HopGood
Lucky for him, his name suits him.
Awe Crush – Football Edition
People may consider an awe crush a man-crush, however, I do believe they are a bit different. When people use the term “man-crush”, I get the feeling people are crazy enough to be a servant to a celebrity and do absolutely anything they ask. Anything. An awe crush has more to do with respect. I respect these athletes because they are the best at what they do. If you don’t respect the absolute best then your value system may be a little skewed and that’s perfectly acceptable. Everyone has different perceptions of what the best is or what they like, but liking mediocrity says something about yourself. However, liking a guy like Reggie Evans or Rasheed Wallace just shows how closely you follow your sport and your idea of awesomeness, which is almost better than liking the best. Back to the point, the following list are not men that I actually have a crush on but who I admire because their ability is a level above everyone else. I may actually use this idea for another post but for now we’ll stick to football.
Tom Brady
His personal life has nothing to do with why I like him although it is still interesting enough to put him over the top. He ended a relationship with Bridget Moynahann shortly after he found out she was having his baby and then started dating Gisele Bundchen while Moynahan was pregnant. That is such a bizarre move to find out you impregnated a hot chick and then leave her for another supermodel during the process. That aside, I salute Tom Brady for what he does on the football field. His passes are accurate and sharp and he rarely throws interceptions. He brings an aura of confidence that is hardly found in any QB aside from maybe Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning. My feeling is that he’s the smartest player on the football field at all times. In 10 seasons he’s been to the Superbowl 5 times, won 3 times and probably should have won the other two. He went from an approx 2:1 TD to INT ratio for the first 6 seasons of his career to a few staggering totals in recent years:
2007: 50-8
2009: 28-13
2010: 36-4
2011: 39-12
2012: 30-6
Tom Brady just owns life.
Cam Newton
I like Cam strictly for Fantasy value. I tout Cam as the best fantasy QB and I was glad to see him finally live up to expectations at the end of the year. Cam’s ceiling is higher for fantasy points than practically any other QB. Sure the Panthers suck and he has a major attitude problem but one thing is for certain, this guy wants to win. I think it’s great that he cops a major attitude when he loses games. Somebody who doesn’t give a shit that they are always losing isn’t the guy you are looking for to run a team. I’m not arguing that Cam is that guy because he showed how inconsistent he can be early in the season. I just think this guy has the ability to be around for a long time and will put up numbers that will break NFL records. He’s young and will continue to dominate.
Adrian Peterson
A-Pete is the best running back in the league, period. I heard that on third and fourth and 1, when the other team knows he is getting the ball, he was averaging about 8 yards a carry. The guy is unstoppable. He has a speed unlike other backs in the league. Once he gets in the open field he is gone. He’s also amazing at making something happen on plays that look like they should have ended. The fact that he was trying to chase down the single season rushing record is amazing after, hold on, he recovered from a torn ACL/MCL at the END OF THE LAST SEASON. He is unquestionably the best back currently and potentially of all time if he keeps it up.
Other guys who are shooting up my list and a few who have fallen off:
Rising Stars:
Dez Bryant
Michael Crabtree
Russell Wilson
Colin Kapernick
Percy Harvin
Fallen Off:
Jamaal Charles – He’s still great but he’s too hit or miss. Get him on a better team and he’ll prevail.
Darren McFadden – The injuries just prevent me from liking him too much.
Antonio Brown – I still expect big things out of Antonio but an injury plagued season never helps.
Fantasy Football Recap 12′
I like fantasy football because it’s more than just luck. People love to complain how their opposition is putting up huge points or how their players are injured, but true fantasy owners know its bigger than that. Fantasy Football takes dedication for 4 straight months. Every week is important because it usually gets that close at the end. I’m sure people who know me will read this and say that I’ve just had a good run in recent years but that doesn’t stop me from making a post and breaking down my thoughts on another year of fantasy.
