Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Fantasy Football Update

As the regular season is finally starting to wrap up, I have major issues regarding injuries -- in both leagues.

Strangely enough, in both Minnesota and South Dakota fantasy leagues, I'm currently sitting at a 6-6 record. The parity is so great in both leagues that anybody -- whoever makes the playoffs -- could be in prime position of winning it all at the end of the season.

Disaster struck a couple of weeks ago when my leading point getter, quarterback Donovan McNabb, went down with a torn ACL and is out for the year. I had him as a starter in both leagues! I've got Tom Brady as a back-up in my South Dakota league, who by the way is a choice back-up, but on the other hand, I'm currently struggling with the likes of Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich (who I had dropped due to an ankle injury) ... but I managed to pick up Chad Pennington (who I actaully dodged a bullet last Sunday when he took a shot from a charging defensive end).

With Thursday games on the docket, that seems to mess things up a bit. If a player gets banged up from that previous Sunday game, he might not be able to go on a Thursday game. But, it all adds to the tension of what fantasy football is.

I'm still not decided who to start at quarterback (Big Ben or Pennington -- in the MN league) and my current running backs -- Rudi Johnson and Thomas Jones -- are up against the top rushing defenses in the NFL. And on top of all that, I'm up against a divisional rival for a prime seed in the playoffs!

As much as I hate to say it, I'm all but giving up in the South Dakota league. There's only one more week of regular season football (compared to two in the MN league) and I'm one spot out of the playoffs. I have a fairly good chance of winning and moving on, but again, injuries (namely Ronnie Brown) have hurt the team.

But all I see it as is a good relationship between the boys from here in Minnesota and hooking up with the ol' college gang back in South Dakota. Sure, I'll be a little stressed out in the next couple of weeks regarding my teams (hopefully to get some of my money back), but all in all, it's been a pretty good season.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Saddle Up!

I've ignored TonyTimes for too long -- maybe it's time to blog once again.

To tell you all the truth, there really hasn't been much to talk about. I'm just down-right bored here in P-Town, with teaching in full-force along with the coaching, by the end of the day I'm just simply so tired to do much of anything.

As far as football goes, we've got 2 games left -- Thursday and Monday. Then, I'll have a little bit more time to recover and hopefully I've got something worth noting.

But again, I'm just dead. I just got done watching Ortiz-Shamrock 3 and well ... Tits Ortiz beat Ken Shamrock. Surprising? Not really. I'll tell you what: Shamrock had a lot of class to give it up to Ortiz after that beat-down, especially have Ortiz gave him the ol' "double-barrel" middle-finger salute to Ken after they picked him up from the canvas. What a jerk-off.

With UFC 64 on this Saturday, I'm still indecisive on which way I should go towards an interest in UFC.

A quick Fantasy Football update: In the MN League, I've won 2 straight, including a tough win over Cory -- but in the SD League, I've dropped two straight (close losses, btw).

Oh, well.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Much Alive ... Barely

I'm still here ... no worries, please.

I've just been God-awful busy as of late, concentrating on school-related things, plus a little football on the side. It's been a cruddy-ass past couple of weeks, in which there are very few things going on.

Some a few of the highlights:
  • Fantasy Football: In the SD League, I'm a perfect 3-0. In the MN League, I'm 0-3. Go figure. So far in my 3 losses in the MN League, I've lost by a total of 12 points. I'm there and I'm competitive, but just not quite there yet.
  • UFC 63: I got good and drunk at Mike's place last weekend to watch a little pay-per-view along with Sean. Who knew that UFC could be so ... ahh ... entertaining?
  • Homecoming in P-Town: Well, the school-folk hit my house up something fierce this year, dumping straw bales all over my lawn (spread out, mind you), then on Friday night during the Homecoming dance (which really wasn't a success), I got toliet papered, saran wrapped, baby powdered, and Vaselined. Happy? Not really. And the varsity football team didn't fare too well, either.
  • 8th Grade Football: We dominated a conference rival yesterday afternoon, although the scoreboard read 12 to 6 in our favor. We kicked ass in every aspect of the game, and it was the first instance in which I really didn't get all too caught up in the game itself -- I actually COACHED.
  • It's Official...: I'm a single male, once again. Satisfied? Yes and no.

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Monday, September 18, 2006

Fantasy Football -- "Am I This Stupid?"

