i'm a great coach

so some of my wife's co-workers decided to do a fantasy football league.  they are all librarians and, frankly, don't know anything about football (much less fantasy football).  they only had 6 teams in the league, so you know that each team is stacked.  they also had a ridiculously large number of bench spots.  that being said, my wife asked if i'd give her a list of players so that she could have somewhat of an idea of what she should be doing on draft day.

i gave her some basic strategies (fill out roster, save dst and k for 2nd-to-last and last rounds, respectively, draft a handcuff, evaluate the value on the board).  basically, i have a VBD cheatsheet i made for my non-ppr leagues and made a general laundry list of players based on said VBD cheatsheet.  i just told her to draft the person with the highest value on the board provided that she didn't draft any backups prior to filling out her roster.  i won't go into any analysis, but this is her team:

QB: michael vick
RB: arian foster
RB: ray rice
WR: roddy white
WR: andre johnson
FLEX: greg jennings
TE: aaron hernandez
DST: baltimore
K: hartley
BN: eli manning
BN: matt ryan
BN: frank gore
BN: shonn greene
BN: bernard pierce
BN: aj green
BN: hakeem nicks
BN: jeremy maclin
BN: demariyus thomas
BN: vernon davis
BN: matt bryant

i think i smell a championship.

Bockmed's 2012 Fantasy Draft Recap #2

This evening, some of my cousins and one uncle gathered 'round the fictional table that is the internet and drafted our teams for the 4th year of our fantasy football league. When I got called out for escalating the pre-draft smack-talk, I simply had to remind the one who called me out that I am the reigning back-to-back-to-back champion of this league and as such, get to talk forever. It took a lot of luck and a couple good (it would be fair to call one unfair) trades to pull it off. The fantasy noobs among the family are now either gone or seasoned veterans at this point. The chances of another repeat are slimmer than ever. But I'll be damned if I don't try. Without further ado, the recap:

This league is a 12-teamer, standard lineup and scoring. I drafted in the 11th spot.

Round 1: RB, Maurice Jones-Drew
I think I said enough about MJD in my last post. I think this is right about where he should be taken, if not sooner. The only really notable thing about this round is that it included Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford, highlighting the trend (as I see it) of my family overvaluing QBs.

Round 2: WR, Larry Fitzgerald
I thought about taking Matt Forte. But I ranked Fitz in the same tier as Calvin Johnson, and I didn't want to miss out on the chance to have a solid base at the WR position. I wish he had another Kurt Warner throwing to him. But he's still the most fundamentally sound receiver in the game with excellent leaping ability and ball skills, making him both an excellent possession receiver and big play threat. When it comes down to it, it hasn't ever mattered who his QB is, he puts up numbers consistently, which is what I like to get out of my first couple picks. Being MN homers, AP went in this round.

Round 3: WR, Roddy White
If I liked him enough to grab in the middle of the second in a 10-teamer, you can imagine how giddy I was to select him at the end of the 3rd in a 12-teamer. I'm going to go on record as saying that Victor Cruz at pick 26 will end up proving to be one of the top 5 worst picks of the draft, especially considering, White, Welker, Marshall, Jennings, Julio Jones, Hakeem Nicks, and Andre Johnson were all still available, all of whom I LOVE compared to Cruz. I think at least 2, if not 4, of his big scoring plays last year were very fluky. Take those away and his numbers were like the Mike Wallace - Brandon Marshall cohort. I just don't think he has the talent to repeat that kind of year. Plus, it's damn near impossible to guess which guy Eli is going to be throwing to most in any given year.

Round 4: WR, Andre Johnson
He had fallen too far. I had to take him. I was really contemplating going with Fred Jackson, but I just had to take him. He belongs in the conversation for best (talent-wise) receiver in the NFL. I just don't know enough about what Fred's got in him after the injury last year (and getting older) and how the workload is going to get split in that backfield to not go with Andre. I just hope he can avoid the nagging injuries this year and play like he did in the playoffs.

