2009 Quarterbacks FFB Style

Fantasy football season is right around the corner, so it's time to start breaking down each position. Quarterback is a somewhat elite position this year with only about 7 or 8 guys that you actually want leading your team. After that, it is a total crapshoot of young player, old players, and guys on bad teams.

The first tier of QB (aka your first/second rounders) are Brees, Brady, and Manning. Brees appears highly likely to remain the top scorer as long as his weapons can get healthy. He set the world on fire last year with guys like Lance Moore catching balls. Brady should return to glory, but they'll likely mix a bit more run into the gameplan to keep him healthy. Galloway and Moss on the outside and Welker in the slot should give him all the weapons he needs. Manning will be down one target, but they'll find a slot man and use Clark that way also. He's steady eddie.

The second tier of QB is a bit more of personal preference. I am an Aaron Rodgers guy. Nobody has the weapons he does with Jennings, Driver, Jones, Nelson, and Finley out wide and inside. The running game forces him to put the ball in the air often. Philip Rivers proved to me that he can be a force with an improving receiving corps and good use of his running backs. McNabb, Romo, and Warner fit into this grouping as well. They are slightly lower due to the injury risks. If you think Warner can finish another full season be my guest.

A couple of Matts are next on my list. Matt Ryan should be solid in his second year as they try to throw more to ease the burden on Turner. Matt Schaub is my sleeper special. He's looking to finally stay healthy this year and he has a bright young corps headed by Andre 3000. Slaton helps the receiving game as well.

The ailing QBs fall in line next with Big Ben having a rough offseason, Carson Palmer returning to the black hole that is Cincinnati, and Matt Hasselbeck getting older out west. Jay Cutler fits in with these guys. He just doesn't have the weapons to be any more than a fringe starter this season. I won't be taking on the risk/reward of a Palmer or Hasselbeck unless they become a high ceiling value later in the draft.

Cassel, Eli, and Garrard appear to be the high end of the backup QB jet set. Cassel appears to be a one year wonder while he struggles to grasp the offense in KC. Eli has been a fantasy joke his entire career. Garrard could be primed for a big rebound since he was missing more than half his offensive line last year. Torry Holt could help steady that offense.

The high risk guys are Edwards, Orton, and Flacco. These younger guys have weapons around them and strong arms. I have no idea how that will translate to fantasy football. Too risky for my taste.

The next tier is old, bad, and quite possibly gay. Kerry Collins, Delhomme, Bulger, and Campbell are not guys I want on any of my teams. Enough said.

Quinn, Stafford, Russell, and Sanchez are the keeper league only guys. If you're drafting any of these four in a league that doesn't allow for late round keepers, you're wasting picks. They won't ever be a good play for a winning team. If you start Stafford this year as a bye week filler and get 20 points and your team finishes 3-10, I don't want to hear about it. You still suck.

That's the official word on quarterbacks this season (subject to change from injury or preseason results). Now it's your job to follow the preseason and slot these guys for your drafts.

Sports Spin Around the City

Lots of topics to touch on from an interesting weekend in the world of sports. First off, I'm declaring this a BoSox/Yankee free zone. If ESPN covered the rest of the sports landscape like they cover that series, there would be no need for other forms of entertainment. Guess what sports fans, Tiger Woods won another random tournament. I'm sorry, but in my world that is about as newsworthy as Mischa Barton looking frail or Amy Winehouse buying an 8 ball. Congrats to the guy, he's great, but I don't need a 5 minute expose on it. So for me it is on to topics meaningful to my Midwestern readers.

Patrick Kane is apparently a dumbass. But Pete he's just a kid and he made a bad decision. Screw that. I was 20 at one point too and guess what...I never punched a cabbie and took his money. Hopefully he gets his act in gear and does whatever Buffalo says is necessary to make up for being an idiot. Then when he gets back to town, Duncan Keith and Big Buff can put him in a headlock until he learns his lesson.

College football practice has officially begun and for the next three days young fast guys will look great in helmets, shirts, and shorts. Unfortunately for these freshmen, by the middle of the week they'll have to suit up in full pads and likely get trampled into a redshirt. I wish I could dispute this but the Big Ten is being properly rated. We just lack talent in football at this point. Michigan being down hurts the whole league, and Wisconsin and Purdue are two teams that are still on the downswing. Many teams have opportunities to change the perception with OSU hosting USC, Purdue going to Oregon, and Penn State facing the weakest non-conference schedule in the modern era. Many of these schools will face an improving Notre Dame squad as well, so the Big Ten will have its chances. Juice and Regis could do something special in Chambana this year, but the defense will have to be much better.

