Week 9 Recap

News and Notes: This week's recap has a new recurring theme that I noticed this week. "Instant Gratification". Everyone is searching for it these days and it's starting to spill over into the way we think about and play fantasy football. These days everything has to be "on demand". We all have cellphones...we need to know the minute something is happening. We want live scoring, we want email notification, we need up to date information.

This week two people in my leagues have told me out of frustration that they are quitting fantasy football for good. I think I talked them off the ledge, but I'm not sure. I can sympathize with the way they feel. We think about sports all the time, and fantasy football is pretty much just one day out of the week. We get so geeked up about and then poof, the week is over. You either get a win or a loss, and if you lose there's nothing you can do about it. You try and make a trade and dramatically turn around your season. In this world of "instant gratification" the fantasy football season can sort of drag along. You want things to move quicker, but alas you have to wait an entire week to try and avenge last week's loss. There is just not enough instant gratification in fantasy football anymore, no patience.

This past week in the Raging Bull there was a controversial trade. I had the league test out the proposed veto type system for trades and it worked out fairly well. The league agreed that the best way to do this is to require only 6 veto votes instead of 7 since the two owners that made the trade should not be included in the vote, so it would be 6 out of the remaining 10. We'll see if this becomes policy in the offseason.

It the end of bye week for the leagues so the waiver wire might dry up again as teams cut lose those 2nd TE's, K's, DEF's, etc.

There is a scoring adjustment for Week 8, I checked and didn't see that it would affect any of the final matchups...here is the adjustment:

The Elias Sports Bureau reviewed made some changes to the Bears-49ers game. After reviewing film, they changed a fumble to an interception and a pass to a rush. The following stats changed as a result:
• Arnaz Battle: from 0 rushes to 1 rush for -3 yards.
• Arnaz Battle: from 4 receptions for 32 yards to 3 receptions for 35 yards.
• Alex Smith: from 16 of 26 passing for 146 yards and 1 interception to 14 of 25 for 135 yards and 2 interceptions.
• Antonio Bryant: from 5 receptions for 58 yards to 4 receptions for 44 yards.
• Antonio Bryant: from 1 fumble and 1 fumble lost to 0 fumbles

I'll try and do a recap of each league sometime this week...Thanks guys...

Brian Kreklau
www.smartguysports.com

Week 8 Recap

Hey guys...I'm just absolutely getting slammed at work today...I won't have time for a recap this week...Last week for byes...Good luck to everyone this week.

Brian

Week 7 Recap

News and Notes: I want to thank everyone who has visited and checked out the new SmartGuySports.com. I set out building the new site with my fantasy leagues and friends in mind. I've tried to create nice sites for each league with all of the pertinent information and history that I have. Dirtbag really was happy with his tribute page, he gave it two thumbs up. I should have the photo gallery up in a few weeks...I can't believe all of the photos of stadiums and big events I've gone to. I also setup these blogs for the leagues, so that I can try and eliminate some of the email chatter that has gone on for so many years. Some of you like it and others are not so keen on it...

One item of league business...there was a statistics change for Week 6, that I will be applying this afternoon.

Here is the excerpt from the league software:

Week #6 Bears-Cardinals game:

The Elias Sports Bureau made an official stats change after reviewing film of the Bears-Cardinals game. The following stats have changed as a result:

• Thomas Jones: from 39 to 43 rushing yards.
• Rex Grossman: from 148 to 144 passing yards.
• Rashied Davis: from 31 to 27 receiving yards.

I didn't see where this affected the outcome of any game, but I could have missed something, so I will apply this and if it does, I'm sure someone will say something...

This week's theme is "Where Do I Stand". It's amazing how focused everyone is on "Where Do I Stand". When you are in a relationship, someone always wants to know where they stand. You constantly wonder at work, "Where Do I Stand". Dirtbag has to walk across a cowshit pasture and wonder's "Where Do I Stand?" Well in our leagues we have officially moved into the 2nd half of the regular season and everyone wants to know "Where Do I Stand?"...

so let's take a look at each league and see where we stand if the playoffs started this week...

Stooges:

#1: H-Town Ruff Riders (Division Champ)
#2: Richmond Brewzers (Division Champ)
#3: Blazing Gunz (Division Champ)
#4: The Maneaters (Wild Card, 5-2)
#5: Chili Crashers (Wild Card, 4-3)
#6: Shady Records (Wild Card, 712 points)

Seinfeld:

#1: Cap's Avengers (Division Champ)
#2: The Highlight Reel (Division Champ)
#3: Chili Crashers (Division Champ)
#4: Dave's Waves (Wild Card, 4-3)
#5: Buck Naked (Wild Card, 4-3)
#6: Tekies (Wild Card, 712 points)

Simpsons:

#1: New York CJWO (Division Champ)
#2: Richmond Silver Surfers (Division Champ)
#3: Chili Crashers (Division Champ)
#4: Bull 1983 (Wild Card, 4-3)
#5: FFB Wizards (Wild Card, 4-3)
#6: Tekies (Wild Card, 710)

Raging Bull:

#1: Thunder (Division Champ)
#2: Restaurant Quality Lemonade (Division Champ)
#3: The Mean Machine (Division Champ)
#4: Shortcake Delight (Wild Card, 4-3)
#5: The Sledge Hammer (Wild Card, 4-3)
#6: Blazing Gunz (Wild Card, 776)

Cowchip:

#1: H-Town Ruff Riders (Division Champ)
#2: Moo Juice (Division Champ)
#3: Chili Crashers (Division Champ)
#4: Socko's Revenge (Wild Card, 4-3)
#5: The Mean Machine (Wild Card, 4-3)
#6: Bob & Steve's Stars (Wild Card, 4-3)
#7: Sweat Hawgs (Wild Card, 4-3)
#8: sLimz sLeeperz (Wild Card, 3-4)

So now you know where you stand. In all leagues except for Cowchip, the final playoff spot is determined by total points and record has nothing to do with it. In Cowchip, 8 teams make the playoffs. So are you on the outside looking in right now? The trade and free agent market should start getting more desperate as teams really need to lock up wins to either maintain position or move up. These games get pretty damn important...

QB issues are starting as Hasselbeck is down, Roethlisberger is banged up again, and it looks like the Drew Bledsoe era is over in Dallas, and it's possible the Mark Brunell era in Washington is close to being over. Even Peyton Manning really took a beating this past week. I was watching the Colts game and he got bent around like a pretzel and then came out and threw 4 TD passes...
It's funny how the media tried to make a big deal out of the Shawn Merriman steroid story, but everyone I've talked to, doesn't care at all about it. Merriman is one of the bigger young stars in the NFL and most people could care less he got suspended for steroids. Then on the flip side, if someone in baseball gets suspended, everyone I talk to pisses and moans about it. So let's say they announce that Joe Mauer of the Twins was on steroids. Trust me, it would be a much bigger deal. I'm not sure how the NFL and football keep getting a pass from the fans, but it's interesting to say the least...

