For those poor, unfortunate souls who have yet to read The People's Draft Analysis, I need to preface with the following.
This is not an analysis on who will win this seasons league. It is an analysis on how they drafted. Let me explain. Two seasons ago, LT was the first pick in the draft (and every other draft). He set every fantasy record there ever was. I would venture to say he was on 50%+ of the winning squads that season and probably 70%+ on straight points leagues. The team that picked him in our league won easily even though he had a horrid draft. LT was that dominant.
Now, with that being said, this is a momentous occasion in the history of The People's League's, a now 8 year and running Yahoo Fantasy League-both Baseball and Football and until last year hoops. Usually, I just post the Analysis on the leagues website, but we decided to go public and let the world in on our little fun. It's an online draft, 1qb 2rb, 3wr, 1te, 1k, 1 team defense, with .1 point per yard receiving or rushing and .03 for yards passing, 6 for a td, the rest standard.
We have generally the same cast of characters, so I will need to background each player. I will use his team name where I can and will make up nicknames for the ones who so creatively call their team by their real names or initials. You will see, there's a direct correlation to a teams success and his creativity. Overall Score is based on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest.
Now without further ado, the 2008 People's Leagues Draft Review in draft order (except team TPC- best always for last).
DTA- Team DTA has been a league stalwart for much of the leagues 8 years in existence. A perennial contender in Baseball (a two time winner including the famous 2006 most dominant season of all time- clinched the league June 1st), a relatively successful Fantasy hoops career (including being the Afa to my Sika on The Wild Samoans in a different NBA league) and a putrid NFL career, a highest finish of 4th all the way back to 2005. Team DTA is the classic message board ranter. Has the typical "second team in the city mentality" of being a NY Mets and Islander fan. You know the kind. The guy who gets almost (some would say even more) as much pleasure watching the Yankees (and most notably Arod) fail, as he does watching his beloved Mets win. With that being said, he is a Pittsburgh Steeler fan in real life and was fortunate to land the first pick in this draft.
So, we go back to September 1st, 9:30PM on a lovely Labor Day evening and DTA takes LT, the greatest all around RB I have ever seen (and probably you too, unless your really old and saw Jim Brown or a little less older and saw Sweetness in his prime). So far so good. In the snake draft we have, DTA next picked at #24 and 25 and took Marques Colston and Drew Bress. With TO, Moss, Wayne, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Braylon Edwards off the board, DTA took the best available wideout not named Brandon Marshall. The Brees pick was very nice in the 3rd round considering where Manning went (1st round-a discussion for later on). His next two picks were Winslow and Boldin, and although you can argue he went to early, Winslow wasn't coming back in 24 picks and he wanted to lock up a top 3 TE. Boldin is a solid #2WR. At this point, he has according to The People's rankings, the #1RB, #3QB, #2TE and two very decent WR's. A very good start. This is usually where we lose DTA. Round 6 and 7 he reaches on Fred Taylor and Maurice Morris, both guys RBBC (running back by committee) at best, with potential starters like Edge, Mendenhall and Green all available. He rounds off his WR crew next round with Jerry Porter and locks up a Chicago D in round 9. IMO, 4 lost rounds considering who was still out there. I love his QB #2 he got in round 10, a major sleeper in Matt Schaub and a nice sleeper WR in Rice. His last 4 picks were basically irrelevant although he might get some value out of Kevin Jones.
A very nice job and a very nice squad especially if Morris becomes the featured back in Seattle.
Overall Score: 6. Would have been higher except for the Worst Pick to follow. Best value pick: Schaub at 10. Worst pick: Not locking up LT's handcuff. Huge mistake.
The Ducks- In the long history of our leagues, The People's Champs greatest rival has been The Ducks. In the early days of our leagues, The Ducks were the leagues most successful franchise, including a still unprecedented Hoops 3-peat 2000, 2001 and 2002.Unfortunately for the Ducks, they last placed in 2004 (3rd place in Baseball- although they are currently 2nd in Baseball this season). The Ducks have been a notoriously annoying franchise, creating tremendous turmoil and conflict with pretty much every other franchise over the course of the last 8 seasons. With that being said, they are a league stalwart, always active on the message boards and trade boards and is generally a good GM despite his conflicting nature. Plus, we have a sidebet every league which has paid my mortgage and tuition bills the last few years, with TPC winning 14 out of the 15 past seasons. The Ducks, for all their past glories have been awful in football. Their best finish was 4th 2002, 2003 and 2004. They were 10th in 2006 and 8th last year.
With the 3rd pick the Ducks selected Brian Westbrook, a solid choice no brainer there (with AP off the board). Round 2 brought the Ducks Braylon Edwards, a solid WR #1. The next pick was interesting. Jamal Lewis in round 3 is certainly a good value, I would just rather have Michael Turner, Selvin Young or even Reggie Bush there. I think the time we start seeing Jamal breakdown is coming close and I don't see Derrik Anderson having near the same season this year. The Ducks took their QB in Big Ben round 4. Technically, he's a solid pick, a very good QB, but after the first 3 (Brady and Romo, possibly even Brees), the next 6 or 7 guys are pretty equal, and possibly even more. In fact a QB didn't go the next 3 rounds which lends to my belief. Jennings went next, a reach in my opinion without Farve and White, Williams, C. Johnson and even Cotchery still on the board. The guy only had 900 yards last year, albeit with 12 TD's. In the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, you can't predict TD's and Jennings could have a 950 7TD type year. Shockey in round 6 was a very interesting pick. IMO, he went too early, but was the last "name TE" on the board and Brees will utilize his skills. Minn D was his 7th pick, the first D off the board. Way to early for any D, even a solid D like Minny playing in an awful division. I love Ahman Green at 8, taking a Kicker in round 10 should be a Felony (Folk), the starting WR core in the 2001 Pro Bowl (Mason and Bruce next), Chris "out for the season" Brown next...........as you can see, the Ducks mailed it in after the Shockey pick.