NFL Hall of Fame weekend is always spectacular. The introductions never fail to provide the excitement of the new season to come. The ceremony has become destination television for me now that some of my favorite players growing up are becoming eligible for enshrinement. Rod Woodson is probably the best all around defensive back of my lifetime for his work at corner and safety. He also made a pro bowl as a return man. Derrick Thomas took over for LT as the most feared rush linebacker in the league during the early 90s. If you doubt him, just fire up Tecmo Super Bowl with the Chiefs and watch him run wild. Bruce Smith was Strahan before Strahan. A consistent pass rusher and run defender on the edge for some great Bills teams. Randall McDaniel was the best guard in the 90s and one of the best ever. The weekend was capped last night with the preseason opener. We're all winners when the AFL jerseys come out. God I miss the Oilers. If they can bring back the damn Browns, let's bring back the Oilers. I can't wait for the Dallas Texans jerseys later in the year. Don't ever wear those referee throwbacks again though. That was an orange disaster. Great fake punt call by Jeff Fisher and some nice drives by the Titans. The Titans are still a very good team without much star power, but they can really play defense. The Bills can't block anybody, but TO will still make some plays. Vince Young's next start will be later this fall in the UFL, mark it down. He needs to go into a Tommy Maddox exile and hopefully regain his ability to play. He was brutal on every play other than the touch pass to the corner.

I saw a guy put on a Cubs jersey Saturday, then immediately trip and twist his ankle to go on the DL. Seriously though, what is with the injuries? The offense will need to step it up two notches to carry this team through the pitching issues. I still think that they'll win that division because the Cardinals just aren't that good. Somebody needs to mail a pack of Dexatrim to Geo Soto for crying out loud.

The Sox remain 3 out of first since they can't beat the Injuns. Luckily we caught the only win of the weekend on Saturday, but this team has no excuse for not hitting better. With that in mind, they will not remain in this race unless Mark Buehrle rights the ship. Danks and Floyd can't carry the entire rotation. Torres battles, but doesn't throw strikes and Contreras is done.

Fantasy Reality Check

Will somebody tell those CBS douchebags that they can't steal my fantasy sports segment. Hey Bill Cowher, go get a coaching job already! This advice will be real simple: open another webpage, go to your fantasy team, cut the big name guy on your bench that has sucked all year but was great in the 90s, and pick up Mat Latos or Derek Holland. Just do it like Mars Blackman and Johnny Kilroy told you my friends. Anybody else remember the Johnny Kilroy Upper Deck card? That was officially taking the alter egos too far. That's all the baseball advice that you need for now. If Matt Thornton is still available in your league, grab him too. He's the best left handed reliever in baseball and he strikes out everyone.

We've got four weeks left until the start of the NFL slate, so I'll be adding a segment each of the next few weeks to tackle the entire fantasy football gamut. Later today we'll begin with quarterbacks, so stay tuned good people.

Off Day

Sorry folks, but this week's wild card topic consists of me heading to Blackberry Oaks for the beginning of the Matt Wilson Bachelor Weekend. It will probably rain, but either way I'm headed down to lovely Bristol now. If you get lucky, I'll do an extra post on Sunday with pictures of the bachelor urinating on random objects and sleeping in a trash can.

Weekend Wonderment

This weekend has two very decent opportunities for entertainment in the city of Chicago. If you're bored on any of the next three days, snag yourself a ticket and enjoy Lollapalooza. If you can't afford that, make it a late Saturday night at Beer Bistro to congratulate the lucky bachelor while we make the rounds.

List Making 101

We'll lighten up the advice column this week with a short and sweet way to enhance your sense of accomplishment. Nothing gives a person a better feeling of self worth than a completed list of tasks. You're free and open to the rest of the world once these tasks are all finished, or like many of us you move on to the next list. If you feel like there are too many things to do around your house, just put them all down on paper, split them up, and get cracking. I like to make lists of things to get accomplished over the weekend, things we need at the grocery store, or even potential christmas gifts. I'm telling you my friends, if you want to feel a lot less stress during the holiday season or even birthdays; start an excel sheet with the names of all the people you have to buy for and put down potential gifts whenever you see/think of them. Financially, you could make a list of how to invest your money step-by-step so you can eventually meet your goals. The best list of all is by far the budget. Your family is like a miniature private business. All businesses have budgets, so why not you? We list all of our basic monthly bills like loans, credit cards, and utilities, then we have allowances for housewares, gas, groceries, restaurants, and personal expenses. Don't forget things like doctors, car repairs, and birthdays as well. I would say that long term lists can also prove effective such as house repairs to do over a five year period or things you want to accomplish over a period of time.

