And I Swore I Wasn't Doing Any Fantasy Football This Year...

Last Saturday, my brother and I journeyed to the wildnerness of New Hampshire to take part in the draft for his long-running fantasy football league. He's been doing it for ten years, give or take, with a group of friends from college, but this is my second year as his "general manager" and first appearance at the draft (he refused to allow me to attend last year because I'd been in the emergency room the night before). My first appearance at ANY live draft, in fact.

It was everything I always hoped and dreamed it would be. Pretty much.

A few points before I share the potential horror that is our 2007 team:

• Saturday was hot as balls to begin with (that one's for you, Lozo). Throw in a house with no air conditioning, two seriously overmatched floor fans, and a bunch of people in a relatively enclosed space, and you had one very warm fat man.


• On the bright side, there were also approximately 473 "So when are you gonna turn on the central air?" jokes.


• Every team is allowed up to three keepers. The league commissioner kept Stephen Jackson (!), LaDainian Tomlinson (!!), and Peyton Manning (*cough*fix*cough*)...then threw a minor fit when somebody outsmarted him in the first round and snatched up the San Diego Chargers defense. I probably wouldn't have cared all that much, except he was so set on taking a defense in the first round that he snagged the Patriots...which I was hoping would slip through a couple of rounds.


• You've heard about the guy who takes things too seriously or the guy who consistently picks players who have already been taken? I was the guy who kept forgetting to check bye weeks. At one point, we were pretty sure that we wouldn't have any players for Week 6.


• For reasons that remain unknown at this time, the host's wife wanted me dead. After the draft, I was eating some celery and dip while everyone sort of stretched their legs and tried not to die from the heat. After watching me eat for a few minutes, she picked up the dip, said, "Has this been out all day? It's probably bad," and threw it away. After watching me eat it. Fortunately, it appears I'll live.

Anyhow - on to the team, which could be very good or very bad, depending on how things work out. We had the fifth and ninth picks in the supplemental draft, then drafted fourth overall when the regular picks started.

Keeper: Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis - After an injury plagued season for our team last year, Wayne was one of the only players on our roster worth keeping (in retrospect, we should've held onto Rudi Johnson - my bad).

Supplemental Pick 1: Willis McGahee, RB, Baltimore - The best back remaining at the time. Please God, let him run for 1,500 yards this year.

Supplemental Pick 2: Jon Kitna, QB, Detroit - He wasn't the highest ranked quarterback on my list - Vince Young was something like 8th (and lasted seemingly forever) - and he wasn't the first choice of either my brother or myself (he liked Chad Pennington, I favored Alex Smith), but the Lions have a ton of offensive weapons.

Round 1: Marshawn Lynch, RB, Buffalo - There weren't many top backs still available, so it's not as big a reach as it looks (that's what my brother has been telling himself, anyway).

Round 2: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, Cincinnati - I didn't take Howsha-ma-zilly solely because it would allow me to quote that ridiculous ESPN commercial - it was just a nice added bonus. Of course, the one person in America who hasn't seen the commercial? My brother. Figures.

Round 3: Jacksonville DST

Round 4: Vincent Jackson, WR, San Diego - They can't go to Gates and Tomlinson ALL the time, can they?

Round 5: Marion Barber, RB, Dallas - It was between him and Julius Jones. Barber should get more goal line touches.

Round 6: Jason Elam, K, Denver - Best kicker still available. The idea was to put together a full starting lineup, then start looking for subs.

Round 7: Matt Schaub, QB, Houston - I'm hoping for a breakout season, even with the Texans subpar offensive line.

Round 8: Chris Cooley, TE, Washington - He had a good year last year (730 yards, 6 touchdowns) and is playing with an inexperienced quarterback who will hopefully view him as a safety valve.

Round 9: Seattle DST

Round 10: Reuben Droughns, RB, New York Giants - Seems like there's a good chance that he will end up getting a fair number of carries alongside Brandon Jacobs.

Round 11: Amani Toomer, WR, New York Giants - We had him last year and he was a big producer before injuring his knee.

Round 12: Damon Huard, QB, Kansas City - It was either Huard or another kicker. Considering the potential crapfest that is our quarterback situation, we figured this was the best option.

My overall thoughts: This team has a chance to be solid, but there are a lot of ifs - if Lynch can become the featured back in Buffalo, if McGahee bounces back in Baltimore, if Schaub emerges as a top-line NFL quarterback in Houston...you get the point. It'll be interesting to see which of our many reaches pan out and which don't.