My own personal bye week

I should have a poll. The question would be ‘signs that I’m losing it’. Sign #1 is when I bought coupons on ebay. Sign #2 is when I told my fantasy-football colleagues about something called a purse auction. Sign #3 is the fact that I’m getting nervous about not being able to watch sports while on a cruise next week.

A cruise is a wonderful thing. It’s the ultimate short-attention span vacation. If you don’t like where you are today, boom, you’re somewhere else tomorrow. If you don’t like what you’re eating, don’t worry, there will be something else five minutes later. If your 125-square-foot room isn’t to your liking, well, at least there’s a lot of space on the boat. My wife got a free trip to Miami for a conference, so I’m tagging along. We’re heading to Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. In Jamaica I was tempted to sign up for the Bob Marley Bus Tour, but I might have to take a drug test soon so that’s a bad idea.

It’s funny how quickly the wife caught on to my scheme. I suggested a during-the-week cruise but she countered with one that leaves on Saturday. So now I’m not going to see Peyton Manning’s surgical strike on the Titans nor the final regular-season (and possibly final game period) for the White Sox. I’ll get back home in time for Game 3 of the Division Playoffs.

Will the Sox be there? By tonight they could be only one game ahead of the Red Sox, Yankees, and Indians. One of the four teams won’t be there. I think the Pale Hose have enough pitching, but the offense hasn’t picked up the slack. They could only muster three runs against a Tigers team that packed it in weeks ago.

As for the Titans, they blew a shot at a nice road win last weekend. Too many turnovers and a distinct lack of clutch play kept them from closing in on the Rams, who were willing to hand the game over. Torry Holt made mincemeat of young Pacman Jones. I like that he’s going against the best. He’ll have his hands full this weekend with Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Now that Travis Henry’s out for four games the Titans will be desperate to find a guy who can average three yards a carry in Chris Brown’s absence. Trading a third-rounder for this guy isn’t looking so sweet now. I’m glad that his 2006 extension is an option.

My fantasy season hasn’t started so well. I’m 2-1 in the AUFL but 1-2 and 0-3 in my two dynasty leagues. In a couple of weeks I might be building for the future. In addition to not starting the right players, I’m suffering from mediocre QB play. I’m 3-0 in my xpertsports staff league but that group’s about as exciting as an Arizona Cardinals fan club meeting lately. The two guys I liked the most on that staff have left for various reasons and I’m getting almost zero feedback. I guess I get they’re paying me.