Mikey D

We're ten games in, and we have a little break over the next nine days with finals. Then it's a tune-up against IPFW and the big one against Texas (I want that win bad...). Here are more thoughts, both looking back and looking ahead.

Yes, Yes, and Yes!
That was it last night! I watched the game against Oakland last night and we finally put it all together. I know a thirty point win against an inferior team is nothing to beat our chests about, but the way we played was something that is probably going to make Mr. Izzo fairly happy over the next nine days. Not only did we have a reasonable amount of turnovers (12) and continue our rebounding dominance, but we hit a surprising 56% from the field- and they were good shots, too. Everyone was in-sync as a team, and despite off nights by Morgan and Summers shooting the ball, the rest of the team picked up the slack. For the first time all year we looked like a dominant top-10 team.

Nix and Sherman Will Be Damn Good Someday.
There is nothing spectacular about Sherman. He's like a cross between Suton and Herzog- Gumpy, skinny, and, um, stupid looking. But the kid can play. Of all our big men he's probably got the best post moves (maybe second to Draymond...although it's debatable if you would classify him as a true big man). He's a little hesitant to shoot the ball at times, but when he gets comfortable towards the end of this year or the next, he's going to be a real asset. He seems like he's going to fit into the Izzo system quite well (evident by the minutes he's already getting).

And Nix? He didn't get many meaningful minutes against the solid competition (Florida and UNC), but that's understandable. Those teams have premier athletes that are well conditioned. Nix just cannot keep up with them at his current playing weight. But he does have a lot of talent. Last night he chased down a dribbler from behind and poked the ball away from him that led to a fast break dunk. He also scrambled for a loose ball and threw a no-look over the shoulder pass to a man streaking on the fast break for a dunk. You can't teach that; it's just raw talent. I'm not going to expect too much from Nix this year, but if he can get his weight down and hit a free throw at the beginning of next year, he will be one of my favorite Spartans.

What's Wrong with Summers?
It's like he's been studying the career of Raymar Morgan: Show signs of brilliance, and then suck to the point that it's maddeningly frustrating for all who watch. The best part of Summers' game last year was that he was an energy guy that came in off the bench and came up with a big turnover or dunk. This year I don't think he has a single highlight reel dunk. He's provided no spark. And to make matters worse, he cannot hit an outside shot to save his life. His outside shots have been so far from the rim that you'd think he was shooting from half court every time. I'd be all in favor of a Lucas-Allen-Morgan-Roe-Sherman starting five and having Summers come back off the bench.

I'm Mostly Right About Roe.
In my last MSU post I said, "I think the most we can realistically expect from Roe is some solid rebounding games and 6-10 points on dunks and put-backs". I think that's still a fair assessment, as Roe in the post in a half court set is not a pretty sight. But of all the Spartans this year, Roe has probably been my favorite. That slow start he got off to at the beginning of the year is a thing of the past, as he's been in beast-mode lately. He's been crashing the boards hard. He's absolutely ferocious on the glass and he seems to have developed a knack for knowing where the ball is going to be. I like that. He's a hustle guy, but an explosive one at that. He's not going to just throw in lay-ups- he's going to slam it in your face if he's got the chance. He's been fun to watch, and I hope he keeps on doing what he's doing.

Big Ten Predictions:
I will still stick with my preseason prediction of being 3rd in the conference. I'll take Purdue to win it, and Ohio State to finish second. I know Evan Turner is out for OSU, but they don't face the toughest part of their schedule (two games against Illinois, and one apiece against Purdue and us) until the later part of February- when they might have Turner back. I think they have enough talent to still do very well in the conference, and I just don't trust us to be overly consistent. We will see though.

Fuck...
Fuck Florida.
Fuck North Carolina.
I hate you both.

~Mikey D

I’m coming for you, Adam…



...and I’m taking you down.

(whistling) “The farmer in the dell…The farmer in the dell... Hi-ho, the derry-o…The farmer in the dell…”

~Mikey D

***All of this was written after Week 11. I know the fantasy season isn’t over quite yet, but we can reach some conclusions.

Top 10 Best Draft Values
1. Ray Rice (Round 13, 4th Pick-ipresstoocoolbuttons)- A top-10 pick next year. Dual threat back is 5th in fantasy points amongst RBs.
2. Deshaun Jackson (Round 8, 6th Pick- Whiskey Wednesday)- No way this guy lasts until the 8th round next year. 4th in points amongst WRs.
3. Chris Johnson (Round 2, 6th Pick- Whiskey Wednesday)- On pace for 2000 yards and the number two fantasy RB. He’d be the first pick, in my opinion, if there was a fantasy draft tomorrow.
4. Reggie Wayne (Round 4, 3rd Pick- PB’s Gunslingers)- Surprisingly the number two scoring fantasy wideout.
5. Joseph Addai (Round 7, 5th Pick- Cumming From Behind)- All he does is score TDs. 6th most fantasy points amongst RBs.
6. Vincent Jackson (Round 6, 2nd Pick- Wicked Weasels)- 5th in fantasy points amongst WRs.
7. Thomas Jones (Round 10, 8th Pick- Kevinvidious)- 9th highest scoring RB this year.
8. Donald Driver (Round 13, 3rd Pick- Whiskey Wednesday)- A top 10-WR thus far. Has taken advantage of Jennings’ no-show year.
9. Cedric Benson (Round 13, 5th Pick-Cumming From Behind) - 13th amongst RBs, and a workhorse.
10. Brent Celek (Round 14, 4th Pick- Cumming From Behind)- 2nd to last TE picked, and number 4 in scoring amongst TEs.


Top 10 Worst Draft Picks
1. Brian Westbrook (Round 2, 3rd Pick- PB’s Gunslingers)- Way overrated coming into the year. There’s a reason Philly drafted McCoy- Westbrook is past his prime.
2. Clinton Portis (Round 3, 4th Pick- ipresstoocoolbuttons)- Grace loved him at the time, but not so much right now. Career OVER.
3. Matt Forte (Round 1, 6th Pick- PB Gunslingers)- Not bad at the time, but Forte has grossly underperformed and looks just awful right now. Will be a late draft pick next year.
4. Greg Jennings (Round 4, 4th Pick- Cumming From Behind)- With Frank Gore on the board, I took my 3rd receiver of the draft. Oops…
5. Jason Witten (Round 5, 4th Pick- ipresstoocoolbuttons)- Supposedly a top-TE candidate, but has been anything but with only 1 TD all season.
6. Eddie Royal (Round 5, 7th Pick- Wicked Weasels)- Eddie, who? Never heard of him.
7. Calvin Johnson (Round 2, 5th Pick- ipresstoocoolbuttons)- Great receiver, but injuries have slowed him. Not worth a second round pick. Chris Johnson would have been a better pick.
8. LaDainian Tomlinson (Round 2, 1st Pick- Boston Massacre)- Adam will agree; a little too high for LT this year. With DeAngelo Williams, Steve Slaton, Frank Gore, Chris Johnson, etc. still on the board, I’m sure Adam wishes he could have a redo.
9. Steve Slaton (Round 2, 8th Pick- Kevinvidious)- Slaton is 15th in scoring amongst RBs, but two picks later, DeAngelo Williams came off the board. Can you imagine Kevin with Adrian Peterson and DeAngelo Williams as his 1-2 RBs with Rodgers as his QB? Unstoppable.
10. Terrell Owens (Round 6, 8th Pick- Kevinvidious)- At the time seemed like a possible bargain, but with Ochocinco and Deshaun Jackson going after him, a little regretful now.

If There Was a 9th Team That Entered Our League After Our Draft, Their Roster Might Look Like This (Players That Could Have Been Picked Up Off Waivers):
QB: Brett Favre- This draft afterthought is 5th in QB scoring.
QB: Vince Young- His last four games he’s been steady and consistent.
WR: Miles Austin- 6th in WR points
WR: Mike Sims-Walker- 11th in WR points
WR: Steve Smith- 9th in WR points
RB: Ricky Williams – Amazingly, 4th in RB points
RB: Rashard Mendenhall- 17th amongst fantasy backs; lead man in Pitt
TE: Vernon Davis- Top scoring TE thus far.
K: Lawrence Tynes- 2nd highest point total amongst kickers.
DEF: New Orleans- Top scoring defense this year.

