~I'm not quite sure where to start with this post, so I'll just start it with Joakim Noah. Usually I'll hate a guy during his college years, but then when he turns pro not care so much about him. I was watching Bulls/Knicks highlights, and you know what? I still hate Joakim Noah. The guy makes me want to take scissors, cut all his hair off, stab his eyes out, thread his hair through his eye sockets, and then move it back and forth like I'm flossing his brain. I'm just glad he doesn't play for Cleveland, because he'd be right alongside Varajeo, which would just make me explode in outrageous fury every time I watched a Cleveland game.
~Billy Beane. I always felt he was slightly overrated as a general manager. Yes he's made Oakland a very competitive baseball franchise over the years, which is impressive in a small market. The thing is, he's never got them to the top. If that's good enough for some folks, then hey, he's one of the best in the business, but I've never seen him pull off that one move that's puts them over the hump. I do, however, have to give him credit for his latest trade. Dan Haren, arguably the team's ace, to Arizona for six prospects. Not only did he pack a moving truck full of blue-chip Diamondbacks to take back to Oakland, he put Haren in the National League. Think of Oakland's last four great pitchers: Mulder, Hudson, Zito, and Haren. Where are they all now? St. Louis, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Arizona. What do they all have in common? They're all in the National League! So while loading up on prospects (except for Zito, but he's the worst of the bunch), Beane never gets hurt by his old hurlers. I give him props for being able to pull that off.
~Looking at the college football bowl schedule, I only see three games I'm really interested in watching (other than MSU, that's just a given). I would like to see Florida-U of M, USC- Illinois, and Oklahoma-West Virginia. Although I think Florida will beat U of M, I just want to see those seniors for U of M play well for Lloyd and his final game as head coach. I want to see what Juice Williams and the underdog Big Ten Illini can do against the nation's hottest team. Oklahoma-West Virginia looks like there might be a lot of points, which equals excitement. I do not want to see LSU-OSU. I am too angry at the bowl system, and will not watch out of protest. Besides, has anyone seen ESPN's mock bowl coverage? They don't even have OSU/LSU in the title game. Hmmm...why is that? Because even the media thinks they're not the two best teams, despite them voting those two teams in. This system sucks.
~Mitchell Report. Sigh, I hate all this coverage. It's college basketball, NFL stretch run, college football bowl season, and NBA basketball time. I want to talk and watch coverage on those things, and not whether Larry Bigbie heard Brian Roberts say he shot himself up with some roids. It's going to be accusations and denials for the next year I feel. And I hate it.
~Switching gears, I am really excited to go home to Michigan for the break. It'll be nice to see the fam and Kev and Adam again. I really wish I could come back and visit more often, but it's hard with Grace and I having jobs and stuff. Stupid jobs. I think the drive up to MI won't be bad, because I have MSU/Texas to look forward to. Oh, and an MSU win. It will definitely be great to watch the game with Kev and Adam. Just like old times =).
~At school there is a door decorating contest for the holidays going on. Since I have an open classroom, this provides an interesting challenge. I am a competitor though, and I want to win. So in lieu of the absence of a door, my homeroom class decided to decorate the whole fucking room. And decorate they did. They brought in lights, dancing Santas, tree, garland- you name it, they brought it in. They even stayed after school to put everything up. Now my room has more blinking lights, bells, and dancing Christmas robots than a Chuck E. Cheese Christmas party. We have successfully decorated for Christmas, while completely ignoring Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Eh, just how we do. If we do not win this contest (the prize is a free breakfast, which I'm all for), my kids will probably snap and go ballistic. And rightfully so. They've worked hard and deserve this win. It's been a total team effort.
~I have officially made "the wall" at school! The wall being a bathroom stall in the girl's bathroom. In a lovely red sharpie (how did they know red was my favorite color?), a girl wrote that, and I paraphrase, "Mr. Dennison is a cock-sucking faggot stupid ass teacher." I feel like I've made it. My rite of passage. I am officially a teacher. By the way, they caught the girl, and surprise, surprise- she is failing my class. But I won't hold a grudge...haha, yeah right...
~Despite my numerous complaints about fantasy this season, four out of my five teams made the playoffs this year (with the fifth finishing one spot out). I tried to find a correlation between the rosters, and I really can't. Most of my teams are uniquely different. I have one team that has the number 1 seed in the league. Here's what I'm rolling out with:
QB- Kurt Warner
WR- Tory Holt
WR- Lee Evans
WR- Jabar Gaffney
RB- Earnest Graham
RB- Jamal Lewis
TE- Dallas Clark
K- Mason Crosby
DEF- New York Giants
That's a solid team in my opinion, but the number one? I don't know. One thing I think I do well in fantasy is play the matchups fairly well. Sometimes I'll get burned by benching the big names, but more often than not the moves pan out. I know Adam is very good at this as well, as he is a very successful fantasy player. So again, luck or skill? Half of each?
