Sunday, December 23, 2007

I. AM. LEGEND.

After vanquishing my foe, I know exactly how El Presidente feels.

It's finally happened. After 10+ years of toiling, my lifelong dream of winning a fantasy football championship will come to fruition tomorrow night, barring the most unforseen of all circumstances.

First of all, my hat goes off to Shawn, whose team spent more time in the X-ray room than on the field this week. Willie Parker, Willis McGahee, Marques Colston, and Anthony Gonzalez all left the game early on and were never factors. That's a shitty way to lose a championship matchup.

Secondly, I'd like to publicly berate Carson Palmer, who will never be welcomed on a Jon Hefty franchise again. You sir, have earned the lifetime ban. You throw to one of the best threesomes of wide receivers in the NFL, against the Browns defense, at home, and manage to put up only 7.1 points? Horrendous. When Tarvaris Jackson outscores you by 22 points, you have officially just blown a walrus. Awful. Sure, you'll get your championship ring, but I'm lacing it with anthrax. Hopefully it eats away at the skin on your throwing hand and you never play another snap in the NFL.

Thirdly, I'd like to thank all my players for not getting hurt. Sure, I had the minor injuries, like an Adrian Peterson gimpy knee, or a Vernon Davis strained something-or-other, but every team had that. No, what I'm proud of is avoiding players who ended up, say, snapping fibulas like overextended mechanical pencil lead. You guys did a great job, although I'd like to take part of the credit here. The Pilates sessions at my condo this summer really did a good job of keeping you strong throughout the season.

Fourthly, I'd like to thank the sock that bore my name and fortuitously bounced into my grasp during the First Annual Laundry Lottery. Although I'm sure that my winning the #1 pick and then the league championship almost certainly means that we'll never do anything like that again, it was well worth it. I'd also like to thank LaDainian for getting his shit together in the last few weeks of the season. Well worth the wait.

Fifthly, I'd like to thank Uncle Walbo for Wes Welker.

Sixthly, I'd like to thank Dr. Dangler for Jerricho Cotchery, who decided Week 16 was a fine time to have his best game of the season.

Seventhly, I'd like to tell the Craigger that he needs to fix the scoring on ESPN.com. The Bears defense was only credited for one of their defensive/special teams touchdowns against the Packers. The blocked punt recovery one isn't showing up for some reason.

Eighthly, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for my prize money. You've all been tremendous. God Bless.

Always and Forever,
The World Champion of The Universe

Friday, December 21, 2007

Third Place Is Second Loser

Ah, Bronze...crappiest of all the precious metals.


I'm not sure who decided the hierarchy of medals for rewarding competitors. Some say it was the Ancient Greeks. Others, the Chinese. But no mater who came up with this idea, it's safe to say they should have just awarded a Gold and Silver and called it a day. The bronze looks cheap. It's malleable and tarnishes quickly, and in many ways, so are Bronze Medal winners. They're significant only because they stand on the lowest step of a podium, and then their memory is quickly forgotten.

In horse racing, there are three options; Win (1st), Place (2nd), or Show (3rd). Show? What the hell does that mean? You showed up? Wow, sounds mighty impressive! So did 7 other horses that also didn't win.

However, all animosity for third placery aside, this league actually offers a rather tantalizing runner-up game. And besides, if this were really the WWF, for every Mankind vs. Triple H hell-in-a-cell pay-per-view headliner, you get at least six to ten X-Pac vs. Shane McMahon for the European Championship type undercards. I like our version though: Jordan's Ils will take on Rich's Jabbers for the jackpot sum of $75. Which means slightly more than Craig won this season. Not a great prize, but I still dig the matchup. Let's peek around and get somebody set up with a direct deposit for the check.

3rd Place Game: L2KJI vs. JJJ

QBs: Peyton Manning vs. Tony Romo - Slight Edge: Rich.
This Jessica Simpson bullshit story is ridiculous. Do you want to know what this is? This is sportscasters trying to find a relevant way to announce that they'd like to bang Jessica. Big deal. We know, guys. The fact of the matter is, reporting on sports makes it difficult to discuss hot chicks at work unless they're front and center a la J-Simp. Guess what? If Romo had thrown six touchdowns last week, the story still would have revolved around Jessica. Fact: this is exactly the reason we do movie reviews on ALSAP, so I can throw up the occasional Lindsay Lohan pic and not have it seem perverted.

