January 25, 2013

Fantasy Football Scoring Week 3



Here is the updated scoring with only the Super Bowl to go and some random notes:

-Odds on favorite at this point has to be Tyler Munroe. He has the starting RBs for both teams and as long as Ray Rice outscores the BAL def he should have no issue catching Chad’s boss

-Dan Murphy and I will be rooting for a huge performance from Crabtree. If he goes off, I'll need Pitta to stay at least 3 points ahead of Rice, but either way Dan or I could come from behind FTW. 


-Sean Stiegerwald and Clusky had monster performances this past week. They finished 1-2 in weekly scoring and it wasn’t close.  Julio Jones can be thanked. You can find him on the golf course. 

-Might be awkward at work: Chad is almost in last while his boss is setting the pace in first


-UMass had a horrible showing in this pool, highlighted by the dubious performances currently slotted 13th-17th….. Maybe (hopefully) some of the people I don’t know went to Umass as well.



1. Chad's Boss- 285 (BAL Def & Gore)
2. Tyler Munroe- 281 (Rice & Gore)
3. Dan Bastable- 271 (Rice & Davis)
4. Sean Steigerwald- 266 (Pitta & Davis)
5. James Brown- 259 (Pitta & Crabtree)
6. Dan Murphy- 256 (Rice & Crabtree)


7. Clusky- 251 (Rice & Davis) (Eliminated)
8. Mike Barbagallo- 250 (Pitta & SF Def)
9. Mikey Paniello- 243 (Rice & Davis) (Eliminated)
10. Dougie Dodge- 242 (Rice & Crabtree) (Eliminated)
11. Peaches- 241 (Rice & SF Def)
12. Brian Davis- 239 (Pitta & Crabtree) (Eliminated)
13. Tarak Patel- 227 (Smith & SF Def)
14. Jeremy Tannenbaum- 225 (Rice & Crabtree) (Eliminated)
15. Michael Beckerman- 220 (Pitta & SF Def) (Eliminated)
16. Joe Webber- 213 (Rice & Crabtree) (Eliminated) 
T-17. Chad Denardis- 197 (Rice & SF Def) (Eliminated) 
T-17. Jigga- 197 (Rice and SF Def) (Eliminated)
19.  Dodge- 180 (Rice and SF Def) (Eliminated) 




Week 3 scoring:


Brady 12
Ryan 25
Pitta 11
T Smith 6
Rice 12
T Gonz 13
Julio 30
Roddy 10
Gore 21
Tree 3
VD 16
BAL D 10
SF D 5




January 23, 2013

Eating Fal-crow

I haven't posted in a while. Still in shock from the AFC Championship game. I'll post again soon (maybe the Bruin's mini win streak can help me snap out of this sports funk) but for now enjoy these memes that no longer make any sense.

RIP Awesome Joe Flacco Memes








January 17, 2013

Embarrassed UMass Alum



Camby @ UMass in 1996  

As most of my readers already know, I was a student at UMass-Amherst from Fall 2005 through Spring 2009. I love the athletic department and attended many games from the major sports when I was there. Mostly I enjoyed hockey games and basketball games at the Mullins Center, when I wasn't working as an Event Staff employee.  Currently I support all Umass teams, in fact I know a couple people now working in these programs and wish nothing but success for them (Vogel.)

Anyway this Saturday night UMass is honoring former player basketball star Marcus Camby by retiring his number before the game vs George Washington. They are going to raise his #21 to the rafters alongside Dr J, Trigger Burke, Lou Roe, and Al Skinner. Camby played on the team from 1994-96. 

In 1996, Camby's senior year,  Umass lost to Kentucky in the Final 4. Camby was a monster that year... like, the best player in the country. He was named National Player of the Year and ended being the #2 overall pick in the NBA draft. My Umass professors used to talk to our classes about how in 1996 we were #1 in the country and the entire campus was basketball-crazy 24/7. It's all anyone talked about all year. It was a magical time at Umass and easily the most success the program has ever had. 

