Fantasy football year of the weird

It was confirmed to me that this is one of the strangest seasons in my fantasy football history when the team with the best record in the AUFL lost to the team with the fewest points scored. By 47 points. When the owner with the worst record has Adrian Peterson (de Vikings) and Stephen Jackson, you know that things are pretty even. I prefer it that way. Well, I prefer it being even other than my dominant team, and I haven't had a dominant team since 2002.

It's more amazing that there are quality running backs left available on the waiver wire. Ryan Grant looks like a starter in Green Bay. If Ahman Green remains slowed by his injuries, Adimchinobe Echemandu could be useful for the Texans. DeDe Dorsey might get his chance if Kenny Watson or Rudi Johnson can't go this week for the hapless Bengals. Chris Henry has turned into an excellent change-of-pace back for the Titans so far. Heck, even Kyle Eckel with the Pats might get some end-game carries since the Pats don't believe in taking a knee.

While I hoped that Vince Young would be a top-three QB, I have to survive with Derek Anderson as my top signal-caller. It's pretty obvious that my other positions aren't great since I have the number 2 (Romo), 3 (Anderson) and 4 (P Manning) fantasy QBs running my three teams, and only one of my teams has a winning record. At least my 7-1 team is finally outscoring my 3-5 one.

Bye Week

My internal promise to blog once a day for a month lasted about 24 hours into my vacation. I apologize to my three readers. I highly recommend the Vegas/Sedona/Grand Canyon trio. You get to see nature at her best and humanity at its most entertaining. I won $18.55 on Missouri -3.5 against Texas Tech. Some day I'll figure out the mathematics of the sports book. At the blackjack table, if I bet five bucks and win, I get five bucks. If I bet five bucks at the sports book, I win about $4.60. I'm happy to think that I helped finance one or two of the billions of light bulbs in town.

I am so happy for the hype machine this week. Generally I'd be annoyed by the "dynasty in turmoil" show one day after A-Rod opted out of his contract with the Yankees. Most of the time I'd think that the Colts/Patriot talk is over the top. Next year, who's going to remember a regular season game? If you do, that means your team fell short of championship glory. Even though Vince Young has a (Archie) Manning-esque 2-1 interception to touchdown ratio, I can't complain about the Titans at 5-2. The media do not care about my team. Good.

Jeff Fisher has an aversion to winning big. The Titans nearly blew a 25-point lead last week, and I think it mainly had to do with Fisher liking close games. The Titans should have won by double digits yesterday. Instead, Ben Troupe and Roydell Williams dropped easy touchdowns and the result was in doubt until the final minute. I find it ironic that Mike Williams, the guy Norm Chow wanted three years ago in the draft, was the guy who dropped the fourth down pass. LenDale White looks great, now that it looks like Chris Brown is back to his inactive ways. Young could be limited for the rest of the year, and that is a problem. The Titans should win nine or ten games, but with a fully healed Young, they might be able to pull off 12. It's not going to be good enough in any measure for more than a Wild Card date in Pittsburgh or San Diego. I don't mind, because even Tom Brady circa last year would look at Young's wideouts and say "dude, I pity you."

Experts say that the Titans didn't do enough to improve their offense in the offseason. Funny, no one's talking about the defense, with no new players yet markedly better than last year, and that's with Pac Man off the board. Maybe Brandon Jones will come back and prove to be a difference-maker. Then again, maybe it's going to take a key defensive takeaway every other week to lead the team to victory. I'm going to take it that the team is relatively young and should only get better as the year progresses. I'll forget that the hype-meisters want me to think that there are two teams in the NFL. If those teams were so important, Roger Goddell would have sent them to London.

Vegas and history beckons

When people ask me where I'm going on vacation, I tell them Vegas. That elicits a particular response, mostly on the lines of "bring me back some money." Most likely my money will stay in Vegas, and I'm fine with that. Will I be able to resist making a silly sports bet or two, like the Titans for the Super Bowl or the White Sox for the 2008 World Series? Probably not. I'm thinking more of the second leg of the journey.

The mid-point of this trip will be most of five days in Arizona. I'm thinking back to the last time I went to Arizona:

My best friend got married.

I was about six months past a long hospital stay.

I was in the death throes of a long-term relationship.

