Every week of football is epic in it's own way.  Writeup commenced.

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I cannot, in good faith, predict anything about the Steelers season seriously.  I assume that just like every other fan in the universe, I am biased towards my team, even if I don't necessarily think that is the truth.  Because of that, this post will have only my predictions as far as the NFL goes. 

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I know that we have at least two leagues happening this year on BTSC, and that a few people participating are relatively new to the fantasy scene, and even if you aren't, you might still learn some things.  Conversely, you may think I'm an idiot and want to bash everything I am going to say -- regardless, you're welcome in this post to ask questions and learn a little bit about one of my favorite parts of football: the fantasy aspect.  This is my fourth year active in fantasy football, and in that short time I've learned quite a bit.  Last year, my first year in college, I essentially did nothing first semester besides look at fantasy information and, when that wouldn't suffice my hunger, looking up stats for any player I was interested in and figuring out my own rankings, usually to a higher degree of success.

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Alright, the media might not directly want you to hate Brett Favre, but I am of the opinion that this offseason, all hate towards Brett Favre should be redirected to the media.  It's no secret that Brett has been in the business of Brett as of late, and through his sappy shenanigans has caused a good portion of NFL fans to simply hate the fact the media spends so much time on him.  However, if you look at the context clues, this offseason Brett simply is doing as he said he would, and I can respect that.

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I know the phrase "every team is a super bowl contender in august" is known for a reason, but this offseason -- despite certain aspects -- has made a great number of Steeler Nation very optimistic about the 2010 season.  And don't get me wrong, this isn't the Redman fever, these people have good reason to believe the 2010 Steelers will have a legit shot at their 7th Lombardi.  At the same time, there are always reasons to be hesitant and temper expectations, given the nature of the euphoric high that's created by seeing players in shorts.  I want to see if it's possible to get a rational look at how the Steelers will actually do in 2010.

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Despite QB and WR starting to run RB out of the late first round, the RB will be the meat of your points on your fantasy roster, because they pile up yards and touchdowns more consistently than almost any other position.

Top 10 Fantasy RB's this Year: 

1. Adrian Peterson.  Yes, I'm ranking him above CJ.  I don't think it's a far jump to put AP over CJ for this upcoming year.  CJ had over 400 touches last year, with around 360 carries and 40ish receptions.  His season statistically is one of the top ever, tying Jim Brown's 7 rushing TD's from farther than 30 yards out from a 12 game season in 1959.  It's only natural I think for CJ to regress back to the mean and AP to continue doing what he has done, despite an offensive line that might be in decline and his lack of ball security.  In three full years of service, AP has averaged nearly 100 yards a game, from the day he came into the league.  People point to his declining yards per attempt and how far he has "fallen" since his 1800 yard season.  I'd rather point to the fact that this year AP caught more balls than his first two years combined, with 43 receptions good for a 10 yard average and 436 yards.  That puts his yards from scrimmage roughly the same as 2008 AP, and there is only one thing I want in my first round pick, and that's consistency.  AP has dominated fantasy football from day one and I'll go ahead and take him to terrorize fantasy on this day too.
   
2. Chris Johnson. For all the shit I just talked about CJ up there, I have him ranked behind only one person.  If I'm number two in the draft I hope AP falls to me, but I'll be perfectly satisfied with CJ, one of the fastest players in the league and one with amazing vision.  The Titans will also stay dedicated to the run no matter what, so he's guaranteed to get 350+ carries, barring injury.  Injury is the only thing that keeps me away from CJ, because I know Fisher will remain dedicated to the rushing attack no matter what happens there, but CJ already withstood the test of one 400 touch season, at the young age of 25.  Is he going to end up Priest Holmes'd out of the league in 3 years like that?  Or will he fizzle out much sooner, like Dickerson or any of the other backs from the 370 touch club did.  I contemplate putting Ray Rice over CJ to be brutally honest.
   
