SportsCrack

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Fantasy baseball and fantasy whores, an unfortunately friendly duo

February has been going by pretty quickly which means March is fast approaching. At least in my mind, my addiction has almost completed the full translation from football to baseball. Basketball, you’re cool and shit, but I like you much better towards the end of the season, and I apologize.

Fantasy baseball is an entirely different animal than all of the other fantasy worlds. Fantasy baseball includes such a dizzying array of statistics, not to mention an entirely separate set of minor leagues, that I sometimes assure myself that I know absolutely nothing about a player as I add him to my roster (except that he’s doing well of course). Plus, he has to have somewhat of a cool name. I obviously take into account major stat categories but if I had to take a John Smith or a Chone Smith who’ve both hit 5 homers in July, I’d take the Chone. This is probably why I haven’t finished higher than 4^th place in the last three years of fantasy play but hey, I have fun, so whatever.

Although I’ve avoided them in recent years, you always get those baseball leagues that everyone is 104% ecstatic about being in it until the middle of May, and then have the people that tail off until the end of August. I absolutely and positively cannot stand these people. They are fantasy baseball whores, in my opinion.

No words are needed.

They join a league for the draft, and for the sake of just knowing that they are in a league, even though in the middle of July they couldn’t name half their team. They might get that occasional flashback such as “Oh shit, I think I have that guy on my team” in the middle of the season which will in turn force them to check their team, once mind you, in a three month span. I do not like these people and I am sure we all have encountered them.

They are not found so much in football, since there’s action once a week but they do also exist in basketball, which proves that they are most likely incapable of completing any and all long term objectives in their actual life.

So if you could do me a favor and you have a friend (and I use that term loosely) who happens to be one of these fantasy sluts will you please, PLEASE punch them very hard and call them a failure to society. You know you want to and I absolutely guarantee you will feel like a better person afterwards.

Anyway, I felt this was a good time to kick start everyone’s collective ass and get them ready for the fantastic alternative universe of fantasy baseball. Even if you’re a fantasy whore, which means I want to throw you out a third story window, you should still be getting excited. Fore with everything great comes something bad and you at least serve a purpose, is what I always say. Or at least I just made that up and it sounded fairly cool.

In the coming weeks I will try my best to give the top 10 fantasy baseball players by position. It will not take into account sleepers, since there are always spies about. I don’t want to be giving away my genius assumptions about this season, now would I? I also know that this doesn’t fulfill most people’s needs as compared to the MLB as a whole, but if you have a problem, go buy a frigging magazine or something, because I don’t care. But please, stay tuned.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Patriot Reflections: No Field Goal Attempt and a Dollar Short

I don’t know who said it but time heals all wounds, even when your team loses the last game of a 20 week quest of immortality. You see, I respected the New York Giants. They were a great team and I had watched many of their games all year, thanks to NFL Sunday Ticket. It was here that I made my mistake, however. I neglected to realize this was the Super Bowl, and I just could not get over the fact that the Giants just looked so frigging vulnerable all year long. I neglected to take into account their playoff victories and their momentum and their underdog mentality that they carried into the Game of all Games.

Contrary to popular belief, I as a Patriots fan will not and unfortunately cannot make excuses for why we lost. I can however, dispute a call made by the coaches. This is not an excuse of course, but a confused thought, if you will. Let me set the scene. There was a bit less than 7 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Patriots were up 7-3 and it was at about at this time that a fan of either team begins to look to the end of the game. Halftime is too early. But when you near the end of the third quarter, when you are about to go into the final quarter, most fans of the game begin to think of the chess side of football in their mind. What could happen in these final twenty minutes that would affect the fate of my team? It was 4 th and 13 at the Giants 31 yard line. The Patriots, up by a mere 4 points heading into the fourth quarter, decided to go for it.

Let’s pause for a minute here shall we? Now, I respect Bill Belichick as a coach – please emphasize the coach part. He’s a football mind like I have never seen before. Do I agree with some of the decisions he makes in regards to his peers? No. If I was an NFL coach and he did what he normally does to me, would I want to break his jaw? Absolutely. Does that make me respect him any less? Of course not.

But it was at this 4 th and 13 in the Super Bowl, in the quest to go 19-0 and become football’s best team for the remainder of time, that I finally understood Bill Belichick. I enjoyed when he went for it on 4 th and 1 and even sometimes 4 th and 2 in regular season games. That was fine, I did it in Madden and agreed with doing it to some degree in the NFL. It was cool, it was hip, no other coach did it. I enjoyed it. My coach had more balls than your coach was the way I phrased it in my warped ADHD mind. It didn’t bother me.

After a while, with the Patriots having the best 4 th down conversion percentage in the last couple years in all of the NFL, Bill started to get a bit more greedy. He would go for it on 4 th and 3, 4 th and 5 and to the best of my knowledge (not saying this is true, I blame the Bud Light) I think I saw him go for it on a 4 th and 8 one time. I’m too lazy to go and research it, I apologize.

