There's No 'I' In Fantasy

If you are a sports fan in this day and age that has Internet access, you probably play fantasy sports. The most popular of them is football with baseball coming in second. You play with your friends, family and co-workers. You have your draft either as a party or online. Then you make trades and pick up players as free agents from the waiver wire to supplement the holes on your roster. Your goal is to win, but your team doesn't have the same agenda as you do.

It's your fantasy and your team knows this, but they don't care. They suffer injuries that may last for a couple of weeks or the entire season. Their coaches employ running backs by committee and also call plays that implement players you've never heard of. That person becomes the hero of the moment until they get cast aside as a fluke. It's all about the tease and there are many people trying to tell you what they think. It's the politics of fantasy football and it's all just one giant conspiracy.

These so-called 'experts' are nothing more than a cross between weathermen, actuaries and the 'house' at a casino. They are studying trends and applying that knowledge to project what they think will happen. But just when you think you have all of the answers, as Rowdy Roddy Piper would say, they change all of the questions. I may speak on this matter in generalizations, but that's essentially the name of the game. It's will be winding with lots of snow. Player 'X' didn't play in practice on Wednesday, but he should be ready to go. Team 'Y' is historically good against the run, but weak against the pass. Player 'Z' could be out for 2-8 weeks depending on rehab and the severity of the injury. It's all speculation, that's all the game is cracked up to be anyway.

It's not about you, it was never about you, don't forget that. So have fun, but just remember, the fix is already in.

Coming Up Next: Big Things?

We are just over a week away from what could be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC or MMA in general or at least until the next main event fight comes along a month or two after that. In the fight game, you are only as good as your last fight and to follow the time-tested credo of Raiders emperor Al Davis of 'Just Win Baby'. You can build and create stars, but ultimately their staying power will be dictated by their training regimens, injury susceptibility, win-loss record, marketability and overall lifestyle. Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar are two heavyweight fighters that the UFC can bank on. You could say it'll be the unstoppable force (Lesnar - the future, the ticking timebomb of potential looking to explode onto the prime landscape of the greenest of pastures) meeting the immovable object (Couture - the figurative battery that keeps going in his 40s) like Gorilla Monsoon did to compare Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant. Some would say Couture is passing the torch to Lesnar, but Couture can still take a licking.

Randy has the all the requisite experience and is the more well-rounded of the two fighters. He is in my opinion the favorite, Lesnar must prove him wrong. Lesnar is a wild card, in time he'll be a dominant force in MMA. Brute strength and an unrefined skill set, will he be able to bring enough to the table to compete with the seasoned and masterful Couture. The clash of styles and personalities will make for great theater. You can't script many better bouts, just ask Vince McMahon, he's tried. I don't think he got the real Lesnar, the real Brock isn't entertaining being someone that he isn't. He was at his best when he was an extention of himself and even that character wasn't that good. Fans were able to overlook that because they could forecast what he could become.

As long as Brock is hungry, the sky is the limit, but will Randy's Diner serve him up a slice of humble pie? Tune in to find out.

Second Fiddle Faddle

J.P. Losman, Matt Cassel, Byron Leftwich, Brady Quinn, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Sage Rosenfels, Kerry Collins, Damon Huard, Tyler Thigpen, Brooks Bollinger, Brad Johnson, Rex Grossman, Gus Frerotte, Dan Orlovsky, Brian Griese, Shaun Hill, Trent Green, Seneca Wallace

18 quarterbacks who have or will see significant playing time during the 2008 NFL season. If you are a QB in college who is being scouted as a pro prospect, you must be licking your chops right now. The time is now for many QBs that are 2nd or 3rd on their team's depth chart.

It can be a crapshoot, I'll throw another list at you, the list of QBs that have won a Super Bowl in the 2000s. Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady (3 times), Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning. QB is an important position, but coaches have found ways to win with average QBs. Time of possession, running the football, stalwart defense......passing is overrated.

And who doesn't like an underdog. It's why we pull for the scrubs during training camp. Nobody ever expects the understudy to prevail, but dreams can come true. What else is there to say, the proof is in the pudding. It's all so cliche, but that's why we play the games. A good backup is like an insurance policy, you are taking a risk if you don't have one in place.