Well, today

actually went a bit better than expected. For the most part, things ran much smoother than I expected and the new people seemed to be getting a bit more out of it than expected as well. I still think it would be more efficient to assimilate the new students in a steady trickle rather than intermittent tsunamis.

On that note. This is my first fantasy football post of the year. I just love football season. It's the easiest and, for me, most fun sport to follow and watch. It's fall. It's manly. Fantasy is geeky. It's perfect. I just finished drafting for the family league I will be in the running to win for a third straight year. It's twelve teams with pretty standard scoring and a lineup as follows: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR/RB/TE, TE, DST, K, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN. There's a few things you need to know about my family league. People like to reach for players, and very easily get roped into following a run at a given position. This year wasn't as bad as the previous two in that regard, but I'll point out a few shining examples. This'll be a long one. Buckle up. Here Goes.

Round 1.
Things looked pretty standard. Due to Andre Johnson going at 4 and Mendenhall at 5, I managed to land Lesean McCoy at pick number nine. A. Rodgers and Vick went 11 and 12.

Round 2.
Roddy White, my man-crush from last year made it to me at pick four. The top 5 QBs were all gone by the end of the round. This is a league that gives only 4 points for a passing TD keep in mind.

Round 3.
The easy picks keep falling into my lap. I felt there were some reaches in this round. LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Lloyd (I smell one-year wonder) went, and Ahmad Bradshaw fell in my lap. 2 more QBs left the board.

Round 4.
This round was a perfect example of reaching for players and following a run. After Jermichael Finley went with pick three. Gates, Witten and Clark all also went. I decided to pass up Gates and go with who I considered the last remaining top-tier WR in Vincent Jackson. I've been feeling like targeting Gates at about this point all pre-season, but I just can't pass up a top WR when guys like Vernon Davis and Owen Daniels would still be available later.

Round 5.
Round 5 was home to the reach of the draft. Nate Burleson: pick one of round 5 to my cousin Serena. I also think Mark Ingram was a [very hype-ey] reach in this round. Knowing that the next 6 picks before my next didn't need a QB, I knew I would have Big Ben coming to me in the 6th so I went with Santonio Holmes after my brother took Knowshon Moreno, who I had been eyeing up. Oh yeah, the first defense went in round five. Classic family league.

Round 6.
The trend of TEs getting overdrafted continues. Davis went in round 5 and Daniels and Winslow went in round 6.

Round 7.
3 more TEs go. I landed Brandon Jacobs to corner the Giants running game market, knowing how injury/fumble prone Bradshaw can be.

Round 8.
I grab Fred Jackson. I felt like getting a starting running back who'll be a pretty sure thing to put up 1000 total yards and a handful of TDs was a steal at this point in the draft. The defenses keep coming off the board.

Round 9.
The first kicker goes. I grab Austin Collie. At this point, the injury risk is more than worth what you can get out of Collie with a healthy Peyton throwing to him.

Round 10.
More kickers. I grab Grab pierre Garcon. See Austin Collie: injury risk, Peyton Manning.

Round 11.
I take the 13th TE of the draft, Marcedes Lewis. I'm not really a believer in the guy or in the stability of the Jaguar's passing game, but the guy did get 700 yards and 10 TDs last year. Seriously. Talk about falling in my lap.

Round 12.
Pretty typical late round picks. Defenses, backup QBs and "lottery ticket" WRs and RBs go. I went with Jerome Harrison on the theory that Jahvid Best whacks his shin on something in the dark and misses 6 games this year.

I used my last two picks to take the Lions' D and Matt Bryant.

At the end of the day this is what my team looks like.

QB: Roethlisberger
RB: mccoy
RB: Bradshaw
WR: White
WR: V. Jackson
RB/WR: Holmes
TE: M. Lewis
K: Bryant
DST: Detroit

BN: Jacobs
BN: Jackson
BN: Collie
BN: Garcon
BN: Harrison


Quick Hitters;
Of course everyone will feel like they had the best draft. But I think I'm legitimately justified in saying that. I'm more than solid at RB, have an underrated QB, stacked WRs and a TE that if capable of even partially replicating last year, will easily give me the best return on investment imaginable.

I like having the Giants tandem. I've either got a stud and a dud or a solid 2nd running back and a viable flex player no matter what happens in that very good run game.

I also like having both Collie and Garcon. I hopefully won't need either of them, but one could emerge as a star across from Reggie Wayne.

And I really think Harrison could have some value. Jahvid best is *really* fragile.

I think there's only myself, one or two cousins and to some degree my brother that understand how to draft for value, and as such, there's only 1 or 2 other teams that I'm afraid of right now.

Have I mentioned how much I love McCoy and White? I had both in this league last year, and I have to say, even though I had to trade McCoy (for Aaron Rodgers :D) they won me the league through value and consistency.

Hot damn I love this season. I've got one more draft coming up next weekend with a bunch of guys I've never played with before. It should be interesting to see how this goes.