Random Thoughts, Tom Brady’s Torn ACL, And Fantasy Football Geek-alysis
Let’s see if I remember how to do this.
(Week 1 NFL thoughts to come tomorrow…I hope.)
Random thoughts from the past week:
- Stupid commercials I’ve seen lately:
1) These two about high-fructose corn syrup. I was going to attempt a long-winded rant about these commercials, but I’ll let The Consumerist and their readers handle it.
2) “Pasta player-hater!” WTF.
- I have something like ten rebates that need to go out in the next week or so.
Who wants to bet that I won’t send them out until two days before the postmark deadline? 
- Eight straight wins, and now nine of ten. A 2.5 game lead over Arizona. Four wins against Arizona aces (Brandon Webb and Dan Haren).
Three thoughts here:
1) Why aren’t teams giving Manny the Barry Bonds treatment? Manny had another HR today, as well as a scoring fly ball. Can we etch his name on the MVP award right now?
2) Speaking of Manny…hey, Jeff Kent, Andre Ethier is Exhibit B of the Manny effect, is he not? He had four more RBI today, including a huge bases-clearing double to give the Dodgers’ bullpen some breathing room.
Don’t rush back, Kent.
3) Derek Lowe just made himself a ton of money over the past few weeks. And who knows how much more money Manny made himself.
- So some of you might be thinking that I was kicking up my heels and celebrating the season-ending torn ACL that Tom Brady suffered.
You’d be wrong, and I will neither confirm nor deny that that eleventy billion replays I’ve seen of the hit that Brady took might have changed my opinion of the injury. Despite what I may have written in the past about the Cheat-riots, nobody deserves a season-ending knee injury, especially on a fluke play in the first quarter of the first game of the season.
And please stop with the “karma’s a b!tch” talk. If anything, the Pats got what was coming to them in last year’s Super Bowl.
I first heard of the injury when I woke up late Sunday morning, fired up my laptop, and saw something about Brady leaving the Chiefs-Pats game early in the first quarter with a knee injury. When I first read that headline, I immediately thought “Oh oh…season ender?” After seeing the replay for the first time, I was about 90% sure he was done for the year.
Was the hit dirty? I don’t think so. It seemed desperate, and definitely unnecessary, but I didn’t think it was dirty at all.
What sickens me about the entire situation is the fact that one could argue that Diva Favre’s Jets team might very well be the favorites in the AFC East. If the Jets win the East (even with Brady’s injury), we might not hear the end of it until after the Super Bowl, even if the Jets lose in the first round of the playoffs! Worse, we might have to suffer through weeks and weeks of “See? The Packers should never have gotten rid of Favre!”
(shudder…)
More NFL thoughts next time…
- My two fantasy football drafts had one thing in common: I somehow missed the first pick of each draft.
Both leagues are Yahoo! standard, ten-team leagues. Unfortunately, I was not able to get twelve players to partake in a BargainShare league. Oh well.
(Note: For some reason, I’m having difficulty getting screenshots of my draft results. As soon as I figure out what is going on, I’ll post the full draft results. For now, I’ll just list my team.)
Team 1 (currently 0-1 and in DEAD FREAKING LAST):
- Round 1, Pick 4: RB Steven Jackson
(Grrrr…I was going to draft Joseph Addai here. I was also considering Tom Brady here, so at least I didn’t do that!)
- Round 2, Pick 17: WR Reggie Wayne
(Peyton Manning better get back into “game-shape” real soon.)
- Round 3: RB Maurice Jones-Drew
- Round 4: QB Carson Palmer
(This is the pick that is going to make or break my team. So far, I’m leaning towards “break.”)
- Round 5: WR Roy Williams
(I was going to take Williams in round 4, and was very happy to see him fall to me in round 5.)
- Round 6: TE Dallas Clark
- Round 7: DST Minnesota
(Don’t ask.)
- Round 8: WR Donald Driver
- Round 9: RB Thomas Jones
(Sleeper! And with the way Steven Jackson and the Rams are playing, he might be a starter soon enough.)
- Round 10: WR Bernard Berrian
- Round 11: WR Reggie Brown
- Round 12: K Phil Dawson
(He has since been dropped.)
- Round 13: RB Kevin Smith (Lions)
- Round 14: WR Drew Bennett
(Rams’ loyalty :P)
- Round 15: QB Jeff Garcia
I could see this team easily finishing 5-9 or something like that. I am not too thrilled with this team, and believe it or not, this was my “casual” draft.
Team 2 (1-0, second place after scoring 111 pts):
- Round 1, Pick 4: RB Brian Westbrook
(I actually wanted Addai here too. I think I’ll live with this pick.)
- Round 2, Pick 17: RB Ryan Grant
- Round 3: WR Andre Johnson
- Round 4: WR Roy Williams
- Round 5: TE Antonio Gates
(Why was I not notified that he still has a foot injury???)
- Round 6: QB Donovan McNabb
(Possibly my best pick of both drafts, if he stays healthy.)
- Round 7: WR Donald Driver
- Round 8: WR Jerricho Cotchery
- Round 9: DST Pittsburgh
- Round 10: RB Selvin Young
(Michael Pittman? Andre Hall? Stupid Mike Shanahan :P)
- Round 11: WR Nate Burleson
(Ouch…torn ACL? Now who is Matt Hasselbeck going to throw to?)
- Round 12: K Phil Dawson
(Dropped.)
- Round 13: RB Justin Fargas
- Round 14: QB Matt Schaub
- Round 15: WR Ronald Curry
If (and that’s a huge IF) my top six stay healthy, this team is going to be a force to reckon with…I think.
Until next time!