Fantasy

Do any of you play Fantasy Football? This is my third year doing it and it's been a lot of fun. The league I'm in is pretty deep compared to other leagues I've seen, with 14 teams this year.
(Hat Tip: the league is managed by the  longtime commenter to this page, Robert. I don't think Robert blogs anymore.)

Due to it's depth, I think it pays to think outside the box to find talent at depth. There are only so many studs to go around at any position, after all.

Some different thinking that I've done:

The (Non) Receiver: Last year, I drafted Devin Hester at WR. I knew he wasn't going to catch any balls and was worthless as a receiver when all he did was return kicks... but return yards score the same as receiving yards. Hester was only played on 1% of the leagues last year (according to Yahoo), but he returned 1700 yards for me in fantasy, plus a TD. He produced better points than most top tier WRs.

Running Backs: There are only a few good, reliable, stud RB's in the top tier. After AP, Forte, Charles, McCoy and Lynch are off the boards, it doesn't really matter too much any more because whoever you choose is gonna get hurt anyway (Eddie Lacy!! LOL, who wasted a first round pick on that? see? now you know what I'm talking about...)
Better off finding that ace WR, or a second one, before pulling the lever on Lacy, or anybody else that was left. After the studs, the rest of the featured RBs are basically interchangeable in my opinion. Fill up your WR corps, or one of the less than six receiving TEs before going for your first RB (who you will have to replace due to injury anyway).

Defense/ST: I took one in the mid-rounds, locking up Seattle (guaranteed fantasy points every week), while others were looking for the next WR remnant that was going to suck anyway.

Kicker: I only carry one. On the bye week I'll plug the hole with a free agent. Same thing with D/ST.

Probably makes no sense, but I took a chance with Robert Woods. A WR with the Bills. He didn't land on anybody's radar and sits on less than 1% of the leagues (according to Yahoo). His rookie year caught for 500 yards or so, but he moves up the depth chart this season to be the #1 WR option for the Bills.
I'm thinkin he might be that 1000 yard/100 catch WR that nobody saw coming, and might provide some depth in case one of my leaders goes down in the stretch.
That... and he's from Gardena, CA.
A Homie!!!
Born and raised there, graduated from the very small (400 student) Catholic high school located in my old neighborhood, that my brother attended.
Gotta go with the homie, ya know?
Gotta go with the homie.

Are You Ready For Some Football???

Kyle Orton is.

Orton Sticks It To The Man

Kyle Orton beats the NFL system

IRVING, Texas – Kyle Orton has done something few players in the NFL get to do: beat the system.

The Cowboys cut Orton on July 15 not long after the veteran backup quarterback told the Cowboys he would be coming to training camp. On Friday, Orton agreed to a deal with the Buffalo Bills, according to ESPN’s James Walker.
Orton spent most of the offseason hoping to retire, except the Cowboys would have come after $3.4 million in signing-bonus money he received in 2012 and ’13 had he decided to give up the game. He skipped the voluntary offseason program, skipped a physical before the mandatory minicamp and failed to report to the minicamp altogether. The moves would have cost Orton roughly $150,000 in fines form the Cowboys if he returned.
When he was facing fines of $30,000 a day if he skipped training camp, Orton told the Cowboys he would be in Oxnard, California. And then the Cowboys cut him, giving the backup job to Brandon Weeden.
Now he is with the Buffalo Bills and will start the season as E.J. Manuel's backup. Perhaps he starts if Manuel struggles. And he did not have to go through a day of training camp.
There is nothing the Cowboys can do to recoup Orton’s bonus money since they cut him. They decided they did not want a player who was not fully committed around the team and didn’t want risk him getting hurt after not doing a thing in the offseason.
My belief was that Orton wanted to retire. From all accounts, he was doing next to nothing to get ready for the season.
Be mad at Orton all you want, but teams rarely, if ever, show loyalty to players. Remember, we did see DeMarcus Ware at AT&T Stadium the other night in a Denver Broncos uniform. Players don’t need to be loyal to anybody but themselves.
In the stalemate between Jerry Jones and Orton, Orton won.

I've been watching this dance over the past six months because I've always liked Kyle Orton.
He wasn't the flashiest Quarterback and he didn't have one of the larger arms, but he knew how to play tough football, and he played it well. ( I think he beat the Packers every time he met them while in a Bears uniform).

Good to see one of the working men of the NFL shove it up his owner's ass for a change.

Hey!

Yeah, still here. I guess it's this ISIS thing. I feel compelled to write about it, but I really don't want to, so I stare at the screen, type a few characters, and walk away...

Instead, I'm choosing to walk away from the ISIS topic. We pay other people to think about them so I don't have to.
Now, where do I go to get last month back?

