My week 12 deep sleeper picks...

Time's running out so I am going to make these picks quickly for today's games.

Deep Sleeper QB: Jason Campbell--Taking on an aggresive D without his main RB. Will have to get the ball out quick but if he can big plays will be there. Fearless prediction of 2 tds 240 yards. tempted to give Washington the win but I just cannot do it. Phili wins by less than 10 but more than 5.

Deep Sleeper RB: Steve Slaton--Tough call on RBs this week as I think most are slotted about where they will be. Steve Slaton though is generally being ranked about the 20th spot for RBs this week and that is fine, but I think he will put up RB1 type numbers this week. Look for 2 scores from Slaton and 120 total yards. If the game is close he gets these numbers, and I think the game will be close. If the Colts go up big in the first half slaton's numbers are much smaller.

Deep Sleeper WR: Robert Meachem-- Saints taking on the Patriots on Monday night look for Meachem to get a score and about 70 yards. Patriots do a wonderful job of taking away first and most of the time your second option. The Saints have a number of weapons but their want to stretch the field means Meachem gets top billing when it comes to deep sleeper of the Saints this week.

Time to Give Thanks...And Get Back to Some Weathered Sports....

Glad to see the world's greatest golfer has returned home after an early morning day after thanksgiving crash just outside his home. Let's use this news to remember to give thanks this year to those around us who are special. My little girl is sleeping in the room next to me and I cannot imagine life without her.



I know it isn't Jan 1 and all but I am going to make a resolution right now. To get back to some Weathered Sports. It is something i have to do and something that I think you guys will enjoy and I hope will learn something about as well. Look every morning for a new post on anything from the latest weather system to how it will effect the very sporting events you enjoy every day.



This weekend looks nice weatherwise with the only chance for rain being in San Diego of all places as an upper level lows will be parked just East. Rain chances will be isolated at best there. Overall I don't see weather really being a problem this weekend for any sports as temperatures will be near their seasonal averages. Come back tomorrow for a couple of big fantasy picks. Right now I have no clue who I am going with but I like to go for deep sleepers who will have big games.

Big Week 3 Numbers for Fred Taylor

Let's get right to my picks for this week and also a little more information on my deep sleeper of the week Fred Taylor. Let's start with Fragile Fred....

Just like I said in the previous post I am sick of so called profesionals not taking the actual game into account. For week 3, the NE Patriots are a perfect example of a team needing to focus on the simple things... As a coach, Bill Belicheck knows his team doesn't believe in themselves just yet. He knows his team should really be 0-2. So what would you do if you were him? Would you establish the run that up until this point you didn't feel really needed to be established? Would you make the game shorter in order to keep a better handle on it? Would you like to force the safeties up into the box once again? Yeah that is what he is going to do. Taylor is the best runner NE has and he is going to have a big game. Expect 90 plus yards and a score for Taylor in Week 3. That's advice no other fantasy site is giving right now as most have Taylor ranked in the 40s overall for RBs.

Now let's go and find some other picks that are deep sleepers. Ryan Grant is being ranked generally between 10-15 this week. I think he will be a top 5 back this week. Also Tim Hightower should be listed as a top 15 back instead of top 30 back this week. I do not like Deangelo Williams against the Cowboys as a top five back. He probably won't score this week and they will have to throw late. Passing games that could have a good week include the Panthers. Steve Smith will have a big game. I also will go back to another big running game as having an adverse affect on the passing game with the Patriots having another unspectacular passing performance tomorrow. Moss still gets in the end zone late to put the game away.

I Now Know What this Blog Will Be...

I cannot take it anymore. There is just a slew of bad fantasy football advice out there. How can you expect to win if you are relying on the terrible football advice these guys are giving. I am going to do things a little different though. My rankings and my hot and not list will be based on how the game is expected to play out first and not on random statistics given out due to players averages. RB's on teams expected to win will get large weekly bumps. RB's on teams expected to win big will get an average weekly rank due to them largely getting a quarter or two off. I like to think about it as the theory of fantasy football and I think it is time fantasy owners begin looking at the game

I am going to give a late Friday pick and then I will hopefully give my top 5 studs and duds for this Sunday late on Saturday. Hopefully I can keep this up throughout the rest of the year along with how I think key games impacting fantasy teams will turn out and what that means to your fantasy teams.

This week I am reaching deep and going to give an unlikely hero for Sunday Week 3. Fred Taylor will have a big game for the 1-1 Patriots. Check back tomorrow for a break down of Atlanta vs. New England and why fred Taylor is going to have a big day.

Baseball: A New Age is Beginning

I have to give props to this months espn the magazine. if you haven't picked up a copy you really should, especially if you are a stats geek like me. The magazine has several impressive stats in it including a number of new stats they are using to analyze fantasy statistics in football for the year. very interesting stuff.







Through all the stats that I have seen so far I find the one most impressive is the MLB players over 30 stat output for the past twenty years. It is some interesting stuff and may show a correlation between how steroids has helped older players the most. extending their careers well into their 30s. As the ESPN the Magazine says.....30 just may be the new 40 in baseball.