However, all of this was done illegally. Camby was accepting gifts from multiple agents, who were essentially bribing him for the right to represent him once he left Umass and was ready to go pro. This, of course, is highly illegal and strictly forbidden in the NCAA. When a NCAA athlete accepts gifts it removes their "amateur" status and they are no longer eligible to play. 

Camby accepted cash (somewhere around $60,000), cars, stereos  and other expensive gifts from a few different agents, all hoping to sign him once he left school. He would meet with these guys in and around the Amherst area, and straight up ask for cash. There is one guy who actually faced prostitution charges because he had one of his female tenants sleep with Camby in exchange for lowering her monthly rent. Camby, of course, led these guys on, leading them to believe he would sign with them once his college career was over. Turns out Camby ended up completely screwing over both guys (they deserved it) by choosing to go with a high-profile agency that had never illegally contacted him. 


Camby was well aware what he was doing was illegal and against the rules, but did it anyway. The coach at the time, John Calipari, recently released a statement on Camby's number being retired and was of his main points was "what a great teammate" he was. I guess Calipari, who is a complete scumbag himself,  must have forgotten that Camby's selfish actions caused the NCAA to vacate the tournament wins and all of his personal stats. Actually, I wanted to look some of those stats up from the 1996 tourny, and in my Sports Almanac it literally doesn't even say "Umass" under the 3rd place team. It simply says "Vacated." 

Camby and Calipari 

Calipari himself, I'm sure, was fully aware of what was going on with his star  during that season, and I have no doubt he chose to turn the other way while it was happening. After the mess he left at Umass, Calipari escaped to the NBA, and failed miserably. He sucked. After 3 seasons with the Nets that produced 0 playoff wins, Calipari tucked his tail between his legs and returned to the college ranks to coach Memphis. He had immediate success, and in 2007 set a NCAA record for wins in a season. However, all of those wins were again vacated due to the fact that Derrick Rose, the best player, was academically ineligible and Calipari covered it up. As soon as the recruiting sanctions came down, Calipari ditched the program and left for Kentucky so he didn't have to deal with it. I think you get the picture about this guy: he a cheating, lying piece of shit scumbag who has no regard for the game and the NCAA. When the going gets tough- he gets going. Bob Knight, who coached 40+ years with no violations, doesn't think Calipari should be coaching anymore and neither do I. 

Anyway, back to Camby. There is just no way in hell he should be honored at Umass with a jersey retirement ceremony. Did he bring a lot of attention to the program  in the mid 90s? Yes he did. Did he lead the school's team further than it had ever been before ? Yes* he did. Is he the most talented and best player ever to don a Umass uniform? You can definitely make a good case for it. Did he have a very sucessful NBA career? Sure. 

Supporters of Camby will argue that regardless of the scandal, he brought UMass basketball to new heights and changed the program for the better. To that, I laugh hysterically: 

Umass has been to the dance 8 times total. Below are all the results: 

YearResult
1962First Round
1992Sweet Sixteen
1993Second Round
1994Second Round
1995Elite Eight
1996Final Four*
1997First Round
1998First Round

Someone please tell me how Camby helped the Umass program? Am I missing something?  In an article published in 1997 Umass officials admitted that the Camby scandal had a negative effect on recruitment and the school was forced to return the $151,000 it received for it's final 4 appearance. What good did Camby bring to the Umass program? Seriously, I want answers in the comment section.


Listen, do I hate Marcus Camby? Not really. I think he was a young, impressionable guy who made a ton of mistakes and since has learned from them. I've always kinda resented him (and Calipari) because I truly believe his actions at Umass negatively effected my personal experience there (aka the basketball program never recovered and sucked when I was there as a student.) But I don't hate him. I blame the scum agents and the head coach more, but the idea of retiring Camby's jersey is just wrong. And it's a complete joke that the Athletic Dept itself is celebrating and honoring the very person who caused the demise of it's basketball program. Honestly, I am embarrassed to be a UMass alum this weekend. 