Joey Harrington might just be ready for the title of "Fantasy Garbage King". His team is behind all the time. They don't stick to the run and he throws constantly. Jon Kitna might have to get off the throne soon...

I noticed the Chicago Bears players appearing in some commercials...that pretty much spells doom and gloom for them now...Matt Leinart has also been appearing in local Arizona furniture commercials, watch out he's the new Rod Tidwell...

Can someone explain to me why Washington traded a 3rd round pick this preseason to get TJ Duckett? Has Duckett even been active most of the time this year? The guy is a free agent at the end of the year, and doesn't play on special teams. So why give up a 3rd round pick, when they already had Ladell Betts and Rock Cartright as backups to Clinton Portis. Portis by the way is the highest paid RB in the league. I just can't figure that Redskins team out sometimes...
Good luck to everyone this week...

Brian Kreklau

Week 6 Recap

News and Notes: All I can say right now, is WOW! I had the pleasure of attending last night's Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears contest. Holy smokes...I don't think I'll forget that one for a while. What drama, what absolute nuttyness. I went with Bill Zagar, of the Stooges League, a big Bears fan. I didn't really have a vested interest in the game, so I decided to break balls and root for the Cardinals. Like I said...just absolute crazy nonsense...

On another note...this was my first chance to check out this new stadium the Cardinals have built for themselves...another one word...wow. If you are a big time college football fan or someone that wants to go to big events like the BCS National Championship game or the Super Bowl, you will not be disappointed in going to this place. It's really something, and I've been to a lot of different venues in my life...

If this week's games weren't nutty enough, our fantasy football games were just as crazy. What moron said that this would be a low scoring week with 6 higher scoring teams on bye? Oh that's right, that moron was ME! Man was I way off. The WR's showed up in a big way this week with 9 of them over 100 yards and everyone of them had at least one TD. 7 RB's went for over 100 yards this week. Just crazy...Oh and by the way, check out some of these point totals this week in our leagues:

The Mean Machine, Cowchip: 176
Socko's Revenge, Cowchip: 165
Chili Crashers, Raging Bull: 159
Restaurant Quality Lemonade, Raging Bull: 156
Shortcake Delight, Raging Bull: 155
Socko's Revenge, Raging Bull: 154 (and lost)
Socko's Revenge, Simpsons: 133
Cap's Avengers, Seinfeld: 132
Richmond Brewzers, Stooges: 125

Those are some big time scores...

I've noticed quite a bit of trades and trade manueverings going on in some of the leagues this past week...it looks like teams are starting to figure out who they are and what their holes are. There are trading partners out there in your leagues, go through the rosters, find someone that has something you need and make yourself a deal. We are at the halfway point in the regular season this week, so if you are going to start making that playoff run, now would be the time to start doing it...

I noticed something today...in the Simpsons/Stooges League the Chicago Bears DEF/ST is the #19 ranked overall player in the league right now. In the Raging Bull/Cowchip Leagues the Bears are the #5 overall ranked player. I don't know if it can keep up, but that Bears DEF is scoring points like crazy this year. Someone ripped someone in one of the leagues during the draft for taking the Bears DEF in like the 8th round. I don't think that guy is laughing anymore...

The new SmartGuySports.com website is about 2 weeks away from being completed...I've put a lot of time into re-doing all of the pages and making it much more easier on the eyes and much easier for me to maintain. I'm hoping to do these recaps, etc over the web instead of via email and allow you the ability to add your comments, so that we don't have to plug up everyone's email box all year long with some of the comments. I also decided to create two new pages. One is my own sports photo album of all of the photos of sporting events I've gone through over the years (I didn't have my camera last night, DOH!)...Item #2 is I've decided to create Dirtbag his very own site on the web. It's going to have some stupid pictures of him and I went through all of my emails over the past 7 years and dug up some of the all-time classic Dirtbag emails and Dirtbag email rips. It will be pretty awesome...

I mentioned before that I would like to adjust the trade policy in all of the leagues, but I didn't get much feedback. In-season, I'm going to keep things as they are, but sort of use the proposed new trade policy as a guideline and hope we make it through the year without controversy. In the offseason, I'd like to address this and add it to the rules. Thanks...

Let's go around the leagues and see where things stand at the halfway point...

Cowchip: Moo Juice and Chili Crashers are leading the pack at 5-1 each. Moo Juice after losing the first game of the year is on a 5 game roll, nice work Shane. The highest scoring team, though is the H-Town Ruff Riders with 708 points and a 4-2 record. The Poison Sluts at 0-6 are not looking so hot right now, but with 8 playoff teams, things can turn around quickly. There are 5 or 6 really solid teams in this league right now, and this is going to be a battle the rest of the way. The trade wheels are turning right now as teams are doing a lot of manuevering. Three incredibly close games this week: Moo Juice 107-104 over Shortcake Delight, Bob & Steve's Stars 106-105 over Bull 1983, and H-Town Ruff Riders 103-102 over Cap N Cheese. Watch out for any stat changes from me to see if these games hold.

Raging Bull: Restaurant Quality Lemonade and Thunder lead the league at 5-1 each. Thunder is by far the top scoring team in the league with 750 points so far on the year. Moo Juice and Bull 1983 at 1-5 are looking for help. An absolutely crazy game between RQL and Socko's Revenge, with Lemonade winning 156-154. I'm still shaking my head about that one. Not really any close matchups this week as there were a lot of blowouts. Keep an eye on Shortcake Delight, they've won 2 in a row and they've been scoring some points lately.

Simpsons: NY CJWO is still leading the league with the best record at 5-1. Joe's team was ripped going into the year and most everyone picked them to finish in last place. Is his team the New Orleans Saints of the Simpson's League? Scoring is pretty even in this league, but the Tekies at 2-4 have scored the most points in the league with 606. Socko's Revenge, after having lost the first three games of the year, have now won 3 straight and are inching up the standings. Last year's champ the Isotopes are locked in a real war in a crazy division. Potomac Rage can't catch a break as they score the 3rd most points this week but picked a bad week to play the highest scoring team, Socko's Revenge. Same for the Zookers are they scored the 4th most points but lost to the Tekies who scored the 2nd most points.

