On a cool, still evening, being the last to retire you make your way through the house to put out the final few lantern lights, when you hear a distant galloping of hooves.
The bright moonlight cascading through the elms and oaks allows you to make out what looks to be a lone rider heading on a path past your home.
You raise your lantern high to get a better look as he swiftly races by shouting “The bye weeks are coming, the bye weeks are coming!”
After a few two-team bites, patched around some four-team samplers, Week 10 brings us our first and only full-course meal of 2019, with six teams on bye.
Weeks 6 and 7 had their share of stars on leave, but they seemed quite manageable, and Week 9 almost felt like mercy, allowing a few superstars the time they needed to heal up.
Weeks 10, 11 and 12, on the other hand, are looking more like death knells if you haven’t already prepared. Many players who have flat out carried teams on their backs will be put out to pasture for a week, and with league standings being as tight as they are, stringing together a win-streak could be all it takes to move from eighth or ninth place to a spot in the playoffs.
Nothing like an impact waiver wire addition to help vault you up the ranks or stave off the charge of enemies.
