Fantasy Football 2009

I am pretty excited about the NFL season beginning. It's going to be great. This Thursday kicks things off with the Steelers and Titans.

We finished up our league drafts in Nacagdoches this weekend and I'm pretty happy with my teams.

I am playing in three leagues this year. So I came up with three names for my teams:

For our family league (The "Leather Helmet League") I asked Aidan what I should name my team. He said Scooby-Do. So I decided on "Scooby Due" (Short for Duez). Plus the poor Taco Bell dog passed away this summmer, so here's to you Gidget :) Here is my logo:

Here are my starters in that league:
QB: Drew Brees, NO
WR: Andre Johnson, HOU
WR: Roddy White, ATL
RB: Ryan Grant, GB
RB: Ray Rice, BAL
Flex: Donald Brown, RB, IND
TE: Tony Gonzalez, ATL
K: Nate Kaeding, SD
D: Green Bay Packers

I named one of my teams: "Tenacious D" - which has been a team nickname of mine before. This year I used the Taco Bell dog again to grace this logo. I figured that a tenacious chihuahua was perfect. "¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!" ("I want Taco Bell!")
This team was drafted on Saturday night and was an auction style draft.
Here's the logo:

The league is called the "Freaks of Fantasy Football." And here is my team:
QB: Jay Cutler, CHI & Matt Ryan, ATL
RB: Adrian Peterson, MIN; Ryan Grant, GB; Ray Rice, BAL; Cedric Benson, CIN; Donald Brown, IND; Knowshon Moreno, DEN
WR: Roddy White, ATL; Anthony Gonzalez, IND; Santonio Holmes, PIT; Kevin Walter, HOU; Santana Moss, WAS; Laverneous Coles, CIN; Steve Breaston, ARZ; Deon Butler, SEA
TE: Tony Gonzalez, ATL; Heath Miller, PIT
K: Kris Brown, HOU
D: New York Jets

My other team is in the "Nacogdoches Keeper League." I named it the Double D's Bullz. Mostly after the fact that they refer to me as Double D because there is another Dave in the league. I liked the Bull logo and wanted a little Texan's flair.
Here's my logo:

Here's my team (Keepers from last year have a "*" before the name):
QB: *Jay Cutler, CHI; *Matt Ryan, ATL; Matt Sanchez, NYJ
RB: *Matt Forte, CHI; *Pierre Thomas, NO; Shonn Greene, NYJ; Mike Bell, NO; LenDale White, TEN; Leon Washington, NYJ; Larry Johnson, KC
WR: Andre Johnson, HOU; Marques Colston, NO; Michael Jenkins, ATL; Lavernaues Coles, CIN; Kevin Walter, HOU;
TE: Tony Gonzalez, ATL; Antonio Gates, SD
K: Rob Bironas, TEN
D: Pittsburgh Steelers

Update about school/work

It's a funny thing when you are a teacher. You refer to your place of employment as "school." And it is a school... but it is also work. Most days I am having so much fun and loving my time with my students so much that I don't consider it work at all. Then the quizzes, homeworks, essays, tests, and projects come due... and I am absolutely WORKING. It is the toughest part of it for sure.

I do love the sense of accomplishment I get when a stack of papers are done, finished... and then in the gradebook. It is really a sense of accomplishment when you check out the computer gradebook and see a bunch of columns of grades. Finishing a six week's period, semester and the year is really a good feeling.

This week has been tough on me because I keep having that "I miss my students from last year" feeling. I already had them trained. They understood my silly jokes, sense of humor and trusted me that I wanted all of them to succeed and to learn. Starting over is hard. Kids look at me like I'm some kind of alien at first. But, slowly things melt and we really start to connect. Hopefully that will start to happen after our first project is in the books and they present to the class. I learn a lot about them through that process.

This weekend is going to be interesting. I'm heading up to Nacadoches, TX (2 hours north) for 2 days of fantasy football drafting. It should be a blast. I'll probably leave early, early on Saturday morning and then come back late in the afternoon on Sunday. I have a keeper league draft on Saturday and then I'll be defending my championship in the auction league on Sunday (although a year removed. Last year I was unable to attend the auction because of our car accident... can't believe that is 1 year ago!).

Hopefully I will get lots of great players and be very happy with the results. It is a lot of fun to be with the 8 guys that are in the leagues and I hope we have a great time. One of the guys I know well is my assistant principal at school. He got me into the thing. So it'll be fun.

A Rough Football Weekend

This weekend stunk. Texans crapped a real turd in Oakland. :( My fantasy football team is holding on to a tiny lead going into tonight's Monday Night game. And the Steelers lost their bid for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Tonight I need Greg Jennings to be held to 11 points by the Bears defense. He is "projected" to get 13. So it's going to be agonizingly close.

