Yet Another Brush With Death

Seriously, I consider myself lucky to post on this blog tonight. Thanks for some perceptive defensive man-thinking, I'm alive.

Today, for one of my in-service days, I had to drive to SMSU in Marshall for a huge-ass teacher's conference (my head still hurts). On my way back home in the afternoon, I was approaching a small town with a dangerous intersection. It's been known to take a few lives before, due to the way the intersection is set up. Just as you ascend a hill, there's the main intersection into the small town.

I'm driving along, crusin' at 62 mph (we're in Minnesota, remember), jammin' out to some Stone Temple Pilots, as I ascend the hill. First of all, I'm on a state highway and clearly have the right-of-way. As soon as I get to the top of the hill, I see a yellow semi-trailer (moving left to right in my point-of-view) starting to go through the intersection. At first, I'm thinking, "The guy must have popped his clutch, he's just making a 'running start'", all the while that I'm thinking that he sees me. This little thinking process takes just a second, but I'm in plain view of this semi-trailer and this driver SHOULD HAVE seen me. Even though the hill makes it a little dangerous for traffic attempting to cross the highway and into town, I am in plain sight for anyone logical person who is stopped at a STOP SIGN.

Well, the semi continues to roll through the highway. Instead of going into a panic, again, I start thinking, "This guy does not see me -- oh, shit!" Luckily for me, the semi was still going slow enough that I could react in time. I didn't slow down, I didn't speed up, but I drifted onto the shoulder while I blared my horn. When I passed the semi, I'll bet his front bumper was in my lane. WHAT A FUCKHEAD.

As soon as I passed him, I looked in my side-view mirror and it was clear that he made a mistake. He had hit the brakes, totally unaware that I even existed, and I saw his stupid head do a double-take as I went on by. That dude knew it -- he messed up and it could have been tragic.

At first, my emotions almost got the better of me -- several swear words, a lot of hatred, etc. -- almost to the point that I was about to pull off into the next exit to the town which was about a quarter-mile from the main intersection. But like all world leaders, cooler heads prevailed. I cranked up my STP and went about my way.

Ah, it's wonderful to be back in Minnesota!

Draft Day in South Dakota

On Sunday night, I made the drive back over to South Dakota to participate in yet another fantasy football draft. This draft is a little different from the one in Minnesota in certain respects -- like this is the third straight year that I've been with these guys. It's highly competitve (like staying up late or getting up early to drop injured players or pick up the player who gained mucho points) and the pay out is pretty good, just as long as you have a good finish by the end of the year.

Again, it's 12 players in the league. But instead of sticking with Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, we went with ESPN Fantasy Football. Fantasy football with ESPN is pretty interesting, especially now that we've split up into three divisions -- 4 teams in each division. The downfall, yet again with 12 teams, is that the competition is really stretched out. There will be some weeks in which I will have to play completely useless players, hoping that they would score just a few points while your big name guys (probably only 1 or 2 of them) score the majority that week.

The three division set-up will increase the owners chances of making the playoffs. Last year, with all 12 teams in one division (through Yahoo!), I was lucky enough to make the playoffs. This year, it could make or break me.

Thus, my team for 2005 (in order in which they were drafted) in the South Dakota Fantasy Football League.

I had the 11th overall pick (out of 12, obviously).

1. Tom Brady, QB
2. Rudi Johnson, RB
3. Nate Burleson, WR
4. Marc Bulger, QB
5. Jeremy Shockey, TE
6. J.J. Arrington, RB
7. Deion Branch, WR
8. Byron Leftwich, QB
9. Larry Johnson, RB
10. Braylon Edwards, WR
11. Nate Kaeding, K
12. Washington, DEF
13. Rodney Harrison, D-Player
14. Daniel Graham, TE
15. Brandon Lloyd, WR

As far as starting line-ups go, we start 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 RB or WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF, and ! D-Player. Just by looking at my line-up, talent is few and far in-between.

Overall, I'm not really happy with what I got, since I kind of got screwed over because of the 11th overall pick. Nobody is really standing out this pre-season (except for Daunte Culpepper -- oh, that's right -- I don't have him).

For this season, I'm just going to have to pray for lots of luck.

Draft Day in Minnesota

After driving away from C-Hub's place in Cottonwood, reflecting back on my draft choices for this year's team, I'm pretty satisfied.

We had a nice little 3-hour session, with Sean playing commissioner this season. Sean's two brothers are out in South Dakota, so they got hooked up through the Internet and gave our picks to us. Overall, 10 teams in this league -- and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports is taking care of the rest.