My Preseason Fantasy Predictions:

Prediction: Maurice Jones-Drew will not be a top-4 running back, as he is currently being drafted.
I was so sure that MJD would not be able to handle the workload because, well, he never has before. I was also figuring on him getting less scoring opportunities with teams loading up on him to stop the run. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. MJD is the real deal, and he is the top fantasy back thus far.
Prediction: Adrian Peterson will get 2,000 yards rushing.
Can I change this to Chris Johnson? AP has a 1000 after ten games, but will probably finish around 1600. What a bum.
Prediction: Aaron Rodgers will be a top-3 fantasy QB this year.
On draft day I wanted Grace to take Brees and then Rodgers with her first two picks (just out of curiosity to see how her team would do), but she was in love with Megatron (he is kind of awesome). Could you imagine, though? Not only has Rodgers been a top-3 QB, he’s been the QB in fantasy. Not only is he first in points, but he’s doing it with a dreadful offensive line and little production from Jennings. Amazing.
Prediction: Randy Moss will finish as the top fantasy wideout, and Andre Johnson will be second.
Randy Moss and Tom Terrific are quite the couple. After 12 weeks, Moss is number one in points. Andre? A pedestrian 7th amongst WRs, and about 20 points behind Larry Fitzgerald for second. Not gonna catch him.
Prediction: Pierre Thomas will be a top-10 back.
He probably would be if Mike Bell didn’t exist! He’s 15th right now, so there is time for him to crack the top-10, but can you imagine if he was healthy for the full year and got the TDs that have been vultured by Bell? New Orleans has run as much as they’ve passed this year, and Thomas could have been a superstar.
Prediction: Matt Ryan will be a better fantasy QB than Kurt Warner.
Warner is ranked 9th, Ryan is ranked 13th. I was banking on Warner’s old age, injury history, and Super Bowl hangover to hurt him a bit this year. I suppose I am right in a way, because he isn’t having as prolific a season as last year (but still good). I am disappointed with Ryan, however, as he hasn’t come up with the big fantasy days like I thought. He’s been a decent start, just not great.
Prediction: The best rookie RB will be…Donald Brown.
What the hell got into Joseph Addai? All he does is score touchdowns, making Brown irrelevant. Top rookie back thus far: Knowshon Moreno. And this has been a down year for rookie backs (compared to last year), as Moreno is currently 28th amongst fantasy backs- right behind Reggie Bush and Willis McGahee. Yeah, not that impressive.
Prediction: Marion Barber and Felix Jones will make you go, “Man, I should have drafted those guys when I had the chance”.
I knew it going into the year; the Cowboys would run a whole heck of a lot. And they’ve been primarily a run-oriented team. Unfortunately for me, Tashard Choice got thrown in the mix, Felix and Marion have been banged up, and the Cowboy’s offense as a whole has underperformed, thus rendering the Cowboys backfield a mess in fantasy land. Ah well, in theory it all made sense.
Prediction: Jay Cutler, Terrell Owens, Ronnie Brown, and Steven Jackson will not live up to their draft ranking.
Jay Cutler: Round 8, 13th QB taken. Currently 14th in scoring amongst QBs. He has more INTs than TDs, but that’s Jay Cutler. Adam got him right around where he should have been picked.
Terrell Owens: Round 6, 16th WR taken. Currently 28th in scoring amongst WRs, right behind Hakeem Nicks and Patrick Crayton. Yeah, Buffalo is a mess.
Ronnie Brown: Round 4, 14th RB taken. Currently 10th in scoring amongst RBs, but on the IR for the rest of the season. Had he stayed healthy, he would have definitely been worth his draft position. Unfortunately health has always been a knock on Brown, and he’ll probably fall past his draft ranking.
Steven Jackson: Round 3, 12th RB taken. Currently 14th in scoring amongst RBs, so all things considered Adam got him right where he should have been drafted: Late 3rd round. No way he should have been a first round pick like most experts said.
Prediction: DeAngelo Williams is the running back to own in Carolina, and he’ll be productive this year.
Duh. A lot of people were down on DeAngelo thinking that Stewart would see more carries and that Williams could not duplicate his 08’ season. Well of course his numbers aren’t as good as last year’s, but he’s still 8th in RB scoring. Not too shabby.
Prediction: Rashad Jennings will become a name you know that you never heard of before.
This goes back to my MJD prediction. Had MJD gotten hurt, Jennings would have been the man. Ah well, maybe next year.
Prediction: Ahman Green is rumored to be close to signing with St. Louis. If that happens, SJax will get hurt in Week 16 and Green will start in his place and run for 5 TDs…against Kevin’s team in the fantasy playoffs (causing him to lose the matchup).
Green is back with the Packers, which might be a good thing as Kevin has three Packers on his roster. I’m waiting for him to accidentally step on Rodgers’ foot and break it on a handoff (causing Rodgers to miss the rest of the year), or for him to mix up a route on a pass play causing him to collide with Driver, resulting in Driver breaking his collarbone. There’s still time, Ahman! Fuck Kevin over again!!! I know you still have it in you!

~Mikey D

Did you know that Stetson University, a school out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, has the top rated college basketball recruiting class in their conference? Well they do! Now the small school out of Florida didn't land any recruits that were on Izzo's radar, but they will share something in common with Michigan State...

This is the Stetson University logo. Look familiar? It fucking should. That is our logo with what appears to be a cowboy hat on it...and I don't like it one bit. It'd be one thing if you copied our mascot name(San Jose State, for one), or our uniforms (like Delaware did using Michigan's), but our logo? Seriously, you couldn't come up with something on your own??? At least change the color of the 'S' like Syracuse did when it came into existence. You literally took our logo and drew a couple squiggly lines on the top of it with a black marker.

That's our logo, dammit!

~Mikey D

-Raymar Morgan looks great, even with two sprained ankles. Without Raymar Morgan, we don't win against Gonzaga, plain and simple. If you watched that game, you know that Morgan was the only thing we had going throughout the first half. He was the one that kept us in the game, both defensively and offensively. Lucas and Summers came on strong in the second half, but even with two wobbly ankles, Raymar was still contributing. We need that. The only question is can Raymar stay healthy enough to continue to produce? I will be optimistic and say yes, but health will be a question throughout the year. I still think he'll live up to my preseason prediction: "He will be our man on a mission, and his determination and will are going to carry us through the tough parts of the season. I expect him not only to be good, but great this year."

-If Draymond Green ever gets hurt or in foul trouble, we are, um, fucked. He's the glue that keeps us together down low. Seriously, if he got hurt (god forbid), how comfortable would you feel with MSU's already shaky low-post play? We would miss his motor, his rebounding, passing...everything. Unless some of our other bigs start making a little more progress, he will be just as vital as Kalin Lucas.

-Derrick Nix- asset or liability? At first glance you love to have a monster like that down low. He's disruptive and blocks shots with such regularity that you just expect any shot that's put up near him to go back in the shooter's face. But I do have a problem with Nix thus far. First, his free throw shooting is awful. And when I say awful, that may be an understatement. 1 of 13? He quite possibly might be the worst free-throw shooter...ever! How long before the "hack-a-Nix" philosophy comes into play? And how can Izzo even put Nix on the floor in close games? Answer: he can't. I am also unhappy with Nix's motor at times. Yes, he's a hefty 280 (down from 330), but I cannot stand when players take plays off. There have been a couple times he has been beaten down the court, allowed uncontested shots, and has just basically stood in his spot while rebound opportunities pass him by. If he's that out of shape or tired, he needs less minutes.

-Tom Herzog needs more minutes. He actually looks bigger this year, even though he's still paper thin. But last night against Toledo he had a nice and-one play where he out muscled a defender. So far this season he's been high energy and effective off the bench. He gets the Izzo philosophy (defense and rebounding), and I'd actually like to see him more. Perhaps give him some of the minutes that are going to the other freshman, Sherman?

-Perhaps Thornton needs a few more minutes as well. As I told Adam last night, I feel like we know what we have in Chris Allen. He's not a big time shooter, but he plays solid defense and will come up with 4-5 assists a game. He is what he is. It's not that I have anything against Allen, but why not see what we have in Thornton? Every time he comes into the game he is all over the place. Maybe I just like hustle players, but why not give Thornton some meaningful minutes in some big games early in the season? If he can't hack it, well, then we'd know. But if he can we'll have another useful guy to utilize come March when/if Allen struggles.

-Delvon Roe is not what he was touted to be. He doesn't have a low-post game. Even against the couple of cupcakes we've played so far he's looked absolutely terrible trying to put moves on defenders and throwing up his shot. Maybe he's just trying to hard and forcing things, but it doesn't look like he's improved much from last year. And if you don't have a strong low-post game, well, you better be able to hit a shot from 10-feet away from the basket...which Roe cannot do. I think the most we can realistically expect from Roe is some solid rebounding games and 6-10 points on dunks and put-backs (basically what he did last night). His foul troubles have been a little disconcerting too, but hopefully that's him shaking off a list early season rust and nothing more.

~Mikey D

Did you know that the Lions are the best team in the NFL? What?! You didn't??? Don't let their unlucky string of bad beats fool you. Or the fact that Stafford threw 5 INTs yesterday (they were at least completions!). Thinking logically (or as a guy who is on drugs...lots of them) one could make a case that the Lions are actually the NFL's best team so far this year...

Follow along and keep count of the teams we are better than:

~The Lions are better than the Redskins because, well, we beat them.

