In which we won!

Whoo hoo!

Sandy Springs FFC is off the schneid with a 17-6 victory over Joe V's Cellar Monkeys squad. Commish Carrier called the victory "lackluster" but I think he's still sulking after I called him a con man a couple of weeks ago. It was a good win! I actually picked the right kicker! And Mojo scored! Steve Slaton got points on the bench so he'll be moving into the rotation next week.

SFC is up to 10th in the Power Rankings and has the honor, nay, the privilege of competing against the number 1 ranked Egomaniacs next week. They are 3-0 and are scoring nearly 40 points a game so far behind the efforts of Jay Cutler, Terrell Owens, and Michael Turner (The Burner). His other RB's include Felix Jones and LaDanian Tomlinson, so you see why he is off to such a good start.

EGOBOYS GOING DOWN. You heard it here first.

Support your local bloggers. And their fantasy football teams.

In which I say hi to my wife

My wife was looking at my blog this afternoon and fussed at me for not writing about her more often. My bad! So here I am, writing about her now. She's in bed and won't see this until tomorrow, but I wanted to do it anyway.

Yesterday was our 29 month anniversary. We've been married almost two and a half years. It's still the best decision I ever made. I have a friend, a champion, a support system, a lover, a companion, and a critic all in one sexy package. I love every bit of it, even the critic part. Lord knows I need some guidance now and then.

I have become a better person due to my wife and our family, and I have seen and done things I would have never done without their influence in my life. For that and for so much else, Darlene, thank you. You have opened my world to a whole new set of experiences and wonders. You have inspired me in so many ways, and I will never be able to thank you enough, nor will I be able to truly express what you mean to me.

I certainly can't do her justice in a blog entry, but what I can do is say it for the world to read: I love my wife!

In which I still can't pick a kicker

A mixed week in fantasy football. It was a good one for roster adjustments. I put Tom Brady and Nate Burleson on IR and added Kerry Collins and Matt Jones off the waiver wire as replacements. The Jones pick in particular has brought me ridicule from certain segments of UFFL ownership, but I stand beside my waivery acumen!

As for the game, not so good. SFC is now 0-2 after a disheartening 24-22 loss to Renegade Rebels. Donovan McNabb's Monday night TD pass provided the victory for RR. For the second week in a row I would have won had I started my other kicker. This week I left Ryan Longwell and his 18 points on the bench. I think my method for choosing kickers from now on will be to pick the one I want to start then actually start the other one. Or cut one of them so I don't have a choice any more.

At least I'm not at the bottom of the Power Rankings. That honor goes to Lethal Weapon 4, who have 10 players on their 18-player roster who aren't even active in the league right now. He can't even field a complete team because he only has one WR who actually plays! He started Keyshawn Johnson at WR this week! And I get grief for picking up Matt Jones. Hmph.

In which I'm ready for some football!

This past weekend signaled the official start of the football season. The NFL kicked off for the first time and high schools and colleges got into full swing as well.

We went over to my alma mater on Friday, Parkview High School, and watched them dismantle the Cougars of Chattahoochee High School, which is where my wife works. It was the second game of the season for each team, and each had lost their game in week one. Hooch had a pretty good team last year, and Parkview was a little down, but Parkview had no trouble with them in a 49-12 romp. Parkview had two running backs near 200 yards rushing. Unfortunately for Hooch players and fans this was a common sight during the game:



(Picture courtesy of CHS's Football Photo Gallery. Lots of great game photos to view there. Check it out!)

Parkview goes to 1-1 and Hooch falls to 0-2. The orange-clad Sam was happy, and the blue-and-yellow Bunch was not. Steven put blue hair gel in, so his tips were blue. It was pretty cool. We sat on the Hooch side (which got me, in my orange hat and shirt, some dirty looks) next to the band, who were rocking, even if their team was struggling. Hooch won halftime by a mile. That's a good band. We're looking forward to going to more Chattahoochee games later this fall.

Along with the beginning of the NFL season (Go Falcons!), UFFL fantasy football got underway as well. It did not go well in Week 1 for Sandy Springs FFC. I was matched up against Hook-Ups, run by Jimmy Woo. To quote from Bill Carrier's commentary:

"HU held on for a 10-7 win over SFC - HU's third straight season opening win. It was a brutal week for SFC, as MVP Tom Brady was lost for the season in the first quarter of Week 1. WR Nate Burleson was also hurt and is out for the season. Rubbing salt in the wound, SFC scored no TDs in Week 1 and only received points from K Ryan Longwell. The loss also broke a 4 game Week 1 win streak for SFC - SFC previously had not lost a season opener since 2002."