RBs: Marion Barber and Ryan Grant vs. Larry Maroney and Ron Dayne - GIANT Edge: Jordan.
I love Jordan's backs. I also love Jordan's back hair, but that's another column entirely. Barber gets to dine on Panther carcass, and Ryan Grant will eat the finest Bear meats in the land. Meanwhile, Maroney will be getting six carries, and Dayne will be fat.

WRs: Reggie Wayne, Greg Jennings, and Brandon Marshall vs. Larry Fitzgerald, Santonio Holmes and Lee Evans - Edge: PUSH.
I get throbbing wood when I watch Reggie Wayne play, this Marshall kid seems like a perrenial stud in the making, and Greg Jennings seems to catch a touchdown every single week. Rich's receivers are probably less talented as a whole, but always seem like they're one play away from unleashing fantasy hell on Rich's opponents. I also like their matchups slightly more. Larry Fitzgerald vs. the Falcons?! Come ON!!

TE/D/K (aka Intangibles): Kellen Winslow, Packers, Jeff Reed vs. Tony Gonzalez, Buccaneers, Mason Crosby - Edge: Jordan.
This is where the battle will be won. Winslow plays the Bengals and could go bananas. The Packers play Cowboy Kyle Orton (that's another WWF reference!!), and Jeff Reed already put up 11 points. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers and Crosby almost singlehandedly beat me last week, so I'm calling for them to cool off a bit.

YOUR Winner and NEW Bronze Medal Holders: License to Kim Jong Il.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

UNCLE WALBO'S CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!

Yeah! What he said!
.
This year’s WFFL finals are like a classic wrestling match out of the 1980s WWF realm. Now, I might’ve just lost most of you who weren’t impressionable, young, geeky doofs watching Hulk Hogan cup his ear to the crowd and Ric “The Model” Martel spraying his Arrogance fragrance in opponents’ eyes. Well ‘eff off then, I’m going with it.

I’ve decided to break down the matchup between J-Hizzle and S-Nozzle as such:
We’ll measure charisma (aka how they GM’ed their team throughout the year); finishing move (aka the player who will make the biggest impact this weekend); and likability (aka who are we more biased against) to decide who’ll be cashing the first place check from Kaiser Fritz.

Onward! March!



Chicago Bear Grylls.
The team – OK, the GM – has resembled Mr. Perfect for most of the year. Much like the character Curt Henning played in arenas, J-Hizzle brings an I’m-better-than-you-so-don’t-try-to-beat-me approach to his team. Except he doesn’t swat his chewing gum into the audience like Henning (that was always so cool) or have a greasy perm.

Charisma
Very electric. Having the No. 1 pick helped GM-wise, for sure. However, LDT arguably has been a disappointment this year, which is still kinda insane to say considering he’s the No. 1 rated RB. But it just feels like he was off all year. However, the drafting of Adrian Peterson has worked out decently. OK, awesomely. Braylon Edwards has soared through the roof this year and acquiring Wes Welker midseason brought a solid No. 2 receiver.
However, missteps have included going with Chicago D early (we know the reasons why) and Vernon Davis at TE. Both have been disappointments.

Finishing Move
Adrian Peterson. In a must-win game against the Skins for playoff, do you think the Vikes will have Tarvaris Jackson throw 20 passes? Move back over, Chester, All Day is coming through.
(and for the record, Mr. Perfect’s finisher was the Perfectplex. So difficult to get out of.)

Likability
Mr. Perfect always was a bad guy in his wrestling days. J-Hizzle has been the unabashed leader of this riff-raff blog the entire season and brought lots of laughs and terrific analysis. He also has shied away from his early-season bravado and recently broke out the “Gee, golly, maybe AD won’t get 22 points against Chicago” last week. Ohhhh you!


The Canadian Cripplers
Since his squad is named for a wrestler, this makes my whacked out idea even better. TCC, however, more resemble the Hot Rod himself, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Can our future immigration lawyer cracked a coconut over the head of the Bear Grylls, just like Piper did to Jimmy Snuka?

Charisma
The best in the league. S-Nozzle took a flier on Randy Moss and, well, it sorta worked out. 19 TDs!!!! Wild. Meanwhile, he stayed at the top or near the top with a ragtag round of QBs. Now he has Garrard, who is red hot on a red-hot team.