Overall Score: 5. Westbrook is a great back but has shown to be injury prone and his only other back is Ahman Green (while being a good value at 8, you need to handcuff the #3 pick). Best pick: Green at 8. Worst pick: Minny at 7 or the Kicker at 10. Inexcusable.
Bald Guy- Due to the creative nature of the owner of this squad we will not use his teams real name (his real initials) so he will be the BG. BG is a nice and cuddly character who is putrid at sports fantasy. His best finish in any of our leagues is 7th last year in Football and Baseball (although he is currently 3rd in Baseball). BG is a good owner, tries to make trades, keeps up with the league, is active on the boards, however he's just incompetent.
He took Stephen Jackson with the #4 pick. I would have went Addai and Brady, but not a bad pick. #2 he went Jones-Drew which if Taylor goes down is a great pick, but not with your 2nd rounder with some stud WR's out there and some decent #1 RB's. He could have had him at 3 and a top WR (Edwards, Fitzgerald, etc. See above). Went with TJ Houz, nice pick at 3, easily the best WR on the board at that point. JG kept to pattern taking a very good upside RB, but a RBBC guy in Stewart at 4 and a very good WR #2 in Roy Williams at 5. Kevin Curtis at 6 is awful considering he might be done for the year. McNabb was a good value QB at 7, Mendenhall a good pick at 8. Kitna at 9 was a huge reach. He shouldn't have been drafted. Jax in round 10 was very nice- much better than taking Minny 3 rounds earlier. JG mailed in the rest of the draft- which is 6 rounds later than usual, so that's a good thing (some 2nd rate TE's and a Kicker).
Overall Score: 3.5 No backup WR's and 2 questionable QB's. If he paid attention after round 8, he could have been decent. Best Pick: Mendenhall round 8. Worst pick: Curtis.
This is not an analysis on who will win this seasons league. It is an analysis on how they drafted. Let me explain. Two seasons ago, LT was the first pick in the draft (and every other draft). He set every fantasy record there ever was. I would venture to say he was on 50%+ of the winning squads that season and probably 70%+ on straight points leagues. The team that picked him in our league won easily even though he had a horrid draft. LT was that dominant.
Now, with that being said, this is a momentous occasion in the history of The People's League's, a now 8 year and running Yahoo Fantasy League-both Baseball and Football and until last year hoops. Usually, I just post the Analysis on the leagues website, but we decided to go public and let the world in on our little fun. It's an online draft, 1qb 2rb, 3wr, 1te, 1k, 1 team defense, with .1 point per yard receiving or rushing and .03 for yards passing, 6 for a td, the rest standard.
We have generally the same cast of characters, so I will need to background each player. I will use his team name where I can and will make up nicknames for the ones who so creatively call their team by their real names or initials. You will see, there's a direct correlation to a teams success and his creativity. Overall Score is based on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest.
Now without further ado, the 2008 People's Leagues Draft Review in draft order (except team TPC- best always for last).
DTA- Team DTA has been a league stalwart for much of the leagues 8 years in existence. A perennial contender in Baseball (a two time winner including the famous 2006 most dominant season of all time- clinched the league June 1st), a relatively successful Fantasy hoops career (including being the Afa to my Sika on The Wild Samoans in a different NBA league) and a putrid NFL career, a highest finish of 4th all the way back to 2005. Team DTA is the classic message board ranter. Has the typical "second team in the city mentality" of being a NY Mets and Islander fan. You know the kind. The guy who gets almost (some would say even more) as much pleasure watching the Yankees (and most notably Arod) fail, as he does watching his beloved Mets win. With that being said, he is a Pittsburgh Steeler fan in real life and was fortunate to land the first pick in this draft.
So, we go back to September 1st, 9:30PM on a lovely Labor Day evening and DTA takes LT, the greatest all around RB I have ever seen (and probably you too, unless your really old and saw Jim Brown or a little less older and saw Sweetness in his prime). So far so good. In the snake draft we have, DTA next picked at #24 and 25 and took Marques Colston and Drew Bress. With TO, Moss, Wayne, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Braylon Edwards off the board, DTA took the best available wideout not named Brandon Marshall. The Brees pick was very nice in the 3rd round considering where Manning went (1st round-a discussion for later on). His next two picks were Winslow and Boldin, and although you can argue he went to early, Winslow wasn't coming back in 24 picks and he wanted to lock up a top 3 TE. Boldin is a solid #2WR. At this point, he has according to The People's rankings, the #1RB, #3QB, #2TE and two very decent WR's. A very good start. This is usually where we lose DTA. Round 6 and 7 he reaches on Fred Taylor and Maurice Morris, both guys RBBC (running back by committee) at best, with potential starters like Edge, Mendenhall and Green all available. He rounds off his WR crew next round with Jerry Porter and locks up a Chicago D in round 9. IMO, 4 lost rounds considering who was still out there. I love his QB #2 he got in round 10, a major sleeper in Matt Schaub and a nice sleeper WR in Rice. His last 4 picks were basically irrelevant although he might get some value out of Kevin Jones.
A very nice job and a very nice squad especially if Morris becomes the featured back in Seattle.
Overall Score: 6. Would have been higher except for the Worst Pick to follow. Best value pick: Schaub at 10. Worst pick: Not locking up LT's handcuff. Huge mistake.
The Ducks- In the long history of our leagues, The People's Champs greatest rival has been The Ducks. In the early days of our leagues, The Ducks were the leagues most successful franchise, including a still unprecedented Hoops 3-peat 2000, 2001 and 2002.Unfortunately for the Ducks, they last placed in 2004 (3rd place in Baseball- although they are currently 2nd in Baseball this season). The Ducks have been a notoriously annoying franchise, creating tremendous turmoil and conflict with pretty much every other franchise over the course of the last 8 seasons. With that being said, they are a league stalwart, always active on the message boards and trade boards and is generally a good GM despite his conflicting nature. Plus, we have a sidebet every league which has paid my mortgage and tuition bills the last few years, with TPC winning 14 out of the 15 past seasons. The Ducks, for all their past glories have been awful in football. Their best finish was 4th 2002, 2003 and 2004. They were 10th in 2006 and 8th last year.