~The Redskins beat the Buccaneers and Rams. Therefore we are better than both of them because we beat the Skins.

~The Buccaneers beat the Packers. We are better than the Buccaneers. So we are better than the Packers.

~The Packers have beaten the Browns and Bears. Since we are better than the Packers, we are better than those two teams, too.

~If we are better than the Browns, then we are better than Bills, the only team they have beaten.

~And if we are better than the Bears, that also means we are better than the Steelers and Seahawks, teams beaten by the Bears.

~Buffalo has beaten the Jets and Panthers. So the Lions must be better than them as well.

~Oh, and Pittsburgh. They've defeated the Titans, Chargers, and Vikings. Since we are better than the Steelers, we're better than those three. Wow, we're pretty good!

~The Jets have a few wins, over the Patriots, Texans, and Raiders. The Lions are better than those teams then.

~Between the Panthers, Chargers, Titans, Vikings, Patriots, Texans, and Raiders (all teams the Lions are better than), they've beaten the following teams: Cardinals, Dolphins, Chiefs, Giants, Jaguars, 49ers, Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, and Eagles. That's 27 teams the Lions are better than, if you're keeping count.

~The Giants beat the Cowboys. 28.

~The Ravens beat the Broncos. 29.

~This leaves two teams remaining: The Colts and Saints. Both with high-powered offenses and disruptive defenses. Better than the Lions? Nope. The Lions are on an amazing run, losing 23 of their last 24. Bill Belicheck was recently interviewed, and to paraphrase, he basically said you've got to work extremely hard to be god awful year after year. It's like flunking out of college- you can b.s. your way through most of school, but it takes real effort to actually flunk out. The Lions have put forth that effort, the Saints and Colts have not.

Being good is nothing anymore. 8-0? Hell, the Patriots won their first 18 games a couple years back. Try losing as much as the Lions have the past two years. Let's see the Colts and Saints put forth the same effort the Lions have to reach the Lions' remarkable achievements. Until they do, I declare the Lions better than both.

31 teams. And the Lions are better than all of them.

Hahahahhahahahahahhaha, okay, I couldn't keep it up anymore (that's what he said...hiyo! errr...). I'm surprised I kept a straight face as long as I did...=)

~Mikey D

It's taken me awhile to get around to this, but I wanted to write about the Guster concert Grace and I went to last week. It was at the 9:30 Club in the heart of D.C., and it was part of Guster's super-mini tour (like 10 concerts) that celebrates the ten year anniversary of their "Lost and Gone Forever" album (one of the best). There were no opening acts, just Guster, followed by Guster...a wonderful two and a half hours indeed. Here are some of my thoughts:

~The club itself was very similar to Clutch Cargos. I like that atmosphere. It has a more personal feel, which I enjoy. I feel like all the people that are there are the true Guster fans; the ones that buy the tickets as soon as they go on sale to make sure they have their spot inside. Plus when the show starts everyone is singing along, which is fun. The audience turns into a giant chorus.

~I hate driving into D.C.. I told Grace that I think D.C. is one of my least favorite "big cities". It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why that it its, because D.C. does have so much to offer and see. I do think one of the major sources of distaste comes from the general hassle of getting in and out of the city with all its traffic and busyness that just annoys me. I suppose I'm just not a "big city" guy. Anyway, I was worried about where to park when we got to the concert. I didn't want to have to walk a few blocks at night in a place I was unfamiliar. Well when we got there, a parking lot was open right across the street from the club. All they were charging was $20 a spot. Yea...no. Grace and I decided to look for something better (maybe not spot, but price), and sure enough we found better- right next to the lot, on the side of the street, at a meter that was free because we were parking after 6pm. Words cannot describe the joy that I felt for saving my $20 and still getting a great parking spot. I was so happy that I decided to devote a portion of this blog to tell you about it.

~So we were all waiting to be let into the club for the show, and who just randomly walks by? The Thundergod himself, Brian. I think most of the people in the line were caught off guard by the randomness and had to do a double-take. One of my initial thoughts after seeing him? "I could have tripped the Thundergod..."

~If there is one thing that I am, it's a man of punctuality. I hate being late. Early is on-time, on-time is late. It eats at me when I am late for something. Guster? Not so much. The show was supposed to begin at 8, but we waited until 8:45 to get the thing started. I don't know the reasons why, and I wish they would have said something to us instead of leaving us in the dark. Doors opened at 7, so that was almost a good two hours of standing and waiting. If they were having technical difficulties, just say something to let the crowd know. If they were treating Brian for injuries he suffered because a fan tripped him, just give the crowd a heads up. Common courtesy.

~Grace really wanted to be up in the balcony for the show, with her reasoning being that we could lean against the railing (you have to understand that we were both up at our usual 4:30 hour that day, so standing for such a long period of time was a bit of a chore). I didn't have a problem with this, and since we were there early, we got a prime spot in the balcony: front and center, right on the rail. As the place filled up, people started standing behind us a couple rows deep. Before things got too filled up though, there was a girl and her boyfriend who decided to stand directly behind Grace and I, despite the openings of other spots on the rail. I thought this was odd...why would you stand behind my tall self? Sure enough, midway through the concert, this girl is nudging me, asking me if I could, "please move, you're so tall that I cannot see". Mind you I'm elbow to elbow with everyone else on the rail with no room too maneuver whatsoever. My only choice would have been to move from my spot and let her take the rail...except that wasn't my choice. I told her no, that I couldn't, and went right back to watching the show. Fuck her for being an idiot. I'm kind of tired of being nice to stupid people.

~Guster started with a lot of stuff from the newest album (which is now a few years old, but whatever). I was really disappointed, because that album, in my opinion, was not their best. In fact, when I play Guster on my computer that album usually gets skipped over. It just doesn't sound like Guster...well, the Guster I fell in love with at least. So them playing six songs (yes, I counted) from that album made me a little unhappy. But my unhappiness was outweighed by my elation of seeing Guster again live. Me gusta Guster.

~I was a little sad by "Airport Song". They saved it for the end of the first set, but they've added too many bells and whistles to it. I like the raw version; with just Brian, Adam, and Ryan. No sound effects from the computer or Joe doing weird things, just play it natural. And by natural I mean Brian absolutely beating the shit out of his drums.

~They did play a few songs off their upcoming album. When is it coming out you ask? They never did say. So will tell you that it is coming "soon". I do believe that's what I've been saying for the last couple of years. Anyway, I liked the couple of songs they played. They seemed to have a more "Keep It Together" album feel.

~The second set was a lot better than the first (obviously). Playing the "Lost and Gone Forever" album in its entirety was great. I really do enjoy the older stuff from Guster. I realized that night, however, that I will never ever again get a Guster concert that I will really truly enjoy like the ones at Clutch Cargos or in Portland, ME. With all their newer stuff, their older stuff kind of gets pushed to the wayside (save their most popular oldies). But the old stuff is what I want! It was such a sad and depressing thought at the time. Hell, I'm still sad and depressed about it. Sigh. I mean, I'll still go to the shows and probably enjoy myself, but it won't be the same level of joy. Does that make sense?

~My top three songs of the night: 1) "X-Ray Eyes" (I always gravitate towards this one on my playlist for some reason, so it was nice of them to play it. I don't think I've ever heard it live!), 2) "Either Way" (They did a real nice job with this one tonight.), 3) "Come Downstairs and Say Hello" (They are going to play this at every concert from here on out...it's an absolute crowd favorite, and Brian is great on his drums).

~One more note on the crowd. I was curious to see what kind of audience would show up to the show. I was worried it would be a younger crowd, but it wasn't. The crowd appeared to be mostly post-college grads, in their late twenties. That made me happy to see, as it appears Guster's fan base will get old with Guster. The last thing I wanted is to be a fifty year old guy at a Guster concert with 20-somethings. I'm glad it appears I will be with my fellow senior citizens when the day comes.

~Mikey D

Go ahead and type in any college basketball recruiting website and you will find MSU's latest recruit landing for their 2010 class. Already considered a top 15 class, MSU will add 6-10 power forward, Adreian Payne, the #23 overall prospect in the nation. I'm starting to get real excited for next year's incoming class. We're reloading all the chambers of our gun.

Payne chose us over Kentucky, Arizona, and West Virginia (some pretty big time programs). He seems like one of those tall guys who's just too damn skinny, but the more you read about him, the more you feel like he's a James Johnson type (the Purdue PF), rather than the Tom Herzog type (the 7-foot skeleton). Here's what I've found out about Payne:

-7'2" wingspan which makes him a tremendous defender and rebounder. Apparently he makes life miserable for whomever he's guarding. That's a nice quality for an MSU player.
-A developing outside game. Let's be honest, we don't have a single big man that can hit an outside shot. We have bruisers and true low-post guys, which is great, but we need a Suton-like presence. Enter Payne. He can already knock down 3's.
-An above the rim player that loves the fast break. He loves running the floor and throwing it down. Tell me Izzo won't like that. A guy with a motor.
-Needs to be more consistent. I'm not sure what this entails...my guess is with his shooting since that is the part of his game that is "developing".

