draft day recap and vegas stuff

thanks to all who were able to go out to vegas. thanks to kouche for setting up our sweet condo suite and driving to the airport. thanks to t squared for our alma matter bets. i hope i can remember where i put the tix. personal thanks to vish for dinner and lunch. he didn't even try to put a move. ha! we got to see some old cmc peeps in fitz and tim carroll. tim got all the excess beer and water that we didn't drink. i still can't believe that we didn't go out and play in the lazy river together. i guess it's what happens when you have a large group. it turns into a cluster f...i also can't believe that the spurs were listed at 9 to 1 to win the nba championship. where is vdw? am i crazy? there are only 2 teams in the west. they get by the fakers and they are at least a coin flip against anyone in the east. i had to sleep forever and a day to recover from the lack of sleep and the unlack of drinking. i put the bye week after the player and i went up to but may not have included the 14th, 15th pick of all teams b/c i was tired and didn't care anymore.


Kras
all day 9
mb3 6
housh 7
warner 4
gonzo 4
less evans 9
chambers 5
benson 8
cotchery 9
pennington 6
henry 8
fasano 6
minny 9

kras had his buddy slattershot draft his initial picks as kras was playing parent teacher conference or something like that. he had some great fortune as the run on wr's and qb's dropped mb3 into his lap. while mb3 is in a RBBC, he gets the goal line carries and will get the majority of carries each week. he was also able to get housh who's apparently developed some chemistry w/ hasselbeck. i have my doubts w/ warner staying healthy enough to play another 16 games this season but if he does, then kras will have a scary team w/ his first 4 picks. gonzo won't be great as in seasons past but he'll be a part of the atl offense. unfortunately, i don't like the rest of his picks except for the vikings D and fasano. TO will be screaming for the ball on every play and i don't have faith in the bills line to keep trent edwards upright for the deep ball. torture chambers has earned his nickname. 1 week great, 1 week horrible; good luck w/ the ulcer. benson will get the ball a lot in bungles land but he still averages a little over 3 yards a carry like when he was in chi-town. if palmer can get the offense going, he should get some goal line love though.kras was bold enough to take another troubled past in chris henry. someone get him a 6 pack and the address of the local high school and watch the arrests fly. cotchery will be sanchez's 2nd or 3rd favorite target behind keller and leon washington.

shen
mojo 7
jennings 5
ronnie b 6
welker 8
ocho 8
santana 8
cooley 8
palmer 8
josh morgan 6
hillis 7
campbell 8
crayton 6
philly
leron mclain 7


i wish that i got to play shen in week 8. this is the part when vish says, "what?!" "dude, i'm drafting for you and me and trying to keep track of everything. sorry." there's nothing to be sorry about that b/c shen only has himself to blame for putting himself in this position. oh yeah, did i forget to mention that vish is playing shen in week 8 ? wow!!! next time you decide that you like being led around by the ring in your nose instead of displaying testicular fortitude, try having someone who actually has your back; instead of stabbing it. obviously, shen doesn't have to make a move until we get closer to week 8 and there will be injuries and players blowing up from out of nowhere, but it's nice to laugh for now. you know vish is. at least shen will get ocho's potential to kick field goals. ha! he also has cooley and has the ability to accidentally google his wife and see what pops up. shen's team is dependent on the offenses of washington and cincinnati. ouch! if andre smith signed and practiced, i'd really love the potential of the skins. oh wells. josh morgan will be the top receiver in san fran for whatever that means. hillis has done well for denver in the past and if knowshon is out, he'll get some love. i think that he could have been taken later though.

ben
turner 4
s. smith 4
kevin smith 7
v jax 5
mcnabb 4
walters 10
avery 9
bradshaw 10
lewis 9
big ben 8
fred jackson 9
earl bennet 5
tenn 7
shockey 5