With the 3rd pick the Ducks selected Brian Westbrook, a solid choice no brainer there (with AP off the board). Round 2 brought the Ducks Braylon Edwards, a solid WR #1. The next pick was interesting. Jamal Lewis in round 3 is certainly a good value, I would just rather have Michael Turner, Selvin Young or even Reggie Bush there. I think the time we start seeing Jamal breakdown is coming close and I don't see Derrik Anderson having near the same season this year. The Ducks took their QB in Big Ben round 4. Technically, he's a solid pick, a very good QB, but after the first 3 (Brady and Romo, possibly even Brees), the next 6 or 7 guys are pretty equal, and possibly even more. In fact a QB didn't go the next 3 rounds which lends to my belief. Jennings went next, a reach in my opinion without Farve and White, Williams, C. Johnson and even Cotchery still on the board. The guy only had 900 yards last year, albeit with 12 TD's. In the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, you can't predict TD's and Jennings could have a 950 7TD type year. Shockey in round 6 was a very interesting pick. IMO, he went too early, but was the last "name TE" on the board and Brees will utilize his skills. Minn D was his 7th pick, the first D off the board. Way to early for any D, even a solid D like Minny playing in an awful division. I love Ahman Green at 8, taking a Kicker in round 10 should be a Felony (Folk), the starting WR core in the 2001 Pro Bowl (Mason and Bruce next), Chris "out for the season" Brown next...........as you can see, the Ducks mailed it in after the Shockey pick.
Overall Score: 5. Westbrook is a great back but has shown to be injury prone and his only other back is Ahman Green (while being a good value at 8, you need to handcuff the #3 pick). Best pick: Green at 8. Worst pick: Minny at 7 or the Kicker at 10. Inexcusable.
Bald Guy- Due to the creative nature of the owner of this squad we will not use his teams real name (his real initials) so he will be the BG. BG is a nice and cuddly character who is putrid at sports fantasy. His best finish in any of our leagues is 7th last year in Football and Baseball (although he is currently 3rd in Baseball). BG is a good owner, tries to make trades, keeps up with the league, is active on the boards, however he's just incompetent.
He took Stephen Jackson with the #4 pick. I would have went Addai and Brady, but not a bad pick. #2 he went Jones-Drew which if Taylor goes down is a great pick, but not with your 2nd rounder with some stud WR's out there and some decent #1 RB's. He could have had him at 3 and a top WR (Edwards, Fitzgerald, etc. See above). Went with TJ Houz, nice pick at 3, easily the best WR on the board at that point. JG kept to pattern taking a very good upside RB, but a RBBC guy in Stewart at 4 and a very good WR #2 in Roy Williams at 5. Kevin Curtis at 6 is awful considering he might be done for the year. McNabb was a good value QB at 7, Mendenhall a good pick at 8. Kitna at 9 was a huge reach. He shouldn't have been drafted. Jax in round 10 was very nice- much better than taking Minny 3 rounds earlier. JG mailed in the rest of the draft- which is 6 rounds later than usual, so that's a good thing (some 2nd rate TE's and a Kicker).
Overall Score: 3.5 No backup WR's and 2 questionable QB's. If he paid attention after round 8, he could have been decent. Best Pick: Mendenhall round 8. Worst pick: Curtis.
Shishkabobs-Wow. How do you describe the indescribable, explain the unexplainable? Sheesh as we affectionately call him is a friend of mine, who in real life bears no resemblance to his "fantasy life". A mild mannered business man (and family man) by day, Sheesh becomes a raving, incoherent lunatic once he hits the boards. And, heaven forbid yahoo's website malfunctions we get rants like:
Yahoo Sucks
by Shishkabobs Septemeber 9th, 2007Wattttttttttttttttttttttt
I said
Yaho suckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkks. Wattttt.
He'll go on for 8 or 9 straight posts just like that. The league wakes up in the morning and lets out a collective 'huh", when we read the boards in the AM. That's Sheesh in a nutshell.
As a player, Sheesh has been very successful, winning Football once and Baseball twice in his 7 years, with some 3rd and 4th place finishes.
Sheesh had the second most enviable position in this years draft. #5 (#1 and LT being first). Sheesh was assured of a very good back or Brady. Couldn't go wrong either way. And with AP and Westbrook consensus 2-3, both injury risks, you can say Addai (his pick) at #5 was a better choice. He took Romo at 2, which was a much better play than Manning in round 1, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Romo being the #1 point scorer this season. Ocho Cinco went in round 3 another good choice. Ocho wants to get paid after this year and he will. McFadden in round 4 will be either another AP of last year type pick, or a bust. You hear conflicting reports. Some say he has no lateral quickness, so he will have a tough time in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (ala Reggie Bush), some say he's the greatest talent they have seen. I hope it's the latter. I'm a die hard Silver and Black fan, not a Sheesh fan if your wondering.
Either way, a good choice at 4, when you have a #1WR, QB and RB locked up. Harrison was a reach in round 5. I'm not saying he's done, but he could have had him two rounds later, while White, Johnson and Cotchery were are still on the board. Cooley 6th and James 7th were good value picks. Driver, Dallas D, Reggie Williams all good picks that followed. Pitt was a head scratcher at 11. Someone needs to tell Sheesh they have the toughest schedule in the NATIONAL FOOTBLL LEAGUE this year. Round 15 landed excellent value in Justin Gage.
Overall Score: 7.5 . Good core, great big scoring ability (Addai, Romo, Chad and possible Run DMC). An excellent draft. Only nitpick is not handcuffing Addai. Best Pick: Many including Gage in round 15 and Reggie Williams at 10. Worst Pick: Not handcuffing Addai.
The Atlas Group- The Atlas Group named his team after a now defunct company that employed a few of the players in this league. Yes, he's an attorney. How did you guess? TAG showed early dominance his first two seasons but hasn't made much noise since. Rumor has it, his now estranged brother was the Man behind the Championships. TAG has not proven he can win on his own.