I would have won easily if I just would have followed my gut. I wanted to bench Andre Johnson or Roddy White (both pro bowlers) for Marcus Colston because I loved Colston's matchup. But, I said, "No, go with you brought you to the dance." And both Johnson and White had horrible games. Probably their worst of the year.

I also couldn't stomach taking the Titans defense because they were going up against the Steelers. Just goes to show you, never play with your heart. Always use your head and always play the matchup.

I guess I'll have all off season to consider that.

Fantasy Draft, Biden, and My Classroom

What a wild day. I woke to a text message from Barack Obama. Joe Biden is his man for VP. I was very excited to start the day that way. I like Biden a lot. Blue-collar guy, great on foreign policy, and an attack dog type of guy. He will go after McCain/Bush. So I was wildly excited about that piece of news.

I went into school at 7am to work on my room. Unfortunately it wasn't open until 7:45. So I had a bit of an obstacle. But, it was ok. I rushed through what I had to do (put up posters, put away boxes, etc) and then raced home for our family fantasy football draft. Here's my squad:

The Tenacious D
Brett Favre, QB, NYJ
Andre Johnson, WR, HOU
Marques Colston, WR, NO
LaDanian Tomlinson, RB, SD
Reggie Bush, RB, NO
Antonio Gates, TE, SD
Deuce McAllister, RB, NO
Roddy White, WR, ATL
Julius Jones, RB, SEA
Kenny Watson, RB, CIN
Jay Cutler, QB, DEN
Patrick Crayton, WR, DAL
Owen Daniels, TE, HOU
Kevin Walter, WR, HOU
Bryant Johnson, WR, SF
Josh Brown, K, STL
Philadelphia Eagles D

I had the #1 pick and took LT. It's pretty much a slam dunk at this point in his career. I have a lot of talent, but a lot of injury questions. I tried to build in depth as much as I could. One thing I didn't get that I usually do - rookie RBs. They went fast! Crazy.

Favre is listed first, but I took him pretty deep in the draft. I do think his numbers will be good in New York. But, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jay Cutler. I think he was my steal of the draft. (this statement will probably look dumb down the line! But, it is how I feel) Also, Reggie Bush in this league is VERY valuable. It's a receptions league. So everytime someone touches the ball they get a point. Reggie catches a ton of passes - so his value is higher than a normal league. I am optimistic. But, I'll be watching the injury news on these guys closely!

After the draft we went out for a salad and then darted back to school. Norma put the finishing touches on her room and I slaved in my room for about 4 more hours. One of the cool things that I was able to do is to take some video of Aidan talking about my classroom rules. I'll be putting that together tonight and tomorrow and I'll post it when it is finished. That is something I do the first week is show a video to explain the classroom procedures and rules. Much better than hearing me babble about it.



So I am going to work on the video and watch a bit of the Steelers-Vikes game. Then BED. I am tired. This has been a long week, but a very productive one. I don't believe I have ever been more excited about the beginning of a school year.

"We are the Champions!"

Que Queen "We are the Champions!"
Norma won our family fantasy football league tonight. She is the official 2007 "Leather Helmet League" Champion! We keep the league crown in the house. I won last year and Norma's "Aidan's Armadillos" take it this year.

Norma defeated her brother-in-law Brian for the win. Brian had a great season and it is a shame someone had to lose. But, it is the first ever championship for Norma. She is pretty pumped!



In my $money$ league, I won the whole enchilada. Sweet victory for my first time in an auction draft league. It is a really competitive league and I am just amazed that I was lucky enough to win! Awesome. I will actually get some mula for this! $$$ Comes in handy this time of year.

Way to go Dragons!

Visit from Uncle George

Aidan really loves his Uncle George and Aunt Marla. We had a really nice time with them today. They drove in from San Antonio this afternoon. Aidan and George played quite a bit and Aidan really had a great time. He's such a boy and loves to get physical and jump and wrestle.

Tonight we went to Fuddruckers in Town Center and had a real nice meal. Tomorrow we'll open some Christmas presents and spend some time together before they head back to SA.

Finally had a chance to finish watching Transformers tonight. Quality summer flick. I liked it. It is amazing what technology can do these days. Those transformations were incredible. And they looked awesome on my hd tv. Sweet.

Norma and I are both vying for Super Bowl wins in two separate leagues tomorrow. Fantasy Football. What a blast. Marion Barber got me off to a good start tonight with 24 points. I'm up 24-13. :) Sunday will be a big day. My defense goes Monday Night on Christmas Eve and might just rack up the win for me? (Keeping my fingers crossed... and toes too) Their is actually $money$ riding on this!

Fantasy Weekend

I sit here tonight rooting against... The New England Defense, Wes Welker, and Brian Westbrook. Every time that the Eagles score, I smile... as long as it's not Westbrook scoring. Every time the Pats score and it's not Welker, I smile.