Mojado Nation Pt Tres

There really is no point in debating it anymore. None of these Mojado kids are going back, and more will keep coming. These are not my father's migrant generation. It's different now.
Now, they come here illegally, expect food stamps, housing assistance, free legal, everything in their language and publically demand the rights of citizenship, expecting their desires will be delivered to them.
And it will be delivered.

Maybe real soon...  when POTUS delivers a blanket amnesty by Executive Order.

Its not our country anymore. The country belongs to the 51% who don't pay the freight because we have reached that tipping point. Like I've said before, we've hit the iceberg. It's over.

I almost feel sorry for the border kids, coming here thinking they going to get an education and live a good life if they work hard...
Guess what, kids!!???
You're being hosed, too.

Some of you are going to college and get that liberal arts degree to a big payday, like your professors said it would. Hahahahaha...
Instead, you'll end up with $500,000 in student debt working as a bank teller (if that job still exists in 10yrs), looking for your promised American dream...

Sure, some of you will become losers, and learn how to milk the system to get in with that 51%... making you the real winners after all... but don't expect those checks to be worth as much as they are now. Atlas is shrugging. It won't last much longer.

Damn, That Hurt!

Well, that was not near as much fun as I was expecting.
Doctor told me it would hurt. Told me to take my meds soon as I got home, before the numbing wore off. Told me to take even  more meds before the previous dose wore off. It's gonna hurt....

She was not overstating the situation.

I was twilighted for surgery, not truly asleep, but was informed I wouldn't remember anything.
I remember waking up during, saying something like 'Hey, gimmee more juice, it hurts'.
She did, or somebody did....

The deed was done, and I was sent home to recover.
72 hrs of throbbing pain later, I started feeling some relief...

I can sit in front of the computer now, if only for a brief time. Gotta keep the foot elevated.
After about 5 minutes of nonelevation, it reminds me, in case I forgot.

No bathing or getting the foot wet for about 5-6 weeks. I got wires holding things together and I cant get them wet.
This discomfort will take a while, I guess. Oh well, it's all for the better.

But damn.... I had no idea such a simple procedure could hurt so damn much.
Wow.

From Top To Bottom

Going into surgery in a few more hours.
Nothing as serious as it is painful and inconvenient: Something about slicing a foot bone and screwing it back together into a different shape. (the 4th metatarsal on the right foot, I think...)

This should solve a bunyun-ish  problem I keep having... So bad that it's left me all but crippled at times.

I'll be laying around with my foot in the air and booted for a couple weeks, but after that, it's gonna be mostly an easy ride while I heal for two to three months on disability (longer, if I can help it.)

On the positive, they intend to leave my head and neck out of scalpel range for a change. I'm happy about that.

Mojado Nation (Part Dos)

--Last word I hear is that the Feds have stopped trying to bus Mojaditos to Murrieta. I guess the public uproar was just too much. They're bringing them in through the back door, though, with several local Inland Empire churches already taking possession of several hundred individuals.
This is the type of charity that churches should be doing and I got no issue with that.

--The issue is do have with the churches (my own parish is complicit, as well) is their intent to spread the charity to the unwilling. Jesus taught that we must be charitable, individually. He never taught us to take our alms from another to credit ourselves.
But that's what the churches are doing. Helping the migrants navigate the with housing applications, food stamps, and medical care, free school lunches... all provided by taxpayers.
It's not charity when somebody is paying for your donation.

--In Mass this weekend the priest offered up a prayer 'for migrants, that they may find the peace and security they seek'. No mention of the 'the taxpayers, that they may find justice in a system stacked against them'. This is part of the problem within the Catholic Church and why so many are leaving the Faith. Those who pay the freight are expected to continue while all the spiritual services go to those who dont pay anything. Care for the underprivilaged is a good thing, but when it becomes a self serving fetish, things change.
We get lectured to become more accepting of those 'not like us', but those 'not like us' are not lectured toward their responsibilities toward us: like, volunteering for the church, learning the local language and ways, not trying to turn the congregation into another Mexican church where we feel like foriegners in our own parish. Demanding respect for your culture while dissing ours is no way to make friends.


--Having had to spend some time in one of the regions few emergency rooms, things are going to get a lot rougher around these parts with hundreds of free riders being added to the mix.

--the same goes for everything else relating to public services. This region is primarily a commuting population. It was hit hard in the recession and hasnt bounced back yet, with unemployment in the double digits (for those that are still in the workforce. Many of our residents are fixed-income retired, this region serving as the retirement zone for much of Los Angeles and Orange County.) 

--I don't have a problem with any one of the migrants on a personal level. If I was living in a mud hut and somebody was offering a free chance at something better for my kids, I'd take it too.