Here's the team that I put together to lead the Flamin' Green Arrows to championship victory:

QB -- Daunte Culpepper
QB -- Ben Roethlisberger
QB -- Byron Leftwich
RB -- Deuce McAllister
RB -- Tatum Bell
RB -- T.J. Duckett
RB -- Michael Pittman
WR -- Marvin Harrison
WR -- Mushin Muhammad
WR -- Brandon Stokley
WR -- Isaac Bruce
WR -- Marcus Robinson
TE -- Antonio Gates
TE -- Eric Johnson
K -- David Akers
K -- Nate Kaeding
DEF -- Washington
DEF -- Jacksonville

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Quarterbacks

• Solid. Culpepper's is going to be my main-stay this season, the guy who is expected to put up some serious points for the Flamin' Green Arrows this year. After the draft, I was flattered that Sean wanted to trade for Culpepper, but looking at his roster of "no-namers," I politely declined. As far as the others go, Roethlisberger isn't having a spectacular pre-season, but hopefully his nerves get a little settled down in time for Week 1. Leftwich is still consistent after 3 or so years at the helm in Jacksonville, but according to reports from Yahoo! Sports, his receivers are dropping balls. Again, hopefully it'll all turn around once Week 1 rolls on through.

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Running backs

• This is the biggest ? on the team this year. My number one guy will obviously be Deuce McAllister -- hopefully he'll stay healthy this year. I do not know much about Tatum Bell -- I drafted him out of spite to upset Bronco Boy just a little bit -- but after the Broncos/Colts game when Bell got 2 carries for one yard and the Broncos other RB Mike Anderson tore it up, well ... we'll wait and see. If Anderson gets the starting job, look for Bell to be on waivers.
• I had T.J. Duckett last year, hoping he'd be the running back in terms for short-yard running situations to plow the ball up the middle for the score. Instead, Warrick Dunn was the man (besides Vick) who was carrying the ball more often while scoring on long runs. Dunn would have been my first choice, but I cautiously settled for Duckett. Time will tell on this one.
• Michael Pittman was quite the surprise last year before he got hurt, helping out a woeful Tampa Bay offense. Like I said, Pittman was pretty solid before he fell to injury, so I'm hoping he'll be my dark-horse for my running backs this year.

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Wide receivers

• In terms of quality and ability, this is just a step up from the running backs. Marvin Harrison will again lead the way in Peyton Manning's passing offense, but there's that feeling in my head that his big-play ability is diminishing. Reggie Wayne will probably be the guy that Manning will look to now, but I'm not giving up on Harrison just yet.
• Brandon Stokley was a stud for me last year, being #3 in the receiving core behind Harrison and Wayne. Stokley managed to score 10 times, providing me those crucial points when I needed them the most. This is more of a loyalty pick. Stokley is coming off a dislocated shoulder and he seems optimistic that he'll be ready in time for Week 1.
• Mushin Muhammad was one risky pick. Although he had one hell of a career year last year with the Panthers, this year he's playing with the sickly Bears offense (with reports now that Chad Hutchinson is going to start). We'll see!
• Issac Bruce, along with Torry Holt, has been a mainstay with the Rams passing attack for years. Although Bruce is getting up there in terms of age, he's still pretty solid. I considered this pick a steal in the later rounds of the draft.
• Marcus Robinson stepped up where it was needed the most (along with Nate Burleson) when Randy Moss was sidelined with injury. Robinson falls into the mix of great wide receivers that the Vikings have this year -- who knows where he falls into the depth chart. Robinson will be a part of the supporting cast of my fair wide-out corps for 2005.

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Tight ends

• If this was 2004, I would have locked this league up. Antonio Gates and Eric Johnson each had sick numbers. But -- it sounds like Gates might not play Week 1 due to his contract dispute (he did sign, though), so Johnson looks like to get the go ahead for me to start off the season. It'll be a little nerve-wracking, considering that Johnson plays for the 49ers!

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Kickers

• David Akers led all kickers in terms of fantasy points last year. He should be a solid kicker this year, even though he just might be booting extra points.
• Nate Kaeding -- I've been watching this guy since his college days in Iowa -- this guy is money when you need that clutch field goal. But he's relatively new in the league, he's got a year underneath his belt, so watch for him to be a little bit more comfortable in clutch situations.

BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS: Defense

• Just a big toss up! As a team owner in a fantasy league, I really cannot tell a good defense to a crappy defense until Week 5 or 6 -- so I just picked some teams. Washington looks like a pretty good team on D, as all experts have rated them pretty high. Jacksonville was my last overall pick in the draft -- a pick just to fill in a defensive roster spot.

OVERALL GRADE: B

• While I'll suffer on positions like RB or WR, I'll make up for it in the QB and TE games. I've said before, a person really doesn't know who is going to be the main guy or the dark-horse in the league this year, so time will tell!

"Oh, Bloody Hell!"