so there's going to be a problem in week 4 for all about the benjamins. good for cliffy. i'm torn when it comes to the kevin smith pick to go w/ burner. he'll have 2 RB's who aren't in a RBBC so they'll get the ball a lot. unfortunately, the lions will play the afc north so that means pitt and bal. it also means the bungles and browns so things could balance out. if the vikings' defensive tackles don't get suspended, it will be 2 more rough games for kevin smith. there is the potential for 4 horrible games this season for him. i like the walters pick over v jax b/c i think that ldt wil be force fed the ball a lot more and the return of a healthy gates means less love for everyone else. i know that the texans have a lot of talent as well but i really think that ldt will get the rock early and often come hell or high water. avery is currently out and is predicted to miss a game or two or the regular season for now. it's supposed to be a lot of s jax on offense and play action and heave the ball deep and avery will get those bombs. will bulger survive to throw the ball is another question. i think he's already injured. bradshaw will be good when jacobs misses his annual 2-3 games for some ailment that you wouldn't think should affect someone his size. hopefully for ben, the fantasy gods will have jacobs out when kevin smith has to play those tough defenses. earl bennet will be the most reliable of the bears wide receivers w/ his previous timing w/ cutler. the ball will still be going to forte and olsen but bennet should get some over the middle love. the pick of shockey is a great illustration of how TE's aren't a big deal after the big 3/4. if shockey is healthy, behaves well and is motivated, he has a real opportunity to make the saints incredibly scary. he can also drop him and get vernon davis.

towns
forte 5
westbrook 4
owens 9
run dmc 9
cutler 5
dallas clark 6
ginn 6
driver 5
steelers 8
cassell 8
jamal charles 8
devery henderson 5
nicks 10

i like big E's RB's. he has forte who i think will do well once again. westbrook will be dangerous when healthy and run DMC is suppossed to get the rock more often this year too. i think that it depends on the raiders defense. if the raiders need jamarcus to throw the ball b/c they're behind early, it will suck ash for run dmc owners in fantasy land. i don't like his wr's excpet for driver. he might be older and is next in line to suddenly get old like harrison, but he's still a big part of the green bay offense and rodgers looks like he's very good and comfortable w/ it. owens will be the first person to abandon ship if the bills start losing despite the no huddle. devery henderson gives big E flashbacks to last year. he does have some high upside players in jamal charles if grandmama goes down or loses todd haley's confidence. he also has matt cassel in a spread offense w/o much talent to actually catch the ball though. during the draft, big E paid the only penalty beer of the draft by taking the previously drafted kevin walter.

josh
s jax 9
wayne 6
rodgers 5
derrick ward 8
addai 6
braylon 9
coles 8
daniels 10
julius 7
eli 10
engram 8
miles austin 6
kevin curtis 4

i loved his swing for the fences approach by taking s jax and addai. both players are more than capable of having huge weeks. he covers a major injury by taking derrick ward who's supposed to be a steady contributor each week for the bucs. i'm sure that josh is also thinking trade bait but i would suggest on having him as an insurance policy since cliffy jobbed him out of addai's handcuff in donald brown. i love rodgers as you know,as opposed to the thumbless one. his rb's and qb could contribute as much as 60 points each week, if healthy. unfortunately, his wrs are very suspect except for wayne. but i do like the potential of bobby engram out of the slot in kc's version of the spread offense. josh doesn't remember julius fron his days as a cowboy. i'm sure he'll remember how much orange julius sucks. in reality, my food baby has been built on a lot of orange julius in the past. maybe kouche (pronounced like douche) thinks that the younger jones will be as productive as the older jones was last year for him.

sho
chris johnson 7
calvin johnson 7
anquan 4
witten 6
knowshon 7
jon stewart 4
percy 9
fwp 8
chester taylor 9
favre 9
bears
shaun hill 6
crabtree 6
mcgahee 7

cheeses rice. what were you thinking sho? favre? really? he already has a small tear in his rotator cuff. favre's biggest thing is his gunslinger attitude. if you don't have a gun,you turn into nothing but poor decisions. do you think favre's ego will ever be okay w/ check down throws? maybe he's hoping that favre's pitches to harvin in the backfield will count as passes. you were better off by taking hassellbeck in round 9 instead of chester. ironically, i think chester's role will be diminished in that team due to the presence of percy harvin and super diva. they want percy to get the ball and they'll be passing the ball more often w/ favre. at least, sho has great strength in his top 5 picks. hopefully, they can carry the team. maybe not in week 7. congrats again cliffy. maybe sho's rbs will be great enough that he can engineer a 3 way trade between tim and vdw. say brandon marshall gets on the field and anthony gonzales gets more love. he trades d bowe to t squared who trades matty ice to sho who trades fwp and stewart to vdw.

