Monday Update: Half Way There, Livin' On a Prayer

Gentlemen,

We are halfway through the regular season. This gives me a sadz.

Although, I use the 13.1 as a metaphor, the FF Regular Season is really much more of a sprint, rather than a marathon*.

Many of you are going to declare yourself out of it at this point, which is foolish. There will likely be at least one sub-.500 team to make the playoffs...there is every year. 6-7 can still get you that final spot, and no one this week will have more than 6 losses (and that will only be Ned).

The trading deadline in November 9th, not that you need to wait until then. Trading has certainly picked up in the last couple weeks, I would hope/expect that trend to continue. There is no time to waste here. There are deals out there that can benefit both parties trading - do some research, start some conversations, and don't wait to ultimately regret not pulling the trigger.

FAAB Budgets are finally starting to drop down and people are being more aggressive. You all should be. With 6 weeks left, there is certainly time to turn things around, but hoping/praying that your players play better isn't the best recipe for success. There are good players available every week, and there are high upside guys waiting to be stashed. BE AGGRESSIVE.

The time for waiting has passed. We are over the peak and heading downhill towards the finish line now. It's up to you to keep your team competitive and your playoff hopes alive.

As a competitor in this league, I want my team to do well and everyone else to be bad. But as your commissioner, I want everyone to be competitive, aggressive, and realize that even the smallest of chances is worth fighting for.

Six weeks to go, boys... the time is now.

* I actually went with the marathon connection because our own Ike Crabs ran his 1st marathon yesterday, and no matter the finishing time, that is an achievement worth recognizing. For those of us that knew and still know Crabs, this was no small feat. Congrats to him, and pour one out for his nipples/toenails.

The Vikings
How do you all feel about this game?

The Good: our defense played really physical and is showing more ability to make splashy plays, which is something we've lacked, even when we were a good team. And AP looked ridiculously good yesterday, and thank God he did...

The Bad: ...because Ponder was fucking awful. This is the 3rd straight bad game for him, which is concerning. He's thrown 2 picks in each of those games, and the weird thing is that they aren't even happening on hard throws. Also, despite the pick-6 and 6 sacks, I didn't think our defense looked particularly good yesterday. Skelton was converting 3rd downs with ease, as long as he didn't get pressured.

I don't know... I like that we didn't play well and still managed a win, but at 5-2, I'd like to feel more confident about my team than I do.

Here's their remaining games:

Home games appear with Vikings on the right side

What say you, gents? This team has a very difficult back half of the schedule. If I set the O/U at 9.5 wins, what side are you taking? In other words, does this team make the playoffs? They would need to win 5 of the games listed...

The Gophers
I fucking hate Wisconsin.

Cracker's College Football Corner

1. The decision to start Philip Nelson...your thoughts?

It seemed like an odd choice until I heard Shortell had some injury issues which prevented him from practicing most of the week and Gray has continued to be hobbled with injuries.  I would have preferred to keep the redshirt on Nelson and get four full years out of him as a starter--if he beats out Shortell next year--rather than 3.5 years.  I think that type of move would make us a better team down the road and I prefer to build for the future.

2. So how do you think he played in his first start at QB?

I thought he looked good for the most part and certainly played well for a true freshman in his first start.  He made a few mistakes in the running game by keeping the ball a few times on the read option when the DE didn't bite on the running back.  He also had some mistakes throwing the ball that mostly revolved around timing with receivers (who are mostly new to him) and trying to fit the ball in to zones at the right time.  I'm sure they will work hard to clean up some of those mistakes this week.  

Our biggest problem on offense is our continued struggles along the O-line but that largely reflects the lack of recruiting OL in Brewster's 2008 & 2009 recruiting class (only one OL from those two classes is on the roster) which has left us with only one upperclassman on the OL.  I'm looking forward to next year when we are starting a senior, three juniors and a redshirt sophomore along the OL and they're all in their third year in this offensive system. 

3. You wanna weigh in on this North Carolina mess?

Much ado about nothing; talk radio and newspapers need to sell advertising so they like to create controversy.  Don't get me wrong, I'd much prefer to go to Chapel Hill and play UNC (largely because I want to make that road trip) but it isn't really a big deal.  My only issue is that we paid a lot of money to get out of playing a mediocre ACC team that is about to get hit with NCAA sanctions and bowl bans which will likely result in many of their current roster transferring.  I would rather see that money reinvested in the athletic department. 

My guess is that we would have lost at UNC and won at home and now we'll likely win both of those games against an inferior opponent.  People are complaining now but if the loss at UNC is the difference between this team making a bowl or not making on people won't be complaining.

4. Who are your teams in the B1G Championship and who wins?

I'll go out on a limb and say that Penn State, behind the dives of Matt McGloin, beats Ohio State this week and that propels them to a Leaders Division Championship (with OSU finishing second).

However, with both of those teams currently under suspension, Wisconsin will represent the Leaders Dumpster Fire Division in Indianapolis.  Michigan will represent the Legends Division and after beating the Badgers they will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.

Closed circuit to Cracker: this is the best I could do...


Team Names
I had to adjust some of your team names, as we don't want ourselves to be searchable on the interwebs. I already received a stern talking-to from Crapswell this week for posting a picture of him on Facebook. I'm not 100% certain what the rules are and aren't for who I can and can't post pictures of anymore, and I find there to be flaws within these supposed "rules"... But the last thing I want to do is get anyone in trouble or worse. So I obliged, and will continue to do so if and when I screw up again.