This year I did something I’ve never done before and purchased Rotoworlds Season Pass for 40 dollars at the beginning of the year. The best part of the Season Pass was the draft guide. As I was drafting I wasn’t just picking positions, I was picking the best available player regardless of position. I thought it helped tremendously and we’ll look at how it fared in all 4 leagues I played in. Aside from Rotoworld, I’ll occasionally read ESPN or CBSsportline, or maybe watch some of their suggestions on TV, but primarily Rotoworld. I also have to write one thing that I know not every owner does but should, go to the week # and filter it by projected points for every position. Simple step but often overlooked and is useful for the waiver wire. I also rarely will choose a defense early as I look for matchups. This year the Bears, Broncos, Seahawks, Texans, and maybe the 49ers would have been all season holds but I haven’t found owning a defense an entire year to make that much of a difference. I think a kicker is important too for what that’s worth.
League 1 was Bakers for 20 dollars. My draft projection had me listed as #1 (unfortunately) after the draft. I had McCoy, J Jones, Steven Jackson, Steve Smith, Gates, Manning, Garcon, and Andrew Luck, everyone else was poop. This team didn’t make the playoffs and was my worst team. I basically had no good pick ups or trades. McCoy, Jones, Steven Jackson and Gates all underachieved and I had no sleepers. I will never draft Steven Jackson again. Oddly enough, with the low buy in, this league hawks out the waiver wire.
Leage 2 was my Yahoo Pro league that cost 100 bucks and I drafted against 9 random people. How I couldn’t make the playoffs in this league was absurd as my draft once again had me at #1 (unfortunately). I drafted McFadden, Murray, Vick, Harvin, Dez Bryant, D Thomas, CJ Spiller, and Andrew Luck. Injuries plagued this team and I lead the league in points against. I still had a shot going into the final week but couldn’t pull it out and missed the playoffs by a game. There was hardly any presence on the waiver wire and I found myself not picking up guys because I thought my team was better than that.
League 3 is Steve’s and is an 100 dollar entry. This team benefited from the draft guide and one error by me that worked out perfectly. I drafted CJ2k, Cam, Jamaal, AJ in the 4th! (I didn’t draft Julio), B. Lloyd, Hernandez, Decker, and Andrew Luck. A big pick up of Randal Cobb in a middling week also benefited this team huge. Cam coming on at the end didn’t hurt. I am currently in the championship as a 17 projected point favorite. ESPN projections are a joke.
The 4th league is my favorite, Evan’s. At a 50 dollar buy in, it’s more than just the money. I’ve managed to win the league 2 years in a row and will now go for the improbable 3pete. Competition in this league is decent with 5 guys who pay close attention (the others probably not so much) to the waiver wire. I started off 1-4 this year and had a strong run towards the end when I traded Andrew Luck for Cam. I had no TE and Evan dropped the 2nd highest scoring TE this season which was a huge boost. This team started off slow but everyone just started coming on at the end of the season. I didn’t even get LeSean for the last few weeks. A Pete, Dez, Steve Smith, and Cecil Shorts just got it done in the playoffs. Having your players play good at the end of the season is probably the best thing that can happen to you. Rock will be my opponent in the championship who I believe has proven himself as one of the better managers in the league. A continuous bottom churn makes this league interesting.
Just a few parting words. I said it last year and I’ll say it again this year, Cam is 1st round material next year. Same with RG3. Teams get built around QB’s. Not surprising the two teams that I have in the championship have Cam as the Q. A Pete is the #1 pick next year, hands down. Shady will slip as he should. Ray Rice just sort of lingers as a top back and has been surpassed by Doug Martin. Foster should be 2. I can’t back CJ2k and Jamaal as their inconsistencies cause losses. AJ Green really cooled off towards the end and Calvin is undoubtedly #1 WR but I wouldn’t spend my first pick on him. B. Marshall & Dez are legit as Dez goes way later than he should. I see bigger things for Michael Crabtree too with Kapernick at the helm. I also believe it’s important to get a stud TE like Gronk, Hernandez, Graham, or Heath Miller. Another thing I see a lot is lack of moves. If there is no cap on the moves, get rid of the garbage and take some flyers.
Intramural Championship
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Carlos Ruiz Juicing
I know this topic gets old but at least appreciate my Carlos Ruiz juice box in paint. Just to continue this though let’s look at numbers because they don’t lie. Ruiz came to Philly at the age of 27 but lets see how his avg fared in the minors from the beginning.
