last minute changes

i knew i was leaving town friday and unlikely to be able to check my team over the weekend. i still took my computer and ipod, basically only to make sure that i could check my team if necessary. well, it was necessary. some am espn-watching revealed that santonio holmes got busted with marijuana. picked up nate washington where i could. actually dropped holmes where i had him; he'd been dropped before in that league, and i figure there's little room on my roster for a guy who's not playing this week. i was lucky to have him as a 4th receiver there, and i figured it should be nate washington and not holmes that gets that spot for now. fortunately, i also have desean jackson.

the one thing i can't figure out this week is what to do with steven jackson. i think i'm going to start earnest graham and jamal lewis instead. those guys are good enough, i hope.

it smells like pumpkins

I've been concerned with improving my best team for the playoff run, but the one big trade I did make (Romo/Hines Ward for Brees/SJax) has proven that you can't really plan ahead. I always thought that was a good deal, since I liked Bowe nearly as much as Ward for a 3rd receiver and Brees had better fantasy playoff potential than Romo based on matchups. What I didn't expect was that Romo would get injured. It could just as easily have been one of my guys who'd gone down, and made the trade look foolish or, more accurately, unlucky.

We start QB/RBx2/WRx3/TE/K/Def in this league. Playoffs for 4 teams; wk 15&16

My roster:

QB - Brees, Cutler

Two top-5 QBs...I can still deal one for value, though I want to stick with Brees and Cutler has been less amazing of late

RB - Barber, SJax, Forte, Earnest Graham

3 top 10 RBs is a bit much, but I would want insurance if I dealt one of them. Graham's a great 4th option to have at RB, but I haven't been able to deal him for anything. I may have been trying too hard to be cute and package him, but no one in the league seems interested in this guy.

WR - Wayne, Marshall, Bowe, Chambers, Antonio Bryant

Apparently two top-5 WRs is enough to get you somewhere if the rest of your team is good. Bowe's got QB problems but is solid, Chambers' injury has lingered, and Bryant is not that amazing. The lack of droppable RBs means Bryant is the first to hit waivers if something goes wrong, even though my depth here isn't great.

TE - Anthony Fasano

I avoided burning #2 waiver priority for Kevin Walter. I'd rather deal for a TE, but that's not necessarily likely at this point. Fasano obviously looked real good at the start of the season, but he was always splitting catches a bit with Martin. I think he can post a few big games still, but I'm not holding out for much here.

K - Prater, Gostkowski

Ok, so my #1 drop after this week will be a kicker. I don't know if Prater's going to be worth keeping around or not, but I had room to try it here.

DEF - Tennessee

Amazing how I'm not at all afraid of their matchup with the Colts. Remember when you used to think you'd need to pick up a different D when Indianapolis loomed on the schedule. That being said, Titans are the premiere fantasy defense thus far, so you have to stick with them against just about anyone.

new life

the undefeated team is once again undefeated, thanks to a mid-week stat correction that took 11 rushing yards away from marshawn lynch. my wk 5 opponent's score was thus reduced by a point, and we ended in a tie.

i somehow managed to breathe 'life' into my embarrassingly bad work league team, trading leron mcclain, deshaun jackson, and kellen winslow for jay cutler, dallas clark, and greg lewis. lewis is already back on waivers, as massive modifications to my team roster were necessary in order to attempt to make this trade work. jackson had been my highest-scoring receiver. i of course lost my week 6 matchup in typically awful fashion, falling to one and five. i've now anchored my lousy team to the same qb - cutler - who had brought 3 other teams to promising starts. it's a bit lame when your fortunes are linked so strongly to one guy, but cutler's owner had peyton, and preferred the colts qb.

ouch

sigh. i lost my undefeated streak and a matchup i thought i'd won. in one case, i lost by a point when i'd been up 17 with drew brees playing monday. the other guy had...minnesota's defense and kicker. they got him 31, brees got me 30, i lost by a point. that last-second interception he threw cost me the matchup.

i am glad baseball is over

9/28/08 was a great day for me. i was just glad to be done with baseball and be able to focus on football. i finished 2nd and 3rd, having resigned myself to losing in funston's league. i am still a little annoyed that i lost carlos lee, then carlos quentin, and had bj upton injured the entire week of the semi-finals in the other league, but i guess i have adjusted to that reality.

i was pretty annoyed to see what a lousy night adrian peterson is having. i had about 35 points' cushion plus peterson going against an opponent who's starting bush, brees, and the new orleans defense. there's some weird rules in the scoring system; all touchdowns are 7 points, completions are awarded fractional points and incompletions and sacks lead to negative points. on top of that, it's a point per reception league, which makes bush absolutely deadly and peterson much less of a premiere back than he would otherwise be. there is still plenty of time for him to shape up, but i think at this point he has to outscore bush and brees combined as they've really had a nice night thus far. oh well, at least i'll remain undefeated in one league...where i have cutler and brees. i still love that trade...even though it was like week 2 how could i hvae been so lucky as to have traded hines ward and romo for brees and steven jackson? don't trust early returns, i guess.

close call

the world series hat has survived the spaghetti sauce i accidentally wiped on it. right move, wrong hat.

Derek Anderson is ruining my life

I had thought up this weird challenge before all the drafts I did - what if I drafted a team with JT O'Sullivan as the only quarterback and tried to make the fantasy playoffs. Well, in my most important league, he is now my starting QB for week 4. Derek Anderson rode the bench last week as I started Matt Cassell. I think I would have been a lot better off doing the O'Sullivan challenge, since I could have used my 4th round pick on a real player. Doesn't help that I drafted Ryan Grant in the second, but at least he has a chance of still working out. My team right now is Marion Barber and nothing. Oh, and who did I take in the third? Torry Holt. 12-team league, 6 teams make the playoffs, I'm 1 and 2. Yuck.