A caveat to the list making strategy is utilizing calendars. These two go hand in hand for me. How does Pete always know when tickets go on sale or concerts are happening...I put it on my desktop calendar. I do double time with the large print calendar on my actual desktop and all my necessary info loaded on my outlook calendar. Feel free to set yourself random reminders at the end of the workday. You can thank me later for your improved memory and efficiency. These two small suggestions will prove to be easier than you think and soon you'll see how much more free time you have when you're always on task.

Ode to Nader

Speaking of being on task and more efficient, you can certainly speed up your housework with a Dyson ball vacuum. This thing makes the job so much easier because of how light it is, the suction power, and the speed around corners. In addition to these factors, the nozzle attachment folds right into the handle for easy extension. It comes with a brush attachement for all sorts of random areas, and a furniture attachment with a soft bristle. I'm not much for housework myself, but if you need to keep your house clean and can't afford a Kirby...this bad boy might just suit you. Side note: unless you own a home and are married, do not go out and buy a vacuum that equals your monthly rent. That is what gift registration is for when you do get married. If you don't actually own your space, you don't need this level of vacuum to take care of it. For those of you that fall under this category, go get yourself a wet/dry vac at the hardware store for anything life might throw at you.

The Art of Grilling

There is no more important part of cooking between the months of April and November than grilling. I am a grill artisan, a master of the open flame if you will. I have used the last number of years to master the arts of direct and indirect heat as well as pre, during, and post grill seasoning. I'm not going to get into detail about types of grills or starting a grill. If you have two or more children and/or a long afternoon commute, you are allowed the luxury of utilizing the gas grill. If those daily issues (or joys depending on the situation) do not afflict you, you should be daily grilling over a charcoal pit. Start it with fluid, newspaper, or a stick and a rock, it all works the same. The flavor and color of your assorted meats will thank you.

Grilled vegetables, grilled fruits, and even grilled starches are great, but don't bother lighting the coals unless meat is somehow involved. There are really only two things you need to know to turn out great grilled meats. Give the beef, pork, veal, lamb, etc. around 30 minutes on your countertop to get closer to room temperature before being placed on the grill grate. Once ready, feel free to add some olive oil if necessary for a lean meat and season vigorously. You need to have enough seasoning on the outside to make up for the center portions of the meat. Do not season too early as you will just be drawing moisture out of the artist formerly known as Wilbur. If you have an extra lean cut, but olive oil tends to cause flare ups for you, bacon wrapping is the way to go. This also works for vegetables. The second important thing to know is that you must let the meat rest for five minutes once taken off the heat. This allows the juices to return to the meat and not end up on your plate. This way you won't have to take your dinner on a slip and slide ride through your plate before every bite. With that in mind, you should cook your meat to one notch below the final product as some carry over heat will finish it off. A nice medium rare will end up medium and a medium well will end up satisfying all those opposed to pink coloration.

Assorted grilling tips include prosciutto wrapped asparagus marinated in crushed garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil, grill your shrimp with the shells split for deveining and a compound butter shoved in the tops, leave the fat on the meat during cooking then remove afterward (this includes chicken skins), and utilize foil packets whenever possible. You can do anything as a novice or an expert with a foil packet. Slice or chop potatoes then throw in what you like from onions and butter to herbes de provance and shallots. Mix up some vegetables to make a quick succotash like fresh corn, green beans, and grape tomatoes. ALWAYS SEASON YOUR FOOD! That is the big thing. There is no clear recipe for this week, but I have a photo of my latest grilling adventure. I took some medium depth center cut pork chops and applied only Custom Seasoning from Oswego (you must have this seasoning if you appreciate pork on any level). I grill them just past medium. Pork may be the other white meat, but you do not have to cook it well done and dry it out. It can be cooked to temperature. The potatoes are a foil packet foray with oblique cut red potatoes and yukon golds (whatever is fresh at the farmers market) and mixed with a few cloves of garlic smashed, fresh thyme, one sliced shallot, and a good hit of olive oil. These take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes depending on thickness and grill heat. You can put the foil wrap over direct heat, but turn every 15 minutes. Don't forget the salt and pepper. Fresh sweet corn is best grilled in a foil packet with a few pats of butter, salt, pepper, and a few tablespoons of water. This should be turned every 10 minutes over direct heat for 30 minutes. The kernals should turn bright colors. There you have it folks. Enjoy the warmer weather with your cuts of meat.