Round 5: RB, Willis McGahee
If I knew I'd be landing Andre and Roddy, I would have taken Forte. Frankly, I needed sure RB points at this point. Aaron Hernandez was tempting. Apparently, one of my cousins hasn't figured out how to have consistent success in fantasy, as he again drafted a backup for every position and took San Fran's defense in this round.

Round 6:  QB, Eli Manning
I think it's safe to say I'm getting 4000+ yds and TDs approaching 30 with this pick. Not bad. He might go back to bad Eli and start throwing more picks again. But this is really the best I could do at QB. The other quality guys would be gone by the time I got to pick again. Also, the second defense went in this round.

Round 7: RB, Ahmed's boy, C.J. Spiller
It'll be interesting to see how he gets used this year. He was great in somewhat of a featured role in the last third of last year. I needed some RB depth and things were getting thin fast. He was the guy with the talent and potential to be huge and is already in a position to contribute at least something each week. Miles Austin and Aaron Hernandez are some potential steals from this round.

Round 8: TE, Fred Davis
He was on a nice pace last year. Then came the suspension. He's a little bit of a risk but he says he's changed his ways. Basically, I wanted to fill out my starting lineup before anything else and he was the best TE available.

Round 9: WR, Darrius Heyward-Bey
I think he's the best bet among the Oakland receiving corps to have a big year. If he doesn't turn out, it's fine, because I've got 3 guys who can very easily be top 10 receivers. First kicker taken.

Round 10: RB, Ryan Williams
From what I've heard, his legs are now held together by twigs and twine. The patellar tendon sounds like an awful thing to tear. But apparently he's got some talent and he's in the running for a starting job. Welcome to my bench. Way too many defenses and kickers taken at this point.

Round 11: RB, Pierre Thomas
One can only hope that the Saints will realize that Frenchy carries the ball a whole 1.2 yards further per carry than Mark Ingram does. Don't even try to tell me that that's because they carry the ball in different situations. It's because Mark Ingram is awful. He gets what is blocked and falls forward. Which is great if you're running a wishbone offense. He isn't even a better "goal line" runner than Frenchy. Oh well. Despite only getting about 10 touches a game he managed to scrape together almost 1000 total yards. I was desperate for some RB depth here.

Round 12: WR, Greg Little
I don't feel the need to back up Eli. I kinda wanted another receiver. He's the best (read: only) pass-catcher on his team. I'll take it.

Round 13: RB, Taiwan Jones
Darren McFadden isn't known for playing whole seasons. Taiwan Jones is firmly planted as his backup.

My lineup at a glance:
QB: Eli Manning
RB: MJD
RB: Willis McGahee
WR: Larry Fitzgerald
WR: Roddy White
TE: Fred Davis
flex: Andre Johnson
bench: C.J. Spiller, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Ryan Williams, Pierre Thomas, Greg Little, Taiwan Jones
DST: NYG
K: Alex Henery

I generally like this team. But unless I get really lucky on the waiver wire and/or make a significant trade, I don't think this team is built for a championship. I've gambled on trying to carry teams on the backs of WRs before. I think it may have been somewhat successful once. Every other time has been a horrible failure. I don't love my lack of RB depth. So I'm a little worried about that. I didn't realize that Fred Davis is one violation from a full-year suspension. In the end I think there are 2 or 3 teams that drafted better than me, and inevitably there will be 2 or 3 others that surprise you and remain dangerous competition all season. This should be fun.

Open wide

because your face is about to be "glazed" by the massive nerdgasm that is this post.

First: "Science"

I don't know if any of you have ever seen The Slo-Mo Guys on YouTube, but they do some cool vids with, you guessed it, a really expenseive "slow motion" camera that is capable of shooting thousands of frames per second in super high resolutions. Watch this slinky's center of gravity accelerate at 1 g, while the slinky as a whole conserves its total energy. ooooooooooh. science.

