Seattle, Where NFL Teams Go To Sleep

The Magnate Chronicles – 1

I love Fantasy Football.

I also love rules.

The Fumbled Returns League of Magnates is a first for me.

A real auction style draft.

 

And this league is already proving to be filled with drama and excitement and even a little bit of learning from life’s little lessons and testing the rules.

 

Rule # 1: Read the Rules.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Reading the rules is very helpful.  They set parameters and if written well, have consequences.  Rules let you know, and everybody else, what is expected and how to play the game.  They help define strategies, and define behaviors.

 

In a way this little condition leads to . . .

 

Rule #2: Know Thyself.

I knew that there would be at least one person in my auction league to break rule #1.  I also knew that I am a kind and benevolent ruler who could be easily swayed to have a league vote and possibly change the no trade rule.

So, I set the league up as a “custom” league as opposed to a “manager” league. ( Yes, I am typing this with a slight sly smile)

You see, I followed rule #1 and read ESPN league definitions and rules.  Custom leagues can not be changed once the settings are set and created.  The only referendum that can be done is a vote to change the league name.  A manager league can make such changes and have any number of league votes for changes.

As a slight consolation, I also unchecked ESPN “can not drop” on top fantasy players. Just in case somebodies stud has a nasty booboo and becomes dead weight on the roster.

So, this morning I received an email from one of the members of the Magnate League asking about my no trade rule.  I of course diplomatically said that unfortunately this can not be changed and explained why and that I even went in and double checked to see if it could and also if I could set up a referendum and league vote.  Of course, I already knew the answer.

This leads me to . . .

 

Rule #3: People are human and mistakes are bound to happen.

The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and get better and make the best of an unfortunate situation.

 

Rule #4: I too am human.

Hence, I am not without fault either.

I broke at least one rule of auction league strategies.

 

Broken Auction League Rule #1:  Never bid too high, too early for a QB.

I was actually trying to bid up others to spend more.

Devious but true.

 

Broken Auction League Rule #2: Never bid up spending once the bidding actually does get too expensive.

 

So, who did I pay too much for?

Aaron Rodgers.

 

I had no intention of winning him. I just made a mistake – OK actually two.  But considering it is Aaron Rodgers, I guess if I had to do it on anybody, he is as good a candidate as anybody.  However it changed my outlook and strategy for the rest of the draft.  I was planning too draft a perfectly good QB later, for much less.  Such as Matt Ryan for less than $10. or Josh Freeman for less than $20 or even Romo for less than $20 too.

Arrrgh! I could have used that extra money on somebody else.

I also wanted to see if I could finish the bidding draft with money left over.

That didn’t happen either.

 

So, what does my first ever (semi official) auction league team look like?

Here it is . . .

 

QB Aaron Rodgers 51
RB Rashard Mendenhall 42
RB Steven Jackson 30
RB/WR Lee Evans 6
WR Julio Jones 8
WR Greg Jennings 38
TE Greg Olsen 4
D/ST Bears D/ST 3
K Stephen Gostkowski 1
BE John Beck 1
BE Daniel Thomas 4
BE Sam Bradford 3
BE Chad Ochocinco 5
BE Mike Thomas 2
BE Lance Moore 1
BE James Jones 1
Total: 200
Remaining: 0

 

Yes, I love Fantasy Football.   And I already love what has happened within this league.

I am sure that there will be more Magnate Chronicles to follow.

 

Until next time . . .

 

Be good. Do well. Have fun.

Something to talk about…

And it all revolves around Quarterbacks!

I could have called this “The Class of 2005”

“The new kid in town”

“Size matters…NOT!”

“Who really cares about number 1”

“My predictions…”

Lets start with the class of 2005.
Aaron Rodgers was drafted in the 1st round and is now flourishing as a big time starter.

Alex Smith, also drafted in that very same first round (actually #1 overall), has fallen off a cliff!

Jason Campbell, drafted one spot behind Aaron, does not have any more excuses and needs to step up in this, his contract year.
Will he follow the path of Alex or Aaron?
The jury is still out on him – for now…

Now for the “new kid in town and size matters… NOT!”

The new kid is Chase Daniels. He ,amazingly, went undrafted. Came to the Redskins because he wanted to study under Zorn. And now has shown everyone that he has the talent and the brains to run a NFL offense.

Actually, all the Redskins have to do is look at their history for top QB’s who do not necessarily fit the BIG and TALL mold of the NFL Franchise QB’s.

Joe Theismann
Height: 6-0 Weight: 192
4th round pick
Career Stats
TDS 160
INT 138
YDS 25,206
RTG 77.4

Sonny Jurgensen
Height: 5-11 Weight: 202
4th round pick
Career Stats
TDS 255
INT 189
YDS 32,224
RTG 82.6

This leads me to my “who cares about number 1”

I took a quick look at the history of Superbowl QB’s…

Out of 56 QB’s,
27 were drafted in the first round
29 were not
2 of those 29 were not drafted at all!!!

Some of the noteworthy non 1st rounders…

Of course Tom Brady
The previously mentioned Joe Theismann
Joe Montana
Fran Tarkenton
Johnny Unitas
Roger Staubach
Bart Starr

You can look at the list here

And last but not least… My predictions…

This is actually tied into the class of 2005, non 1st rounders, and undrafted QB’s.

Shaun Hill has been named starting QB for the San Francisco 49’s.
He beat out Alex the cliff jumper.

His career stats so far…
TDS 18
INT 9
Passing yards 2,547
QB Rating 90.5

Not bad for a local 2002 undrafted University of Maryland football player.

A football weekend – part 2

A loss, A loss, A win, and A pretty good…

So, this weekend was:

The first game(s) of the youth football season.

The big drawing for Mega Millions.

The Redskins first pre-season home game.

And the draft for my other league. (The one I’m not commish for)

We ended up loosing our first game. But this is not so bad. We played the division champions from last year, and they are still really good. The final score was 12 – 0.
Even though we lost and did not score – the other team really had bigger and faster kids than us; I think the team did really well. They learned valuable lessons about staying home on defense, and following through with your blocks and tackles.

Just in case anybody from my team is reading this blog, “everyone needs to go back to work Monday Morning”. Sorry, the bad news is that the lottery commission just does not yet realize that we are supposed to have the winning ticket. The good news is that nobody else convinced them either…

Last night was the Redskins first pre-season home game and unlike last week; they decided to show up and play some football. Everyone played well, except Jason Campbell, and I was especially impressed with a lot of the second team guys. Chase Daniel, who the Redskins picked up as an undrafted free agent showed a lot of poise and command of the game and orchestrated some really good scoring drives. Marcus Mason continued his impressive pre-season performances from last year and showed everyone he is for real. Marko Mitchell continued to show his catching ability by a nice grab up high in the air for a TD. Malcolm Kelly beat the Steelers secondary early, the offensive line gave Campbell plenty of time, but Campbell just could not connect with his receivers last night. Maybe Zorn should put Daniel in first next week to send a message….

And last but certainly not least; Saturday was the draft for my other Fantasy Football league.

So, how did I do in this one? For a totally blind automatic draft…
Not so bad I think… (I had second pick)

The Pariahs

QB

Aaron Rodgers
Shaun Hill
Jason Campbell

RB

Adrian Peterson
Ronnie Brown
Mewelde Moore
Darren Sproles

WR

Lee Evans
Vincent Jackson
Justin Gage
Ted Ginn
Brian Robiskie

TE

Chris Cooley

K

John Carney
David Akers

Def/ST

Baltimore Ravens