Restaurant Recap

Week two means second favorite restaurant in the Chicagoland area. The summer favorite has to be a local spot for us out here in the western 'burbs at Bien Trucha in Geneva. They've recently added a website and their weekly specials are usually posted via facebook images. It is the absolute best mexican food I've had outside of Frontera Grill. The tacos are served tapas-style with four small three bite tacos at a time. They come as soon as they're finished in the kitchen, so the idea is to order things to share. The guac is always a solid starter as they have excellent chips and have a guac of the day with watermelon, mango, or other fruits playing the role of the tomato. The ceviche is served in a heaping glass and has looked delicious on a hot day, but I have yet to partake. You should definitely try the make your own quesadillas that are basically little boats of melted chihuahua cheese with poblanos or chorizo to fold into mini tortillas. The drinks are all made individually and by hand. The specials always seem to be great, but the plain old margarita is the way to go. They'll make homemade cheladas as well if you're a Miller Chill lover. All of the tacos are great and great to share. The namesake is by far the best and the battered fish tacos are big hits all the time. Try the pork with the pineapple as well and if you can take the heat get the shrimp tacos. I don't care where you live, you need to drive to Geneva to experience this place. Get you ass there before 6 on a weeknight or before 5 on a weekend if you want to guarantee yourself food. They're currently adding more space, but right now they have about ten tables. Eat, drink, and be merry my people.

Where is the decent Chicago radio?

Has anyone else found themselves searching recently for something remotely decent on the FM dial around Chicagoland? I can't even fill out my six presets anymore, let alone the second set of six presets. You have to love all their slogans like we play anything, mix of today's music, and we're on shuffle. First of all, when I turn on a station I want to know remotely what I'm going to get. If you follow Nirvana with the Safety Dance, that doesn't make for palatable radio. Secondly, you can't say that you have a mix of today's music when your "new" music is already on its way down the charts. Someone tell me when the Mix turned into the Lite. Finally, if you actually want to hear some new rock music now, you can count on one or two tracks per hour as the rest of the time is spent rehashing the many successes of Nada Surf and Marcy's Playground. God love those guys for their one hit, but leave it up to me and my iPod as to whether or not I ever want to hear them again.

Now if a crappy playlist isn't enough, you have these stations pestering you about HD radio. I don't need radio in HD; I just need one decent song during my 3 mile trek home for lunch. Let's run down the list of popular stations: 95.9 the river has an average mix of classic rock and somewhat modern rock if modern means the 90s, 96.3 is just flat out awful with bleeped out rap music and remixed dance crap, 97.1 is probably one of the better stations with mixing in some deep cuts from classic albums and old favorites (just cool it on the Steely Dan a little), 101.1 is still my favorite despite constantly trying to reinvent itself (at least they brought back top 9 at 9), 101.9 used to be ok to find some average newer music but they're about six months behind reality, and 103.5 just plays fast paced dance music. Sprinkle in a host of country stations and channels with too low of bandwidth to recognize and you see my dilemma.

What is the answer to all these problems? Buy a new vehicle with an AUX connector to hook up your iPod. If you can't afford that, you should probably just go out and buy yourself a real album. I know call me crazy with iTunes available to only download popular singles, but it might behoove you every once in awhile to actually try and like a band. It certainly makes going to concerts much more interesting. If you fail at both of thoses, turn over to AM radio and you have three options: Angry sports talk guys talking about how bad all the teams in the city are, assholic, pompous, self righteous right wingers and left wingers each telling you how to live every moment of your life, or radio disney. Good luck in your musical escapades through Chicagoland.

Digital Ditty

This week I've got a similar style of music for you to check out. Even though they haven't released anything new recently, give the english gents Keane a spin on your iPod. I would personally suggest Nothing in my Way. It's a catchy tune with some pretty deep lyrics. A few other, more well known tracks from these guys are Somewhere Only We Know and Is It Any Wonder. They're all worthy of the meager online fees or feel free to grab a whole album. Easy listening for a warm summer day in the hammock with your favorite beverage.

