The Pro Flight Finale (PFF) is upon us. That means two things to us here in MN. First, our summer weather is all but gone and we’ll be feeling it with some slightly chilly and rainy weather this weekend and secondly, the NFL season is finally back! Alright, maybe not everyone cares about that second one, but I am big into fantasy football. Between the most important part of the ultimate season and trying to build a fantasy championship team, I am not getting much else done.

This week, while taking a break from some game planning for the PFF I read an article about fantasy football by Matthew Berry, a writer I am pretty devoted to on ESPN. He gave his ‘100 Fantasy Football Facts for 2015’. These predictions are mostly him referring to statistics and allowing you to make your own decisions based on what he shares. I thought this would be a great way to give you all an update into what we, as Drag’n Thrust, are thinking about while gearing up for this weekend. I found there are not as many statistics available for ultimate, especially with only 10 teams involved in the mixed division this weekend. So instead, I shortened the list to 50 (probably) true facts you need to know while following the Pro Flight Finale coverage.

CLX has lost one game to US Competition this season. The loss was by two points to Seattle Mixtape. Seattle Mixtape, the number two team in the nation is not attending PFF. CLX is the highest ranked team in the tournament, ranked 1st by USAU. Most of CLX’s success is probably because Kevin Seiler is old but has somehow won every matchup battle, ever. Mischief has played four games against teams at PFF and has won all four. Lifetime, Drag’n Thrust has played Slow White 10 times with 118 points for and 118 points against. Slow White has won 7 of these 10 matchups, with 4 wins coming on double game point. Steamboat is the lowest ranked team in the tournament, ranked 27th by USAU. They are actually the only team to not have attended Nationals 2014. On three separate occasions Drag’n and CLX have played four times in one season: 2011, 2012, & 2014. If Drag’n and CLX do not play at PFF it will be the first time the two teams have not played during the regular season. Drag’n Thrust rookies Eric VanderMolen and Sierra Barthen were once spotted wearing jerseys with sleeves. No one recognized them. CLX has only one game against any of the teams attending PFF. Steamboat has played five of their games this season against teams attending PFF. They are only 1-4 in these authentic games, but it is playing the best of the best that counts. James Hron skyd Mac Taylor on universe point of the Drag’n Thrust vs Blackbird quarterfinal matchup last year at Nationals. James Hron is retired. Mac Taylor is still posterizing everyone else. 6 of the 8 regions will be represented at PFF. Only the Northwest and Southeast will not be attending. The Southwest region (aka The Bay Area) is showing its strength this weekend with three teams in attendance. Drag’n Thrust has played 84 teams since its inception. There are only six teams Drag’n Thrust does not hold the lifetime point diff edge against. Three of those teams, Mischief, Slow White and Blackbird are in their pool. Another is AMP who is in pool A. The other two are Odyssee and One Trick Pony. Polar Bears are the only team in Pool A without someone listed shorter than 2 feet tall on their roster. If they abuse their matchups they should win the pool handedly. Even PBR’s Thomas Watson, listed at 3’7″ should find better matchups than normal. Drag’n Thrust has beaten AMP on universe point in their last two meetings. Mischief also has 18 wins this season, most by any team at the tournament. Rumor has it the Minneapolis ultimate scene allowed Dave Truesdale out of his contract to go out east a few years back with the agreement he would throw some games. He has yet to follow up on his part of the deal and is always a headache for Drag’n defenders. PBR is traveling to Minneapolis this weekend with only 19 players on the roster. There are over 40 professional players from this past season competing in the mixed division this weekend. Mischief leads the way with 10 AUDL champions on their roster. By my count there are over 50 women from the mixed teams who could be a part of a very successful women’s professional league. There are seven teams attending PFF who have played in the WUCC championships. CLX, Slow White, and Mischief in 2006, CLX and AMP in 2010, and Drag’n, PBR, and Wild Card in 2014. CLX won in 2010 and Drag’n Thrust won in 2014. The Bakon Battles will be happening at 5pm on Saturday as Aaron Bacon of Steamboat faces off against Erica Baken of Drag’n. CLX players will likely be difficult to tell apart as all of their players are rostered as #0. Wild Card and Slow White have played each other three times already this season. Both teams come from the NE region with the possibility of playing three more times this year.

For those who cannot wait for fantasy football to start, how about a few tidbits for your PFF Fantasy Team:

Austin Lien led Drag’n Thrust with 22 assists at Nationals 2014 but Ryan Pickens of Cosa Nostra led the division with 27. Eli Janin threw 17 assists, but is not rostered for Blackbird. Aaron Caulfield of Blackbird scored 21 goals at Nationals last year but it wasn’t as many as Sean Ham of Mischief who had 28. I assume Caulfield throws goals to himself now. Sarah Meckstroth and Sarah Anciaux combined to destroy teams at the US Open by scoring 26 goals. They took their girls deep, but caught enough warning track passes to throw 10 assists as well. William Dean of Wild Card was crushing at the US Open this year, scoring 17 goals on his own. Hailey Alm of Wild Card has the most assists recorded of any lady in the division this year. Davis Whitehead from Slow White has double digit goals and assists this season. Neal Hanke of CLX has been known to impressively foot block his own flicks.

MIXED FANTASY ULTIMATE CHALLENGE:

Pick 5 Mixed Players for your fantasy roster. Send us your Mixed Fantasy Ultimate roster before games begin and we will figure out who wins. We will add up goals, assists and forced turnovers and then subtract drops and throwaways based on USAU’s score-keeping. Teams can be 3 men and 2 women or 3 women and 2 men as this is Mixed after all! The winner will recieve a new Drag’n Thrust 2014 “Double Peak” Championship disc!

Send your team to Strings, master of numbers, at bschoenrock1@gmail.com.