2016 Fantasy Olympics Winners

As revealed at our Closing Ceremonies, here are your 2016 Fantasy Olympics Medalists:

GOLD - PiranhaMama
PiranhaMama attacked the podium with the ferocity of 100 swarming fish and was the only team to break 200 points.  She featured a balanced attack with only 3 picks not earning any points.  Her team was led by Simone Biles, of course, raking in the golds.

SILVER - Brazil Nuts
Michael Phelps paved the way to the fantasy silver for Brazil Nuts on all the gold medals he won at these games.  Despite 6 picks not earning any points, Brazil Nuts chose wisely when called upon, and perhaps their patriotic approach paid off with Team USA finding ways to win across the board.

BRONZE - Team Mark
Team Mark languished in last place virtually the entire time, however, his drafting strategy of choosing the most reliable team picks clearly paid off in the end, as Team Mark jumped from last to 3rd all on the final day of competition.  Usain Bolt also clearly helped put Team Mark on the medal stand, contributing 3 gold medals.

Here's the final standings, along with consolation prizes for everyone else:

Ultimately, the standings were close, top to bottom.  A few different results and everything could have wildly changed.  I did get last (booo) but if the Australian Men's Field Hockey team had won gold as projected, I would have won the Bronze.  One result can change it all!

It was an exciting games - thank you all for participating, and we will see you all in 2018 in PyeongChang for the Fifth Fantasy Olympiad!

Day 15 - Twas the Night Before the Closing Ceremonies

Day 15 - Here are the standings as we head into the final day of the Rio Olympics, with PiranhaMama sinking her teeth into the top spot:

PiranhaMama seemingly has a very comfortable lead at 21 points after a big day.  Brazil Nuts is trying to break the streak and finally end up on the medal stand, and then what a race with 4 teams within 6 points of each other.


Golf - the Women's tournament finished with Lydia Ko, New Zealand, of Fogo de Champion taking the Silver.

Diving - Tom Daley of my team Fogo de Champion, set an Olympic Record in the 10m platform prelims yesterday, then gets dead last today.  What a mess.
In the finals, David Boudia rallied for the Bronze for It Phelps if you Walsh.  Qiu Bo was expected to win, but finishes in 6th, leaving Team Mark toasted.

Basketball - the Women's Tournament concluded with the USA women getting gold again, as expected, and Real Winner picked the winner.  It Phelps if you Walsh gets the silver with Spain and PiranhaMama gets the Bronze with Serbia.

Water Polo - The Men's tournament concluded with the battle of the Eleys - Serbia takes the Gold for Guanabara Gladiators over Croatia of Team Mark.  Montenegro lost to Italy in the Bronze match, leaving Fogo de Champion frustrated.

Ryan Lochte - Negative 73926393 points for the dumbest interview I've ever seen.  What an idiot.  This is not an overexaggeration - what an idiot. Please just stop talking.  -20 more points.

Football - It Phelps if you Walsh danced a samba after the thrilling penalty kick shootout between Brazil and Germany.  In a storybook ending, Neymar came to the ball and delivered his team a Gold medal.  No medal meant more to Brazil than this one, and 20 points means quite a lot to It Phelps. Fascinatingly, the only points for any of our teams in Football.

Rhythmic Gymnastics - Guanabara Gladiators' Russian powerhouse Yana Kudryavtseva just couldn't quite twizzle those ribbons well enough to beat her teammate, and claims the all-around silver.

Distance-Field-Decathlon-Heptathlon Super Category:

• Chaunte Lowe comes up short in 4th in the Women's high jump, and It Phelps gets no points.
• The men's 1500m race was something so epic - one of my favorite moments of the Games.  Matt Centrowitz of the US held off a strong field to win the first gold medal for the US in the event since 1908.  Asbel Kiprop of Team Mark finished off the podium.
• Mo Farah gets double gold for PiranhaMama with a win in the 5000m after also taking the 10000m last week.  The big winner in this category.

