Mixing Sports and Politics

One has to love the path that conversations amongst men take over the course of a long night of drinking. The majority of the evening’s conversations are about sports and fantasy sports, interrupted with tangents regarding women that we have slept with or want to sleep with. Once the male body is one-third water, one-third testosterone and one-third alcohol, politics occasionally pokes its polarizing head into the mix. For some reason, this is where the more heated debates take place. I attribute it to the booze, but maybe it is just the volatility of introducing politics into an evening filled with talk of women and sports. Now, politics in today’s world does blend nicely with corruption and women. Sports do seem to also go nicely with corruption and women. So, it has to be the mixture of sports and politics that causes a bad reaction. Guys can argue about the merits of Kyle Orton over Rex Grossman for an hour and comfortably agree to disagree while passing a blunt back and forth. However, these same two guys could argue about the merits of Obama’s Energy Plan vs. McCain’s and agree on blunt instruments to square off with.

MFS did not endorse one candidate over another; mainly due to the fact that neither candidate seems worthy. As politics interjected itself into NFL pregame TV shows and even at halftime of the Monday Night Football game this past weekend, Mike Ditka stated it correctly when he said “Sometimes, the scrutiny that these politicians get is ridiculous. I think there are a lot of good people who stay out of it.”. Exactly. This country has many more well-qualified people to run it, but the constant press that our President must face has pared the potential Leaders down to those who can play nicely with the press. Think of all the advisors today’s Leaders must have to keep them informed while the President spends so much time dealing with the press. These advisors help him make decisions. Candidates who want to be in touch with the world enough to make their own decisions opt out of running since they don’t want to spin their wheels playing the media game. Ditka in 2012. Come on, Coach! MFS is behind you! This is one man you can count one to tell it like it really is and roll up his sleeves and get the job done. This would be a welcome blend of sports and politics….and it almost happened 4 years ago. What would have today’s election looked like had we had an Illinois Senator named Mike Ditka instead of Barack Obama in 2004?

You may not agree with our assessment that we have no worthy President candidate to choose from today, but we didn’t feel that there was a worthy NCAA National Champion last year and, while many agreed with us, some did not. A clear cut winner is impossible and there was nothing to be done about it. Our electoral system mimics the BCS quite a bit. The candidates who have a chance to make the final matchup often look the best on TV, get pared against weaker competition in the qualifying meets leading up to the election of the final two and perform often well in head-to-head confrontations. Almost always, the final candidates have not performed perfectly and when the remaining pool of potential candidates are reviewed in the end, arguments can be made that we didn’t have the best two candidates to choose from. The final pairing in last year’s BCS came down to Ohio State and LSU and many thought Georgia and USC were better candidates. One the rare occasion that we have two perfect candidates, there is at least one other than ends up on the outside looking in (see Auburn in 2004).

OK, as if this column weren’t long-winded enough, we still have to focus on Fantasy Football. This week will be a very active one on the waiver wire. We are faced with the final week of Byes, many injuries and a few benchings. I don’t have time to present the merits of using MFS’ In-game change option, at least for the last half of your season, but you will want to know how it works for next year. There were many game-time decisions that benched starters and a good handful of this past week’s injuries occurred early in their games.

QB Sage Rosenfels (HOU) – If the Texans can just keep Rosenfels from playing Superman, he does a good job of putting up good stats when he plays. It is nice to have the receiving corps and pass-catching backs that he has at his disposal. He is pre-dispositioned to guilt, so maybe that will inspire his play a bit to make up for that debacle in the waning minutes of the Indianapolis game.

QB Joe Flacco (BAL) – I guarantee that some teams had Kyle Orton and Matt Schaub and are a bit desperate for the playoff stretch run. Flacco is available in roughly 36% of leagues. 5 TDs, no INTs and double-digit fantasy points in each of the past 3 weeks should make you feel comfortable starting him this week against Houston.

QB Brady Quinn (CLE) – Flacco has a tough stretch of games following the Houston game. Rosenfels’ stint as starter is of unknown duration for now. So, if you need someone for a long haul, you could pick up Quinn. He is facing a very weak Bronco defense and has games coming up against Buffalo, Houston and Indy. Cleveland will give him a tryout for the remainder of the season in hopes of either salvaging their season or having enough game-time experience to make an informed decision on which QB to keep for next year.

