Fantasy Football-For those of us NOT in a CHUD League...

Got a fantasy football team (or teams) this year...but not in a CHUD league?

Post your hijinks here. This is a safe place to tout your stats and talk smack about the other people in your league who don't read this site.

I'll start.

I did the ESPN thing this year after having had a CBS Sportsline team the previous year. I entered a free league (the Junior Varsity Koalas) and a paid league (My Varsity Koalas) for prizes.

The draft was pretty good for me in both leagues. In the free league I landed the third pick in the first round. In the paid I managed to get the second. I took Ladanian Tomlinson in both drafts.

Some highlights for me so far...

Marques Colston--A waiver wire pick-up who is 2nd ranked receiver in fantasy football.
LT- -goes without saying right now
Fred Taylor--Not injured yet. I have him as a back-up RB on both my teams and he has done good work.
Marc Bulger--I actually got him LATE in my paid league's draft. So late that I was able to take Daunte Culpepper before him. Thank god I took Bulger as a "back-up". Culpepper now rides the waiver wire in both my leagues.
Raven's D-They like to take the ball on defense and score touchdowns. This make Matt happy.
The Waiver Wire--Grabbing starters like Marques Colston, and back-ups like Chad Pennington really makes you feel better about your chances. It seems like the wire really is the place to find that receiver that no one knows about during the draft. This means you can usually find a good WR pick-up or two every season.

The lowlights...
Daunte Culpepper--I was lucky enough to snag Bulger, but man was Culpepper a waste. I could have snagged a more reliable wideout. Who knew though.
Wide Receivers--What an up and down year for receivers. On my varsity I have Chris Chambers, Laver...Lavar...L. Coles, Marques Colston, and Santana Moss. My Junior Varsity is much the same except for also having Marvin Harrison. Only in the past two weeks with Colston totalling 56 points, and Chris Chambers deciding to catch a touchdown, have I been able to depend on my receivers for points. I'm hoping that all of the new QBs are adjusted to their offense so that this will continue.
Rex Grossman--he was a waiver wire Pick-up for my JV team. In the two weeks I have started him he has given me a grand total of -3 points. I don't know what it is. Maybe he knows. Someone tells him that I'm starting him and he says, "fuck that guy". He will now reside on my JV bench. Phillip Rivers might not be flashy but at least he scores positive points.

Current Record: JV 5-4 (tied for second in the division)
Varsity 6-3 (currently in first)

Now post yours!

I got lucky this weak...real lucky.

First on my JV team...Tomlinson and Parker combined for 73 points. I also played Phillip Rivers. He scored 27 points. Those three cats gave me 100 points alone. So despite the fact that my receivers combined for 4 points...I won 122-88.

Now to the varsity (the money league if you will). I got real lucky. My opponent had these fellows on his bench...Carson Palmer (29 points), Travis Henry (16 points), And another WR I can't remember who had about 18 points. In all he probably lost about 25-30 points from playing the "wrong" people. Tomlinson had a big day for me with 39, Warrick Dunn continues just to be OK with only 10 points. Marques Colston is still hot with 18. Marc Bulger did basically nothing and gave me 6 points. I won 97-68. But I didn't feel great about it. I know I was an average LT day away from losing. I'm 7-3, with a two game lead in my division. There are three regular season games left against high scoring teams. This is where it gets tight.

My JV team is now 6-4, ranked 3rd in the league. I think 8 and 5 will get me a wildcard. Somehow my team has become the highest scoring in this league as well.

Having the highest scoring team in the first thirteen weeks is nice. But it doesn't always mean you are headed for championship land. Two years ago I had a deep team that led the league in scoring. I had one bad week and lost the first round playoff game by 3 (I think) points. I had the highest score for the last round of the playoffs, but all that got me was third place.

The waiver wire pick-ups in these last weeks are going to be key. I won my league in 99 because I picked up Patrick Jeffers (then a burgeoning talent for the Carolina Panthers). He came in and scored something along the lines of 60 points over the next three games for me. This included two playoff weeks. I'll have to be as vigilant this year so I don't repeat the mistakes of two seasons ago.

