I'm glad I didn't keep Chris Johnson after all

I can't have my players driving around in things like this. It's insulting to the rest of my squad.

Goings On in the League

Gents,
It seems like it was so long ago that I (make that Jamaal Charles) thoroughly beat Taylor's ass in the championship game.  And yet, it was nary even 3 months ago.  I know most of you jerks are distracted by basketball for some reason right now, but since I don't have that handicap, I thought I would write a little note about some interesting developments in the past few months/weeks.

1. Thomas Jones WILL BE RELEASED sometime this week.  Sources say this will happen March 5. It looks like Tyler might have at least one keeper (Shonn Greene) on his team now.  As for Jones, this is interesting.  It's kind of hard to tell if he still has it or if the Jets' O-line was just that good.  Either way, I see a couple of teams who might be interested in picking him up: the Lions and perhaps the Patriots.  I would say Seattle but I doubt they would want both of the Joneses in their backfield.

2. LT was released.  This is no surprise.  I don't think he's got it anymore, and I think you would be wise to stay away from him, but, again, I could see the Lions and maybe the Hawks making him an offer.  Obviously, LT wouldn't want to play for the classless Bill Belichik.

3. Along those lines, Sproles wasn't offered a deal by the Chargers.  This is kind of surprising to me because the Chargers totally lack any depth if Sproles gets away. Now that I think about it, they might want to bring Thomas Jones aboard for some experience in the backfield.  They can probably get him for a fair price and they must have some confidence in Michael Bennett since he'll be all that's left.  I wasn't particularly impressed during the limited action he saw last season.

4. T.O. is out of Buffalo and headed...?  Sources seem to think that the Ravens are pretty interested.  Maybe they can bring back Jerry Rice and round out their receiving corps with Michael Irvin to complete the oldest bunch of wideouts ever to suit up.

5. Westbrook is gone.  This isn't really a surprise either.  Will McCoy be able to replace him?  It sure didn't seem that way, but Brandon's hoping he will.

Those are actual happenings, but I am pretty excited about this draft.  It is supposedly running-back heavy, but I'm not buying it.  This class might be one of the hardest to project into fantasy production, although that picture may clear once the draft actually happens.  I heard Best and Spiller both ran sub 4.4 40's, so Al Davis is probably going to try to make a move.  The Raiders definitely need more speed and another RB.

It will also be interesting to see what happens in the Cowboys' and Giants' backfields.  It seems oddly crowded, yet somehow necessary with how injury-prone they all are.  Alas, there aren't many really difficult keeper decisions to be made this off-season as I see it.  Taylor definitely has the toughest decision, especially if that Carolina backfield gets separated.  I rank Jason second in the decision-making dilemma.  I'm hoping there is a little more aggressiveness in the trade market from the perennial Loser's Bracket contenders.

Random Thoughts

I encourage all of you to take a look at the player rankings in our league for each position.  For those of you that don't know how to do this, you go to our league, select the players tab, sort by "status" (all offense), and then pick the position.  Finally, click Fan Pts to arrange them in order.  There are some really interesting observations to be made.
1) Chris Johnson was 98 points ahead of the next closest running back Adrian Peterson. 
2) In hindsight, the Johnson success makes sense with the reduced role of White that no one believed would happen.  That being the case, in my mind, Thomas Jones was the running back surprise of the season as the 4th best running back.  Cedric Benson and Ricky Williams both had great years, but TJ was simply consistently great and I thought for sure he was about to lose his job coming into the season.  I don't count Ray Rice as a surprise.
3) Jamaal Charles was ridiculous down the stretch, and I give him the "DeAngelo Williams' 2008" award. He finished ahead of Steven Jackson, DeAngelo, Forte, and Turner on the season even though he didn't really get going until Week 10.  Even so, he still ended up as the 9th highest scoring running back.  
4) The most disappointing running back of the year had to be Steve Slaton.  That's a no-brainer.
5) A-Rod (353 pts) blew away all other QB's this season. He was followed by Brees (319), Schaub (312), Manning (305), Big Ben (300), Romo (298), Brady (296), and Favre (293).  Although Brees and Manning did get rested at the end.
6) I'd say Warner was the most disappointing QB this season with 232 points.  This fell in between Eli Manning and Kyle Orton.
7) Andre Johnson is the man, but the WR surprise of the season has to be Miles Austin.  Austin finished #2 in the league, with only 9 points behind Johnson, yet he didn't really get a chance until his coming out party in Week 5. Even as great as they were though, they still didn't outscore the top 6 RBs.
8) Larry Fitzgerald and Carolina's Steve Smith are tied for the biggest disappointments.  They performed adequately, but the bar was pretty high for both of them coming into the season, and they didn't measure up.
9) As for tight-ends, I don't think Vernon Davis will go undrafted next year. He finally realized his potential this season as the #1 TE, although Dallas Clark was right there if Indy didn't rest their starters. 
10) Finally, the Defenses...I had the Jets (181), Niners (181), Packers (174), and Eagles (175) rated pretty highly before the season started, but not as high as the Steelers (129), Ravens (161), or Giants (110).  In my mind, New Orleans' D (173) was the biggest surprise and the Giants and Steelers are tied for the biggest disappointments.

