2021 FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Final 4

 

Final Four Thoughts:

• Down go the 1 seeds! The Right side of the bracket has descended into madness, and the Jersey Shore has made a Cinderella run thanks to an easy road, some Esco propaganda, and the rare Bruno endorsement.
• I honestly don't know what to expect in either matchup here.
• Poconos and Burlington are two sides of the same coin, so I assume that convenience and spite will be the determining factors here. I predict a 9-7 win for the Poconos, but would not be surprised by any results.
• I have to assume that Asheville prevails over the Shore based on people actually wanting to visit the city, but the convenience factor cannot be ignored. A Draft Weekend in Wildwood would either be the best or worst experience we've had, including Ithaca and Baltimore.

2021 FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Elite 8

 

Elite Eight Thoughts:

• The Esco HiveMind moves on, with Portland and Burlington seemingly on a collision course in the Final Four. 
• Chicago has barely advanced in both rounds, despite being a pretty ideal city to visit in August, so I don't anticipate much of a fight in the Bottom Left.
• Poconos vs. Portland is going to be interesting, as they are the locations with the most combined votes in the first two rounds. I honestly don't see much of a difference between them, with housing likely better in the Poconos, and more of a downtown available in Portland. Convenience is the major differentiator here: Is a five hour drive from NYC or unnecessary flight worth having a downtown for over the 2 hour Poconos commute?
• Austin vs. Asheville is a classic Big Brother/Little Brother matchup. The weather in Asheville is the big Pro in my book, and makes up for the obvious convenience factor with Austin on my end.
• The Bottom Right seems like we'll be going through the motions as I can't see any scenario where the Jersey Shore wins, and this once again doesn't seem like Pittsburgh's year.

2021 FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Sweet 16

 

First Round Thoughts:

• No real upsets other than some 4/5s, though the Bennett hate was strong and AC put a scare into Chicago.
• The Esco hive-mind seems to give Burlington and Portland, ME some real momentum. Something to monitor if you're betting FALAFEL futures.
• The only real easy path belongs to Pittsburgh, which will be interesting due to the sporting event uncertainty, though I have a feeling that Burlington romps. Let's see if housing becomes an issue.
• Dark horse that has not gotten much chatter yet this year is Asheville, but since Esco apparently jumped off that train we'll need someone else to lead the charge.

2021 FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Bracket Reveal

 

Quick thoughts/facts on the bracket:

• Loyalty to the Poconos was huge, as it was on half of the ballots and had nearly double the weighted points of any other location.
• Pittsburgh continues its historic run of being a 1 seed without ever being chosen, with Austin probably the second most selected city that we have not actually drafted in.
• Burlington is a shocking #1, and there may have been collusion on the part of Weissbard, Esco, and Reap (Nick had it as his 5th choice but I assume he ignored any attempts at collusion).
• Outside of the top few picks there was not a lot of overlap on the ballots, leading to one-off choices like Lake Tahoe (Esco), Staten Island (Z), Los Angeles (Mejia), and Des Moines (Belfer) getting 5 seeds. Those submissions will definitely need to be defended during the discussion phase.
• I don't think the Poconos will be seriously challenged in their region, so they are the clear leader in the clubhouse.
• Austin tends to get equal amounts of support and hate, so between that and real challengers in Asheville and Minneapolis (on 3 ballots), I don't have a sense of what happens in that region.
• Jackson Hole is objectively a hilarious potential outcome, but I don't see it being a real contender, so Pittsburgh seems to have an easy Final Four path as well.
• The bottom left region is my personal favorite, with multiple cities that could go on a run and take down the Poconos in the Final Four.

Stevens Bowl XII Recap

What a Stevens Bowl and what a playoffs! Weissbard takes his second title in three years thanks to multiple last minute comebacks, and we will now have three league members in chef's hats that combine to the same height as Esco without one. Weiss had quite a few team names this year, but I think Big Kyler Brand will likely be etched into history and we'll all forget what the hell it means by 2030.

I've been debating a retrospective on each team to produce some offseason #content, and we should probably have Winter Meetings and start thinking about what a Draft Weekend would look like in 2021, but for now let's continue what is now a tradition and review the 5 reasons that Weissbard is the champ: 

5. Marco starting Marvin Jones and Tee Higgins over Nelson Agholor in Round 1
I don't blame Marco here, as Marvin and Higgins had played better than Agholor on the season. But given that these three ended up all within WRs 26-30 on the season, there was at least a choice to be made and Marco made the wrong one, giving Weissbard a win in the first round of the playoffs. If Marco starts Agholor here, he would have ended up losing to Levine in Round 2, and Levine would be the one with the chef's hat.

4. Drafting Aaron Rodgers for $3
I hated this pick when Weiss made it after he already had Kyler and had at that point spent $17 on two QBs (he would go on to add Tua as well). But any time you can draft the likely league MVP for the same price as Danny Dimes, Carson Wentz, N'Keal Harry, Greg Olsen, and Ryqell Armstead, that's an amazing draft pick. He didn't really see the field for you, but ended being even more valuable because he abled you to think about...

3. Trading for Stefon Diggs and Austin Ekeler
This series of trades ended up as a win for pretty much everyone, as Marco landed Keenan Allen and Antonio Gibson, and Gutman got Rodgers and Devante Parker, but Diggs was the key piece here. He was absurd all season, culminating in a Chef's Hat winning MNF performance against the Patriots. Ekeler was a cherry on top, starting all three playoff games and making up for the Steelers running game falling apart.

2. Levine forgetting to sub in David Johnson for Zack Moss
I do blame Levine here. I thought it was a curious move when I saw that he started Moss on Saturday, and his message to Weissbard shortly after kickoff confirmed it was an error. DJ responded with a huge day, and then Engram sealed the deal on Sunday night, leading to heartbreak for the league's most silent member (sorry Reap). Championships take a mix of skill and luck, and this definitely was the latter for our new champ.

1. Adding James Robinson for $1 in the first Free Agent Auction of the season
JRob had to be the most rostered playoff RB in fantasy football, though it hurt that he didn't play in Week 16. This was an all time free agent auction win, and I'm not sure why this aspect hasn't been discussed, but NICK BID $0 IN THE SAME AUCTION. Had he bid literally $2 more, we would almost definitely have a new champ, and Nick's season would look a hell of a lot different. In related news, Nick had $11 left in his FAAB budget when the season ended, and Dadbard gets his hat.

Final MotW Record: 18-9

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