A general contributor to the "The Ducks are freakin annoying the hell out of me" Fan Club and appreciator of the Ducks constant influx of "generous" trade offers, TAG made the first big mistake of the draft. They took Marion Barber over Tom Brady. I like Barber as a RB. But you don't draft a guy who has never been a featured back over the GOAT. He'll go for 35TD's and 4000 Yards this year easy. And he plays every game and every down. And you don't think he's pissed about the loss to the Giants in SUPER BOWL XLII ? This will come back to haunt TAG. 2nd round he grabbed stud WR Andre Johnson. I would have went Edwards there just because of the injury factor, but AJ can be a top 3 wideout. Steve Smith in round 3 was a reach, especially with Plax on the board. He hasn't been the same in 3 years and he's suspended 2 games. He took a vastly overrated Carson Palmer in round 4. Thomas Jones was a good pick in round 5. He will have a great year with the revamped J-E-T-S offensive line and Farve. Evans at 6 was legit. Round 7, TAG took the wrong Dolphin in Ronnie Brown instead of Ricky who went a few picks later. I like Anthony Gonzalez (who he took at ), but he went a round or two early. I like Crayton at 9. Same with Hightower and Slaton 10 and 11. Norwood at 13 was good value and finally a man who waited until the final round to grab a kicker.
Overall Score: 4. An awful first 4 rounds, a very good draft the rest of the way. As the saying goes "you dont win a league in the first few rounds, but you can lose one".
Best Pick: Slaton round 11. Worst Pick: Barber round 1.
The F Man- The F Man is probably the most astute and savvy fantasy manager of everyone in the league sans TPC. He's witty, knowledgeable and generally cocky, for good reason. Oh, and he's also the defending champ of TPL. After years of not winning the big one living in The 5 Towns, The F Man moved to the quiet confines of NJ, where the expectations were lower and the pressures to be The Man, lessened. He was then freed up to think clearly and concentrate, solely, on THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. On the coattails of Brady- the F Man dominated our league.
Well, it's not to be given a gift and the F Man was given one with Brady as the #7 pick. I had Brady #4 on my board behind LT, AP and Addai. To put Brady's 2007 dominance in perspective, Palmer and Addai combined had only 10 more fantasy points than Brady. Now, Brady wont repeat that crazy season, but it says here, he'll go for a minimum 37TD's and 4000 yards, which will easily make him the Top Fantasy Point Man for 2008. Jacobs at 2 was a nice pick, and with the emergence of Bradshaw, Jacobs will probably stay healthier than he has in the past. Plaxico in round 3 was the best available WR and a legit #1WR. I like Dallas Clarke a lot, but not at #4. LenDale White, who is on the verge of losing his job at 5. Chambers was a decent pick at 6. Bradshaw was taken too early at 7, especially since Ward is the Jacobs handcuff. I like the value of Fargas at 8. Reggie Brown at 9 was solid. Watson at 11 could prove to be a steal. Same with Flakey Jake at 12. The F Man was also astute enough (or rather, not a moron like some of these other Yahoo's) to wait to round 15 to take a kicker.
Overall Score: 4. When your given a gift like Brady at 7, it's hard to screw it up, but the F Man did to an extent. He starts two backs-one who is very injury prone and one who is about to lose his starting job. His WR group is decent and an at best average D (Tenn). At least he has Clarke.
Best Pick: Brady. Worst Pick: White at 5. Should have gone with the better WR's at that spot.
The Mustangs- A relatively new franchise in our leagues and our only Detroit member, which is fun with the Lions and all. The Mustangs are a relatively quiet franchise, although an active owner, doesnt get to involved in the day to day banter of the Trash Talking Boards (must be the water in Detroit. They probably put sedatives in the water to keep the crime down. Detroit is the hotbed of criminal activity in the US). The Mustangs have been a relatively obscure franchise since joining in 2005, consistently finishing in the bottom 3 of the league except a 2nd place finish in 2006 Football. He is also the brother in law of DTA, although more of the saner variety.
Taking Gore 1st with Moss on the board may prove to haunt the 'Stangs, but that's a nitpick. McGahee was a solid choice at #2, the best RB still on the board. Holt was a nice pick at 3. Witten too early at 4 (yes, the 4th round was the TE run round). I love Calvin Johnson at 5. He is going to be a monster this season. Coles a solid choice at 6 (although you could make the case Chambers and Evans were better choices there). Hasselback at 7 was tremendous value and the 'Stangs strategy paid off of locking up their RB, WR and TE early. Nice picks with Berrian at 9 and somehow stole a top 5 defense in Seattle with his last pick (even TPC fell asleep on that one).
Overall Score: 8. Would have been higher but he mailed it in after round 9 and even took 2 kickers (must be a Detroit thing).
Best Pick: Seattle at 15. Worst Pick: Two kickers. Yuch.
Forties and Dimes- Forties has taken to storm the league in his first three years, showing relative success- including a 2nd place finish to the F Man last season (he's also on the verge of his first title this year in Baseball). His bigger claim to fame is his escalating rivalry-feud with the Ducks (yes, you're seeing a pattern here. Everyone feuds with the Ducks) which brings much entertainment to our leagues . Forties is the Commissioner in other leagues including the Hoops league where the Wild Samoans play (TPC and DTA). A very astute GM, who is finally seeing the benefits of his knowledge with his recent successful run.
40's took Moss at #9, a great pick. WR are a lot more valuable in a 3 WR league than a standard 2 WR league, which ups the value of Moss. He then turned around and took the #2 WR in TO. Interesting strategy. Lets see how it pans out. Reggie Bush goes #3, a pick I really like this year. For all Reggie's faults he's a productive fantasy player. Forties got their second starting back in Graham at #4, another productive back to go along with the two monster wideouts. Cotchery at #5 was a nice pick. Says here he'll go for 1200 and 10 with Favre. Kevin Smith at 6 was another nice pick. Anytime you get a #1 back in round 6 you have to be happy. Ricky at #7 was a gift. Same as Chris Johnson at 8 (he will be the starting back by week 4). Warner was solid at #9. Little do people know that Warner had the most TD's in the NFL from week 11 on, including The GOAT. Ginn at 10 was a good reach, especially now with Chad holding down the fort in Miami. The rest of the draft was uneventful. Cincy being his D, his only glaring mistake (Scheffler as his TE wont kill him, but wont help much).