3. Ray Rice.  Ray Rice plays like a better MJD sometimes.  Gets the tough yards between the tackles with the ability to turn any play into a 40 yarder.  They both catch beautifully out of the backfield.  The main difference will be in PPR leagues Flacco may feed Rice in the neighborhood of 80-100 Recs plus 1400-1700 rushing yards.  Even in non-PPR leagues, I think Rice pushes MJD for number 3.  I cannot stress how much of a game breaker Ray Rice is.  He crossed 2000 yards from scrimmage with 332 touches (254 attempts, and 78 receptions.)  If Flacco continues to get him the extra touches on the check downs that he loves so much, Ray Rice will carry your team in PPR easily.  McGahee vulturing short yardage touchdowns might hurt his value a little bit, but not enough to make me rank him any lower (McGahee had 12 TD's last year, a good portion of them coming in the red zone if I remember right.)
   
4. Maurice Jones-Drew.  I have MDJ behind RR because the Ravens are more likely to be in situations to maintain the run instead of playing from behind.  MJD will have his huge games, he always does, but they come fewer than Rice's because MJD doesn't always get his chance in losing efforts.
5. Micheal Turner.  Coming off of injury, I fully expect Burner to be back in action as he was in the 08 season.  On top of that, he faces the Saints and Bucs twice a year each.  Neither team is really equipped to stop Micheal Turner if he gets on a tear.
6. Frank Gore.  I'll be honest, I'm a little wary putting Gore number 6.  He hasn't really performed to expectations since his monster 06 season and injuries have nagged him lately.  However, it's too much too ignore the development of a possible passing game in San Francisco along with what might develop into one of the best young lines in the NFL.  Behind that line, a healthy Frank Gore could reap the benefits of a boosted passing attack.
7. Rashard Mendenhall.  With Ben out the first 4 games at the very least, Mendenhall will figure to be a large part of the gameplan.  Likely that isn't to change much when Ben gets back.  Mendenhall's value comes in his soft hands out of the backfield for checkdown king Byron Leftwich and the fact that he will lose very few carries to his competitors on game day.
8. Shonne Greene.  I don't think that he will share many carries with LT, and barring injury, he will become a 1200 yard back with lots of short yardage TD's for the Jets this year as Sanchez struggles in the red-zone and in general.  The Jets will definitely look to rely on their running game and even if LT does manage to get a decent share of touches, the Jets should be running it enough times per game to get Shonne his valuable touches.
9. DeAngelo Williams.  DeAngelo Williams is an absolute monster in that he has a first round pick behind him and he still gets his fantasy points.  I've drafted him both of the last two years and I have never been disappointed.  I watch him play on a regular basis since I live in NC, and I always wish I had this guy on my team.  I would rank him higher but Stewart does get his share of carries.
10. Steven Jackson.  Another RB that would be listed higher if it wasn't for his situation.  He scrapes out 1500 yards a year on a team with no threat of any form coming from the air.  He will probably do it this year, but don't expect his TD total to increase too much from last season, as the Rams are still going to suck pretty badly.

Be Aware of These Fantasy RB Busts:

• Ryan Matthews.  Some draft pundits have this scrub going at the end of the first round in some drafts.  He is a rookie coming to a team that a future HOFer couldn't get good stats on.  LT said it himself -- SD isn't a running team anymore.  I have never even thought about taking a rookie in the first round of my fantasy draft, not because I don't think that rookies can't preform, but because I think the first and second rounds you need surefire producers.  Your first two rounds aren't there to win you games, they are there to make sure you don't lose games.  I have found that usually I win games because of a good waiver wire pickup as long as my stars match my opponents stars.  You can consistency, so you can know what to expect from your first/second round picks.  I'd never choose a Ryan Matthews just because you never know what might happen and it might be wasting a very very valuable early round pick.  Can anyone really justify taking a rook over a Peyton Manning or a Aaron Rodgers in the late first/early second?  Especially in deeper leagues, no.
  