Man, I really do not know how to take this -- as an insult, or flattery?

I'm currently in 1st place and am the top point getter in the league so far this season.

I just got offered a trade (already!!!) just a few minutes ago through the South Dakota fantasy league I'm in. This guy -- who just so happens to be one of my old college professors over in Mad-Town, is offering me Randy Moss and Jake Delhomme, for Terry Glenn and Tom Brady.

Now think about this (a little analyzing is in effect): Randy Moss, playing for the piss-poor Raiders. Aaron Brooks is down-and-out for the next couple of weeks with a pectoral injury. Who's going to get him the ball?

Now, Delhomme wouldn't be a bad pick-up, but Steve Smith is still out of the line-up and Keyshawn Johnson is relatively a good target, but with the Panthers reeling right now with a 0-2 record, I'm not sure. This other guy should hold onto him, because Delhomme and the Panthers are up against the Bucs in Week 3.

His roster is already stacked with running backs LaDainian Tomlinson, Warrick Dunn and DeAngelo Williams, not to mention wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

As for me, I simply love Terry Glenn and Tom Brady both, who have been staples of points-getting in my rosters for the past couple of years. Glenn impressed me big time last night with that Cowboys win over the Redskins, and Brady (old Michigan Wolverine boy!) is now a great back-up to Donovan McNabb.

Do I trade? Um, no. It's way too early in the season to make deals.

I should be a smart-ass and counter his trade with another offer -- I'll be glad to take Tomlinson and Harrison off his hands!

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Monday, September 11, 2006

Fantasy Football, Week 1 -- S***-F***-A**

One point made all the difference in my Minnesota Fantasy league, as I fell to Shane's team. Shane followed up with quarterback Brad Johnson in tonight's Monday Night game in the Vikings' win over the Redskins.

All up to the couple of days prior to the Vikings-Redskins match-up, all the so-called experts said that running back Clinton Portis wasn't going to play due to his separted shoulder. Then, he decides to be the "back-up" to Ladell Betts and Portis ends up getting a TD run. There's goes points that I could have had, instead of wide receiver Kevin Curtis' big ol' doughnut he put up.

But that's what makes Fantasy Football so great -- the Tuesday after and it's all 20/20 hindsight -- beating yourself up over which players to start and which ones to sit. Cripes...

I've got to start strong in this Minnesota league this year. Sean's brother Troy looks like the man to beat already with a huge showing in Week 1 with a win over the defending champion, Mitch.

In the South Dakota league, I actually dominated for once, extending my winning streak from last year's playoffs. I'm looking to defend my title there and it looks like that I could have the team to beat there this year!

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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Milkin' It -- Labor Day Weekend

One word to finish up the last true weekend of summer: Wow.

It was simply a great weekend -- a true Labor Day weekend -- to hang out and relax one final time before I'm back to teaching. I made the most of it with a little football, a little beer, some great grilling, a little hot-tubbin', and a little super-late night party action.

It all started on Saturday at Sean's house, where I participated in my 2nd annual Minnesota Fantasy Football League Draft. It was all pressure-cooked, stress-filled strategy as we all picked our players (it really got thin towards the end, but by then, there were several Miller Lite cans on the floor and we really didn't care who we picked -- or so it seemed).

I wish I had my draft picks -- in order -- but I left my copy behind at Sean's so he could put them in our ESPN Fantasy Football tracker this season. My overall #1 pick was Rudi Johnson, a running back from the Cincinnati Bengals. Again, just like the South Dakota Fantasy Football League, I think I have a pretty stout team within one of the toughest "divisions" of the league. I'm matched up with Sean, Sean's brother Troy, and Sean's brother-in-law Matthew. As far as pure raw talent, our division is probably the toughest. If there was a team to make the championship this season ... it'll be from our division.

After chasing little kids around the house for a while, it was time to retire. It got later than usual with a quick stop at Woody's, then on Sunday, it was "lay-low-for-a-while-time" as I quickly recovered when Mike called and said that we were going to a garage party.

Seriously, when I think back on it, I should have brought my camera. There was so much shit going down (the good kind) that made my sides split. I hadn't been to a "garage party" in a such a while, but when it comes to partying with the boys from C-Wood, that's all they do.

Mike, Lacey, and myself probably took the world's longest road trip to get out there -- it was dark, it was foggy, and we were running into some-what familiar lake territory that it made for us to get a little lost. Our destination, Shane and Megan's place (Megan is Lacey's sister) and once we finally got there after travelling on gravel for about 20 miles, we immediately started hitting 'er up.