Stooges: Three teams sit atop the standings with sterling 5-1 records. Those crazy Richmond Brewzers, John Murray's H-Town Ruff Riders and Chelli's Maneaters. All of those teams are looking good right now, with the Ruff Riders the league's top scoring team with 672. Special ED and your's truly's Socko's Revenge are not looking so great with 1-5 records. Keep an eye on the Crowbars, they have won 2 in a row are now in 2nd place in the division. The Moe Division is just nuts with three 3-3 teams and a 2-4 team. Who wants to win that divison? The Chili Crashers really shit the bed this week scoring only 47 points in a loss to the Crowbars. 47 points? Come on Brad. Some real nailbiters this week as Blazing Gunz sneaked by Bull 1983 106-102 and The Maneaters slid by Socko's Revenge 95-92. I really needed that win Chelli!

Seinfeld: Cap's Avengers sit atop the Seinfeld League with a 5-1 record. Great job so far this year by Troy Rex. The Tekies are the top scoring team in the league with 615, but the scoring gap has definately narrowed. There are 5 teams at 2-4, which is the worst record in the league, that shows the remarkable parity in this league this year. Everyone is definately in the race right now. Keep an eye on Dave's Waves, they have won 2 in a row and are now sitting at 4-2 on the year. Now might be a good time to look back on that big draft day trade involving Cap's Avengers and The Highlight Reel. The Highlight Reel moved up to the #1 overall pick and gave up the #3 overall pick along with moving back 2 spots in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th rounds. How did this turn out, well Cap's Avengers is 5-1 and The Highlight Reel is 4-2, so they are both doing well. These are the players that were picked in those spots so the trade equals this:

Highlight Reel trades: 1.03 (Tomlinson), 2.10 (McNabb), 4.10 (Warrick Dunn), and 6.10 (Joe Horn)
to Cap's Avengers for: 1.01 (Larry Johnson), 2.12 (Chad Johnson), 4.12 (Reggie Bush), and 6.12 (Rod Smith)

It looks like Cap's Avengers may have made a really great deal in this one, but time will tell if it was the right move.

Everyone have a great week...

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Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 5 Recap

News and Notes: I'm going to try and keep this update short, been working a ton of overtime lately, so I am way behind on sleep and way behind on unpacking...

If I were the owner of the Socko's Revenge franchise, I would fire myself. 2 weeks ago, I pulled an 0 for 7. Last week I had a decent 5-2 bounce back week. This week it was back to usual and 1 for 6. What's worse, is that I'm making terrible decisions with my lineups. There is a cool tool that our site provides, called Owner Efficiency Rating. If you go Reports, Franchise, Weekly Reports you'll see your results from this week. It will also show you your Potential Points for the week if you started all of the right players. To get your owner efficiency rating for the week they take what you actually got, with what you could have gotten. In all 5 leagues this week these were the worst efficiency rating in each league this week:

Cowchip League: Brian Kreklau, 78%
Stooges: Brian Kreklau, 65%
Raging Bull: Brian Kreklau, 65%
Simpson's: Bill Conlogue, 75%
Seinfeld: Dave Kreklau, 54%

That's right the worst rating in 3 leagues this week. I should pat myself on the back in the Simpson's league, the only league I won this week, but basically every player I didn't start this week was on a bye, so my lineup was made for me. I might just have to fire myself soon if this keeps up...

The only glimmer of hope I have right now is that my leagues have reached full blown parity-noia...That's right...I just invented that word...parity-noia. Say it a couple of times, it's got some cache...now if I can just figure out how to turn it into cash-ey...

Getting back to parity items, we have no undefeated teams in the 5 leagues right now. That's right, every unbeaten lost this weekend. So as shitty of a job I'm doing this year running my teams, I along with everyone else is still in the race. In fact, there are also no teams with zero wins on the year. All of the teams that were 0-fer going into this weekend won as well. Parity-noia folks...Tell your friends where you heard it first.

If I were a betting man (shit that slipped out...I don't need another 50 emails going back and forth again this week)...I would bet that this week might be one of the lowest scoring weeks in fantasy football history. Why? This week and next week are the first times in NFL history when 6 teams are on bye. Cleveland, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New England, and Jacksonville. Not awesome offenses, but there's a lot of players that won't be available this week. It should be quite active on the free agent market this week...

One owner this week might wish he had saved some of his points for this week. Jay Hatem and Shady Saliba of Thunder in the Raging Bull put up 144 points this week. Far and away this biggest total of the week...Nice job guys...
On the flip side, only the high scoring Tekies with a total of 101 points this week was able to crack the century mark in the Seinfeld this week. Geez...what's going on?

Trades have died out this past week in all of the leagues...what's going on? Is everyone suffering from a temperature change malaise? With owners doing idiot things with their lineups on a weekly basis (like yours truly), you would think someone would be sending stupid trade offers hoping some of us bite...

Good luck everyone this week...I know I am really going to need it...Hope you enjoyed it...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 4

News and Notes: I'm sure you'd all love to hear my worn out story of moving...Alas, the dope that was going to buy my house and probably turn it into a meth lab, backed out of the deal on the last day. So I had half my stuff moved into the new house, I had to quickly unmove it, etc and deal with that all week. Let's just say...it's been a long week.

My week sucked even more considering that I lost last week in all 7 of my leagues. That's right a complete 0-fer for the week. Then walking to lunch at work yesterday I got bombed from the sky by some bird shit. On the bright side, I heard that it is really lucky to have that happen to you, and it's superstitious to wash the shirt with the bird crap on it. So since, things couldn't get much worse for me, I hung the bird shit work shirt in the back of my closet and I'm hoping that my luck changes. Of course, it helps that I also had spilled a greasy burrito on that same shirt, so it was destined to die anyway.

This is what you get when you sign up for a Smart Guy Sports league...so good fun in a good league and a lot of ranting and raving about mindless shit from the Kreklau clan. So what else has been going on this week? Well, in all of my leagues, the Stooges League has gone crazy this week with trades. I don't know what's happening in the rest of the leagues, but that one has gone crazy. One trade went done and the dominoes went this week. Here are the trades made in that league this week:

Jamal Lewis and Andre Johnson for Reuben Droughns and Steve Smith

Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress for Warrick Dunn and Lee Evans

Carnell Williams and Randy McMichael for Kevin Jones and Alge Crumpler

Carnell Williams and Isaac Bruce for Vince Young and Terrell Owens

Chris Henry and Reggie Wayne for Jerious Norwood and Terrell Owens

Matt Leinart, Ronnie Brown, Marty Booker, and Lee Evans for Rex Grossman, LenDale White, Chris Chambers, and Reggie Williams

Suffice to say...the Stoogers have been busy.

