A proud Cock!

Defending the Territory

A proud Cock

Defending the Territory

THE YEAR OF THE COCK: 2006!

That's right, in 2006 the Cocks won TWO HEAD ON TROPHIES! In addition to the Baseball trophy alluded to below, the Cocks won the Championship in Head on Football this year!  Here are pictures of both trophies!

Founded in 1999 as the team named Jhereg, the Yoknapatawpha Fighting Cocks underwent two name changes; a name change after its initial year and then again after its fourth year in the Fantasy Football world.

"Yox Cox" have played in five Fantasy Football Leagues to date.  While only winning a single championship (ahem, make that TWO now!), the team has displayed a gutsy competitiveness.  The "Cox"  lost the elite Pacific Fantasy Football League (PFFL) superbowl in 2002, falling to two-time champion Phumunda. The football Cocks have won 163 regular-season games and lost 141 in team history; earning an overall playoff game record of 17-8 (in all leagues) .

The lone championship (until 2006) was in 2000, in the now defunct SandBox League.  That year (following up a lackluster first-year record of 7-7) the cox won 11 straight games on the way to an impressive 15-2 record, including the league championship. The following year the Cocks finished behind the league 'newbie' which happened to be the commish from HOF (see below).  After an invitation from Yoknapatawpha to join the league in its third season, the "Big Bad Wolves" not only carted off the championship, but swept the mighty Cocks; the Cocks finished in third place, with a record of 11-5.  The following season, Sandbox went into a greed-induced, fee-restructuring phase that eventually killed the company.  Our league chose not to re-form due to the outrageous prices. (record: 29-13; 4-1)

The "Cox" played in another Yahoo Fantasy League (WFS) in 2001, 2002 and 2003; earning a 9-5 record but falling in the second round of the playoffs (semifinals) to eventual champion, Trains Roughriders in 2001. The Cox rebounded to win the third place game however. The Cox slipped afterward, going 7-7 and 6-8 the following two years.. (22-20; 2-1)

Besides the PFFL, the Cocks' other mainstay league has been Head On Football (HOF).  HOF is composed of hardcore Fantasy players from around the United States.  Since joining the league in 2001,(note: Commish J.W., aka "Big Bad Wolves" and I met in a public Yahoo baseball league in 2000.  We were the only two U.S. dudes in a league filled with Canadiens.  The "Wolfman" won the league, while I finished third.  He invited me to join HOF the next season). The Cocks have amassed records of 7-7(2001); 9-5(2002); 7-7(2003); 5-9(2004) and 5-9 (2005).  Yox Cox were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2001, then got kicked out in the first round of the playoffs in 2002 as well.  That year, the "Cox" learned the hard way the importance of saving a limited amount of moves for the playoffs.  Entering the second round, the Cocks had three starters injured, including QB Steve McNair.  With no moves to claim waiver picks, the Cocks were humbled. The following year the Cox won the consolation playoffs. HOWEVER, in 2006, the COCKS won the HOF championship! The Cox finished 4th during the regular season, one game out of first place with a record of 9-4-0. Two losses were by less than a point COMBINED (important later on in terms of WHO beat us).  In the playoffs, the Cox won three straight, avenging losses to three teams that had beat them during the regular season. (record: 42-41; 5-2)

After two years of HOF, the Cocks were invited to Chitown's (original member of HOF) League.  This is a league of only 8 teams, and invitations to join are not handed out casually.  The Cocks slowly found out the difference between small leagues and large leagues, but by that time, had missed the playoffs and finished the year at 5-9.  Since I moved to China, and am focused on other things presently, the Cocks opted not to play in Chitown's League for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.  However, the plans are to re-join that league and make it the third mainstay league for the duration of the forseeable future.

The PFFL is also a group of Fantasy Die-hards from across the country.  The "glue" that holds this league together is the shared connection of being a "COUG" from Washington State University.  All of the guys met at one time or another while attending school there, in Pullman, Washington.  Of course, props have to go to the Commish, Phumunda, a two-time league champion. There is a 'core' of nine men that have played together every year in the 12-team league, since its inception in 1999.  The Cocks began playing in the first year of the league, however were named "Jhereg"  and then changed to the "BillyGoats" in the second season.  Jhereg missed the playoffs after losing the last week of the season and finishing the year at 6-7.  The consistent events of the season were that teams scored unusually high against Jhereg when playing them.  As we will see, that 'feature' has been borne out in every season so far in the PFFL.  The Cocks must score, and score HUGELY to win games. There have been SIX, count'em SIX games against the Cocks in the PFFL where the opponent scored over 100 points!  The Cocks scored exactly 100 once in PFFL history.

Withstanding the name changes, the Cocks have amassed PFFL season records of 6-7, 6-8, 6-7, 8-6, 9-5, 5-9 and 6-8 (46-50 overall).  The Cocks were 2-1 in the playoffs in 2001, losing to Phumunda (50-39) in the Super bowl.  In 2003 the Cocks were beaten in the first round of the playoffs (67-59) by the Reno Sheriffs (who went on to lose the super bowl to Phumunda).

2005 was a big disappointment for the Cox.   5-9 in two leagues... this year (2006)the Cox are in HOF and PFFL, as well as two additional Yahoo Public leagues; we believe the drafts went well *grin*. In 2006, the PFFL Cox wound up 7-7; missing the playoffs in a tiebreaker with five other teams (three of whom made the playoffs).  The Cox won the first round consolation playoff game, but lost the "Toiled Bowl" to Clutch's Crew. In one of the Yahoo Public Leagues, the Cox ended up tied for the best regular season record at 10-3, but lost the first playoff game to the eventual champion; The Cox rebounded by knocking off the team they were tied for first with in the regular season, to win the third place game.  In the other public league, the Cox finished 7-7, winning the consolation round of the playoffs (two games)

The Cocks also play fantasy baseball, and until 2006 had never finished higher than third place in any league.  However, in 2006 the Cocks won the Head on Baseball championship; amassing a record of 195-129-28 (topping the previous best of 172-160-20 in 2004), and finishing 69 games ahead of perennial powerhouse German Beerdude.  The Cox swept through the playoffs, nipping Red Dawgs 9-7 and then clobbering Lounge Lizzards 12-3-1.  The overall record in 2006 was 216-139-29. Overall, the Cocks record in Head on Baseball leagues is a respectable 609-546-87; in four seasons of playoffs (three other years in the consolation bracket; two of those winning the consolation round) the record is a fairly respectable 67-38-7; the lesson here being: MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!  

Basketball is the weak link in the Cocks' fantasy chain.  The record in three Head On leagues is a mediocre 236-341-11; obviously there is no playoff experience. 

More to come...

last updated 2007-Jan-30

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