Kitties vs Banana Boat – Ten Years in the Making

The Genesis

While I was looking around at some of the older seasons, I saw the very first week of the inaugural season of this league had the Elk Grove Kitties playing the “SCV Good to go Sir” (Dennis’ team at the time). I was disappointed to see that ESPN doesn’t allow you to pull up the box score from the older seasons anymore but looking at their teams I can share some of the statistics from players that game.

The starting lineup for the Kitties was Drew Brees, Marion Barber, Ricky Williams, Steve Smith, Pierre Garcon, Hines Ward, Cardinals D/ST and Stephen Gostkowski. For Dennis, he was rolling with Kurt Warner, Ray Rice, Terrell Owens, Vincent Jackson, the other Steve Smith (NYG), Brent Celek, Bengals D/ST and Neil Rackers. Man talk about a blast from the past. I remember this was a draft where Marion Barber would have been a first rounder because the Cowboys were supposed to be a contender and ended up disappointing as usual. Ricky Williams was on his last legs then before he went to smoke pot in India for a year and came back a rastaferian. This was Terrell Owens on the Bengals for Dennis which was a disappointing year, but Kurt Warner was the big breakout QB after spending a couple years in New York when everyone thought his career was over.

The first inaugural week of BFFL saw the Kitties beat the SCVs 101-65. The high scorer for the Kitties was Drew Brees who threw for 365 yards and six touchdowns with one interception. That would mean a whopping 45 fantasy points (there was no fractional scoring back then). When I randomized the schedule and put these teams against each other in Week 1, I didn’t know that ten years later they would still be competing at such a high level and have such a great history together.

The Lost Year & The Darren McFadden Game (Incomplete)

Due to some technical difficulties I have not been able to pull any data from their classic matchups like the fabled Darren McFadden game which exists in lore. Maybe one day I will go back and finish this section a little more because these two teams have had a lot of classic matchups in the middle. Due to ESPN limitations and time restraints on my part, I could not fully chronicle these games in the middle at the current time. The point of this article was really just for a little throwback to what these two GMs’ teams looked like ten years ago competing for the first time ever and my appreciation for their continued support and engagement in our fantasy league as well as all the great GMs we have in the league.

Present Day

This latest game in Week 5 of the 2019 regular season may not hold the historical significance of the two games listed above, but it was definitely the most entertaining high scoring game of the week. It featured some of the highest scorers of the week, some of the best players in the league, and had the highest combined score I have seen in quite some time for this league. It was also a great reminder of what a rivalry game looks like and a testament to these two General Managers who have been playing fantasy football in this league for over a third of their lives.

This win was able to keep the Kitties alive as they could not survive falling to 1-4 and four games behind the division lead. Team Banana Boat is still in a close division race but look like the most talented team in the division right now. Both teams’ scoring outputs have shot them into the top 4 of points scored across the league right now. Christian McCaffrey had a game for the ages with 176 scrimmage yards, 3 total touchdowns and a whopping 41.7 fantasy points. Getting a huge contribution from Amari Cooper, Team Banana Boat scored 117.4 fantasy points…the second highest point total of the week. Unfortunately for them they were playing the weekly high scorer 1^st Year Kitties who dropped 134.9. This game was all about Deshaun Watson and Will Fuller who combined for 91.4 fantasy points. That was not a typo. 91.4 fantasy points from two players outscored eight other teams just by themselves. The Kitties put the exclamation point on the week with a great performance from Marlon Mack on Sunday night football with an impressive 132 yards. What a game and what a rivalry.