I don't give a shit about kickers and I think we should remove them from the team next year.   

Championship

First:
I'm glad I didn't play McNabb after all, because that was the single most exciting fantasy football comeback I have ever had the pleasure of taking part.

Second:
I want to point out that someone living in my house has been in the Championship game since this league's inception.  I'm just going to throw it out there that 3267 Jasper Park is a Mecca of fantasy football.

Third:
I am eagerly looking forward to destroying Taylor next week and improving the trophy while it is in my possession for the next few years.

Another Instant Classic

If any of you were watching last night, and I suspect that every single one of you were, you were witness to another instant classic between Jason and myself. For the past three years I've wondered why our rivalry sparks such epic and remembered games. Honestly, it could be a combination of many reasons. Here is what we know:

1. We are both, literally, willing to die in pursuit of victory.
2. Neither of us is concerned with individual stats, pretty wins, or highlight reels.
3. We both deeply care about our personal legacy and how history will remember us.
4. Because we have received so much from the game, we are both committed to giving even more back to it, especially to the children and handicaps.

When you have two men who turn a blind eye to the amount of blood shed, who care so deeply about the game that their penises get hard just thinking about it, and who blatantly disregard all personal responsibilities that lie outside of the game then you have something special. We need each other. We push one another to strive for an even greater greatness. Without Jason, these three straight championship games would mean much, much less to me. Without me, Jason would have left this league after year one to find some real competition.

So after reaching my third championship game in three years how do I feel? Well, pretty fucking good. I do have to admit that Jason's team, by the end of the year, was much better than mine. As Jason surely knows, and any of you who were watching would know, Jason should have beaten me last night. We were tied 86-86 with about a half to play. I had Braylon Edwards and Maurice Morris doing nothing. There was no indication either of them could do anything as well. Sure, Morris could have busted a 64 yarder like last week, but the 49ers were bottling him up, and the Lions were forced to throw most downs due to the score and lack of time. Jason had Anquan Boldin at 116 yards receiving before the first half was over, and was stopped on the one yard line. He also had Brandon Marshall on a Broncos team that was having a lot of trouble running the ball and only moving effectively when throwing. He also had touchdown maching Vernon Davis against the Lions for an entire half. I end up winning 89-85. That's right - in that entire second half Jason lost a point. Marshall lost seven yards receiving that were actually rushing yards and it took a point away. I got ten yards from Morris and an Edwards two point conversion to win. I really had a pretty bad week besides Jonathan Stewart running for over 200 and a score and Antonio Gates catching 70 yards and a score. We both had some misplays that would have won it for us, but overall Jason was the better team. I just got extremely lucky.

Losers bracket

I thought this league had a losers bracket? Which, I think I certainly would have won this year. If this is the commissioners fault because he didn't want to lose to me in these the loser playoffs than I demand an explanation. I think we can still settle who comes in second place. Tyler, Jimmy, myself and whoever the other person is who didn't make it shall start a season of diplomacy and the winner in that dimension gets the Gentlemens League second place trophy.

And to Ben Jimmy and the other guy, I will need your diplomacy passwords which I hope are the same as your email passwords. If they aren't send those my way too.

Goodbye Ben, Jim, Tyler and John

It is with a huge heart and as much respect and admiration I can fake, that I officially say goodbye to teams Ben, Jim, Tyler and John. As it doesn't look like we have a consolation bracket this year, this actually is a goodbye to those four teams. They are done, their fantasy season is over, and the off-season has begun.

But before we say our goodbyes, let us figure out just how we got to this point.

The Playoff Teams: Probably the biggest reason we are saying goodbye to these four guys was the managerial skills, craftiness, and fortitude of the six teams currently in the playoffs.

1. Scott and Everett. Even though Everett's playoff birth didn't come until the final week of the season, he and Scott clearly had the two most dominating teams throughout the year. Everett put up a couple bad weeks, but he was by far the scariest team to play all year. I don' think Tyler ever fully recovered from the beating suffered at the hands of Everett and Chris Johnson. Scott really had a mediocre stretch throughout the season, but I think we all saw the talent from top to bottom on his roster, and his ability to work the waiver wire this year and then trade for talented pieces was really impressive. It's a shame these guys will play in the second round, because I'd love to see these two in the championship.

