For the armchair fantasty GM it doesn’t get much better than this (unless your in first place).
The NFL is at the halfway point, the NHL has 10 games under its belt and tonight the NBA cranks it up for real.

In the RCJ Sports Dept. we take lots of shots at each other and how we manage our fantasy teams.
The No. 1 rule is that it is all in fun (unless your in first place).

Call it a guy thing, but fantasy sports can make a long winter seem a little shorter, your day a little brighter (unless you have Kellen Winslow).

Anyway stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted every now and then on who’s winning, who’s whining and highlight some of the bad trades, dumb moves and sleeper pickups and I will try to keep it G-rated. (Duffy)

Like new 49-ers coach Mike Singletary said, “I’d rather play with 10 and get a penalty every time rather than have 11 that don’t want to play.”
-Lenn

I was one of those fortunate individuals who had Tom Brady as my starting quarterback for fantasy football. Being in a keeper league, Brady’s been on my team for three or four years now. Obviously, he helped me win the league last season.

With Brady going down, I picked up Matt Cassel and am hoping for the best. I didn’t have a lot of choices. My backup QB is Matt Schaub of Houston. I elected to start Cassel this week to see how he does. He’s in the same situation Tom Brady was in when Brady started for the injured Drew Bledsoe.

In 2001, Brady became the starter for the Patriots after Bledsoe was injured. Brady finished the season with an 11-3 record and a superbowl win. Maybe Cassel can do the same thing this season. That’s what I’m hoping for. Am I crazy to think such a thing? I guess we’ll see this weekend. It’s early in the season, so I’m either going to start picking up some wins or look forward to an early draft pick next year.

-Jerome

So the Journal’s live NFL fantasy draft came and went, and yours truly was honored with the top pick in the draft. A tough decision to be sure, but one I was happy to make. I took San Diego’s LaDanian Tomlinson with the first pick over Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson.
I’m happy with my team, for the most part, I did end up choosing Sidney Rice out of spite and I may be saddled with him for the season.
But overall, a good draft.
Andrew

I’ve been thinking about fantasy football for a month now and can’t wait for draft day. Being in a keeper league, I’m soon going to have to cut some players. In our league, we can keep up to six players on our roster from the previous year. But I can only keep two wide receivers. I’m definitely going to keep Randy Moss. That leaves me to decide between Braylon Edwards of Cleveland and Steve Smith from Carolina. Both are very talented receivers, so who should I keep?

Edwards is coming off of a really good season, but the Browns do have a very tough schedule this year. Edwards may not get doubled teamed as much with the addition of Donte Stallworth, therefore taking the pressure off of him. On the other hand, having another quality wideout may cut down on Edwards’ receiving numbers.

Smith is also a very talented receiver, but it always seems like his numbers go down if Jake Delhomme gets hurt. With the recent news that Smith punched one his teammates and could face a possible suspension may just make my decision a little easier.

I would like to have a player for sixteen games. I’ve heard that Smith could get as much as a four game suspension. If that holds true, Edwards would be the logical choice. Would I be making the right decision by keeping Edwards? I hope so. With our draft coming up at the end of the month, now is the time for making those big decisions.

-Jerome

I started out leading the pack in fantasy baseball. I was pretty proud of myself with this being my first year playing. I’ve played fantasy sports before but never baseball. Well, I’ve slipped and now find myself right in the middle. With the addition of a new baby and other priorities, I really haven’t put the time in managing my team. Yeah, it’s my fault.

I was recently offered a trade since I didn’t even have an active catcher on my roster. Another team offered me Joe Mauer of the Twins for pitcher Ben Sheets of the Brewers. I accepted the trade. Was I insane? I acquired a catcher who’s batting .335 with 29 RBI’s and 45 runs scored. I gave away a pitcher who just improved to 8-1 on the season with a 2.74 ERA.

After I accepted this trade, I received a few laughs from my coworkers. Sure, I acquired a good catcher in Mauer, but did I give away too much? What do you think? I guess you would have to look at my roster of pitchers to make that decision. Hopefully now with Mauer on my team and me paying attention, I can turn my season around. Hey, their’s still a lot of baseball left to be played!

-Jerome

I know, it’s NBA playoff time (Go Lakers!), but baseball has been in full swing now for three weeks and guess where I’m sitting at in my fantasy baseball league? I’m in first place! It’s my first time ever playing fantasy baseball. I like the sport but just don’t follow it like I do football and basketball. I’m probably lucky to be sitting in first place. I guess we’ll see if I stay there as the season goes on.

So which players have helped me achieve this success? Well, I do like the Cardinals so I have Albert Pujols on my team.  His 11 runs and 21 hits have definitely helped me. What about Houston’s Carlos Lee? Seven runs on 19 hits and eight RBI’s. Not bad at all.

On the pitching side, Ben Sheets of the Brewers has given me quite a lift. He’s 3-0 in the won-loss column, with 24 strikeouts on the season.

Now I’m not going to lie. I’ll admit, their are players on my team I’ve never heard of. How can I call myself a true baseball fan? I don’t. Again, I like the sport and like going to games but don’t follow the players during the season like I do in other sports. I even have friends that ask, why do I play fantasy baseball if I don’t know the players.  I tell them, it’s just for fun.

Hopefully, I can stay in first place. If I don’t, that’s okay too. I’m sure in a couple of weeks, I’ll fall in the standings. My beginner’s luck has to run out some time.

Jerome

  

Every year it seems like I get a player in my RCJ fantasy baseball league draft that I think can pack a big offensive punch for my team. A couple years ago, it was Manny Ramirez. This year it was Hank Blalock.

When Ramirez sputtered for the first two months of the season back in ‘05, I worked out a trade with P-Duff and sent him on his merry way, thinking the Red Sox slugger was going to have one of “those years.” Instead Manny went on a tear the rest of the season, and my team languished mid-pack and made an early playoff exit.

This year Hank Blalock is that guy. He gets off to about a .250 start at the plate and is striking out about twice as much as he’s reaching base. So when K.C.’s Mark Teahen started to heat up, I cut Blalock loose. P-Duff scooped him up like an easy grounder down the third-base line, and what does Blalock do? He goes on a 10-for-18 tear with half of his hits going for extra bases.

Sigh.

At least I didn’t dump the Ranger third baseman from my Splinter League, too.

– Jeff Easton

Well Day  1 is done as the RCJ Baseball League takes flight for another year!!!

My shortstop Edgar Renteria popped two homeruns and A-Rod cranked one out..

One of my pitchers picked up a solid win..

On the otherhand, Andruw Jones went 0-5 and Schilling got rocked by the (gulp) Royals….

We play a head-to-head style where you play one opponent for a whole week. So one day your on top of the world and the next day you wan’t to drop everyone on your roster..

Well after the night contest’s, kudos have to go out to “Attack with Love,” (what can I say about the team name, he’s from Aberdeen), as they cranked out five homeruns to open up a one-day lead of 13-1.   

Hey it’s free, fun and we all have a little Steinbrenner in all of us…

 

 The “Boss” 

More later in the week…I gotta call Schilling and chew him out, the Royals of all teams!!! Man it’s going to be a long season!!!

Lenn Davis