But it was a pretty sweet picture of him looking awfully grumpy.

Who had the Best Team Name in Week 7?

***VOTE IN SIDEBAR***

I really enjoyed this week. Lots of fangs coming out, and while we usually spend this particular category topic ripping on those that we no longer keep in touch with, it was kinda fun pointing our guns at each other this week.

I thought long and hard about choosing one of the politically motivated team names. Having sat through that seemingly endless political debate at MNF, the smack talk from each was impressively condescending, yet accurate.

But sometime late in the week came Crabs' Nose Breathing, and I just cracked up. Truth be told, I actually have never noticed this particular trait before, despite rooming with Crabs for a couple years. But the thought that Crapswell has known him for nearly over 12 years, yet never mentioned this particular pet peave about Crabs until now... I mean that's just fantastic.

And by the way, I'm sure now I won't be able to NOT hear the nose breathing. This is sort of the "glass shattering" moment from How I Met Your Mother when they all start calling each other out for their flaws, like Lily's loud chewing (I looked for the clip but couldn't find it). Thanks a lot, Andy.

Who had the Worst Team Name in Week 7?

***VOTE IN SIDEBAR***

Sometimes I think Kenny is trying to win this each week. We've done this category for years now... the format is pretty simple: "Someone's Something." That's it. You can be as clever as you want, but that's how possessive nouns work. Psve/Agrsve Songs is not only weirdly abbreviated, but doesn't assign ownership to anyone, unless it's all of us. And if that's the case, where's the fun in that?

Great, we were all nerds back then and talked shit about other frats... I'm sure none of them ever said a bad thing about us.

BTW, I have no idea what this Tin Foil story is...had Kenny not showed up with his performance, this would have got my vote. I expect a story in the comments.

Team Name Topic
Before I get to this week's topic, one small request to you all: please update your team names before the weekend. It's more fun to see what people come up with throughout the week, rather than what they scramble to produce on Sunday morning. Thank you.

One more announcement: I need ideas. Running extremely low. Next week is going to be Favorite Cereal, if I don't get new ideas...

Ok, fairly simple here: BOTT I-Week Memory. This can be from your own I-Week, or just one you were a member for. It can be good, bad, funny, embarrassing, whatever - it just needs to come from I-Week (which could be at any point throughout the week).

Mine is pretty easy: Arrested at First Run. Let's see you top that, assholes.

Now called "Brick Street", this place almost got me killed...by my Dad

The Games
Moving through these quickly, as I have meeting most of today.

NooShoo vs. Coconuts

• Having Juan at my house yesterday, I got to feel his angst up close and personal. It was truly incredible to see how many times he could yell about the Houston D.
• BTW, if you would have seen him, you would have never known his team was even in his match, let alone have a chance to win. He truly loves to bitch.
• Gow had all his players playing at Noon, which gave him a substantial lead of about 30 (it was 40 at one point).
• Gronk, Ridley got Juan back very close; AJ Green's lone catch (which happened to be a TD) sealed the deal.
• Juan wins a very important match of 4-2 teams 99-96.

JoJo vs. Whitebread

• Brees: #WhoaCrazyCrazy 1st half. Big time performance for JoJo.
• MJD: #Injured. Uh oh. 6 yards for Marcus.
• Pierre Thomas: actually picked up and started for this match. Surprisingly not horrible.
• Jonathan Dwyer: Ditto. Also... fat.
• JoJo: Good.
• Cracker: Bad.
• Calvin: still to play for JoJo, who's already won and is now padding his lead of 98-73.

Jerks vs. Ned

• These are the texts I received from Ned yesterday that basically sum up our match
• "Fucking Cobb!!"
• "Fucking Foster!!"
• "You've got to be shitting me... BGE does all the work and this chump scores?"
• I win 113-98.

Crabs vs. Kenny

• Adrian Peterson looked great yesterday. So did Percy Harvin. Crabs had both.
• He also had Victor Cruz who got about 14 of his 19 points on one play very late. And this concludes the segment of "Players Crabs played that were good". 
• Kenny had another Vikings: Kyle Rudolph. If anyone of you happen to spot Rudolph, please inform the authorities. He seems to have gone missing...
• Brady, Sproles, Heath Freaking Miller, and Mason Crosby gave Kenny a sporting chance at least...
• Crabs leads 104-68, but Kenny has Michael Bush and Chicago D. 
• Seems like every week, Crabs narrowly edges out a win when his opponent has multiple guys going on MNF. One of these weeks, Crabs is going to get caught...

Crapswell vs. Dallus

• The crappiest match is also the best closest.
• Andy had Rodgers and Doug Martin. Dallus had the rejuvenated Chris Johnson and Marshawn Lynch. I don't really care to mention anyone else.
• Andy still has Matt Forte and Bob Gould.
• Dallus still has Brandon Marshall and Jason Hanson. 
• Andy enters with the narrow lead of 69-68, but this is anyone's game. The loser will fall to 2-5, so this is a crucial match for those fighting for a Top-6 spot.

Tonight
I will not be in attendance tonight. Made it happen last week, but not tonight.

No game time decision.
No Questionable designation.
I. AM. NOT. COMING.

Nor is Juan Coconuts, who is a single dad this evening. Pray for him.

Should be a fun one tonight. Enjoy it, boys.

Hope to see you next week.