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Weekend of All-Stars

February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Howdy fantasy footballers!

Can you believe February is almost over?  Time has flown by this year. Soon it’ll be Opening Day for the MLB. But before that, let’s talk about this weekend. For those of you who still follow football in the off-season, the NFL Combine has been underway. The biggest names on the field? Luck vs RG3. It is a battle of who gets drafted first and if RG3 can show scouts he needs to be the number 2 pick if he doesn’t go first. I know a 40 time does not mean much when you play QB, but RG3 had a 4.41. That’s Vick fast. And Luck? Remember last year’s number one overall pick? Cam Newton, the athletic freak at Auburn who had scouts scrambling for his attention. Well Luck ran the same 40 time. Not once did I see that coming. I am not saying Luck is not athletic and strong. I just never imagined his quickness. But again a 40 yard time does not really mean anything for a QB. The biggest thing about the Combine is what it means. Performance at the Combine does have some correlation to success in the NFL but it is not a good predictive measure. Also in the NFL, free agency is well under way. Big names like Mario Williams, Foster, John Abraham, Matt Flynn and Matt Forte are some of the players that could stay or leave.

Some of y’all saw Ryan Braun win an appeal against the MLB. The MLB was looking to suspend the MVP winner but Braun fought back tooth and nail and won. And than there are those who watched the NBA All-Star weekend. Friday night showcased celebrities, Legends, and the US Secretary of Education. The best moment on Friday night was Kevin Hart, who after being ejected, won the MVP for the Celebrity game. After promising to go 40 and 10, he instead went 8 and 6. Not bad for a guy that can easily get dunked over. Key word: over. We have to see if the NBA and David Stern fine Kevin Hart for his actions against the officials and Mark Cuban for being Mark Cuban. I think $25k for both is reasonable. Saturday had other events such as the Skills Challenge, Rising Stars Challenge, 3 Point Contest and the Dunk Contest. Here is my pet peeve: the Dunk Contest has become the main All-Star event. And while it’s popularity has increased, the level of dunks has decreased. Back in the day you had Jordan, Vince Carter, D.Wilkins, Dr. J, Spudd Webb and McGrady going for the win. (Super)stars competing in the contest. Want to make the contest better? [I mean this year's dunk contest was not all that great - give it till April and the public will forget who won and competed]. Have Ibaka, Howard, Griffin, Lebron, Wade, and even Westbrook or DeAndre Jordan compete. Guys that are athletic freaks that can put on a show. I mean this year we had three different dunks involving jumping over another person (or two). Where is the creativity? Where is the pure athletic power that Vince Carter, Wilkins, and Jordan used to bring? You cannot possibly tell me athletic power has gone down with new training methods and technological advancements. Stop with the flashy dunk attempts that take 8 tries or the gimmicky props.

Filed Under: NFL, Players Tagged With: , ,

What Did I Just See?

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome fantasy footballers!

Please tell me one of you watched the Thunder/Nuggets game last night. Please. It was a complete shootout. By all definitions and angles of that word, it was one of the best shooting performances this season. Durant and Westbrook combined for 91 points. That’s right: 91 points. Westbrook had a monster game of 40 points but Durant blew him out by dropping 51. To top it off, Ibaka had a triple double with points, rebounds, and blocks. The Thunder are on fire and are flaming into the All Star weekend. Look at it this way: Lebron and Wade had 52 combined points in the Heat win on Sunday, Durant himself scored one less. MVP anyone?

Time to talk about Jeremy Lin. You know I don’t play well in terms of talking about these “Tim Tebow-like” players. But in reality, Lin is the complete opposite of Tebow. Timmy was an offensive monster at UF. He won the Heisman (which celebrates the best of the best), won awards celebrating his excellent QB role, and won a National Championship. He will always be remembered as one of the greatest college football athletes. Lin on the other hand went to Harvard. Never won any championships, major basketball awards, and until this year most of society had never heard of him. He wasn’t the best college ball athlete of all time, nor did he draw crowds to Harvard games. He’s been cut, demoted to D-League, and traded more than most other players in his sophomore class. The complete opposite of how Tebow’s football career has been. But he is on fire. Beating the reigning NBA champs, taking shots against the NBA Finals MVP, and winning. He’s done things as a PG faster than Magic has. The reason this is huge is because this has never happened. In basketball it is hard to have someone as skilled and as big of a threat just appear as Lin did. Talent thrives in the league and you know from before hand who is going to be good and who is going to be decent. Then you have Lin come into the picture contesting the status quo of the NBA playing like a veteran superstar against Darren Williams, Kobe, and Dirk. It has been a crazy story and a crazy year for underdogs this year for football and basketball. ESPN is having the time of its life beating up the Tebow, Lin, and Lebron stories to us. Oh ESPN, when will you learn? Could you imagine if a Lin-like player ever came on the Cowboys? I think ESPN would implode. Im just waiting for the next ESPN headline to say: “Tebow to be Best Man at Lin’s Wedding to Kim Kardashian, Lebron will be ring bearer.” That would be the day I give up on humanity and move to the mountains.

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Race for the Best

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome fantasy footballers!

Who said football season is over? There might not be any games being played but teams are working around the clock throughout the week preparing for the biggest NFL draft in recent memory. This draft could potentially change the landscape of the league. How? Well there are rumors brewing that if the Colts pick up Andrew Luck he might as well start, which would mean Manning (depending on his conditioning) could be playing in a two-QB system (it is not college) or he could find work somewhere else. If Manning is free, there will be a firestorm for teams to woo the future Hall of Famer to come to their teams as the probable starter. Manning is a competitive player, probably more competitive than the average player, and there is no way he will want to sit on the bench behind a young QB especially after a year of not playing. But there is also the more likely scenario that Luck, if he is drafted by the Colts, could just be a backup. And then the debate continues of who is a better QB, RG3 or Luck? In my opinion Luck is the better overall QB and could make an instant impact on any team he signs with but RG3 is a better athlete hands down. But the question is: do any teams trade up for RG3? Do the Redskins/Vikings/Bucs trade with the Rams for a chance at RG3? Or the biggest move could be RG3 to the Broncos. Just kidding, the nation as a whole would probably implode. Cue the explosions.

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Super Done

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome fantasy footballers!

And just like that the season is over. And what an amazing season it has been. We didn’t even know if we would have a season to watch but we did, and it was eventful. From record setting performances, epic team meltdowns, and the surprises from teams across the league, the season was great. As players clean out their lockers and take a short pause from the game, and as we shift our attention to basketball and the NFL post-season, I just want to thank all of you for reading this blog. I want to thank the fantasy footballers that stuck it out till the end, and I want to thank the wives of all the fantasy footballers for putting up with it. I can write about the game, sloppy or not, and what the teams should have done to win next time but the sad reality is that there is not a next time for the two teams for months to come. It is a restart. Teams now have a full off season to work on their defense, their passing, and the development of young QBs. Teams like the Colts have major decisions to make on what they want for their future. And players around the league just want to spend the their break with family and friends, reflecting over the season that just finished and the next one that will start. But I can definitely say we will continue to hear about Tewbow, the Cowboys, and Manning. Eli has now won one more ring, one more than his legendary brother, so I am sure some sibling rivalry will bloom from this. Brady is still Brady and will continue to be a fighter in this league. But the best thing about this weekend was the fact that we know football will continue to bring us together as a nation, with a common goal of watching an epic showdown of two of the best teams in the league. The food and beer are a close second.

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