Official Review, Take Three

You know what? The referees did an outstanding job, IMHO, in this week's Pats-Steelers game. Shocking, I know, but it's true. I'm giving them their props right here and now.

The best part of the game was the genius chant from the fans: GUAR-AN-TEE! GUAR-AN-TEE!
Hee-hee! Genius. Take that, Antonio Smith! Or Anthony Smith. Or whatever your name is. Who the hell is this guy anyway?

Not-So-Super Squirrels

Turning (back) to fantasy football now, the Super Squirrels, who started out so auspiciously at 3-0, entered the non-championship-eligible playoffs this week. Sad. I've decided that unless you've got a guy having an historic season (like Peyton or LT last year, or Brady or Moss this year) it takes a lot of luck to reach the playoffs in an H2H league. It's not like I didn't try to make deals to "make my own luck," either.

Take for instance, The Big Trade, Marshawn Lynch for Steve Smith, which turned out to be a non-factor for both sides. Smith scored 2 TDs for me, total. His 10 for 136 and a TD in week 6 helped me to a victory over Olsen Twin Sandwich, but other than that, he was single-digits all year. Lynch was sometimes very productive (30 pts vs Cin, e.g.) when he wasn't hurt, but he was out for 3 straight games.

Big Trade, Part Deux, the Sequel wasn't much better. Dealing Shaun Alexander and Alge Crumpler for Tony Gonzalez and Kenny Watson could also have been a difference-making deal, but alas, no. All it really did was eliminate the headache of resolving the cognitive dissonance I got every week between the legendary fantasy-stud name of Alexander and the paltry numbers that kept showing up next to that name.

Here are the weekly totals for a 5'9" running back I picked up a while back -- and boy am I glad I did, because he ended up teaming with McGahee to replace Alexander very handsomely.

19
16
13
19
22

Name him. (Answer at the bottom of this post.)

In any event, the Big Trade Part Deux was what was necessary to get a top-flight tight-end. Note: As has been widely noted, Tony-G gets bigger stats when Huard is under center, but he did score today. And yes, Gonzo is still a keeper-level guy, even at his age, because of the dearth of TE talent these days.

Finally, a word to the wise. Check out this sleeper wide receiver... 4 scores in 6 weeks! And nobody's heard of him! He was just sitting there on my waiver wire. And I seen highlights of him playing... He's got size and speed.

And the running back is Earnest Graham (RB) TB. Consider him a top back the rest of the season (if you made the playoffs) and next year, as well.


And yes, I found ESPN's new player widget, and I love it! Bravo ESPN!