Sprinting

• Women's 4x400m relay brought USA Gold and PiranhaMama another gold with Allyson Felix
• Men's 4x400m relay brought USA Gold and merited a Gold for Guanabara Gladiators

Volleyball - The Women's Indoor tournament concluded and USA women did pull out the Bronze for Real Winner.

It all comes down to this...Carrie has been singing about it for two weeks but OOOOOOOOOOOOH SUNDAY NIGHT is upon us.

What to watch for:

• Men's Indoor Volleyball - Brazil has a chance a Gold for Team Mark and Russia has a chance for Bronze for Guanabara Gladiators
• Handball Men's final has Team France going for Gold for Team Mark
• Basketball Men's final has USA (Team Mark) vs. Serbia (Fogo de Champion) going for Gold.  Spain plays for the Bronze for Guanabara Gladiators
• Rhythmic Gymnastics team final concludes, with Russia looking strong for Guanabara as well.

SO What this means is everyone is sweating it out while the Eleys challenge for the podium.  I'm officially last.  Bummer.

Day 14 - One Weekend to Rule them All

Day 14 has concluded and we only have one full day left in these, the games of the 31st Olympiad.

Sprinting was showcased with the exciting relays putting on a show.  Canada wins the posing out of the tunnel competition, but not anything that matters.

• The US women claimed gold in the 4x100, and that was welcomed by PiranhaMama (Alyson Felix) and especially by Brazil Nuts who went all in and gets double points from English Gardner and Tori Bowie.
• The US Men were disqualified.  Would have received the Bronze.  Justin Gatlin (Fogo de Champion), and Trayvon Bromell (It Phelps if you Walsh) disappoint.
• Jamaica's mens team cruised to the victory behind Usain Bolt (of course) of Team Mark
• Jamaica's womens team took silver and Elaine Thompson got 5 points for Team Leroy

Distance - Real Winner gets another medal from Almaz Ayana in the 5000m, though this time Bronze.  The announcers all but handed her the Gold before she faded at the end.

Football - The women's tournament concluded - 0 points handed out to any of our teams as Germany took gold, Sweden the Silver, and Canada the Bronze.  USA, France, Great Britain, and Brazil all leave their teams reeling. (Brazil Nuts, PiranhaMama, Real Winner, Team Mark)

Field Hockey - Team Mark had a chance for Gold, but the Netherlands women fell short to Great Britain.  Silver it is.

Water Polo - Real Winner picked the dominating US Women's team, and they held serve crushing Italy for the Gold.  PiranhaMama and Team Leroy end up with 0 points from their respective Australian and Spanish teams

Synchronized Swimming - PiranhaMama sinks her teeth into gold and 20 points with the Russian women's team defending their championship with a near perfect score.

SO, what's left and what to watch for this weekend in the race for Fantasy Gold

Here's your Saturday lineup and who to cheer for either for your team, or to the detriment of your nearest competitor in the standings.

• Women's Golf on the line - Fogo de Champion and Real Winner watching closely
• Women's Basketball - Real Winner and USA take on It Phelps and Spain for the Gold.  Brazil Nuts also pits France against PiranhaMama's Serbia for the Bronze
• Men's Water Polo - It's an Eley showdown as Guanabara's Serbia takes on Team Mark's Croatia for Gold.  Fogo de Champion has hope with Montenegro playing for Bronze
• Men's Football - It Phelps if you Walsh has the only hope in the game that the country cares about the most - Brazil goes for gold against Germany
• Volleyball - US Indoor Women play for Bronze for Real Winner
• Men's Diving 10m platform is a showdown between Team Mark (Qiu Bo, China), It Phelps if you Walsh (David Boudia, USA) and Fogo de Champion (Tom Daley, GB)
• Rhythmic Gymnastics - Yana Kudryavtseva of Russia is in second place after the qualifying.  Guanabara Gladiators is hoping she can finsh the finals in first.
• Track and Field - Still some events to conclude with a few potential medals to win

