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Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 4)

by DeckOctober 3, 2006

Once again the Houston Inferno burned up the fantasy turf this week with a 125-87 win over the Springfield Bullhawks. Donovan McNabb put up 41 points to lead the way for the undefeated Inferno. (Proving again what a dumbass I am for not naming him as one of my keepers from last season.)

My Spooky Boogeymen also managed to remain undefeated with a narrow 92-88 victory of the Kentucky Mad Max. This game was what fantasy football is all about… Our game was tied late in the day on Sunday. Mad Max had Clinton Portis still playing in an overtime game, while I had Mark Bulger driving down the field in a close game of his own. Unfortunately for Mad Max and Portis, the OT game was decided on a long pass completion to Santana Moss robbing Portis of potential yardage and points. Fortunately for me, the Rams drove all the way down to the 5 yard line and then elected to have Bulger throw on 3rd and goal for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:56 left to play. If they chose to hand-off instead, I would have lost.

The P’burg PrairiePride evened their record with a 88-66 win over the Peoria OrangeCrush. Strong games from the both running backs allowed the PrairiePride to overcome a weak performance by starting QB Matt Hasselbeck.

The Batavia Bulldogs broke their winless streak with a close 78-74 defeat of the Foreign Bodies. The Bulldogs pulled out the win despite having three players on the bench with Byes this week.

And finally, the Shelbyville Outkasts improve their record to 3-1 by beating up on the winless Petersburg PowerPuff Girls 68-40. Unfortunately for the PowerPuffs, 63 points were left on the bench this week.

Here are the current standings after 4 weeks…

NORRIS DIVISION
Houston Inferno (4-0)
Spooky Boogeymen (4-0)
Shelbyville Outkasts (3-1)
Springfield Bullhawks (2-2)
Batavia Bulldogs (1-3)

LONG DIVISION
Kentucky Mad Max (2-2)
P’burg PrairiePride (2-2)
Foreign Bodies (1-3)
Peoria OrangeCrush (1-3)
Petersburg PowerPuff Girls (0-4)

Next week, we have a battle of the undefeateds to look forward to… My Spooky Boogeymen take on the powerhouse that is the Houston Inferno.

Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 3)

by DeckSeptember 27, 2006

FFL week 3 is history.

The Shelbyville Outkasts (2-1) kept the Batavia Bulldogs winless with a 99-75 victory. Brian Westbrook made the difference for the Outkasts with a huge 36 point game.

The Houston Inferno remain undefeated this week with a 92-82 victory over the winless Petersburg PowerPuff Girls. Donovan McNabb’s number one FFL quarterback ranking helped the Inferno stay on top.

The Foreign Bodies won their first game 88-58 against the Peoria OrangeCrush, who are also now 1-2. Unfortunately only one player scored in double-digits for the OrangeCrush this week.

The Kentucky Mad Max (2-1) knocked off the P’burg PrairiePride (1-2) despite leaving 53 points sitting on the bench. The Mad Max won the game 83-54.

And finally, the game of the week… My Spooky Boogeymen remained unbeaten this week with a massive one-point victory 77-76 over the Springfield Bullhawks (2-1). To be perfectly honest, I’m not really sure how I won because our game was tied at the end of the Monday Night’s game. Somehow the Bullhawks lost a point overnight. I would suggest that Alan of the Bullhawks complain to the League Commissioner, but Alan is the League Commissioner.

I paid dearly for the win however, with significant injuries to Shaun Alexander and Donte Stallworth. And now there are reports that Terrell Owens was brought into the emergency room last night “after suffering an adverse reaction to painkillers taken for treatment of his fractured hand”. %#$*^! I’m sure knowing my luck that there’s more to the story. Have I mentioned that I SO should’ve kept Donovan McNabb from last year’s team instead of T.O.?

See ya next week…

Sports

Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 2)

by DeckSeptember 19, 2006

FFL Week 2 has come and gone. Once again, the Houston Inferno have posted the high score this week with a 113-78 win over the Batavia Bulldogs. The Inferno only had three players in double digits. However, two of those had 27 points and the third earned 30! The Inferno are now 2-0 while the Bulldogs fall to 0-2.

The Springfield Bullhawks remain unbeaten with a 109-60 victory over the Kentucky Mad Max. The Mad Max (1-1) left Michael Vick on the bench this week, but even Vick’s 26 point performance wouldn’t have been enough to recover from this week’s deficit.

Recovering from a tough loss last week, the P’burg PrairiePride handed the Foreign Bodies their second straight loss 86-67. Both teams left big points on the bench… 74 for the Bodies and 75 for the PrairiePride.

For the second week in a row, the Head Coach position has been the deciding factor in a Red Zone game. The Peoria OrangeCrush stole a win 76-74 from the Shelbyville Outkasts, who had the Philadelphia Eagles for their Head Coach position. The Outkasts would have earned a tie if the Philadelphia Eagles could have held off the New York Giants in overtime. The OrangeCrush and the Outkasts are now both 1-1.