Overall Score:9. He had a strategy and didn't deter. He got the two top WR's, 3 good RB's and a good QB. Classic case of going in with a plan and sticking with it.
Best Pick: Ricky at 7. A possible top 15 RB in the 7th round. Worst Pick: Cincy D. Should have done better than that.
Plain Dan- Plain Dan used to be called Mr. and Mrs. Plain Dan, but Plain Dan decided to be creative and be his own manager and dump Mrs. Plain Dan from his franchise. Plain Vanilla would be way too colorful and zany a term to describe Plain Dan. I'm actually trying to stretch out the description but I really have none. Plain Dan has never competed significantly in any of our leagues, although he did finish 4th his Rookie season in 2002 and 3rd last year. In a "spin your head, that doesn't make sense" attribute to Plain Dan, he's an addicted gambler, currently having side bets including a bet with the Ducks as to who would win more games, the Jets or the Giants. Plain Dan had to limit the bet because of the amount laid on the table this season.
Plain Dan went by the book and took Lynch with the 10th pick-the best player available. Round 2 brought him Reggie Wayne, arguably the #1 WR behind Moss. Round 3 Dan locked up his #2 back in Turner, IMO a great pick. Holmes went 4th, a nice pick, but a bit early considering Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson and Roddy White went all a round later, White being Dans pick in round 5. First 5 picks, Dan locks up a solid backfield and 3 solid WR #1's. Round 6 brought Dan another #1 back, Forte. Deangelo Williams was a reach at 7, and Bulger was awful at 8. Bulger has only played one full season, and from the "wow, I didn't know that department", has a career high of 24 TD passes. And these Rams aren't the The Greatest Show on Turf Rams. To contrast, the much maligned Eli Manning has a career low of 23 TD's in his 3 full seasons. Daniels was a great pick in round 10, a legit top 6 TE this year. Garrard as Dan's backup is a much better real life QB than fantasy QB. GB is a solid D, especially in round 12. The rest of the draft was somewhat uneventful but at least he waited till round 14 to pick a kicker.
Overall Score: 6.5. The best draft ever for Dan. He has a good backfield. Good starting WR's. A good TE and D. His QB's and WR depth are shaky.
Best Pick: Daniels at 10. Worst Pick: Bulger. Warner, Farve, and Delhomme are all better picks and went later.
Shnizel My Nizzel- Easily the most colorful man in Fantasy Sports today, the Shniz has had some success but hasn't gotten the big prize yet. The Shniz is an accomplished card player, cigarette smoker (amongst other herbal products) and the best overweight basketball player you have ever seen. He hasn't taken his game "from the outside" on to the boards as of yet, but we're waiting.
At #11 The Shniz took Portis, who has been a consistently very good back since he entered the NFL except his 2006, his only injury season in the NFL (Portis durability is a major misconception). Round 2 brought the Shniz LJ, a huuuuuuuuuge mistake with Wayne, TO, McGahee, Romo, etc all still on the board. You don't go for that type of risk with that much talent still on the board. Shniz then mailed it in with Gates as his #3 pick. Welker at 4 was another reach at 4. this isn't a reception league. Bowe was an awful pick at 5 with Ward, Chambers and Evans still around. Derek Anderson at 6 was a conventionally good pick, but it says here, he will be a huge bust in 2008. The league has caught up to him. In his last 7 games last season (pretty much half a year) he threw 9 TD's and 10 Int's. That is not good. I liked Santana Moss at 7. SD defense at 8 was solid considering it's the third defense taken. Felix Jones was a nice reach at 9 as was Deuce at 10. The Shnizz mailed in the rest of the draft, but at least he locked up the Portis handcuff in Betts.
Overall Score: 2. Way to many mistakes. A team filled with many questions.
Best Pick: Betts at 15. Worst Pick: LJ, Gates, pretty much the rest of the draft.
The Pisces- The Pisces is easily the most nondescript GM in the history of our leagues. The Pisces, a fellow religious Jew, lives up to the classic definition as he takes up the full minute and thirty seconds he has for every pick he has ever had. If he's given 1:30, he's taking 1:30, not 1:28, not 1:29, the whole 1:30. He has never talked trash at the draft, simply because he cant concentrate on his picks and talk trash at the same time. Now, fundamentally that is a good strategy. Don't get caught up in the hype, concentrate on your own squad and draft strategy. The Pisces draft results show a far different story, although The Pisces did win Football in 2006 and has had a 3rd place finish in Baseball, generally he's been the definition of "dead money". In fact, the line "hey Pisces I hope you brought cash to the draft this year" and "maybe we should take credit cards" has been as standard at our drafts as "with the first pick of the draft_________takes LT".
The Pisces took Peyton first. A HUUUUUUUUUUGE mistake. As great a QB as Manning is in real life, except for his 49TD season he has only 3 30+ TD seasons, the most being 33. To contrast Favre has 4 33+ seasons with another 4 30+ TD seasons. I know Brady hasn't had anywhere near that success, but he's only had the supporting cast once. And he set every record there is that season. Either way, Manning is trending down, his offensive line is banged up and Romo is a better option at this point. Probably Brees as well. Fish then took Grant on the wraparound, an eyebrow raiser considering the all the WR's available (this is a 3 WR league) not to mention some better RB's. Grant is in a much different situation this year without Favre taking the pressure off him. Maroney and Fast Willie Parker went 3 and 4 for Pisces. I can live with Maroney there but there were much better RB's than Parker available. Ward and Gonzalez went 5 and 6. Both decent plays at that spot. Galloway was a nice grab at 7, a player who always manages to land on Team Pisces. NE D was an early reach at 8. Javon Walker was a throwaway at 9. Rudi at 10 ended up working out as he got picked up by Detroit the next day BUT at the time of the draft, Pisces picked him as a Bengal-after he was cut. Hackett was a decent pickup at 11. The rest of the draft was basically mailed in.
