FFL '08

Somehow we managed to keep all 10 owners from last year, so last weekend was the annual debacle known as our 14 round fantasy football draft. I had the unenviable privilege of drafting 9th (and then again 3 picks later), so going in I tried to forecast who I should slot with that first pick. I had it in my head that the best available pick at that point would probably be Marion Barber. However, as usual, we immediately went into bizarro-draft-world when Westbrook went first overall, immediately followed by L.T., Peterson, Jackson, Addai, Barber, Brady, and Manning. So, the first tier backs were pretty much depleted and the drop off is pretty significant so I scrapped the RB-RB plan and went with Moss. Then the next guy went Fitzgerald/Wayne back to back and I went insane and drafted T.O. The next 16 picks were mostly 2nd tier RBs and WRs, with Romo and Brees thrown in.

So now we get to my pick at the bottom of round 3, and I'm in the same position I was in in round 1. I can either pick strong in a position, or pick the best of what's left at RB. I made the assumption that the other owners would not start drafting a 3rd RB before they already had 2 WRs, but I was wrong. Three times. I picked Gates and Palmer and slotted a 2 running back selection for rounds 5 and 6. I assumed that 2 would still be there of Thomas Jones, Earnest Graham, Reggie Bush, Brandon Jacobs, and Laurence Maroney. But, only Maroney was left for me to take in round 5 and then came Greg Jennings in a backup WR slot in round 6.

What was left at RB for me at the end of round 7? Ronnie Brown and Selvin Young. Just shoot me. So after I filled in the rest of the reserves and drafted a kicker and a defense, my final opening day roster looks like:

QB: Carson Palmer, Jason Campbell (only drafted him beacuse they play the Lions on Palmer's bye)
RB: Maroney, Ronnie Brown, Selvin Young, Fred Taylor
WR: Moss, Owens, Jennings, Stallworth
TE: Gates, Heap
K: Crosby
DST: Giants (who lost Umenyiora just a few hours later)

If Ronnie Brown can keep most of the carries away from Ricky Williams in Miami and run like he is capable of, I like my chances. Otherwise, my draft day strategy adjustments are just going to make for a depressing season.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're never getting back.

High Stakes On Stars, Almost There

I haven't bothered to actually deposit any cash into PokerStars, but due to a Kathie Lee slave laborish hourly wage, I now have an astronomical $1.60 in my roll there. 8,000 tards playing limit razz and my 23rd place finish after 3-1/2 hours handed me the honor and privilege of playing a limit O8 $2000 freeroll against 5,500 other draw monkeys. Well, it was actually only 3 hours as I needed to leave for 1/2 hour to take care of dinner. We were down into the 800's with 88 spots "paying", but I had plenty of chips. As soon as we hit 88, I was outta there. I found out later that it took until 23rd before all of my chips were finally blinded off.

Then 3-1/2 more hours of limit O8 (the next day) and a 320th place finish and I'm on my way. Again, it was more like 2-1/2 hours as I didn't actually fire up the software until the first break was just ending. At that point I had a little over $1000 left of the $1500 starting stack. I was up over $15,000 in about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, a couple of huge draws never came through and I couldn't continue to amass enough chips to make a run at the top 5. Fun while it lasted though.


Actually, I'm hoping I can kind of go through a Ferguson challenge type of thing on Stars just to see how I do. If I make it to $10, I'll call it a success.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're never getting back.