vish
slaton 10
randy 8
pierre thomas 5
schaub 10
lynch 9
roy williams 6
devin hester 5
olsen 5
sproles 5
hixon 10
trent edwards 9
burleson 7
pats
muhammad 4

for all of you who didn't know, it was vish's world and i was living off his gravy. once again i tip my hat to you and your $3000 a month rent for an apartment. i guess you need to make $1500 in craps in order to roll like a playa. vish went w/ hometown love over his new home w/ slaton over ldt. he "should" have a good year though fellow h town fanboy cliffy whispers that chris brown will be taking goal line carries. fyi, it's not the chris brown who beats up his girlfriend or the kris brown who shanks kicks on purpose to lose a game. it's the chris brown w/ the history of injuries. vish's top 4 picks are producers on 3 of the top 5 scoring teams last year. impressive. if you combine his fantasy team w/ his stabbing in the back of shen and his profit from vegas, you can see how it really is vish's world. maybe we should follow aquaman if he tells us the water is safe. then again, you should look at shen's bloody back and say pass. so the aura of vish only works for him. i like the olsen pick as he's supposed to be cutler's best buddy in chi-town. roy williams is garbage. hester still hasn't developed any timing w/ cutler. hixon is the default receiver for eli. i think the other steve smith will be a more consistent player though. burleson has looked good in training camp but i think that the c hawks will rely on the running game w/ mora as the coach. so i think his receivers won't do as well but he won't need them to win this year. vish made me proud by taking schaub in round 4. i believe that he'll be rewarded for going w/ his roots.

vdw
fitzgerald 4
jacobs 10
d bowe 8
romo 6
anthony gonz 6
brandon marshall 7
bush 5
beanie wells 4
ernest graham 8
garrard 7
ravens
norwood 4
zach miller 9

i think it's funny that vdw didn't like the shen/den mock draft results for his team. i guess it's called irony then. vdw went heavy at the wide receiver spot which is important for our league since we basically start 3 receivers each week. marshall is the key to vdw's draft. he gets great value w/ him in round 6. the question is if marshall will be on the field and anywhere close to last year's production before the trade deadline. if so, then vdw can trade his least great receiver to a team for some needed help at rb. here's the news clip thursday night prior to the suspension friday.


Marshall was disruptive throughout Wednesday's practice. Showing zero respect for coach Josh McDaniels, Marshall knocked the ball down during wideout drills, punted the ball instead of handing it to the ball boys, and lollygagged throughout. The only thing missing was "poor caddying." Marshall is inching closer to Newsday's Bob Glauber's prediction of a
T.O.-like suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. He just torpedoed what little trade value he may have had.


last year's giants were great w/ jacobs pounding out fantasy points. i wonder if opposing defenses will challenge eli's arm and the lack of a deep threat. i'd stack the box all day against the giants until someone proves to be a deep threat. jacobs will also miss 2 or 3 games this year. i hope it's against me. vdw hopes it's not in fantasy playoff time. bush is hurt. beanie is hurt...again...graham will be sharing the load w/ the big money free agent acquisition in tampa. if you're the new coach and new gm wouldn't you do everything in your power to make sure that your first free agent got as much love as possible to show the fans that you know what you're doing? graham might get the goal line carries though so vdw shouldn't be that worried w/ graham. vdw also drafted beanie who seems to be as brittle as the mr. burns from the simpsons. i guess the speculation is that he will eventually be healthy and more valuable than the current starter who was drafted 2 rounds later. as a whole, he should be worried about his rb's.

ash
deangelo 4
manning 6
rodney white 4
grandmama 8
berrian 9
matt bryant 8
donald brown 6
ted carlson 7
mason 7
hasselbeck 7
mendenhall 8
troy williamson 7
maroney 8

ash really upset people w/ his delays during the draft. i'm sure that vdw would have had some choice things to say but couldn't curse out loud w/ fana roaming about. it was actually the fastest draft that we'd ever had at about 3 hrs and 45 minutes so i was happy w/ it. it just gets annoying b/c you end up waiting for the same slack ash for a decision. if you're given 6 months to get your schedule together, then you need to get your shiznit together or have a proxy drafter so he can screw you over. anyways, deangelo was the best value in round 1. he won't get the td's. if you thought that he would, he'd be #1. i think that he'll still get the carries and stewart hasn't shown the ability to stay healthy for a prolonged stretch so i think that deangelo will still get similar yards. we were stunned when ash took peyton b/c tim didn't take him and we didn't realize it when tim made his pick in portis. grandmama was a reach w/ addai and knowshon on the board. when the chefs are clearly out of the playoffs, i predict that jamal charles will become the starter in order to see if he can be the back of the future. ash stunned us by taking a kicker in round 6. maybe there was a communication problem but that's what happens when you can't get your stuff togetther. strangely, ash took addai's handcuff in brown. i think that if addai is healthy, it will be a timeshare like when addai was a rookie and rhodes was the starter. if addai is healthy, both will get the ball but neither will dominate touches. both ash and kouche will be annoyed at varying points throughout the season. ash has a good set of recievers w/ the pick in mason. he was an incredible pick in round 9. i see him having a more consistent season than roy williams, holt, devin hester, ginn, lance moore, and steve breaston.