Age Avg Lev
21 .277 Rk
22 .261 A
23 .213 A+
24 .278 AA
25 .284 AA
26 .300 AAA
27 .307 AAA
Chooch steadily improved throughout the minors. At 28, rookie year with the Phillies in 2007, he batted .259 in 429 plate appearances and .219 the year after in 373 PA. At 30, he put up a .255 avg with 379 PA. Now the fun begins in 2010. At the mature age of 31, Chooch shot up to a .302 AVG in 433 PA and a still nice .283 the following year. Then an unbelievable .325 last year with still a pretty high sample of plate appearances (421). Where did these numbers come from? A guy who was painstakingly working his way through the minors in his 20’s, magically started improving in his 30’s. Not just improving but being one of the best hitters in the league. This doesn’t happen naturally! Could you argue that he is working harder now than he did in his 20’s? I just don’t buy it because I bet he worked his ass off to even get to the majors. Then he just starts improving and now he’s tested positive for some type of drug TWICE! Adderall isn’t the answer for why he has improved. There is some underlying enhancement that is being covered up. Most people don’t just excel when they hit their 30’s, it’s usually the other way around with a decline. Baseball is different than basketball and football in terms of the stress on the body, I’d agree, but I don’t agree that years of being a <.260 hitters all of a sudden becomes .325 hitter. Keep sipping that juice box Chooch. It's not longer Juicin, It' Choochin.
Chooch is Bogus
On June 6th, 2012 I wrote this in this juicing post, “What’s up with Chooch’s 2012?” Now it comes out that he has been suspended 25 games for failing a drug test for something pretty ridiculous, Adderall. I’ve taken Adderall twice in my entire life and it seemed to make me able to drink an amazing amount of alcohol, allow me to stay up for 24 hours, and not remember anything that happened while I took it. From what I understand, it helps you concentrate and makes your penis very small. So to hear that Chooch got busted for this and will serve a 25 game suspension has me scratching my head. Why? I just don’t believe it. It seems like a cover up.
Normal trend happened for Chooch last year. They start off great and get hurt, CK4 knows that this is what happens when people juice. “Ruiz, 33, broke out for the Phillies last season batting .350 with a .412 on-base percentage and .584 slugging percentage with 13 homers and 46 RBIs at the All-Star Break. He was slowed by a foot injury in the second half but still finished the season with career highs in average (.325), slugging (.540), hits (121), doubles (32), homers (16), RBIs (68) and runs (56).” He had the 5th highest batting average in the NL (min 400 pa) and the guy in 1st also tested positive for performance enhancing drugs (Melky Cabrera). Let’s not forget that this is at least THE 2ND TIME Ruiz has gotten caught. They give a warning the first time. How stupid do you have to be.
It’s just a cover up for performance enhancing drugs. Test positive for Adderall and no one will question when you were taking the juice. You got caught, you served 25 games, people forget about your past and just concentrate on your numbers last year. Who wants to bet me that Chooch doesn’t have as good as as a season next year? There isn’t a doubt in my mind that this guy is guilty of something more than Adderall.
Working for the Weekend
Not really but I am at work typing this post up. Yesterday was a relatively reserved day and I didn’t really mind it at all. I was out til 1am on Wednesday night, although completely sober, and woke up at 6:45 yesterday morning for the Gobble Wobble. I ate 2 pancakes, took a nice morning dump, and felt pretty good for the race. I met up with CK4 and Nikkii and did some marginal warming up for the race. We bumped into the eventual race winner pre-race, Mike Paul, and got to hear how a person talks before a race he’s going to win. It was the first time I’ve run the course and it had some identity to it. I crossed the first mile in 5:15 which I knew was fast but wasn’t sure what to expect. The 2nd mile was mainly uphill and my two mile mark was 11:30. I felt fine but haven’t really been training any hills (mostly just on a treadmill) and my legs sort of felt like Jello. The hills just took any type of speed out of my legs and I finished the race in just under 18 minutes. Obviously I had higher expectations but I can’t change what happened. Ck4 finished in under 28 which I thought was a nice improvement over previous races but proved to be a minute slower than his Phil’s race. I believe the course is the main reason for this.