In other "science" news. I'm back at my old job at NOvA, building modules for a massive neutrino detector being constructed in Ash River, MN. I'm not entirely happy about it. But there's still enough familiar faces (and some of the new ones seem alright) to make it a fun workplace at times. And it puts money in the bank. So far the most frustrating part is being treated like a newbie by kids with half the experience there that I have. It was refreshing to hear one of them say, "You've worked here before, haven't you?"

More nerdiness inbound...

Some of you know that I'm a bit of a gamer. Well, lately (more like for the last half year) I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 3. This summer, I came across a community (know as Global Conflict, or GC for short) on the interwebs that, long story short, plays out one turn of a gigantic game of risk each saturday, with the battles over territory being fought out in 32 vs 32 matches in Battlefield 3. The players come from all over the world and after getting familiar with a few of them from voice chat on battle days and various forum posts, we managed to put together a ten-team fantasy football league...

which leads me to my first fantasy football draft recap of the season. 

The league setup is very standard: ten teams, standard scoring, standard line up (QB, 2x RB, 2x WR, TE, W/R/T, K, DST). Most of the managers are fairly knowledgeable about NFL football and drafted well. A couple of guys missed the draft and got autodrafted teams, one guy, known around GC to be a bit of a flippant jokester, drafted a team of basically all backup quarterbacks, and refreshingly, one British bloke actually knew his stuff pretty well, engaging in such lively discussions as which Denver WR is going to have the better year. Without further ado, my draft:

Round 1: RB, LeSean McCoy

I had the fifth pick. After Arian, Ray, Rodgers and Brady went, I was pleasantly left with a very easy decision. I've always been high on McCoy. This will be the third year in a row that I will have owned him in at least one league. I think his TDs will regress some, but he might see more use as a receiver like in previous years. Barring injury, which he is great at avoiding, he's a lock to be a top 5 running back, which is exactly what I want to get when drafting in the middle of the first round.

Round 2: WR, Roddy White

The surprise of the round was seeing Jimmy Graham go with the first pick. I have to admit, I made a mistake here. Unfortunately, I was drafting from my laptop which lacks the screen real estate and mouse precision that I'm used to, making flipping back and forth between the yahoo applet and my own excel sheet of rankings a bit sluggish. I also have to say "fuck you" to Yahoo for being so shitty at producing rankings and projections. I failed to notice MJD still on the board because he was so low on Yahoo's ranks and I figured he should be gone by this point. I don't think his holdout will last long enough to keep him out of any games. I know he'll be in shape. I'm not concerned about injuries or his workload. He was the rushing champ last year. Not much else is different about his situation compared to last year. Oh well. I took the 4th wideout off the board (following Megatron, Fitz, and AJ Green(?)). Roddy is consistent. Despite how much I love Julio Jones' freakish talent, Roddy's chemistry with Matty Ice isn't going anywhere, he won't face as many double teams, and he's in better shape than he was last year. I can't be too mad about this pick.

Round 3: RB, Steven Jackson

I see his floor as about 1200 total yards, 6 TDs. Despite his history of nagging injuries, he plays through them. He is that offense. I see this as a safe, unexciting pick, which I'm ok with in the 3rd round with all of the other "safe" running backs gone, the top 5 QBs gone, the better half of the "high-risk, high-reward" running backs off the board and already having an elite receiver.

Round 4: RB, Adrian Peterson

I told myself that if I already had 2 good starting RBs and Adrian was still available, I'd be taking him as early as the 3rd. His potential is just too high. As much as I try to deny it, I'm a Vikings fan. He's a beast. He says he's fine. The coaches and training staff aren't going to let him play until they're confident he's as ready as he'll be. He can sit on my bench half the season for all I care. I like this pick. 

Round 5: QB, Michael Vick

Here's to getting the 2010 Michael Vick. He was a little bit of a disappointment last year, and also showed why he's considered an injury risk. But he did show that Vickish explosiveness when he was healthy and finished the season strong. I don't think this pick could break my team, but it could certainly make it. I wasn't totally enthralled with the remaining pass-catchers and have to say that I successfully beat the impending run on QBs (Ryan, both Mannings, and Tony Romo all taken in the next round and a half).

