life is just a fantasy

After avoiding it for several years, I got sucked into fantasy football a few years ago. My teams have been pretty consistently mediocre-to-bad. I joined two leagues this year, neither one for money.

I joined the mnspeak league this year. It was OK. It's on Yahoo!, which I'm not too excited about, fantasy-wise. And I think over half the league stopped paying attention a long time ago. After going 6-6-1 in the regular season, and being the lowest seeded team in the playoffs, Soft Pink placed 3rd. Kassie (Bixby Fan Club) won.

It's my third year with omgzilla, which is the league I care about. My conference was tough. My team, The Comic Stylings of Condi Rice, The Comic Stylings of Michele Bachmann, Cinderella, went 5-8 in the regular season and backed into the playoffs as the lowest seed where I pulled off two upsets to make it to the championship game. Then the magic wore off and I placed second. However, I'm pleased, to say the least.

fantasy draft today...

C	Joe Mauer , Min C
C	Carlos Ruiz , Phi C
1B	Carlos Pena , TB 1B
2B	Ian Kinsler , Tex 2B
3B	Mike Lowell , Bos 3B
SS	Jhonny Peralta , Cle SS
2B/SS	Yuniesky Betancourt , Sea SS
1B/3B	Casey Kotchman , LAA 1B
OF	Aaron Rowand , SF OF
OF	Jose Guillen , KC OF
OF	Kosuke Fukudome , ChC OF
OF	Coco Crisp , Bos OF
OF	Felix Pie , ChC OF
UTIL	David Ortiz , Bos DH
P	C.C. Sabathia , Cle SP
P	Joe Nathan , Min RP
P	Javier Vazquez , CWS SP
P	Brad Penny , LAD SP
P	Oliver Perez , NYM SP
P	Mark Buehrle , CWS SP
P	David Weathers , Cin RP
P	Orlando Hernandez , NYM SP
P	Carlos Silva , Sea SP
Bench	Marlon Byrd , Tex OF
Bench	Wandy Rodriguez , Hou SP
Bench	Shannon Stewart , Tor OF
Bench	Reggie Willits , LAA OF
Bench	Tom Glavine , Atl SP

As usual, I had no idea what I was doing. I simply don't follow baseball closely enough to even know who half the guys in the last fifteen rounds are.

I relied heavily on the draft order set by ESPN, but I moved some guys around in that order based on a few other lists I found online. ha. I picked several of the guys because their names make me smile: Jhonny Peralta, Yuniesky Betancourt, Kosuke Fukudome, Coco Crisp, Felix Pie, Wandy Rodriguez.

I just figure it's nice for the other teams to have me around. I enjoy playing, but I don't feel too bad about being terrible.

here we go again

Even as my interest in the NFL wanes, I somehow got suckered into not one, but two fantasy football leagues this year. It's true that one league is the same as last year and there were keepers involved. One of my keepers was not such a good idea, but I take it all semi-seriously anyway. It takes too much time and energy to stay on top of everything I should. I missed both drafts, but I'm not saying I'd be smarter than the computer. Oh wait, yes I am. I did not need two defenses and three kickers for the Comic Stylings...

So here are my two teams, probable starters only:

The Comic Stylings of Condi Rice:
QB- Peyton Manning
RB- Deuce McAllister
RB- Laurence Maroney
RB/WR- Reuben Droughns
WR- Lee Evans
WR- Donte Stallworth
WR- Donald Driver
TE- Tony Gonzalez
TE- Todd Heap
K- Jason Elam
DEF- Eagles

It would have been nice if the computer had picked me up another starting RB, but I'm the genius who kept Deuce McAllister, so I can't be too critical. I certainly don't need five QBs, but I picked up a few extras while dumping kickers and defenses, figuring maybe one or two of them will have a good year and I'll be able to get a decent RB with a trade.

Jeff's Gift:
QB- Jay Cutler
WR- T.J. Houshmandzadeh
WR- Braylon Edwards
RB- Laurence Maroney
RB- Ronnie Brown
TE- Alge Crumpler
W/R- Deuce McAllister
K- Jeff Wilkins
DEF- San Diego

I have no idea how this one will go. I thought it was nice of the computer to choose the Maroney/McAllister combo for me in this league. It means I don't have to pay quite as much attention to what's going on every week. And coincidentally, Jay Cutler is my backup QB in the other league.

unpopular with the fans

It's safe to say that I won't be taking 3rd place in my fantasy baseball league this year. Or 12th. I believe there's some hope for 13th, though, if I can just hang in there...