January 14, 2013

Richard Sherman- toast city





Richard Sherman got burned by the Tahiti Lounger Captain  Roddy White, for a 50 yard TD on Sunday. And somehow got up and thought clapping in Roddy's face was appropriate? Cool. Have fun golfing this week clown. 


 BTW Nice Week 6 victory over the Pats, I guess that WAS your Superbowl. Learn how to win. 



PS. If Richard Sherman wasn't on the Seahawks they would be one of my favorite teams. Instead I hate them. 






January 13, 2013

Fantasy Football Playoff Scoreboard- Week 2


Here is the Updated Score after 2 weeks and with 3 games remaining. Obviously the loss of Gronk is/was a huge blow to a lot of teams. NO ONE had Kapernick who put up a ridiculous fantasy performance (46 points.)  It looks like the top 8-10 people are still in the pool. Obviously after next week we will have a much better idea of who has a chance at the $380.

As always, please check my math on your team. It's very possible I've made a mistake. 



1. Chad's Boss- 229 (Brady, BAL Def, Gore, Gonz)
2. Tyler Munroe- 226 (Brady, Rice, Gore, White)
3. James Brown- 222 (Brady, Pitta, Crabtree, Gonz)
4. Dan Bastable- 221 (Brady, Rice, Davis, Gonz)
5. Dougie Dodge- 217 (Rice, Crabtree, White)
6. Mike Barbagallo- 209 (Brady, Pitta, SF Def, Gonz)
7. Dan Murphy- 204 (Brady, Rice, Crabtree, Ryan)
T-8. Brian Davis- 203 (Brady, Pitta, Crabtree,White) 
T-8. Tarak Patel- 203 (Smith, SF Def, Gonz)

T-10. Sean Steigerwald- 197 (Brady, Pitta, Davis, Jones)
T-10. Jeremy Tannenbaum- 197 (Rice, Crabtree, Gonz)
T-12. Michael Beckerman- 194 (Pitta, SF Def,White) 
T-12.  Peaches- 194 (Rice, SF Def, Jones)
14. Mikey Paniello- 190 (Brady, Rice, Davis, Gonz)
15.  Joe Webber- 185 (Rice, Crabtree, Gonz) 
16. Clusky- 181 (Brady, Rice, Davis, Jones)
17. Chad Denardis- 170 (Rice, SF Def, White)
18. Jigga- 167 (Rice, SF Def, Gonz)
19. Dodge- 153 (Rice, SF Def, White)






Scoring from Week 2-

peyton 17
kap 46
tree 23
rodgers 18
cobb 2
vernon 4
gore 21
sf def 4
gb def 2
rice 19
torrey 21

pitta 5
decker 8
thomas 9
moreno 11
tamme 4

den def 14
balt def 14
lynch 11
tate 16
roddy 13
julio 5
t gonz 11
ryan 18
sea def 3
atl def 5
s rice 6
andre 11
foster 27
brady 25
gronk 0


January 9, 2013

Woe to the Maple Leafs/ Brian Burke



The news came down today that the Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke has been fired (or at least has given up his duties as GM.) He will be replaced by Dave Nonis, who has been his assistant GM with the Leafs and who also took over for Burke after he was fired by the Canucks about 10 years ago.

Nonis traded FOR Roberto Luongo in his first year as GM of the Canucks back in 2005, now it will be interesting to see if he trades for him in the first WEEK as GM of the Leafs.

First things first is I have a lot of respect for Brian Burke. Lets take a brief look at his NHL career:

1992- Became GM of the Hartford Whalers
1993- Left Hartford to join the NHL as executive VP and Director of Hockey Ops
1998- Left the NHL to become the GM of the Vancouver Canucks
2004- Fired as GM of the Canucks
2005- Hired as GM of the Anaheim Ducks
2008- Stepped down from GM position in Anaheim, became GM for Toronto Maple Leafs
2013- Fired as GM of the Leafs




-In 1999 Burke and the Canucks owned the 3rd overall pick. He ended up trading with Atlanta and acquired the 2nd overall pick as well. That year's draft was held in Boston and with those twp picks Burke selected The Sedin twins. Possibly the greatest draft selections ever. Took a lot of guts to pull off a trade like this and Burke nailed it.

