Trail Talk Fantasy Football League

“Hey Folks,
It's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about the upcoming season and trash talking your favorite team.

I set a free FFL for TT'ers with Yahoo! so we can have some friendly competition. We're looking for other TT'ers who will be active participants for the duration. Those who want to join in just drop me an email at wgmchugh@pacbell.net and I'll send you the league name and password for entry. Hope to hear from all you football fanatics!

Cheers,
Pants”

“I'm in.. I'll drop you an e-mail this evening when I get off work.”

“Count me in. I sent you an email.”

“I call oj! :}”

“Here are the proposed scoring catefories and other pertinent info. I'm also including the League ID and password because I feel some may want to play but can't find the effort to shoot off an email. Sign yourself up if your interested.

League ID#: 988
Password: backpack
Draft Type: Live
Draft Time: Sunday, August 25 at 5:55 pm PDT
Draft Status: predraft
Maximum Number of Teams: 12
Maximum Players on a Team: 20
Maximum Moves: No maximum
Maximum Trades: No maximum
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head League
Waiver Time: 2 days
Last Trade Date: Friday, November 22
Trade Reject Time: 2 days
Playoffs: Week 15 and 16 (4 teams)
Bye Points: No
Fractional Points: Yes
Negative Points: Yes
Starting Positions: QB, WR, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, K, D, DL, DB

Statistical Categories (Offense): Passing Yards (30 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions (-2)
Rushing Yards (15 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (15 yards per point)
Reception Touchdowns (6)
Return Touchdowns (6)
2 Point Conversions (2)
Fumbles Lost (-2)

Statistical Categories (Kickers): Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (3)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (4)
Field Goals Missed 0-19 Yards (-3)
Field Goals Missed 20-29 Yards (-2.5)
Field Goals Missed 30-39 Yards (-2)
Field Goals Missed 40-49 Yards (-1.5)
Field Goals Missed 50+ Yards (-1)
Point After Attempt Made (1)
Point After Attempt Missed (-1)

Statistical Categories (Defense Players): Tackle Solo (1)
Tackle Assist (.5)
Sack (2)
Interception (2)
Fumble Recovery (2)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Block Kick (2)”

“Alright! We have Chili on board and if I know Artie correctly, he'll be there. How about you WSDavies? I know you know your football. I know you want another crack at me. Who else thinks they can beat me? Bring it on!”

“Just signed up. Look forward to wiping the floor with your teams.”

“PC, I'll try to find the time to enter tonight.”

“I'm in but I have a suggestion, with people in from around the US and the draft scheduled on a backpacking weekend I'd like to suggest an autodraft type of draft where we submit a list rather than trying to all be present at a preselected time.”

“Glad to see you guys joined up.

Dunk, I understand the predictament of LIVE drafts and the time zone differences but I have always felt LIVE drafts are much more fun and challengeing. It takes time to be part of a live draft thereby making somewhat of a committment to the team and duration of the season. Additionally, it gives managers with knowledge of players, drafting, etc... their due reward for being knowledgable. I've been in a variety of fantasy sport leagues using both methods of drafting and feel the LIVE draft leagues possess members who are really interested in playing. Submitting pre-ranked lists give managers a reason to quit when their desired players aren't picked. You are more than welcome to pre-rank your players if you can't attend the draft and encouraged to do so even if you can make it.

Lastly, I've seen too many Commissioners change league settings causing dissention amoung the owners. Therefore, I plan to be a very passive commish and let the chips fall where they may.

...and because I'm feeling generous here's some breaking news. Jamal Anderson is pondering retirement at this moment. This and the fact he has two blown knees means don't pick the gimp.”

“"Lastly, I've seen too many Commissioners change league settings causing dissention amoung the owners" Hmmmmm, I wonder who this guy is talking about...I'll join...the shoes on the other foot buddy...Not only am I gonna skool ya, but also give you hell while doing it....While I got your attention..you should join up with OBI and me for a 3-4 day portion of this summers southern JMT trip..CMON..you know your aching for cold beers and redneck women at VVR...plus you can play on the big log at warm lake..Were heading to VVR Aug.3 and hikeing out the 4th....Karen and I tried calling you a couple of weeks ago when we were driving through W. Creek but got no answer or machine...Your one elusive MoFo...”

“Yo Stevie! Glad to see ya. Hey, I wasn't necessarily talking bout you're commish duties. I'm currently in a baseball league where the commish totally screwed with scoring categories an hour before the draft. It caused half the managers to bolt. Funny thing is I'm in first and still #&%!$ing :).
It's crossed my mind to go with you guys but I suck at planning. I went to Yolla Bolly and had a nice 4 day hike but then my fuel pump was shot and had to spend $350 to get towed to Ukiah. Not to mention three nights in a flea infested dump motel. I'm not sure if I want to hike anymore after that. :)

Oh, and the phone is sore spot with me. I turned the ringer and machine off a long time ago. Man, I swear I get 50 telemarketer calls a day and this is the one sure way of avoiding them (along with everyone else, unfortunately). Best to drop me an email. Do you know of any Dynasty leagues with a spot open? Did you check last season's leagues. NFL.com wants money this year to play.”

“There's some guy here named Rick Kotite, wants to know if he can play!”

“Absolutely, but what kind of name is Kotite? and he must drink beer during the draft to even things up for those who don't show.”

