Nightmare Football

This season, its not called fantasy football. It's called Nightmare Football.

I had waited 8 months for fantasy football to come back. I was the two-time champion looking to defend my crown as champion. I have always considered myself a saavy fantasy coach. I was ready this year. I had done my research and looked to the draft eager to go.

And then the draft came - fifth pick overall. Top four RB's are already gone. Stephen Jackson, Portis, Gore - all still on the board. But who do I pick? The #1 fantasy scorer from last year, Mr. Tom Brady. Thank you Tom, for your 8 minutes of greatness this season. Fast forward to seven rounds later - I need a third receiver, and I just found the perfect one..... Nate Burleson, the only receiver left on the Seahawks. Burleson's first game of the season - 5 receptions for 60 yards and one TD. Then he goes and tears his ACL.



Two of my first eight picks are lost for the entire season. That's 25% of my top 8 picks rendered useless. I was left scrambling. I started making trade offers to everyone in my league.

I decided to put up my 4th round draft pick, Dallas Clark (I know what you're thinking...."Dallas Clark should not be a 4th round pick," but I stand by it. He is good for 10 TDs when he's healthy.) Somehow, I was able to trade Dallas Clark for Steve Smith. But I still had no quarterback. Right now, I am rocking John Kitna (sprained knee) and Carson Palmer (inexplicably missed last week's game, giving me ZERO points).

So it's coming up on week 5, and I am 0-4 on the season with a league low 174 points. My starting lineup?

Kitna/Palmer (whichever one is playing the worse opponent)
Maurice Drew (only one double digit scoring game this year)
Jamal Lewis (ditto - I'll be surprised if he breaks 100 yards in a game this year)
Santonio Holmes (for some reason Hines Ward is getting all the targets, especially in the red zone)
Jerrico Cotchery (probably my best player, even though he completely disappeared in half the games)
Steve Smith (I really hope last week is a sign of things to come)
John Carlson (The only receiver in Seattle - but he's a TE and now he's being double covered)
Giants D (I just traded for them [Matt Cassel and Anthony Fassano for Palmer and Giants D] and this will be their first week in action)
Ryan Longwell (Top 3 ranked kicked in the NFL. My best player is my kicker! Woo!)

My bench?
Sproles (I have been praying for LT to break an ankle)
Matt Jones (I should probably be starting him over Holmes)
Sammy Morris (The Patriots go-to back in the red zone...it's too bad they rarely are going to get there this year)
Bo Scaife (Actually a popular target considering he's a second-string TE on a running football team)
Patriots D and Broncos D (I know....three defenses on my team...what the hell am I thinking, right?)


So that's my team. I mean, they really aren't that bad on paper. My starting lineup is respectable. But none of them are performing. NONE of them. No consistency whatsoever. I haven't even cracked 70 points yet.

This is why it's not fantasy football - it's Nightmare Football. I don't even like Sundays anymore. I have NFL Season Ticket on Direct TV, but all it does is piss me off. I can't stand Hines Ward getting all the targets, or Darren Sproles getting 6 touches a game, or John Kitna throwing 3 INTs in garbage time. It is taking too much out of me. I am on the verge of quitting.



But writing this blog entry helped. Maybe I need to get away from sports for a while. I'm going to start blogging about other things. Too much stress in sports.

I hope all of you have better fantasy teams than me. And if you do (and I'm sure you all do), I don't want to hear about it. Only a month till NBA fantasy starts!