Inside the Dumps: An Introspective Reflection of the #1 Seed and his Past Accomplishments

Thank you to special guest contributor Christian from the PGD who was the author of this post.

Interview with #1 Seed

Interview edited for length clarity. For the full 50 minute interview, click here.

Christian. GM of the Philippine Garbage Dumps, thank you for taking the time to sit down with me. Let’s dive right into it and get started with the first question. You’ve been in the league since the beginning, winning in the inaugural season and then getting your second championship 2 years later. I think a lot of people are wondering. What the hell took you so long?

Thank you for having me. I appreciate this website’s content. It definitely makes the league more interesting. I’m sure it takes a lot of time and energy to do all the research and write everything week after week, so thank you for that. 

It’s definitely been quite some time since I’ve won a championship. Some say it doesn’t count since it was back in the 10 man league era in 2009. I’d like to remind everyone that we had a 16 man league starting in 2011.

Also, I played Kushal in the championship game during his quest for his first championship, so it’s not like I haven’t been back to the championship game since then. My problem is getting into playoffs. I’ve been languishing in 6-7 and 7-6 seasons since 2014, even having a 4-10 season as recently as 2021, and never getting into playoffs even though the FFC West is always competitive to the last week. 

After winning the second championship, I’ve been subtly changing drafting strategies every season. Changing things up and trying different things. I didn’t want to win with the same people, specifically Aaron Rodgers because people kept saying that’s the only reason I was winning. I will say I did try to trade for him before the trade deadline to “complete” my team for playoffs, but Bali/Sammi kept saying no to my trades. 

So back “on top” this year as the number 1 seed. How does it feel? How was the season? 10-4 is a pretty good record. 

It’s been tough to say the least. There are a bunch of powerhouse teams that regularly score 100+ games no problem. Jedi Knights, for one, who broke the highest weekly score only 2 weeks after me.

There were a couple close games both where I won and also where I lost that just starting a different player or my opponent benching someone that they shouldn’t have started. This league is ultracompetitive and you have to be on top of everything, not just that week but who you’re going to be playing next week and the week after next. You have to be making strategic moves as soon as players are announced out or announced starting. 

For example, Darnell Mooney, who is a bum, and took up valuable space on my team for quite some time. He sat on waivers for quite some time, but once Drake London was out and he was picked up on waivers and blew up. 

Another example, Philip Rivers and Joe Burrow. Players who we didn’t think were going to play this season, ended up starting and doing well. 

I’m only in one league so I might be biased. But 16 man in this league with -5 turnovers is difficult and to be competitive every season is difficult and it’s a testament to the league and the foundation and the individual GMs that we have so many of them stay year after year with almost new champions every year.

That brings up an interesting aspect of the Philippine Garbage Dumps. You’ve had your fair share of co-GMs, starting with your archnemesis Kushal in 2015, Dillan in 2016, and Dennis in 2017. What’s going on there? Why did you go through so many co-GMs in a short period? Did they find something wrong with your GM style?

Like I said, this league takes a lot out of a GM and I’m all for sharing the load and having someone to bounce ideas off of. Co-GMs do a lot of work. I remember having tons and tons of conversations with Kushal, Dennis, and Dillan about every single move. Free agency. Trades. Who to start. I know some GMs that were trading with us at the time were really annoyed at getting a trade done with one co-GM and then getting shut down by the other co-GM. I think that’s a big reason why we limited co-GMs to 2. 

Mainly I think Philippine Garbage Dumps has had a lot of co-GMs because I personally value different opinions and am happy to have someone convince me I’m wrong but that I can blame after the season ends for everything wrong that happened. Plus back in the communist wire, having two people able to pick up a player on the wild west waiver was S-Tier. 

You alluded to it earlier with winning in an 8 man league, but there’s been a lot of changes to the league since you started. Out of all the changes to the league, what would you rank as the biggest gamechangers to the league?

In no particular order, fractional scoring, the expansion of the FFC South (Bryce, Justin, Navdeep, Chet), the addition/removal of future draft pick trading, draft pick trading, the addition/removal/addition of TEs, FAAB. 

But, I would be remiss to ignore the Competition Committee. The government simulator that has made this league, in my opinion, better, obviously no bias. This year has been interesting with the expansion of power and rule making that the Competition Committee has taken during the season. Which I designed on purpose because you never know what can happen during the season, but I would like to remind everyone that the Competition Committee derives its power from the GMs, so if the GMs don’t like something, they can vote against it and even vote out their representative and put someone else in.

The one constant of our league is and always has been the -5 turnover penalty. Which we’ve never touched. Does it make the league difficult? Definitely. I don’t think we’ll ever change it, but if for some reason we end up changing it, either to increase or decrease, I think it’s with some other drastic scoring changes, NOT PPR. But it could happen. 

With AI starting to be more and more accessible, especially in fantasy football, do you think it makes fantasy easier or harder?

I’ve always been on record that I for one welcome our AI overlords.

I think AI, just like any other tool, like betting odds/spreads and consolidated rankings is highly dependent on its use. There’s still the human factor. 

Everyone was saying Matthew Stafford had a bad back and was one hit away from being in a wheelchair, but we all know how that turned out. 

AI definitely helps with consolidating and displaying information, but I’m pretty sure they all mention to check for accuracy with any and all results. So my advice would be to just double and triple check anything generated by AI and go with your gut. Also, there’s nothing wrong with having a PGD alumni on the team. 

We’re sitting here Monday night and it’s looking like you’re going to be playing the winner of the Urr UPS and Moore on the Run game. Who are you hoping to play next week and if you make it to the championship game, are you hoping to play Jedi Knights of Da Moons HUGE Craters?

This playoff bracket is crazy. I’ve been telling people that I want to redeem my second round bye voucher because everyone has a scary team capable of putting up 100+ points every week. 

This is going to seem like a cop out answer but honestly prep every week is going to be the same no matter who the opponent. I’m also ready for a first round bye and a second round exit. 

There’s a story to be told with every opponent.That I’m sure Bali will write about. Chet chasing his second championship. Navdeep, Ravneet, and Nic chasing their first championship. Chet and Navdeep being in the league longer but Ravneet and Nic being the scrappy newcomers. Whoever it’s going to be it’s probably going to be a close game and each week is going to come down to the Monday night game. 

I always want to play my opponent at their best. It’s not as competitive if your win is due to an injury, but you do what you can with what you have. 

Christian. Thank you for taking the time tonight to talk with us. Is there anything else you’d like to mention or say going into this next week?

I wish everyone the best of luck in these final two weeks of the season and I hope everyone’s players remain healthy and keep people competitive. Unlike Kushal wishing harm on Amon Ra in Week 14 and then Amon Ra putting up a 0. He knows what he did.

Thank you for your time and keep up the great content.