2. Jason and Brandon. Really a tale of opposite story lines with these two clubs. Jason started out dismal, and at many points in the season I thought he had the worst team in the league. Surprising, as he has been a top two player the previous two years. Jason shook some stuff up in a famous locker room scene where he and Forte almost came to blows. Forte left town and Jason went on an unprecedented winning streak breaking a lot of hearts on the way. Brandon started strong out of the gates, and limped into the playoffs. I doubt anyone is scared of his or my team at this point.

3. Steve. An enigma of a team all season. He is capable of putting up impressive scores, but can also have Randy Moss lose a point a week before the playoffs. Kurt Warner has once again proven to be a reliable fantasy option at quarterback, MJD has done what's been expected of him for the past three years, and Thomas Jones has probably been the biggest surprise of the season. Steve has an incredibly dangerous team, and I fully expect him to make the championship game.

4. Taylor. Were every one of my players on the Madden cover this year? The guy taking the most hits was actually the most durable for my team this year. Turner, Williams, Stewart, and Williams have all been banged up and missed time during the year. When healthy my team looked like a contender, but the lack of depth and poor draft really began catching up with me as injuries plagued my running back corps. The regression of Sproles really took a toll on my team as he was a perfect start in the flex for the first third of the season. The Williams/Moreno trade did not pay off, and I was unable to get any type of consistent production from my receiving corps. Luckily, my stretch during the middle of the season when Turner, Williams and Rodgers carried me was enough to get me in the playoffs by point total over John and Ben. As a result of my third straight trip to the playoffs, my board of directors, has offered me a five-year contract extension which I have agreed to.

Secondary Reasons: Despite the six teams still playing, each of the bottom four is also to blame for their failure, and each drank a different poison.

1. Ben. Ben had the most talent of the bottom four. Manning had a great season and he got great production from Fitzgerald and Jackson. His call on Jackson was excellent. However, Jackson's production tailed off at the end of the year and it likely cost Ben some W's. His running back corps was tied up in the Saints and Cowboys, and it was anyone's guess who would be the fantasy hero. None of the backs produced great fantasy stats because the numbers were often split three-ways on each team. Plus both teams threw the ball with great effectiveness, and by the end of the year did not rely on the run. Ben also stuck with the Steelers D for too long. That is a tough spot, because I admit it wasn't until the last week of the season that I really began thinking of the Steelers D as a weak play. I abandoned the Giants much earlier in the season, but I think that is an easier move. I would have had trouble getting away from the Steelers too.

2. John. A talented receiving corps, and a two-headed monster at quarterback. John failed to turn his stable of receivers into a productive running back. We all know this story. John also had a problem with his two-quarterback system, because he often seemed to make the wrong play between Big Ben and the Mexican. John's team took a blow with the loss of Owen Daniels midway through the season, but he was also blessed with the injury to Ronnie Brown. Brandon Jacobs regression was impossible to see, and cost him a ton in the beginning of the season. However, John brought in Forte and really seemed to find a way to motivate him in a way Jason could not. Though he missed the playoffs, John has some nice keeper options and his improvement this year is something that has to give the fans some hope.

3. Tyler. What can I say? Honestly, his owners have to be growing tired, his fans have to be growing tired, and I'm sure Tyler is rethinking his entire choice of profession right now. It's going to be a long off-season for this club as they have a lot of decisions to make before the 2010 season. For the first time in his career, Tyler beautifully worked the waiver wire. However, he traded away his franchise player for a fumble-prone change of pace back who is likely to spend a lot of time on the bench. He's locked into an aging Brady and a Patriots offense that is in a heap of trouble. He traded away Sidney Rice for a much lesser talent, and failed to use his depth at wide receiver to improve his club. And again, he made misplay after misplay. Tyler's club seems to run into a sea of bad luck each year and never really recovers. Whatever the case, this club is in trouble. The fans know it. The owners know it. Tyler knows it. For the third straight year, they are on the outside looking in.

4. Jimmy. Dug himself into a hole early in the season, lost Ronnie Brown, never had quarterback production, and traded away LT just prior to his resurgence. It was a tough year for Jim during his return to the league after a one-year hiatus, but he does still have all-world talents in Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne. Those two guys are automatic starts week in and week out. If he can turn one into a stud running back, or keep both and draft the hell out of running backs next year, he can turn things around quickly.