I am very excited. The ESPN analyst calls him a "young Sam Perkins", which is nice compliment. There are already some projections for him at the NBA level, too, which tells you the kind of talent this guy has.

Just don't listen to him talk...I can't tell whether he's just nervous because he was on national television, or if he's slow in the head. But read up on him, and be happy about the newest addition to the 2010 Spartans. Should be a good one.

~Mikey D

"I think you are CRAZY for picking us to win the National Championship! And I thought I was drinking the kool-aid for thinking we'd beat OSU in football." ~Adam from last year's MSU basketball preseason post.

Excuse me for a second while I pat myself on the back. Last year MSU went 25-5, won the Big Ten Conference with a record of 15-3, and was a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament. And what did I predict??? That's right: 25-5, 15-3 in the conference, and a #2 seed. Pretty damn good.

Okay, so I didn't call all the games that we'd win/lose correctly, and no we didn't win the Big Ten Tournament, nor did we win our National Championship (oh so close though!). But I wasn't crazy, Adam!

So with all the success we had last year there's naturally a lot of hype on this year's team...and I'm nervous about that. Success can breed complacency, which is never a good thing, but an absolute terrible thing with a team with flaws. And we are team with flaws.

Last season's seniors are gone; a group that consisted of Travis Walton, Idong Ibok, Marquise Gray, and, most importantly, Goran Suton. I'm sure we can all agree that Ibok and Gray are easily replaceable, and Walton will be a tough one to lose with his leadership and defense, but I think you could see Lucas step into his shoes and lead this team. I feel like he wants to have that role now. But it's the loss of Suton that is going to be the most hard.

If you watched last year, you know that Suton was the glue. With the freshmen big men trying to find their way, it was Suton that was our force down low- and he was outstanding. Defensively and offensively, he was our low-post presence. And we were a different team when he wasn't on the floor.

So what team will we be this season? The team with a superb backcourt but lacking the lowpost dominance? Or will one of our bigs step up and make us a complete team? And if so, will we have the mindset and desire to drive towards a National Championship, with the focus on us, in a conference that's better?

So what's our roster looking like? From seniors to freshmen, here's a look:
MSU 2009-2010 Roster
Raymar Morgan-F (senior)
Isaiah Dahlman-G (senior)
Jon Crandell-F (senior)
Kalin Lucas-G (junior)
Chris Allen-G (junior)
Durrell Summers-G (junior)
Mike Kebler-G (junior)
Tom Herzog-C (junior)
Anthony Ianni-C (junior)
Delvon Roe-F (sophomore)
Austin Thornton-G (sophomore)
Draymond Green-F (sophomore)
Korie Lucious-G (sophomore)
Garrick Sherman-C (freshman)
Derrick Nix-C (freshman)

So here's the problem: which five do you start? Last year it was easy to peg our center position. But with two freshmen at center, and two unproven guys in Herzog and Ianni, would you risk starting one of them?

I say no. My prediction for our starting five would be the following:
PG- Kailin Lucas
SG- Durrell Summers
SF- Raymar Morgan
PF- Draymond Green
PF/C- Delvon Roe

A smaller line-up, but at the start of the season, I think that we're going to have to roll with that.

Schedule
I think the Big Ten is going to be tough this year. Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Indiana (with a top recruiting class in tow) will all be better. It's going to be a war of attrition to survive the Big Ten conference schedule, and realistically I could see the Big Ten winner having four or five losses this year. It will be that tough. Of course the national media will probably hammer the conference saying it's mediocre with us beating each other up all year, but come tournament time we shall show the world who is truly mediocre!

Big Ten Schedule
@Northwestern
Wisconsin
@Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Iowa
@Minnesota
@Michigan
Northwestern
@Wisconsin
@Illinois
Purdue
@Penn State
@Indiana
Ohio State
@Purdue
Penn State
Michigan

I think the beginning of the schedule favors us nicely, and with four out of our first six games at home (and one against lowly Iowa on the road), I think we'll get off to a great start in the conference. But starting with the Wisconsin game on the road, things get tough. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bit of a losing streak going on there, with us maybe losing two or three in a row. It's a tough conference this year, I just think every team this year is going to go through a little rough spot or two.

The non-conference schedule has us playing our usual cupcakes mixed in with some powerhouses. We get Gonzaga at home this year, which would typically sound like a great game, but Gonzaga lost quite a few guys off its roster from last year, so this should be a very winnable game. The other games of note are us visiting North Carolina and Texas in December. Those will be the two measuring stick games to see where we're at thus far in the season. I do like that they are being played in December, and not November, so we have a chance to get our freshmens' feet wet and get into some sort of rhythm as a team.

The Freshmen
Last year's team needed contributions from its freshmen to have success, and it got them in a big way. All three stepped up huge. This year's team is no different. We need someone to step up and play the center position. I'm not saying they have to fill Suton's shoes, but they have to do the job admirably where teams don't consider our center position a point of weakness.

So who are the two freshman? First up is Derrick Nix. He's the most likely of the two to be the one to step-up and get the valuable minutes. From his scouting report, "Nix loves to initiate contact in the paint and his physical style of play fits perfectly with the Tom Izzo's preference to set the tone by dominating opponents physically, especially on the defense end. As he gets in better shape, Nix' size should help the Spartans impose their will on the opposition. He should have some chances to score the ball as a below-the-rim big guy and rebound because of positioning." Looks like we have a bruiser down low! I like it. I'm envisioning Nix, Roe, and Green crashing the boards all at once and leaving their opposition on the ground bloody and bruised. Of course this vision will hinge on Nix's progress and development as a player, but already Izzo has been quoted as saying, “He’s moving his feet pretty good, and I’m not disappointed with him one bit — in fact, I’m excited about him.” Even Kalin Lucas has noticed his presence. From the State News: “When he was on defense and I was on offense, I was about to go to the hole and I just saw a wide body and I had to back up,” junior guard Kalin Lucas said. “I thought, ‘I’m definitely not going in there. He’s too big.’”

Definitely good to hear. The other big man we got is named Garrick Sherman from Ohio. From his scouting evaluation: "His motor is relentless and he has the ability to dominate his area rebounding, but what is most impressive is his ability to get those huge hands on rebounds outside his immediate area on the floor. The best compliment he received in every game he played in the tournament was the frustration of his opponent. In the two games I watched him play, both games had his opponent get called for blatant pushing fouls that were obvious signs of frustration. With his low post, physical, "throw me the ball" game, he went to the foul line many times and again did his job with efficiency and knocked down the free throws." Izzo has seemed to find another big man that fits his style of basketball. It gets me excited to think what these two players can be as they grow into the MSU system. If they can be anything like the disruptive forces they sound like, I will be ecstatic.

The impact at the beginning of the year will be minimal, though. From the State News, "Izzo said he expects to start by giving Nix, junior center Tom Herzog and freshman center Garrick Sherman each two sets of about three to four minutes per half." I suppose this is much like Green and Roe were last year...slowly working themselves into the regular rotation.

Oh, and I know everyone is going to be worried about Kalin Lucas leaving at the end of this year to turn pro. Next year's recruiting class, already top-10 rated, features Keith Appling, an absolute speed demon (he spurned UNC, Memphis, Georgetown, and Syracuse to join us). We will also be adding Russell Byrd from Indiana, widely considered the best pure shooter in the nation, an absolute gunner. We'll be okay.

Prediction
National Championship. How could I not? Alright, so a lot of things have to happen for this prediction to come true. A team has to be as much lucky as good to get to the point where they're playing for a championship. But here me out on my reasoning for an MSU championship run.

First, you can only be impressed by how our team's youth played last year. Yes, Suton was a major reason we went as far as we did, but around Suton the team was carried by our freshmen and sophomores. I think the experiences they've gained are invaluable. I don't expect any of those guys to regress, I expect them to only shine brighter.

I think we'll stay healthy this year. Perhaps this is me hoping, but I think Raymar Morgan is going to end his college career fulfilling the expectations he came in with. He will be our man on a mission, and his determination and will are going to carry us through the tough parts of the season. I expect him not only to be good, but great this year. Yes, I know he's been somewhat of a disappointment so far, but he will be big, just watch.

I'm okay. No really, I am.

It hurt a lot last night, but I woke up this morning not thinking about how we blew a 7-game lead in September, or that we lost in a heartbreaking fashion in a play-in game, but rather appreciative for the great game we had last night. It was one hell of a game, you have to admit. I was even able to watch Sportscenter this morning, including every highlight of the game. And you know what? Rayburn throwing Casilla out at home was still fucking awesome.