• Jamaal Charles.  Jamaal did amazing in his last few games, all against terrible run defenses.  Jerome Harrison did the same thing but he's not being considered for the second round.  Jamaal Charles finished the season with four consecutive hundred yard games, against the likes of Buffalo, Cleveless, a Cincy that was backing into the playoffs and a Denver that was doing it's best to not get in.  For an example at how bad Cincy's run defense had become towards the end of the year, the 5 games before Charles pillaged them Cincy allowed an average of 147.8 yards/game.  If you think about it in those terms, Charles actually did below the average when he played against Cincy.   Jamaal Charles never got more than 6 touches in a game before week 9, against Oakland.  And from then until the end of the season, he only got 25 carries twice.  I don't have an immense amount of faith in Charles being the guy to step up in KC and I don't think the management does either.  Look at what they did, took what is pretty much a better Charles in the second round and signed TJ.  It doesn't seem like the KC management is sold on him being the premier back.  I don't think I'd take Charles in the second round, he's too slight to not get hurt.  And with Thomas around, he might not be getting enough carries to warrant a second round pick.  If he lasts until 3rd/4th+, I'd grab him and TJ as a late round handcuff.  This is not saying that he won't produce, as the AFC West is a rather weak conference, but I wouldn't draft this guy with intentions of him being an every week meat and potatoes starter that just doesn't move from the line up, as many are deeming him this season.
• Ronnie Brown.  Ricky Williams is back in the NFL with a vengeance after finishing in the top 10 in the NFL in rushing yards despite sharing carries with Brown.  What really brings Brown back to earth despite him being an amazing RB is his injury history.  He's been nagged by injuries lately, and if that continues this year with the apparent agelessness of Williams, he may not produce on the fantasy gridiron as well as most would expect him to.  In Ronnie Brown's entire career, he has only averaged 68 yards a game, but when he's in, he often scores TD's and plenty of them.  In 9 games last year he scored 8 touchdowns and had 4.4 yards/attempt.  To me, these numbers are good, but not good enough to be my number one back, aka one worth of going in the first two.  I'd grab Ronnie in a heartbeat past round two, and attempt to get Williams as the handcuff before too long.  It all depends on your league though.  In some drafts Ricky will go in the third or late second and Brown will be sitting there until the fifth.  In some, it might go the other way around.
  

The Changing Role of RB's in Fantasy Football

      When I started playing Fantasy FB, running backs were the shit.  You picked two of the best in the two first rounds usually and those are the cornerstones of your team.  You aimed for someone to consistently bring you 15-20 points a game, and the fact of the matter is that RBs are quickly falling to the more glam positions, like QB and WR.  Perosnally, if I was sitting in the bottom half of the first round, I'd rather tank a Peyton Manning than a Frank Gore.  QBs are starting to invade the first and second round, but RBs should not be underrated.  Good RB depth is slipping lower and lower in the draft, and you can pick up starters in the third and fourth rounds if runs on WR/QB go on.  In essence, you still want your RBs to be the bulk of your points, as they are usually more consistent than QB even and especially WR.  It's important to play your ranking sheets.  Take the BPA within reason.  Even if there is a run on WR, Miles Austin in the early second might not be the best pick for the value, if there is still a Steven Jackson or even a DeAngelo Williams left.

PS, I'm not telling you my sleepers so I can still get them undrafted or late late rounds.

I'm sure this opening paragraph will turn off many people that will click on this poast and attempt to read my ramblings, but I think it is a necessary evil to framing what I want to say to the people that are active in this community.  I am very much so a self-proclaimed troll who has been on the internet for far too long.  I started posting on a pokemon forum when I was about 12 (blush...), but my interest in the internet as spot for genuine community interaction was already zapped from me by the ripe old age of 14.  Simply put, I became disenfranchised with the whole process of join a forum, kiss ass carefully while putting in a few bits of input here and there, and hoping that older users will become inactive so you can step up and become a truly "accepted" user.  It's the same process of cliques all throughout highschool and college, and I was already tired of that scene, so seeing the parallels in online communities really didn't help.  After that, I became a troll and just used what I knew about internet communities to cause as much mayhem as I could.  I've been banned from a ridiculous amount of forums... as in nearly every one I've ever joined besides this one.  IRC channels, Vent/TeamSpeak servers... all kinds of stupid things.  I once had a site administrator call my ISP because of me in an attempt to get my internet shut off.  I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but usually within a day or two of joining a forum, I can get a firm grasp on the community and the moderating team and know how far I can push it without getting the ban hammer.  The things I'll be writing about in this topic are some of the things I've noticed about internet communities in general and the differences that make BTSC greater than the sum of its parts.

