Thank you to everyone who participated in the first ever season of the Life Draft.  I had a lot of fun and even learned a few things.  One thing I learned is that while stuck in a dead end job, I had a LOT more time to enjoy frivolous stuff.  I don't have an exact count, but I'm pretty sure after I started my new job, total life points probably were cut in half.  This doesn't mean my life was half as good, though, just happiness coming from ineligible life draft sources.  If inanimate objects were allowed, my new job would have made a strong run at the end of the year.  And beer probably would've outscored everybody!  Margs would have been up there, too, ha.

And the winner is...

Aaron -- 1211
Kristin -- 1039
Everis -- 802
Jim -- 634
Kim -- 551
Brett -- 319

Congrats, Aaron.  You used a mix of knowledge and strategy to take home the title of 2008 Life Draft Champ.  Your championship prize is in the works.  Key players:  Barack Obama, Kanye West (appropriately, his first two picks in the draft) and Lil Wayne (an unbelievable steal in the draft).  With that trio, Aaron enters '09 as an odds on favorite to repeat.

Kristin put up a valiant effort, but was unable to take full advantage of her constant inside info.  Key players:  Kevin Garnett, Bill Simmons and MANU GI-NO-BILIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!  Kristin had some trouble in the draft, taking solid-but-not-spectacular players early like Paris Hilton and Ludacris, along with complete duds like Tony Kornheiser and Jackie Chan.  But smart pick up after smart pick up (Tim Gunn, QT!, Manu, etc.) kept her in it till the end.

Everis was pretty much stuck in no man's land most of the year, in 3rd.  After putting in a great draft (Charles Barkley, Jay-Z, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul Peezy), he did not follow up with the necessary day-to-day roster working.  Of course, this was very expected, given his history of fantasy sports laziness.

Now to the "alternative" portion of the contest.  Kim and Jim chose to primarily use only players that they too liked.  An interesing, albeit sure to lose, approach.  Out of this oddball strategy, however, came a very evenly matched contest within the contest.  Jim ended up taking it down largely due to the one man, and one man alone -- Rob Dyrdek.  During one of my favorite moments of '08, Rob racked up 48 points in one night, breaking Guinness record after Guinness record.  Pure awesomeness.  Kim's leading scorer?  The underated Jeff Van Gundy.  Don't sleep on him in '09.

Brett?  He is what we thought he was.  The worst possible fantasy sports participant.

Now on to 2009.  The slate is clean, and everyone is back in it!  As a little bonus, any add/drops made through the end of this week (Saturday night), will be retroactive for this year.