Living the Fantasy

Sorry for the lack of updates. I decided that this football season will be the time that I finally upgrade to HDTV, and I've been obsessing over which display will give me the best image of Ed Hochuli's guns. I've been reading home theater message boards non-stop for the last two days, and the more I read, the tougher my decision becomes. If any of my readers have suggestions, shoot me some comments. My absolute max spending cap is $4,000 unless someone buys 100k worth of amazon merchandise after clicking through my site, in which case, I can reevaluate.

I do have to make my decision soon as I'll be hosting my league's fantasy football draft, and it will be to my distinct advantage if I can be playing the Eagles Lingerie DVD on a big screen television while I throw Laurence Maroney's name out for bidding. I'm glad that I'm in a league that has its draft close to the beginning of the season. Hopefully some positions will be better settled by then. If however, you're in a league that drafts this week, you have some tough decisions ahead. Here are my thoughts on a few names that are in the news:

Mike Bell, RB, Denver Broncos. Mike Shanahan has named undrafted rookie Mike Bell as the starter for week 1 of the preseason. Shanahan likes to take unknown players and try to turn them into stars, as he feels it helps build his reputation as an "offensive genius." As a big follower of the Pac-10, I have seen Mike Bell play on quite a few occasions and he does have some ability and is the "one cut and go" style of runner that Shanahan likes. He also put up some big numbers (16 carries, 153 yards, 1TD) in Arizona's upset demoltion of UCLA, but everyone ran crazy over UCLA last year. It wouldn't surprise me too much if this is a legitimate promotion, but nevertheless, this feels to me more like a motivational ploy to get Tatum Bell (and to a lesser degree, Ron Dayne) to focus more and work harder in training camp. For that reason, I think you'll have to use at least two roster spots on Denver backs if you want to capitalize on their rushing attack.

Curtis Martin, RB, New York Jets. Martin sounds like a guy that is preparing for retirement. There are rumors that the Jets might trade for Chris Brown, but I'm not buying them. I don't think the Titans will trade Brown unless they're given an offer they can't refuse, and I don't see the Jets giving up a high draft pick when they're in major rebuilding mode. If Martin is indeed out, I think the Jets will stick with triumverant of Cedric Houston, Derrick Blaylock, and Leon Washington. Of these three, I think Blaylock has the most value and is worth a flyer if the price is right.

Matt Leinart, QB, Arizona. Unless you're in a keeper league, I'd avoid Leinart entirely. Even in a keeper league, I'd only take him on the cheap. Sure, Warner is guaranteed to get hurt at some point, but if the Cardinals are anywhere near .500, Dennis Green might go with John Navarre to manage things in Warner's absence. Unless the Cardinals start off 2-6, I don't see Leinart having any value at all until 2007.

I'll have more fantasy football thoughts as the month goes on. That is, unless my big screen tv tactic backfires, and I spend the next few weeks watching a larger than life Jessica Alba.