Monday Morning Quarterbacking

The Fantasy Baseball season is winding down. Here’s how things stand right now. I have one championship to show for the 4 Yahoo! Leagues I competed in. My one MLB.com team was never in the race even though I had Albert Pujols on my team. As we enter the final week of competition, I’m leading in the run for the championship in the two ESPN Leagues I’m in, though both contests are tight and things could turn on a point here or there.

Meanwhile, Fantasy Football is in full swing. It's early but trends are developing, some good, some bad.

First, let’s look at the four Yahoo! Leagues, three private one public, I’m in. In Joe Willie Nation, a league I started a few years back, I’m 2-1 on the strength of strong performances by Peyton Manning and Maurice Jones-Drew. Jones-Drew, BTW, was listed as Probable before the game, but, luckily, I decided to stick with him. I screwed up in other similar situations, having benched Randy Moss and DeSean Jackson, because of fears related to reported injuries. Both played and played well, thereby costing me mucho points. I lost my first game in Yahoo! Public 123000, falling to 2-1. The loss of Frank Gore and another disappointing performance by the Steelers defense cost me dearly there. The 0-2 Mean Machine knocked me from the ranks of the unbeaten in the Field Of Honor private league. Again, here, I was hurt by the benching of DeSean Jackson. Also contributing to the loss were poor performances by Ted Ginn Jr., Matt Ryan, Isaac Bruce, Darren McFadden, kicker Rian Lindell and the Arizona defense. I ran my record to 2-1 on the strength of Peyton Manning, Ahmad Bradshaw and the New York Giant defense in private league Spies Like Us. I guess, looking back, I’m not doing that bad in the Yahoo leagues.

At NFL.com, in the Central Florida Headbangers League, I was thumped from the ranks of the unbeaten by Eastern Division rival carterandi. Contributing factors were a poor output by Drew Brees who had carried me through the first two weeks, and lousy performances by Darren McFadden, Chansi Stuckey, Visanthe Shiancoe and the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Without Polamalu, the Steeler’s D sucks. If he doesn’t return on October 11th as prophesized, I’ll have to dump them.

My first venture into the ESPN Fantasy World has been thoroughly and undeniably unimpressive. I’m on the brink of falling 0-2-1 in the Tampa Bay Football League. Actually, before MNF, I’m ahead of the Riverview Weirdos by 7 points. But, I have no one playing tonight and my opponent has Felix Jones ready to go. Jones has looked impressive in the Cowboys games I’ve watched, besides, with Marion Barber’s status questionable, he may even get more carries. I’ve all but conceded this one.

The lackluster Crossville Jets knocked me to 0-3 in the ESPN Italian League. Here I was done in by poor performances by Larry Johnson, Santonio Holmes, Chris “Beanie” Wells, T.O. and Dustin Keller. The loss would have been averted if I hadn’t benched Moss, Greg Olsen or Steve Breaston but that’s how things go. The lesson about paying too much attention to minor injuries is one I’ve learned over and over again, apparently, to no avail. I’m about ready for the cement shoes.

Women: Can’t Live Without ‘em

You might have expected that she would’ve been thrilled for me, but when I woke my wife at 2 AM last night to let her know that yours truly had won the championship of NFL.com’s Pigskin Fantasy Football League her only reaction was to inquire about my mental health. I think her exact words were “Are you out of your freakin’ mind?” or something to that effect.

Granted, it was a little late, but I had fallen asleep during the Giants – Panthers game while still behind my opponent, Benito Ricones, Sr. and his team Detroit Fan 91. He had finished with a total of 96 points. I was 18 points behind at the start of the game, with three players still to play – the Giants’ Derrick Ward and the Panthers’ Steve Smith in the Sunday night game, and Donald Driver on Monday night. On one hand, things looked pretty good for me. On the other, you never know what’s going to happen at the end of the season. Beside the usual intangibles – injuries, poor performances and suspensions, you had that extra dynamic – saving players for the playoffs.

It had been a long, grueling season. I had started on a lucky note, having been awarded the first pick in the draft. Unfortunately, I just about wasted my first pick having chosen LaDainian Tomlinson. In case you weren’t aware of it, LaDanian did not have the kind of year we would expect from a consensus first pick. My second and third picks, QB Drew Brees and WR Steve Smith worked out much better. My fourth pick, RB Laurence Maroney of the Patriots, played about 5 weeks and then was out for the season with a shoulder injury. I’ll have to rank him a tad lower next season. A revolving door of replacements included Fred Taylor, Ahman Greene, and even for a couple weeks DeAngelo Williams, before I finally settled on Derrick Ward. The Miami defense, a bye week replacement, also turned out to be a pretty good choice.

Anyway, I’m watching the game, strolling back to my PC every once in a while to see the score between my team, AcesWebWorld and Benito’s Detroit Fan 91. I was creeping up on him and his 18 point lead had been whittled down to 11. Then, as I said, I dozed off. When I woke up the game was over. I went back to the PC, refreshed the game page, and to my amazement saw that I had emerged victorious. A check of the live-chat box revealed that my opponent had already conceded. Funny thing is I had been kicking myself in the ass for not inserting Tashard Choice at RB before Saturday night’s game. I had picked him up because Ward’s playing seemed to be in doubt. Tashard managed to accumulate 17 fantasy points. Come Sunday those points were looking awfully good. Well, when the screen came back up, I had to do a double-take because Derrick Ward had rushed for over 200 yards accumulating a total of 21 fantasy points. Combined with 6 points from Steve Smith, I had more than I needed to take command of the game. The championship was mine.

I’m sharing this with you because my wife doesn’t get it. The material girl’s last word on the subject was “What exactly did you win?” Can you imagine! “The Championship!” I proclaimed. Then, I did my version of the Iggy shuffle.