Finishing Move
Well, Piper didn’t really have one. He just kinda stomped people. Just like he did in “They Live,” the John Carpenter sci-fi action film from 1988, which was on last weekend. Terrific stuff.
Moss. A favorable face-off against the Dolphins.

Likability.
Piper also was mostly a bad guy, though his wild ways later in his career endeared him to the crowds. Much like Shawn. He upperdecked a former girlfriend’s apartment, but now he is well behaved at functions. Still, there is that wild streak in the eyes.

The Pick.
This is a difficult one. Both sides have some very mouth-watering matchups. Can TCC’s running backs perform up to par with the Bear Grylls nearly impossibly stable of LDT and AD? Does Colston negate Welker? Or vice versa? Which QB comes up bigger against weak defense, Carson or Garrard?

Roddy Piper is a wild man. But Mr. Perfect does not lose.

Bear Grylls 118, Cripplers 102.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Craig's Reign of Terror Ends

The King of BBH couldn't handle my hotness on the Bighorn Sheep round.

It took a few games, but I finally knocked off the champ at some Big Buck Hunter on Saturday Night. It's clear, I just can't hack it on the Whitetail and Elk rounds, but I pwn3d myself some Rams. Good times.

I think I won by 12 points, which is pretty much the narrowest victory margin in BBH history.

Even If I Lose, This Movie's Still Going To Rawk


Chicken Porpoise!!!

Week 15 Photo Finishes: All Night Peterson

All Day trampled the Bears for 51 fantasy points last time they met. Can he continue his success tonight?

Deep breath. Cleansing thoughts.

Ok, now we're ready. First of all, let me congratulate Mr. Hussein on his performance yesterday. Welcome to the championship, sir. It's well deserved. Now, with those formalities out of the way, let's focus on the real business at hand. As many of you might have noticed, my Jabar Gaffney-Wes Welker tandem did slightly less record book trampling than I had imagined. As a result, I now find myself staring up at Rich from the bottom of a 23.9 point hole. Lucky for me, Rich shot all his bullets during yesterday's games, so I don't have to worry about making up any extra ground, just the 24 points. At my disposal will be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Peterson. Peterson has had an astounding rookie season, don't get me wrong. But when you comb through his numbers this year, he's more up and down than you might think. Sure, he busted up the Chargers to the tune of 296 yards and 3 TDs. But then there's games like last week where he went for...ahem...3 yards.

Something's got to give tonight. Peterson strikes me as a poised, confident, kid. The type who hates statlines like last week's and wants desperately to erase them from memory. When it was questioned if he should play again this season, he came back from a sprained LCL after only two weeks and had a monster game against Detroit. Now, with the Kornheisers and Jaworskis of the world likely bringing up his 14 carries, 3 yards in front of a national audience, I believe he's the type of guy who desperately wants to show them something to praise instead.

Here's how I see the game going tonight. I believe Brad Childress will lean on Chester Taylor early in the game, as he's been the more consistent runner of late. I also think he wants to keep Peterson's workload light, but he knows that the Vikings HAVE to win this game to stay in the driver's seat for the playoffs. So I think his hand is forced slightly and he has to play Peterson more than he'd hope to. He'll be close to 20 carries, but not quite that many. Maybe 16 or 17. Peterson is still averaging 6.1 yards per carry on the season, so if he maintains that line, he should be right up around 100 yards. So there's 11 points. I say he also gets a swing pass in the red zone and takes it in for a touchdown on his only catch of the game. So there's another 7 points. Sadly, that's all I think he's good for tonight. 18 points.

That's a nice day, but it's still not to get me over the hump. So I'll need at least 6 points out of the Bears D to get me into the Championship. I think they're up for it. Improved or not, Tarvaris Jackson is still Tarvaris Jackson. He throws a costly pick-six which should be enough for the Chicago Bears to put the Chicago Bear Grylls into the Title Round.

My Prediction: Junk Jabbers 98.8, Bear Grylls 104.8
Hector and Victor's Prediction: Junk Jabbers 98.8, Bear Grylls 106.3

Friday, December 14, 2007

Which QB Would You Rather Start?

The guy knocking Cowboy boots with Jessica Simpson, or the guy going Poodle Beach on a bratwurst???

Me, I'll take Palmer. Romo's legs will be tired out, and Carson will be filled with processed pork, giving him all the strength he needs for a monster game!!

Shit. I'm screwed, aren't I?