The Evolution of Sports Programming

On Friday, my sports cable coverage was expanded due to some network shuffling. As a sports package subscriber, I am now entitled to ESPNU, ESPNEWS HD, MLB Network, NBA Network, and some other non-descript channels. I spent all of about 15 minutes gazing upon the MLB Networks HD channel when I realized that this would be a welcome addition in my household. I had access to this channel prior to a programming switch for about a month prior to the season. It didn't look like much other than a lot of baseball. Fast forward to yesterday and I was receiving 2 to 3 minute highlight packages per game with home announcer game calls for each team's success. Until you've heard your 12,000th boo yah or odd rap song reference during a home run call, you can't fully appreciate this change of pace. When the box score came up, I got almost every stat for each team including pitchers. This level of coverage is what fans now expect to get for their viewing pleasure.

As NFL season approaches, I will be affixed to the all new HD edition of NFL Total Access on the NFL Network. That one hour smorgasboard of football is clearly the best thing that ever happened to football on tv. If you think that's grand, the MLB Network spends five hours per night with live look-ins and bonus coverage of every game. You only get the good parts, so the Twitter nation can always feel immediate gratification. I also spent part of last week serving on a panel for the Big Ten Network. Not just college sports, but a single conference of college sports has their own channel. As an alumnus, (by the way, you're one person, so you're an alumnus. unless you have two friends in your pocket quit calling yourself an alumni asshole) I can't get enough Purdue programming or any other Big Ten team outside of Indiana. This young network produced one of the best sports shows I watched in the calendar year-to-date in 1988-89 big ten basketball's greatest season.

If you've noticed one thing about these last two paragraphs, it has been the omission of the eastern seaboard programming network also known by its call letters ESPN. Outside of roughly four 1/2 hour shows during the middle of the work day, you need not utilize this channel. Anything you thought you've ever wanted from ESPN can be had at any given second on ESPNEWS. Unless you clamor for 20 minutes of legal coverage of a man not currently on an NFL roster, you can avoid this channel for anything other than live sports coverage. Even so, you're likely stuck with vanilla man Mike Tirico, angry Joe Morgan, America's worst GM Steve Philips, or Digger Phelps' ties. My suggestion to ESPN: cover sports, avoid being part of the story ala T.O./Dan Werder episodes, and quit hiring ex-sports superstars who can't put together a cogent thought. Until they figure this out, I hope you're all joining me in watching these great new league-operated networks.

Fantasy Reality Check

Training camp is officially in full swing. For those of you who have fantasy football drafts way too damn early, I'll drop some quick knowledge. Andre Johnson is the best receiver in the NFL and he doesn't lose any looks to teammates ala another highly touted receiver in the NFC. Brandon Jacobs is an absolute beast and does more with 17 carries than most do with 25. Don't go overboard on Peyton, TB, or Brees at the top of your draft. Even if you miss out on a Rodgers, Warner, Rivers, or Romo, you are going to enjoy having Matt Schaub or Matt Ryan toss the ball for your squad with the weapons around them. Don't draft the Eagles defense. They just lost their starting middle linebacker, and you have to be strong up the middle. Greg Olson should be the tight end flavor this year, and if you have to overdraft him, go for it. He's a #1 wideout, not just a tight end.

With those quick hits out of the way, we're still in the middle of the stretch run for fantasy baseball. Don't go out and trade for Jake Peavy just because your favorite team got him. He's a high count pitcher who won't be allowed a high count once he returns. Stop looking at name players at this point in the year. Maggs, Vlad, and Garret Atkins won't push you into title contention. Focus on acquiring young players for bad teams and solid players on playoff contenders. Why you ask? They're going to be getting all the PT. That's the name of the game. No at bats equal no homers, no RBIS, and you get the picture. Injured prone vets on bad teams will obviously start to shut it down just while you start to rely on them. If you couldn't snag Gordon Beckham, keep your eyes peeled for Justin Smoak in Texas, anyone with a pulse in Pittsburgh, and maybe Matt LaPorta in Cleveland. Who is your pick to click that currently resides in the minor leagues? Wonder why I like the guys that I do in fantasy football this year? Well all you need to do is ask. If you need fantasy trade analysis or have specific questions, just post them right here. I'll be sure to reply and I bet some of the loyal followers will chime in as well.