Round 6: WR, Dez Bryant

He's a freakish athlete. He has trouble staying on the field. But gosh he's a freakish athlete. I'm bad at adjectives. He could be a top-five receiver with a full productive season. Let's hope I play him the right weeks.

Round 7: WR, Vincent Jackson

Josh Freeman and the Bucs aren't about to open up an air-it-out offensive explosion any time soon. But Vincent Jackson makes big plays. He's the best receiver on the team. Not a very exciting pick. He could bring back some of his glory days of old. I think that's more likely than him completely sucking. 

Round 8: WR, Miles Austin

I could end up getting nothing but headaches from my 2nd-4th receivers. But seriously, Austin was a 3rd round pick last year. When he's healthy and Romo is clicking, there's only a handful of receivers that drop numbers like he does. Unfortunately that hasn't happened very often lately. And his porcelain hamstrings are already acting up. 

Round 9: RB, Willis McGahee

Would you like a running back in the 9th round who got 15-20+ carries in most games last year and accumulated over 1200 total yards? You could have stopped there and I'd have been sold. But not only did he get a major upgrade at QB, but he got one that doesn't steal his carries. And there aren't any backups who are going to challenge his role as the starter and short yardage back. 

Round 10: QB, Ben Roethlisberger

I don't always draft a backup QB, but when I do, it's because I drafted Michael Vick as my starter. Vick will probably miss games this year. When I saw that the last borderline starter quality QB was still available, I knew I had to take him or take whatever fodder was on the waiver wire at some point. 

Round 11: TE, Tony Gonzalez

I love Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham... in the late second/third round. I like Gates, Hernandez, Davis, and Finley. But apparently other people like them more. It sucks to be the guy that autodrafted Jason Witten's deteriorating production and lacerated spleen (best wishes to Witten though. this is just a game after all and that's a very serious injury). After those guys it's you're pretty much getting the same vanilla TE. So I'll wait. and wait. and grab the steady Hall-of-Famer. He's basically going to catch the ball and fall down on the spot at this point in his career. He's lost a couple steps and some vertical leap to be sure. But his route running and hands are still tops in the game and should be good enough for 700 yds and 6 TDs with very little frustration.

Round 12: RB, Toby Gerhart

To be honest, I had forgotten about handcuffing Peterson. When he fell in my lap here, I was pleasantly surprised. He should be somewhat productive no matter how healthy Peterson is, which is nice.

Round 13: WR, Robert Meachem

I needed another backup receiver. He seemed to be the best available. I've never loved Meachem much, but at least now he should get consistent playtime and looks. Who knows? It's not like I "paid" much to get him.

Rounds 14 and 15. NE Defense and Kicker Rob Bironas

If you don't wait 'til the last two rounds to draft your defense and kicker (assuming fairly normal league rules), you're bad at fantasy football. I don't care what you say.

Now that I've geeked out in almost every way I know how, I'm going to go watch yesterday's episode of Breaking Bad, which I downloaded illegally. 

because this blog needs more music

i've been a huge passion pit fan for a long time.  the first time i heard this song (1st one below) i absolutely fell in love with it.



so i ventured into the unchartered territory of discovering, listening, and loving passion pit.  that led me to this song:



but man.  the music just keeps getting better.  i'll admit that i don't always keep up with when bands/artists drop new records.  so when pandora randomly stumbled upon this gem.  i just.  no words. lyrically the song is brilliant.  the hook at the beginning reeled me in.  then the chorus.  just too catchy.



hopefully you like this half as much as i do.

also: my semester has been awesome thus far.  i think it really is true what they say: the farther you go in education, the more you cater to your actual interests.  the more you focus on your actual interests, the more that you enjoy it.  i know it's kind of weird, but being paid to go to school to do stuff i love.  it actually makes school fun and enjoyable.  not to be a negative nancy, but three years ago if you had asked my opinion on that while at the u of m, i never would have written what i just did.  it's kind of funny to think how--in all actuality--we are still so young and have no idea what the future holds.  i couldn't even being to explain how much life has changed in the last 3 years.  i can only begin to guess how much more different it will be in 3 more years.

