Photo by Eric Ayres
Sean Grinch dressed as a pirate as consequences for finishing dead last in his fantasy football league last season. The group of Shadyside natives in the league always make the season loser run in an Ogden Wellness Weekend race wearing a ridiculous costume.
WHEELING – Sean Grinch had no intention of finishing last in the 5K Run presented by Bordas & Bordas, part of the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine, on Saturday. Unfortunately, his drive for a respectable finish in his fantasy football league last season was not as fruitful.
Grinch, of Columbus but originally from Shadyside, this past year jumped into the infamous fantasy football pool that in recent years has punished its season loser by making them wear a ridiculous costume while running in an Ogden Wellness Weekend race.
Clad in full pirate regalia, Grinch strapped on his eye patch and was ready to plunder the streets of Wheeling to try to salvage a sliver of redemption.
“Actually, this is my first year in the league. It didn’t go as planned. It’s all on me – I’m the GM,” Grinch noted, faulting his fantasy football league decision making prowess as general manager of his roster. “I’ve got to do a better job with the players and who I’m starting.”
The group of Shadyside-based friends have made a spectacle of this tradition over the past few years, but last season was the first time Grinch participated in this league. He never imagined that he would have finished dead last.
“I got offered to be in the league with some of my friends, so I took it,” he said. “I’ve never really finished last in any other fantasy football league, but I did this time. So this is what happens. I’m in like three other leagues, and I’ve been playing for over 20 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever finished last. This is a first.”
Most previous league losers have mentioned the same thing – they had never lost in the past. This includes last year’s loser Nathan Butts, who ran as a costumed George Washington complete with powdered wig in 2025. This year, Butts ran the Ogden Half Marathon … as himself.
Previous league losers ran in costumes ranging from a guy in a business suit carrying a briefcase to the “Macho Man” Randy Savage and a bearded Forrest Gump from the movie’s cross-country running segment.
Usually a number of members from the 10-man fantasy football league participate in the annual races at the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine. Yet this year only one other member joined the loser, and he didn’t even run in the same event. Grinch was forced to walk the plank alone.
League members typically decide the character for the loser’s punishment before the season even begins, and the loser gets to put together his ensemble.
“I guess I could have interpreted it in several different ways,” Grinch said of the pirate outfit, which included an eye patch, wig and swashbuckling period attire. The costume did not include a peg leg, hook arm, parrot, sword or other potentially disqualifying accessories.
Grinch said he has run races in the past, but this was his first run in the Wellness Weekend 5K race.
“I’ve never run this 5K before,” he said. “I have run a 5K and half marathon before.”
With cool weather, the race conditions were perfect despite the heavier-than-traditional race attire, and Grinch finished with a solid time of just over 25 minutes. He indicated after the race that he was already locked in and aiming for success in next year’s fantasy football league. His league-mates noted that they were already looking forward to picking the next punishment costume for the league loser to run in the Ogden 5K in 2026.
