Fantasy Football...is there anything better?

By Dan Rodgers

Besides my birthday, Fantasy Football could be the best time of the year (March Madness is up there also). As the season is only a few days away, most people have their teams drafted, and look to see who has the best match-ups in the first week.

I figured I would post on here my team, well the most important one that I drafted, and you all could either get jealous or tell me how stupid I am. I will put them down as follows, but a few things to remember: this is a PPR league, three player keeper, and I had the seventh of eight picks in the draft.

QB: Matt Schaub - Keeper from last season. He lit it up with Andre the Giant, leading the league in passing yards in 2009.

QB: Jay Cutler - Mid-round pick, has a lot of potential. Mike Martz is his O-Coordinator, so I expect decent stats.

RB: Rashard Mendenhall - First round pick (seventh overall) of draft (remember, kept three guys). Got him more for value than because I really wanted him.

RB: Shonn Greene - Second round pick, has a lot of upside considering the Jets run the ball more than anyone in the NFL (607 times last year).

WR: Andre Johnson - Keeper from last season. Best rated receiver in the league, combo with Schaub, need I say more?

WR: Larry Fitzgerald - Keeper from last season. No one was more pissed off about Kurt Warner retiring than me. Fitz loses some value, but great receivers find the way to get the ball. Hopefully, he'll prove how great he is with Derek Anderson at the helm.

WR: Devin Hester - This is where it gets fishy for me. Hester has the combo with Cutler, and a great matchup against Detroit in week one. My third receiver spot will be a week-to-week thing.

TE: Jason Witten - PPR makes Witten valuable. He is a great redzone target and should definitely have better stats than he did last year.

TE: Greg Olsen - Another combo with Cutler. I'm worried because Martz doesn't typically utilize the tightend in his system, but Olsen is one of the better pass-catchers on the Bears. Second tightend will also be looked at on a week-to-week basis.

K: Mason Crosby - The Packers score a lot. Mason Crosby will get an XP when they score a TD and he's got a hell of a leg to knock down the long FGs.

DEF: NYJ - The best defense in the NFL last year looks much improved (if Revis plays). Plus, it lets me root for my Jets.

DEF: San Fran - This is my "sleeper" defense. While big names were going off the board, I snagged them fairly late and I look for them to have a good year behind defensive-minded Mike Singletary.

BENCH:

QB: Josh Freeman - One of the "Draft Day Hail Mary's" in my fantasy magazine.
QB: Jason Campbell - Some say Oakland was the change he needed...haha.
RB: Arian Foster - Starting back in the Texans high-powered offense.
RB: C.J. Spiller - Electric rookie, worth a chance.
RB: Reggie Bush - See Spiller, take out rookie.
WR: Hakeem Nicks - Great size and strength, could emerge as Eli's #1 target.
TE: Chris Cooley - Still a top TE, McNabb loves to throw to his TE
DEF: Washington - My sleeper defense...

Umpires getting power hungry?

By Dan Rodgers

It seems like every MLB game that I turn on, at some point a coach or player is getting ejected from the game. Whether it be a questionable call in the field or arguing balls and strikes at the plate, players and coaches can't seem to finish games.

Just the other day, Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected by the first-base umpire. I was watching the game, and to be completely honest with you, I couldn't figure out why he was ejected. Typically, managers are screaming in the face of the umpire and probably shouting fairly rude things. However, I couldn't really make out what Guillen had said and he wasn't half way out to first base before he was thrown out.

Umpires have also been uncharacteristically terrible this season. The blown perfect game call (pictured on the right) was the absolute worst, but umpires just seem to not know the strike zone.

Basically, I just wanted to get across my point that I feel like MLB umpires are taking too much control of the game. Their calls shouldn't be so controversial as to possibly change the aspect of the game. All this is doing is backing up the potential need for instant replay in baseball. Personally, I don't really want replay because human error is part of the game (just like NFL and NBA). BUT if the umps are going to continue to be as bad as they've been...bring on the replays.

Rodgers That