The only intersecting portion of the last trip and this one will be a day at the Grand Canyon. The most memorable part of that trip was hiking down a mile and a half. I was in bad shape then. If I stood up for ten minutes straight, my lower back would get sore. I wasn't used to having a permanently tingly sensation in the back of my left leg all the way to my foot. Once I got to the bottom, I would have to go up. Somehow the trip up seemed easier than the trip down. I got tired but kept pushing through. Making it to the top was a triumphant moment within a week that had one overriding theme. I'm alive.

Will that first view of the seemingly endless canyon stir the echoes, so to speak? In a way, I hope so. It's impossible to measure one's progress through the years. I'd like to think that I have matured in that time. For one, my companion on this trip is a life-partner, rather than a temporary presence. For another, I'm in good enough shape to hike to the bottom and back up if need be.

We'll see how it goes. My Internet connection may not be constant on this trip, so I may have to put my "daily" posts in all at once upon my return. Go Titans.

Clock strikes midnight

OK, who was surprised that Rutgers beat South Florida tonight? There might be a two-loss team in the national title game this year at the rate things are going.

I promised myself to write 30 blogs in 30 days. It's ten minutes until midnight and I've been preparing for a Vegas trip most of the night. I'm exhausted and want to get into work by 6:30 so I can leave early. Someone's going to be grumpy on the plane.

O Henry

Workout wonder Chris Henry will make his active-roster debut this weekend. Chris Brown's inevitable injury happened in the form of a swollen ankle. If Henry has a good game, Brown may be deactivated for the rest of the season. In theory, Henry can be a bigger version of Brown.

Chris Henry was a mediocre college running back who had an excellent workout. The Titans loved him so much that they made him a surprise second-round pick. Obviously he's been a real stud in practice since the Titans have left him inactive for five games. Michael Griffin is a better kickoff returner and Chris Davis looks OK returning punts. The issue with Henry is that he's not that instinctive, which as a running back is like being a drug dog who can't smell marajuana.

LenDale White set a career high with 25 carries last week. That he gained only 64 yards speaks volumes about the Bucs' determination to stop the run. It also shows a lack of flexibility in the Titan game plan once starting FB Ahmard Hall left the field. White, who won't turn 23 until December 20, runs with the speed of Eddie George at the end of his career. He could be a complimentary back, but I don't know if he's going to be a full-time RB.

Considering that Kerry Collins might be the starting QB, the Titans need a running back who can block. Even if Vince Young plays, it's doubtful that he's going to run much. Henry better not be a bust, at least for one week.

No love for the underdog

If the Arizona Cardinals happened to make it to the Super Bowl, it would be a huge story. It would also be in a bizarro universe, because it's not happening in this one. I mention this because the Colorado Rockies are in the World Series, and it's a nonstory.

When did every other sport besides the NFL become the NHL? The World Series only matters if two "name" teams are there. If the Red Sox make it, the sports world will care. If it's the Indians, it will be like when Anaheim beat whoever the heck they beat for the Stanley Cup. I don't know why that is, but at least the long 14-year wait is over. I'm sure David Nied is watching somewhere.

It is somewhat amusing that Kazuo Matsui, a can't-miss star when he signed with the Mets three years ago, is a key player for the young Rockies. I'm rooting for them, since the alternative is Chicago rival Cleveland or perpetually annoying Boston. I'll say that most life-long Red Sox fans are good folks who stick with their team. It's the hangers-on that make the franchise unbearable, borderline Yankee-esque.

On Sunday I'll be in Vegas, watching the Titans at 10 a.m. local time. What could be better than watching football in the morning, preferrably with an adult beverage?

Take the victory

In my previous blog, I stated that the Patriots had not played anyone good to date. Since the Cowboys are in the NFC, can we be sure that they still have? It reminded me a little like the Missouri/Oklahoma finish, in that the underdog fought back to take the lead, then completely fell apart. Wade Phillips pulled the classic chicken NFL coach move, taking the 22-yard field goal instead of a fourth-down shot at a TD. I, of course, thought the move was brilliant. That's because I have Nick Folk, my NFL rookie of the year, on one of my fantasy teams.

There are times when my obsessive love for sports seems like a superfluous pursuit. Big games for Missouri and the Titans had me spending half of a very nice fall weekend watching TV. Is it the best use of my time? This morning was Black Monday at my company. There were serious cuts to be made, and while I felt my job was safe, I was going to see some of my work buddies for the last time. The cuts weren't as bad as expected, but a 20% drop in personnel isn't minor. Anyway, our VP came in and gave the little speech about the tough times and how we are going to pull out of it. After the meeting concluded, he noticed my Titans golf shirt. We talked briefly about the Bucs/Titans game. If it weren't for my Titan-themed cube and too-obvious fan love, he might not know my name. Every little bit counts.

There are times when my teams underperform yet win, I don't enjoy it a bit. Those days are over. In the AUFL, I have the third-fewest points but the team is 3-3. After two consecutive 11th-place finishes, any edge that gets me to the playoffs is welcome. My z17 team has scored about 100 fewer points than my z34 team. z17 is 5-1; z34 is 3-3. I'm looking forward to the karmic possibility of the Titans winning ugly at Houston next week. Hey, maybe they'll score a second offensive touchdown this week.

My dumb move of the week is clearly starting Vince Young over Derek Anderson. Young scored zero points. Anderson scored 34. Next week, I probably get to start Culpepper again.

Two tens

In six days, I'm heading to Las Vegas. It's the long-awaited annual one-week vacation. Heck, I'm taking a whole six days off work. The trip will begin and end in Vegas. Naturally, I have high hopes for my results at the blackjack table. I also know that sometimes you'll get two tens against a dealer six. The dealer is likely to have 16 and bust. Sometimes the dealer has a six and four, drawing an ace for a painful defeat.

Last night, Missouri had what it took to beat Oklahoma. With the rash of upsets in college football, a Missouri victory would have catipulted them into serious national title discussion. Sadly, four turnovers were enough to ensure a somewhat comfortable Oklahoma victory. When Chase Daniel handed the ball off to Jeremy Maclin, and neither took it, that was game over.

The Titans had a solid shot at beating a pretty good but injury-wracked Tampa Bay squad today. Unfortunetely, two turnovers in Buc territory, along with an untimely Vince Young injury, led to a 13-10 defeat. Kerry Collins made a few throws during the game-tying drive that Young can't currently make. If Collins hadn't taken two sacks once the team was in field goal range early in the fourth quarter, the game would have been overtime bound at worse. The team's going to lose games like this, and at the rate the Pats and Colts are playing, an early-round playoff game is going to hurt.

Both quarterbacks wear number ten. Sometimes having two tens isn't good enough.

Who's the boss

Tomorrow is the big showdown between the Patriots and the Cowboys. Most of the pundits have already conceeded this game, along with the next ten, to the Patriots. I'm aware that winning all your games in the NFL by 17 points or more is a good thing. Let's investigate the Patriot victories to date:

Week one against the Jets: The Jets have one win this year. A playoff team last year, the Jets have struggled on offense. Not impressed.

Week two against the Chargers: The Chargers won last week to "improve" to 2-3. Come on, the Chiefs beat the Chargers. Yawn.

Week three against the Bills: The only game the Bills have won so far was against the weak-ass Jets. Seriously, people.

Week four against the Bengals: After winning a Game of Suck in week one over the
Ravens (the Team of Suck), the Bengals are winless. Didn't the Browns score 17 more points against the Bengals?

Week five against the Browns: The Browns don't completely suck. After Derek Anderson throws his weekly two or three interceptions, he's pretty solid.

In five weeks, Patriot opponents have won seven games. There are four more bye weeks (AFC East games), but the Pats have the entire NFC East, the Steelers, and the Colts on the schedule.

Dallas, on the other hand, has played five teams that have won six games so far this year. For comparison purposes, the Cowboys needed a miracle rally (no thanks to butterfingers T.O.) to beat the Bills. Other than that, the closest game all season was a ten-point win in the opening weekend to a pretty good Giants squad.

Not to be overlooked, teams the Colts have defeated have won 11 games this year.

It's kind of like the Patriots and the Cowboys are two major-college teams who have just finished their out-of-conference cupcakes, after which they started conference play with Baylor and Syracuse, respectively. It's always interesting to see what happens to a team that hasn't been challenged all year when they finally get hit in the mouth, so to speak. The Cowboys rallied, then turned the ball over, then rallied again. We'll have to see what the Patriots do, assuming they ever play a team this year that displays a pulse.

Zach's fantasy roundup:

About two weeks after the fact, let me meekly crow about my tie-breaker victory in the AUBL championship round. The Buckhead Green Sox finished 6-6 in the grueling two-week finale against the Satchel Smackers. In our league, there are 40 roster moves available in the season. Entering the final matchup, I had six moves and my opponent had ten. He played the streaming game with his pitchers, replacing them as soon as possible. This makes sense since three of the six pitching categories, wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched, favor this strategy. I was able to hang in there. Picking up Matt Garza and Ubaldo Jimenez on the final Tuesday proved to be the winning strategy. Both pitchers gave me two more starts, but it was Nick Swisher getting the last RBI of the season in a meaningless game that won the title. I won RBIs by one and finished with the tie. The tiebreaker was ERA, which doesn't favor the streaming method, since guys you get on the waiver wire tend to be not as good.

z17 (first dynasty): I started 4-0 but lost last weekend to the hated rival Indianapolis Colts. I need LenDale White or Kevin Jones to step up and help me at RB.

z34 (second dynasty: This team has more points than the z17 squad. The McGahee/Chambers/first round pick for Larry Johnson trade has worked out so far. I traded McGahee for Romo, who has become my franchise QB. I expected more out of the Jerious Norwood/Warrick Dunn tandem. Mario Williams has been a surprise in his second year. The league as a whole is pretty evenly matched (I lost two weeks ago by .34 of a point).

AUFL: The Detroit Lions of Buckhead are 2-3, and are last in the league in scoring. I can't draft for this keeper league. Due to trades and waiver-wire mining, I have six players left out of the 17 on my roster after the draft. A potential Fred Taylor injury could save my squad. It's an embarrassment to say the least.

KCFA3: I'm 5-1 with a league-high 1163 points. Tell me why this guy isn't on most Heisman short lists.

It's time to lay your cards down

Tomorrow night is the biggest game in Missouri football history. Let's start by going over the top. The Missouri Tigers travel to Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the fifth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.

Before I get into the half-full feelings of optimism, let me start with some facts:

The gold and black have not defeated Oklahoma in Norman since 1966.

Gary Pinkel has never defeated a top-25 team not named Nebraska.

Tony Temple, Missouri's leading rusher, will not travel with the team this weekend due to an ankle injury.

The leading rusher (RB) after Temple is Jimmy Jackson. He has 62 yards in five games.

Missouri never, ever wins these games.

I'm an alum who semi-watched the Tigers win 12 games in four years. I've only seen two games this year. The opener against Illinois nearly turned into a disaster. Now that looks like a solid win. The offense did struggle, as defense and special teams scored 14 of the 41 points that day. Oklahoma has a much, much better defense, although conference play has blunted the juggernaut a bit.

This is the most talented Missouri team, perhaps ever. Chase Daniel may not become a Drew Brees clone (circa 2006) in the NFL. He's a ridiculous college talent nevertheless. The defense has been poor so far, but they stood up to the toughest talent last week in the Cornhuskers. They're going to give up 24, maybe 30 points. The offense is going to have to score 31 to win. They can. Without Temple, the Tigers may hand the ball off to a running back no more than five times. I can live with that. They've played lightening-quick freshman Jeremy Maclin at RB a few plays this year. Heck, tight end Martin Rucker's taken eight snaps from center. With Maclin, Danario Alexander, William Franklin, Martin Rucker, and Chase Coffman on the field at the same time, Oklahoma has to pick their poison. The Sooners blasted Missouri for many reasons. The primary one was that Missouri wasn't ready. If they're not ready for this one, they never will be.

I know folks are going to underplay the Big 12 because only Missouri and Kansas remain undefeated (and probably not for long in both cases). Missouri's schedule offers no freebies, other than maybe Iowa State, for the rest of the year. Texas Tech, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, and Texas A&M all will play in bowl games. So, even if Missouri pulls off the monumental upset, it's not a cakewalk after this. I still would be very happy with a 10-2 finish, even though this team has the talent to go 12-0.

I'm also suffering from the endorphin rush associated with having a star player on my favorite team who's also helping my fantasy team. Chase Daniel is on my college fantasy roster. In five games he has 18 touchdowns and exactly 1900 yards from scrimmage. It's no coincidence that my Missouri Tigers of the KCFA3 lost its only game this year when the Tigers were on a bye week. It used to be Brad Smith and bench for Missouri guys. Now I can throw Maclin, Daniel, and Temple (post-injury) in my lineup without worry.

The other side of the spectrum is when I started Vince Young and LenDale White in a fantasy game last week. Each player scored me two points, and I lost when a start by Maurice Jones-Drew (feel the irony) and Derek Anderson would have led me to victory. This might be the first weekend in history that Missouri and the Titans have games on national TV. Missouri's on FSN which barely counts. The Titans have the CBS game for the second time all year. I'm playing the contrarian and starting Young after last week's infamous Game of Suck. White and his flu-like symptoms can stay on the bench.