Rooting for Injuries, Fantasy...other stuff

Random thoughts, now that I�ve come down from the bridge�

Cedric Wilson is worth his $$ already, not necessarily for his pass-catching ability, but for his (quite accidentally) putting Rodney Harrison out for the season.� Hasn�t gone over well with some on this board, but I�ve always rooted for injuries�most often for a competitive advantage, sometimes �cause I simply hate the player (i.e. Joe Nedney, after his fake-job in the �02 playoff).� C�mon, it�s not like these guys are our cousins or next-door neighbors.

My second year of not doing Fantasy Football�and I don�t miss it!!� Don�t get me wrong, I still miss draft night, but I don�t miss how Fantasy warps the way I watch football. So often, I�d be oblivious to the great game in front of me, just concentrating on whether Fred Taylor would score.� Speaking of�.the other trap of Fantasy is it keeps you way too invested in awful games.� For example, it�s the Sunday night before Christmas in �98 or �99�I stay up until midnight with Jax kicking Minnesota�s ass, about 41-10, just to see if� Taylor would score against me.� I go way back with fantasy�.to the �82 season, back in the day when there were no fantasy magazines, just the stats from Street & Smiths.� I always had the worst luck.� Needed one TD from Fragile Tony Eason on a Monday night to win my game.� The broadcast begins�the camera pans to Teacup Tony, who was not listed on the injury report, standing on the sideline in street clothes!!!� Another time, I needed a TD from Freeman McNeil�.Back to New York for a highlight.� Here�s the Jets on the 1�..here�s the pitch to McNeil�here�s McNeil decked with a season-ending injury.� Worst ever�.the one year I make the playoffs, �98, I�m loaded at RB�..Terrel Davis, Marshall Faulk, Ricky Watters.� I play Davis & Faulk.� Turns out at 4:00� Sunday, I need one TD combined from my RB tandem to win and advance to the championship game.� I�m watching Indy (Faulk was still there) at Seattle with no sound.� Watters scores, but I hadn�t played him.� Indy marches down the field�.handoff from the 3�TD!!! I win!!� Wait a minute�..it wasn�t Faulk!!� Faulk�had been late to a team meeting the day before, and Mora benches him for the 1^st quarter.� He doesn�t score, Davis is bottled up by Miami on Monday night�I lose.� I write Faulk a nasty letter�.he doesn�t reply!!�� Anyway�enjoying football season plenty with no fantasy.

Got my son�s school picture back�looked great in his B&G #7 jersey.� His mom was out of town on picture day�..oh well, mom, shoulda been there.

Love watching the Jets �cause Herm Edwards consistently makes Cowher look smart.� Some of you may have seen this.� Jets, down 6-0, early 3Q, pick up a fumble & return it to the 1.� They have 37 yards total offense at this point.� They hand it to Curtis Martin�no gain�.then they roll out Bollinger, who runs for the EZ, and loses 2 yards.� On 3^rd & goal from the 3, they run Martin up the middle again�stuffed�.FG

Loved watching the Pats get beat by San Diego on Sunday.� Friends of ours, Pats, fans, never been to a Pat game, �lucked� their way into tickets for this one.� HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

SD has me scared, but I really think we can both shut down their run, and run better against them than the Pats did.� Looks like our biggest offseason loss was Vincent.� Hey�I wonder why Vincent�s Pizza didn�t do a commercial with Keydrick Vincent swallowing a Vinnie�s Pie whole.� No lie�.a friend of mine (�and those of you who know Vinnie�s will appreciate this) made a practice of ordering a pair of Vinnie�s pies, stacking them on top of each other, then eating.� That�s a lot to get a mouth around!!

Postscript to last week:� My Pats Fan sister-in-law confesses that she was actually rooting for the Steelers at the end of last week�s Pats game.� Why????� �Cause I was so upset�.and she could never care about anything as much as I obviously cared about the Steelers winning!!� Therein, my friends, lies the difference between us & them.