Listening to "Mike and Mike" this morning, with Buster Olney filling in for Golic, Buster said something that made me not only appreciate last night's game, but realize that it was special. Buster said that after the game ended, his wife asked, "How long was that game?" That game lasted close to five hours, but the drama was so thick and intense, it felt a lot shorter. You know you're watching something memorable when you lose track of time completely and become completely immersed in the action in front of you.

Don't get me wrong, I am sad. Jeremy Schapp horribly compared the Tigers collapse to that of Saturn, saying that former Saturn workers and Tiger players will both be where they don't want to be: at home and not at their jobs(awful, right?). Yes, it's sad the Tigers didn't make the playoffs, and yes, it's sad for the city of Detroit. But if you watched the game last night, you can plainly see we are team with numerous flaws. We struggled to advance runners, and when they were in scoring position, failed to drive them home. It's plagued us all year (remember the Yankees series after the All-Star break? We went something like 1-23 with runners in scoring position). And after Minor and Lyon...we really had nobody else in our bullpen. Stretching Rodney as long as we did, it was just a matter of time before he broke down. Let's be real- it's Fernando Rodney. Perhaps a collapse this last month was not a matter of poor play, but just us playing to our abilities. We were far from perfect.

So we can choose to focus on our collapse (like most are), or we can choose to look at the positives. Despite being thin at every front- hitting, starting pitching, and bullpen- we won on defense and hustle, and overcame numerous injuries (Guillen, Bonderman, Zumaya, Willis, Robertson, Washburn) to somehow lead our division going into the last weekend of the season. And it brings me great joy to say this: "We went from worst to first, and that's something we're pretty darn proud of."

And I am proud of this team. I'm proud to be a Detroit Tigers fan. We will bring back our core next year, and make a run at this thing. Maybe a couple roster tweaks and a healthy roster will give us that boost to make it into the postseason.

I'm okay.

~Mikey D

Some say stealing signs in baseball is cheating...I'm on the side that's it's not, but that's me. I feel like if you give any sort of communication, verbal or otherwise, if the other team happens to see or hear it, well that's to their advantage and your fault for not disguising it better (if you wanted it kept secret). Again, that's me.

Interesting video that is making the rounds from the Twins-Tigers game from Tuesday night. This to me is why I can sit and watch a baseball game for 3+ hours straight- there is always something going on. Taking away the captions from this video, and it feels like a normal game (and kind of annoying with all the games between batter and pitcher).

And fuck the Twins. Not for stealing signs...just fuck them. Why won't they go away?



~Mikey D

I saw this on Sportscenter tonight. I'm not sure where Tim Tebow will fall in next year's NFL draft (my guess is mid-to-late first), but all those things about him being an "emotional leader"...well, they sound about right.



I'm not saying the Lions should draft him or anything, but it would be nice to have that kind of fire and passion inside the locker room, ya know?

LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!

~Mikey D

I am so sick of these amateur sports stories about sportsmanship! I feel like every other week I'm reading about some team whooping up on another by some ridiculous margin, and the losing team taking offense and feeling like the winning team was being unsportsmanlike in their thorough domination of them.

Well you know what, losing teams? Fuck you. You don't want to get beat 100-0 and look like fools, well then play better. Work harder. Practice longer. If all that doesn't work, instead of crying like little bitches, why don't you just not play. Grow a damn pair and take your loss like a man you fucking whiny pricks. Jesus Christ!

The latest is from a school in Florida. A team got beat 83-0, and the losing team's parents and fans felt "embarrassed". Well no shit, I would be too if I lost 83-0.

But don't take it out on the winning team. God, just stop it already. There was a running clock the second half, they scored three TDs on returns, one on a blocked punt, and ran the ball all but one play in the second half- with their backups. Nobody was trying to embarrass you! You just suck that bad.

I just think it's really unfair that these coaches on the winning side get so much heat for a tremendous performance by their team. Instead of being lauded, they are being criticized. It would be one thing if they went all 2007 New England Patriots on teams (running up scores with less than two minutes to go with all your starters in), but these teams are not. They are just playing the game.

Sometimes I feel like they just want the team that's up fifty to just take knees. Or dribble the ball across half-court and just let the shot clock expire. They want teams to essentially stop playing the game the way it's supposed to be played. If you run a conservative offense with your backups in...and still put up points...well that's too fucking bad for the opposition.

So fuck you losing schools. You're embarrassed, and with all the whining and crying you do, you should be.

~Mikey D

Item: ‘Figure out how to stop the buzzing sound that comes from your new computer tower.’
Umm…so before I had a book pressing down on the top of the computer tower to keep it from buzzing. Well the other day I accidentally knocked the book off…and there was no buzzing. Apparently I figured out how to stop it. So the next time your computer tower makes a buzzing noise, just put a heavy book on top of it for 1-2 weeks, and then remove. Problem solved.

Item: ‘Purchase two more pictures for the kitchen, and frame them.’
Okay, so the pictures came about a week ago, but I didn’t have the frames. I’ve been waiting to find a good sale on frames but haven’t had much luck. But this past week I found a coupon for 50% my entire frame purchase at Michael’s. That couldn’t have worked out any better. I got two nice frames for our two kitchen pictures and put them up yesterday. They look pretty damn good, too. Now with lighting in the dining room and pictures up on the wall, I’d say the dining room is complete.

Item: ‘Put up pictures that are currently sitting on the floor in the office.’
Guess what’s not on my office floor anymore? If you said pictures, you’d be correct. They are now hanging where people can actually see them.

Item: ‘Decide on an internet security option once and for all, and go with it.’
I probably spent a little more than I was supposed to. I spent $70 for my security option, but I’m comfortable with that. I decided to get a fully-loaded Norton security package. I’m pretty sure they’ve assigned a guy to monitor just my computer. I honestly couldn’t decide what to go with, so I paid for something that seemed to get good reviews and was considered safe and reliable. Anyway, done and done.

Item: ‘Watch season one of The Wire (although this may require keeping the Netflix membership a little longer).’
So with Netflix, season one is broken down into five discs, with three episodes on each disc. Each episode is an hour long, so it’s tough to do just a half hour here and half hour there. I’ve gotten through the first three though, and it’s not half bad. It was a little tough for me to follow at first trying to learn all the names, but I think I’m finally getting most of the characters down. I might not know them all by name, but I know their position (he’s the head boss guy or he’s the drug dealer). It’s a decent show, but I’m waiting for the stuff that has made it so acclaimed. Perhaps that’s forthcoming.

Item: ‘Try a new restaurant on a Friday night.’
Addicted to Chick-Fil-A might be an understatement for Grace and me. It’s a Friday night ritual, habit, treat. There’s nothing like working a long five day work week and grabbing that warm and tasty Chick-Fil-A bag and taking it home. We are even regulars! Our drive-thru girl knows exactly what we mean when we say “lots of Chick-Fil-A sauce” (more than 6), and now we don’t even have to say it to her. She just knows.

But Friday was Grace’s birthday and she has been begging me to go to the Melting Pot for as long as I can remember. Being her birthday and all, this seemed as good of time as any to try it out. So we went. And have you ever had that feeling of discovery of something new, even though it’s been around for awhile? Yup, that’s the Melting Pot for me. Dip things in hot cheese? Cook a variety of beef, pork, and chickens and dip them in delicious sauces? Take a variety of awesome dessert items and dip them in chocolate? WHERE THE FUCK HAVE I BEEN?!?

I cannot wait for my birthday dinner because that is exactly what I want. Seriously, I cannot wait. We will probably be back before then…

~Mikey D

~School has started again. Bleah. This year's group of sixth graders is much better than the last, both academically and behaviorally. It's nice to teach the honors math class and have them actually come in with some prior knowledge. Like if we're doing a lesson on rounding to a certain place value, and I say "let's round to the nearest hundredth", they actually know where the hundredths place is (you'd think if you're in honors math that would be something you'd know, but not the case last year...). They are overall a very respectful group, which again is refreshing. My only problem is my workload so far. I've never had as many students as I do this year (north of a 110), which may not seem like a lot, but I'm just not used to it. The grading, the parent contact, etc., etc., it's a lot of time consuming effort. I suppose it's good that I have this group this year and not last, because handling this workload would have been challenging while trying to complete my grad courses as well.

~Speaking of school, a kid got hit by a car the other day. Scary stuff, as five years ago a girl jumped out into the street and got killed. Every day when I leave the school parking lot I think that it's just a matter of time before someone gets hit because these kids have no respect for the crosswalks, crossing guards, or the rule of 'looking both ways before you cross'. Well, sure enough, the kid darted out into the street, and ran into an oncoming car. The car didn't hit him...he hit the car. And of course the car won. Now the kid is okay; he's got some bumps and bruises and a cast on his leg, so he's quite lucky in that respect. I'm guessing he'll be back in school next week. But this is just one of those things that I don't get. How do you just walk into t a street without looking??? It's baffling to me.