Overall Score: 1.5 A very good QB and TE. An extremely weak backfield and WR's. Should have let the computer make the picks. At least he would have had an excuse.
Best Pick: Galloway at 7. Worst Pick: Manning at 1.
The People's Champ- Quite simply: The Most Electrifying Man is Fantasy Sports History.
When discussing the genius of The People's Champ's Fantasy Football knowledge , one brings back memories of Einstein, Edison, Maimonides and Aristotle. A man far beyond his time, Team TPC has been the most successful franchise in the history of the league including back to back hoop titles, baseball titles, but no Football titles despite 3 second place finishes (TPC did win a bigger prize league last season in football). Will this be the season?
With the second pick of the draft, TPC took Adrian Peterson, one of the great talents to hit the NFL but one with many question marks. TPC was contemplating Addai at that spot, but the upside was to high with AP. TPC nabbed Fitzgerald at the end of round 2 and Brandon Marshall in round 3. It says here, Marshall is a top 3 WR by seasons end. He is clearly a beast, a man playing amongst boys. Selvin Young went 4. Selvin has declared his goal of 2000 rushing yards this season and TPC loves the enthusiasm. Chris Perry, a superstar running back in the making, went 5. Due to AP's durability, TPC was forced to take stud backup Taylor 6th. FANTSY RULE #1. YOU DON'T DRAFT A RB EARLY AND NOT GET HIS HANDCUFF.
Cutler went at 7, a stud QB in the making, although possibly a round or two early here. A mistake in Manning (TPC was away from his computer and that was who the CPU drafted. Interesting as the Ducks and TPC were arguing all night about the attributes of the Great Eli) although TPC does state Eli, excuse me, SUPER BOWL XLII MVP ELI MANNING will have a very good year. Giants D went next at 9, again, a good D but probably a round or two early. Team TPC then took it up a notch landing Curry at 10, Brett Favre at 11 and the steal of this years draft, Devin "Mr. Excitement" Hester at 12. TPC took his TE at 13 in Utecht a major sleeper in the Cincy system and a gamble on Heap at 15.
Overall, it was far from TPC's best draft, although he does boast an explosive backfield, a great WR combination and 3 good QB's (ummmmmmmmm, you don't need 3 good QB's).
With that being said there were some glaring mistakes (Manning) and some great picks (Curry and Hester).
Overall Score: 10. If TPC didn't take 4 hours to write this damn analysis, probably around a 6.
Best pick: Hester Worst pick: Manning. When the SUPER BOWL XLII MVP is your worst pick, your doing something right.
The leagues current home page is
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/tpcleague
A general contributor to the "The Ducks are freakin annoying the hell out of me" Fan Club and appreciator of the Ducks constant influx of "generous" trade offers, TAG made the first big mistake of the draft. They took Marion Barber over Tom Brady. I like Barber as a RB. But you don't draft a guy who has never been a featured back over the GOAT. He'll go for 35TD's and 4000 Yards this year easy. And he plays every game and every down. And you don't think he's pissed about the loss to the Giants in SUPER BOWL XLII ? This will come back to haunt TAG. 2nd round he grabbed stud WR Andre Johnson. I would have went Edwards there just because of the injury factor, but AJ can be a top 3 wideout. Steve Smith in round 3 was a reach, especially with Plax on the board. He hasn't been the same in 3 years and he's suspended 2 games. He took a vastly overrated Carson Palmer in round 4. Thomas Jones was a good pick in round 5. He will have a great year with the revamped J-E-T-S offensive line and Farve. Evans at 6 was legit. Round 7, TAG took the wrong Dolphin in Ronnie Brown instead of Ricky who went a few picks later. I like Anthony Gonzalez (who he took at ), but he went a round or two early. I like Crayton at 9. Same with Hightower and Slaton 10 and 11. Norwood at 13 was good value and finally a man who waited until the final round to grab a kicker.
Overall Score: 4. An awful first 4 rounds, a very good draft the rest of the way. As the saying goes "you dont win a league in the first few rounds, but you can lose one".
Best Pick: Slaton round 11. Worst Pick: Barber round 1.
The F Man- The F Man is probably the most astute and savvy fantasy manager of everyone in the league sans TPC. He's witty, knowledgeable and generally cocky, for good reason. Oh, and he's also the defending champ of TPL. After years of not winning the big one living in The 5 Towns, The F Man moved to the quiet confines of NJ, where the expectations were lower and the pressures to be The Man, lessened. He was then freed up to think clearly and concentrate, solely, on THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. On the coattails of Brady- the F Man dominated our league.
Well, it's not to be given a gift and the F Man was given one with Brady as the #7 pick. I had Brady #4 on my board behind LT, AP and Addai. To put Brady's 2007 dominance in perspective, Palmer and Addai combined had only 10 more fantasy points than Brady. Now, Brady wont repeat that crazy season, but it says here, he'll go for a minimum 37TD's and 4000 yards, which will easily make him the Top Fantasy Point Man for 2008. Jacobs at 2 was a nice pick, and with the emergence of Bradshaw, Jacobs will probably stay healthier than he has in the past. Plaxico in round 3 was the best available WR and a legit #1WR. I like Dallas Clarke a lot, but not at #4. LenDale White, who is on the verge of losing his job at 5. Chambers was a decent pick at 6. Bradshaw was taken too early at 7, especially since Ward is the Jacobs handcuff. I like the value of Fargas at 8. Reggie Brown at 9 was solid. Watson at 11 could prove to be a steal. Same with Flakey Jake at 12. The F Man was also astute enough (or rather, not a moron like some of these other Yahoo's) to wait to round 15 to take a kicker.
