This couldn't happen, could it? It would be blasphemy.  I think I'm going to be sick ...



In other football news, I see that the fantasy magazines are beginning to hit the bookstores.  If you're not into fantasy sports then feel free to skip down to the eye candy.  However, if you do enjoy fantasy football then keep reading and also be sure to check out everything in the Fantasy Guy category.

In the ten plus years that I've been in fantasy football and basketball leagues I've made two mistakes.  That's it, just two.  Now, I'm not talking about early round picks that go down with injuries.  That kind of stuff occurs all the time and it's entirely out of your control.  I'm referring to horrendous decisions that easily could have been avoided.  Unfortunately for me, the two mistakes I made happened in the same draft and destroyed any chance I had of competing that year. 

In my 2005 football draft I had the 3rd overall pick and selected Peyton Manning.  Although I usually don't like going with QB's in the first round, Manning threw for 49 TD's in 2004 so I couldn't resist.  Running backs then began to be gobbled up by the other eleven teams and I had to settle for Rudi Johnson and Chris Brown (explosive, but an injury waiting to happen).  Not exactly what I wanted, but it could have been worse.  By the time it came back around to me in the 4th round all of the premier wide receivers and tight ends were gone.  Instead of doing the logical thing and picking the best available guy, I reached for Arizona Cardinals rookie running back J.J. Arrington.  Yes, that's right in round number four.  A few seconds after doing this it dawned on me that the Cardinals actually didn't have an offensive line.  In the next round I tabbed Lee Evans and then remembered soon after that J.P. Losman would be the starting quarterback for the Bills.  Finally, a few rounds later I decided to take Eric Moulds as a 3rd receiver.  So, if you're scoring at home I have a rookie running back without anyone blocking for him and two wide receivers on the same team playing with a QB who had thrown a grand total of five passes in his entire NFL career. 

Well, as you can probably imagine, the season was a disaster.  Arrington was a total bust and Bills Head Coach Mike "I Make Dan Henning Look Good" Mularkey refused to let Losman throw the ball more than eight yards down the field.   To compound matters, Manning started off very slowly that year and my team was toast by the end of week four.  Lessons to be learned from my misfortune...er...complete stupidity:  1) Never (and I mean never) take a rookie running back that plays for a team with a terrible offensive line and 2) Don't draft two wide receivers from the same team when the starting quarterback and head coach are completely in over their heads.

Oh, and when you see all those fantasy magazines on the shelves just keep on walking.  You shouldn't even be thinking about your fantasy draft for at least another month.  Yes, by all means spend five to ten minutes a day keeping up on what's going on in the league.  However, filling your head with statistics, bye weeks, and conflicting advice 30-45 days before a draft can only lead to failure...  






Somehow I've managed to avoid the whole A-Rod, C-Rod, Madonna, and Lenny Kravitz circus for the past week.  However, if I have Alex Rodriguez's fame and fortune and I feel like doing a little cougar hunting at midnight, the Material Girl is the furthest thing from my mind.  I'm heading over to Salma's...