And last but certainly not least… My Spooky Boogeymen are 2-0 with a win over the Petersburg PowerPuff Girls. Fortunately for me, the PowerPuffs left Brett Favre’s 30 points on the bench this week. Unfortunately for me, Terrell Owens broke his hand and might be out of action for as long as four weeks. D’oh! I so should’ve kept Donovan McNabb instead of T.O.

Oh well, there’s still a whole lotta football left to play. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out this season…

On The Web / Sports

Red Zone Wrap-Up (Week 1)

by DeckSeptember 12, 2006

Welcome to week 1 of the Red Zone Wrap-Up!

As discussed previously, the Red Zone is the ESPN Fantasy Football League (FFL) that I’m in. Every Tuesday or so, I’m going to try to write a brief summary of the previous weekend’s action.

Jeff H’s Houston Inferno led all scorers this week with a 121-74 drubbing of Charlie G’s Peoria OrangeCrush. The Inferno got 31 points from Donovan McNabb (who I had last year but didn’t keep ) on top of 20 or better points from both his kicker and defense. (I wouldn’t count on that happening every week, Jeff. )

The closest game this week was decided by a single point, 95-94. Jack P’s Shelbyville Outkasts knocked off the P’burg PrairiePride managed by Bob P. Head coaching made the difference in this game. Jack’s head coach won his NFL game, while Bob’s lost. That meant a 2-point swing and a loss for the PrairiePride.

My Spooky Boogeymen came back from an early 30 point deficit against Mike N’s Batavia Bulldogs to win 91-80. My stud keeper from last season, Shaun Alexander had a slow start to the season (putting it kindly) for only 3 points. Luckily, Donte Stallworth took up the slack with a surprising 23 points. I’m hoping for continued success from Donte throughout the rest of the season…

Alan P’s Springfield Bullhawks took advantage of a low-scoring week from Elizabeth P’s Petersburg Powerpuff Girls to win 84-59. Unfortunately for the Powerpuffs, superstar wide receiver Steve Smith didn’t play last weekend due to injury and is still listed as questionable.

Bret D’s Kentucky Mad Max beat Ben D’s Foreign Bodies 72-53. A -3 point performance from starting quarterback Jake Plummer, didn’t help the Bodies’ cause.

So, after one week, the Inferno, Outkasts, Boogeymen, and Bullhawks all share a 1-0 record and a tie for the Norris Division lead. The Mad Max are the only Long Division team to earn a win last week for sole possession of that division’s lead.

Good luck to everyone next week (except for Alan of course ).

On The Web / Sports

Are you ready for some football?!?

by DeckSeptember 10, 2006

Spooky Boogeymen Finally!!!

Football season is here! Yay!! I’m flipping between the Cincy/KC and Seattle/Detroit games right now.

I didn’t realize that James Brown had left the Fox NFL pre-game show to move to the same position at CBS, but Joe Buck was named to replace him so I think it will all work out OK. (Now if we could just get Joe Theismann off ESPN’s new Monday Night Football, NFL TV coverage would be just about perfect.)

Anyway, the point of this blog entry isn’t specifically about the start of the NFL season. It’s about the kick-off of the FFL season! This my tenth year participating in ESPN’s online Fantasy Football League (FFL). For those of you who aren’t familiar with fantasy football, owners like me draft actual NFL players to play on our teams. The stats that each of those players earn equate to points for the FFL team. For example, quarterbacks earn 6 points for a touchdown, but also receive 1 point for every 10 yards passing. Head-to-head match-ups between FFL teams determine overall win-loss records, and the best teams make it to the play-offs. Games might be a blowout, or they might come down to one NFL player gaining one extra yard that puts his FFL team over the top. FFL certainly makes watching football on Sundays more interesting, because an otherwise boring game might feature players from your FFL team, or even your opponent’s.

My teams over the years have taken on a few different names, but for the past two seasons I’ve been managing the Spooky Boogeymen (helmet design pictured above) of the Red Zone keeper league. What makes it even more fun is that the other league teams are owned by friends and family. Good luck to all my opposing FFL owners/managers (except Alan ).

Unfortunately in my decade of competition, I’ve never been FFL league champion. Two seasons ago, I made it to the championship game, but couldn’t quite win it. Last year, I started off pretty strong but faded badly when my franchise players were out because of injuries and suspension. Clearly, I’m due.

I’ll keep you updated as the season’s progresses…

Sports

Fighting Illini are Easy

by DeckSeptember 9, 2006

Ugh.

I just watched my alma mater, the University of Illinois, get shut out by that college football powerhouse… Rutgers.

In last year’s game, Rutgers led by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter before the Illini launched a comeback to tie the game with only 1:13 remaining in regulation. Illinois was able to hold Rutgers to a field goal in overtime and won it on a two-yard touchdown run.

Not this year.

Illinois was embarrased 33-0, giving up 311 yards to Rutgers while earning only 95 yards. In all fairness, the Rutgers offense looked like it has some good talent and size, but c’mon… 33-0?!? Gonna be another long season. When’s basketball start?

Ugh.