Anyway, back to the scene: 4 th and 13, the third quarter is running out. The Patriots are up 7-3 in the biggest game in the history of the franchise, perhaps the biggest game in the history of the NFL. What happens? Bill goes for it, on fourth and 13 in the second half of the Super Bowl. It was all well and good before, Bill, but WHAT THE FACK WERE YOU THINKING? Its 4 th and 13! It’s not 4 th and 1, or 2 or 3 or even 5! Who does that in the Super Bowl?!

Like I said before, it was at this time that I really knew who Bill Belichick was as a coach. I love the guy to death for all he’s done for the Patriots and to a lesser extent, for my life. I don’t know about you all, but my week hinges on whether my home town teams win or lose. I don’t go into a depressed isolation or anything, but you can be sure I won’t be holding doors for old ladies and smiling at everyone throughout the week. Okay, I still hold doors for old ladies, but I am a timeless gentleman who always does good for my elders – but if my team loses, I still have a sourpuss on my face.

But why, oh WHY, would you go for it on 4 th and 13 when you’re up by 4 in the Super Bowl? If you get a field goal there, your up by a TD going into the 4 th quarter. Isn’t that basic football strategy? I get you’re an on the edge coach who does some different things than other coaches, but this went too far. It was by far one of the dumbest decisions I have ever had the misfortune of seeing in the history of my watching the New England Patriots. It’s not like the New York Giants defense had been lying down all day, they were playing A+ football!

In short, I was confounded by this play call. If a field goal attempt was called and was successful, the Patriots very well could have taken it into overtime and won. But that’s neither here nor there; I just needed to get it off my chest.

On the other side of the ball, the New York Giants played a great game. Thankfully, I like the Giants as a football team and enjoy watching them. It’s good to see Michael Strahan get a Super Bowl ring, he’s a class act and an entertaining personality. It’s also good to see Eli Manning get out from the massive shadow that’s been placed over him since birth, and which got bigger with his older brother massive ascent to stardom. As the youngest brother of four, I know how it is living under the shadows of your older siblings.

Also, props to Tom Coughlin for having the cajones to mix up his coaching style entirely for the good of the team. Known as a tough guy coach for his entire career, he threw it all out the window and listened to his players more and axed the tough guy routine. He is a great coach and I commend him for his game plan as well as his coaching abilities.

It’s sad to see football go, and even though basketball is currently in mid swing, I will look forward to baseball to lighten my mood. As for next year’s football season, I would like to go on record and say that every single member of this team will return next year, save for Asante Samuel. If I had to put my life down on a Super Bowl winner next year, I would easily take the New England Patriots. But for now, congratulations to the New York Giants, and their fans -- I’m already looking forward to next year’s NFL season. Go Sox!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Super Bowl Quick Pick

Just so I can get this on the record:

Patriots 44 Giants 20

Perfection

It's going to be a close, high scoring game until halftime but then in the second half New England will begin to pull away... by a lot.

Just so everyone knows, after the Super Bowl this whole site is going to be morphing into Baseball Crack to begin getting ready for the baseball season. Expect a major overhaul and hopefully, wittier content. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

NFL 2007 NIT SUPER BOWL (w/ What if Sports)

At last, we’re here. For all three of you that are looking forward to this, the NFL’s 2007 NIT Tournament’s Super Bowl has finally arrived. Call me crazy, but the match up isn’t half bad. The two number one seeds in either conference, the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns are geared up for the game that will make one of them the best team that didn’t make the playoffs. If you’ve ever been left out of anything, this game is definitely for you.

As I’m sure everyone knows, this whole thing has been simulated with http://whatifsports.com – but it was not always that way. I actually did this a few weeks back before I even knew about What if Sports (and oh, a world that was). In that version, the Philadelphia Eagles played you guessed it, the Cleveland Browns in the Runners-Up Super Bowl. Suffice it to say, it’s nice to see WiS echo my own brain’s simulations –- tis a very nice stroke of the ego. In my version, the Eagles were the victor. But what would really happen? Let’s find out.

The game was going to be played in Hawaii, because… well, Hawaii’s awesome. Then I realized the Pro Bowl stadium was not available as an option, so I picked Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Call it a pre actual Super Bowl under card, if you will.

THE 1st EVER NFL 2007 NIT SUPER BOWL

CLEVELAND BROWNS VS PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

1st Quarter

The 2007 NIT Super Bowl got off to a quick start with the Eagles going 88 yards on their opening possession to score a quick TD to go up 7-0. Cleveland answered right back after a great Joshua Cribbs kick return – with Jamal Lewis taking one 38 yards to the house for a TD. A successful extra point tied the score up at 7.

After forcing the Eagles into a four and out, Derek Anderson took advantage of the change in possession and led his team 72 yards for another TD. The 1 st quarter would end with the Browns on top 14-7.

