First, though, congrats to James and Temron, who have reached the promised land. Both have won this league before. Them boys is good.

James won in year one, way back in 2011, when I made everybody name their teams after a corporation, be it real of fictional. I dropped that after the inaugural year, but you can still see echoes, like Marshall's' Big Boys, and James himself, who morphed slightly since then from the Stapleton Sharktopodes to Stapleton Sharknado.

Temron took over mid-draft for a flake-out in 2014, the year we expanded from 12 to 16 teams, and rode that to victory as Tresticles, a disturbing take on the then Chicago Bears' coach's name. 

Now they both vie for their second IDP PPR Keeper Option League Championship.

In the consolation, we have Lamar (famous for winning year two of The Wildcat Offense by punting QB in a 2QB league and winning in week 16 with Brandon Weeden to my eternal dismay) whose miracle run from below .500 came crashing to a halt, versus my good friend Jeremy. Good luck to everyone!

So, what was I talking about? Well, I've made up my mind. This league will reincarnate next year as a King of the Hill style league, using the exact same lineup structure and scoring system, but with no keepers, full redraft. I believe that most of you have played in my Dogpile league before and know how it works, but for the few that haven't, here's the deal.

Every single week of the season, I reseed the league based on record to determine that week's matchups. The #1 ranked team plays #2, all the way down to #19 vs #20, every single one of the sixteen weeks, with no playoffs. The seeding goes by record first, total points second, reverse of draft order third.

As you rise, you face tougher competition. It's like a role playing game of fantasy where you level up. You face one single matchup per week, obviously. At the end of sixteen weeks, whoever sits atop the pile takes the top prize. There are four prizes all together.

We often see the same two fight at the top for several weeks in a row, especially if one guy gets ahead of the whole league by a couple games and a challenger comes along and keeps the #2 spot by beating the #1 over and over until he overtakes him. Or loses and the next in line gets a shot. It's awesome for rivalries.

I also hold a mini-tournament for a small entry fee sized consolation prize for teams that declare themselves dead after week ten. That resets your record to 0-0 going into the final six weeks, but your season points remain with you. From weeks 11-16 there is effectively a championship bracket and a consolation bracket. Usually it breaks down to 14 still playing the big prize, and 6 for the little one. Once or twice I've seen it go 12/8. That breakdown is for the Dogpile though, which is 20 teams. Anyways, If I get an odd number of entrants, the best team gets sent back to the big boys pool to keep it even.

I loved KOTH for the three years Matt ran it. I've loved my Dogpile league the five years I've run it. It's unlike anything else out there. Yeah, there's still luck involved, there always will be, but the fairness factor is just a lot higher, and the competition is fierce. I've found, year after year, that's it's my favorite format. I write more for that league than my other two combined, easily. I'm still enthusiastic as all get out about it after five years, and it's a lot more work than the other two, because I have to set everything manually. 

And since this is my party, I'm doing it! I'll do the same for the Wildcat and make my leagues into an empire of KOTH variants. It's happening. I hope you'll stick around. This league will be called Ice Climber and the virtual trophy on the team list page will be the cover of the old Nintendo game of the same name.

Much love, and good luck this weekend in all your leagues, gentlemen!