I'm just shot -- as in "tired."

What a long, freakin' week. Basically, after Katie and I moved out of our house in South Dakota and moved to Minnesota, I've been bored. Thank God that I have the Internet and some sweet PC games, but other than that -- whoofta. Until I got a phone call this past Monday, things have gotten a little bit better.

The phone call was from the athletic director at the high school I will be teaching at. He offered me the job to help coach 8th grade football. The district is offering me a some-what decent contract to do this, so I jumped at the chance. Practices started on Tuesday and ever since then, I'm having so much damn fun, but at the same time, I'm tired.

But it's well worth it. I've been racking my brain trying to think of things to do -- the other coach only has one year of football coaching experience under his belt; his specialty is wrestling -- so I had to think back to the days of high school football and what we did.

Of course, the first week or so it's all about conditioning -- getting these kids back into shape. But it's just unbelievable how much information that these kids know! They're athletic, they play to play (I've already told them: "If you're out there to show off to the ladies, you don't belong here"), and most of all, they're having fun. For the first few days, we had them run half-pads -- but they're so damn eager to hit and tackle, we full-suited them up this morning.

I've taken over the offensive and defensive backfields. I consider myself a more of a offensive person, so I work with the QB's (reading progressions, proper exchanges, avoiding the blitz) WR's (catching the ball, going back to the QB if he's in trouble, pass routes) and RB's (hand-offs, pass blocking).

On defense, I really have no clue. I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm controlling the linebackers, but I never played linebacker a day in my life! The corners and safeties are my specialty, and the other coach and I have decided to run a 4-4/6-2 defense. I had to do some research myself, looked up some drills to run, so on and so forth -- but we just need to be more precise in what to do. Sometimes I don't know what to do!

But here at the middle school/high school level, we want to stay on the same page as the varsity. We basically run an I-formation package, with a flanker and a wide-out on opposite sides of the ball (with a tight end, obviously). We are probably going to be more of a run-offense, but after watching our first-string QB throw the ball around a little bit, he's starting to impress us. Especially when our tight end is a lanky 6'4" -- he's our primary target.

It was scary today when we ran our last play of the day (Panther 38 Halfback Pass) and all of our receivers were running streaks down the field. The halfback took the toss and threw towards the tall tight end. He didn't catch the ball, but he sure came down awkwardly. He gripped at his left wrist, almost to the point where he was crying. "Oh, shit," I thought to myself. Luckily, nothing was broken -- just a sprain -- but a short, scary moment when I thought we lost our best ball catcher.

So that is my life for this past week. I've got fantasy football drafts this weekend, plus I have to make up a playbook for the players sometime this weekend. In-service days are next week, then school starts on the 6th.

No Ads, PLEASE!

All of you no-life-ers out there who just love to solicit their goods by advertising on my blog:

STOP IT.

No one cares about your shit. I reach probably only 10 people, so I'm not prime real estate for your bullshit.

Either you PAY ME some money for your ads, or take it elsewhere. You're wasting your time.

Fantasy Football

Man, I was really hoping that I'd get back into the whole bloggin' business because at the end of August, there's always something nice called "Fantasy Football." You might have read up on it a little bit last year.

There's always something to gripe about, but at least there's something. Last year in our league back when I was in South Dakota, I made the playoffs (out of 12 teams) but finished up short, finishing 4th (I think).

But now, lo and behold, not only I'm back in the South Dakota league again, but I've joined up with some old Minnesota pals to be involved in for my second league of the season.

The Minnesota draft will be a Sean's place this Saturday, then the South Dakota league will be on Sunday. It's going to be a little stressful, probably lots of trash-talking going on over players being picked, but it's all good.

I've been doing my research, reading fantasy football magazines and checking out ESPN.com and all that stuff, so hopefully I'll be on top of my game come this weekend.

But don't let those "expert" magazines fool you! It's all about your gut when you're drafting your players. Last year, I ended up picking up throw-outs like TE Jermaine Wiggins and WR David Givens, who actually mopped up the league in terms of points. This year, you just do not know who's going to have that unremarkable breakthru season.

I'll post my draft selections on here as soon as I get 'em ... plus some other thoughts and analysis throughout the season.

Back Again!

Well, I've probably lost hundreds and hundreds of readers due to my lack of updates. Hopefully, there are a still of few of you out there that are praying, hoping that the ol' TonyTimes will soon be updated.

Your prayers have been answered, my sons and daughters.

Turns out that my old college kicked me off their network. No log-on, no password. Poop.

But now -- I've got myself a new computer, a new Internet hook-up ... I'm basically good-to-go!

The month of August has been one of the most productive months of my short life. It's just a shame I couldn't let you all in on what the hell I was thinking about! But I'll make it up in due time, just be patient.