Dungeons and Dragons for Jocks

I play a lot of fantasy football, too much actually. For those of you who are neither an NFL fan nor a Fantasy Football fan stop reading now, there is nothing in this post for you. For those of you who have never played but watch some NFL Mathew Berry's Draft Day Manifesto is all you really need to get caught up. For fellow junkies here's another random dude on the internet with an opinion to consider and critique while you probably should be working.

For the record when I say I like someone it's relative to their general ranking, for reference here's a list from the good people at ESPN.

If I pick first overall I'm taking Adrian Peterson, I know most aren't but for me he's just such a freak athlete. I saw an NFL Network commercial last year with him running without a shirt on 220+ times (honest estimate), maybe I'm brain washed. I just think he's safer because he's bigger and plays in a better offense. Don't get me wrong it's like comparing delicious apples with delicious apples.

I like Ray Rice at three but I`m not angry at anyone who picks MJD.

At 4 I think you have to take Frank Gore but after that it should open right up, it`s really just personal preference and drafting styles, the only bad picks are when you pick a player who would definitely be there a few rounds later.

I`m not picking Stephen Jackson, Randy Moss or Reggie Wayne because other people are going to like these guys more than me. That being said I own all three in a keeper league where you can keep any five players and none are going back into the draft.

DeAngelo Williams gets good numbers every year but I don`t like when my first round running back splits carries as much as they do in Carolina.

Andre Johnson is the best and safest receiver by a large margin, he`s the only one I`d feel happy taking in the first round.

I never pick a QB early, I think there is great value late in drafts. I`m fine waiting on some kind of Favre, Cutler, Kolb, Henne, Mcnabb , Flacco, Romo combination platter of three.

If I`m reaching on some guys in the first round it would be Mendenhall then Shonn Green. The difference being Ladanian Tomlinson might be this year`s Willis MaGahee. Shonn Green like Ray Rice last year is obviously the better player but LT might vulture TDs the way MaGahee did last year, at least early on. Then again Willis Magahee might be this year`s Willis MaGahee.

I like Calvin Johnson. Mathew Stafford is a year older, Pettigrew is a year older, Jahvid Best and Burleson can`t hurt either, defenses might not be able to exclusively key in on Johnson.....plus he`s Megatron.

Jennings and Colston are the two best recievers on good pass happy offenses.

I`d be very happy with Crabtree as the second best receiver on my squad going into the season. A year ago he was a rookie who missed training camp and the first half the season due to contract negotiations. Just taking regular snaps would have been impressive but he was by far their best receiver.

Reggie Wayne might put up the same kind of numbers he has the last couple of years making him a lower end number one receiver; he certainly won`t be better. I`m not interested

I like Jamaal Charles, Ryan Mathews, Pierre Thomas and maybe even Matt Forte more than Ryan Grant. No team is going to win their fantasy league because Ryan Grant is their best player.

My sleeper pick is Clinton Portis, he`s the 32nd ranked running back. He was awful last year and deserves this ranking but throw in Shanahan and McNabb and I`ll waste a 6th round pick to see if he was slowed by injuries.

Another is Darren McFadden, he could easily be this year`s Cedric Benson. I`m probably going to do a whole sleepers post in the near future.

Miami goes to Revis Island twice this year to play the jets including week 14. That sucks for Brandon Marshall owners who make the playoffs.

That`s it for today but I`m going to do rambling FF thoughts again.

NCAA Div. I Athletics

The NCAA is investigating a few prominent Div. I Football programs because some players are suspected of going to a party an agent threw between the end of the season and the Rose Bowl.

Division I Football is a billion dollar industry, largely built on the back of the student athlete who is compensated for his efforts. Make no mistake about it, they are compensated.

The reason people seem to forget this is about 1% of them go on to make millions playing professionally. The other 99% go on to real life and thank their lucky stars every day that they have no student loans. The fact that the NCAA makes so much more is irrelevant.

If you work at a major energy company, bank or pharmaceutical firm the same situation is happening. You make a salary, maybe a very good one, but the money the company makes dwarfs it. It’s the way life goes. It might not be fair, but it isn’t going to change any time soon.

So if you think it’s fine for a Div. I football player to accept kickbacks, cars or accommodations from agents or alumni to supplement their income, you must also concur that it’s perfectly acceptable for a bank teller to keep a share of your deposit, the drug salesman to increase the price of your medicine by 5 cents a pill or a oil exec to tack an extra 5 cents a liter on to the price of gas.

After all, look at all the money their company is making from their hard work.

All Star Break

Did you know that Monday and Wednesday this week, the day before and after the MLB All-Star game, are the only two days of the year without a major North American sport being played. Try watching an hour long Sports Center, it's painful.

Until Tuesday night the National League had not beaten the American League in 14 years (0-13-1). To put that in perspective, the Montreal Expos only had 7 seasons left the last time the NL won. This was the first time the NL has won a All Star Game since Derek Jeter has played in the show. What I'm saying is, it had been a while.