Day 13 - Team Time

Day 13 Scoreboard:

Highlights:

• Lightning strikes twice - Bolt secures double gold for Team Mark in the 200m.  Lashawn Merritt finished off the stand for Guanabara Gladiators, and Justin Gatlin sat the final out after being lazy in the semifinals and getting passed at the end, also negative points for blaming it on a "stiff ankle."  I'm not actually giving him negative points because he's on my team, but geez man it's the Olympics run through the line.
• Also, you should all be glad you didn't have one of the idiot swimmers - definitely negative points for all.  Although it isn't a facebook or instagram post, I think lying on the today show and vandalizing on a security camera count the same.  Ryan Lochte, pathetic.
• PiranhaMama celebrated a big team gold from Alison (The Wooly Mammoth) and Bruno in Men's beach volleyball, which moves her onto the medal stand right now.

Also, it's interesting to look and see how well we did in different sports that have concluded -no more points to be awarded in the below, but check out who drafted well and who was a dud:

Archery

The Koreans were on the mark.

Cycling

Biggest miss - Jason Kenny of Great Britain track cycling with a triple gold - 30 points left on the table

Fencing

One Russian was on point, another...a bit dull.

Gymnastics (Artistic)

Simone Simone Simone

(Rhythmic still to come - get ya popcorn ready)

Rowing 

The biggest news due to the nature of the set-up is that PiranhaMama and Team Leroy didn't get the gold and 20 point score.

Swimming

Phelps outdid the projections and Brazil Nuts was glad for the gift.  Australia...barf.

Table Tennis

China will destroy us all with tiny spinning balls.

Tennis

Disappointment all over the place.  Goose egg city. Small fuzzy green goose eggs.

The big dominoes still to come are the team events concluding over the next few days.  Big points still out there and could swing the standings!  

For example - don't sleep on Team Mark - he may be in last place now, but his remaining point potential is off the charts - Team Mark picked some good Teams and is counting on those 20 point bonuses.

106 points waiting for the taking (Brazil Women's Football curiously the one in the Bronze medal game):

 

Days 9-12

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the lag on posts but here's a bit of catch-up for Days 9-12

So you can see the progression...

Day 9 Scoreboard

Day 10 Scoreboard

Day 11 Scoreboard

Day 12 Scoreboard (CURRENT STANDINGS)

Biggest events swinging point totals:

• Simone Biles didn't get her 5 golds, but still picked up a Bronze in the Beam.
• Sprinting is getting a lot of Silvers, except for Teams Leroy and Mark who both have Jamaicans
• Table Tennis - Team China domination - all 3 Men and Women on each team were on fantasy teams and secured Gold.
• Beach Volleyball - huge upsets in the Women's tournament lead to only Brazil Nuts salvaging a Bronze medal with Team USA of Walsh-Jennings/Ross getting the Bronze
• Australian Men's Field Hockey doesn't medal - I am annoyed, and I get 0 wild card points from those bums. Never picking Aussies again

A lot of sports have concluded now, so I'll look to recap those tomorrow and you can analyze how well your picks did!  We're in the home stretch - who will land on the stand on Sunday?

Day 8 - The Race for Gold

Day 8 Scoreboard:

Look at that point spread from 1-4!  This will be a crazy race here in Week 2 of the Fantasy Olympic Games.

Rowing:

• US Women's 8 scores Gold for Guanabara Gladiators
• Germany Men's 8 gets a disappointing silver for PiranhaMama

Tennis

• Women Singles concluded with no medals awarded
• PiranhaMama has Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland going for the Gold in doubles on Sunday
• Guanabara Gladiators also has a chance for Men singles Gold with Andy Murray making it to the Gold Medal Match Sunday
• Venus Williams of Brazil Nuts is in the mixed doubles Gold medal match Sunday

Trampoline

• No one picked him but Dong Dong got silver, which is an upset.  Just bringing you guys the important news.