After that we did some typical thanksgiving things that you can read about in Sam’s blog if you want to know. I had some action on the Lions straight up which proved close but wrong. I also lost on the Cowboys vs the Redskins. That had me down 125 going into the night game and I just decided to bet 150 on the Patriots over which fortunately covered. I’m up +158 for the entire season starting week 1. Considering I make bets on college bball, fball, NBA, and anything else that strikes me I think that it’s quite remarkable to be up after 3 months of action. I went home last night and got a good nights rest which leaves me in pretty good shape for the real weekend. Addasheee hit a 3 team parlay which I’m sure he’s sitting at work now not working thinking what he’s going to be on next.
Gobble Wobble 5k
So I spent last night sober and still went to the bar which was a complete 180 from my usual routine. Reason being that I’m running the Gobble Wobble 5k today and the race is drawing something in the neighborhood of 2,500 people. I signed up with the intention of doing it and I don’t usually back out of 5k’s. Being at the bar sober really wasn’t too bad. I had normal conversations with most people and didn’t really feel out of place at any moment. I did get back at 1am which was a little bit later than I’d probably like but I don’t expect that to have an effect on my performance. My first goal today is under 17:30 and then obviously anything under 17 minutes. I’ll have a recap after the race.
Football Recap
On Saturday, Primetime played Show Us Your TD’s in the Semi-Final of the playoffs. On the 3rd play of the game they threw a deep pass for a TD. We subsequently turned the ball over when a Bake pass popped off of one of our players and they came down the field and scored again. Bake organized a scoring drive that ended with a TD to Jess Baker but that was matched by another long play to their wide out. At a crucial part of the game it was 4th down and we were down 21-7. Bake decided to go for it and through an OK pass to Allen who went up and got the ball to keep the drive alive. A TD thereafter made the game 21-14 going into halftime. One of our players, Derek, showed up which allowed Bake to sit on defense. This happened to be a game changer as they other team didn’t score another point. We opened the second half with 3 touchdowns and that was all she wrote. A late score finalized the game at 42-21. We play two Saturdays from now for the Championship against the Post Office.
My fantasy leagues are coming down to the wire. In my 4 leagues I’ve been eliminated from contention in 2. The Turkeys will not 3-peat. I still have a glimmer of hope in my Yahoo Pro league and will be in the playoffs in Steve’s league. My Fanduel days are finished as well. I also made a total of 4 dollars betting on games this weekend. Not my finest football week.
Kwame Time
Interesting night tonight. Jeff and I went to the Sixers game because we bought a 10 game plan through work and tonight was the first game. The seats are lower level in row 10 or so and were pretty good. I just want to explain the fascination with Kwame Brown so people understand. He’s bad. He’s actually terribly bad. He’s so bad I like him. I actually didn’t even realize how bad he was until I saw him tonight in person. He started the game *gasp* for some unknown reason and I can’t even give him the benefit of the doubt. He has block hands, he’s slow, he doesn’t hustle, he doesn’t play defense, and his foul shooting is atrocious. He’s so interesting that it’s hard to define how he is on an NBA roster, let alone starts. He is the most amazing NBA player I’ve seen.
There was a little kid behind us and when the Pistons show a foul shot he’d scream “miss the first one.” Neither Jeff or I could put a finger on why this was so funny but I think it was a complete mind fuck. Why would anyone scream miss the first one? At halftime we walked around a bit and found the 2nd floor escalator. After wandering a bit and on our way down, a gentleman handed us 2 courtside tickets, CHA-CHING! Retail was 225 and we watched the entire second half from the second row. Unfortunately the game was a blow out but what are you going to do. We even saw Kyle Singler fly into us literally 2 seat away. It was pretty neat. So for a Wednesday night it was pretty entertaining.
I also have two random call outs to people who read this blog. Jordan Cohen messaged me on Facebook and exclaimed his approval of the video blogs so I’ll try to keep them coming. Gourlay also makes sure to put me in my place when I take pictures of the Sixers game and post them online. Both parties deserve blog mentions.