t squared
ldt 5
portis 8
rivers 8
gates 8
matty ice 4
hines ward 8
holt 7
lendale 7
giants
macklin 4
bruce 6
mike jenkins 4
bironas 7
galloway 8

tim had the best line of the trip: the smaller the territory, the more vigorous the defense. something about someone not letting him check in his bag b/c it was too big. tim countered by taking something out and fitting it in the guidelines and then putting that something back in when he was walking to the plane. tim bypassed peyton stating that he started 0-6 w/ him at the helm last year. instead, he went w/ the super chargers and new rich guy not named vish in phillip rivers. tim's bed buddy, kouche, will be the beneficiary of tim's chargers love in week 8. a healthy gates will be a boon for him but i still have my doubts about ldt. sorry. tim decided to forego the wide receiver position this year by taking the oldie but goodie squad w/ hines ward, tory holt, and isaaaaac bruce. these guys are as oldas we are. can you imagine putting your body through everything that they do and how they must feel each day. at least tim has trade bait in matt ryan. hopefully, he can parlay it into receiver help and 4th running back for his team. fyi, t squared looked pretty good and svelte. good for you. dj needs some tips, other than passing on tequila. overall, he has an old team that would have been great in 07. too bad that tim doesn't have a way back machine.

cliffy
andre 3000 10
brees 5
grant 5
thomas jones 9
santonio holmes 8
felix jones 6
lance moore 5
breaston 4
winslow 8
gage 7
delhomee 4
chargers
anti rihanna 10
gotkowski 8
heath miller 8

cliffy had the funniest moment of the trip. he was calling ash after about 7
shots of crown for our drinking game. he tells ash that he needs a kicker. (pause)YOU NEED A KICKER, ASH!!! (pause) YOU KNOW, SOMEONE WHO KICKS FIELD GOALS. (pause) cliff looks down on his cell phone and realizes that he's called someone else.(pause) his voice assumes a normal tone and says sorry and hangs up. it was a funnier moment in real life.
anyways, cliff has already been given 2 great games due to bye weeks against ben and sho. he's already 2-0 and we haven't started to play. lucky cliff. i love his team outside of his receivers not named andre johnson. moore and breaston needed injuries last year to really be productive. my secret spies also say that moore might be getting passed on the depth chart by robert meachem. i really like felix jones this year. he is an absolute stud on madden. he is this year's chris johnson. i just don't know if his toe will hold up. i was ready to draft in the start of round 7 but cliff took him in round 6. he also should have taken another rb instead of heath miller. i don't like thomas jones but i said the same thing last year and he made kouche some money. i was set to draft the super value of the draft that would have been reminescent of my fwp in round 13 a few years ago, but i already have 5 rb's. i'd say who it is but i don't like you people.

dennis
brady 8
gore 6
colston 5
desean jax 4
ray rice 7
eddie royal 7
lesean mccoy 4
leon washington 9
shiancoe 9
hightower 4
flacco 7
celek 9
robert meachem 5

i started off by upseting the vegas crew by saying that i named this year's
fantasy team off of someone's name from some vh 1 reality show, temple of poon. people were wondering wtf are you talking about. then i said that there was only one man who could be the captain of the temple of poon and that was tom brady.he gets quality hot poon and that's what a temple should be filled with. gore was actually that 5th highest rated player on the board for me so i was ecstatic that he was still there at the bottom of round 1. i'm glad that i was able to get the top wr for 3 pass heavy offenses. it's hard to predict touchdowns from year to year but all 3 should get a lot of balls thrown their way. ray rice is starting to emerge from sleeper status and i predict that he will be in the top 10 fantasy rb's this year. as usual, i went for sexy picks like lesean mccoy and leon washington instead of proven players like fatty-tequila, ahmad bradshaw, driver, olsen, daniels, mason, palmer, and hasselbeck. oh wells. once again, i am my own worst enemy. i would also like to thank shen for telling me about the green bay defense. the only "respectable" offenses they play are minnesota twice, chicago twice and dallas.