I'm not even going to comment on the T.O. saga...if you want to hear about that, just turn on ESPN or talk radio, it seems to be the only topic of the week...

The list of unbeaten teams in all the leagues goes something like this:

Cowchip: 2 (The Mean Machine, Chili Crashers)

Stooges: 1 (Richmond Brewzers)

Raging Bull: 1 (The Mean Machine)

Simpsons: 1 (Richmond Silver Surfers)

Seinfeld: 2 (The Highlight Reel, Cap's Avengers)

That's only 7 out of 60 teams in 5 leagues that are unbeaten after 3 weeks. It's going to be a parity filled year I think...Notice that Brad North and Carl Miller are 3-0 in two leagues each, those two have obviously figured out something. I talked Mr. North into bogarting my extra ticket to the ASU Sun Devils/Oregon Ducks game this Saturday (Jen, that game should have been on the sheet, it's a PICK'EM!)...I'm going to Pick Brad's Brain while we are sweating in the 100 degree sun for a 12:30 game (who stupid is that?). Maybe I'll wear the Bird Shit shirt, who knows...So anyway, I was in a little bit of a college football mood today, so I thought I would look at the undefeated teams in the leagues and come up with a poll based on points scored, and how tough of a team they appear to be. This is one man's poll

#7: Richmond Silver Surfers, Stooges League 3-0, 278 points. They aren't even the highest scoring team in their division.

#6: Cap's Avengers, Seinfeld League 3-0, 303 points. See #5

#5: The Highlight Reel, Seinfeld League 3-0, 305 points. The Tekies are 0-3 and have scored a total of 315 points.

#4: The Mean Machine, Cowchip League, 3-0, 321 points. H-Town is 2-1 and had scored 385 points

#3: Chili Crashers, Cowchip League, 3-0, 343 points.

#2: The Mean Machine, Raging Bull League, 3-0, 371 points. The SledgeHammers at 2-1 have scored a SGSFFL best 394 points

#1: Richmond Brewzers, Stooges League, 3-0, 342 points. They have outscored the next closest team by almost 20 points and have the only 3-0 record in the league.

The Brewzers right now are the Ohio State of the SGSFFL's. Here is their roster:

QB: Mark Brunell, Jon Kitna, Byron Leftwich
RB: Tatum Bell, Rudi Johnson, Clinton Portis, Dominic Rhodes, Chris Perry
WR: Donald Driver, Darrell Jackson, Antonio Bryant, Laveranues Coles
TE: Dallas Clark, Antonio Gates
K: John Carney
DEF: Dallas Cowboys

Live it up Carl...we are all chasing you down...

One of our esteemed members of the league, Mr. Dan Marks edits stuff for HBO's Real Sports. He did a great job this past week with a piece on the Drug Scandal in MLB in the mid-80's, specifically in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. Watching that piece just reminds me what a dickhead most of those ball-players were, like Keith Hernandez, who snow-jobbed everyone else, cut a deal and walked away scott free. MLB didn't do a thing about it. Why should we be surprised now, that they can't do a thing about steriods when they proved back in the 80's that they didn't have the balls to do anything about cocaine, etc. As a wise history teacher once taught me..."Those who don't learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."

So anyway...I'm going to be unboxing stuff back into my old house this week, so I'll just keep these running, blog type emails the rest of the year...I'm having fun with them, and I hope you enjoy them as well...

Damn it...I forgot to get in a good Dirtbag ribbing this week...Well I can say this...Dirtbag started Drew Bledsoe (bye) in one of our other leagues (not Smart Guy Leagues) and almost got himself kicked out. Oh and by the way, it was yours truly that quickly notified the league of the transgression. And I wasn't even playing against him. You got to get up pretty early in the morning to slip one past me, Shitbag...

Good luck and take care everyone...!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 2 Recap

News and Notes: Talk about throwing a monkey wrench into someone's weekend...I was all scheduled to move this weekend, our house was going to close on Tuesday and we had negotiated a pre-possession with the new house on Saturday. Friday afternoon at 3:30, my realtor called and said that they buyer of my house wanted an extra 7 days, because his mortgage broker thought he could get him a better loan. Yikes. So my wife is freaking out, I've got an hour and a half to cancel all of the utilities and such before the turn off the power and water in my house for this weekend. What a fiasco. Suffice to say, if you've talked to me over the last couple of days, and I seemed a little frazzled, now you know.

So how about the NFL games this week? I watched quite a bit of football this weekend, because I wasn't moving. The Raiders are really bad. I mean, they might be historically bad. Remember last year when everyone thought it was so strange to have so many teams with so few wins at the end of the year. Well I think that's happening again this year. The Raiders, Packers, Titans are really bad. The Texans don't look that great either. For all the talk of the Lions rebounding, they are 0-2 as well. Same with the Dolphins. The one thing I've noticed with all of these bad teams...They all have pretty bad offensive lines and bad secondaries. So that means, they can't control the line of scrimmage on offense and teams can throw all over them on defense. That means they get behind early and are in trouble from the start. Not good.

Some wacky performances this week. Rex Grossman turned into Dan Fouts this week and blew up. Of course probably nobody in any league started him this week, so it didn't matter. Amani Toomer either was your best friend as a "what the heck" play this week or he will be very popular on the waiver wire this week. Michael Turner the backup in San Diego is playing better than almost every 1st round RB. GEEZ. I had an arguement with my brother last night. I told him that if the draft were held today what round would Lamont Jordan go in. I told him he would go in the 6th or later. He said he'd be a 4th rounder. Well that got my oversized brain thinking about something. You know how everyone loves to draft? Is this a crazy idea or what? What if you played in a league where every week you had a new draft for your roster? Is that a dumb idea or am I on the brink of a brilliant idea. If you have a thought let me know.

You know what sucks about Week 3? There are already bye weeks on the calendar. Yikes. Don't start those Cowboys, Chiefs, Raiders, or Chargers this week. Well if you were starting Raiders I feel bad for you. The Raiders and Chiefs need the bye week right now as bad as any team in the league. The Chargers are rolling and probably wish their bye was in Week 9.

You know what else sucks about Week 2? If you are 0-2, you are probably wondering what you should do right now. You've dug yourself a little bit of a hole and now you are wondering, do I make some trades? Why is my 1st round pick playing like crap? I've got to get a win this week, because 0-3 is bad, real bad. There's some 0-2 teams in every league thinking that same thing right about now, which means the vultures will be circling. Be on the lookout for some iffy trade offers.