~I'm starting to feel good about my fantasy team. The last couple of weeks I've been trying to force a trade just because of my weakness at RB. But then I got to thinking that the weakness is only a perceived weakness, based soley on last year's performances and preseason rankings. What if Addai and McFadden step up this year? Or Felix Jones becomes a star? Well then I have no RB weakness, and I'd be upset at myself for trading away one of my top-flight WRs. Yes, they both could bomb...but wouldn't it be better to know that for sure instead of making a rash move? I think so, and that's where I'm at. And when I look over my starting roster, there's some good names, but what I like best is that practically all of them are in high-powered offenses. New England, Green Bay, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, San Diego...at the very least they'll have some opportunities to produce.

~Yahoo! Fantasy Sports experts have been counting down the top fantasy offenses for the upcoming season. They call it their "Juggernaut Index". Again, this is for fantasy purposes. They have gotten all the way up to the #4 offense, which leaves three more to go. What would you guess the top three fantasy offenses were? If you ask me that question, I'd say New Orleans, New England, and San Diego, in some sort of order. Based on process of elimination, however, Yahoo! will have New Orleans, Houston, and Philadelphia as their top fantasy offenses. I guess I see the potential in Houston and Philly, but are they more high powered in the fantasy world than New England? My only guess is that because they both can produce good fantasy QBs and RBs that they jump New England. But then I think, well San Diego has Rivers, Tomlinson, Gates, and V.Jackson...which, compared to Houston or Philly, is equal to or better than most positions on their squads. Confusing...

~The To-Do list is slowing down a bit, and I knew it would. This next month is just ridiculously busy, with Adam's bachelor party and wedding, the back to school functions that seem to never end, Grace's bday, and on and on it goes. I'm still trying to work through things the best I can, but once October starts, I need to be balls to the wall with the list when I hopefully will have a few more free seconds of time.

~I think Grace is coming around to the joys of arguing. Her work stories now consist of her many daily arguments she has with customers. She has a tone of amusement when she recounts her arguments, which is good, because arguing is supposed to be fun. I'm glad she is enjoying it more. I'm working with her on starting arguments just for the sake of starting arguments, which hopefully she'll come around to in the near future. I remind her that you don't have to believe in what you argue, you just have to act like you do. Once she gets that down, work will become way more fun for her I think.

~Grace also tried to make into the Quote Book the other day. We were watching TV and Grace remarked that a guy "needed to stay away from the tanning beds", which got me laughing hysterically, because of course the guy was black. Good times. That would be totally something I could see myself saying too, and Kevin making fun of me for it.

~Mikey D

Getting stuff done on the list was a little slow moving this week because I am back at school and that has been very time consuming…and exhausting. I’m hoping once school starts and I get settled into a routine that I can get more stuff done.

Item: ‘Update my resume.’
Done. I got an email saying that the CCBC (Community College of Baltimore County) was looking for adjunct faculty members to teach an evening or Saturday math class, and I thought it’d be something different I should try. I have a great fear of speaking in front of adults, but speaking out of a position of power (as the teacher) might help me get over this fear. Plus if I ever decide to go for my PhD I may be asked to teach a college course or two, so having the experience might be beneficial in the long run. Anyway, the person who sent the email to me basically said I had the job (that was easy) and all I had to do was apply. A little backwards, yes? But part of the application was to submit the usual cover letter and resume, which got a good updating before I submitted them both. Check mark.

Item: ‘Watch ‘Gran Torino’, return movie, and cancel Netflix membership because you’d rather pay for the HBO package.’
I give this movie slightly below thumbs middle. Not really what I was expecting, and Clint Eastwood’s mumbling got kind of annoying after awhile. And if you ever want to learn how to say something racist to an Asian, this is your movie. Sweet lord. I heard every derogatory word and expression one could possibly say to an Asian. Ridiculous. I will give myself the check mark on this one once I cancel the Netflix membership, but I first have to watch ‘The Wire’ which is sitting on my DVD player as we speak.

Item: ‘With Grace’s assistance, make a voicemail recording for our home phone.’
Grace took charge on this one. I came home from work and she made me call our home phone, and low behold, a voice recorded message! I feel almost guilty checking it off my list because I took no initiative in doing it, but the bottom line is it’s done. Now I just have to memorize the damn phone number instead of always having to look it up in my cell phone…

Item: ‘Trim toenails with more regularity.’
Guess who trimmed their toenails today??? Yup, this guy.

Item: ‘Call Lesley more.’
I just randomly did this one. I had a free second while I was eating my peanut butter sandwich at school this past week, and I just called her. She told me about how she went up to the casino last weekend and played the penny slots and won fifty bucks. Besides being jealous of her luck, I was glad I called, because I wouldn’t have found that out until Christmas when I visited. I also can’t believe my sister was at a casino…that made me feel old.

Item: ‘Play the Mega-Millions lottery each time the jackpot is over 100 million because you should take more chances and this is as good a place as any to start.’
333 million dollars is a lot of money. We played. We lost. I get really excited on the day of the drawing because there is that small chance that we might win, and the next morning I’m really letdown. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I do. 176 million to one chance of winning, by the way. Not good. Anyway, the next drawing is for a measly 12 million, so I won’t be playing this week.

~Mikey D

What if I told you before our fantasy draft you would end up with the following players on your roster as your core group: DeAngelo Williams, Steven Jackson, Steve Slaton, Marion Barber, Kurt Warner, Marques Colston, Dallas Clark, DeSean Jackson, Ben Roethlisberger, Brandon Marshall, and the Tennessee defense?

I think you’d be reasonably happy, yes? There are some question marks, but you could work with a roster like that.

Which is exactly what I did- last year. I rode that roster to a 2-12 record and an overall 5th place finish. Some of that had to do with unlucky breaks in the schedule (okay, that was a huge part of it), but fantasy is a funny game. On paper your squad might look outstanding, but at the end of the year it could have you sitting in 8th place in the standings, despite having all the talent in the world.

Looking back at our draft from Tuesday, I think most everyone has a pretty solid looking team. On paper I’m sure everyone is pretty happy with most of their picks and the way their team looks. But I think each team does have their question marks; the questions that need to be answered to ensure their team's fantasy success.

So instead of analyzing the best and worst picks this year, I’m going to present the three burning questions I feel each team has going into the fantasy season that need addressing. Let’s start with the champ…

Boston Massacre
1) Will San Diego’s offense be top-5 good? Adam needs production from Tomlinson and Rivers as they are the key pieces to his team’s success. With Rivers coming off a 30+ TD year and Tomlinson still racking up 1,000 yards and 10+ TDs, I don’t see why they can’t be an elite offense and an elite fantasy producing duo. Having the Chiefs, Raiders, and Broncos on the schedule for six games is a tremendous bonus.
2) Can LT and Steven Jackson be productive at the same time? Both are elite fantasy backs…when they’re on the field. Both seem to have been hampered by injuries the past couple of years, and staying healthy is a major concern for both. If they can stay healthy together, Adam will get consistent production from his backs.
3) Can Larry Fitzgerald avoid the “Madden Curse”? Hey, the curse has been going strong from quite some time now, so you can dismiss it if you want, but the question is valid. Fitzgerald is the anchor to Adam’s receiving corps and could be a major blow to Adam’s team if he gets hurt.

Kevinvidious
1) Who will emerge as the number 1 fantasy wideout? Dwayne Bowe, T.O., and TJ Houshmanzadeh. All fantastic receivers, but all with their fantasy question marks. Bowe has his work ethic issues and a new regime in Kansas City. T.O. is in Buffalo of all places with a nagging toe injury. Houshmanzadeh had a great year last year reception-wise, but only had 4 TDs. Who will step up?
2) Can David Garrard be a top-10 fantasy QB again? He’s not flashy, but he’s steady. The easy answer is no, but if you look at Jacksonville they improved their WRs with Holt and have a healthy offensive line again. So if the situation is supposedly better than last year…why not again?
3) Can AP stay healthy? He’s a stud RB, but everyone worries about his “violent, upright” running style. Will that style catch up with him? He’s been hampered by injuries in the past, so it is pause for concern.

