It is that time again: the beginning of the NFL season. (Well, not *quite* yet, but it's coming. I'm counting the days.) I had my work Fantasy draft last night and, while I say every year that I'll have a bedrock draft strategy, it never really turns out that way.
See, the thing is, other people are drafting, too, so the likelihood of my team displaying Brady at QB, Peterson and Foster as my RBs, Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson and Roddy White as my wideouts and Antonio Gates as my tight end...that probably ain't gonna happen.
My team is called the Galloping Ghosts, an allusion to perhaps one of the best collegiate football players ever to don the leather helmet: Red Grange, the Galloping Ghost. He tore it the fuck up at the University of Illinois. I Googled an image of him, running, and I added a bit of color to the black-and-white. You should see it above.
So, there was a draft. My keeper was Adrian Peterson, and so I had hoped to land a top-notch wide receiver, such as Andre Johnson or Calvin Johnson. They were both gone at my pick, number eight overall, so I took a flyer on my first pick and selected Matt Forte from the Bears. Meh. We'll see what happens.
This is my team: At the quarterback position, I have Eli Manning and Joe Flacco. For running backs, I have the aforementioned Adrian Peterson and Matt Forte, and, as back-ups, I selected Ryan Torain and Ladanian Tomlinson. I think I have pretty decent wide-outs: Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Lloyd, Plaxico Burress (I'm looking for him to play like he has a lot to prove), Mario Manningham (the WR-QB hook-up), and Mike Sims-Walker--I think Bradford will be looking his way a lot. Tight ends are Jason Witten (always a point-producer) and Tony Gonzalez (not what he used to be, but still a factor). I nabbed the Eagles Defense/Special Teams and I grabbed Dan Carpenter, the kicker for the 'Phins, as my last choice.
We'll see how this all shakes out, but I think I have fielded a competitive team. I had a few blunders in the draft, namely taking Eli instead of Peyton Manning, but I think, overall--fuck it. It is what it is. I just can't wait for the regular season to start! Long live crash-mouth, holy-hell-hitting NFL football!