Speaking of trades...we had a little bit of controversy regarding a trade in the Stooges League this week. The controversy wasn't so much in the trade itself, but in the manner in which I handled things. So this made me look into the rules that we have in place for the league as far as trades are concerned. With your permission, I'd like to change the trade rules for all teams to the same format. This is what I came up with, let me know your comments if you have any on the matter:

a: Any trade must be approved by the commissioner. This gives there a little bit of leeway if someone made a mistake, etc. I'm online a lot so I approve trades in a timely manner. This has nothing to do with a veto, etc. I will not approve any trade made after Saturday at Midnight Eastern, until the following week. This will prevent lineup problems. It's just a way of processing the trade. It also prevents someone from making a trade 5 minutes before kickoff on Sunday and then hosing things up for someone's lineups, etc. The Commissioner will find a backup in case they are going to be gone for a long period of time.

b. Any trade that I deem "questionable", I will propose to the league for 24 hours. If there are three people that object to the trade, then it will be frozen and put up for a league wide vote. 7 votes in favor of a veto (a simple majority) and the trade is killed. If not everyone in the league votes, then it will be assumed that they don't have a problem with the trade.

This solution should fix most any issue I can see happening with trades. This way everything is kept within the league and not people outside the league. This will however, force people that are making trades to try and get them done before Sunday. Let me know what you guys think and if so I can adjust the constitution to reflect these changes.


League Happenings

Cowchip: After two weeks only three teams are undefeated in the Cowchip League, which tells me this is going to be a really competitive league this year. The Mean Machine, Chili Crashers, and Sweat Hawgs both won again this week and lead their respective divisions. Shortcake Delight, Cap N Cheese, and Poison Sluts are not looking so hot right now, all at 0-2. Chili Crashers with a 133 point outburst to be the top gun of the week. Shortcake Delight only managed 82 points in his loss, the low scorer of the week. Socko's Revenge squeezed out a big win over Bull 1983 in a historic grudge match.

Stooges: In this league there are only 2 undefeated teams after 2 weeks, which is pretty wild, there are also on two teams without a win. The Brewzers and Maneaters have not tasted defeat yet, while the Gorillas and last season's champ, Bull have not won yet. The Brewzers and Ruff Riders were in a real shootout this week, 119-117. Shady Records, though at 120 was the high scorer of the week. With this being a big week for QB's around the league, it was no surprise to see the point totals pretty high this week. On the flip side, the Gorillas and Socko's Revenge both scored less than 70 this week. Not stellar.

Raging Bull: Only 3 teams are undefeated, and two of them are in the same division (Socko's Revenge, Mean Machine). The other undefeated team is Thunder. Steve's Stars, Bull and Chili Crashers are all 0-2 on the year. Gee, that's a recurring theme, that Bull is 0-2 in leagues this year. Hmmm...The Blazing Gunz blew up with a 143 point outburst this week, which sucked for the Sledge Hammers as they scored the 2nd most points in the league this week and lost. Steve's Stars and Chili Crashers both scored less than 75 points in their losses.

Seinfeld: With the most undefeated teams of any league, the Seinfeld League has 4 teams without a blemish. Cap's Avengers, The Highlight Reel, Chili Crashers, and Buck Naked all looking good right now. There are also four teams without a win, Serenity Now, the Tekies, Shortcake Delight, and Bull 1983. Holy shit, that's the 4th league I'm in with Dirtbag that he is 0-2. I wouldn't want to be in that house this week. We might all have to pitch in and helicopter a team of psychiatrists up to Wisconsin. You have to feel bad for the Tekies, they are the 2nd highest scoring team in the league yet are 0-2. Cap's Avengers blew up this week with a 125 point outburst.

Simpsons: The story of the year so far is the surprising play of NY CJWO. They are 2-0 and the highest scoring team in the league after two weeks. Pretty much everyone wrote them off this year, but what the heck do the critics know? How about the Richmond Silver Surfers, also 2-0, they were one of the worst teams in the league last year. On the downside, yours truly, Potomac Rage, Zookers, and Tekies are 0-2 and looking for answers. With this being a keeper league, you never know what can happen next.

Good luck everyone this week!

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Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 2 Primer

League Items: To those of you that are new to MyFantasyLeague, or to those of you that like to easily forget, a quick item of note. When you make a free agent move, you need to make sure and go in and adjust your starting lineup. It's not an automatic thing. For example. Let's say I have the TB Bucs DEF. I put in my lineup on Thursday. Then Saturday, I get a wild hair up my ass and decide to pickup and the Atlanta Falcons DEF. I go in and add the Falcons and drop the Bucs. Well if I don't go in and put the Falcons DEF in my lineup, then I have an incomplete lineup, because I dropped my starting DEF.

Also...if you have not been getting notifications on trade, etc in your email...take a look at any SPAM blocking that you have. I noticed that on mine, that it was blocking some things.

After this weekend if you have tried that MFL GameDay program to watch live scoring, let me know if you liked it or not. I won't be able to test it out until next week at the earliest.

Dirtbag bought a whole shitload of wholesale Viagra pills (500 I think). He told me that they expire in one year, so he's on a mission. If you get really revved up emails from him or ridiculous trade offers, now you'll know. This has been provided as a public service announcement.

NFL Week 2 Picks: Since everyone seems like a prognosticator...What the heck I'll throw my hat in there...Every game this week with an Over/Under and an Against the Spread Prediction. I'll use the lines from the world famous Hilton in Las Vegas. Got to make sure to keep Paris in the spotlight...Enjoy...And I'll keep a running tab of my picks for the year...

Baltimore -11.5 over Oakland: Over 34. This is the classic, don't overthink this one. Baltimore's DEF should overwhelm Oakland's terrible offense. The Raiders get the short week and have to fly across the country. This one is going to get ugly. I'll give the Raiders a garbage score to push the total over 34.

Indianapolis -13 over Houston: Under 47 1/2. Houston drafted Mario Williams for this very matchup. Houston will try to play ball-control and slow things down, but the Colts at home will be way too much. It will be interesting to see if the Colts continue to have problems in the red-zone this week. They really need to get their running game opened up.

Cleveland +10 over Cincinnati: Under 42 1/2. Cincy played things pretty simple last week, not opening up the passing game too much to expose Carson Palmer. I think you'll see that again this week, but Cleveland has a lot of familiarity with the Bengals. Call me crazy, but I think the Browns play frisky enough to make this a game. I'm not calling for the upset, just the points.

