By Robby Wellington – Staff Writer
With football season in full swing, it seems as if we’ve all but forgotten fantasy baseball. Well, today marked the first day of the playoffs in my head-to-head league, and I plan on micromanaging my squad until the bitter end. Assuming your league has no limit on transactions, only the very best players on your team should be untouchable. Borderline bats and starting pitchers should be jettisoned in favor of players that can help you that day. Are any middle relievers in line for a fluke save that day? Do any hitters on waivers have favorable matchups? Can you stay up until midnight to be the first player making the necessary roster changes for the next day? While such a heavy-handed strategy can’t reasonably be utilized throughout an entire season, there are no excuses not to employ it during playoff time. Leave it all out on the field.
And now, a few random thoughts:
R.I.P. NFL Primetime – I was on the verge of tears yesterday evening as I frantically looked for the familiar faces of Tom Jackson and Chris Berman on NFL Priiiiiiiimetime. No such luck. With Primetime now on Monday and featuring Ron Jaworski, Mike Ditka, Stu Scott and Stu Scott’s glass eye, I wonder why ESPN even bothered keeping the same name.
Speaking of Ditka, you’ve got to love listening to him condemn the Texans front office for not drafting Reggie Bush. He may be the only man in America unqualified to make such remarks. I kept waiting for Ditka to say how he would have given up every draft pick through 2020 to get Bush.
“ENOUGH! OVERFLOWING SOMEONE’S BEER IS BARBARIC!” – Oscar de la Hoya
Good thing I drafted both Nate Burleson and Reggie Brown. I’m still expecting big things from those guys.
Did anyone know that Peyton Manning and Eli Manning were brothers? I had no clue.
ESPN Monday Night Football. Opening night in our nation’s capital. The five-year anniversary of 9/11 with American flags everywhere. An intro segment featuring the Governator with T2esque special effects. Michelle Tafoya and Suzy Kolber looking smart in matching pantsuits. Hank Williams, Jr. doing his thing. TomKat on the field before the game. I love America!
There are a good 5-6 major motion pictures coming out this fall that I am eagerly anticipating, which is only 5-6 more than I was looking forward to this summer.
Not even Matthew “12th-man” McConaughey’s electrifying presence on the sidelines could help Texas against a clearly superior Ohio State team. I still think that USC and OSU are the top two teams in the country this year.
The Budweiser Select theme song makes me want to get up and dance. Now. Does anyone know where I can download it?
After last season’s silly slasher plot, I was hoping that Nip/Tuck would get back to basics this year when they instantly spring the “Christian is gay” subplot on us. Am I seriously supposed to believe that the most notoriously heterosexual character on television is gay? Please don’t make me look for a new role model F/X!
The Cardinals and the 49ers both made each other look significantly better than they really are. Edge James’ middling performance may very well be one of his best offensive outputs of the year. Same goes for Frank Gore’s standout performance.
Two-a-Days on MTV has supplanted Laguna Beach as the must-see quasi-reality show dealing with high schoolers. The off-field drama is boring and half-baked at best, but when the team chaplain implores the players to knock down their opponent, and the coach threatens to blackball the entire team from college scholarships after a disappointing loss, who cares.
Speaking of which, you have to love Nike Gridiron’s Briscoe Hawks ad campaign. Lee Corso gives an especially tour-de-force performance as the team’s mascot, and smart money is on Brian Urlacher taking head cheerleader Jillian Barberie under the bleachers at some point this season. However, my main concern is that the Hawks had to resort to a trick play as time expired just to eek out a 17-14 win against a significantly outmatched opponenet. This only reinforces my concerns that Michael Vick will never be able to lead a championship team. Bring on pocket-passer Matt Leinart!
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