-Burke won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim during the 2006-07 season

-Burke came to Umass in 2008 and spoke to one of my classes. The general purpose of the talk was just to inspire some sport mgt kids, I think. I remember Burke specifically talking about getting fired, and how EVERYONE you know, knows you got fired and how it's all over the news. It was pretty interesting stuff, and especially relevant to right now when Burke's name is being tossed around like a rag doll in the media

-Burke was part of Team USAs selection coaching committee in 2010. Another major reason why I like this guy- his involvement in USA hockey

-In 2009 Burke attended the Toronto Gay Pride Parade with his gay son, Brendan. Unfortunately in February of 2012 Bredan passed away in a car accident. To honor him, Burke and one of his other sons created the organization "You Can Play" project, who's target goal is to end homophobia in hockey.




-On September 18, 2009 Burke pulled the trigger on a trade that sent away 3 draft picks to the Bruins in return for Phil Kessel. Kessel has been OK since then, but that 09-10 season was a disaster for the Leafs. They finished with the worst record in the East, and the draft pick they traded to Boston ended up being the #2 overall pick in which the Bruins selected some guy named Tyler Seguin (Spawning one of my favorite Garden chants ever- "Thank-You Kess-el".) The other 2 picks from that trade brought back Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton. This clearly has the potential to be the most lopsided trade in NHL history, but at least Burke had the stones to pull the trigger on a blockbuster. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work out, at all.

So basically I wanted to write this post to praise Burke, while at the same time make fun of the Leafs for their irrelevancy and of course to thank them again for Seguin, Hamilton, and Knight. I hope one day soon the Leafs can rise up and be a force in the NE division. I'd love to see a modern day rivalry grow between the Leafs and Bruins, after all they are in-division opponents.

 2 stats I will leave you with:

The Leafs haven't made the playoffs since the 03-04 season

The Leafs haven't won the Cup in 45 years








My 2013 Baseball HOF ballot



Today at 2pm the 2013 Baseball HOF vote results will be announced. It is very possible this will be the first year since '96 no one gets elected in. Players are required to have 75% of the vote. Below are the names on the ballot and how I personally would vote. It's tough for me to judge a bunch of these players who played in the 80's and early 90's, but I'll do my best. I haven't put a TON of thought into this, so my opinion could easily be swayed & if you feel strongly for or against any of these guys, let me know in the comment section.


Players I would Vote IN




Roger Clemens- Clemens was my favorite athlete for a long time growing up, and he was 100% a HOF before the steroid era. Clemens has never actually been proven to have taken steroids, although it is fairly obvious he did. Then again, so did everyone back in the late 90's but as I said Clemens was a sure fire hall of famer before this time. He won the MVP in 1986. He won the Cy Young in 86, 87, 91, 97, 98, 01, and 04. That's 7 times for 4 different teams in both leagues. Most all time. They should basically re name the award after him. He was also an All Star 11 times in his 23 year career.

Barry Bonds- Not a fan of Barry Bonds at all, but there is no question he deserves to be in the HOF. Baseball's all time HR leader has a similar situation to Clemens- he was deserving of this nod before any steroid use. Bonds not only was a premier 5 tool player throughout the 90s, but he also turned into a dominant force to be reckoned with late in his career. It was wild how many teams would just intentionally walk him. He has more career intentional walks (688) than the next 2 people on the all time list behind him combined. He won the MVP award 7 times (90, 92,93, 01, 02, 03, 04.) THAT's wild. He also won the gold glove 8 times and made 14 all star teams.



Craig Biggio- Biggio I always looked up to growing up because he played 2B and so did I. I don't expect Biggio to ever get voted into the Hall, and I think a large part of that is because he played his whole career in Houston, away from the major media markets on the East Coast. Biggio's knock is that people see him a a "piler"... someone who has high raw numbers, mostly due to repetition  I personally think that very good production for 20 seasons is an enormous accomplishment in itself and to me, Biggio is someone who should get in. 7 time all-star and 4 time gold glove award winner.