stay classy, blogosphere.

i think i might blog about this

i just got back from the grocery store.  all i needed were two things: a gallon of milk and some pork strips for stir fry tomorrow.

so i picked up those two items and headed to the check-out line.  behold!  a line with only one person with a handful of items?  i'll choose this one!

now you all may or may not remember a previous post in which i ranted about how i don't care if i have to wait in line to get groceries.  this is not a rant about waiting.  instead, this is a rant about really fun customers. it reminded me of the good ol' days when bockmed and i ruled the jungle otherwise known as arby's.

the man i chose to get in line behind was in a grocery store scooter.  you know, the ones that are made for handicapped people.  i'll give the man credit: unlike 98% of other people i see at grocery stores using scooters whose "disability" is being morbidly obese, this man had a legitimate physical impediment.  he was about 80 years old and rather frail.  his wrinkly hands shook as he lifted canned goods towards the cashier.  i could genuinely feel his back pain as a winced while reaching to get his wallet.

but, for the love of god, he did not appear to have any kind of mental limitation.  he was courteous, friendly, chatty, and amicable while putting his goods on the counter.  but when it came time to pay...i just had to facepalm.

cashier: "your total is $10.12."
(old man reaches into pocket, SLAMS a bunch of coins on the counter, and suddenly shifted from his sharp-as-a-tack playful wit to a man apparently hard of hearing): "THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO COVER IT!"
cashier, counting coins: "sir, you gave me 78 cents."
old man: "I OWE 78 CENTS?"
cashier: "no, sir, you only gave me 78 cents."
(old man reaches into pocket, SLAMS more coins on the counter): "THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF IT."
cashier: "sir, you only gave me an additional dollar and four cents.  you still owe $8.30."
(old man reaches into wallet, throws paper currency on counter)
cashier: "sir, that was a dollar."
old man: "IS THAT ENOUGH?"
cashier: "you still owe $7.30."
(old man reaches into pocket, slides something across the counter)
cashier: "sir, you just gave me 6 cents. [editors note: SERIOUSLY????] that was only a nickel and a penny.  do you have another $7.24?"
old man: "I GOT IT RIGHT HERE."
(old man proceeds to place a crumpled up ball of paper currency on the counter)
(as cashier unfolds ball of paper currency, coins begin to fall out of the middle)
cashier: "sir, that was $6.20.  you only owe an additional $1.04.  do you have that tonight?"
old man: "I HAVE A COUPON FOR THE OLIVES."
(cashier swipes coupon): "great! i just need an additional 64 cents."
(old man reaches yet again into pocket and pulls out 64 cents worth of pennies and nickels)

as the old man scooted away, i felt really bad for the poor cashier.  when i reached the counter, it looked like a bukkake scene from hell if instead of shooting out loads of semen men ejaculated spare change.  it was a disaster.  i tried to cheer the poor girl up.

ahmed: "well, at least he didn't pay in all coins?"

so today's tip of the hat goes to YOU, dear grocery check-out girl.  you had the patience of a saint, the customer service of a seasoned veteran, and the math skills of an MIT accountant.  thank you for letting me see firsthand the professionalism that is often missing in lower-level unskilled positions.  good work!

So I just got a haircut

Why'd you only get one hair cut? haherpdederp. Because hair can be fucking plural. That's why.

Because I'm a man, and a simple one at that, I get my hair cut at Great Clips. The following is the conversation I had with my cosmetologist when I walked in:

Hi! Welcome to Great Clips, my name is Juniper (it wasn't)! What do you need today [paraphrasing]?

Just a haircut.

Have you been here before?

Yup.

Can I get your phone number? (If she had asked me this at a bar, I would have given it to her just the same. She was kinda cute.)

*tells her cell phone number* (because it's the one I use at a different location, assuming all their databases are synched together)

Oh. It doesn't seem to be in the system. Might it be under a different number?