Buffalo +6 1/2 over Miami: Over 37. Remember late last year when Lee Evans went off for 3 TD passes in the 1st half? Well I watched Miami's secondary on opening night and Charlie Batch didn't seem to have too much trouble with it. Miami is usually tough early in the year, but they always seem to have tight games with the Bills.

Chicago - 8 1/2 over Detroit. Over 32 1/2. Detroit always seems to play a heck of a lot better at home than they do on the road. Roy Williams is already guaranteeing a victory. Mike Martz vs Lovie Smith, too bad there are not as many offensive weapons on the field. Chicago plays good ball-control and Detroit hangs around for a half, but then a Kitna mistake or two opens up the game in the 2nd half.

Minnesota PK over Carolina. Under 37. Everyone it seems is calling for the Panthers in this one. No way, John Fox can go 0-2, this was a Super Bowl Contender, right? Do see the injury report for the Panthers? I doubt Steve Smith goes, they lost their starting Left Tackle. I don't see how their offense gets it going this week. And I'm not sold that Brad Johnson makes mistakes on their defense.

NY Giants +3 over Philadelphia. Under 41 1/2. Philly would love to grab this win from the Giants as they have a shot to easily start out 4-0 before they hit the meat of their schedule. I see this as a lower scoring defensive fest and field goal battle. I'm not too sure who wins, but I'll take the Giants and the points.

Tampa Bay +5.5 over Atlanta. Under 35. Let's not let one week get people too excited. Tampa's not that bad and Atlanta's not that good. Monte Kiffin has historically given Michael Vick fits. Take away that goof scramble broken TD pass to Jenkins and last week was a 13-6 or 16-6 game with Carolina. Tampa Bay will figure a few things out and if Abraham is limited will not have the pass rush they faced last week. Cadillac keeps the ground game going and this one stays close throughout.

Green Bay +1.5 over New Orleans. Over 38 1/2. The Packers killed this same Saints team 52-3 in Lambeau Field last year. The Packers aren't much different (they stunk last year too). The Saints have Reggie Bush and Drew Brees. I'm really not trying to be a homer on this one, but the Saints DEF doesn't seem like the type that gives the Packers problems. The type that does are the other 28 or so defenses.

St Louis -3 over San Francisco. Over 43 1/2. Boy, I'm really going out on a limb on this one. Vegas is just begging you to bet the Rams, what do they know? The Rams DEF looked pretty good in week 1, but I'm not sure that was so much them or Jake Plummer having one his bad season openers. The Niners looked like they could move the ball pretty well. There will be some points scored, and I'm going with the Rams to cover.

Arizona -7 over Seattle. Over 47. The Seahawks have their hands full with the offensive juggernaut that is coming to Washington this week. The Cardinals can score and score like crazy and Seattle is going to have to keep up or keep pace. This will be a fun matchup with lots of points scored.

New England -6 over NY Jets. Under 37. A lot of people think that Eric Mangini has some secret info he can use this week against the Pats. Really? Well whatever info he's going he better use it to figure out how to keep Pennington from throwing 4 INT's this week. The Pats love playing a guy like Pennington that will not stretch the field. The smaller the group for the Pats to cover the more disguises they can do. Belicheck beats down the student this week.

San Diego -11 1/2 over Tennessee. Over 37 1/2. The hot rumor is that Billy Volek will just switch lockers after the game. Well he should be happy, because Kerry Collins is going to wish it was him that was switching teams. Merriman and the boys tee off on Collins and the Chargers do whatever they want on that swiss cheese Titans DEF. Chargers BIG.

Denver -10 1/2 over Kansas City. Over 39. Larry Johnson is going to get the ball a lot this week. The problem is that Denver knows it and they aren't too concerned with the rest of the KC offense without Trent Green. The Chiefs DEF didn't look a lot better last week with the missed tackles and bad angles than they did last year, which means Tatum Bell and the bootlegs by Plummer get rolling. Denver big.

Dallas -6 1/2 over Washington. Under 36 1/2. Man, both of these teams need this win badly. Washington's offense just didn't seem very dynamic or explosive last week. Brunell looked too slow on his reads and this was against an average at best defense in the Vikings. The Cowboys shut down Brunell and make them run to beat them and TO makes his home debut in a big way.

Jacksonville +2 1/2 over Pittsburgh. Under 37 1/2. Why can't the Jags get any love? They are a really mean and physical and big football team. They are at home on Monday night for the nation to see. I like Leftwich and Co in this one as they love rising to the occasion against the Steelers. They just played a 3-4 defense in Dallas last week and moved the ball well.

Good luck everyone this week...

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Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 1 Recap

News and Notes: Well, I got back from Vegas yesterday...Attended the WCOFF drafts, which was pretty interesting. Since it's Vegas, I'll give you my loser story of the weekend. I tried the, "Travis Dennee Gold Roll-over Parlay System". I got this from Travis years ago and it's something he used to do with a lot of success. So I'm watching the ESPN reports and they are discussing how prior to last year, that Michael Vick just owned the Panthers and that Steve Smith was in street clothes instead of in uniform. Then they discussed how Tampa Bay's two starting guards were going to miss the game with injuries. Hmmm...I decided, what the heck, I'll drop a $20 bill on a little two-teamer of Atlanta and Baltimore. Pretty nice...I cashed that ticket in with no problem and rolled up the winnings into a two-teamer on the late games. I figured with the Bears playing the Pack and with the Pack having all new coaches and all those new players, that the Bears should roll in the 1st half. And I figured with the way the Cowboys finished the preseason that they would come out looking good in the 1st half as well too. So I layed my winnings on another two teamer, the Bears and Cowboys both at -1 for the 1st half. Well the Bears clearly made me look like a genius as they rolled early. Dallas was also up a quick 10 points on Jacksonville. So then I started shooting my mouth off about how smart I was to turn $20 into $300. And then I told everyone how I was going to roll that $300 up on the Colts and turn my little $20 bill into almost $600 in one day. Then what happens...Well the Jags kicked a field goal, no problem. 10-3. Dallas has the ball with about 2 minutes left in the half. I figure, no problem...they piss around a little try and get in field goal range and at worst take it into the half 10-3. Well then Drew Bledsoe decides, that he needs to live up to his reputation and throws a really bad INT. Jacksonville quickly moves down the field, but is on the 8 yard line with only 12 seconds left and no timeouts. Come on Dallas, one more stop and they just kick the field goal. You know what happens next, Reggie Williams clearly shoves the Dallas defender down and jumps up with the TD before the half. Tie score 10-10. Roll-over parlay was done. So then I got pissed and wandered around and got shit-faced the rest of the afternoon. That capped off a good night and then watched as Indianapolis covered that night. Yikes...If I own Drew Bledsoe in any of my leagues, trust me...throw me a trade offer I will probably accept it...

