In an article earlier this semester, I gave a detailed, week-by-week breakdown of how terribly my fantasy football team was performing. When that article was published, I had 2 wins, 4 losses, and was in last place in my division, and also in last place overall in the league. I was seriously pondering whether to sell my best players to people in the league that actually had a possibility of making the playoffs. I had completely given up hope of even making the playoffs.

What a difference two months makes.

With week 12 in the books, my team, nicknamed “tombrady’s hair” finished second in the division, and  by some miracle, made the playoffs. Out of 12 teams, my team finished fifth. I am riding a 4 game-winning streak, and hoping like hell that it will continue. I sincerely hope that the fantasy playoffs mirror the real-life NFL playoffs, where it seems that one team gets hot at the end of the year, and ends up winning it all.

Despite starting off 2-4, this season just worked itself out. In week 7, my opponent had also given up for the season. I figured that even though I probably wouldn’t win anything, I was damned well not giving up without a fight, and was going to at least save myself some embarrassment. Despite Tom Brady scoring only 7 points, it was offset by Frank Gore and Roy Helu both scoring 22 points, and Calvin Johnson putting up 27. I won this one going away, 110-62. Suddenly I was 1 game away from being .500, at 3-4.

I didn’t know it at the time, but week 8 ended up helping me out. I played the other manager from work, and ended up tying him 83-83. Calvin Johnson ended up scoring 36 points, which helped, because Tom Brady only scored 6. I went into the Monday night game needing 4 points to win, with 2 players playing. They scored 3 points, and we ended up with a tie. I was 3-4-1 at this point

I ran into a buzzsaw in week 9. Tom Brady finally did something, and scored 33 points for me, but it made little difference. My opponent, the office comedian, had Andrew Luck score 24 points, Andre Johnson score 40, Zac Stacy score 29, and his defense scored 16. I ended up losing, 158-86. It was the most points scored all year in our league. My team was 3-5-1 at this point, and up until now, it is the last loss I have experienced.

The current win streak started in week 10 against the hot girl in the office. Believe it or not, she is an extremely well-educated football fan, and I was worried going into this matchup. There was no need. With strong performances from Brady, Johnson, Demarco Murray, and my defense, I won a close contest, 91-84. My record stood at 4-5-1.

Week 11 pitted me against one of my good friends in the office, whose season, up until that point, was going the way mine had. With “Megatron” going off for 29 points, and a fortunate last-minute TE pickup from waivers that scored me 17 points, I was able to win this one comfortably, 95-72. My record was now 5-5-1, good for a .500 win percentage.

Week 12 was, for lack of a better term, a miracle. I was playing the #1 team in the league, which belonged to the awkward customer service girl. I have no idea how she ended up in first place, but there she was, and I was playing her. Looking back, my decision to play Tavon Austin was the difference-maker, as he came off my bench to score 15 points, good enough to help me to a 79-77 win. I was now 6-5-1. How did this happen? Well, I had enough bad luck to start the year, it’s about time I had some good luck come my way.

Week 13 was a blowout. My opponent had 4 or 5 empty spots, and hadn’t even logged into his account in months. Due to him having an incomplete team, I won this one handily, 97-29.

I ended the regular season with 7 wins, 5 losses, and a tie, good enough for the 5 seed in the playoffs. My team has won 4 in a row, and it seems like I stand a decent chance of winning the whole thing. But now it counts; one loss and my season is over. I like my chances, though; I have momentum on my side.

My playoff bracket includes the teams of the following people at work: one of the other managers, the professional comedian, the socially awkward girl, the 300-pound snuffaluffagus lookalike, and the ridiculously hot office girl. I have a personal and vested interest in beating each and every one of these teams. Maybe it will make me feel better about not being able to arbitrarily fire them. The smack-talking has already reached fever pitch. Everyone acts polite, of course, but no one is fooled. Time for play is over. It’s time to kill.

Perhaps fantasy football isn’t so futile. One thing is certain; it’s been an entertaining season.