Curt Schilling- Schilling only has 216 wins which is going to hold a lot of people back from voting him into the Hall. I do not think we should weigh that "low" win total too heavily- it's likely there will never be another 300 game winner and wins just do not go to starting pitchers the way they used to. Schilling was a career 11-2 postseason pitcher, including pitching very well in a handful of do or die playoff games for both the Diamondbacks in 2001 and the Red Sox in 2004. Bottom line is he was a dominant big game pitcher for a long stretch of time and someone you definitely didn't want to play against in the post season. For those who think if Schilling is on this list, that Jack Morris should too (under the same conditions that they are "big game" pitchers) His career ERA is 3.46, almost half a run better. It's worth noting that Schilling finished 2nd on the Cy Young voting 3 separate times, twice to teammate Randy Johnson and once to Johan Santana. He was also the World Series MVP in 2001.



Notable Players I would vote NO to:




Jack Morris- Never saw him pitch a game. Career ERA is 3.90. Not HOF material  to me.

Mark McGwire- Clearly a dude who's numbers are significantly inflated due to steroid use. I think one day McGwire deserves to be in the Hall, but not until more time passes and we can more accurately lay out the effect of the steroid era on the game.

Sammy Sosa- Same as McGwire, Sosa is the poster boy for steroids. Not only that but Sosa was caught with a corked bat one time too, and I never really liked him.

Rafael Palmeiro- Loser/Lied to Congress. Never felt to me like an all-time player.

Mike Piazza- Never liked this guy. Was happy when Clemens threw the half bat at him in the World Series.

Tim Raines- Stolen Base monster, I could see him getting in.

Jeff Bagwell- Only room for one Killer B in my book.

Kenny Lofton- Great name... but there's a reason why he played for 10 different teams.

David Wells- No your 1 perfect game while drunk doesn't get you into the Hall






January 8, 2013

Rex Ryan admits "Ground and Pound" is Idiotic



Reporter: "What style of offense would you like to have in 2013?"


Rex Ryan: "Well I- this is going to sound crazy, but, uh,  'cuz I've been a 'ground and pound' and all that, but I, I  think I've really hurt, I've held back our organization, umm, kinda with that mentality."



BOOM. Just like I obscenely yelled at every Jets fan at Met Life Stadium on Thanksgiving Day..... GROUND-AND POUND. GROUND-AND-POUND.

Pretty much the worst offensive mentality to have in today's NFL, a passing league.  How/Why does Rex still have his job again?



The NHL is back! stop crying.



As everyone knows the framework is in place for a 8-10 year CBA between the NHL and it's PA. The season is probably going to start on 1/19 and the regular season will end sometime in May.


I just want to state here that everyone who is still upset at the NHL and the PA needs to just stop, & let it go. Listen, yea, the lockout sucked. I hated it. I'm pissed I haven't seen an NHL game in 7 months and I'm pissed about all the amazing moments that never happened. Could the lockout have been avoided? Maybe. But what the typical fan is not considering is the business aspect of the game. It was a labor disagreement in a multi-billion dollar industry. This is America. That's what happens. Get over it. Can we all just move on, and enjoy the sport we love and so desperately wanted back?? This sort of thing comes with the territory of Pro Sports. Every league goes through their own unique labor issues. If they lost the entire season I may be singing a different tune, but that didn't happen. Hockey is back.

Now, for all those fans who think this year is a "half season" or that the winning team won't fully deserve the cup because of the shortened, 48 game season:

You are dead wrong.

Most people agree on a year to year basis that the standard 82 games are more than necessary to determine the playoff teams. The reason why you will never hear the NHL even consider dropping games off the schedule is strictly a revenue issue. If they league were to construct a schedule of games based exclusively on fair competition, the season would probably end up being a lot closer to 48 games than 82.