My varsity team clinched the top seed in the playoffs with one game to go in the regular season. I currently sit at 9-3 and can control possibly decide who gets the fourth seed if I beat my opponent this week.

My JV team lost for the first time in 5 games and sits at 7-5. I'm currently in the third seed in the league. If I win, I'm in. 8-5 would do the trick like I thought. I should be able to pull it off. I had a low point total for the week due to Willie Parker and Phillip Rivers having their worst days of the season.

That's a darn good idea for league prices and ten dollars isn't a bad deal at all.

I really like the kick return yards. There just aren't enough viable receivers in the league. Being able to use someone like Dante Hall for fantasy points would increase the excitement and strategy.

Hell...sign me up for your league next yaer.

PLAYOFFS! PLAYOFFS! PLAYOFFS!

For those of you in ESPN and other leagues that utilize a 4 week playoff system...the madness has begun.

My JV team secured the 3rd seed in the playoffs by putting up a strong 100+ point effort. I'm facing off against the other divisions top team...who soundly beat me in week 2. I feel pretty good about my chances. I might even feel better about this team than I do my pay league team. All of my starters except for my second receiver are in the top ten in points for their respective divisions. Adding to my sense of hope is that Willie Parker just put up a 26 point game last night.

Unfortunately this also worked against my Varsity team. My opponent had Willie Parker, and was the beneficiary of his 220+ yards rushing. All is not lost though. I started Ben Roethlisberger (a mid season waiver wire pick-up) and he put up 19 points. This is the highest output I've gotten from the QB position in a few weeks.

Interestingly enough the team I'm playing this week is...the same as last week. They are a tricky team with players like Terrell Owens, Peyton Manning, and Willie Parker. I'm amazed his record is only 6-7. I thought that by beating them last week and putting them at 6-7 that one of the other teams in his division would at least win or tie a friggen game. But they didn't! So somehow four teams in this league ended up with records of 6-7 and he had the tiebreaker.

My biggest fear is a repeat of what happened two years ago. I had the high scoring team for the entire season and then faltered in the first round of the playoffs before ultimately taking third place in the league. I'm hoping that my scoring average of nearly 100 points per game (1295 over 13 games) holds up. Getting solid QB play is a first step toward that.

I just hope I get SOME production of out my receivers. I picked up Nate Washington (but didn't start him--he had 12 points last night!) and have to choose between Chambers, Santana Moss, Laverneous Coles. and the possibly injured Marques Colston for my two WR spots. I REALLY want Colston to be healthy again. He was the 2nd ranked wide receiver before is injury three weeks ago.

Anyone else got some playoff hopes to share?

The first week of playoffs were kind to me.

Both of the leagues I'm in are ESPN leagues. So they do two weeks for each round of the playoffs.

My junior varsity team has a comfortable cushion after putting up 96 points to the other teams 67. I know anything can happen though, so I'm going to stay frosty. If I can hold on to that lead I'll be playing for the championship after having an average start to the season.

My varsity team is in a DOGFIGHT. I went in as the 1st seed, but got stuck playing a dangerous 4th seed team I thought I had knocked out the previous week. Right now I lead 103 to 100. Fred Taylor had one of his best days of the season with 19 points. I wish the Colts/Jags game had been close so he could have gotten a few more points. LT is LT. He had 28 points. Roethlisberger was an able stop gap and scored 20 points. Though it turns out that I could have still started Bulger if I wanted. He scored 24 points on a tough Bears D. Of course he did! They were behind the whole game. The Rams had to pass. Hindsight is 20-20 and such.

This week brings some tough questions. The first for me involves Marques Colston. Like TCJ said he has been MIA for four weeks. Was last weeks 40 yard performance just a warm up? Is it safe to put Colston in and assume a 100 yard, 1 td game? Is Hines Ward replacement Nate Washington the real deal? He had 67 yards and a td last week against a crappy Cleveland D. Do I plug him into the line-up this week? Should I keep the inconsistent Laverneaous Coles in this week? He had 12 points last week.

