RPGguy's Fantasy Football Thread

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 1:02 pm

FF is a form of role-playing I've been heavily into since about 2000.

Anyways, if anyone wants to talk shop or simply learn more about it, I'm game.

The 2010 NFL Draft kicks off this Thursday, so I thought launching this thread would be timely. Let's see if it crashes and burns.

Some of the big offseason stories so far...

1. The NFL owners have opted-out of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with the players' union. This has had a tremendous impact on free agency and sets the stage for an owner lockout in 2011. Seems very likely at this point.

2. Brandon Marshall traded to Miami

3. Santonio Holmes traded to the Jets

4. Ben Roethlisberger raping college girls

5. Anquan Boldin traded to the Ravens

6. The Washington Redskins are trying to get rid of Albert Haynesworth after *just* signing him to a record contract last year.

7. Donovan McNabb traded to the Redskins

8. LT2 signs with the Jets

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:25 pm

Another big trade today. A three-way!

Essentially the Lions get TE Tony Scheffler from Denver, ship LB Ernie Sims to the Eagles (who are desperate for help at the position), Denver gets a 5th round pick and ships a 7th round pick to Philly.

Good deal for Detroit and Philadelphia. No one has any idea what the Broncos are doing these days. They are down 2 of their best pass-catchers in as many weeks although they've shedded some contract headaches.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:35 pm

silly me, I was actualy thinking this might actually be about football, but no, it's about American Rugby! The game where, apart from special situations, playing the ball with the foot is illegal.:mischief:

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:49 pm

galraen wrote:silly me, I was actualy thinking this might actually be about football, but no, it's about American Rugby! The game where, apart from special situations, playing the ball with the foot is illegal.:mischief:

Hahah, I can't tell you how many debates I've gotten into with soccer fans over the years.

I'm not using the term 'football' to agitate people outside of North America. I use it because it's the 'F' in NFL.

From what I understand the NFL is pretty popular with the 'blokes' too. It's actually gotten to the point where we play 1 game a season in London. And it tends to sell out quickly. There also seems to be some momentum towards having a franchise set up there...and one in Canada as well.

Teams like Buffalo and Jacksonville are struggling mightily to survive so it may be closer to reality than most suspect.

Do you play fantasy football (i.e. fantasy soccer)?? Is there even such a thing?

jklinders · Post by **jklinders** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:15 pm

I think gridiron works pretty good for those outside north America. Cuts down on some of the confusion. Though football will always be soccer to me and Gridiron will always be football...to each their own.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 2:12 am

American football is indeed popular over here, I stopped being an isolated inority in the early 80's when Channel 4 decided to break from the god-slot habit and show the game. Not surprising that given the choice between 'Songs of Praise' and other intensely boring rekligious fare they made a killing in the ratings, and the game took off.

Myself I've been a devoted Silver & Blackaholic since the early 70's, picking up on the Raiders shortly after adopting the Athletics as my baseball team. The devotion has been toned down severely in recent years though, ever since I realised that as long as Al Davis is in charge we have no chance. Unfortunately the hero turned villain that is the man-in-white won't yield untill he's 6 foot under, and I can't bring myself to wish death on a guy who I used to admire.

As for fantasy Football (the round ball version), yes it exists, although the game doesn't really lend itself to it, the real fantasy for me this year is watching my team almost go out of existence but making it to the FA Cup final the day after we were relegated!

The only fantasy game I allowed myself to get dragged into is a Dynasty Baseball fantasy league; and I regret letting myself be talked into that.

The only fantasy tip I can offer is; don't draft JunkMarcus Russell!

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:41 am

Myself I've been a devoted Silver & Blackaholic since the early 70's, picking up on the Raiders shortly after adopting the Athletics as my baseball team. The devotion has been toned down severely in recent years though, ever since I realised that as long as Al Davis is in charge we have no chance. Unfortunately the hero turned villain that is the man-in-white won't yield untill he's 6 foot under, and I can't bring myself to wish death on a guy who I used to admire.

Ya, it's sad what Davis has degenerated into. Once an icon, now the butt of countless senility jokes. The Raiders today resemble nothing of their past and a long string of terrible decisions has utterly crushed the franchise. You already mentioned JRock but there's also Darius Heyward-Bey, Javon Walker, Robert Gallery, others who have gobbled up massive contract dollars and yielded nothing.

Anyways, I could write articles on the topic but no sense beating a dead horse. You already know the deal.

I'm guessing Fantasy Baseball is probably the second most popular variant over here but I don't have the numbers compared to Fantasy Basketball.

I highly recommend you try an join a fantasy football league. It's a tremendous rush on game days. If you need any help, let me know. Leagues can have anything from basic to overwhelmingly complicated rules and scoring systems. You'd be surprised as to how deep you can take it.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:07 am

Thanks, I did dabble one season with fantasy 'football' but couldn't get into it. I only got into the dynasty league to make the numbers up, and seewhat all the fuss was about.