Lebronagedon

Wow, that was HUGE, AWESOME, RIDICULOUS......one day later and I still can't fully grasp the ramifications of last nights event, somebody get me some decision water.

I heard the rumors before hand that Lebron was going to the Heat, but I just didn't believe it. JGK talked about not watching if you didn't approve of this kind egotistical scene. It was the ultimate train wreck, I just couldn't look away. I never could have imagined one man thinking this was a good idea. He intentionally crippled a city and made sworn enemies with half his fans then sold it as a one hour TV special, it was awesome.

My favorite part (besides decision water) was Lebron saying a few times how much he's done for Cleveland. You're a billion dollar athlete who plays basketball for a living, maybe they've done a little something for you? His sense of entitlement makes his "King" James nickname a little ironic and pretty fucking funny.

He is now the greatest villain in all of sports, leading "the axis of evil" Miami Heat (patent pending). In one hour his image went from Cal Ripken, Micheal Jordan, Wayne Gretzky company to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Chris Pronger company. This fall from grace in the eyes of the fans can only be matched by Tiger Woods. The best part: he actually took less money to do it.

The term "douche bag" is way over used. It's become sort of a self fulfilling word in that if you use the word douche bag often, you actually are a douche bag. That being said it's the only word I can think of that describes a sports fan who jumps on the Axis of Evil band wagon. The only legitimate excuse for being a Miami Heat fan is you live in Miami. That's it, it's the only one, it's not debatable.

This story has like 8 best parts, another is Cav's owner Dan Gilberts reaction. Here's an excerpt I stole from TSN.

"As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier. "

"You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal."

"This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown 'chosen one' sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And 'who' we would want them to grow-up to become."

"The self-declared former "King" will be taking the 'curse' with him down south. And until he does 'right' by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma."

That is so fucking bitter and so fucking awesome but it gets better.

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE"

HAHAHA! Good Fucking luck, I'm not a huge basketball fan but from what I can tell the Cleveland Cavaliers best player is Antawn Jamison. HAHAHAHA! To add insult to injury with Lebron leaving Cleveland, it probably devalues the Cavaliers franchise by half. A quick google tells me Dan Gilberts net worth was somewhere in the 1.1billion range so now Lebron is richer than him too.

Lebron James is a 25yr old dude who wants to play basketball with his friends and Dan Gilbert is fairly classless in his remarks. I do agree with one thing Gilbet said, there is no way this is good Karma. What these guys have done is create a situation where they are expected to win it all every year. Anything less is failure. If they do win Championships there will be less joy because it's always been expected of them. On Wednesday night I questioned why anyone would watch the NBA if these three joined forces, as their winning would seem like a forgone conclusion. Now I know- I'll watch hoping this end badly.

Don’t Hate The Player

What does LeBron owe Cleveland? What does he owe the game?

Can anyone really be mad at him for playing the game better than everyone else?

I’m not talking the X’s & O’s of basketball. I’m talking the masterful media-playing, leak-planting, ESPN-Show Running display that he has put on in the last week.

If you are sickened and disgusted by the selfishness that the James camp has shown since July 1st, there is only one way to show it. Don’t care. Don’t tune in to watch it, don’t log onto ESPN to read about it and don’t call into the radio shows to talk about it. Just don’t care.

The whole reason LeBron can get away with it is too many people pay all their attention to him. He has the stroke to make people hang on every word. He likes that power. Why wouldn’t he take it for all it’s worth?

So before anyone says that he can’t go on national TV to “break up” with Cleveland, the only home he’s ever known, remember that the Cavs let it get this far. They signed an endless string of has-beens and never-will-bes to support him. They could have had 2 titles in the bag already making it impossible for him to leave, but they went with Shaq and Mo-Pete instead of KG and Tony Parker. They practically begged him to go elsewhere to win.

Couple that with the little reported locker room dissention in the playoffs this year (there are whispers that 1 teammate crossed LBJ in a way that the few journalists who will talk about it term “unforgivable”) and he has absolutely no reason to feel any loyalty to the Cavs.

So LeBron, enjoy your moment in the sun, go to Miami or Chicago or New York and play to win. Cleveland will be exactly the same with out you. This is to say, chamionshipless.

JGK

A name to know

Stephen Strasburg is getting a lot of attention and deservedly so, the kid is sick. The other guy to keep an eye on who isn't getting as much attention but maybe should be is Carlos Santana. Not the guy who plays the guitar but the switch hitting catcher from the Cleveland baseball squad with the slightly racist name.

He's been in the show for less than a month but here's his stat line next to Joe Mauer's.

Santana: 22G 70AB 12R 21H 4HR .300 AVG 1.038 OPS
Mauer 25G 95AB 16R 26H 1HR .271AVG .744 OPS

That's a pretty good first month.