Remember that our polls on our fantasy football team's lineup and your fantasy league's prizes will close tonight. While you think about how you will vote, here are some stories to explore.
Don't cram ads down fans' throats. That's our job. The first time I saw Brent Celek strike the "got a little captain in ya" pose, I remember thinking it was the lamest touchdown celebration since this one. In fact, I agreed with Tony Kornheiser when he said the pose "looks like a guy is about to pee on a fire hydrant."
But now we've learned that it wasn't just Brent trying to impress the ladies. He was part of a marketing campaign for Captain Morgan rum. The makers of the rum said they would donate money to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund for every time an NFL player struck the pose on television.
The National Football League quickly put the kibosh on that plan, saying "A company can’t pay a player to somehow promote its product on the field." This means we'll have to settle for the National Football League telling us which beer to drink and which shampoo to use if you have more hair than Bigfoot. And Brent will have to settle for being a start-him-every-week tight end for fantasy players.
Smile, fantasy players. You've got the power. If you've played fantasy sports for any length of time, you've answered questions ranging from "What is that?" to "Do you simply not have a life?" But you can take comfort in this Bloomberg article in which fantasy football gets credit (some of it, at least) for increasing the reach of NFL Network. Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports, said the network's RedZone Channel, which cuts immediately to games where a team is in the red zone, is a popular feature with fantasy players.
Urban Legend, the Gridiron Version. Earlier in the week we discussed the dangers of believing what you read in preseason publications. Now the folks at NFL Soup point out another danger: believing what you see at the start of the season. The blog's point (and a very valid one) is that some early defensive "trends" don't hold water as the season progresses. "The Houston run defense got better. It got much better." That's true. Of course, it's also true that the Browns defense...well, it's not good.
Let's hear it for the big uglies. If you're the type of person who says quarterbacks get too much credit for what happens on the football field, here's a Web site for you to check out: TrenchFantasy.com. This site offers a different type of fantasy football. Instead of drafting running backs, receivers, etc., you draft a team consisting of an offensive line, a defensive line, a secondary, a punting unit, a defensive special team, a field goal unit, and a kickoff squad. One example of the scoring: an offensive line gets 2 points for a first down, with a 5-point bonus if the first down was made on fourth down.
I can't believe I benched Scalia this week. And for a truly different fantasy experience, you can check out a fantasy Supreme Court site, FantasySCOTUS. This site lets you predict the outcome of each case considered by the high court, what the split will be (8-1, 7-2, etc.), and whether each justice will side with the majority or the minority. Credit to fellow WordPress blogger La Flog for the assist on this one.
We'll be back tomorrow with the results of our polls. In the meantime, enjoy the college games.
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