🎉 2023 Highlights & Favorite Moments

In this week's P.O. Box:

Our $3M dream died late on MNF after CMC came up a couple inches short of a TD, but I’ve already spent enough time this week licking my wounds.

There will be plenty of time to debrief about the streaming experiment and analyze what we want to do differently in 2024, but today I’d rather celebrate what has been an awesome year both on and off the internet.

This highlight video (s/o LouDog on the edit) captures so much of the fun we had doing shows and making content in 2023:

I also love that this newsletter—which I started ten months ago—serves as documentation for all the things that I did and cared about throughout the year.

A few highlights for me…

🏋️ We brought the gym home

I used to love going to the gym, but after we had April the commute was chewing up way too much of my time. I hacked together “prison workouts” in the winter to keep some semblance of a routine going, but ultimately decided that building out a home gym was going to be my best bet for maintaining a consistent exercise program post-baby.

In the spring, I finally got my act together and installed a squat rack & bench in my garage (with an embarrassing amount of help from my Dad). I also fully committed to the bit of brining the gym home and installed a sauna in my basement, which has since become the best purchase I’ve ever made.

The sauna also serves as the ultimate hack for getting me to workout. Any time I turn it on, I’ve developed a Pavlovian reflex to spend the next 45 minutes exercising (the length it takes for it to heat up).

If I’m going to sweat and shower after the sauna, might as well get a workout in first.

In 2024 I need to up my game with workout programing (maybe some more prop bets, too?), but bringing the gym home has been a game-changer for my schedule and allowing me to stay on track while juggling all of my other responsibilities.

📺️ We streamed 150 drafts (& many more)

After Pat Kerrane won BBM3, it was pretty clear best ball was going to blow up in 2023.

I had streamed a ton of drafts in the previous years, but decided I was going to go balls to the wall for BBM4 and stream all 150.

We made 2,700 draft picks over the course of the summer, navigated insane WR Avalanche rooms, meticulously tracked our exposures, and closed out the summer with a mimosa-fueled marathon live stream with some of my favorite people in the industry.

We made time in-between for the Underdog Cardio Club, another season of Randomizer Drafts, The World’s Fastest Slow Draft, and, of course, the 2023 edition of the Best Ball Bros sendup.

We didn’t win BBM4—much less make it to the finals (something that is, um, incredibly hard to do)—but I have zero regrets about streaming all 150. I got to share the experience with an army of fantasy fanatics who followed along all summer, draft with a bunch of smart friends, and become a much better player in the process.

2024 streaming plans TBD, but I’ll always fondly remember the 2023 edition of Hot Best Ball Summer.

💥 The Deposit Kingdom exploded

Thanks to the addition of the Badge Bros community at the end of last year, the Deposit Kingdom Discord exploded in 2023.

It legitimately blows my mind how many sharp and funny people spend their time in the server on a regular basis. It’s no surprise that many Deposit Kings had massive years across DFS, best ball, and Underdog contests.

The Dawg Bowl live final in Miami turned into a de facto Deposit Kingdom community event, and I’m excited for more in 2024.

😻 We fell in love with Girl Dad life

I don’t care how trite it sounds—nothing in 2023 can compare with the joys of becoming a Dad and getting to watch April go from an infant to a walking/talking/laughing force of nature.

I learned a lot this year and it wasn’t always easy. I had to make some sacrifices, become more efficient with my time, and ruthlessly prioritize things in a way I never had to previously, but it’s been incredibly rewarding.

Thank you all for reading, for watching, for trolling, and for everything in between this year.

See ya in 2024…

💎Hidden Gems: Week 17 Underdog Picks. I got a QB/TE stack for ya, as well as a RB and WR to scroll down for in Battle Royale contests this week.

🏟️ The Ultimate Guide To Playoff Best Ball. Pat Kerrane joins me for a high-level strategy discussion for playoff contests on Underdog and how to use the new dynamic rankings tool on Legendary Upside.

🚢 Jersey Scumbags, Jets Tilt, BBM Sweats & Pick 'Em Sweep. In the final Ship Cast of the regular season, the crew sweat the New York Jets vs. the Cleveland Browns and a very promising Underdog Pick Em entry. Our special guest and self-hating Jets fan, Ron Stewart, discusses his fandom, scumbag Jets homers, thoughts on Aaron Rodgers, and whether the team should fire Robert Saleh's future. Steph Miller drops by to talk FFPC and NFFC playoffs. And we wrap up with the entire community sharing their Taco Bell order.

☣️ The Best Sports Bettor In The World?! We discuss the Sean Perry story from Circa's NFL Survivor contest, as well as a recent dust up on Sports Betting Twitter.

🏆️ Fantasy Life roundup. Wrote about Amari Cooper’s historic Week 16 performance, the Vikings chances to make the playoffs, and why three bad teams are making changes at QB for Week 17.

💪 Swolecast: Draftkings Week 17 DFS picks. The episode where Bales tweeted.

☕️ BBM Heartbreak & DFS Sweats (Week 16 recap). We relive the intense MNF sweat, share my two teams in The Big Board final, circle back to my Week 16 DraftKings action, recap a very close call with a $5,000 Pick 'Em entry, and review my 4th place finish in Da Bomb. I also share some final takeaways from streaming all 150 drafts, and the lessons I've learned from playing DFS this year.

We got 4 shows on tap before the Week 17 main slate kicks off:

🧩 Block Party: Week 17 DFS Plays & GPP Strat w/ JMToWin

⏱️ Off & On The Clock: Week 16 Draft Party w/ Badge Bros

🥃 DFS After Dark: Interview w/ EZ116

🤓 Week 16 DFS Cram: Top GPP Plays & Hidden Gems

Here is the final rundown of teams that are still alive this weekend…

🐶 UNDERDOG:

• Best Ball Mania: 0/5 teams advanced

• High stakes contests ($100+): 0/2 advanced

• Big Board: 2/8 advanced

🚢 FFPC & NFFC W/ SHIP CHASING:

We probably aren’t live for a million, but we got some good sweats on FFPC and NFFC this weekend. Steph breaks it all down here.

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