Why don't we just start fresh with that number? (I knew I would be under my old home phone number (which has long since been disconnected), along with my whole family)

Yada yada. Something about keeping our notes. Can I get your last name? [more paraphrasing]

Yeah, it's Lastname. L-a-s-t-n-a-m-e.

*Reads back old home phone number. Names off my siblings, father and a foreign exchange student who lived with us when I was in 5th grade.*

*looks confused/indifferent*

Is that right? Do you know them?

Yeah, I know them. But that's not me. (again, I'm a simple man)

No. Right. You're in there with them. Bockmed, right?

Yup.

Could I get your new number again.

*repeats cell phone number*

Alright then, Bockmed, come back with me. We're the second chair here on the right.



*******scene.********

Now if anyone in my family goes to that Great Clips, they'll be under my cell phone number. So much unnecessary confusion...




I'm sorry Juniper.

that time of year again

well folks, i just had my first fantasy draft of the year.  thus marks the beginning of the transition where TBTOO goes from short stories/videos/reddit material to non-stop football updates.

this league is with a buddy of mine from in town.  it consists of him, 10 of his friends from high school, and myself.  i really only know him.  all of them went to high school with my wife, so they kind of know who i am by association, but they aren't really close friends at all.

last year was my first year in the league.  they invited me to take over for a manager that stopped paying attention.  they all had this stereotype that i was a "big nerd" and thus would be easy money since, well, nerds don't know anything about sports.  (unbeknownst to them, i'm a hardcore sports fanatic.)

last year i took the team from dead last....to first place.  i'm proud of that.

what i also like about this league is that the winner gets a victory belt.  (it's somewhat reminiscent of the tv show the league for those of you that are familiar).  the belt is an old weightlifting belt that has been modified to include the league symbol, the history of champions, the final scores, etc.  the annual winner's name it etched on the side and they get to keep the belt for a year.  it's a cool idea.

anyway, as a recent married man, i had a lot of fun making this draft as awkward/sarcastic/uncomfortable as possible.  to these 11 guys the belt is like the shiva.  they covet it.  they flaunt it.  so, as such, i intentionally didn't bring it to the draft.

guy in the league: "where's the belt?"
me: "it's getting sterilized."

other guy in the league: "what has been your best moment with the belt?"
me: "i wore it on my wedding night."

yet another guy in the league: "why didn't you bring the belt to the draft?"
me: "do you have any idea where that thing has been?"

finally one guy just got it right: "how about we put the entry fees towards making a new belt?"

back to the draft.

this league is a "keeper" and i say that loosely, because you only keep one guy one round earlier than the previous season.  last year i took a stab at demarco murray in the 11th round.  let's just say i kept him this year in the 10th.  it's a half-point PPR league, reverse draft order based on standings, snake draft.  thus, i had the 12th, 13th, 36th, 37th, etc. overall picks all the way through pick 180.

round 1: darren mcfadden
-i know he's injury prone.  but this was my thought process: if he's healthy, i just got the best steal of the draft at number 12.  why not take that chance?  he's a stud in PPR formats.  if he stays healthy, he will be one of the top backs this year.  he has the capability of being the best overall running back.  oakland has a nice O-line, some decent receiving threats, and i just like mcfadden.  pleeeeaaaase stay healthy.

round 2: roddy white
-not high on him at all this year.  many of the upper echelon guys were keepers (i think ray rice went in the 7th, foster in the 8th, etc.) so by the time the 12th overall pick came my way, there wasn't much left in RB depth.  andre, calvin, welker, and fitzgerald were off the board.  for me, roddy was much more valuable than any other RBs or WRs on the board, so i felt the value was right.

round 3: marques colston
-i don't think brees will put up the numbers he did last year, but i do think colston will put up higher numbers than he did last year.  especially with meachem out of the equation and lance moore being susceptible to injuries.  i'm a little nervous about playcalling with a new coach, but with brees at the helm i'm just gonna trust that colston will be a solid #2 WR.

