Wednesday, December 21, 2011

FF - Championship weekend

Unfortunately I am not apart of it. Both of my teams were denied the finals in Fantasy Football and it was upsetting, especially in my "work" league. Eli Manning's pass to a wide open Hakeem Nicks and then Nicks dropping the ball cost me my shot in the championship. I only lost by 4 points and Eli only scored me 6 points when his average is well above 20 in our league. If he would have had the one TD, that would have given him at least 6 more points. My other league I just got destroyed as the opposing team had 3 players score 30+ (Matt Stafford, CJ Spiller, and Aaron Hernandez).

Pick ups of the week:

Bear's RB - Kahlil Bell. He filled in for a Marion Barber who was not playing well and managed to score 19 points in my league and is still available. He will most likely get the start for week 16 against the Packers.

Donald Brown - Colts RB: I happened to be in attendance when the Colts got their first win of the season and Brown looked really good even if Addai got the start. Brown popped off a few long runs, and had the big 80 yard TD run to seal the deal against the Titans.

Side Note: I was really impressed with Jake Locker as I'm a Titan's fan. Hasselbeck did not have a good game and I hated to see him stay in as long as he did. When Locker came in, he drove the offense down the field and scored a TD. Hopefully the Titans have a future star in Locker.

It is the last week of the season in most leagues so most owners have stopped caring since they aren't in the finals (including myself). But if you are fortunate enough to have made the finals, good luck and look into players that are filling in for injured players if you really need to fill a hole in your line up. Pretty much the same advice I gave last week.

Tony

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Movies - My Top 5

Since it is the week of Christmas, I will rank my top 5 Christmas movies with a few honorable mentions.

#5: Home Alone & Home Alone #2
These are classic movies with all kinds of quotes whether it is Kevin calling out in an empty house, "mom? dad? buzz? where are you guys?" or its the gangster movie quote "I'm going to give you to the count of 3...". Or when he is running from Rob Schneider in the Plaza Hotel, these are both classic Christmas time movies. It is every boy's dream to do whatever he wants whether he is getting room service in a hotel or just has the house to himself.

Honorable Mention: The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. I have loved this movie ever since it came out and I'm not sure why. Every time I watch it, someone gives me grief for watching a terrible movie. I don't care. I was a huge fan of "Home Improvement" when I was young so maybe I just secretly have a man crush on Tim Allen or maybe I'm just hoping to become Santa Clause one day. Then I guess I'll have to change the main topic of my blog from Pro Triathlete to Christmas posts and updates on toy making from the North Pole.

#4: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carrey version)
This is a classic Christmas movie so it is a must watch during the holiday season.

Honorable Mention: The Polar Express. I may have been a little old when this movie was released to really enjoy it, but it is a great Christmas film.

#3: Elf
Will Farrell is fantastic in this film (I'm not a huge fan of his). He's so naive about everything in NYC and he reaction to everything is great. And having Zooey Deschanel in it doesn't hurt. The movie helps reverse the myth about Parents actually putting out presents instead of Santa. He clearly states, "They (parents) can't do all of that in just one night. I suppose they eat Santa's cookies as well?"

Honorable mention: Die Hard. One of the greatest action films of all time with Bruce Willis. I may or may not have secretly watched this at a very young age and learned a few words I shouldn't have. Unfortunately for the terrorists that take over this large company in LA on Christmas Eve, John McClane just happened to be at the Christmas party with his wife/ex-wife.

#2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Chevy Chase plays a father who wants to have the perfect Christmas which turns to hell as all of the family shows up early along with his crazy brother. This movie is a timeless classic and is full of laughs. It is always a movie I watch with my family during the holidays.

Honorable Mention: The Muppets' Christmas Carol. How can you not love the Muppets?

#1: The Christmas Story
One of my basketball teammates in the 7th grade informed me of the movie and all of its glory. He asked if I was going to watch the 24 hour marathon on TBS on Christmas Eve/day. I asked what he was refering to and he just told me to watch the movie and I would understand. Ever since that first viewing, I understand. This is the best Christmas movie and clearly worth at least 4 viewings during the 24 hour marathon. I try to watch it at least 6 times and the only time my TV leaves TBS during that marathon is when a sibling/family member changes it. Now I am out and about during this time, so I don't actually watch it 12 (sleep, meals, exercise, travel, etc.) but I try to watch it as much as possible. Whether I'm googling at the leg lamp, laughing at his little brother pretending to be a pig, watching him beat up the bully, or ironically seeing him shoot his eye out, it is definitely worth watching. But that stupid rabbit suit always gets a laugh out of me.