On the subject of great performers that have degenerated, really sad about the way your former neighbour Rich Harden has gone downhill in a tight spiral too. I used to leve watching him pitch, it's painful these days.

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:52 am

galraen wrote:On the subject of great performers that have degenerated, really sad about the way your former neighbour Rich Harden has gone downhill in a tight spiral too. I used to leve watching him pitch, it's painful these days.

Ug, don't hate me but I despise baseball!!! Some of the reasons I like the NFL so much are because:

1. they have a salary cap that promotes the parity that is nowhere to be found in MLB

2. they have a pretty thorough drug screening program so the league doesn't become corrupt with juiceheads like MLB

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing or spending a day at the park but stopped following MLB a long time ago because it's just so corrupt. Moral of the story...I had to Google Rich Harden to understand your comment

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:22 pm

Ben Roethlisberger (accused of cornering a drunk college chick with his wang hanging out while his personal security stood watch outside of the bathroom where this all took place) was smacked with a 6 game suspension today.

It'll cost him 2-3 million dollars in salary as well. Contemplate for a second how much of the world's finest callgirl stock he could have gotten with 2-3 million :speech:

Anyways, the Steelers are an organization that care a great deal about maintaining a hard-working, respectable image that relates to their blue class worker following. Needless to say, they are ultra pissed with their 2-time Super Bowl winning QB and are actively trying to trade him. This is a pretty massive development and easily rivals the Michael Vick dog killing fiasco.

Also, it's noteworthy that the NFL Commissioner has ordered Ben to undergo "behavioral treatment" which I've never heard of before, within the context of a suspension.

Stunning stuff. And it will definitely rock the fantasy football scene.

Shaggypichu · Post by **Shaggypichu** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 3:42 am

wow really? i cant believe he would almost throw his career away. this is a great thread. though i know nothing about fantasy football. what about the charger's they doing any special trades or something this year?

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:24 am

Shaggypichu wrote:wow really? i cant believe he would almost throw his career away. this is a great thread. though i know nothing about fantasy football. what about the charger's they doing any special trades or something this year?

I don't care if you like fantasy football. If you dig the NFL then I am happy enough with that.

The Chargers have a few subpolts this offseason:

1. The big story in San Diego was the release of LaDainian Tomlison (aka LT2) who has been the face of the franchise for about a decade. The guy is a future Hall of Famer (guaranteed) and a solid role model/community asset. Football is a harsh business and running backs hit a wall when they turn 30. The Chargers as an organization did a shameful job of parting ways with an incredible icon. So they have a big void to fill at the position and some PR issues to deal with amongst the fan base.

2. The impending suspension of their WR Vincent Jackson, who finally had his long anticipated break out season in 2009. He's expected to miss the first 2 games of the season and he is irreplaceable. They have nothing else close to him in terms of ability, beyond TE Antonio Gates

3. They also lost dominant blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna to free agency.

4. The 2010 schedule was released yesterday and the Chargers have it pretty easy. They play the Raiders twice, the Chiefs twice and the Broncos twice. All of those are highly winnable games. They also play every team in the NFC West (SEA, AZ, STL and SF), all very winnable games. They have one best schedules on paper.

5. Chargers also traded away corner Antonio Cromartie to the Jets, although he is suspect tackler but with big play potential. The biggest problem is he's a guy with 7 kids with 7 different women. Probably a big headache to shed in the long run.

So bottom line is they have some holes to fill but have proven to be EXCELLENT scouters and solid draft-day harvesters. They're a virtual lock for the playoffs again in 2010.

Shaggypichu · Post by **Shaggypichu** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:39 am

RPGguy wrote:I don't care if you like fantasy football. If you dig the NFL then I am happy enough with that.

The Chargers have a few subpolts this offseason:

1. The big story in San Diego was the release of LaDainian Tomlison (aka LT2) who has been the face of the franchise for about a decade. The guy is a future Hall of Famer (guaranteed) and a solid role model/community asset. Football is a harsh business and running backs hit a wall when they turn 30. The Chargers as an organization did a shameful job of parting ways with an incredible icon. So they have a big void to fill at the position and some PR issues to deal with amongst the fan base.

2. The impending suspension of their WR Vincent Jackson, who finally had his long anticipated break out season in 2009. He's expected to miss the first 2 games of the season and he is irreplaceable. They have nothing else close to him in terms of ability, beyond TE Antonio Gates

3. They also lost dominant blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna to free agency.

4. The 2010 schedule was released yesterday and the Chargers have it pretty easy. They play the Raiders twice, the Chiefs twice and the Broncos twice. All of those are highly winnable games. They also play every team in the NFC West (SEA, AZ, STL and SF), all very winnable games. They have one best schedules on paper.

5. Chargers also traded away corner Antonio Cromartie to the Jets, although he is suspect tackler but with big play potential. The biggest problem is he's a guy with 7 kids with 7 different women. Probably a big headache to shed in the long run.