Now let's talk about steroid use in baseball. No one outside of the game will ever know the true extent of how deep into the fabric of the game steroids had become. If I had to throw out a number I would say more than 70 percent of pro baseball players were juicing. once again this is just a random number I'm throwing out. I think about it like this, if you were a baseball player and you were told you could take something to make you better and keep you in the game longer would you take it? Yeah you may start with products sold down at your local GNC but even stuff sold there is now illegal and not allowed. Where would you cut it off at? Would you stop with creatine? Why not go a little further, especially when the pay-off is so great...

For people not into sports the biggest myth about steroids is the drugs make you stronger. Yes they allow you to have more lean muscle mass but overall steroids work by allowing your muscle to repair and heal faster. They also give you that umph to get going on the rough days. Steroids was custom made for the over 30 baseball player, and now at the end of the steroids era we are also looking at the end of the 30s player being relevant when it comes to playing at your highest level for the longest amount of time possible.

To check my theory I just checked the yahoo fantasy baseball season rankings. Not one of the top 10 guys statistically this year in a standard five by five league are 30 years old yet. If this holds up for any amount of time this is going to completely change the game of baseball. We've already seen a fundamental change in how teams are handling their prospects. I personally think this is great for the game of baseball. Players reaching their peak at 26 and then slowly seeing their stats diminish will take the punch out of teams overpaying free agents. It is also going to make teams think twice before giving up several prospects for a solid 28 year old player. We could be entering into a new age of baseball...

To wrap things up I just want to add while steroids allowed players to keep up their high level of play, the athletes still had to work harder than 99 percent of the people out there. I don't know if taking steroids by itself should keep players out of the Hall of Fame, especially when looking at the fact some of their stats came off of opposing pitchers and hitters who very well were juicing themselves.

UFC is in trouble.

Let me start off my saying I have not drank the hater aid that many sportscasters have been spewing over the past couple of days. This past weekend the UFC held their 100th event and I am not naive, it was huge. It was so huge that many are now predicting ultimate fighting is now bigger than boxing. I will admit the momentum is on the side of ultimate fighting, but let's not kid ourselves this is as good as it is going to get for the caged sport.

So why do I feel mixed martial arts has reached its peak when it comes to popularity. First off it is the cool new kid that is just now showing up to school. Intriguing? yes, but what happens once the intrigue wears thin? What happens when those who are jumping on the sport now because it is something they have never seen before tire? What happens when well reality hits? I will tell you what happens. This niche sport goes back to being what it is. That isn't all bad though. Dana White can still fund his hell of a life as the commissioner of a niche sport. The problem as I see it though, is that what I just pointed out to me is a best case scenario, and if White and others aren't careful they could be looking at a sport that can become much less than my previous predictions.

The problem is that the big guy has now won. Brock Lesner winning did way more damage to me than his post Mir fight mouth ever could have done. Yes the mouth made him and the sport look like something straight out of Vince McMahon's playbook. Lesner winning though made me wonder if the rules of the sport are so open and inclusive that the larger you are, the more of an advantage you're going to have. No one wants to see the biggest guy on the court always win.

Let's compare brawlers and wrestlers in UFC to pure boxers. In boxing weight is maybe the third or fourth most important thing for a fighter to possess. Just at the top of my head I can think about speed, reach, and strength. That isn't even getting into the defense one gains when holding and grabbing are not allowed. That is why boxing is known as the sweet science. It's the thinking man's fight with a paper rock scissors guess of what is being thrown and what to throw often occurring 12 rounds in a row. The UFC? Fights are often times much shorter with the longest fights just lasting 3 rounds. Those shorter matches means larger guys don't have to endure for the long haul, but can make sure to come right after the other fighter pushing the action. Entertaining? Yes, but in the long run I just don't see how it keeps its current popularity.

Historic Week...

It may seem small but just remember this week as the first time Wimbledon's Centre Court roof was used during the tennis major. The historic event occured during the match involving Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo on June 29th.

I don't think the match itself is significant, but if you want to make some cheap money the official first Wimbledon use is to me interesting. You see while the roof was fully closed on June 29th, the first real usage was on June 24th where court officials were asked to move the roof in some 5ft or so to cool the royal VIP section.

To tide you over here are some interesting facts about the roof....

- The roof takes 10 minutes to close. - It is 16 metres above the court surface. - The maximum time before play can start or continue after the roof is closed and the internal environment stabilised is 30 minutes. - 43 miles per hour - the wind speed up to which the roof can be deployed/retracted. - The span of the moving roof trusses is 77 metres. - The weight of each of the 10 trusses is 100 tonnes. - 1,200 extra seats have been installed. - The combined weight of the roof is 3,000 tonnes. - It would take 7,500 Wimbledon umbrellas to cover the same area as the roof. - 290 million tennis balls could fit in Centre Court with the roof closed.

thanks to the UK mirror for that. If you want to know more about the roof you can also check out this article.

US News article on how roof works.

Finally here are my predictions. Venus takes the all time series lead by one over sister Serena. 6-3 6-4. Federer also sets the record for singles major victories with another win over Rodick. 6-4 6-3 6-4