Around the League Series 1, Episode 1(August 19, 2014)
Lieve vrienden (lovely friends),
We are about to embark on a wonderful adventure together in this odd thing called fantasy football. Our draft photo has made the rounds and gotten a lot of exposure on Facebook this week and as a result I was sent a text that read something like, “fantasy football?! Really?!”. Now, knowing my relationship with the sender, it was clear that the message was not sent in hostile judgment. It was, however, a challenge as to why I would choose to engage in such a project. Now as I believe you all know, I am quite enthralled with all things foreign, especially as it comes to the set of countries where my earliest conceptions of love and appreciation began, in Europe. This often obscures the fact that I am a huge fan of many uniquely American things. A large part of my personality stems from individualism and a desire to forge a unique personal identity, distinctly mine. Call me Lewis. Call me Clark. Kidding of course. Continuing on, I firmly believe that our sports are some of the best things that this country has to offer the world. Namely, baseball and football. In this my bias against basketball is shown and I do apologize to all fans thereof. (but come on, it’s the same as soccer, handball, hockey, etc. Baseball and Football set themselves apart.) Getting to play American football was something I dreamed of for years while living overseas. Throughout junior high, performance on the lunch-time gridiron became the pinnacle of social status and acceptance. This last statement was more of a façade, but we all believed it and I was quite good. Putting aside the damage to my heart and relationships that this belief did, football became and remains one of the things I love most. This is my long-winded response to my friend’s exasperation when confronted with my love of fantasy football.
As we follow the NFL this year we get to be caught up with every storyline. Combining the joys of victory with the sorrow of defeat and every emotion in-between. It’s great. It’s certainly not rational and it’s even less useful. No more mouths are fed, no diseases cured, and it certainly won’t bring any wars to an end. Fantasy football is just good for the soul. We are humans and we need to feel. That is my hope for each of us: that we get caught up in the drama. Get caught up in the story lines, get caught up in your favorite team, and win the league! This column that you’re reading will be a weekly installment sharing my thoughts and will focus primarily on the major story lines in the NFL, the weird ones. The extraordinary and silly ones. I thank you for tuning in. This week we will be looking at Jamaal Charles, Chad Johnson, and China (the country, not the dish ware.)
Our first tale stays within the realm of fantasy relevance with Jamaal Charles. Charles (RB, Chiefs) owns the hopes of many fantasy players this year, going third on the board in ESPN ADP (average draft position). Based on last year’s numbers this is justified as he finished third in overall fantasy points and first among running backs. One last impressive stat, he finished second, only losing to Demaryius Thomas in YAC (yards after catch) last year, a stat he has a good chance of replicating as he’ll likely get many dump off passes from Alex Smith behind a terrible and very young offensive line. We’ll see. Probably the biggest question about NFL players these days is their health. It seems most players lose a good amount of time at least every couple of years. Charles’ last major injury came in 2011 when he tore his ACL and had surgery. So can he stay healthy and have another monster fantasy season this year? It seems that in the short term his undoing came from a dorm, a stack of boxes, and a curb. This last week Charles hurt his ankles while carrying boxes out of the dorms at Missouri Western State where the Chiefs had training camp. Though it is unlikely that this injury will carry over into the season it does enter into the annals of unfortunate and humorous injuries.
Chad Johnson, or call him by his adopted name if you wish, is still playing professional football. In the Canadian Football League that is. Johnson signed on to the Montreal Alouettes earlier this season and has not been impressive in his time there. With 78 receiving yards through 9 games he is on pace to, well, not do much of anything. He says he’s still as good as ever and hopes to sign back on to an NFL contract within the year according to his overpaid agent, Drew Rosenhaus. His Montreal teammates have a different story to tell. They say he is lazy and doesn’t put in the necessary work to help the team win. Their coach Tom Higgins admits to giving him preferential treatment because of his performance in the NFL and isn’t too concerned with victory as his team is currently 1-8. Does Johnson stand any chance of getting back into the NFL?Will he once again be fantasy relevant? The answer to both of these questions is absolutely not, but he certainly will continue to entertain. And looking up this story let me watch a couple of clips from the CFL, which seemed to sport arena-league style running starts for wide receivers. I refer you to our resident expert on all things Canadian, @ianamunrud . Oh, fringe leagues trying to be relevant. You amuse us so.
Speaking of fringe leagues trying to be relevant. The People’s Republic of China is trying to be relevant and emulate its biggest competitor, the United States. The China American Football League (CAFL) is set to launch in 2015, sporting (pun intended) six to eight teams in two conferences. The league is being sponsored by among others, the owner of an AFL (Arena Football League) team, ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski, and something called the Chinese Rugby Football Association. The game is set to look a lot like arena football, its proponents citing that the faster pace is what a Chinese audience will want. I can’t say that I really know where to go with this one. It’s ridiculous. It’s hard to believe that with teams composed of Chinese players the teams could be anywhere near competitive with American teams, though that may not drain from the entertainment value one bit. It could also be an exciting avenue for old guys like Chad Johnson to make a comeback into a professional league, á la soccer players coming to the U.S. I’m excited for the triumphant return of: Dennis Rodman (seemingly the ambassador for American cultural to the communist countries as he is now best buds with Kim Jong-Un), Deion Sanders (he sure does add color), and Mark Cuban (I think he always dreamed of being a pro athlete and with the quality of this league, he may be able to make it as a starting tight end). Anyways, maybe an idea for an offshoot fantasy league next year.
The close of each week’s article will bring one brief link to something of interest to me and possibly to no one else, look at it at your leisure and thanks for reading.
Garrett Hart, Jackman Press Correspondent, August 2014
This weeks’s nonsense article, Angels and Airwaves set to release a film and an album on Halloween:
http://blastoutyourstereo.com/news/music-news/angels-and-airwaves-to-release-new-album-on-halloween-2014-9105
