Fearless Predictions - Week 10

Like the Chicago Bears, the weekly predictions for the People's League took a big step back toward respectability last week by going 4-1, lifting our season record to 20-24-1. One more week like that, and we'll be near the .500 mark. With that goal in mind, here come this week's fantasy football forecasts.

People's Pigskin vs. Minneapolis Fantastic Houll: The Houll used three players on Thursday night and got 11 points. The Pigskin used one player (Michael Bush) and scored 29 points. Mathematics alone point toward another Pigskin win.

VinSethVaughn Bears vs. t-bay jacks Young'ry Buccs: Both sides have full complements of players available. The difference here may be in the receivers. The Buccs can get tons of points quickly from Santonio Holmes and Julio Jones. That's enough to pick the Buccs here.

LA Lockouts vs. Hudson Valley Hawks2: The Lockouts got 4 points from Nick Novak on Thursday, while the Hawks got 19 from Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates. Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson seem primed for big outings, and they should drive the Lockouts to another victory.

Arcadia Roses vs. Glen Gardner's Finest: Both teams are 5-4 and have full complements of players. This could easily by the highest-scoring matchup in the People's League. The Finest have the finest of edges here by virtue of a New York Jets defense that can wreak havoc on the New England Patriots.

Palm Bay, Fl. BearDown85 vs. Team Brotherton: The BearDowns got 8 points from Vincent Jackson and Sebastian Janikowski on Thursday. The Brothertons have a full complement of players, including a sneaky-good Jermichael Finley playing Monday night. Even if the Brothertons don't wrap up the win on Sunday, Finley should push them over the top.

As always, thanks for reading. We'll be back with some results (and some new polls requiring immediate votes).

Summing Up Michigan

It was both the best of weeks and the worst of weeks for the People's Pitstop.

The Internet's favorite fantasy racing team compiled 287 points at Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. The season total is now 6,168. We're 46, 780th overall on Yahoo Sports, and we rose 6 spots, to 62nd, in the Fans of From the Marbles league. Here are the details.

Tony Stewart: Started 4th, finished 6th, 36 laps led and 91 fantasy points. That includes a 1-point qualifying bonus and a 10-point lap-leader bonus. And this clearly unbiased source tells us that "a win is just around the corner" for Stewart.

Kevin Harvick: Started 8th, finished 1st, 60 laps led and 100 fantasy points. Harvick finished his eligibility for the People's Pitstop in the best way possible. In his nine starts for us, he gave us 7 finishes in the top 10. Though we missed two of his wins, he gave us an average finish of 8.7 and an average score of 81.1. If we exclude the spring Martinsville race (where he finished 35th), he gave us an average finish of 5.5 and an average score of 87.2.

Kasey Kahne: Started 1st, finished 14th and 74 fantasy points. That's right -- the driver who started on the pole (and got the 10 point bonus for doing so) couldn't hold the lead for a single lap.

Paul Menard: Started 10th, finished 35th (3 laps behind the leaders) and 22 fantasy points. It's a good thing he signed that Richard Childress contract before starting this race.

This week NASCAR takes its show to prime time for a Saturday night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The new lineup polls are open and will close Thursday night in time for Friday's qualifying session.

We also have a fresh set of fantasy football polls. The results of our two most recent ones appear below. You, the Internet, decided that Chris Johnson should be No. 2 on our draft board (after Adrian Peterson), and you said decided that the first quarterback we should target is Drew Brees. This time around, we ask you to pick the No. 3 player for our draft board, as well as the top wide receiver. Please vote now.

[polldaddy poll=3615257] [polldaddy poll=3596858]

Pick the People's Pitstop - Daytona 500

First, a quick update on the fantasy football side. Thanks to the input of you, the Internet, the People's Pigskin finished the NFL Fantasy Playoff Challenge with 477 points. The most valuable player on our team was also the most valuable player of Super Bowl XLIV: Drew Brees, who scored 57 points. The Pigskin ended up tied for 55,478th overall and in 18th place in the 9beersfantasysportstavern league. And we have you to thank.

With the fantasy football completed for the time being, it's time to shift gears (pardon the pun) to fantasy NASCAR. And once again, it's time for you, the Internet, to speak up.

The People's Pigskin will be running the People's Pitstop team in Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Auto Racing. We'll be part of the Fans of From the Marbles league. Our goal: to win by picking a lineup via Internet polling.