Cumming From Behind
1) Will a productive running back emerge? The talent is there with McFadden, Addai, Brown, and Jones, but are they legitimate fantasy backs? It’s a wait-and-see game, but I need someone to breakthrough out of that group, and if two of them could it would be an extra bonus.
2) Can my team stay healthy? Brady is coming off an injury. McFadden is coming off an injury. Addai is coming off an injury. Felix Jones is coming off an injury. Schaub was hurt last year. Gates was hurt last year. Brady just got his shoulder smashed in preseason. Jennings just got knocked the fuck out in his last preseason game. Is this team a MASH unit in progress?
3) Will the WRs produce like top picks? I was so WR-heavy in the draft that I need my three receivers (Moss, Jennings, White) to play like top picks. Passing on quality backs early could be my overall downfall, but if the WRs produce, that will mask my lack of a running game.

ipresstoocoolbuttons
1) Is Ray Rice the real deal? In fantasy circles they say he could be a breakout player. In Baltimore they love him. There is talk he could receive 250+ carries, which would be a big difference to the three-headed RB attack Baltimore used last year. If he doesn’t produce though, Grace will be scouring the waiver wire for running backs.
2) Are Ochocinco and Hasselbeck back? With Carson Palmer back and TJ gone to Seattle, Ochocinco could relieve his glory days. Hasselbeck is healthy again and has Carlson emerging as a top-TE target along with Houshmanzadeh, Branch, and Burrleson. The weapons are there, all he has to do is produce. And the same goes for Chad. But will they?
3) Can Johnson and Boldin stay healthy? Megatron and Boldin make for a great 1-2 punch at WR, but as long as they stay on the field. Boldin is more of a concern than Megatron, but Johnson has been hampered a bit this preseason by a nagging thumb injury.

Zoo Tycoons
1) Are McNabb and Roethlisberger reliable enough? Both play in reasonably difficult divisions, and both have strong defenses with capable running games. The chances for 300+ yard games with 3 TDs are less with both of these guys, but they do have some decent receivers to throw to. Can they do it consistently?
2) Will DeAngelo and MJD produce as top-5 backs? There are differing opinions on both. There are questions (time shares, workload concerns) about both, but at the very least they should be decent. If they are top-5, however, watch out…
3) After Andre Johnson…who will step up? Antonio Bryant has been hurt and Tampa seems to be going towards a ground attack. Avery is in St. Louis with a dismal offense. Colston is in a great offense, but the ball gets spread around to everyone. Will there be enough touches for him? Can she get legit production from these guys?

PB’s Gunslingers
1) What’s up with Brandon Marshall? Amber has him as a number three receiver, which is a pretty low risk option. When the guy is on the field, he produces, bottom line. But can he fit into Denver and come back from his suspension ready to play?
2) Will Westbrook be healthy? She’s not relying on him to be a number one back, which is good, but with no preseason action and coming off two surgeries, you have to wonder if Westbrook is just at the point where he’s breaking down. And with McCoy breathing down his neck, this is a very high risk, high reward option.
3) Will Carson Palmer be the Carson Palmer from three years ago? Remember when Cincinnati’s offense was amazing? It seems so long ago. But the cast is healthy again, but without the old weapons of the past (TJ and Rudi). Can Coles and Benson step into their shoes? Will Chris Henry become a threat? Most importantly, can Carson Palmer use the players around him to become an All-Pro QB and a fantasy stud again?

Wicked Weasels
1) Will the RBs get enough touches? There are health concerns for both Ronnie Brown and Marion Barber, but they are also in situations where they have capable running mates beside them (Ricky Williams and Felix Jones). Barber figures to get a lot of goal line carries to keep his value high, but what about Brown? He will be in on wildcat plays, but will that be enough?
2) Who’s the number one receiver going to be? Eddie Royal is the guy (for now) in Denver. Santonio Holmes is behind Ward (still). Vincent Jackson is the one in San Diego (although Gates is the preferred receiving target). Will one of these guys produce as a number one receiver?
3) Will the bench be productive? On paper, Brian has the weakest bench. Justin Gage, Sammy Morris, Jerious Norwood, Eli Manning, Chris Chambers, and Kevin Boss do not scare anyone, so on bye weeks will his team’s production be hampered?

Whiskey Wednesday
1) What to do with all the running backs? So much talent, but you can only start two! Turner is a must-start every week, but Mark has five other options for his second back. Will he trade one for wide receiver or QB help?
2) Is Matt Cassel or Joe Flacco a number one QB? Flacco has more talent, but Cassel is in the better system (they like to throw). I think Flacco will have a better year, but I don’t see either being a legit number one fantasy QB. But could they become one?
3) Will the need for wide receivers be addressed? It looks like Mark is content to see if he can get production out of any of them (unless someone was offered a trade). There are a lot of upside guys like Hixon and Jackson, but will they produce elite WR numbers?

~Mikey D

Note: I wrote this post prior to our Tuesday draft, but held back on posting it for obvious reasons. I’m not making any guarantees here (like a Tigers-Cardinals World Series…who’s with me???), just some semi-baseless predictions.

Prediction: Maurice Jones-Drew will not be a top-4 running back, as he is currently being drafted.
Fantasy experts have Jones-Drew as high as number one in some rankings, and as low as number four in others. Off talent alone and the fact he’s now starting (finally) in Jacksonville, this makes sense to me. I mean, a TD machine on the ground and through the air? Sounds like a fantasy stud! But I can’t help but think back to last year when I overhyped and overvalued Marion Barber. I thought Barber was a top-5 back, playing in a great Dallas offense and finally being the one to shoulder the load- except he wasn’t able to handle the load. Sometimes these backs used to two-back time shares struggle transitioning to the feature role, which MJD showed last year at the end. Go take a look at MJD’s last three games where he started over Fred Taylor and got 20+ touches. Not good. So with Barber’s fantasy collapse fresh in my mind, I predict similar “doom” for MJD.

Prediction: Adrian Peterson will get 2,000 yards rushing.
Not total yards, rushing. It’s his personal goal, and with a decent offensive line and a relatively easy schedule (I mean, he gets the Lions twice, that’s good for at least a 1,000 yards right there), there’s a chance he could get it. But what about Brett Favre you say? He can only help AP. You’d be foolish to think anybody but AP is the centerpiece of that offense, and if Favre can help alleviate the 8-men in the box that AP routinely faces, that’s only going to help. And did you know that the Vikings were 11th in passing TDs last year? Yes, even with QBs that sucked, they still threw the ball in the endzone, and AP still got his. Same thing this year, and with less pressure on him and a mission to reach 2,000, he reaches his goal.

Prediction: Aaron Rodgers will be a top-3 fantasy QB this year.
Wow, way to go out on a limb, right? The dude was fifth last year, so that’s not much of a jump really. But when you start to make a list of the top fantasy QBs, Rodgers name rarely gets placed in the top 3. You have Brees, Brady, Manning, Warner, and then most people put Rodgers (with Rivers being the other candidate). Rodgers last year was spectacular and brings back all of his weapons, has the Brett Favre transition out of the way, has a healthy running game, and a 12-game stretch to open the season that is very fantasy friendly. Simply put, the stars are aligned for a great year. Better than a Manning, Warner, or a Rivers? Why not? Those guys will be hovering around 30 TDs, just like Rodgers was last year.

Prediction: Randy Moss will finish as the top fantasy wideout, and Andre Johnson will be second.
Randy Moss will not lead receivers in receiving yards. He will not lead them in catches. But he will lead them in TDs. If he can get 10+ TDs with Matt Cassell, he can surely get 15+ with Brady back. Maybe his record setting 22 is a little far-fetched to expect, but one thing that Brady and Moss have shown is they are TD machines when put together. Why expect anything different? And I’m giving some love to Andre Johnson. The guy had tons of receiving yards, but only had single digit TDs last year. Now with guys like Steve Slaton, Owen Daniels, and Kevin Walter establishing themselves as offensive threats, defenses have others to worry about others besides just Andre Johnson. And with a gunslinger like Schaub flicking him the ball, I like Andre to continue getting his high receiving yard totals and to reach double-digit TDs, and to finish higher in the fantasy point standings than Larry Fitzgerald and Megatron.

Prediction: Pierre Thomas will be a top-10 back.
Every draft I’ve done since June I’ve wanted this guy on my roster. He’s officially my man-crush for the year. With Thomas, sometimes you have to look at the offensive system instead of the player. For example, if you ask me who’s more talented, Pierre Thomas or Steven Jackson, I’d tell you Jackson 10 times out of 10. But in fantasy, give me Thomas on my team. He’s in an explosive offense where he’s the featured back (let’s be real: Reggie Bush is no threat whatsoever. None.), which means he will have numerous scoring chances. Steven Jackson is on an offense that will rarely be on their opponent’s side of the field, which obviously is not good if he’s on your fantasy team. Thomas proved last year he has a knack for finding the endzone, and with McAllister gone and a great training camp in the books, he’s ready for elite fantasy status.

Prediction: Matt Ryan will be a better fantasy QB than Kurt Warner.
A very specific prediction and it’s all about value. Last year I took Warner as my big sleeper pick and that worked out well for me. But this year I’m not as high on him, as there seem to be more things against him than for him. Yes, he has the amazing receiving corps which will ensure he reaches 20+ TD status. But other than that, I worry. He’s still an older QB who lost his offensive coordinator, has a questionable running game, and has a tendency to throw the occasional pick or two. Is he someone you want to invest a 2nd or 3rd round pick in? For me, I’ll wait to the 6th or 7th round and take a Matt Ryan. The kid threw for more than 20 touchdowns as a rookie. Another year in the system, the emergence of Roddy White and the addition of Tony Gonzalez, and the sky is the limit for this kid. 25+ TDs is not unreasonable, and he could be this year’s Aaron Rodgers (a top-5 fantasy QB when all is said and done).

