Fantasy Football DRAFT Tips

The Steelers opened up the 2009 campaign last night with a preseason victory over the substandard Cardinals. With the regular season fast approaching, a lot of people are gearing up for fantasy football drafts. I'll outline some tips to keep in mind when constructing your team. This might not be wise since the people that read this website are my competitors in the Steeler Greats league, but I haven't made the playoffs since the Cowher era, so take it with a grain of salt.


Don't go "All-In" in the first round - The first round is obviously important, but one player is simply a fraction of your team. Good fantasy football teams have depth at key positions and owners of those teams generally draft well in rounds four and beyond. Just look at the players drafted last year that will probably be keepers this season. Michael Turner, Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, etc were all drafted in later rounds a season ago and were big difference-makers for their owners. Build a solid base, don't trade everything away for a chance at Tom Brady.

Value, Value, Value - Every year, the first tight end comes off the board way to early and then other TEs quickly get drafted. If five TEs are already gone, don't reach and take a tight end in the seventh or eighth round who in actuality has twelfth round value. It's sometimes better to take a 3rd RB or 4th WR than to reach on a quarterback just because you don't have one. Research players, know where they are rated and where they "should" be drafted, and go from there. Maybe you didn't draft a top five tight end, but you got a solid receiver instead and picked up an under-the-radar tight end in round fourteen that will have a good and surprising year.

Know the Scoring System - Steeler Greats gives an equal amount of points for a throwing TD as it does a rushing or receiving TD. It puts the emphasis on having a top-tier quarterback. I should take this advice, I let the best qbs get drafted and then take Matt Hasselbeck in a later round. When he gets hurt or just plain out sucks, I get screwed.

Injuries - If a player consistently gets hurt every year, Hasselbeck or dare I say Adrian Peterson, is it worth taking him?

Offensive Lines - Healthy and solid lines usually equate to success and health for running backs and quarterbacks.

Bye Weeks - I think some go crazy with trying to side-step bye weeks, but at the same time you don't want half of your team off for one week. One loss during the season could cost you a playoff spot.

Players from same team - There are some differing opinions, I'm not a huge fan of it, but you were golden if you had Brady and Moss two years ago. If a QB/WR combo has a bad week, it could spell double trouble for your fantasy team.

Pay Attention During the Draft - If you are drafting say in the 9th spot in the odd rounds and the 2nd in the evens and you want two players, say a RB and QB, you might want to take the QB first if the guy drafting after you already has 3 RBs and 0 QBs. The RB you want should be available to you on the way back.


That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. Draft Day is important but remember that it is not the end-all. Undrafted players will have big years, and first rounders will be major busts. Fantasy teams in September will look a lot different come January. It's good to think proactively as opposed to re-actively, but that can sometimes to tough. Buy a magazine, do a little research, and root for the Carnell Lake Effect.

Rerun Season: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The only good thing ever associated with the toilet town of Philadelphia returns to FX on September 17th. If you're a fan of jokes about homelessness, welfare, drug addiction, rape, or any other shock topic, you should be watching this show. How many other shows get away with showing poop on TV? Zero. Below is the hilarious new ad for this season, followed by a clip from last season's finale, when Charlie sings the finale to a musical he wrote about the Night Man.

BIG BEN IS INVINCIBLE

(mostly from tmz, but who cares)

The woman accusing Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault bragged about her sexual experience with him to a co-worker, according to a sworn affidavit filed in court.

A former co-worker of Andrea McNulty signed an affidavit saying McNulty told her "she was hoping for a 'little Roethlisberger.'" The affidavit was obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

She also said McNulty told her she wanted to travel to Pittsburgh in August 2008 to try and "run into" Roethlisberger, according to the sworn statement.

McNulty filed a civil suit against Roethlisberger last month, claiming he sexually assaulted her in his hotel room in July 2008.

Roethlisberger has denied any wrongdoing. He has two super bowl rings and philly blows. Go Steelers.

Pic of the Week

Meet Koda, the dwarf pony so teeny and cool that locals think he's a battery-operated toy. His vet says, "'He's very brave and takes his medicine like a little man."