Overall Score: 4. When your given a gift like Brady at 7, it's hard to screw it up, but the F Man did to an extent. He starts two backs-one who is very injury prone and one who is about to lose his starting job. His WR group is decent and an at best average D (Tenn). At least he has Clarke.
Best Pick: Brady. Worst Pick: White at 5. Should have gone with the better WR's at that spot.
The Mustangs- A relatively new franchise in our leagues and our only Detroit member, which is fun with the Lions and all. The Mustangs are a relatively quiet franchise, although an active owner, doesnt get to involved in the day to day banter of the Trash Talking Boards (must be the water in Detroit. They probably put sedatives in the water to keep the crime down. Detroit is the hotbed of criminal activity in the US). The Mustangs have been a relatively obscure franchise since joining in 2005, consistently finishing in the bottom 3 of the league except a 2nd place finish in 2006 Football. He is also the brother in law of DTA, although more of the saner variety.
Taking Gore 1st with Moss on the board may prove to haunt the 'Stangs, but that's a nitpick. McGahee was a solid choice at #2, the best RB still on the board. Holt was a nice pick at 3. Witten too early at 4 (yes, the 4th round was the TE run round). I love Calvin Johnson at 5. He is going to be a monster this season. Coles a solid choice at 6 (although you could make the case Chambers and Evans were better choices there). Hasselback at 7 was tremendous value and the 'Stangs strategy paid off of locking up their RB, WR and TE early. Nice picks with Berrian at 9 and somehow stole a top 5 defense in Seattle with his last pick (even TPC fell asleep on that one).
Overall Score: 8. Would have been higher but he mailed it in after round 9 and even took 2 kickers (must be a Detroit thing).
Best Pick: Seattle at 15. Worst Pick: Two kickers. Yuch.
Forties and Dimes- Forties has taken to storm the league in his first three years, showing relative success- including a 2nd place finish to the F Man last season (he's also on the verge of his first title this year in Baseball). His bigger claim to fame is his escalating rivalry-feud with the Ducks (yes, you're seeing a pattern here. Everyone feuds with the Ducks) which brings much entertainment to our leagues . Forties is the Commissioner in other leagues including the Hoops league where the Wild Samoans play (TPC and DTA). A very astute GM, who is finally seeing the benefits of his knowledge with his recent successful run.
40's took Moss at #9, a great pick. WR are a lot more valuable in a 3 WR league than a standard 2 WR league, which ups the value of Moss. He then turned around and took the #2 WR in TO. Interesting strategy. Lets see how it pans out. Reggie Bush goes #3, a pick I really like this year. For all Reggie's faults he's a productive fantasy player. Forties got their second starting back in Graham at #4, another productive back to go along with the two monster wideouts. Cotchery at #5 was a nice pick. Says here he'll go for 1200 and 10 with Favre. Kevin Smith at 6 was another nice pick. Anytime you get a #1 back in round 6 you have to be happy. Ricky at #7 was a gift. Same as Chris Johnson at 8 (he will be the starting back by week 4). Warner was solid at #9. Little do people know that Warner had the most TD's in the NFL from week 11 on, including The GOAT. Ginn at 10 was a good reach, especially now with Chad holding down the fort in Miami. The rest of the draft was uneventful. Cincy being his D, his only glaring mistake (Scheffler as his TE wont kill him, but wont help much).
Overall Score:9. He had a strategy and didn't deter. He got the two top WR's, 3 good RB's and a good QB. Classic case of going in with a plan and sticking with it.
Best Pick: Ricky at 7. A possible top 15 RB in the 7th round. Worst Pick: Cincy D. Should have done better than that.
Plain Dan- Plain Dan used to be called Mr. and Mrs. Plain Dan, but Plain Dan decided to be creative and be his own manager and dump Mrs. Plain Dan from his franchise. Plain Vanilla would be way too colorful and zany a term to describe Plain Dan. I'm actually trying to stretch out the description but I really have none. Plain Dan has never competed significantly in any of our leagues, although he did finish 4th his Rookie season in 2002 and 3rd last year. In a "spin your head, that doesn't make sense" attribute to Plain Dan, he's an addicted gambler, currently having side bets including a bet with the Ducks as to who would win more games, the Jets or the Giants. Plain Dan had to limit the bet because of the amount laid on the table this season.
Plain Dan went by the book and took Lynch with the 10th pick-the best player available. Round 2 brought him Reggie Wayne, arguably the #1 WR behind Moss. Round 3 Dan locked up his #2 back in Turner, IMO a great pick. Holmes went 4th, a nice pick, but a bit early considering Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson and Roddy White went all a round later, White being Dans pick in round 5. First 5 picks, Dan locks up a solid backfield and 3 solid WR #1's. Round 6 brought Dan another #1 back, Forte. Deangelo Williams was a reach at 7, and Bulger was awful at 8. Bulger has only played one full season, and from the "wow, I didn't know that department", has a career high of 24 TD passes. And these Rams aren't the The Greatest Show on Turf Rams. To contrast, the much maligned Eli Manning has a career low of 23 TD's in his 3 full seasons. Daniels was a great pick in round 10, a legit top 6 TE this year. Garrard as Dan's backup is a much better real life QB than fantasy QB. GB is a solid D, especially in round 12. The rest of the draft was somewhat uneventful but at least he waited till round 14 to pick a kicker.
Overall Score: 6.5. The best draft ever for Dan. He has a good backfield. Good starting WR's. A good TE and D. His QB's and WR depth are shaky.
Best Pick: Daniels at 10. Worst Pick: Bulger. Warner, Farve, and Delhomme are all better picks and went later.
Shnizel My Nizzel- Easily the most colorful man in Fantasy Sports today, the Shniz has had some success but hasn't gotten the big prize yet. The Shniz is an accomplished card player, cigarette smoker (amongst other herbal products) and the best overweight basketball player you have ever seen. He hasn't taken his game "from the outside" on to the boards as of yet, but we're waiting.