Fencing

• Women's Team Sabre netted a Gold for Fogo de Champion and Sofia Velikaya
• Brazil Nuts claimed a silver from Olga Kharlan of Ukraine
• Mariel Zagunis of the US and Team Leroy took home the Bronze

Cycling

• Team Mark grabbed a Bronze in the crazy Keirin with Anna Meares.  This race is wild with a pace moto-bike that releases the riders for a couple laps. We also watched a wreck happen which damaged the floor, and they seriously patched the hole with duct tape.  Maybe it will at least seal out any algae growth.

Distance/Field/Dec/Hep

• PiranhaMama was FREAKING OUT watching Mo Farah run the 10k.  He cruised through the first 5 or 6 laps in LAST PLACE, then moved up only to be tripped and fell down on the track.  However, Mo got up, won the race, and repeated as Olympic Champion.  Gold.

Sprinting

• The first medals in Sprinting were given out in one of the premiere events - the women's 100m.
• Elaine Thompson, Jamaica of Team Leroy grabbed the Gold and Tori Bowie, US of Brazil Nuts secured the silver
• Brazil Nuts tried to corner the market selecting English Gardner of the US as well, but English did not cast her seeds on fertile soil, finishing seventh.

Swimming is finally over!

If you haven't been paying attention, Michael Phelps is good at swimming.  NBC will probably make sure you know this 159327 times over the next week.  Pretty incredible.

His dad showed up for his final race.

And now Phelps can return home to relax

For everyone who didn't pick a lot of swimmers, or who picked a lot of bum Aussies, it's time to put this portion of the games behind you and focus on the finish

• The women's 50m had Simone Manuel from the US winning silver - that's 30 points overall for a swimmer not drafted by any team.  Cate and Bronte Campbell failed again
• There were a smattering of points across the relays, so here's a final look at Swimming and who drafted the best (And Worst) swimmers.

Day 7 - Track and Field is here!

Day 7 Scoreboard:

Quick Hits:

USA Women Football lost in the Quarterfinals to Sweden.  Hope Solo lost it and threw a hissy fit, and Sweden said SCOREBOARD.
However, I am disappointed the US lost, and Brazil Nuts are definitely disappointed as a sure 20 points turns into 0.


Rowing:

• Brazil Nuts did get a Gold from the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls France Team
• Real Winner secured a Gold from the Team GB coxless pair

Distance Running

• Real Winner secured a Gold from Amaz Ayana in the 10000m race - setting a world record!  Molly Huddle of the US set an American Record, could have won basically all the last Olympics, but loses by almost a minute here.

Tennis

Men's Doubles concluded with NO ONE getting anything.  Nadal got gold, but went undrafted.

Archery concluded today

• Ku Bon-Chan is eating Bon-Bons with Team Leroy as the top point-getter in Archery, securing Double Gold.
• Brady Ellison, USA, picks up the Bronze for PiranhaMama, beating out Sjef Van Den Berg of It Phelps if you Walsh

Fencing - Real Winner gets a Bronze from Alexander Massialas, USA, in the Team Foil

Carrie Underwood - STILL obsessed with Sunday night

Cycling

• PiranhaMama gets a Gold from Zhong Tianshi in the Women's Team Sprint
• Kristina Vogel, Germany, eeks out a Bronze for Team Leroy over Anna Mears, Australia, of Team Mark

Swimming

• Katina Hosszu gets a chink in her armor as the IRON LADY is edged for the gold by Maya Dirado of the US in one of the most exciting races of the games.  It Phelps still gets a Silver.
• Michael Phelps also loses for the first time and ends up in a TRIPLE TIE for Silver - Brazil Nuts will take it
• Katie Ledecky destroys the competition as the announcers try to describe her climbing rocks or something because they are bored by her dominance.  It Phelps if you Walsh wins another gold
• The 50m insanity race resulted in a silver for Manaudou and Team Mark, and Adrian of Fogo de Champion got a Bronze