round 4: antonio gates
-i'm pretty high on gates this year.  he has said he's in the best shape of his life and that he was able to get rid of injuries over the offseason.  let's hope he was telling the truth because i usually never take a TE this year (especially with the depth at the position this year).  nonetheless, rivers doesn't have many targets to throw to in SD, so i'm hoping gates has a stellar year.  fingers crossed...

round 5: eli manning
-he was hands-down the best QB available, and my projections had him scoring considerably more than any other position player on the board.  i didn't want to risk him going off the board and having to gamble on a big ben/josh freeman type to be the weekly starter on my team.  i'm ok with eli.

round 6: shonn greene
-greene is one of my mid-level sleepers this year.  yes, tebow will probably get some of the rushes that would have otherwise gone to greene.  however, mcknight doesn't really scare me.  greene has good hands and is a viable flex option in a PPR league (which is exactly what i plan to do with him).  remember his rookie season when some took him as high as #4 overall?  i don't think greene will have upper-echelon numbers, but i do think at the end of the season most owners will look back and think "man, how did greene drop to the 6th round?"  i love him as a flex play.

round 7: kenny britt
-yes, i know he'll probably be suspended for the first 4 or so games.  but this was a huge value pick on the board in the 7th round.  why not take a stab at him?  i have roddy and colston, so it wasn't like i was planning on using britt as a starter.  let's say he gets reinstated week 5 and hypothetically returns to some of his pre-ACL monster numbers.  then i have one of the best receivers as my flex.  it's a gamble i was willing to take for the value at that pick.

round 8: greg little
-little is arguably my biggest sleeper.  i know he only had (i think) 2 touchdowns last year.  but he got a ton of touches for the browns.  (obviously when you think of cleveland, you don't instantly think of a high-powered offense.)  however i think he'll grow in his 2nd season.  if they get any semblance of an improved passing game, i know his targets will increase substantially.  he'll be a good bye-week filler.  nothing more, nothing less.

round 9: ryan williams
-i'm not convinced that beanie wells will end the season as arizona's starter.  williams gave him a huge run-for-his-money during training camp last year before succumbing to injury.  it should be noted that williams had a patellar injury, not a torn ACL/MCL/PCL etc.  thus, i don't think he'll lose his cutting ability.  i'm thinking he could be getting the majority of touches come week 6.

round 10: demarco murray
-what a steal.  the number 12 overall RB on my board taken with pick 109.  #winning

round 11: rashad jennings
-i'm willing to bet he gets at least 2 starts in september.  this was mostly just a flier in case MJD legitimately misses the entire season with his holdout.  i guarantee he doesn't, but rashad was worth the gamble.  plus, mcfadden and murray have the same bye week in week 5.  hopefully if MJD is still on his holdout it will last until week 5, because then i have yet another guaranteed starter in jennings.

round 12: brandon lafell
-trivia time: besides steve smith, who else is cam newton going to pass to?  give up?  the answer is lafell.  smith is getting old, there are no other legitimate receiving threats, and greg olsen can only do so much.  lafell has had a decent pre-season and i really think he'll get good looks and plenty of touches as the season progresses.  besides, by the time i would hypothetically need him to fill in a bye week, kenny britt should be back from suspension.

round 13: mike goodson
-clearly, he is my handcuff for mcfadden.  how no one drafted him beforehand makes no sense to me.  when you look at the top 15 running backs, you should ask yourself, "who among these is most likely to get injured?"  the answer should be "darren mcfadden."  i can't believe no one else jumped on him earlier.  (some handcuffs were being taken as early as the 6th and 8th rounds.  wow!)  now i'm feeling very good about my RB situation if injuries were to occur.

round 14: new york jets
-just a DST

round 15: (mr. irrelevant) blair walsh
-hopefully the pre-season is an indicator of what he'll do.  i just hope he's more accurate than in college.