The QB decision is another tough one. Bulger will be passing against the 2-11 Raiders...Roethlisberger faces 6-7 Carolina. Guess which team gives up more passing yards. If you guessed Carolina you would be right. Carolina gives up an average of 194 passing yards a game. Oakland keeps opponents to 155. Maybe I should play the averages again and trust Big Ben to have another 20 point game.

Tough choices. Good luck this week everyone!

I would think anyone who has (or had in my case) Tiki Barber over the last few years would want to kill Coughlin. On one hand, he has helped Tiki become the type of back who eats up yards AND holds onto the ball. The holding onto the ball part is big. Tiki had trouble with that before ole Tom joined the show.

However, if Tiki wants to score, he had better break off a run of 20+ yards. Tom is going to plug Brandon Jacobs in each time they get into the red zone. It's the old school way. Let the big guy run it in. This pretty much kills Tiki's value as a top flight fantasy back. Hell it probably has hurt his value as a Hall of Fame back.

I'm glad I passed on Tiki this year. Not because I think he is a bad RB. I think he is great. His combination of receiving and running yards are reminiscent of Marshall Faulk. He just doesn't get the scoring chances Faulk did.

The ultimate justice would be if instead of retiring, he left the Giants and played on another NFC East team for one year. Could you imagine him on the Cowboys, rushing for 1400 and scoring 12-17 touchdowns.

When I look back...over time (and poultry corpses) I have many fond memories along my fantasy football landscape. Whether it be winning championships with the big 3 from the Rams "Greatest Show on Turf" offense or actually making to the playoffs with Aaron Brooks as my quarterback. I've always been content that I didn't make an outright terrible decision. I never made a TERRIBLE decision that directly destroyed my championship chances.

Lets get this out of the way. Both of my teams have L. Tomlinson. He's done so much for me this year I photoshop him into our family pictures.

The Varsity (ie. pay and prizes league) Koalas were up 103-100 going into the second week. As I mentioned last week the big variable was who to start as my second receiver. Colston was a lock for the number on spot. But for some inexplicable reason I was torn between Chris "I haven't done shit all year" Chambers and Laverneous Coles. Chambers usually has a decent game against Buffalo. He had a hell of a lot of points against them last year and a touchdown against them this year. But he has been overall terrible this year. Coles was just coming off of a solid game, but hadn't had back to back great games all year. He was however the 16th ranked receiver in fantasy football and playing a suspect Minnesota secondary. Chambers was the 38th ranked receiver in football who has done shit. The choice obviously should have been Coles, but I tricked myself into Chambers.

Cut to later that day. Coles had a great game. He had 140 yards and a touchdown. Chambers had a friggen rush for 11 yards. The decision to start Chris Chambers cost me 19 points.

Later that evening LT would score a bunch of points (I love that young man). I would go into the Monday night game up by 24 points. This seemed safe except for the fact that my opponent had Peyton Manning. Manning had put up that amount just twice this season. I still had hope. It wasn't to be. Manning tossed 4 touchdowns and a gorilla's fist worth of yards. He scored 28 points. I lost the playoff round by 4 points. My 10-3 team that finished with 100 points per game, 240 more total points than any other team in the league, is playing for 3rd place.

It should also be mentioned that I had Fred Taylor and he decided to pop his hammy after one run, but I will always remember this as the year that I learned to hate Chris Chambers. I can't believe I blew it on a team with LT.

There is some consolation though. The Junior Varsity (ie: non pay and prizes league) Koalas are in the championship game. I ended up with 224 points over the two playoff weeks. Averaging a hundred points in an ESPN League is a good thing. Doing this will USUALLY guarantee you a championship. It just wasn't to be for the Varsity Koalas.

The JV team actually rounded into a solid unit. LT has accounted for a lot of this but so has Fast Willie Parker. Marvin Harrison caught fire later in the year as well.

Let's see what happens. I'd be happy with a Championship, even if it was the JV.