but I came up with some random ones.  After looking at those memories I realized I had no definitive Shelly memory – which made me feel pretty bad.  I can remember totally random things like seeing her at a local baseball game once in St. George, or different family gatherings (generally around holidays) but nothing that came across as amazing.

After feeling a little guilty for a while, I started to think about other cousins, and then aunts and uncles, and even my immediate family – and then I realized something: I may have more memories with family who are closer in age, or lived closer to me geographically (meaning I had more contact with them), but I can’t think of any definitive memory of any family member.  I mean sure, I remember big special events (sometimes with way too much detail), but those aren't the definitive memory of one single person.  I have lots of memories involving lots of people, and that’s what makes them great – having lots of people you care about in life around you enough that there are no defining memories.  So for those of you that don’t have a defining memory in my mind, I want to say thanks for being around enough that you moved above having a defining memory.  I appreciate it.

Now, back to Shelly.  Like I said before, we weren't close in age – which unfortunately means we weren't close in general.  But here is what I can tell you.  First and foremost, I need to work on being a better family member be it cousin, nephew, brother, son, husband (you can add “-in-law” to all those words as well [except husband, that doesn't make sense]), because as I sit here, I can’t tell you much about her.  What I can tell you is that she has been living in Washington for a while and has two kids.  I can’t remember their names (like I said, I need to be a better family member) but I do remember that whenever I would hear about Shelly and her kids, it was always good things, about how much she loved them and would try hard to be a good mom.  You might think, “Well all moms try hard” and I would say that you’re probably right, but given just how hard of a life Shelly has had, that is no small accomplishment.  Truthfully, I might not even know 5% of all the stuff that she went through, but I know it was a lot – which makes the fact that she tried that much even more impressive.

I will say I'm embarrassed about some of the things I don't know about Shelly (or even my other family) and that I wish had more memories of her and others, but I appreciate the lesson that I was taught while remembering her.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Sanford’s.  It’s got to be an incredibly hard time on them, and I hope they are able to make it through.  And finally, I would like to encourage whoever is reading this to go out and A) be a good family member or friend and B) make enough memories with your loved ones that they don’t have one definitive memory.