LINEUP:
QB: eli manning
RB: darren mcfadden
RB: demarco murray
WR: roddy white
WR: marques colston
TE: antonio gates
FLEX: shonn greene
K: blair walsh
DST: new york jets
BN: kenny britt
BN: greg little
BN: ryan williams
BN: rashad jennings
BN: mike goodson
BN: brandon lafell

my overall thoughts:
i've never had a draft where i don't select a backup QB.  this is the first time i've ever done it.  my justification: eli's bye week is week 11.  so most of the season will be over by the time i even need him.  he's not historically injury prone, so there should be relatively little risk going with only one QB for the first 10 weeks of the year.  i'm reluctant about depending on antonio gates.  if he gets injured, there really is no one available as a free agent.  so my TE will just suck for the entire season.  i drafted strategically by selecting a QB, TE, and DST that all have different bye weeks.  the reason: i really like the potential my bench has and don't want to get rid of possibly 2 of them in one week if 2 of my positions that don't have backups both have bye weeks that week.  thus, come week 7 when gates has a bye, i only have to drop one of my bench guys (depending on production/battles it'll likely be a RB).  i can then drop the replacement person during my DST bye week (9) and my QB bye week (11).  blair walsh will just be dropped for a different K since there really isn't a difference in kicker production.  he may even be dropped earlier in the season if he has early-season accuracy issues.

i really like this team.  it has a ton of potential so long as everyone stays healthy.  almost my entire bench is a gamble, but i think at least one of them will pay off handsomely.  as long as i make it through the season injury-free, i think the belt may be coming back my way.

soccer fans actually helping their team

dang it, reddit, this is great.

sorry for all of the video posts.

dayum

this is ridiculously well done.

The end of a chapter

Today was my last day as a Co-Op (and possibly ever, in any position) at Delta.

I decided to participate in the blood drive this morning. Total waste of time. After sitting in line for an hour and a half, when the dude finally got the needle in my arm and was taking the sample vials, he turned around to pick something up from a nearby table. Unfortunately, the tube was caught on his coat and the needle got ripped out of my arm. Of course, once that happens they aren't allowed to start again.

Beyond that little adventure, my day was just tying up loose ends, saying goodbye to everyone and leaving early. It's bittersweet. I got plenty of professional experience and a lot of life experience from my time at Delta. Most of the people I worked with were very knowledgeable and very good at what they do and used that willingly to help me learn and grow. Everyone treated me very well and they definitely want me back. The co-op program is as much for them to find and groom talented young professionals as it is for the students to get a learning opportunity. But I don't think I'll be back. I want to do actual engineering work. You know, designing/testing stuff, rather than relying on past experience and the expertise of the OEM to justify certain actions. I want to get paid a competitive salary. Delta doesn't really do that for its engineers. I don't want to live in Atlanta. There's really nothing special about it. It's very much a city of commuters. And the summer weather blows.

All that said, I'm glad I got the chance to work for Delta (the travel benefits didn't hurt either), but I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my career and what life will have in store for me after I graduate this December.

I might post up a few stories about the fine folks at Delta from time to time.

today's logical question would be...

why don't coffee shops put more outlets closer to 2-person tables?  i'm hogging a 4-seater because i really need an outlet but the place is getting full and now i feel like a douche.

tomorrow's logical question: what will it be like--for the first time since june 28th--to have internet at home?

I thought I was pretty good at the internet

but due to the fact that I didn't even hear about this video until one of my coworkers pulled up a CNN clip talking about it, I have to say that I am indeed, not good at the internet. That might be a good thing, actually. But still, given my history of posting awesome K-Pop videos on certain persons' Facebooks you would think I would be on top of this shit. I kind of hope that this song becomes the new "Dougie" or "Soulja Boy" and everyone in America learns this dance and overplays the song.

Because it's that awesome.

P.S. I'll be leaving Georgia exactly one week from now.

i speak the truth

i can't post this on facebook nor can i tweet it since it will inevitably wind up on my facebook, (and i don't want to be murdered in my sleep) but i can confidently say the following:

marriage is nothing more than your partner no longer feeling obligated to hold in farts while around you.

there, that is your deep thought for the day.