The Chief Fool has retired

After 13 wonderful years of writing for some of the greatest, most respected newspapers and magazines in the free world, I have made the decision to ride off into the sunset.

It had been my goal for the last couple of years to secure the elusive Fantasy Football Writer of the Year threepeat, then drop the mic. But alas, I couldn't get my hands on that third trophy. That underscores the fact that there are a lot of great writers out there, so I know I won't be missed too much (if at all).

It's been a fun, rewarding and revealing journey. I've taken great pride in being considered among the top writers in the field, despite toiling away in my underwear on the couch while "the competition" works full-time, often for big companies with significant organizational resources. I was "just a guy" that loved playing fantasy football and could string together a few decent sentences. I've been an NFL fan since I was a young Ladd sitting in the Orange Bowl stands watching my beloved Dolphins every Sunday afternoon -- including the Perfect Season and the Greatest Game Ever Played (Dolphins-Chargers, the hook-and-ladder game). I'm neither a trained journalist nor a sports professional. I just love the game.

I'm forever grateful to Dwayne Bray, sports editor at the time for The Dallas Morning News, who responded to my email that said "you need to start covering fantasy football, and I think I can do it for you" -- and gave me a shot. I'm thankful to the editors at the Cleveland Plain Dealer (the second newspaper to pick up my column), the Chicago Sun-Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald (my hometown paper), San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Pioneer Press, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and others who allowed me to share my foolish insights with their readers. I appreciate Sporting News magazine for entrusting me with its Friday column for so many years, and Sporting News Radio for giving me an hour on their national airwaves every NFL week before they were acquired by Yahoo! Sports.

And of course, I thank all of you Fools who followed me on one of those platforms, or here on my blog. I enjoyed getting to know several of you, and to contributing in some small way to who-knows-how-many fantasy league championships. I hope you always followed my good advice, and ignored my bad calls!

So, no more preseason columns. No more positional rankings. No more Perfect Drafts. No more Monday articles with my weekend recaps and waiver-wire picks and pans. No more Starters & Benchwarmers on Fridays. No more Boneheads of the Week. No more Biro's Heroes & Zeros Awards.

It's been a great run, but my PR agency -- Champion Management -- is growing like crazy and it demands my full attention. I'll still be playing in multiple leagues, and my RedZone subscription will be renewed. But this is my fond farewell to all the Fools out there.

It's been an honor to share this crazy pastime with you. After all, fantasy football is more than just a maniacal obsession!