Here are some of the rules. (You can learn more by clicking here.) Each week the fantasy players pick a roster of eight drivers for that week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race. It's sort of like a Chinese menu. You can have two drivers from the A List (basically the top 10 drivers from the last season), four drivers from the B List (the 16 next-best drivers in NASCAR), and two drivers from the C List (everyone else). From those drivers, we pick four starters (one from the A List, two from the B List, and one from the C List). The starting drivers score points for the fantasy team according to how well they do in that week's race.

Oh, and one more thing: No driver can start more than nine races for a fantasy team. Once a driver has started his ninth race, he (yes, for the time being, that's still the correct pronoun) is off limits.

In future weeks, there will be points for qualifying well for that week's race. However, this week's race is the Daytona 500, and qualifying for that race -- well, it's complicated. They had a typical qualifying session this past weekend, but only for the front two positions. They went to Mark Martin (one of the drivers on the A List) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one of the drivers on the B List). On Thursday, NASCAR will hold a pair of 125-mile races to determine the rest of the grid for Sunday's version of the "Great American Race."

Got it? Good. Cause now it's your turn to vote. The polls are now open. You're voting for two drivers in the first poll, four drivers in the second poll, and two drivers in the third poll. The drivers with the most votes will get the spots in the People's Pitstop lineup. If you want to learn more about the race, you can click here for a Yahoo-written PDF or click here for a RotoSports.com preview. Because I will be on the road Sunday for a Chinese New Year dinner (again, it's complicated), the polls will close on Saturday night. Please vote now. We'll be back later with some more thoughts on the NASCAR season.

About Last Weekend (and the Next One)

The Internet's favorite fantasy football team found itself running to stand still, and in this case, that's not necessarily a good thing.

The People's Pigskin managed to score 108 points this past week in the NFL Fantasy Playoff Challenge. That's 9 fewer points than we scored in the wild card round, despite having four players eligible for double points. The 225 total points leaves the Pigskin tied for 38,805th overall and tied for 14th in the 9beersfantasysportstavern league. Here is the breakdown.

Drew Brees, QB. The stats: 247 yards passing, 3 touchdowns and 21 fantasy points. Given the pinball numbers the New Orleans Saints compiled against the Arizona Cardinals, one would think Brees' statistics would be stronger than this.

Ray Rice, RB. The stats: 67 rushing yards, 60 receiving yards, 1 fumble and 24 fantasy points. Because he was in our lineup for the second straight week, Rice received double the points for his efforts. And even if the same had held true for the Baltimore Ravens as a team, it wouldn't have been enough to get them to the next round.

LaDainian Tomlinson, RB. The stats: 24 rushing yards and 2 fantasy points. There's plenty of speculation about whether Tomlinson will be with the San Diego Chargers next season. Certainly one place he won't be is in many starting fantasy lineups.

Miles Austin, WR. The stats: 34 rushing yards, 8 receiving yards and 3 fantasy points. It seems the only people reaping fantasy points from the Dallas Cowboys offensive drives played for the Minnesota Vikings defense.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR. The stats: 77 receiving yards and 14 fantasy points. Another player getting double the points for a team that even more help than that getting to the next round. (Maybe the Arizona Cardinals should have borrowed the Vikings defense.)

Jason Witten, TE. The stats: 98 receiving yards and 18 fantasy points. The point doubling made his stats look decent. Unfortunately, that's all they did.

Nate Kaeding, K. The stats: 0 for 3 on field goals, 2 for 2 on extra points and 2 fantasy points. In a word, augh. You'd think the San Diego Chargers had signed Lucy Van Pelt to be the holder.

New York Jets, D/ST. The stats: 2 interceptions, 14 points allowed, 344 yards allowed and 24 fantasy points. Unlike the three other players who reaped the benefit of point doubling, the Jets are still playing and still available to us for the conference championships.

Speaking of which, it's time for you, the Internet, to pick the lineup for Sunday's games between the Vikings and the Saints and between the Jets and the Colts. Brees is eligible for double the points, and the Jets defense/special teams are eligible for triple the points. Please vote accordingly, and please remember that you're voting for two running backs and two wide receivers. The lineup polls will close on Sunday.

The People's Choice - Division Round

Another week has come and gone, and you, the Internet, have spoken yet again. The votes are in for the lineup the People's Pigskin will field in week 2 of the NFL Fantasy Playoff Challenge. Here are the results.

Quarterback. With Aaron Rodgers no longer available, you voted to give Drew Brees the starting spot. His New Orleans Saints take on the Arizona Cardinals in the Saturday afternoon game.

Running back. Everyone voted to keep Ray Rice in the lineup. He gets double the points this round, and his Baltimore Ravens visit the Indianapolis Colts Saturday night. For the other running back spot, it came down to a tie between Marion Barber and LaDainian Tomlinson. A coin was flipped, and the winner was Tomlinson. His San Diego Chargers face the New York Jets in the late Sunday afternoon game.