MUSIC: The New Shits

(from some other website that won't care if we quote them: "Them Crooked Vultures, the superband featuring Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, will play its first show Aug. 9 at Chicago’s Metro, the BBC reports. Grohl initially talked about the new hard rock band in 2005, but this will be the public’s first chance to actually hear the group’s music. The band started recording material earlier this year. It better not suck ass." I wrote that last part.

Dr. Stonehill? Telephone call for you...he says his name is Oscar.*

*i mean, FLOBY.


I don't want to tell you the plot because then you won't want to see it.
Just know three things:

1. This either loses points for not having a title yet, or it's actually called The Untitled Crowley Project, in which case it's the best movie of the year.**

2. Harrison Ford plays unconventional doctor Dr. Robert Stonehill. A hero doctor not dissimilar to Dr. Jack Shephard.

and 3. One of the men in this photo is a baldy in real life...Hint: it's not the old man.



**or worst

go see it?

VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Ghostbusters

*By Dave*

I've known about this game for quite a while, back when it was being rumored. I was excited to play it when I heard that the story and screenplay for the game was written by Comedy DemiGods Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. The next sign of good news came when most of the original cast came back with Ray and Egon to voice their respective characters (including Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and the uptight guy who plays Walter Peck). Even Bryan Doyle Murray shows up to help, though voicing the new Mayor of NYC. I then got my hands on the demo, and sure enough, everything about it was enjoyable, so I decided to go out and rent it. All the stars seemed to align for it, and the game delivered in a big way.

The script is funny, with laughs coming from all the characters. The story is original, set in 1991, and takes the Ghostbusters to new lengths to stop the ghosts from having their way. The PS3 graphics were near flawless. Characters were a complete match to their acting counterparts (Ernie Hudson looks so accurate it's scary). The environments were very detailed and always impressive. Even boring library interiors looked amazing, so when you're taken to parallel ghost dimensions, the backgrounds had me stopped and looking around at everything, even mid battle against Class 5 Roaming Animators! But when it comes to curious exploration, it doesn't get better than the former firehouse-turned-Ghostbuster HQ. Lots of fun stuff to check out and interact with. Playing with the proton pack never got boring either, and throughout the game new effects keep getting added to it to ensure the fun never died. Old friends show up throughout the game, like the Librarian from the film's first scene, and Stay Puft Marshallow Man. The easter eggs are great when you can find them, bonus points for the Vigo painting (which is back at Ghostbuster HQ for analyzing) taunting you whenever you go passed it. And keep your eyes peeled for a choice Indy reference.

A few faults are pervasive throughout the game. For one, while the voice acting is great, some of the interplay between the characters seems stilted. Having all four Ghostbusters doing their lines together in the same room, riffing off eachother, would've been a great improvement (no matter how impossible to schedule). Secondly, while the angle of playing as the new recruit works well, it would've been far better to have the recruit say something every now and then. He says absolutely nothing. This isn't GTA 3. You can't get away with that crap anymore. There's a little too much reliance on the existing films also. You battle Stay Puft. Again. You fight in the hotel from the first movie and wreck up their ballroom right before a party with the annoying Hotel guy yelling at you about the bill the whole time. Again. You go down to the Library stacks and chase the Gray Lady, again. Lastly, it would've been incredibly ideal to have Sigourney Weaver back for a few lines, and it would've turned a good game into a legendary game had Rick Moranis reprised his role as Louis, the sweaty, nervous Accountant/Tax Attorney. As I've said before on this website, he's notoriously hard to get when it comes to acting gigs these days. The man is enjoying semi-retirement and so the game will suffer a tad for it (only a tad though). These faults are minor , and only worth mentioning because it's a review.

The pros far outweigh the cons. The game is certainly challenging, not at all a walkthrough. The fights are lots of fun, and there's a lot of satisfaction with each ghost you capture in the trap. It's the closest to being a Ghostbuster you and me will ever see, so soak it in and enjoy.

FINAL VERDICT: B