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They call baseball America's past time, but I beg to differ.  America's past time is past it's prime and people barely even tune in for the World Series anymore.  America's new past time has risen, from the time of leather helmets and 60 minute men to finely tuned athletes that can jump out of 3 feet of water and land on the pool deck, backwards.  Other sports are still popular, people tune in for the NBA playoffs and catch random baseball games, and never count out hockey.  Nonetheless, the NFL is one of the only sports that manages to keep their fans (or addicts, for a more appropriate term) sucked in and glued to the tube during the entire offseason.  There are no games being played now, haven't been played in months, and won't be played in months, yet this blog is as active as ever and there is just as much NFL news on ESPN.

Warning, this is your chance to stop reading this nonsense, to continue along with your lives, because this might run a little long, and odds are it will not be worth reading (I mean... I probably won't read it.)  So I'm going to add a jump, for those of you who want to ditch and need a stopping place, and for our resident pretty boy, Johnny_S and his droid.  The more droid gets, the more droid does, but long paragraphs can stop it in its tracks.

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Recently, in some random ass topic that I can't remember exactly due to completely legal reasons, Johnny Statistics asked me why I haven't been posting much as of late.  I'm usually not a man of deep and reflective thought, but something in the air that fine day had me thinking about it.  Why don't I comment more frequently?  During the season I commented at a feverish pace, game threads, weekly drivebys, weekly stat threads, I was on it all.  Actually posting about real footbally stuffs, imagine that!  I was drinking the daily six pack with glee and enjoying every last beer induced burp.  Getting to know the people and personalities on this forum really kept me here after our disappointing 9-7 campaign.

But, after some thought and a few hand rolled cigarettes, I thought about Johnny's response.  He asked me if the offseason was bogging me down.  And then I realized that it was.  More than I knew consciously.  But it wasn't just the lack of football that was driving me crazy and causing me to comment less.  It was talking about the same 5 players in the draft and the spending so many comments on players that will, if I had to bet serious money, will have no consequence in the NFL.  It was seeing the same people, say the same things, over and over, in the same exact threads, about the same players.  Did I say over and over?  It's rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat.  I feel like I've been watching a shampoo commercial for the last 3 months.

 Upon realizing that, I began to think, does such a thing say something about my NFL fandom, or even my Steeler fandom?  Does the fact that I do not want to read this absolute garbage thats been sent through a blender twenty times and I don't want to agonize over exactly how little of an impact Myron Rolle is going to have in the NFL make me less of a Steeler fan?  During the season I can't get enough of this shit.  Injury reports checked daily, highlights watched and rewatched and players studied.  But when the pads are off and players are running around some empty stadium... I find myself absolutely disenfranchized.  There is not enough "medicine" in the world to make it entertaining, and I've sat there and watched a TV turned off and thought it was amazing before.

Does my disinterest in the regurgitating of the draft make me less of a fan than big jay or any other fervent mock drafter?  My conclusion in this scenario is no.  I'm still just as much of a fan as any of these guys, and I don't think there is any shame in myself feeling mocked by these mock drafts.  I am a fan of football, not the double talk and other horse shit that goes on inbetween seasons.

For this reason, I am going to be putting whatever the hell I want in the rest of this piece written by me.  It can serve as the resident "off topic" thread, a place for switz vs swiss vs hi5 vs hi5's girlfriend (?), and a safe haven for those of us who aren't the big jay's of the world and really don't want to spend our time thinking about Wilson vs Thomas or Mcclain vs Williams.  We just want to wait for the answers from the FO.  As always, feel free to threadjack, berate, talk, donate organs, etc, etc, etc.