Honorable Mention: Scrooged. A fantastic take on the classic A Christmas Carol. I believe A Chrismtas Carol also needs to be listed as it is a great movie, but I guess watching 3 movies with the exact same plot is a little overkill, even if one has Bill Murray, the other has the Muppets, and the last has George C. Scott.

Need to See: Bad Santa. I have heard it's hilarious but have never actually seen it all the way through.

I guess that's my list. I recommend watch at least 5 if not all of the movies that I've listed this week to put you in a great mood and help give you the holiday spirit.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

FF update: On to Round #2

Whew. I barely made it past the first round in my playoffs, but I did successfully in both of my FF leagues. This is the 3rd year in a row for making the Final Four in my "college buddies" league, and then this is the first year of my other league so obviously its my first as well.

In the work league, I was going against my roommate who had some very solid players such as Matt Ryan, who threw for 4 td's this past weekend, Lesean McCoy, Antonio Gates, Steve Smith, and Desean Jackson. He actually had Kevin Walter go for almost 20 points as well. Fortunately for me, I had Eli Manning, Ray Rice, Marion Barber, and Rob Gronkowski all have fantastic games. Barber really stepped up for me against the Broncos' defense. But I believe what won me the game was the fact that my roommate didn't start Antonio Gates which boggles my mind. I have no idea why he did this, but he told me his other TE was projected to score more (which I question since he has a TE from the Browns). But I also had Nate Washington and Miles Austin on my bench and started Damien Williams and Anquan Bolden instead (which did not help my score). Anyways, I went into the Sunday night game losing by 12 but confident that Eli could score 12+ points as he was the only player left to play out of both of our teams. Barber was the surprise player on my team and turned out to be a great pick up since Forte is now out for a few weeks. I have another player that I'm looking at picking up this week but will not mention him until after players are cleared to be picked up from my league's waiver wire.

In the other league, we were even just about all day on Sunday but fortunately for me, he always had a few more players playing (or finished playing) than I did and I had a few player playing Sunday evening with only 1 of his WR's to play in the Monday night game. I had a solid 38 point lead going into the Rams/Seahawk's game last night and his WR definitely surprised me by putting up 23 points and making it a close game but I was able to hold on for Victory. Doug Baldwin was his WR which has played well as of late so I would recommend to pick him up if he's available in your league and need a good WR for your team. Marshawn Lynch is just amazing as he's leading the NFL in rushing over the past 5 - 6 weeks. He wasn't on either of our teams, but is definitely worth a fantasy shout out this Tuesday morning.

I had Carson Palmer throw 4 Int's for me which was terrible, but had a new member to my team score 2 td's and rush/receive a lot of yards for a total of 24 fantasy points for me. This was Ryan Grant from the Packers who is stepping in for the injured James Starks. Laurant Robinson and Hakeem Nicks both had huge games as well which really carried my team. Steve Smith from the Panthers had a good game but was overshadowed by my other WR's since he ONLY scored 19 points, ha. There are weeks that I wish I had 1 WR put up 15, haha. David Akers from the 49er's kicked his way to 13 points which I am loving. Him and the 49er's D (which I also own) have had a great year. I was just lucky that Cam Newton didn't have one of his huge scoring games as that would have been the end of my fantasy season.

I have some hard matchups this coming weekend but we'll see how it all plays out.

Ryan Grant, Marion Barber, TJ Yates, Jabar Gaffney, Toby Gerhart were definitely worth picking up this past weekend as they had fantastic games (if they weren't already owned).

Joe Webb stepped in at QB for the Vikings and put up some solid points so he's definitely worth looking at for week 15 along with Jake Locker for the Titans if you need a QB. Or it is always helpful to find the backup player for the big name guy that you just lost to an injury such as the Matt Forte / Marion Barber situation. Or James Starks / Ryan Grant. Or Adrian Peterson / Toby Gerhart. Or Arian Foster / Ben Tate. Do you get my point?????? (This works best with RB's and not necessarily with WR's and TE's but is still worth looking at if you're in dire need)

Tony

Thursday, December 8, 2011

It's Here

I may not be a Fantasy Football expert but now that I've played for several years, each year with a growing passion for it, I feel that I have a pretty good amount of knowledge about the topic. Today is the first day of the Playoff's. I have Mike Wallace from the Steelers playing tonight in my "work" league and I feel that my team is ready to go. The loss of Matt Forte killed me in my other league, but I was able to pick up Marion Barber in my "work" league so I may have found a decent replacement RB #2 if he is able to pick up a little slack. I know the Bears' offense is in trouble right now with what-ever-his-name-is at QB. The rest of the slots on my team, I feel really good about, other than the Flex position in which I can play 1 of 2 WR's from the Titans, which tend to be hit or miss. I have both Damien Williams and Nate Washington and I'm not sure who I should play. If I play one, the other has a good game, so hopefully I get lucky this week.

