Football blahs...

I won my match up in fantasy football today. That was good since I played the team that was tied with me for first place in my division. Real football pissed me off today though. What happened to my Browns? That was a game we should have won. We played so good in the first half and then looked so bad in the second half. We came out tight and scared. That is the only way to describe it. The offense was horrible in the second half which meant the defense was on the field way to long. It really showed in their performance. Still, we should have won. Except the coach blew it. No other way to describe it. I still can't get over the lack of leadership at the end. What was he thinking about calling time out after the Steelers scored a td? And then throwing the challenge flag when it was obvious it was a good catch? So we burned two timeouts for nothing. And that was the difference in the game. We lost because of that. If we would have had one of those timeouts we could have run at least one more play to get closer for the last second field goal. But no, we have a coach who is clueless on how to manage the clock.

Another team I really like is Indianapolis. My parents used to travel there on business when I was younger and they would bring me back Colts shirts. I became a fan as a result. So yes I was rooting for them tonight against the Chargers. And down 23-0 I was not expecting a win. But it should have been. They fought all the way back to 23-21 and had 4th down on the 6 yard line. So what do they do---they come out and at least look like they are going to go for it. They then get flagged for a penalty and lose 5 yards. So they attempt a 29 yard field goal which barely misses. The thing that I cannot understand is why they did not kick the field goal immediately. The coach got cute and sent the offense on the field and tried some stupid move to attempt to draw the Chargers offside to get the first down. Those five yards they gave away with the penalty cost them the game. The field goal would have been good if they would have been five yards closer. WTF was the coach thinking off. Another complete blunder by a coach to cost his team the game.

I still cannot believe either ending. Two games that ended up as losses that would have been wins if not for their coaches inept decisions. Unbelievable...

Fantasy Football part 2...

It has been awhile since my last post on fantasy football. We are in week 5 already which is hard to believe. I am 3-1 and in first place in my division. I have a big game this week since there are three teams at 2-2 right behind me in the standing. My best players still have their bye weeks coming up so I need today's intra-divisonal game.

I have been tinkering with my team the last couple of weeks. I took a chance this past week and picked up Selvin Young of the Broncos. The starter Travis Henry reportedly flunked a drug test and if true he will be suspended for a year since it would be his second offense. He is trying to fight the lab test in court right now. I am banking on him losing and the Broncos making Young the starter. This is the fun part of playing fantasy sports. You get to pretend you are an owner/gm and make all the moves you want to improve your team. Some work out and most don't. The thing is if you don't make moves you rarely have a chance to win it all. There is too much luck involved with injuries and off seasons by your players to be able to stand pat all year.

In my other league I am 2-2. This is not so bad since all 4 teams in my division have the same record! This is the free league I joined so I am not as concerned with how I do. Bragging rights are ok, but there needs to be some financial incentive to make it worth the time and effort. At least for me...

Fantasy Football...

The new NFL season is almost upon us. And more importantly the fantasy football season is about to start. For some people it has already begun. I had not planned on playing this season to give myself a break. I also play fantasy baseball and after that long season I felt I needed to take some time off. So, naturally I am going to be in two leagues this year for football. The one is in a free league where we do an automated draft. This will be the first time I will try one of these. You rank your players by position and then say what position you want to draft each round. The computer will then randomly pick a draft order and when it is your pick it will choose your highest rated player at that position each round. I am interested to see what kind of team I get out of this. In a live draft your strategy changes based on what the owners in front of you pick. Being flexible is the key to a strong draft. In automated one you set your strategy and are unable to change it once the draft starts. That is kind of scary to me. The other league I am in will have a live draft. We are hoping to at least do the first half of it in person and then if we need to we will finish it up online. It should be a lot of fun. I have the 5th pick in that draft. Right in the middle. Not a bad place to be since we so a snake draft so I will never have to wait that long in between picks. I have gone last before and after the turn when you get your two picks it is a long time (18 picks in a 10 team league) before you pick again. I am still not sure who I will take with my first pick. Obviously what players are chosen in the first four picks will decide things. Still, I have a pretty good idea of who will be available at my slot. It should be interesting. You cannot mess up your first choice and expect to compete. Now if we can only settle on a date for the draft...