2nd Quarter

The Browns defense continued to impress, allowing a bit of yardage on the Eagles next possession, but not enough for the Eagles to convert it into points. Already having scored two TDs on two possessions, the Browns continued the trend, this time with a FG.

Lock down defense on both sides would assure no more scoring in the first half. The Browns go into halftime up 17-7.

Halftime

The Halftime show included a fan field goal kicking contest (he missed) as well as a great performance by Kanye West, Chamillionaire and Shakira. Also, everyone was given a free personal size pizza courtesy of Uno’s.

3rd Quarter

Good defensive play on both sides of the ball continued into the 3 rd quarter. However, the Browns held the Eagles to zero points for the 2 nd consecutive quarter while Cleveland tacked on another field goal to their score.

The score was 20-7 going into the final quarter.

4th Quarter

The Eagles wasted no time in the 4 th quarter, scoring a quick TD 2 minutes in. The Browns answered RIGHT back however, going 71 yards to counter the Eagles TD. The 2 point conversion failed however. With 9 minutes to go the score was 26-14 and the Eagles looked to be on the ropes.

After a quick first down, the Eagles would have to punt. The defense would answer the call however and get them the ball back. McNabb would take care of the rest and with 4:31 to go in the game, the Eagles would make it 26-21.

With only 2 timeouts, the Eagles couldn’t stop the Browns rushing attack who successfully gained three first downs to put this one away.

The Cleveland Browns win the 2007 NFL NIT Tournament 26-21!

Player of the game: Jamal Lewis 22 rushes 105 yards 2 TDs (And for anyone interested, Derek Anderson didn't have nearly as good a game as last week -- 18/28 246 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT)

Monday, January 28, 2008

NFL 2007 NIT Championship Round (w/ What if Sports)

Here we are, on the cusp of the NIT Super Bowl with a Final Four match up of some teams who by all accounts, didn’t have too bad of a year. True, they didn’t make the actual playoffs, but this is a great sign of things to come. Our first match up is the AFC NIT Championship game between the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns.

Both teams had surprisingly good years, even though their seasons did not end in an actual playoff bid. Derek Anderson gave the Browns a quandary that many teams would kill for: leave the reigns for the promising breakout quarterback or hand them over to an even more promising young QB in waiting. No matter which direction the Browns organization chooses, they have a strong foundation on all three sides of the ball to build on and I fully expect them to be a contender for years to come.

The Texans, who were the laughingstock of the league when they drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush, are now the ones that are laughing. Williams has proved to be an elite defensive talent who will be the benchmark for that defense for many, many years. A strong defensive showing as well as a great year from newly acquired QB Matt Schaub almost landed the Texans a spot in the playoffs. However, they play in perhaps the toughest division in football in the AFC South and look to only get better in the years to come.

As always the games were simulated with the excellent http://whatifsports.com and weather averages obtained using the equally excellent http://weather.com.

(2) Houston @ (1) Cleveland (20 degrees, flurries, light winds)

Although it was a relatively competitive game at the end of the 1 st quarter, it was then that the Cleveland Browns decided to turn on the jets. The Browns scored three unanswered touchdowns in the 2 nd quarter to make it 28-3 and it was a deficit the Texans would never come even close to recovering from.

Derek Anderson was spectacular with nearly 300 yards, 5 TDs and only one incomplete pass. Although Jamal Lewis didn’t have the best game in the world with only 55 yards, Joshua Cribbs took a 60 yard reverse to the house early in the 3 rd quarter to put the Browns up by 32 points.

In the end, the Texans just didn’t appear to even want to be in the game and the final score showed it. The Browns cruise to the NIT Super Bowl 49-20.

Player of the game: Derek Anderson 21/22 284 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT

On the NFC side of the league the Arizona Cardinals are set to face the Philadelphia Eagles. Arizona, the only underdog seed to advance in the NIT playoffs had a mediocre but promising season. Although young QB Matt Leinart did nothing to wow the fans, the team still has a solid running game and defense to build upon.

The Eagles were arguably the best 8-8 team of the entire year. They showed flashes of brilliance all year long but were too inconsistent in the end to clinch a playoff bid.

(3) Arizona @ (1) Philadelphia (25 degrees, clear skies)

This game remained very competitive through the first half, with the score deadlocked at 7 at the half way mark. It was then that Brian Westbrook did what he has done many times this season: Win the game himself.

A quick 10 points at the start of the 3 rd quarter, thanks in part to Mr. Westbrook put the Eagles up 17-7. The Cardinals did respond early in the 4 th with a field goal, but the Eagles would answer back with a Brian Westbrook TD. Another field goal for the Iggles would put them up 27-10 which would end up being the final score.

Player of the game: Brian Westbrook 21 attempts 94 yards, 2 TD – 5 receptions 51 yards

So there you have it. It’s Browns/Eagles in the 2007 NFL NIT Super Bowl. Which probably deserved to get into the playoffs? Maybe they both did, but we will definitvely know who was the best team that got left out of the playoffs in a few short days. Stay tuned!