In my "college buddies" league, my QB spot is hurting me. I have Palmer, Matt Moore, and Matt Hasslebeck, but am not sure who I should start. They are all playing defenses' this week that aren't the best at stopping the pass. Hasslebeck hasn't had a good game in almost 4 weeks, Palmer has played decent, and Moore is hit and miss with several BIG games. I have Ryan Grant as one of my RB's and that is because of the loss of Matt Forte. Starks tweaked his ankle for the Packers last weekend so Grant may get the start which may be great news for me. I tried to pick up Toby Gerhart who's filling in for Adrian Peterson on the Vikings, but someone beat me to it.

In other news, I had a run last night that was my best run since I got this stupid injury. I went out the door at around 6:45pm (which almost never happens) and decided to jog easy for at least 30 minutes. Turns out, I felt great and my HR stayed pretty low while I was running sub 7 minute miles for 5 miles. Just 2 weeks ago, I was running 7:30 - 7:45 pace with average HR of high 140's. Last night my average HR was 140. I still have some work to do in the pool as I struggled on a set yesterday that had a few 1:10 base 100's which normally I don't have too much trouble making the send off as long as there aren't more than 5 or 6 in a row.

Off to the pool. On a side note, I got super excited last night when National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was on TV. Easily, one of my favorite Christmas movies.

And my fiance and I are currently looking at where we should have our wedding here in Lexington. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment or shoot me an email. twhite_4@yahoo.com

Tony

Monday, December 5, 2011

MIA again

Yes, I know, it has been a month since I last posted (again) but to repeat what I said previously, not much has been going on. I am actually training again which is nice, but frustrating considering my HR is much higher doing much easier bike rides and runs. I put in a solid week last week in which I was very consistent about cycling, swimming, and running for the first time since September.

There have been some big updates in my life though. I missed my family's Thanksgiving get together for the first time in my life because I traveled with my girlfriend to visit her family. I met all of her extended family and had a great time. The family football game definitely got my competitive juices flowing and made me realize that I haven't lost much from middle school football, haha. During this weekend, I was able to have a serious talk with Casey's dad, and as of this past Friday, Casey is now my fiance. So I am now engaged and have another event to plan in 2012. That is the big news for me in the previous month. Other than that, I have just been working, and working out occasionally.

Also, I'm ready to get focused for both of my fantasy football playoffs. In my "College buddies" FF league, I have a pretty solid team, but just took a HUGE loss with the knee injury of Matt Forte. I don't have a solid backup RB, but hopefully Chris Johnson, and my 3 WR's will carry my team. I have been struggling with the TE and QB position all year. I made a STUPID move early in the year by dropping Ben Roethlisberger. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I had just lost in a close match and he was only averaging 14 points a game at the time, so I got rid of him and picked up Josh Freeman. STUPID!!!! Freeman is now hurt and I have started either Carson Palmer or Matt Hasselbeck. MH hasn't played well at all, but Palmer is putting up decent numbers so he may have to carry my team through the Playoffs. And my TE was Dallas Clark, but thanks to Peyton Manning's injury, Clark has had a terrible year and I was forced to pick up a TE off of waivers.

In my "work" league, I lost my #2 RB (Jahvid Best) a long time ago, so I have been battling to find a 2nd RB. Donald Brown was able to have a decent game this past weekend and he scored 12 points for me which is the most points that position has scored for me in a few weeks. Ray Rice and Rob Gronkowski really carried my team with the help of Eli Manning and Mike Wallace. I was able to defeat the #1 team in the league, but all of the teams are so even, it doesn't really matter. There are a few games that still have to be decided tonight to finalize how the playoffs will lay out. I'm really hoping to avoid playing my brother in the 1st round as he lost a few games early in the season due to injuries, but he is definitely the best team in the league right now as he has put up 184 points this weekend with MJD still to play tonight. He is on a winning streak of around 3 - 4 games and seems to win by alot when he does win. When he loses, it's because his team does average, and the other team manages to outscore him by 5 points or less.

So this week, Casey and I are going to do a little research into our wedding plans and I'm going to do a little research of how to fix my RB problem for FF. And also to have another consistent week of training.

I'll try to post more this month. Maybe a post about my favorite Christmas movies, or favorite Christmas foods, who knows.

Tony