2012 SEASON

No rule changes this year. Twelve teams, PPR, same setup as 2011. The only thing different was that the playoff bracket apparently became completely detached from reality and nobody told it.

Andrew Vinz won the championship. Andrew Vinz, who went 7-7 in the regular season, who finished 8th in the standings, who was literally outscored on the season, 1,677 points against versus 1,547 for. A man who by every measurable metric had no business anywhere near a trophy. He beat Paul Loveland 120.7-102.64 in the championship game anyway, collected his $240, and presumably did not ask too many questions about how he got there. The bracket giveth and the bracket taketh away, and in 2012 it giveth to Andrew Vinz specifically.

Paul Loveland, the league's regular season high scorer with 1,860 total points, would like a word. The man put up more points than anyone in the league all year and has a runner-up plaque to show for it. Ryan Wingerson, the regular season champ at 9-5 with the second most points in the league, finished 7th. Two years in a row now, Ryan has been the best team in the regular season and a ghost in January. The regular season is starting to feel like something Ryan does for fun.

Michael (Wheels of Steel) Johnson put up a 48.24 in Week 11 against Bernard Lynn, who countered with a perfectly reasonable 139.56. That's not a loss, that's a statement. Wheels of Steel finished 9th, which tracks.

And at the bottom: Kyle Walker and Derek Burns, both 3-11, sharing last place like two guys splitting the check on a meal nobody enjoyed. Kyle absorbed a 100-point beatdown from Ryan Wingerson in Week 3 and spent the rest of the season in recovery. Derek Burns finished last in the first season he'd ever have to answer for. It would not be his last uncomfortable finish.