2011
2011
A couple of weeks ago Charlie Robertson dropped the bombshell that he was quitting the AFL after this season. People leaving the AFL isn’t that shocking. Getting fed up with the league after 19 years isn’t really a revelation either (trust me, I often get fed up with this league as well). Getting an email from a guy you’ve been friends with almost 30 years stating he’s quitting your league, complete with the “it’s not you it’s me” breakup rhetoric…yeah, that’s a kick in the pills. Luckily, I’m an avid viewer of reality television so I know that no matter how much you respect or like a person, at the end of the day, human nature means they are always going to disappoint you.
Charlie is a guy I look up to definitely like an older brother, hell, maybe even a father figure. He’s just enough older than me that I’ve always been see how he handled life’s complexities…getting married, having children, toenail grooming…okay, maybe not the toenail grooming, but the other stuff, definitely. So despite my appeal to stay, he is electing to move on. Nineteen years of running the AFL has taught me you have to let people move on when they want to. I’ve talked people in to staying and really it’s a no win because winning this thing is difficult and anything other than that and the person is likely miserable.
I would be remiss though if I didn’t search the AFL archives (my brain) about some of Charlie greatest contributions and moments for the AFL. Here’s a look at the 10 best (in no order by the way)…
1. Launch – We started the AFL in 1993 and he was a key guy in getting it going. His love of gambling, football and even fantasy football led me to start my own league since the others we had been in to that point had been disappointing. He helped me establish the rules and even wrote the first schedule. It all sounds so simple now, but in 1993 there was no internet, no fantasy guides. I tried writing a 12-team/14 game schedule myself but I couldn’t get it to work out. I kept having a couple of teams not playing each other. Charlie broke out an old college math book and utilized that to write the schedule we still used today. He split the cost of the AFL trophy with me and even served as Commissioner for me for the B Conference when we started it in 1995.
2. Up and Running – Managing a 48-team league with over 40 owners is a challenge. Controversies come up no matter how hard you plan. Ultimately, I need to make a decision that impacts two people…often one positively and one negatively. I never did this without leaning on my old bud Charlie to give me some guidance. Even if I thought I was thinking things through, I needed him to make sure I was on the right track when I made a decision.
3. The Season of Pain – There might not be a better AFL moment than the final six weeks of a season in the early 2000s when Charlie, who was sitting at the bottom of the barrel in his division, declared it his “season of pain” in which he would right the ship and take over the division leader the Greyhounds. Larry was all over him talking trash. It got to the point with 4 weeks to go where Larry would have to lose every game, Charlie would have to win every game, and the other two teams in the division would have to alternate winning and losing so they didn’t end up above Charlie in the standings. As Charlie lined out what was going to happen and it started too…Larry’s playful ribbing (I would say he was in denial early on) turned to anger…then in the final week he just quit posting (acceptance) as everything Charlie stated did happen and he overtook Larry in the final week.
4. The Nelda Draft – One year Charlie couldn’t make the draft so he had Nelda from my work draft for him. He about shit when he heard what his team was. The funny thing is that was like 10 years ago and I’m not sure his team ever fully recovered from that.
5. Whisking Cheetos – Charlie once got so mad at Cecil on the PIT, he accused him of sitting around his computer all day, “whisking” Cheetos crumbs off his chest and continually hitting refresh to see if anything new was out there.
6. Stranger in the Alps – When we started the Big Lebowski league last year, Charlie came up with the name Stranger in the Alps from a story he heard the Cohen brothers talking about in regard to the movie. Apparently when the overdubbed the movie for TV the changed the line where Goodman is smashing the car from “(censored…watch the movie to see the actual line)” to “see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps,” which has no tie-in at all to the original line. It’s just funny because it’s so random. When he told that story at draft night I knew we had a winner in that new AFL offering.
7. Down Goes Friedmeyer – When we first started the AFL when didn’t have the stats we have access to today. We had a box score in the paper. Because we didn’t know if a recovered fumble was an offensive player or a defender, and we hadn’t yet started including special teams, the only “defensive” scores we counted were interception returns for TDs. The most obnoxious guy in the league had won the first AFL season. It looked like he was going to run away with the second one going in to the Monday night game. We were playing cards at my house and Charlie and I wouldn’t even let the guy watch the game because he had a 10 point lead and the only thing his competitor had was Dallas’ defense. We never had anyone get 2 TDs in a game that year…in fact, we only had like 5 defensive TDs all year. As the card game broke up we flipped on the TV and see the game just ending, Dallas has won, and they are interviewing a defensive player. Charlie and I laugh and think what if they got 2 TDs. I get a call about an hour later…sure enough, it did happen…and a new era began in the AFL.
