***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
