Kevin's Watch

OK..we are getting ready for another year.

Only seven teams are in so far.

Where's all the players at?

Well, it's no mystery who I'm going to draft first: stinkin' Larry Johnson> his points knocked me out of the semis 2 years ago and pretty much cost me the Championship last year (aside from the fact that I had no receivers in the end...) 3rd time's a charm! This is my league this year!

dream line-up:
QB-Brees
RBs-Johnson, Bush and Williams
WRs-Walker, Owens, Harrison, Horn
TE-Davis
K-Rackers
D-Chicago

I thought you were talking about proper football.

i.e soccer

I'm in, THUNDERCRUNCH is all set but it think dAN is being coy this year. I hope he decides to play. Nudge nudge nudge.

I'm in, but only if I can have Robbie Keane and Thierry Henry!

I remember trying to get people to do Proper Fantasy Football. we still can if anyone is interested?

I'm up for some PROPER fantasy football.....

aTOMiC wrote:I'm in, THUNDERCRUNCH is all set but it think dAN is being coy this year. I hope he decides to play. Nudge nudge nudge.

I'm in. Sorry, danlo, but I'm ready for you this time!

Excellent. Our roster is now evenly set. Bring on the draft!

Not to keep to the sidetrack, but I just saw the headbutt for first time, and still, the Italian does a great acting job. Have you seen the video on youtube about the Italians practicing? Here that training has come into play.

Anyway, while setting up some pre-rankings, in case I can't be there live, I've realized its a tough start. There are some players I just don't know what to make of. Tough decisions.

True, Davis on my part is a gut call--with the current state of the Niners O-line their QB, what's the Utah guy, Smith(?), had better have an ever-present quick out: if he expects to live!

After a few PMs to the commish (kins) going unanswered I thought I'd pose this to the rest. Jerelak asked me if a friend (with league experience) could join. I say sure, but we need a quorum.

Sure

ok by me

Ok...9 teams in, and one more to go.

My buddy Russell's team is in, it's the Reapers.

I feel like it's gonna be a good year for the mighty Leviathan...

Two open questions to jelerak (and anybody else following the Saints):

1) of course hindsight and what ifs are rather dumb questions in themselves-but is it possible the Saints dodged a real bullet by moving LaCharles Bentely? Is there a Browns' curse? Would it have crippled the Saints O-Line if he were still on the team when the injury occured, or (and this is my real question) have the Saints already made adjustments and have a capable replacement locked in-and what is the current state of their overall O-Line (aside from the great acquisition of Jermane (the beast) Mayberry from the Eagles)?

2) given all the pretty offensive weapons the Saints now have (and, hopefully, an O-Line that can do something for them) should Saint-fan be concerned about Bush's holdout? Was this predicted? Should we just let it run it's course and not worry, or not?

Well...like you mentioned, hindsight is 20 / 20. But who knows, the Saints first practice wasn't until this afternoon. Another time, another place...who's to say that if he stayed on the Saints that this injury would not have happened?

But regarding the Browns' curse...it sure seems like a whole lot of high profile players have gone down with serious injuries for Cleveland in the past. Courtney Simon, Kellen Winslow Jr., and Braylon Edwards are the first come to mind, along with the recent loss of Bentley.

Ironically, we picked up Faine from the Browns in a draft day trade, who was a former Browns # 1 pick, and their starting center for the past 2 or 3 years. The knock on him was that he was injury prone. Like I said, ironic, eh?

But how many teams in the salary cap era really have great depth at any position any more, especially when a Pro Bowl caliber player goes down? It's mighty difficult to keep that depth at back up positions these days, and still have cap room to manage the other immediate needs on the roster.

The anchors on our o-line are gonna be Mayberry and Jammal Brown. Hopefully Faine stays healthy and can contribute at center for the whole year. The other 2 positions are journeyman status, at best. Functional for what they will be asked to do, and anything beyond that will just be a bonus for us.

Regarding the Reggie Bush situation...

Well, he really should never have been there for us to draft, anyway. Being that we have Deuce, we will be OK at that position initially. But Deuce's health is a concern, coming off of that major knee injury. So Bush needs to get to camp as soon as possible to start getting into the system.

The prevailing thought down here is that, out of all positions, RB is the one that can most easily be made up from lost time in training camp. Now that #1 and #3 have signed, I imagine that he should be in camp before the end of the weekend, unless one side of the negotiations are just being completely obstinate.

The reality of the matter is that the Saints are already in uncharted territory in season ticket sales, and are facing the almost unbelievable scenario of having the entire season sold out to season ticket holders. An unreal turn of events, taking into consideration our post-Katrina New Orleans environment. And, yes, a new coaching staff and the signing of Drew Brees have helped attain that goal...but no one should fool themselves and deny the fact that the drafting of Reggie Bush is the real reason that season ticket sales have by far broke any previous season ticket sales by the Saints franchise.

A long answer, I know...hopefully it helped out.

Reports say that Bush has just signed a six year deal with NO! And Hank Baskett (UNM) is impressing, big time, in Eagle camp!

Only one week from today 'til the draft. As of this evening, there is still one spot left open.

If it's OK with ya'll, I'm gonna go ahead and let one of my other friends in from past years in other leagues, to give us the full team allotment for the league.

Sounds good to me! Fresh blood! Bring it on!