Prediction: The best rookie RB will be…Donald Brown.
You have Moreno in Denver, Greene in New York, McCoy in Philly, and Wells in Arizona as the other primary impact rookie backs. Moreno is the most talented, but I don’t think he will get enough touches in Josh McDaniels’ “I hate RBs” system. Greene is in a run-heavy offense, but has Thomas Jones and Leon Washington taking carries away. McCoy has been spectacular thus far, but if Westbrook is healthy, he’s not going to see the field as much (and a prediction inside a prediction: Westbrook will play in at least 14 games). Wells could be the starter in Arizona, but I will never trust him just because he is an injury waiting to happen. Then there’s Donald Brown. Great in the preseason thus far and the coaches in Indy have stated that he will split reps with Joseph Addai. With Addai coming off a poor year and being fragile like Wells, there’s a good chance Brown takes over this starting job and never looks back. And again, it’s all about the system. Indy has a great offense, which means Brown will get a lot of opportunities in that red zone, and that’s what I want to see.

Prediction: Marion Barber and Felix Jones will make you go, “Man, I should have drafted those guys when I had the chance”.
In most mock drafts these guys seem to get bypassed a lot and left on the board way too long. This might be an understandable reaction due to the time-share that these two will have, but that’s no reason to let them slide past you in a draft. Marion Barber is back in his “closer” role, meaning he will get the majority of goal line and 4th quarter touches, which should be music to any fantasy owner’s ears as he was extremely productive in that role two years ago (a top fantasy back!). And Felix Jones is a stud. If Barber wasn’t there to vulture TDs, this guy would be a top-10 pick. His moves are absolutely electric. He will have 1,000 yards rushing and at least 5 TDs if he’s healthy, which, if you take him in around the 10th round, would be a tremendous value, yes? And I have a feeling Dallas will try to run the ball more to set up the pass, so look for each guy to get their fair share of carries. The Dallas running game will be good this year.

Prediction: Jay Cutler, Terrell Owens, Ronnie Brown, and Steven Jackson will not live up to their draft ranking.
In my opinion, they’re all overvalued in expert draft rankings. Talented, sure, but not worthy of the place they’re being picked at due to the numerous question marks each possesses. With Brown and Jackson, they are both injury risks and are too up and down for my liking. If you’re drafting a player with one of your top-3 picks you want consistency, which neither provides. T.O. is in Buffalo with an unproven QB- which is scary enough- but this preseason he has been bothered by an injured toe, which is the scariest news to me. Toe injuries seem to plague players all season long, and that’s the last thing I want my stud WR to be dealing with. I know it’s his contract year, but the risk just doesn’t justify the reward to me at this point (plus I think Buffalo will implode this year). And I don’t understand the hype with Cutler. He’s moving to Chicago where the weather is worse, the receiving corps are worse, and the offense is more conservative. What makes you think he’s going to put up better numbers than last year??? Plus he’s an interception machine. Seriously, the guy is an idiot. The way he got himself out of Denver, the fight with Urlacher, and calling out Hester…sheesh, no thanks on that tool bag.

Prediction: DeAngelo Williams is the running back to own in Carolina, and he’ll be productive this year.
Everyone is down on Williams because they don’t think he’ll reach his 20 TD total from last year. Well, duh. And just because Brady probably won’t reach 50 doesn’t mean you still don’t take him with a first or second round pick. Everyone is worried that Williams will lose touches (or his job) to Stewart as well. But don’t be! Williams is the starter, and Stewart has shown he has trouble staying on the field. Even now Stewart is struggling with a hamstring injury while Williams has been looking great. Carolina still has a great offensive line and relies on the run, meaning Williams is still going to get plenty of touches. And much like the Giants have shown, you can have two great (fantasy) running backs. Don’t hate on Williams just because Stewart is there. Prediction: 1350 yards, 12 TDs.

Prediction: Rashad Jennings will become a name you know that you never heard of before.
See my first prediction. A Steve Slaton-esque year, perhaps?

Prediction: Ahman Green is rumored to be close to signing with St. Louis. If that happens, SJax will get hurt in Week 16 and Green will start in his place and run for 5 TDs…against Kevin’s team in the fantasy playoffs (causing him to lose the matchup).
The one prediction I want to come true the most. I only hope I get to see Kevin’s face as it happens. You want to talk about priceless…

~Mikey D

Item: ‘Take Grace shopping because she truly enjoys doing it.’
Okay, Grace and I just had our three year anniversary (Saturday), and she has been wanting to visit an outlet mall on the eastern shore of Maryland right over the Chesapeake Bridge. So for our anniversary I suggested that we make a day out of it and have ourselves a little shopping spree at the outlet mall, which, not surprisingly, was met with a positive reaction. So today (yesterday Grace had to work) we drove down and spent a good four hours shopping. It was nice for me to as I needed a few things as well, and I’m usually too cheap to spend anything on myself, but today I splurged. And I know Grace was happy with the loot she was able to score, and I have to applaud her for showing great restraint in some of the store. She actually put items back that she liked. That is huge for my shopaholic girlfriend. Anyway, very good day that I’m glad Grace enjoyed.

Item: ‘Buy at least one pair of work pants and one pair of jeans that are better fitting than the ones you have now.’
Since we went shopping this was as good of time as any to knock this item off the list. Always the bargain hunter, I got a pair of work pants for $17 (65% off) and a pair of jeans for $20 (Old Navy, always cheap)- and they fit! Mission accomplished. But since I was splurging today, I also ended up with two more pairs of pants…eek. Mission more than accomplished.

Item: ‘Read Kevin’s Carl Sagan book.’
Tonight I begin the book. In leafing through it briefly I noticed that the print is quite small, so this maybe a long read. But I shall do it, for the check mark and because I’m a man of my word. I said I’d read it, now I will. Why did I say I’d read it again?

Item: ‘Resist the temptation to bet on football games this season.’
In the past two weeks I’ve gotten three pieces of mail from betting sites. They are on to me. They know I’m weak. They even sent me a book that provided me a team by team look into the upcoming college football season. They had everything from past stats of how the team has fared against spreads and such to analysis on the season’s schedule. And there a lot of colleges to analyze, but they had everything. To make matters worse, not only are they sending me mail, but I got a call yesterday about a deposit offer to one of the sites. I put in at least $50, and they’ll double my deposit on the spot! Ahhh it’s almost football season. You can smell the gambling in the air…And I will do none of it!

Item: ‘Delete contacts out of cell phone you have long since stopped contacting.’
We all have numbers in our phone of people we have long since stopped communicating with (at least orally) that just take up space. They are people you have to scroll over just to get to the person you really want to call. So to me deleting them would be an easy task because I would be organizing my phone, and I like organization. But it was much harder than I thought, as each contact I considered erasing made me think, “What if I need or want to call this person someday and I don’t have their number?” It was something I paused each time and thought about, before finally pressing the delete button. I figure if I ever want to contact them again there are plenty of social networking sites available on the internet to get a hold of them. So the contact list has been organized.

Item: ‘Play the Mega-Millions lottery each time the jackpot is over 100 million because you should take more chances and this is as good a place as any to start.’
Our tickets have been bought for next Tuesday evenings drawing. Tuesday should be a good day. First I’m going to have the best fantasy draft in the history of mankind, and then I’m going to win $252 million. Definitely going to be a good day.

Item: ‘Purchase two more pictures for the kitchen, and frame them.’
Two pictures purchased online. The first part is done, now I just have to wait for them to arrive and slap some frames around them.

Item: ‘Network Grace’s computer and my computer so we can access each other’s music.’
This was surprisingly easy; I didn’t even need to consult online messageboards or instructions on how to do it. Last summer I had tried to network our computers but failed miserably because Grace was operation on Vista and I was on XP. I know there is a way to do it (at least there’s supposed to be), but try as I might, it just wasn’t working out. With my new computer running Vista, I was able to network our computer within minutes. Now we can share music and pictures with ease. Grace also suggested I network the printer as well, which after downloading the driver onto her computer, was able to do. It’s nice to not have to use just my computer to print things, and it’s nice to not have to trade flash drives to transfer music and pics. Job well done.

Item: ‘Create a list that ranks my favorite bands of all-time.’
I gave myself some parameters and limited the list to only the Top 50 bands. That way the list wouldn’t go on forever, and I’d have more than ample room to include my most favorite groups (I have many, if you didn’t know). Yesterday I worked out a rough outline of the fifty bands that will be on the list and now it’s just a matter of putting them in the right order (the hard part).

~Mikey D