Fantasy Football newbie

August 26, 2008 · Filed Under Entertainment, Sports · Comments 

I’ve never been much of a football fan. But just about everybody I know is a big time football nut. So it makes it tough to hang around the water cooler when you don’t know a field goal from a 2 point conversion. OK, I’m not a complete dumbass, I know the rules and scoring of football and I watch enough Sports Center to know the teams and several key players, but if you asked me how a specific team did last year, I’d have no clue. This year, I’ve decided to take a much deeper interest in the game of football. What better way to do that than by joining a Fantasy Football league?

Our draft was set up for today at 4:00 PM. Over the past week I had done some research and even created a spreadsheet with tabs for each position and a ranking system that I had found online somewhere. I cross-checked some names, tried to keep an eye on the news for injuries and basically thought more about football in the past week than I have over the past 10 years.

By random draw, I ended up picking 11th in the first round out of 12 teams. In the second round I’d pick 2nd and then it would be a bit of a wait before I picked again in the 3rd round. As the time was getting close I double-checked that I had everything I needed. Then, it was go-time!

As players were getting picked I’d mark them off my sheet. The big names that I expected to be taken went right away. After a few short minutes I was on the clock and ready to make my first pick. My goal here, don’t make a fool of yourself. Don’t pick somebody that people are going to say “Dude, you could have got him in the 6th round…” Actually, to be honest, that was my goal for the entire draft, not just the first round. Just don’t be a complete idiot.

One thing that I realized I have going for me is that I have no pro team affiliation. I’m not a Chargers fan, I’m not a Raiders fan, I’m not a Patriots fan. As the draft was going on, you’d see certain teams picking guys off their favorite team just because they are on their favorite team. I think this is a huge mistake, but I’m a noob, so what do I know.

When all was said and done, I’m fairly pleased with my team. Our weekly team consists of 1 quarterback, 3 wide receivers , 2 running backs, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, 1 team defense, 1 defensive back and 1 defensive lineman. We also have 6 bench spots for a total of 17 draft rounds. Here’s who I picked by round:

1. Larry Johnson, RB
2. Clinton Portis, RB
3. Plaxico Burress, WR
4. Matt Hasselbeck, QB
5. Dwayne Bowe, WR
6. Jeremy Shockey, TE
7. Donald Driver, WR
8. Dallas’ Defense
9. Nate Kaeding, K
10. Jeff Garcia, QB
11. DeShaun Foster, RB
12. DeAngelo Williams, RB
13. Jerry Porter, WR
14. Nick Barnett, DL
15. Sammy Knight, DB
16. Deion Branch, WR
17. Arnaz Battle, WR

I’m fairly pleased with my team. Checking the match-ups for the first 3 weeks, Yahoo predicts I’ll have more points than my opponents each week. So that’s a good thing.

So, here we go. My rookie year as a Fantasy Football coach. How do you think I did draft-wise? Of the 17 picks I made, how many of them would you say were “good”, “OK”, “bad” or “horrible”?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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