Since the rain was continually on-and-off for that evening, it was considerably tough to get a campfire started. Every once in a while, people would douse the fire with kerosene, which made things brighter and hotter just for a slight few seconds, then would slowly die away. But most of the time, I was around folks who I really didn't know a whole lot about, but I made the most of it, just continually drinking beer and laughing at the antics of other people -- and oh, there were antics.

After watching Mike and Shane go 1 and 1 in some ping-pong drinking game, everybody huddled around the small-ish fire since it had gotten so cold. Somebody started dumping isopropyl on the fire (yes, the stuff you put into your vehicle during the cold months to prevent fuel lines from freezing over) and we'd get these mini-fire balls -- nothing too dangerous.

Then, the thing that made the night worth it.

There's this guy -- the same guy who tried to get Lacey to drop the charges on her stolen car; I call him "Numb-Nuts" -- decided to make his own fireball with isopropyl. He would put it into his mouth, take a lighter, blow it out so there would be this giant fireball (watch "Revenge of the Nerds" for an example). Sure enough, he did it -- fireball and all, isopropyl dripping off his chin.

But I would also like to say that prior before that, Shane got a fire extinguisher -- just in case if things got out of hand (by this time, everybody was feeling "pretty good"). So Numb-Nuts stood there, looking like he was going to be sick.

Lacey: "Oh, my God. I think he swallowed some."

For a split second, there was actually some kind of worrying going on, and then ...

A blast from the fire extinguisher, directly into the face.

There was no fire to speak of, but all you saw was the white powder spewing forth from the extinguisher, directly into Numb-Nut's face. He immediately hit the ground, rolling around and yelling, "It's in my eyes!"

After it was all said and done, the kid popped back up and just laughed. It was like something from "Jackass." I myself could not stop laughing so frickin' hard -- it was possibly the best thing that I had seen in a long time. Plus, it happened to a guy who I already don't think too kindly of, so that made it all much better.

We decided to leave around 2:30 that morning, as an eerie fog seemed to drift across the place. We all had plenty to talk about -- one of the more memorable moments this summer.

On Labor Day, it was simply a day of rest. I "paid back my debts," so to speak, and helped out my parents with a little yard work and other small tasks (getting sunburned in the meantime). I even jumped into their new hot tub that they had just installed. Nice! Hot tubs now day have pretty much a water-jet for any muscle group.

But in the end, I had to get back to P-Town get things going, as far as the teaching goes. I was extremely tired from the weekend, but there's always more fun on the horizon!

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Monday, August 28, 2006

South Dakota Fantasy Football Results

I attended the 4th Annual South Dakota Fantasy Football Draft last night. It's a stress that is matched by no other when it comes to football -- well, unless your team is playing in the Super Bowl -- but this is pretty close.

I arrived a little late, finding that I had the 10th overall pick (out of 12 teams).

We're back to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, after a year off from going to ESPN Fantasy Sports last year.

Being the defending champ, I've got a lot riding on the season. My expectations are high and hopefully I've picked up some solid picks and can rely on some "hidden" free agents who are going to be the dark horses.

Our league is set up as follows:
  • 1 quarterback
  • 2 running backs
  • 2 wide receivers
  • 1 RB/WR
  • 1 tight end
  • 1 kicker
  • 1 team defense
  • 2 defensive players
  • 3 bench players

After 14 rounds of the draft, my line-up is as follows (number in parantheses indictate overall pick)

  1. Ronnie Brown, RB (10)
  2. Tom Brady, QB (15)
  3. Donovan McNabb, QB (34)
  4. Chris Chambers, WR (39)
  5. Todd Heap, TE (58)
  6. Ahman Green, RB (63)
  7. Nate Burleson, WR (82)
  8. Adam Vinatieri, K (87)
  9. Brian Urlacher, def. player (106)
  10. Terry Glenn, WR (111)
  11. Donnie Edwards, def. player (130)
  12. Baltimore, defensive team (135)
  13. Chris Simms, QB (154)
  14. Marion Barber III, RB (159)

Other notes from the draft:

  • Shaun Alexander, RB, was the #1 overall pick. Peyton Manning was #2, Larry Johnson #3, and LaDainian Tomlinson #4.

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