Seanor refocusing after last season’s runner-up finish

DENVER, Colo. — General George Patton once said, “Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom.”

Grant Seanor certainly isn’t at the bottom of the Tiger Township Fantasy Football League, but that doesn't mean he won't be trying to bounce back after what he endured last December. That’s when Seanor fell to Casey Irwin in the TTFFL Championship Game, ending a season of promise and opportunity.

A chance to claim his second career title quickly turned into a disappointment, opening the door to a dreadful, high-altitude offseason full of what-could-have-beens.

“It was obviously a rough offseason; that was the best team I’ve ever had,” Seanor said in a long-distance, late-night chat with Chibby’s Corner earlier this week. “It was easily the best team I’ve ever walked into a championship game with.”

Indeed, Seanor’s club made quite a name for itself this past season, finishing second in the TTFFL in scoring. His group posted nearly 2,100 total points en route to a 9-4 regular season, featuring a four-game win streak in Weeks 3-6 and a spurt of four more wins in five tries to close out the campaign.

That led to Seanor earning one of the league’s first pair of first-round byes in the postseason, which came as a result of the TTFFL transitioning to a six-man playoff system. The Miami University graduate took down David Devine in the semifinals before coming up short to Irwin in a 14.5-point setback in the finals.

Any championship-game loss is tough to swallow. But for Seanor, the defeat also provided a sense of regret in some regard. That’s because his decision-making failed him in one of the most critical moments of his fantasy football career.

“As far as being disappointed, I just keep looking back at if I would have picked up (freaking) Cincinnati’s defense,” Seanor said. "I would have been the champion. But that’s not how the world works.”

Seanor’s words aren’t an exaggeration. His Week 16 defense —the Tennessee Titans — posted minus-1 points in the final, while Cincinnati, which sat in free agency during the TTFFL’s final week, scrounged together 16 points. Had the trigger been pulled on the Bengals, the league’s history would have forever been altered.

Still, Seanor has done a nice job in putting 2016 behind him and hitting the reset button for the new year. He said he took about a month off around January before beginning his preliminary research methods for the new season.

In a way, jumping right back into the swing of things aided in Seanor’s brokenness. He was able to focus on what he hopes to accomplish in 2017 rather than waste time looking back at what he was unable to do at last season’s close.

“I’m at home when I’m researching; that’s one of my shticks,” Seanor said. “I truly enjoy the research process, whether that be looking into up-and-coming players or analyzing prior drafts versus their performance. It was a comfort zone for me after the season.”

Usually bold and always brash, Seanor has now long-since gotten back on his horse in an effort to ready himself for the 2017 TTFFL Draft, which takes place on Aug. 19 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Seanor, who keeps no secrets about entering the war room with a very deliberate draft strategy, is happy to report that he’s beginning to feel comfortable with the tendencies of what an auction draft can provide. That’s a result of the southpaw’s dedicated prep work to get himself ready for his franchise’s yearly facelift.

“Some people like to fish, some people like to bike,” Seanor said. “I like to know my (stuff) in fantasy football.”

Along with winning the 2016 silver medal, Seanor was able to accomplish something last season that was really starting to poke at his sides. For the first time since winning his lone TTFFL championship in 2009, the former high-school varsity quarterback won a game in the postseason.

Getting to the tournament hasn’t been the issue for Seanor over the years. After all, he’s qualified for the playoffs five times in the past seven years. Once he’s gotten there, however, the success generally has run dry.

Seanor is just 1-5 in the playoffs since 2010, a mark that continues to leave a very bitter taste in the Rocky Mountains transplant’s mouth. The stat hasn’t been something that’s made waves around league circles over the years, maybe for the fact that no one seems to realize it. But, to Seanor, the unfortunate trend grew into a bigger and bigger hurdle to get over.

Admittedly, Seanor says last year’s victory in the semifinals provided a sense of gratitude in a win-or-go-home scenario, if nothing else. That’s just another way he’s been able to cope with the hardships of going down in Week 16 last fall.

“Honestly, it burned (to lose in the championship game last year), but right now, my soon-to-be boys are ready to get back onto the field,” Seanor said. “We had a bigger monkey on our shoulder for a long time. We were one-and-dones (in the playoffs) for about four years straight. So, getting back to the championship game, having one of the best teams week in and week out, that really brought us back.”

Seanor will enter his 12th TTFFL season just a win back from taking over the top spot on the league’s all-time regular season wins list. He’s won 53 games in the past seven years, a mark that sits behind only Devine and Joe Mitchin’s league-leading 54 non-playoff victories.

This fall offers yet another chance for Seanor to bottle up his regular-season success for use down the road. Should he be able to build up enough momentum in the postseason to carry him to his second career title, then last fall’s runner-up will truly be able to feel the success of bouncing back all the way to the top.

“My regular seasons speak for itself but my playoff (record) also speaks for itself,” Seanor said. “It hasn’t been good. We were good last year and we’re going to build on that.”