Think Before You Draft

In addition to dealing with Hurricane Irene, the people who bring you this fine blog has gone through two fantasy football drafts in the past week. (Neither one was for the People's Pigskin, which will hold its draft Monday night, so you still have time to vote on the fantasy football polls on the right side of this page.) It's amazing how much a draft can sneak up on you, especially when the off-season is sacrificed at the altar of short-sightedness. So it might be helpful to remember some simple rules.
First and foremost, plan ahead. Take a look at the pre-draft settings at your league's Web site, and adjust them if you think whoever compiled them goes to Ricky Williams' old dealer. You never know when Mother Nature is going to decide to interfere with your draft.
In the days leading up to your draft, know what matters and what doesn't. In the long run, Chris Johnson's holdout wasn't going to matter, since everyone knew he would get a new deal in time for the season. And Arian Foster calling you sick for playing fantasy football doesn't matter. But Foster posting a picture of a possibly torn hamstring will matter. As for Vince Young's hamstring, whether that matters remains to be seen.
Next, get online early. If your draft is scheduled to start at 8 p.m., it's best not to try to sign in at 7:59 p.m. For one thing, many leagues will release the draft order a few minutes before your draft starts, so you can get a head start on figuring out who will be available when your turn comes. For another thing, you want to give yourself a few minutes to handle any last-minute computer glitches.
Also, keep an eye on bye weeks. Yes, both of your favorite receivers may be available when you pick. But if both of them are taking the same week off, that will make it twice as hard to field a full lineup when that bye week comes.
And if possible, don't leave early. After one of our drafts, someone sent out an email asking how he got a couple of the players he didn't recall drafting. As it turns out, this player left the room a few rounds early, and the automatic picking feature took over. (Again, it helps to know whose ranked where on your Web site.)
One more thing: Take the kicker last. This serves two purposes. First, it will keep from being laughed at for taking a kicker too early. (In one of our leagues, someone used a keeper protection on a kicker. You can lead some players to water...) Second, if you have to leave a round early, your computer will pick your kicker automatically.
That should be enough to get you through the draft in one piece.
Now you can turn your attention to your Labor Day weekend, the MDA Telethon (yes, it's still on, and yes, the kids still need your help) and Sunday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The three NASCAR lineup polls will close in a few hours, and we need your help to keep the People's Pitstop at the top of our league. Thanks. We'll be back with the results.

A People's League Halftime Report

While the National Football League waits to see a puff of white smoke from Minnesota, this is as good a time as ever to look at what has happened in the People's League so far this season.

(Yes, I realize this isn't quite the halfway point for the fantasy season. Work with me here.)

Most valuable fantasy players: Right now, only one player in this league is averaging over 20 points per game: Peyton Manning of the People's Pigskin (20.2). Excuse us while we congratulate ourselves. If you want to go by total points, Aaron Rodgers of Feely Her Up ... is leading the way with 129.

Surprise of the year: Here's what ESPN predicted for Arian Foster in its season preview: 456 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns. So far he has 6 touchdowns and leads all running backs by averaging 19.3 fantasy points a game. The nuckin' futs must be proud.

Disappointing player, non-injury category: The futs probably also thought Larry Fitzgerald was a steal in the third round, even with Kurt Warner working on his foxtrot. So far he's found the end zone twice and is averaging 7.2 fantasy points a game, ranking him 40th among wide receivers.

Disappointing player, injury category: Plenty of potential picks here, but this has to go to Ryan Grant, whom the Hudson Valley Hawks picked in the second round (right before the futs picked Foster) and lost to injury in the very first game, after he scored 4 points.

Best late round pick: Yes, the futs are getting this award, too. They got Kyle Orton in the 14th round, after 6 kickers came off the board. So far, Orton has scored 11 touchdowns and is averaging 17.6 fantasy points a game, good enough for 3rd place among quarterbacks.

Most curious stat: Home must be paradise for the Fighting Amish. They're 5-0 so far in "home" games and 0-2 in "away" games.

Quick reminders -- The People's Pigskin needs a lineup for its matchup against the aforementioned nuckin' futs. We've already picked up Jason Hanson to be this week's kicker. The rest of the starters will be determined by the polls, which will close Sunday morning.

Also, the People's Pitstop needs to pick drivers for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Those polls will close tonight. Please vote now.

We'll be back with the NASCAR poll results.