That's right. I lost two players to injury in the first week. In a way it's funny, because this solves the bye week problem I mentioned before. All I have to do is put them on IR and pick up (or trade for) players who aren't on bye in Week 4. Then again, it is Tom Brady that I lost, and Burleson was going to be one of my top WR threats this year. Carrier has already made me a trade offer to restock the positions. No idea yet if I'll take it or not. I play him this week, so I have to figure out if he's trying to dump his dross on me just as we're about to play. I suspect he is. He's such a con man when it comes to fantasy football. We have a history when it comes to trades though: I traded him Rick Mirer for J.J. Stokes once. Or was it the other way around? Does it matter? Either way, I'll likely have Jon Kitna at QB this week, unless I can land a stud QB in a trade. There's really no one except J.T. O'Sullivan on the waiver wire, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go there. We'll see. Update later this week, probably.

Until then, I'm out. Support your local bloggers.

In which I talk about football and church and stuff

I'm doing this post piecemeal. I'm making tea for tomorrow, so I have to keep running back and forth to the kitchen. I know that has no bearing on your reading experience, but it makes for an interesting writing process so I thought I'd bring it up. If you haven't already been bored to tears and clicked off somewhere else, keep reading. It won't be much longer before you bail on me, I'm sure.

The UFFL Draft took place this evening. The league is geared up now for our 17th season of fantasy football. 1992 was the first year we played together and there were nine owners running ten teams (one guy ran two teams). 17 years later there are 14 teams, and seven of the original nine owners are still in the league. I think that's pretty remarkable.

I didn't actually take part in the draft. It was started at 6:00 and we were in church at that time. I sent my draft preferences to the Commish though, so my team still participated even if I didn't. We run what is usually called a dynasty league, which means we carry over our entire roster from year to year. The draft then, is made up of rookies and players who were not on rosters at the end of the previous season.

I exchanged three players. I cut QB John Beck, RB Adrian Peterson (the one from the Bears, not the Vikings), and WR Deion Branch. I picked up QB Chad Henne, RB Jason Snelling, and RB Steve Slaton. Henne is the QB of the future for the Dolphins and Slaton stands to get good playing time in Houston. I just had a feeling about Snelling, who plays for the Falcons.

(The tea is done. I made some Kool-Aid too, for the kids. Pink lemonade.)

So after the draft, here is the roster for Sandy Springs FFC:

QB - Tom Brady, Chad Henne, Jon Kitna
RB - Maurice Jones-Drew, Steve Slaton, Jason Snelling, Leon Washington
WR - Nate Burleson, Plexiglas Burress, Jerricho Cotchery, Wes Welker
TE - Alge Crumpler, Marcedes Lewis
K - Ryan Longwell, Neil Rackers

I like it. I'm going to have issues in Week Four of the season as all three of my QB's and three of my four WR's will be on bye. We'll see what happens when the time comes. It's going to be interesting. Watch this space for SSFFC updates as the season progresses!

Church was cool tonight. Steven helped out playing the drums during the musical portion of the service. The usual drummer was not in church tonight, so Steven and Tyler (the 11-year old son of the music minister) teamed up on the drums. One would play the snare, high-hat, splash cymbal, and handle the tom rolls, and the other played the floor tom and the ride cymbal. They switched out positions several times during the service and did a fantastic job. Steven has come a long way with his drumming and we are really proud of him.

The girls got to take part too. The pastor invited all the kids to come up and help out with the singing so Jewel, Jessica, and Sage got to go up and hold microphones and sing with their friends. It was great. Sage didn't know as many of the songs as the twins did, but she really belted out the chorus of "I'll Fly Away" and the twins were doing their thing as well. It was really cool seeing all the kids on stage enjoying themselves and taking part in the service.

I start my new job Tuesday. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, send good thoughts, do whatever it is that you do to send good luck to me. I'm so thankful to finally get back to work and get the opportunity to take care of my family again. I was drawing unemployment this summer, but that wasn't a patch on what my paychecks bring in. It'll be good to have that security again.

That's all for now. I didn't get much sleep last night and I need to be sure to get a good night sleep tomorrow so I'm going to sign off, have a quick snack (PBJ, most likely) then go to bed. My lovely bride is sleeping in the living room chair with the remote control, so I'll have to wake her up and get her off to bed. She'll fuss at me for it, but I'm going to do it. I love you baby! You have a sexy butt!

That's it. I'm out. Happy Labor Day. Support your local bloggers.