Fantasy Football Playoff Idea

If your fantasy league is like most fantasy leagues, it probably (due to the definition of the word "most") has 10 or 12 teams, features a 14 week regular season and a two week playoff to determine the champion.  The fantasy league of which I'm commissioner has 10 teams, which means each team will play 4 teams once and 5 teams twice.  I have come up with a cool idea for determining what team play each other twice, and which teams play each other once.

We could have done the traditional method and just let Yahoo choose randomly, or we could have moved into divisions.  Choosing randomly seemed too boring, and both ideas seemed like they could get unfair (due to unbalanced schedules) pretty quickly. 

My idea was to play a round robin schedule for the first nine games, like any randomized league would do.  The next five games are based completely on the previous week's standings, so you won't know until the end of one week who will play who the next week.  Beginning in week 10 and ending in week 14, the 1st place team plays the 2nd place team, 3rd plays 4th, and so on.  

This accomplishes a few things.  First, the teams in playoff position (1-4) will have to prove each week that they deserve to be there.  Second, the teams at the bottom of the table won't have to worry getting trashed each week.  Because every team is playing the team that is directly above or below them, no game should be out of reach for any team.  Third, it works like a real playoff, too, with a winning streak giving you harder games, but getting you closer to the top.  Teams aren't rewarded for losing either, as a loss counts as a loss in the standings and the standings are what counts when the regular season ends, and the real playoffs begin.

Someone Worth Dying For?

There's a song on the radio right now called "Someone Worth Dying For".  While I really enjoy the band that sang the song (they did a song with Lecrae), I have significant issue with message of the song.

It's "worth it" when the something gained is of greater value than the something that's been given up. In order for us to be worth dying for, it must mean that 1) we have worth apart from God and 2) there's something that God doesn't have.

The fact is that there is nothing God doesn't have.  Everything that exists, from wealth to beauty to your soul, was created by God out of nothing. God can't gain anything.  In Him is everything. If there was anything that God ever lacked, he could just speak it into existence; he doesn't need to trade his life for it.

Also, compared to God we aren't worth anything.  The Bible makes it clear that when Christ died, it was in spite of our worthlessness, not because of our worth.  Psalm 8:4 says "What is man that you are mindful of him?" Romans 5 talks about how some people would give their lives for a a good man, but only God would give his life for his enemies. 

The thing that makes the gospel so incredible is that he died for us when we weren't worth dying for.  That's beautiful.  I have eternal life, not because I deserve it, but simply because Christ loves me enough to give it to me. 

The only reason I have any worth at all is because of Christ.