Fantasy Mashup

Prophetic?!

So, as part of the Fantasy Mashup loving family, we decided to offer fantasy football gear at Cafepress.com. I already have a fairly successful shop there, Guerrilla Muse, so it only seemed logical. One of the designs I came up with was one called Murphy's Laws of Fantasy Football. (Click the image to read them.)

Unfortunately for me, TWO of the laws have already COME TRUE (more or less.) Although the team owner who snaked Reggie Wayne from me is hardly clueless, it was right before my pick and the rat bastard scored 16 points on me this week already.

And now, my family has scheduled a birthday celebration for my mother at 5p.m. Today. That's right. During the Chicago/Chargers game in which I have the SD Defense and my opponent is playing Nate Kaeding. Yes, thanks to my FFB-playing brother-in-law, there will be football on but only the network game, Whatever that is. Dan and I have DirectTV Sunday Ticket on two TVs (don't be jealous) but it won't matter. I'll miss the last quarter of all but one of the afternoon games.

There's no way to weasel out of a birthday celebration for your mother. The karmic repercussions would be epic. I'm starting to smell sulphur just for THINKING about weaseling out.

I don't think I'll be adding to the Murphy's Laws anytime soon.

SM roster move: (Does it stand for Sunday Morning or sado/masochistic?!!!) I either brilliantly or stupidly changed my lineup this morning to sit Roy Williams (WR/Det) because of Oakland's 2 cornerbacks and put in Lamont Jordan because of Detroit's front line. I will be burning incense and leaving tortilla chips at the shrine of the football gods ...

Steve Smith is dead to me

Actually, I'm just kidding in that headline: Steve Smith is a great player, but I just traded him away in The Manly Football League (a 16-year-old, no-yardage, basic-scoring league) for Javon Walker, Rex Grossman and a 3rd round pick. Everybody says I'm a retard.

But am I?

In the first place, it's all about the wide receivers, and I'm gambling that the difference between Walker's value and production and Smith's will be less than the value of a 3rd round draft choice. Right now, Smith is back strong and looking like the best wideout in the NFL. In two games since returning from his second hamstring injury of the off-season, Smith has produced 17 catches for 199 yards and touchdown. That's great.

Walker, on the other hand, has produced just 11 catches and two scores over three games -- but he's averaging 22.7 yards per reception. Beyond that, one of those games came against an excellent pass defending team (Kansas City) and he's only beginning to get into a rhythm with QB Jake Plummer. He's down on most boards because he lost a year to an ACL, but I suspect he'll put up respectable numbers and finish among the Top 10 in receiving touchdowns. Even if Smith matches his 2005 output (12 TDs), will it be that much more than Walker? Remember, Javon scored 12 times in 2004.

And then there's Grossman. Nobody trusts that a Bears QB can be a fantasy threat, but I remember the last time OC Ron Turner was on the staff in Chi-town: 1995, when Erik Kramer threw for 29 touchdowns and had two 1,000-yard receivers. Grossman has better tools, a better supporting cast and the easiest schedule on the planet. On Aug. 1 I predicted he would throw 20 touchdowns this season, but it may be time for me to upgrade that prediction a bit. Grossman has more touchdown passes this season than Peyton Manning, and while I don't expect that to hold, in this Turner offense he's entirely capable of tallying more than 25 scores.

So, was I smart, or was I stuped?