9/3/07--Hey, here's something that women will care NOTHING about!!!

So the other night, I got together with my former roommate Johnny the Rat Bastard and took part in our 5th annual fantasy football draft.  This is another one of those mutually-exclusive-type-of-things....women sort of get a puzzled look on their face when you try and explain fantasy football.  I had a woman at work ask me what it was, and I told her that question basically reflected the fact that her husband was not a football fan.

And I was right.  Go figure.

So I'm in a keeper league, meaning that I get to keep up to 3 or 4 players for a maximum of 3 years--which might explain my decision to hold onto Peyton Manning.
Again...go figure.  I also had held onto Roy Williams, the young WR from Detroit, and Jeremy Shockey, the TE from the NY Giants.  So obviously my primary need going into the draft was to get a stud RB, and hopefully one that I could keep for a few years.
I had a certain player in mind, but without a pick in round 1 (I forfeited the pick to keep Manning), I had to wait until round 2 to make a selection.  I took what might be seen as a minor reach in selecting Adrian Peterson from the Vikings with the pick.  I figure that he's a guy I'm probably (barring a major injury) going to keep for a few years and he has shown unlimited potential in college and in the preseason.  And, if for whatever reason he does not work out, I also selected Clinton Portis from the Redskins and Fred Taylor from the Jags--both of whom should get 1,000 yds without much trouble.  Now that I've actually written that, if they both have terrible years, feel free to write me in January and tell me what an idiot I am.
Anyway, some of the other selections that I took included Miami WR Chris Chambers, New England WR Wes Welker and Indy #1 draft pick Anthony Gonzalez--who should fit real nicely into the number 3 WR spot for the Colts...which should mean at least 50 catches and lots of yards for a team with Peyton Manning at QB.
My backup TE is young Pittsburgh Steeler Heath Miller, who should put up some big numbers in case Shockey falls on his face (let's not forget he's stuck with the OTHER Manning as his QB).
My kickers are Shayne Graham from Cincinnati & Jason Hanson from Detroit (how long has THAT guy been in the NFL anyway?).  I look for both their teams to put up tons of points this year....which makes them a better idea than the kicker for Atlanta or Oakland (or maybe Minnesota--gulp).
My defenses are Denver's and Minnesota's.  I think their both pretty solid.

Looking out towards the future, I spent a 17th & 18th round pick on WR Maurice Stovall from Tampa Bay (Gruden supposedly loves him) and QB Tarvarious Jackson from the Vikings.  Three years from now, those are the sort of picks that will either make me look very smart...or the idiot that you are by now guessing that I might be.

My team is rounded out by David Garrard of Jax as my back-up QB and Chris Brown from Tennessee as an extra RB.

I'm going for the league trophy this year.  Victory will be mine!!!!

Later,
Jeff


PS...let the ladies know that they can resume reading in the next entry.  (cough)