RB Jamaal Charles (KC) – As soon as you think you have the starter nailed, another injury creeps in. Word was that Charles had a sprained ankle last week and Kolby Smith would be the number 1 back. I guess Charles is a fast-healer when presented with the opportunity to be the only running back as soon as Smith went out with a season-ending knee injury. Charles will be the sole RB this week at San Diego with Larry Johnson suspended. What happens with LJ for the rest of the season is a mystery, but the Chiefs have no games left against intimidating run defenses so Charles seems like a safe bet.

RB Selvin Young and Ryan Torain (DEN) – Every sports site seems to be touting Torain as the next Terrell Davis based on a preseason comment that Mike Shanahan made. Facts of the matter are that Denver’s running back picture got a little clearer with Michael Pittman and Andre Hall hitting the IR for the rest of the season. Another fact is that Denver’s running game has been in disarray all season and their offense is definitely geared to the passing game. So, if you need a RB, I would opt for Jamaal Charles first. Selvin Young may not be ready to go at Cleveland on Thursday night, forcing Torain into the game. However, he is a rookie, has had little practice time this year and is coming off a nasty elbow injury. So, Young could be The Man instead of Torain for the remainder of the year when healthy. Young did put up a combined 950 rushing and receiving yards last year, with the bulk coming in the last 9 games that he played.

RB Ray Rice (BAL) – I have no idea what is happening with the Raven running game either. The beginning of the season featured Le’Ron McClain. Then, Willis McGahee received the bulk of the carries. Out of the blue, Ray Rice is their primary ball carrier. 21 carries for 154 yards and 3 catches for 22 yards last Sunday shows that he can handle the load. But, what will the game plan look like this weekend at Houston? Will he get the 20 carries again or will they go to McGahee now that he has had a week to rest?

RB Kevin Faulk and Benjarvus Green-Ellis (NE) – They each got double-digit carries last week, but Green-Ellis found the end zone and Faulk factored more heavily into the passing game. With a home game against the Bills this weekend, each running back has merit. In leagues that award heavier for TDs, Green-Ellis is your man. For leagues that award points for receptions, Faulk is your man.

WR Greg Camarillo (MIA) – I mentioned him a few weeks back, but he did little to make me look good and hit the waiver wire in many leagues after Ted Ginn Jr. had his monster game against Buffalo. He has led the Dolphins in receptions almost every game and had a huge game against Denver last week (11/111/1). Miami is home to Seattle this week, so all Miami playmakers should be starting in fantasy this week. Additionally, the Dolphins’ remaining schedule is pretty soft.
Other candidates not worth picking up:
• Stay away from Detroit QBs. No idea if Drew Stanton or Daunte Culpepper will be starting due to Dan Orslovsky’s thumb injury. Neither a rookie QB making his first start nor a washed up QB is worth a transaction fee.
• Rex Grossman. He did lead the team back against Detroit, but the credit goes to the defense and Matt Forte. 9/19 for 58 yards and an INT is on par with what to expect from Bad Rex against the Titans and Packers.
• Peyton Hillis. He has no carries since week 1 for a reason. Denver has no clue what to do in their running game. I cannot see him having anything close to the career game he had last Sunday, even if Young and Torain are limited on Thursday.
• Rams running backs. Steven Jackson cost many teams last weekend. It was reported that he was starting. He huddled for the first play and then called his own number to the bench cuz he wasn’t comfortable running a cutback play. He stayed on the bench throughout the games, sans a restroom break and a few straight-ahead runs late in the game, but did not endear himself to the coaching staff or team with his lack of contribution. Worse yet is that Antonio Pittman hurt his hammy last weekend. With no threat of running, the Jets D could be a very nice play against a sitting duck QB.

Bill Parsons is the owner of MaximumFantasySports.com and
a rabid fantasy sports participant. No on-line fantasy football company could mirror the creativity that came from running leagues manually, so Bill decided to create a real-time fantasy football league website that includes all of the best features that he has used over the years, some of which have never been attempted at any other website. Join Maximum Fantasy Sports today by visiting www.maximumfantasysports.com and registering as an MFS member. Membership is free!