Tuesday Morning Hangovers

 "For the record, I didn't use my secret weapon this year, but I'll share why another time..." #weeksix

Rave of the Week

I didn’t draft early for an elite defense so my strategy this year has been to plug and play based on weekly match ups. Looking across the waiver pool last week, one team stood out to me…the Houston Texans. They’re not great, but usually solid but this was significant because their opponent was no other than my very own, St. Louis Rams.

After picking them up, I must confess, I was so ashamed of myself. Fantasy football really has nothing to do with the real sport, but picking against my team felt wrong. As the Sunday games kicked off, as a fan, I began to observe that St. Louis was really taking it to Houston and became elated! “Bradford has the offense moving, why did we ever start Richardson over Zac Stacy, our defense is LEGIT, maybe the Redbirds inspired the Rams, I think we’re going to win!”

And just like that, I had a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde moment…  

I became horrified remembering that I started this defense verse my team. “Oh, Bradford just completed another third down. Great.These Texans really need to step it up. I’ve never even heard of that guy who just caught that touchdown. My goodness, will you STOP SCORING!?” I’ll admit it…I kind of wished Bradford would throw an interception and maybe even one returned for a touchdown. What is wrong with me? Does my mental competitive drive know no boundaries? At least Joseph’s brothers made twenty pieces of silver, I was trying to sell out my home team for imaginary points…  

Going into week six, both the Rams and HB2K were 2-3 and I’m thinking I’d be just a little happier if I was 3-3 opposed to the Rams. I should have just retired. At least then I wouldn’t have had to deal with these feelings or maybe I’d look at this differently if St. Louis was 4-1. I’m taking this to the polls.

Rant of the Week

I lenjoy the page’s wall because I observe so much that transforms into TMH topics and this week was no different. Around the middle of last week, The Sith, unexpectedly dropped Jared Cook. I saw it an reacted accordingly, “Wow! He dropped his #1 TE! What if he has a game like his first in week six?”

You’re probably thinking, “what’s the big deal? GMs drop players all the time…” However it’s a bold thing to make a change like that and I'll explan. You’ll see a lot of crazy things throughout the year…dumb trades, waiver steals and stashes, trash talk that’s crossed the line, but rarely will GMs drop a player they once believed in or performed at a high level...no matter what they do the rest of the year. First impressions are often last impressions…if a guy puts up a monster game in week one, we spend the rest of year waiting for that game to return. If they disappoint us in week one, we spend the rest of the year oscillating their ability for consistency in our minds.

I’ve been there and truthfully I’m not sure what’s harder: the disappointing year the player is having or the unwillingness to let go of my pride and accept reality…I drafted a dud. In 2011, I drafted CJ2K with the first overall pick at our live draft. Although hindsight is 20/20, I wish I had traded him and gotten something but instead I kept him till the end (and was rewarded with a first round exit). You’ll often hear fantasy advice that’ll say, “sell for seventy five cent on the dollar” but we don’t want to do that, we’d rather go down with the ship. Now don’t confuse this with dropping players too soon (there’s a difference). However after six weeks...they’re plenty of players who most likely won’t finish this year within the top fifteen of their position but we swing like no other.

Now I don’t want to call out GM by names, but people who own players like…Amendola, Roddy White, Ridley, Wilson, Bowe, CJ0K… they’re done. Sure they may rise up and put forth a great game here and there, but they’ll most likely finish the year outside the top fifteen in their positions. Even players like Aaron Rodgers, Doug Martin Demaryius Thomas and CJ Spiller value has diminished since draft.

Whatever they did 2012, they’re not doing that in 2013. Whatever pillar they were escalated upon within your fantasy mansion, they can no longer even be the foundation of that building. I know it…(I’d say you know it, but some of you truly don’t) everyone else knows it. Humble yourself and let it go…they’re not the player they once were…trade, drop or find something new. You will never win future games based on last year’s player performance otherwise our rosters would consist of Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Elway, Marshall Faulk and Dan would always draft L.T.  

I’m out like twenty seven candles…  

HB2K

P.s. Polite called me yesterday and said, "once a Champ, always a Champ..." (But No Coming Back)