“I'm sorry, Rich Kotite, not Rick, he says. Said he coached the Jets and Eagles awhile and ran them into the ground. Now he wants to run a fantasy league into the ground.”

“By Dynasty do you mean a winners league??? If so I'll have to check...I've been thinking of doing a 12 team money league..$240 winner takes all..It would have 3 commish's to keep up the trust level...I'll prolly do the Drunken Monkeys league agian, but with a different theme...I'm with you on the phone thing..I let the machine screen em..most of the time if it picks up then they hang up....If you change your mind on doing any part of the JMT then your welcome to come...No whiny women this time :)”

“What? you mean Danny is coming along? Pardon my brain fart... but where is WR?”

“PC, can the site support both a live draft and submitting a list? If not I'll be unable to participate. As I stated before, my computer will not support the live draft option. If Yahoo can support both the live draft and my submitting a list, then I'm in, even though this will put me at a significant disadvantage (This is only trash talk and pride right? No dinero). I can however, overcome this obstacle and rely on my superior ability to dominate. This will be the 5th league I'm in this year as well. As for Jamal Anderson, he may as well be Morten Andersen, he's off the radar screen. Besides I've always been more of a Curtis Enis fan.”

“Hey Dunkster, yes Yahoo! supports both LIVE and Pre-ranked drafts simultaneously. The pre-rank is kicks in if you are away for any reason or your computer crashes which happens every time when I draft. Lets see those superior ranking skills, boy!”

“V VR Vermillion Valley Resort.. the 2 v's next to each other look like a w VV eh”

“So, we need a couple more teams...Come on you sissy piss drinkers..Let's see what you got...”

“You need more than a couple. You need seven more managers. I'll look into joining if you don't mind.”

“Yes, more people sign up! What are you scared of?”

“They are afraid we will beat them like a drum, artex.”

“Don't doubt it. Wusses.”

“They are a bunch of wussies. I thought football would get some interest much more than the baseball league (which got almost zilch). I've been thinking, maybe we can extend an invitation to the "other" backpacking site and have a rivalry between Trail Talk boards. What do you think? or at least get Aero, geezr, prowler, and JOSH aboard and finally end their bickering once and for all. That would be sweet! Team Vicodin vs. The All Me Team.”

“Hey, I'm interested!! I mostly lurk here, but count me in before you invite players from another site. I will have to email from home this evening. Cursed work!!!!”

“More meat.”

“This Bud's for you Mr. Foamfinger man......

Well, at least it will be in about 30 minutes.”

“Foamfinger, you can sign up directly without emailing me. Just check the previous posts for League ID and League password. Welcome aboard.”

“Alrighty! Foamfinger is aboard. Now we need to fill up these last six managerial positions. Who has the juevos?”

“Be really cool if some females joined the league. Then again, whenever a girl joins, they always somehow win.”

“Yeah, that way Artex would be gauranteed a win. :)”

“Welcom aboard Battlen' Barons! Who are you if ya don't mind me asking? Only five more spots need fillin'.”

“:-D”

“I have two fantasy teams. One is the 49'ers and the other is the Chiefs.
Nuff said.”

“Of course I don't mind you asking, it's your league. By the way, sorry for the lame team name.

I'm just a lurker here at work who has given up on every sport except football. Friends of mine that were in fantasy football leagues seemed to get a big kick out of it, so I wanted to give it a try.”

“Cmon people..just a few more good men..or ladies...P-candy promises to buy a case of Natty Ice for the winner..just as long as you split it 70/30 with him..:)”

“Alrighty now. The draft is next weekend. Everybody gonna be there? Anyone else want to join in? Room for 4 more managers. Come on, you wankers!”

“I"m IN! ! ! !”

“You guys are toast..I'm gonna FF all over your sorry arses..especially Machew....hehehehehehehehhehehe...”

“Bengals are gonna win the Bowl this year!!

watch!!!!!!!!!!”

“It would appear that Prowler is on his "medication" again.”

“Ten years ago, 27 players in the National Football League (NFL) weighed 300 pounds or more. Today, about 235 men exceed that mark, and 40 offensive linemen alone are listed above 320!
Yes, football has always been a sport influenced by physical size, but c'mon, what's going on here? Why the incredible increase in size in a relatively short period of time? How in the heck did "big" get this big?

Evolution, Training and Nutrition
Sure, as a society we have gotten bigger. People in the 20th century are bigger than people were in the 19th century. But we're not talking about two inches and 15 pounds over the course of 100 years here. We're talking an exponential increase in size over the past 10 to 15 years!

"I remember back in the late '80s when they were doing documentaries on the quick growth of football players," says Steve Courson, former Pittsburgh Steeler and Tampa Bay Buccaneer, "people were shocked that linemen were averaging 270 pounds. That's puny by today's standards! And that's not that long ago!"

"You can look at nutrition and evolution through natural selection if you want, but this growth has warped the natural curve! No way that's just cornbread and genetics," he says.

To me, only one answer makes sense: This exponential growth is largely due to the use of anabolic drugs. Hey, drug use in the NFL occurs, no great revelation. And it's thanks to people like Courson that many of us are paying more attention to it.

"I was one of the first players to come public with all the drug use in the NFL back in 1985 [in a Sports Illustrated feature] while I was still playing. Then, