The Drubbing

Every year around this time, thousands of frantic football fans prepare for their NFL Fantasy Football draft.  This is where teams are made, bragging rights born, and trash talking starts.  The draft can make or break your team.  Not only do you need to come away with 3 solid players in the first three rounds, but you also need to be prepared to add depth in the later rounds so you can prepare for the unexpected.  Every fantasy football team is one Bernard Pollard hit away from scrambling for the waiver wire.

After having 2 drafts completed, and only 1 keeper team remaining, i feel that i can give away a few hints, trade secrets and general strategy.  My Vegas Cheetahs franchise is fully stacked after having smartly drafted DeAngelo Williams (3rd), Chris Johnson (4th), & Steve Slaton (10th) with some timely mid-to-late round picks last year, so i feel it’s safe for me to give some advice this year.
Continue reading “2009 Fantasy Football Thoughts & Strategy” →

Tonight at 7:30, who's inviting me over to watch the game?

Eagles nation is getting ready for the preseason to kickoff tonight at Lincoln Financial Field versus the New England Patriots. Training Camp is officially over and this is when we start to see if any of the predictions and rumors come true. I am looking for a few things tonight:
Continue reading “Getting ready for kickoff, Pats vs Eagles” →

Pacman has a new slang term for strippers... "children"

Pacman has done a lot of undesirable things in his life. But he hasn’t done this. As the NFL continues to work on it’s image rehabilitation program, there are naturally a few players that just can’t get on board. Adam Pacman Jones is the league’s lightning rod and poster boy for their legal Troubles. Pacman has been charged with everything from assault, vandalism, disorderly conduct and public intoxication to obstruction of justice, marijuana possession and has allegedly been involved in a shooting at a Las Vegas strip club. But for all the things Pacman has done, Corey McIntyre, fullback for the Buffalo Bills, found something that he hasn’t done. And that’s fondling himself outside of a woman’s home.
Continue reading “What would Adam Pacman Jones do?” →

Not to be confused with David Banner, Joe Banner is the astitute Eagles President

I completely understand supporting your NFL team and feeling confident about the season ahead.  I also completely understand that as a team executive, you want to have confidence in the team you helped to assemble.  This quote however, is completely absurd:

Since I’ve been working in the league, I don’t think the best team has won the Super Bowl any year. You get a ball bouncing the wrong way, a bad call from a ref, a windy day when you plan to throw a lot … There are just too many things out of your control.”
– Eagles team president Joe Banner in Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

Apparently, since 1994 (Joe’s first year in the league) none of the following teams were the best:

• SB XXIX Champion San Fran 49ers were 16-3 and won 49-26
• SB XXXI Champion Green Bay Packers were 16-3 and won 35-21
• SB XXXII Champion Denver Broncos were 16-4 and won it all, and to prove that they were lucky they only went out and won it all again the following year going 17-2 and winning SB XXXIII
• SB XXXIV Champion St. Louis Rams went 16-3 and won (in one of the most exciting 2nd halves ever)
• SB XXXV Champion Baltimore Ravens were 16-4 and had arguably the best defense in NFL history.
• SB XXXVIII Champion New England Patriots went 17-2 and won, and similiar to Denver, proved that it was nothing but luck and won the following year in SB XXXIX with a 17-2 record.

I think an argument can be made for more teams to be added to that list, but i thought those stood out the most.  My favorites are the back to back Super Bowl Champion Broncos and Patriots.  Those two teams alone disprove Joe “wish i had a ” Banner’s statement about an unlucky bounce, a bad call or bad weather.  The fact of the matter is if you truly have the best team, you can withstand injuries, bad calls, weather, and any other excuses you can think of during the course of the year.  Because of the single elimination format of the NFL playoffs, i will agree that some years the best team in my mind does not win it all.  But to say since 1994 no team that has won the Super Bowl has been the best in the league, is completely absurd.

Take responsibility for your team, Joe.  The TO experiment ended poorly and was no ones fault but yours and the lack of depth on the offensive line has also lead to some recent blunders.  Instead of thinking you have had the best roster in the league every year but somehow end up a bit short, why don’t you build a little depth around your line, maybe find another coach that can manage the clock better at the end of games.  Just a thought.  It may be you, and not that luck has played a part in your team’s inability to win it all.

As noted before, there’s no doubt that LeBron James will be going to New York Knicks when his contract in Cleveland is up. No other city can offer LeBron what New York can. Between basketball, business and celebrity, New York was made for James. But as we’ve seen with other premier athletes, one sport can only keep them occupied for so long. Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson and the 45, Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

So how long will the NBA, Nike, Coke, Microsoft and State Farm be able to keep LeBron occupied. If recent history is any indication, we may not have long to wait. Jordan needed a break once he got to 30. Which gives LeBron six more years until he needs a change.
Continue reading “Only six more years until LeBron suits up for the New York Giants” →

Commissioner Goodell, too many of your players are facing this situation...

Today there was news that Donte Stallworth plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter for killing someone while driving drunk. As part of the plea deal he will serve 24 days in jail, 2 years house arrest, 8 years probation, a lifetime drivers license revocation, and 1,000 hours of community service. He also agreed to a financial settlement with the family of the victim. The NFL is expected to suspend Stallworth for his actions, but the length of the suspension is yet to be determined.

This got me thinking about the NFL conduct policy as it relates to suspensions. In a quick Google search, I found at least 18 DWI arrests of active NFL players in the last three years, with many more before that. A study by the San Diego Union-Tribune found that 73 players on 2008 NFL rosters had been arrested for DWI, and 28 percent of all NFL player arrests were related to drunken driving.

In 1998, Leonard Little was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter for killing another driver while he was drunk. He served three months in jail and an 8 game suspension from the league. He was arrested again in 2003 for another DWI. Eric Warfield racked up three DWI’s in a four year stretch. Leon Hall, Chris Henry, Koren Robinson, Odell Thurman, Chris Chambers, Marcus Coleman, Adrian Awasom, Reggie Williams, Dwayne Jarett, Deltha O’Neal, Marshawn Lynch and Brandon Marshall have all gotten DWI’s. Their reported BAC levels were between .092-.149.
Continue reading “NFL are three of the greatest letters… DWI are three of the worst” →

Now that the Falcons have officially released Michael Vick, I guess nobody wanted to trade for his rights, the next question is where does he go from here. There are plenty of teams that could use his services and athleticism. Some may say they also need to be able to tolerate his indiscretions, but I believe his personal life is a far smaller risk than many would like to believe.
Continue reading “Top-5 NFL teams for Michael Vick to land with” →

This past weekend the NFL had their annual draft.  It is a very exciting time for players, teams fans and most importantly agents.  This is the time where agents make the most money, guaranteed money.  Rookie contracts in my opinion are insane, completely insane.  For a player who has been drafted in the top 10 of the 1st round to become the highest paid player on their respective team is outrageous.  As a point of reference, last year Chris Long (DE for the Rams), after 16 games has made more money than his father, Howie Long did in his entire career.  The draft contacts are a complete joke, with the absurd amounts of guaranteed money.
Continue reading “NFL Rookie Contracts” →

Every year I pull together what i think will happen in the 1st round of the NFL draft, along with some commentary on who they should take.  I spend literally minutes pulling all of this information together so you can be prepared for your team’s draft.  Let’s get right into it shall we:

1. On the Clock since sometime in February, the Detroit Lions select – Matt Stafford - QB – Georgia.  This leaves the 0-16 Lions no better than where they were the previous year.  I am not a real big fan on this year’s QB class, and would wait it out till next year’s stellar class.  I would have gone with sure thing, LB Aaron Curry.
Continue reading “My 2009 1st Round NFL Mock Draft” →

What do you do when your team fails to win a single game during the entire season? New coaching staff? Naturally. New training staff? Nah. New playbook? No. Add leadership through free-agency? Nope. New logo? Hells yeah! You’d think they’d go with a completely new team name, new colors, new everything, so that maybe the world would forget the Detroit Lions and what happened last year. Instead they just changed the font, altered some lines and let it rip.
Continue reading “Lipstick on a Lion” →