Wide receiver. There were two clear winners in this pool. One was Larry Fitzgerald, who gets double the points this round. His Arizona Cardinals face the Saint. The other clear winner was Miles Austin, whose Dallas Cowboys face the Minnesota Vikings in the early Sunday afternoon game.

Tight end. The voting produced a tie between Jason Witten and Dallas Clark. Since Witten is worth double the points this round, Witten gets the nod. His Cowboys visit the Vikings.

Kicker. Another position, another tie. This one pits Jay Feely against Nate Kaeding. Another coin was flipped, and the winner was Kaeding. His San Diego Chargers get the Jets.

Defense/special teams. There was a tie here between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets. Since the Jets will get double the points for making it to week 2, they get the nod here for their game against the Chargers.

Thanks for your votes. We have another poll up now that acknowledges that -- gasp! -- there's life after football season. We'd appreciate your vote there, too. The results from our lineup polls can be seen below.

[polldaddy poll=2515097] [polldaddy poll=2515125] [polldaddy poll=2515143] [polldaddy poll=2515164] [polldaddy poll=2515174] [polldaddy poll=2515184]

Fearless predictions: week 3

Another week, another 3-2 record for the fearless predictions, leaving us at 6-4 for the season. Time to tempt fate with another batch of forecasts for the Landshark Maniacs league.

Peoples Pigskin vs. Tinks Revenge. Yes, I see the 2-0 record for Tinks, and I see the name "Drew Brees" in her lineup. Neither fact scares me. You, the Internet, will rally us to another win.

Southern Rebels vs. Hawaiian Surfriders. The Surfriders, of course, are the team formerly known as the Hawaiian MaiTai Guzzlers, famously chosen here in this blog as "my personal favorite among the league names." I don't know if this is a Johnson-to-Ochocinco vanity move on the Hawaiians' part. All I know is that as long as Adrian Peterson is on the roster, I'm picking the Surfriders to win.

Northeast Dragons vs. Houston Wreckin' Crew. The Crew did the smart thing having Felix Jones ready to go in case Marion Barber's injury is truly serious. That kind of preparedness will be rewarded with a Crew victory.

T-Bay Jacks 151rum Stumblrs vs. D.C. Destroyers. It's the three words that no fantasy player ever wants to hear: "game time decision." And it looks like Percy Harvin will be under that category this Sunday. That may be enough to doom the Stumblrs and give the Destroyers the edge in an otherwise close matchup.

Big Lough O vs. Ravens Fan T Sizzle. The two previous opponents of the People's Pigskin face each other. We know that both teams are strong. What we don't know is how Fred Jackson can be expected to produce 32 points. This one goes to the Lough Os.

Don't forget to help us pick our lineup, and remember to vote in our gambling poll. More later.

Fearless predictions: Week 1

Every week during the season, I plan to offer some predictions about the match-ups in the Landshark Maniacs league. Take them with as many grains of salt as you wish, and please, no wagering.

Peoples Pigskin vs. Ravens Fan T Sizzle. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a victory here. Forte and Warner should have a good day, and so should Rivers, but I can't say I expect the same for Willie Parker.

Hawaiian MaiTai Guzzlers vs. T-Bay Jacks 151rum Stumblrs. The battle of the mixed drinks. If ever there was a week where Peyton Manning was going to set the field on fire, this would be it. I'm taking the stumblers. (And if you're offering, I'll take a 151 and coke.)

D.C. Destroyers vs. Houston Wreckin' Crew. Jay Cutler is the real wild card here. I think he provides just enough offense to complement Michael Turner and give the Crew a victory. Long term, though, you've gotta hope the Broncos either get Brandon Marshall on the field or give Cutler someone else who can go deep.

Big Lough O vs. Northeast Dragons. Some people have been less than enthusiastic about Tom Brady's return to the field. I'm not one of them. I don't care if the Patriots dig up Red Grange's corpse and line it up at running back. (Talk about your galloping ghosts.) I see a big Monday night performance and a win for the Lough O's.

Southern Rebels vs. Tinks Revenge. That "Q" next to Matt Cassel's name has to make you nervous. So does the fact that his team gets to start off against the Ravens defense. Combine that with Drew Brees' match-up against the Lions (making New Orleans a popular pick in suicide pools), I have to take Tink's side here.

Think I'm wrong? Feel free to comment. The snack poll is still open if you're hungry. Coming Tuesday, the first poll on the Peoples Pigskin lineup.