8. Charlie Meets Jim Kelly – During Jim’s prime in Buffalo, Charlie ran in to Jim Kelly while on vacation. He got to spend a few moments talking fantasy football. Talking the AFL with a Super Bowl QB…it felt like Kramer breaking through to popular culture in the episode of Seinfeld when he starts the Kramer Reality Tour.
9. “Dickhead!” – At the draft a few years back Charlie called Cobras Jim a dickhead…nothing personal, for Charlie it’s almost a term of endearment. Jim, not being from “Charlie’s World” really struggled with a guy who really doesn’t know him referring to him as a dickhead. It really made for a funny season as we rehashed that moment again-and-again.
10. Draft Night – The AFL draft night will never be the same. Whether it was a personal jab, an instant evaluation of a pick, arguing with Larry, or just a plain wisecrack, Charlie was a major part of the “fun quotient” of the league.
There’s definitely no replacing a guy who has contributed this much to the league. In fact, it’s shakes you so much you have to evaluate whether to continue. While the AFL won’t go on forever, I think we’ve got something strong enough here to continue on even in his absence.
While I’m guessing in five years Charlie and I will have our friendship reduced to the occasional awkward run-in at the grocery store (see any number of the previous owners who have bolted before him), it doesn’t mean I won’t miss that SOB. In fact, even though the Greenwings are in the A Conference with me, I’m pulling for the guy. I hope he extends his final season in the AFL all the way to a Super Bowl championship. Nothing would make me happier than the AFL paying back a little to the guy who has done so much for us.
Good luck Charlie…go Greenwings!
2011
For those of you watching the playoff race, you may wonder why the PrankMonkies are going to pick up a win later this week. They are playing the Ballers who did not start a lineup. That means they revert back to their previous lineup. Last week they started the Vikings defense. Of course that means they get zero points for their defense. Unforutnately, the Commish lineup overide mirrors what owners do when they post so I can't add the Vikings in their lineup since they are on bye. I'm forced to put in the Packers since they are their only option. The Pack D got 12 points, which is enough to give the Ballers a win they didn't earn. This can be fixed, but only by Scott but he is out of town right now with no computer access until Thursday. The Ballers will have a win...just until Thursday though.
I thought I should mention this as we're heading down the final stretch and everyone is probably keeping track of where they stand in the playoff race.
2011
Jon and Evil Doc won the Buffalo Trace this week with an impressive 176+ points. They can take turns wearing the t-shirt.
2011
Are you posting with an iPad/iPhone? When I try to post with mine it won't let me post in anything but the subject line as well. I can do a regular post using my laptop though.
2011
testing logged in as you?
2011
I like it. Darin said he added it...looks great.
I like Scott's comments on the main page too!
2011
After logging in you will see write at the top of screen. Click on write, enter your title, comment below and then on visibility/sharing on right hand side change from draft to published. This is a blog site which I have changes to the look and feel of a message board so it behaves a little different.
Also if your are a new owner or changed names let me know you wanted to be added or updated send me an email.
2011
Ryan, your proud Saturated Flatulence team nabbed you a t-shirt in the Buffalo Trace league this week.
Congrats!
2011
...and I am about done. I've got owners who can't follow the G.D. rules, wasting my time by trying to pick up guys on other people's rosters or people that aren't even available because they were cut the week before.
Get it together people!
If it wasn't for Cake getting scorched by Scott on the front page for only scoring 88 points in Buffalo Trace I'd probably jump off of a bridge!
AFL OWNERS MANUAL (read it): http://aflsports.com/main/library/ownersmanual.php
2011
All Buffalo Trace participants should be pulled into the AFL page listing the rankings of our crew. If you are playing (as you should be) and do not see your team listed, please let me or Steve know and we'll get you added.
-Scott
2011
I like it...
We have the technology...let's use it...shoulda been done years ago!
2011
The L conference is special and a tribute...so in addition to a team name related to the movie each owner is asked to enter a movie quote in the Trash Talk section when submitting weekly lineups. The system now requires that you *abide*!
XML Feeds