So bottom line is they have some holes to fill but have proven to be EXCELLENT scouters and solid draft-day harvesters. They're a virtual lock for the playoffs again in 2010.

cant say if i like it or not never tried it. but always NFL talk is great. I only have my dad to talk to usually and he is a huge chargers fan. but i'll talk about anything in the NFL i dont have a specific team. i just try to watch all the games a i can.

I cant believe they released LT. i mean yeah he usually has an injury when the [;ayoffs come around but still he has been their biggest impact *from what i belive) he made their running game. i mean we still got sporles (if thats how his name is spelled) but LT had another level of the game he played.

what did he get suspended for?

hopefully they can get that blocker back or get a replacement.

wow. i didnt think they would get set up with all whole lot of winnable games. good to know though my dad is going to flip when he hears it

(a good flip though)

yeah i hear about his kids didnt know about that many women though. their are plenty good player that can be traded for him. i just for whoever they get from the trade wont hamper their defense at all but help them improve.

awsome i would love to see them in the playoffs again. (didnt get to watch the last playoffs) always good games. my only concern usually with the chargers is their first two quarters are usually bad then make up for it in the last two. I wanna see them start having more games where they play good every quarter.

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:56 am

The reason I am big football fan is because I got it from my dad as well. Keep at those things you have in common. Football is a great father-son tradition!

Sounds like you already know a fair deal about the Chargers' recent history.

Sproles is ultra talented but he is just too small to be an every down back. I think he is like 5'10, 180 pounds. That's too small to run between the tackles 20 times a game. He'll get killed. But he has elite speed and pass catching ability for the return game and third downs on offense, respectively. They need to bring in someone else for the early down work. You have Jacob Hester but he really hasn't proven much and seems to be developing as a fullback. Maybe he will get a shot this season. I'm not sure what the plan is though.

The good news about RB, is that is one of the few positions where college players can make an immediate and significant impact. So long as they can pick up the blitz and pass protect, they will start right away and play 16 games.

Shaggypichu · Post by **Shaggypichu** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:11 am

true me and my dad are always having fun talking about football. he isnt my real dad but he's the only one i got. keep the bond strong

i looked at the rules for Fantasy Football on NFL.com and i got the idea sounds really cool. something i could try and get my dad into too.

I kinda know about the chargers cause my dad is always saying something you know.

i hope they get a good college running back. and if he does good he will have the time to show everybody as long as injuries dont come into play. yeah i completely agree on sproles. he is way too small. but he does make ahis impacts on the game when he can. i never heard of hester before. if he has been on the team awhile. well maybe i just overlooked him. i never heard his name in a game before though.

I just found out about the Broncos looking at this guy Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant. you heard anything about him?

P.S. I started looking up all the info i can on whos looking at what college players and draft picks now.

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:20 am

It don't matter if he's your real dad or not. And don't let no one tell you different, or even suggest it.

This year's running back class is pretty mediocre. There are some high profile names (like CJ Spiller) but they are nothing like Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson. Not even close. The other problem is that the Chargers don't pick until 28th and the top RBs will likely be gone before they are up.

NFL.com lets you play fantasy football for free so please give it a shot. I know their software and can help you. Their leagues are very simple but still enough to get your blood boiling on game days. It's a total alpha male hobby...there's nothing like smashing your opponent and then calling him a girly-man afterwards :laugh:

Shaggypichu · Post by **Shaggypichu** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:32 am

yeah i hear ya. he the only one whos been here for me.

Ouch. 28th. yeah that would be the case. hmmm well i hope the chargers have some luck.

lol true i was just checking out the rules of it all. i cant really join it if i have to download something cause i have some werid wireless inernet called wildblue. and thel only let us download so much then we get kicked off for two weeks till our downloads go back down.

as for question how do the falcons look this year. the last game i saw was the one against the steeler's and the last play of the game the falcons intercepted the ball and got the touchdown to close the game. (if im wrong about the teams who were playing let me know.) it was a while back.

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:40 am

Shaggypichu wrote:as for question how do the falcons look this year. the last game i saw was the one against the steeler's and the last play of the game the falcons intercepted the ball and got the touchdown to close the game. (if im wrong about the teams who were playing let me know.) it was a while back.

Pretty solid team with a few holes. Sharing a division with the Saints sucks but they have the Bucs to offset it. They need to improve their defensive backs and they have some weak areas at LB but nothing crippling.

RPGguy prediction: 9-7 which is pretty solid in the NFC

PS. I don't believe NFL.com requires any downloads. It's entirely web-based.

Shaggypichu · Post by **Shaggypichu** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:46 am

thats good to hear. i like them. they showed alot of promise to me.

Thanks for letting me know i'll pre-register their. you gonna registier too?

RPGguy · Post by **RPGguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:12 pm

Shaggypichu wrote:thats good to hear. i like them. they showed alot of promise to me.

Thanks for letting me know i'll pre-register their. you gonna registier too?

Well, the NFL.com leagues are a little more beginner-focused than I am used to. Remember, I have been playing for 10 years.

But like I said, I will help you out if you need it.