My Fantasy Team Doesn't Have Anyone Named Manning or Brees (But There Certainly Are Some Tight Ends)

When someone asks me who I've got starting on my fantasy team, I'm thinking:

or

Not this:

or

Now, before I begin to rant about this, let me say that I have no inherent dislike of fantasy football. At its basis, I like the idea. I play Pigskin Pick'em, and I like to gamble on football (never involving money of course, as sports gambling is illegal in Illinois). Both of the above mentioned methods, as well as fantasy football, are nice ways to care about a game that one otherwise wouldn't. Being the fan of a small market team in the midst of a clear rebuilding phase while living in the third largest media market in the country that I am, I need all the help I can get to care about most of the football games that I see on a normal Sunday. What has been grinding on me the last few years is how fantasy football has integrated itself into the game to such a level that it has seemingly become the focus for far too many people.

My biggest complaint is that people are now cheering for stats and players, not the team. I have literally been sitting at a bar watching the early slate of games (my Chiefs almost always play at noon) and seen people wearing a jersey of one team paying attention to every other game because they had fantasy players in that contest. I've seen other people get mad at the quarterback of the team they came in representing because he didn't throw the TD pass to the receiver on their fantasy team. That borders on insane in my eyes. I don't care how the Chiefs win (and they sure haven't been doing much of that lately), all I want on a Sunday afternoon is the W. I don't care if the touchdown came from a J. Charles run or a Chris Chambers catch. All that matters is the win.

ESPN has gotten in on the game too. Mike & Mike have a brief segment every week discussing if one should start or sit players, and there is a show that airs Sunday that does the same on ESPN2. Really, ESPN, is this necessary? Please stick to reporting on the games based on reality.

Now, I wouldn't fault you if you felt that the above two reasons for my dislike of the "dedicated" fantasy football type were just me whining. The thing that really annoys me is when there is a debate about if something that happened in the real NFL game was fair to the owners of that player/squad in fantasy football. Two examples from this season are Peyton Manning being sat in week 16 (championship week for most fantasy leagues) and Maurice Jones-Drew's intentional knee at the one yard line to burn clock time instead of running in the score. I can remember debate on ESPN about both of these decision's impacts on fantasy football, and MJD even went so far as to apologize to his fantasy owners. This is where is really crosses the line in my book. There are plenty of reasons to be mad about Manning being benched (trust me, I sure am), and I can even understand the logic of wanted MJD to never let up on a run, but to be bad because it kept fantasy points off the board? As Chad Ochocinco would say, "Child, please!"

With all this being said, I'm sure I would enjoy playing fantasy football if I ever gave it a shot. If you're one of the people who runs a fantasy squad and keeps your sports priorities straight, nice work. I'm sure fantasy football is only going to get bigger, and eventually I'll come to at least comprehend how it could supercede rooting for a real football team, but for now, the "dedicated" guilty of the above mentioned complaints are giving me at least one reason to be glad the regular season is over.

My Favorite Albums of 2009

2009 had some great albums released in its 365 days. I was originally planning on doing a countdown, but with all the differences amongst the bands, I'm not sure it's appropriate to do so. I also don't want to label this a "best of" list, because although I do listen to a ton of music, I haven't heard nearly enough of the stuff that came out to have a definitive answer as to the best. I'm sure there were some bands that flew below my radar that put out killer music.

I was planning on writing up why I liked each album, but that seemed kind of pointless. Each album had great songs, no filler, and kicked my ass at some point in 2009.

If you like these albums, support these artists by buying their music or better yet by seeing them live.


-Mastodon, Crack The Skye












"Oblivion"
"The Czar"

-Baroness, Blue Record

"A Horse Called Golgotha"
"The Sweetest Curse"

-The Devin Townsend Project, Addicted

"Bend It Like Bender!"
"Hyperdrive!"
"In-Ah!"

-Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue

"Check My Brain"
"Your Decision"

-Megadeth, Endgame

"Endgame"
"Bite The Hand"

-Scale The Summit, Carving Desert Canyons

"The Great Plains"
"City in the Sky"

-Isis, Wavering Radiant

"20 Minutes/40 Years"
"Hall of the Dead"

Albums That Blew My Mind: "Master of Puppets" by Metallica

If you've known me for any length of time in the last thirteen to fourteen years, you know that music has played and continues to play a major role in my life. From time to time I plan to go into more detail on certain albums that played a big part in the development of my musical taste and styling. Most of the albums I'll be going over are well known. The point of this is to explain how I came to love the record, as well as its specific impact on me, not a song by song breakdown or a review of the album.