Fantasy football is a wild thing.

Right now I am up in both of my leagues, but it is a narrow margin.

Fantasy football really adds an element to 'fandom.' A regular fan just is happy to see a "good game." And most fans right now are salivating at the possibility that the Eagles might upset the invincible Patriots. But, for me... I am smiling because Welker just dropped a pass on the 5 yard line. :)

It is agonizing when you don't have any players left and you are rooting against the other teams players. It's reminiscent of watching my Astros try close out the Cardinals in 2005 to go to the world series. You ride every pitch, hoping nothing happens. Same with Fantasy Football. I would be pleased if a snow storm broke out and blinded the field and no one scored again. Then I win!

Crazy game fantasy football. But I love it.

Both of the teams I am in started their seasons in last place after 4 weeks with the lowest scoring team in both leagues. Now I am scratching and clawing my way back. 2nd in one league and fighting for 3rd in the other. If I can just win both games this week I should make the playoffs.

The drama!

Auction Fantasy Draft

Saturday I drove up to Nacodoches, TX for an auction fantasy football draft. I had an awesome time. Fish fry, 8 good guys, and a super draft. It was really competitive. We had a $200 budget to fill 20 spots on our team. LT went for $105! I still can't believe that. Amazing.

Here is my team - The Duez Dragons:
QB:
Brees, D NO $27
Delhomme, J CAR $1
RB:
Alexander, S SEA $37 (which I just now realized is his jersey #)
McGahee, W BAL $23
Peterson, A MIN $17
Lewis, J CLE $7
Barber, M DAL $4
Hunt, T PHI $1
Bell, M DEN $1
WR:
Wayne, R IND $35
Houshmandzadeh, TJ CIN $23
Jackson, V SD $6
Rice, S MIN $1
Henry, C CIN $1
Muhammad, M CHI $1
TE:
Gonzalez, T KC $10
Olsen, G CHI $1
D:
Panthers, CAR $1
K:
Brown, J SEA $1
I feel like I have a pretty solid team. But, it is only an 8 man league. Maybe I am fooling myself?





Pretty decent draft for me. I think I surprised some of the guys because I bid up on a lot of guys early and pushed their dollar figures up. That's what you have to do in a draft like this when it is an auction. You have to bluff a little and push the prices past the player's actual value so that you can get others for cheaper. It only backfired on me one time! I nominated Gonzalez and then pushed his price to $10 thinking it could go as high as $15. Well, it stopped there. :( I didn't really want him, I was saving at least $35 for Antonio Gates. But, maybe I can make a deal. I think I saved myself by getting Olsen late in the draft for a dollar because he's going to be a stud and is good protection in case the elder statesman Gonzo goes down.

It was a lot of fun. Long drive, but well worth it. Can't wait till football gets going for real.

Yahooo! Victory is mine x2

Two leagues... two championships. A combined 26-4 for the year. Awesome.

I would like to thank everyone that played in the leagues this year. It was a lot of fun. It sure wasn't the same without my Dad. I will always play fantasy football each year because I want to keep alive his love for that kind of competition. He was a fantasy football junkie ever since I got him started in the phenomenon 4 years ago. His memory definitely inspired me to victory this year in both leagues.

I look forward to 2007! Should be a lot of fun. I think Norma and I are going to stick in the family league (she finished 4th this year) and also try and start a league of teachers at school. That would be fun.

Next weekend's games will be a bit strange without any fantasy games riding on the results.
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Is it really Christmas Eve?

Is it really Christmas Eve? Or is it "Super Bowl Sunday?" Sure seems like Super Sunday to me. In both of my fantasy leagues I am in the Super Bowl today. I am nervous about both leagues though. I have had a fabulous ride in both leagues, easily wnning both. In both our family league and my other yahoo league my record is 12-2. The two losses in both leagues were against the second and third best regular season teams.

But, in both leagues I am an underdog today. :(

In the family league I play my 2-time defending champion sister. She beat me last year in the SB, too. And I lost in my other league in the SB as well.

Will I be jinxed again in 2006? I am nervous.

Here are my teams:

Tenacious D (12-2)
QB Carson Palmer
WR Andre Johnson, Braylon Edwards
RB Steven Jackson, Rudi Johnson, Dominic Rhodes
TE Antonio Gates
K Jeff Wilkins
D Kansas City (already had a great game last night)

MillsBranch Monsters (12-2)
QB Carson Palmer
WR Reggie Wayne, Lee Evans, Terry Glenn
RB Steven Jackson, Ladell Betts
TE Jeremy Shockey
K Josh Brown
D Kansas City (already had a great game last night)

I am nervous. Please, fantasy Gods, fare me well.
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