I tried to meet up with Gino Betta from the Cowchip league, we both called each others cell-phones at some point on Sunday and we were both staying at the same hotel, but we never met up. That's what happens when it's load as hell and everyone is drunk. Plus you can't use cellphones in the sports books. Sorry about that Gino...We tried.

How crazy was Week 1? How about we play a little game with the Stooges League draft for a second:

Round 1 Draft picks: Larry Johnson, Shaun Alexander, LaDainian Tomlinson, Peyton Manning, Tiki Barber, Edgerrin James, Steven Jackson, Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams, Lamont Jordan, Matt Hasselback...Total points: 111.92

Round 11 Draft picks: Keenan McCardell, Eric Moulds, Michael Clayton, Pittsburgh Steelers, Ernest Wilford, Chad Pennington, Jerious Norwood, Antonio Bryant, Kevin Curtis, Brandon Jacobs, Heath Miller...Total points: 99.36

Not too much difference there...Some real stinkers this week, most notably in the form or Shaun Alexander, Cadillac Williams, Lamont Jordan. Pretty much all of the Oakland Raiders actually. I've seen some bad football before, but last night's showing by the Oakland Raiders might be one of the worst I've ever seen. Everyone thought Randy Moss was a nutcase for coming out last week and saying that things were "crazy around here". Maybe Randy Moss isn't the problem...Yikes.

Did you see that Trent Green hit. Geez...All I can say is thank God that it was raining and that was a grass field. I've never seen someone head bounce off the ground like that before. Imagine how bad that would have been on astro-turf. Shivers...Now I don't want to go and start preaching like an announcer, but the NFL has a real problem with the consistency of these penalties. I saw a ton of lame-half ass hits over the weekend, they drew the 15 yard flag. This hit, the QB was starting his slide and just got unloaded on. I don't care what the league comes up with, but they need to start getting consistent with these calls. I sure hope the Chiefs season isn't ruined already because of this...

Remember folks to submit your waivers into the system to run on Wednesday night and then just pick up as you need to after that on a first come, first serve basis. If anyone has any feedback on the Live Scoring on the site or that GameDay app that I sent out, let me know. I was, like I said before, in Vegas all weekend and didn't try anything. It looks like I didn't have any real scoring problems or anything...if there are NFL scoring corrections, I will send those out to the league.

For the new folks, if you are looking for free agents, go to Reports, Players, Top Performers/Player Stats. This is where you want to go. There are drop downs to select positions and Free Agents, etc so that you can find free agents and other players. Also I added, the top 10 Free Agents box to the left side of the front page of the league site, so that should also help. If you have a problem, don't hesitate to ask. I'll again be a little shaky with Internet connection this weekend as I'm going to be moving all of my belongings about 6 miles down the road to my new house. FUN! Take care everyone!

League Happenings

Stooges: Your league Champion, Dirtbag scored only 62 points this week in defense of the title. Some really low scores this week as 4 teams score less than 72 points. Socko's Revenge the lucky team of the week as they win 71-66 over the Crowbars. Blazing Gunz and Maneaters with nice point totals in their wins this week.

Seinfeld: A lot of scores in the 80 point range this week. A scheduling quirk as Buck Naked beat the Tekies 111-110. The Tekies would have beaten every other team in the league this week. Now you know why the final playoff spot goes to the team with the most points. Socko's Revenge really laid an egg this week as it only scored 54 points. Yikes. Your defending champ, Bull lost his first matchup of the year to Dave's Waves 84-74.

Simpsons: Holy crap is all I've got to say. Going into the season, the three teams that pretty much all of the survey's said would be title contenders all lost on opening weekend. Springfield Isotopes got killed by the Chili Crashers, who a lot of people said would be the worst team in the league. Socko's Revenge got killed by NY CJWO, another team that a lot of people said would be bad this year. Bull lost a squeaker to the FFB Wizards. Throw out the prognosticators this week. The Chili Crashers with that 121 point outburst this week was the big winner of the week. It's a keeper league folks, and maybe the tide is turning on some of these teams.

Cowchip: The Sweat Hawgs came out in Week 1 and successfully opened up their title defense with a 104-84 win over the Poison Sluts. H-Town was the big scorer this week with a huge 130 point outburst, but he didn't need nearly that many points to pick up the win as he beat the low scoring team of the week, in Shortcake Delight (56). The Chili Crashers got a sort of lucky win this week as they got a 86-75 win over Cap N Cheese. They would have lost to all but three other teams in the league this week.

Raging Bull: Talk about the best performance in all of the leagues this week, how about Thunders 156 point outburst in their win over the Chili Crashers. How do you score 156 points you ask? Well Donovan McNabb, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Chester Taylor, Anquan Boldin, Lee Evans, Heath Miller, Shayne Graham, and the Redskins DEF is the answer. 5 players with more than 20 points. Socko's Revenge and the Sledge Hammer with nice wins as well. Steve's Stars didn't look so good this week only scoring 68 points in the loss.

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Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/

Week 1 Primer

Well here we are...the first NFL Game of the season over and an entire weekend of over-eating, over-drinking, lack of physical activity, TV-watching can now begin again. Until I decide to do otherwise, I'm going to try and combine my recaps/primers for all five of my leagues into one neat email. 5 leagues...Geez how the hell did I ever let Dirtbag talk me into this. I've got an appointment with a shrink to make today...

The Dolphins/Steelers game was pretty good last night, until Duante Culpepper remembered who he was. Ronnie Brown looked pretty solid around the red-zone and Willie Parker got a lot of action. Heath Miller with a nice long TD play that shouldn't have been a TD. We'll have to see if someone loses a matchup this week because of that extra 6 points...

Some notes for anyone that is new to the program around here for the Smart Guy Sports.com Fantasy Football leagues.

#1: Waivers all seemed to run great for all the leagues, and I didn't have to do anything to process them, which is great. The system ran them good the first week and we all seem to be on track. I checked the scoring and it doesn't look right now like anything is hosed up. In Raging Bull I didn't double-check, Dirtbag's homework, so I'm going to assume that is fine. If not we'll get it fixed.

#2: Some of you have mentioned that you don't like getting tons of emails regarding free agent moves, etc. If you want to adjust your email settings, click on your team name from the home page of the league. Then click on the Advanced button and towards the bottom you can check mark the boxes for which email notifications that you want.