~Michael Crabtree is the nation's best wide receiver. Fair enough. I can accept that. I'd like to think he won that award because of my constant promoting of his game. It's definitely not because of his gaudy and eye-popping stats. Yup, more me than him. Congratulations sir, you're my preseason 2008 Heisman favorite. Oh, and is there any doubt that he will be a future Lion?
~Speaking of the Lion's, time for Mr. Martz to go. It's been fun. In the NFL, unless you're the Patriots with Randy Moss and Tom Brady, you need a running game. I love the pass as much as the next guy, but the pass will be much more effective if you establish a run. Keep the defense honest at least! Can you imagine how much better Kitna could be if he wasn't facing a pass rush each and every play? It must be the easiest thing in the world for a D-coordinator to prepare for the Lions. "Just keep rushing the passer, and eventually we'll stop them." If we are going to run Martz's system, we need a more versatile back and QB. A back that is Marshall Faulk-esque, who can be a speedy safety valve for the QB under pressure, and a QB that can scramble and avoid pressure in the pocket (although Kurt Warner debunks that assertion). So what should the Lion's draft next year? Defense? O-Line?
~I've become a real Redskins fan down here. I like watching them play. They usually find ways to get their fans' hopes up and ultimately lose games. It's almost like I'm back home watching the Lions!
~Grace got me Pistons/Wizards tickets for my birthday. I'm excited. The game is actually the day of my birthday, January 2nd. That worked out real nice. I can't wait to see a Detroit team live. It's been awhile. Speaking of seeing a Detroit team live, I am going to take every opportunity I can to see the Tigers play next season. I am ridiculously excited to watch that team with Cabrera and Willis on it.
Alrighty, that's enough for now. Take care folks.
~Mikey D
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3 comments:
The quickest way to change the BCS would be if enough people like you boycotted the National Championship game. But I'm still going to watch it...
From what I can tell, the Mitchell Report is a collection of rumors and hearsay. Seems like a big waste of time to me.
This year, the Lions should draft the best available player, regardless of position. (except WR)
If you had told me before the season that the fantasy lineup you presented would get you a #1 seed, I would have said you're crazy. FF is like poker, there is a lot of luck involved, but there is a lot of skill too.
Is it distracting to teach in such a busy room? Good luck with the contest!
Thanks! It's been a little distracting, because all the kids really want to do is talk about how good it looks and how bad they want to win. Oh, that and they get in a trance looking at all the blinking lights.
By the way, I read the kids your letter. Their reaction? Apparently it was too long- after one paragraph. I thought you made some great points, but they may have been lost after "To the class..." Welcome to my world. On the positive side, they stared at me blankly afterwards, with "what the fuck" looks, so you officially got your Kevin Erickson stare-reply from 20, 11 year olds.
And as an ammendment to my original post, I just have to say that Grace is the best girlfriend ever for getting us Pistons/Wizards tickets. I know I don't give her enough love on my blog sometimes, but she deserves it. Thank you so much baby, I love you.
If you read Moneyball, you can't help but be awed by Billy Beane. His point about the playoffs is that it is all about luck by that point. You'll have your ups and downs over the course of a 162 game season and some teams will rise to the top. Over a 7 game series, a team can be hot, its pitchers can be unstoppable, etc. I think the Rockies are a good example of this. Does anyone think they were really built to win the NL? No, but they were very hot towards the end and got to the World Series. Plus, the A's do not have a big payroll. He's always looking out for players other teams don't want that he feel have talent he can use.
I get your point about bowl season and the Mitchell report, but it's funny how in one paragraph you talk about how boring the bowl games are and in the next, argue that there are more interesting things than the Mitchell report, like the bowl games. A lot of the bowl games do seem boring, but was anyone excited about Oklahoma/Boise St last year? No, but it ended up being one of the most exciting games of the year.
You're not excited to see MSU/BC? I agree, they seem boring. I think Arkansas/Missouri will be great. Hawaii/Georgia has a chance to be this year's to Okla/Boise with the WAC school proving themselves. Arizona St/Texas looks pretty good too. Maybe it's just because I like college football more.
It's hilarious that your two proudest accomplishments from school recently are having your name smeared on a bathroom stall and ignoring political correctness and celebrating only Christmas.
I may have lost miserably in our league (which officially began on draft day when Brian caused me to fuck my draft up - if he wins, I am keeping the belt and claiming partial victory) but I am in the championship in my other league.
The Lions offense is not working at all. 9 rushing attempts yesterday???? The receivers drop/tip too many balls. QB that can scramble and avoid the pressure? Stanton is our backup...
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