• Am I the only one that's realized the double standard for disasters?  Haiti was hit by an earthquake that was summed up by experts to have essentially "cleaned up the garbage that was already in place, and probably helped more than it hurt" in terms of infrastructure and government.  It was a tragedy that people were left homeless and people died, but to this day I still hear about donating money to Haiti but I haven't heard a peep about Chile, who had one of the worst earthquakes in recent history, it registered a 8.8 on the Richter scale.  What's the deal?  Were the American people too tired of giving a shit about Haiti to give any money to Chile, or, a reason more likely to be sponsored by Steelchamps!!, did the government push the Haiti campaign because we have a vested interest in the government there?  Either way, it's bullshit, and when people's lives are at stake, politics and petty things like that really shouldn't come into play.
•  I don't know how many of you out there are interested, but this year is going to be great in Hip Hop.  Detox, Relapse 2, the Adventures of Bobby Ray, a new Game album, and others are slated to come out.  On top of that, LIl Wayne is in jail!  For any of you interested in Detox (I know there are some old heads out there that probably listened to the Chronic), check out this link: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/04/rumors-confirmed-jay-z-will-appear-on-first-single.html
• The first time I posted a fanpost on this website, it was after we lost to Oakland and we had people flooding in here posting about the sky falling.  I don't know how many of you remember it, but it was about how this forum draws people because it mixes thoughtful discussion with great personalities and witty banter.  Ironically enough, I'm posting again in what I feel is a similar situation.  There are a few chicken littles running around, spewing BS about Ben, 'Tone, and anyone else who wants to have a good time.  That's calmed down now a little, just in time for some version of Godzilla vs King Kong vs Duck-man to start rampaging every topic on this forum.  I am a hugely tolerant guy, or so I like to think, but even I am getting tired of hi5 and other newcomers turning every thread into a battlefield.  I've always been the type to hate cliques on internet forums, and I don't necessarily feel as if I belong to any on this website, so you can trust me as a complete non-partisan member of this internet society when I say: I'm getting tired of your bullshit hombre(s).

Thats enough rambling for now.

Short, succinct, and to the point, like Arn's love life.

• Since Anquan Boldin has entered the league in 2003, the Seahawks have fielded a defense ranked better than 15th only twice, and worse than 20th three times.  The Rams have fielded a defense that has never been better than 17th, and has had four seasons ranked at 31.  In that timespan, the 49ers have had a top ten defense once, and have finished worse than 20th overall the remaining seasons, as well as 2 seasons ranked 32nd (they were the reason the Rams couldn't finish 32nd in some of their seasons).
• Anquan Boldin has only completed a full 16 game season twice, his rookie year in 2003 and in 2006.  He has missed half of his playoff games.
• Anquan Boldin has 27 career 100 yard receiving games, 14 of which came against one of the worst defensive divisions in football, the NFC west.
• He has a whopping total of 1 post season TD.

I may break down the numbers even more if I get bored later.

A while back, whomever was doing the series on "songs that get you pumped" a person or two insinuated that rap or hip hop was below other genre's when it came to music as an artform.  I don't even remember who said this, so I won't call names out even if I was interested in that, but it did rub me the wrong way.  I consider myself an avid hip hop enthusiast and the goal of this post is to show you that if you dig above the surface of cookie cutter radio garbage, you can find a great many talented artists that chose to make this genre the home of their creativity and wordplay.  Even if you aren't a fan of hip hop, I recommend listening to my selections as I think you will be quite surprised.

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I've decided that since it's the offseason, and not much else is going on at the moment, I can afford to post a discussion piece with a touch of statistical analysis.  Threadjack, comment, bicker, love, hate, do whatever, but just make sure you drink and be merry or you're not allowed in my topic :)

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via i49.tinypic.com

For those of you who are huge Seinfeld fans, you'll most likely recognize the quote and picture.  They are both from a scene where Jerry is buying a Cadillac from Jack Klompus, the guy pictured and the inspiration for my handle.  Klompus is driving it before giving it to Jerry and runs it into a swamp.  He calls Jerry and all he has to say is "I had a little mishap with the car."  A great understatement.