#3: Live Scoring. You can click on the Live Scoring Details link on the home page of the site on the left side, and you'll get it up just fine. MFL also has added a GameDay program which is really pretty cool. It's a setup program that runs and has audible notifications of big plays and you can put in all of your leagues into it and have it show you the live scoring in program. It's pretty slick. If you want to try it out...Click below...

Here is the link to the MFL GameDay program: http://www.fflm.com/gameday/gamedaysetup-audio.exe

To setup which leagues you are in, once you get it installed, go to My Leagues and add in the league site ID: Here are our leagues ID's:

Cowchip: 21454
Raging Bull: 26683
Simpsons: 36630
Seinfeld: 36927
Stooges: 15042

Try it out if you are bored or if you have multiple leagues, it makes it easier to see all of the scoring.

#4: The Smart Guy Sports Fantasy Football Hall of Champions page is on the site. I don't have photos for everyone yet, but once it's completely up, it's going to be pretty sweet. I know that Dirtbag goes on it at least once a day to make him feel better about himself. With 5 leagues now, it's going to be pretty much impossible for someone to pull off the "Grand Slam". Considering that there are only a couple of people that are in all 5 leagues. My goal this year is to have 2006, morph into 2002 and have it be a "Dirtbag-free year".

#5: To clear up any confusion for the new people, the following are the Kreklau's involved in these leagues and the relationships:
Brian Kreklau: Your commissioner and friend
Dave Kreklau, aka Dirtbag, aka Dinkspray, aka Shitbag: Uncle to Brian Kreklau and your enemy. Eats a lot of fiber.
Brad Kreklau: Brother of Brian Kreklau
Sara Wesle: Sister of Brian Kreklau, married to Dave Wesle
Dave Wesle: Brother-in-law of Brian Kreklau

Trust me, if we didn't have fantasy leagues to be in together, I would probably talk to Dirtbag about once a year and my brother and sister only a couple of times a year. We pretty much avoid talking about anything else except sports. The rest of the competition and what and how I know them:

John Murray: Lives in the Houston, Texas area...Good guy.

Chris Corcoran: Lives in California somewhere I think. Was a friend of Lance Turbes who was big in our leagues, but doesn't compete anymore.

Brad North: Lives in Phoenix. We go to a couple of Diamondbacks games each year now that he lives here...A heck of a cool guy.

Gino Betta: Lives in Florida and does something for the state. Loves Pittsburgh stuff. Met him in Vegas...A really good guy.

Steve Lim: Lives in California does some graphic arts or something...Just met him this year online and he seems like a really good guy.

Travis Dennee: Lives in Phoenix...I've known him for a long time...we hang out as much as our wives will let us. He's a blackjack dealer.

Steve Foster: Lives on a ship somewhere in the ocean for the Navy. Steve's a good guy, but I've never met him.

Shane Wibel: I think he's in college, he was in a league with Dirtbag a while back, that's how I know him from.

Dan Marks: Lives in the DC area I think. He's a big shot TV editor who works freelance editing, does stuff with HBO Real Sports. I've never met.

Carl Miller: I don't remember what he does, but he's been in my leagues a long time. He once did a draft on his Blackberry. I've never met.

Kenny Weinstein: Professional Poker player...he lives in New Jersey I think. I've never met him, but he's one of my secret arch-enemies.

Cheli Spielvogel-Carey: Lives in Kansas City with Husband Jeff. I visited them this summer and they cooked me some awesome steaks. They are great people.

Bill Zagar: Lives in Phoenix, is my best friend I guess. We are the 2006 version of "Chris Farley and David Spade" I guess. Delivers soda for Pepsi.

Tom Gruber: Formally of New Orleans, has been in my leagues forever. Was a Chemistry professor at a local college. One awesome dude. Never met him, but that's my fault, he did invite me.

Dave Meyer: Lives in Central Wisconsin. Does IT for a trucking company. He's a stat head, like me. I met him this summer and he's a really great guy.

Ryan Umlaft: Lives in Central Wisconsin...He's in college. I don't know him at all, but he knows Dirtbag and my brother.

Rich Cecil: The newest member to the group, never met him, but he's good pals with Chris Corcoran.

Jay Hatem: I think he's in DC area. He runs another league I'm in and he's more hooked up with Dirtbag than with me, but that's changing...Never met him.

Bill Conlogue: Lives in Phoenix. Another Blackjack dealer, that got into the league through Travis Dennee who he works with. I've never met him.

Joe Pizzimenti: Lives in New York and I don't know much about him. I've never met him and don't know what he does.

John Lindley: Lives in Los Angeles...a Heck of a guy...I try and get out to see him once a year for a baseball game. A real number cruncher. He helps co-commish sometimes when I'm away. I called him an hour before I had to go in for surgery on his cell phone so that he could process a trade for me. I am certifiably insane sometimes.

Joe Harris: I know him from the former "Newsgroups of Fantasy Football Leagues". Of which I got kicked out of for calling someone a "little jerk". Then I blasted the commissioner all over the newsgroups and eventually helped topple him from the leagues. I don't know where he lives or what he does, and never met him, but he's always been really cool with me.

Steve Preo: Lives in the Indianapolis area. I goat-roaped him into doing some writing for me on my old website. He just kind of stuck from there. He's helps with recaps once in a while, but I think his kids run him over from time to time.

Jeff Carey: Lives in KC with his wife Chelli...Fed me steak...He's a lawyer...so the next time I get into trouble, I'll know who to call. One heck of a great guy.

Tracy Haygen: Lives in Detroit...Got married awhile back...He's almost too nice of a guy, which might be why he can't catch a break in the standings...I keep telling him to be more ruthless and rip someone off in a trade. Nice guys finish last they say. Never met him in person.

Scott Koehler: Lives in Florida, big Cubs/Bears/Bulls fan...Never met him...He's been in my leagues a long time...a tough competitor.

Jen Hamilton: Lives somewhere in Michigan I think. Huge college football fan...Runs a great office pool. Must have a hectic social calendar, because she usually misses the drafts. Never met her.

Troy Rex: Friend of Steve Preo, who I have never met. He's a stickler for rules as he's always trying to figure things out. Seems like a pretty good guy.

Now you know everyone in the Smart Guy Sports Fantasy Football League for this year.

I'm going to Vegas this weekend to get drunk and stupid and help out with the World Championships of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) drafts. Take care everyone and good luck this week!

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Brian Kreklau
Smart Guy Sports, http://www.smartguysports.com
AOL IM: truthcommish
2005 INSANEX Champion (Insane Experts League)
Proud Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, http://www.fswa.org/