At #11 The Shniz took Portis, who has been a consistently very good back since he entered the NFL except his 2006, his only injury season in the NFL (Portis durability is a major misconception). Round 2 brought the Shniz LJ, a huuuuuuuuuge mistake with Wayne, TO, McGahee, Romo, etc all still on the board. You don't go for that type of risk with that much talent still on the board. Shniz then mailed it in with Gates as his #3 pick. Welker at 4 was another reach at 4. this isn't a reception league. Bowe was an awful pick at 5 with Ward, Chambers and Evans still around. Derek Anderson at 6 was a conventionally good pick, but it says here, he will be a huge bust in 2008. The league has caught up to him. In his last 7 games last season (pretty much half a year) he threw 9 TD's and 10 Int's. That is not good. I liked Santana Moss at 7. SD defense at 8 was solid considering it's the third defense taken. Felix Jones was a nice reach at 9 as was Deuce at 10. The Shnizz mailed in the rest of the draft, but at least he locked up the Portis handcuff in Betts.
Overall Score: 2. Way to many mistakes. A team filled with many questions.
Best Pick: Betts at 15. Worst Pick: LJ, Gates, pretty much the rest of the draft.
The Pisces- The Pisces is easily the most nondescript GM in the history of our leagues. The Pisces, a fellow religious Jew, lives up to the classic definition as he takes up the full minute and thirty seconds he has for every pick he has ever had. If he's given 1:30, he's taking 1:30, not 1:28, not 1:29, the whole 1:30. He has never talked trash at the draft, simply because he cant concentrate on his picks and talk trash at the same time. Now, fundamentally that is a good strategy. Don't get caught up in the hype, concentrate on your own squad and draft strategy. The Pisces draft results show a far different story, although The Pisces did win Football in 2006 and has had a 3rd place finish in Baseball, generally he's been the definition of "dead money". In fact, the line "hey Pisces I hope you brought cash to the draft this year" and "maybe we should take credit cards" has been as standard at our drafts as "with the first pick of the draft_________takes LT".
The Pisces took Peyton first. A HUUUUUUUUUUGE mistake. As great a QB as Manning is in real life, except for his 49TD season he has only 3 30+ TD seasons, the most being 33. To contrast Favre has 4 33+ seasons with another 4 30+ TD seasons. I know Brady hasn't had anywhere near that success, but he's only had the supporting cast once. And he set every record there is that season. Either way, Manning is trending down, his offensive line is banged up and Romo is a better option at this point. Probably Brees as well. Fish then took Grant on the wraparound, an eyebrow raiser considering the all the WR's available (this is a 3 WR league) not to mention some better RB's. Grant is in a much different situation this year without Favre taking the pressure off him. Maroney and Fast Willie Parker went 3 and 4 for Pisces. I can live with Maroney there but there were much better RB's than Parker available. Ward and Gonzalez went 5 and 6. Both decent plays at that spot. Galloway was a nice grab at 7, a player who always manages to land on Team Pisces. NE D was an early reach at 8. Javon Walker was a throwaway at 9. Rudi at 10 ended up working out as he got picked up by Detroit the next day BUT at the time of the draft, Pisces picked him as a Bengal-after he was cut. Hackett was a decent pickup at 11. The rest of the draft was basically mailed in.
Overall Score: 1.5 A very good QB and TE. An extremely weak backfield and WR's. Should have let the computer make the picks. At least he would have had an excuse.
Best Pick: Galloway at 7. Worst Pick: Manning at 1.
The People's Champ- Quite simply: The Most Electrifying Man is Fantasy Sports History.
When discussing the genius of The People's Champ's Fantasy Football knowledge , one brings back memories of Einstein, Edison, Maimonides and Aristotle. A man far beyond his time, Team TPC has been the most successful franchise in the history of the league including back to back hoop titles, baseball titles, but no Football titles despite 3 second place finishes (TPC did win a bigger prize league last season in football). Will this be the season?
With the second pick of the draft, TPC took Adrian Peterson, one of the great talents to hit the NFL but one with many question marks. TPC was contemplating Addai at that spot, but the upside was to high with AP. TPC nabbed Fitzgerald at the end of round 2 and Brandon Marshall in round 3. It says here, Marshall is a top 3 WR by seasons end. He is clearly a beast, a man playing amongst boys. Selvin Young went 4. Selvin has declared his goal of 2000 rushing yards this season and TPC loves the enthusiasm. Chris Perry, a superstar running back in the making, went 5. Due to AP's durability, TPC was forced to take stud backup Taylor 6th. FANTSY RULE #1. YOU DON'T DRAFT A RB EARLY AND NOT GET HIS HANDCUFF.
Cutler went at 7, a stud QB in the making, although possibly a round or two early here. A mistake in Manning (TPC was away from his computer and that was who the CPU drafted. Interesting as the Ducks and TPC were arguing all night about the attributes of the Great Eli) although TPC does state Eli, excuse me, SUPER BOWL XLII MVP ELI MANNING will have a very good year. Giants D went next at 9, again, a good D but probably a round or two early. Team TPC then took it up a notch landing Curry at 10, Brett Favre at 11 and the steal of this years draft, Devin "Mr. Excitement" Hester at 12. TPC took his TE at 13 in Utecht a major sleeper in the Cincy system and a gamble on Heap at 15.
Overall, it was far from TPC's best draft, although he does boast an explosive backfield, a great WR combination and 3 good QB's (ummmmmmmmm, you don't need 3 good QB's).
With that being said there were some glaring mistakes (Manning) and some great picks (Curry and Hester).
Overall Score: 10. If TPC didn't take 4 hours to write this damn analysis, probably around a 6.
Best pick: Hester Worst pick: Manning. When the SUPER BOWL XLII MVP is your worst pick, your doing something right.
The leagues current home page is
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/tpcleague
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1 comment:
I wish I could have the last 10 minutes of my life back (and that's with skimming it!)
Some of those code names are tough to crack, especially BG who at one point you referred to as JG.
Good luck homos!
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