TJ’s Rich Eisen Show Fantasy Team Got Chopped…So He Immediately Left the League’s Text Chain???

Everybody has a bad beat in poker and fantasy football. Rich understands that. He also loves guillotine leagues "like nothing else," precisely because nobody is safe, and this week the blade came down on TJ Jefferson in the most painful way possible.

Chris Brockman had already been guillotined the week before, though in Chris's case everyone could see it coming once the Monday night game against the Rams was decided. "It was over," Rich said. "It was done. It was finished."

TJ's exit was different. On Monday night, the game was over at 27-7, with one play from scrimmage left, fourth and one after the two-minute warning. By Rich's account, TJ was "100% in the clear going into this snap." The team on the chopping block belonged to Craig Susser, the restaurateur to the stars in Los Angeles and Nashville, who was sitting at 1%. Susser had Latavius Murray and D'Andre Swift in his lineup.

Who got the ball? Swift. A 15-yard gain. "Normally, you wouldn't even think anything of it," Rich said.

This time, it flipped everything. TJ got axed, and the league text chain lit up. "It was on like Donkey Kong," Rich said. The group was texting nonstop, with Sarah also on the block for a while before getting into the clear.

Then TJ sent the chain a GIF of a kid waving goodbye and sliding down a slide. And he left the chat.

"You rage quit," Rich said, as the room cracked up.

Rich does not get it, and he said so with genuine affection. TJ is one of the most approachable people he knows. "You meet everybody with open arms," Rich said. "You are one of the easiest individuals to approach and talk to." The number of celebrities who come through the studio and know TJ from back in the day proves it. "But you're so antisocial when it comes to a text chain." Rich even suspects TJ is relieved to be off it. O'Shea, apparently, is very upset about the departure.

TJ insisted it was planned. He had been posting anime memes all night trying to will his team to victory, and he had two responses loaded. If he survived, he was going with Steph Curry running down the court at the Olympics telling everyone not to worry about him. If he lost, the slide.

"I lost. Peace," TJ said.

That is the beauty of the guillotine league. One meaningless 15-yard run at the end of a decided game can end your season, and apparently your group chat membership too.