I've heard this discussed on the radio before, but here is some pretty telling data supporting the 48 game schedule:

Eastern Conf. standings after 48 Games played last year:

1. Rangers
2. Bruins
3. Caps
4. Flyers
5. Pens
6. Senators
7. Panthers
8. Devils

Final Eastern Conf standings last year:

1. Rangers
2. Bruins
3. Panthers
4. Flyers
5. Pens
6. Devils
7. Caps
8. Senators


Western Conf. standings after 48 Games played last year:

1. Wings
2. Canucks
3. Sharks
4. Blues
5. Predators
6. Blackhawks
7. Kings
8. Wild

Final Western Conf standings last year:

1. Canucks
2. Blues
3. Coyotes
4. Predators
5. Wings
6. Blackhawks
7. Sharks
8. Kings


As you can see in the Eastern Conference, the 8 teams that were in positions 1-8 after roughly 48 games were the same 8 teams that qualified for the playoffs. In the West, 7 out of the 8 teams that qualified for the playoffs were in position after roughly 48 games.

Clearly, this shows that a 48 game regular season is more than adequate. If your team isn't in the playoff picture after 48 games, you're probably not good enough to make it anyway. The playoffs this year are still going to have four, best of 7 rounds so the Champion is still going to have to achieve Mission 16W.



The 1994-95 season was shortened due to a lockout, and the teams played a 48 game schedule. The Devils won the Cup that year and I have NEVER heard one single person, website, or media outlet put an asterisk next to that team or season. That Devils team was young, and some haters at the time probably argued that those Devils would never have won in a full season. Well, that was disproved quickly after the core of that team went on to win 2 more Cups.




Also, this post was inspired from a Facebook mini-debate on a friend's status. The person (assuming a STH) who tried to convince me that this was a "half season" also mentioned that they were going to to try and stick it to the NHL Owners by not purchasing their playoff tickets. This person said they were already financially committed to the regular season but would put no more $ in Jacob's pocket this year and figures that if everyone (STHs) refuse to but their playoff strips that the Bruins will be hurting financially.

This, again, makes NO sense whatsoever. The demand for playoff tickets is exponentially higher than the regular season. The Bruins would actually prefer their Season Ticket Holders turn down their playoff strips because the team can then sell those tickets at a much higher rate to the general public. If you try to convince me that there won't be enough demand on the secondary ticket market for the playoffs, I am going to laugh out loud and make fun of you to my friends. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. As a former ticket sales rep for the Bruins themselves, I can assure you that there is no shortage of interest in playoff tickets, especially if the Bruins are matched up against a marquee opponent, and especially because once the playoffs start we will be 5 months removed from this whole mess. After an intense season, fans are going to be lining up for playoff tickets once again.

Lastly, The person I was debating with said this:

"In Canada according to a random poll 58% of hockey fans say they won't buy playoff tickets cause it a Half Cup! They don't earn the Cup with only 48 games without competing every team and playoffs! This number goes to 62% for only season ticket holders! Source Montreal Gazette"


A. I would love to see this article. Please link me in the comment section if your reading this and you know where to locate that article.

B. I totally don't believe this poll. There's no way 62% of STH in Canada are refusing to buy playoff tickets. If that is true, they are dumb. Even though the demand here in Boston is sky high for playoff tickets, the demand for playoff tickets in Canada is even higher. Any STH who gives up their tickets is just making an awful business decision.

C. Not sure what the "without competing every team" line means.  It may be alluding to the fact that there is only going to be inter-conference play during the regular season? I don't have any facts on this but I'm pretty sure most people love this idea and may think this is how it should be every year. This is how the NHL used to play anyway. This is also how the schedule was structured in 1995 and again, no one eever takes anything away from those Devils who won the cup that year.


Anyway, as soon the the NHL schedule get's released I'll write something up here. Each game is like 2% of the season so I for one expect THE most exciting regular season of all time. I welcome all opposing views and points in the comment section! 




January 6, 2013

Fantasy Football Playoff Pool Scoreboard

Here is the Updated Score for the Playoff Pool I am in**

**I think all these figures are correct,  going off Yahoo Standard scoring. Ill have to check with the kid who runs the pool, Joe, but I think this is the up to date score. If anyone sees a mistake please leave it in the comment section and I will update this.

