U.S. Figure Skating Fantasy Football – Week 7 Recap

After the seventh week of the first annual U.S. Figure Skating Fantasy Football League, Ashley Wagner is undefeated but not unscathed as Max Aaron’s team tied Wagner’s team. Here’s what happened this week:

Team Bates (Evan Bates | @Evan_Bates) def. Snowplow Sam, 89-68

Snowplow Sam’s team continued its miserable path this weekend, losing its fifth game in a row, this time to Evan Bates’ squad. Bates was propelled by Aaron Rodgers’ 24-point performance on Sunday, as well as a 15-point showing from Andre Ellington. Snowplow Sam, who originally hoped for a strong season from his running backs, got just 10 points total from the position this week. Bates, now with three wins, is right back in the thick of the playoff race.

Team Thah ‘D’(Ricky Dornbush | @RichardDornbush) def. Team Bradley (Ryan Bradley | @RyanSBradley), 90-79

Dornbush’s team put together a dominant week behind six double-digit scoring performances, which tied a season high in the league. Bradley, who was the recipient of strong performances from Peyton Manning and Le’Veon Bell, had two zero-point spots and two, two-point spots. After a strong start, Bradley’s team has lost two straight.

Coach Coughlin (John Coughlin |@JohnCoughlinUSA) def. Team White (Charlie White | @CharlieaWhite), 70-63

It took seven weeks, but John Coughlin’s team finally got a win. Thirty-six points from Russell Wilson and 23 points from Shane Vereen led a powerful Coughlin attack over Charlie White’s squad. White, who was hurt by unexpected poor performances from Mark Ingram, Larry Fitzgerald and the Lions’ defense, would have been very competitive against nearly every other team in the league this week.

Team Knierim (Chris Knierim | @ChrisKnierim) def. Miner Problem (Ross Miner | @rossminer), 100-97

A 13-point performance from Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown completed Chris Knierim’s come-from-behind win over Ross Miner’s miner problem. This was by far the most competitive match-up of the week—Knierim went 8-1 against the league; Miner went 7-2. Both teams are clearly in the upper half of the league and will continue to make noise as the playoffs approach.

Team A-Wags (Ashley Wagner | @AshWagner2010) vs. Team Aaron (Max Aaron | @MaxTAaron), Tie, 81-81

In perhaps the most anticipated matchup of the season so far, Max Aaron fell just short in unseating the undefeated Ashley Wagner, but wasn’t handed a loss either. Aaron, who had made several trades coming into the week in preparation for the match-up, would have won if not for an interception thrown by Phillip Rivers in a time-expiring Hail Mary pass. Ironically, both teams had one of their poorer weeks, scoring just 81 points while going 3-4-1 against the league.

U.S. Figure Skating Fantasy Football – Week 1 Recap

The first week of the inaugural U.S. Figure Skating Fantasy Football League is in the books. Below is a short recap of the action:

 

Team White (Charlie White | @CharlieaWhite) def. Snowplow Sam, 103-82

White, a 2014 Olympic gold medalist, knows a thing or two about winning, and it showed this weekend in his win over U.S. Figure Skating’s Snowplow Sam. Trailing heading into Monday, White’s team benefited from excellent performances by Matthew Stafford (29 points) and Calvin Johnson (28 points) on Monday night to secure the win.

Miner Problem (Ross Miner | @rossminer) def. Team Aaron (Max Aaron | @MaxTAaron), 95-60

Miner avenged his second-place 2013 U.S Championships finish to Aaron with a dominate win this weekend. Miner Problem got out to an early lead with 24 points from Marshawn Lynch in Thursday’s season-opening game between the Seattle Seahawks the Green Bay Packers. Aaron’s team got double-digit performances out of just two players (Nick Foles, 14; Rob Gronkowski, 10) making him the lowest scoring team in the league in week 1. One story that needs to be told about this matchup is how Miner’s team was drafted. Because he was scheduled to be teaching skating lessons for the first part of the league draft, Miner employed the help of a skating-dad to draft until Miner finished the lesson—so kudos to this skating-dad who put his child’s instructor in the win column.

Team A-Wags (Ashley Wagner | @AshWagner2010) def. Team Thah ‘D’ (Ricky Dornbush | @RichardDornbush), 101-77

Wagner, the only ladies skater in the league, proved most of the league wrong after turning in the third-highest score in the league and starting her fantasy football career with a victory. Before play began, Wagner traded Colin Kaepernick, one of her three drafted quarterbacks, to Snowplow Sam for Percy Harvin, who yielded her nine points in the opening week. Wagner used strong performances from Julius Thomas (28 points), Andrew Luck (25 points) and Matt Forte (16 points.). Meanwhile, Dornbush’s highest point scorer was Drew Brees (15 points). He also got just 10 points from the Seattle Seahawks defense, who he drafted in the fourth round.

Team Bradley (Ryan Bradley | @RyanSBradley) def. Coach Coughlin (John Coughlin | @JohnCoughlinUSA), 121-97

Week 1 pitted friends, Kansas City Chiefs’ fans and 2011 U.S. champions John Coughlin and Ryan Bradley, against one another. After the Chiefs fell to Tennessee in the first big NFL upset of the season, both Coughlin and Bradley were searching for some type of weekend victory —this one would go to Ryan Bradley. Both teams had good weeks. Bradley was the league’s highest score, while Coughlin would have gone 6-3 against the league—but it was Peyton Manning’s 22-point performance Sunday night that clinched the win for Bradley.

Team Knierim (Chris Knierim | @ChrisKnierim) def. Team Bates (Evan Bates | @Evan_Bates), 85-74   

It was a match-up of skating  teams, with pairs skater Knierim edging two-time Olympian, ice dancer Evan Bates, on the final day of play. The closest result of the week, Bates was hindered by a nine-point performance by Tony Romo and a four-point performance by Eddie Lacy. New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings put Knierim over the top with a 15-point performance on Sunday night, helping the Arizona native complete the come-from-behind victory.

 

Hopefully this week was a sign of good things to come for Knierim and Miner, both of whom will compete this weekend at the 2014 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic (Coverage for that event can be found on Skatingmagazineblog.com starting Thursday!). Fans can follow along all season by visiting usfigu.re/USFSFantasyFootball and checking back on the SKATING magazine blog.

Snowplow Sam Visits Kent, Wash.

We are only one week away from the start of official practice for 2012 Hilton HHonors Skate America and while the competitors are not at the ShoWare Center just yet, U.S. Figure Skating’s mascot, Snowplow Sam has already arrived and made some friends. Photos courtesy of Katie Cash.