I imagine this is very similar to what Tomlin could be saying to the Rooneys.   

via thebrandbuilder.files.wordpress.com

"I had a little mishap with the car.  It's called 2009."

 Now for more of what I consider "mishaps with the car," a phrase I'll be using to describe something I see as having gone wrong or simply something that is wrong.

 - The MVP award doesn't actually go to the Most Valuable Player.  Sure, the argument that the player with the best stats or the most wins is going to be most valuable to their team is fair enough, but I don't think its deniable that Troy is one of the most valuable players in the league to his respective team.  When he plays all 4 quarters we're undefeated and our D shoots up to levels parallel to last year.  When he only plays part of a game or none at all we're towards the bottom of the league and give up around 12 points a game more on average (if I remember the stats right, correct me if I'm wrong.)  Now I know it's stupid to give the award to a player whos only played for 3 full games this season, but I'm just sayin'.

- Roger Goodell was given the car by Paul, and well, frankly I think hes well on his way to a full blown mishap!  First of all, he tries excessively hard to make sure players know they're accountable, usually via harsh punishments.  Beyond that, he is letting his greed show by shipping games over borders and across seas (Ontario and London) and suggesting that preseason games be cut in favor of two more regular season games.  Does he want this to become the NBA and MLB with 304932049 games a season?  I think the worst of all is his seemingly inability to do anything concrete about the concussion problem.  TMQ writes nearly every week that a double sided mouthguard can reduce concussions considerably and would only cost a small amount per player.  This should definitely be mandated in my opinion.  All he's done (to my knowledge) thus far is require that players pass tests from team doctors.  And mandate a one day rest period.  To put it nicely, he's pussyfooting around the entire issue.  I don't advocate the extreme and say mandate concussion resistant helmets because not all players find them comfortable and it's their head, and thus their choice, but more should be done to make players feel like they aren't being pressured to the field.  I was a fan for most of Paul's reign and I must say compared to him Roger feels like a fool.  My prediction is when he retires his legacy is of greed, inaction, and stupidity.

- Whoever gave Who-Dey a computer with an internet connection definitely had a mishap with the car.  I imagine a bear that was formerly drawing penises on cave walls with berries stumbled upon a laptop with internet in the woods left behind by some careless camper and quickly commenced slamming on the keyboard.  

This really was not intended as an informational piece as many posts on this website seem to be, but more of a discussional, fun piece.  These are my opinions, feel free to disagree, and if you do, I encourage you to post about it.  Nothing I enjoy more than a little friendly debate or discussion.  I'm still fairly new around here, so if you feel like this is out of place, irrelevant, stupid, etc etc etc, just yell at me enough and I'll stop posting :)

As an addition, I'm going to attempt what I believe to be the first official vote on BTSC blog member awards!?

I will write out the awards that I think should be voted on, you simply copy and paste the last section of this post into your comment and fill in the blanks with who you think is most deserving.  I'll attempt to tally them, using my discretion to weed out troll ballots and the like.  If you want yours to be private, you can always email yours to me at weidnerae@appstate.edu and I'll count it just the same.  If you have suggestions for more awards, please do suggest either here or via email and I'll edit this post asap.  Without further nonsense:

Favorite Overall User:

Most Sarcastic:

Wittiest:

Best WAVER:

Best Moderator:

Best Commenter:

Best Poster:

Most Improved Member:

Wish you were here:

Most Active Member:

Best New Member:

I'll start it out small since it's my first attempt at this.  

I should probably preface this by saying that I have only registered recently (I think maybe the day of the Oakland Raiders game...?) but have been reading this blog and following the rec'd fanposts and main entries since before the season started.  And no, I didn't join to vent frustration or anything of the type.  This isn't exactly 100% football related, so delete it if it's too offtopic.  Instead, I am writing this fan post about my opinion of the blog and it's community, opinion wanted or not!

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