Winner takes home $380


T-1. Michael Beckerman- 99
T-1. Mike Barbagallo- 99
3. Dan Bastable- 97
4. Tarak Patel- 94
T-5. James Brown- 93
T-5. Sean Steigerwald- 93
T-5. Peaches- 93
T-5. Chad’s Boss- 93
9. Dougie Dodge- 89
10. Tyler Munroe- 84
T-11. Jeremy Tannenbaum- 82
T-11. Mikey Paniello- 82
13. Brian Davis- 81
14. Jigga- 76
15. Joe Webber- 75** Eliminated (same picks the rest of the way as Jeremy Tannenbaum)
16. Chad Denardis- 74
17. Clusky- 69
18. Dan Murphy- 65
19. Dodge- 55



Scoring from Week 1:

Foster- 23
Lynch- 17
Rodgers- 15
Wayne- 11
Luck- 10 
AP- 9
Cincy Def- 9 
Green- 8
Alfred Morris-8 
Pitta- 8
Ray Rice- 7 
Sea Def- 7
Was Def- 7 
Andre Johnson- 6
Hilton- 6
Dwayne Allen- 5
Indy Def- 5
Rudolph- 4
Torrey Smith- 3
Fleener- 2
S Rice- 2
Greshem- 0
Cobb- 0 



January 2, 2013

Fantasy Football Playoff Edition

I was invited to play in a fantasy football league with a bunch of guys that went to UMass.

The way it works is every person constructs a roster of 12 players, 1 from each NFL playoff team. Yahoo Standard scoring is used. This isn't head to head, it's total fantasy points added up after the Super Bowl. Here is the lineup I came up with (hopefully this blog doesn't help anyone else in the pool construct THEIR roster):



QB: Aaron Rodgers 
QB: Tom Brady 
WR: Michael Crabtree
WR: AJ Green
WR: Demaryius Thomas
RB: Adrian Peterson
RB: Arian Foster
TE: Tony Gonzalez
TE: Dennis Pitta
Flex: Alfred Morris
Flex: Marshawn Lynch
Def: Indianapolis 


Notes:

-Aaron Rodgers was a no brainer. I think the Packers and Pats meet in the Superbowl, and QB is the highest scoring position. Add in the extra game Rodgers plays this wild-card weekend and this is one of the most obvious selections. 

-The actual most obvious selection is AP. I highly doubt anyone in the pool doesn't pick AP from the talent-less Vikes.  

-Michael Crabtree is my difference making pick. This guy has been an absolute stud since Kaepernick has taken over. I'm hoping not too many teams take the chance on Crabtree... It is very likely that SF Def or Frank Gore would be the most popular choice from the 49ers. Another kinda crazy pick would be Vernon Davis. He sucked all year but last year's playoffs were his coming out party and maybe he will rise to the occasion again. He's too talented and important to be kept down in do or die games. 

-AJ Green is another very easy pick. It's him, Greshem, or the defense from the Bengals. 

-I ended up picking the Colts defense because my 2 flex spots came down to these 3 teams: Wash, Indy, Seattle. I think the 2 most explosive flex guys on all 3 of those rosters are Morris and Lynch (over Wayne, Garcon, or Hilton) so I was forced to use Indy's defense. 


-At Tight End I strongly considered Gronk, but ultimately ruled him out. I think T Gonz is a very solid pick from Atlanta, and Dennis Pitta may not be the sexiest name out there but he has picked up his numbers since the coordinator got axed. The 2nd TE spot is probably going to be gross on a lot of teams in this pool. 

-I'm confident in this roster. I think it's important to realize a lot of the rosters are going to look very similar (there even may be another entry or 2 that's exactly the same as mine) so each selection is very, very important. 

-It will be interesting to see how people pick the Broncos and Pats. Both QBs are studs, yet both teams have great fantasy RBs (especially Denver) and other elite weapons (Thomas, Decker, Gronk, Hernandez, Welker) and both are not playing this weekend.