There is no album more deserving to begin with than Metallica's 1986 masterpiece, Master of Puppets.

I was first exposed to this monster in the spring of 1997, when I was in seventh grade. Metallica was not an alien band to me at the time; I had been listening to Chicago's main rock station, 103.5 for a few years, and was familiar with the stuff from the self titled album (it was the first CD I ever bought) as well as the singles from Load ("Ain't My Bitch," "Until It Sleeps"). One of my friends told me that if I liked those songs, I should check out Metallica's older stuff. He lent me his copy of Puppets, and I headed home to check it out. At this point, I was just happy to have another disc to put in my new CD boom box. I wasn't really sure what to expect, especially with the cover art's ominous look.

What I got was a sledgehammer to the eardrums. I had NEVER heard anything like it. As soon as the distorted guitars kicked in at the 38 second mark of "Battery" I was hooked. It was the fastest, loudest, meanest music I had ever experienced.

Every song on the album is killer. There is literally no filler to be found. The songs are complex, yet still accessible. Metallica goes from heavy as all hell (tell me you don't want to just break stuff when you hear the title track or "Leper Messiah") to soft (relatively speaking) and reflective in the middle section of "Orion." James' monster right hand and rhythm technique are on display throughout. Kirk's solos blaze. Lars sounds possessed on the drums, and it's astounding to know that Cliff didn't use a pick for any of the bass lines. It's 55 minutes of metal perfection. There's a reason why this album is listed either at or near the top of almost every list of best metal records ever made. It has become popular in the last decade or so to bash Metallica (many times fairly), but anyone who denies the power of Master of Puppets is simply hating on Metallica. I honestly believe it is impossible to like heavy music and not enjoy this record.

So, what did Puppets do for me?

For starters, it was my proper introduction to heavy metal. Everything about it just seemed so dangerous. There was the album cover, with its crosses, puppet strings, and the army helmet, which just looked so damn threatening. It sure looked different than the other albums I had seen. There were the songs about drugs, violence, war, death, and other things that were much more adult than what was popular at the time. The picture in the back of the booklet showed Cliff Burton (bass) flipping the bird, and the rest of the band looked just as pissed off. I was (and am) an extremely shy person, and this image appealed to me. I didn't know much about this metal stuff, but I sure wanted to learn more.

It also got me interested in guitar. After seeing some other pictures of the "old" James Hetfield on the Internet (remember, by '97 Hetfield had short hair and was well dressed, which took some of the edge off) with his Gibson Explorer strapped super low, I thought there was nothing cooler. For being as shy and quiet as I was (and am), something about having the ability to create an ungodly amount of noise sounded pretty nice. Although it would take a few years to convince my parents to buy me another instrument after my failures at viola and oboe, the seeds were planted with Puppets. An Explorer shaped guitar is still on my guitar "to buy" list, mainly because of James. I still think James is untouchable from a cool standpoint from the mid '80s to the early '90s.

This album will probably always occupy the #1 in personally important albums. It's the only record I literally say changed my life.

Some songs to check out:

"Master of Puppets" live in 1986

"Orion" live in 2006 (starts at 1:40)

"Battery" live in 1989


Rest in peace, Cliff. Bang the head that does not bang.

So, What's the Point?

I figure explaining why I'm starting a blog in 2010 is as good of a way to begin my writing as any. There are several reasons why I've decided to start putting my thoughts and opinions to this page:

1. I admit there is a certain level of narcissism involved. If I didn't think my opinions were at least worth reading and thinking about, I wouldn't bother sharing them.

2. To a certain extent, I'm doing this as a type of mental time capsule. I want to look back a few months from now and see what I was thinking.

3. Everything that I write about will hopefully be open for debate. If you disagree, let me know on here or in person.

4. I enjoy writing, and don't really get the chance to do it much these days.

5. I'm a geek. It's how I roll.

This isn't going to be a LiveJournal styled diary. I plan on focusing mainly on my interests of music, sports, movies, and the like. From time to time I'll give my take on a political issue, but I'm not looking to go super heavy here. Like I said, if you read something you like, let me know. If you read something you don't like, let me know.

With that said, here.... we..... go.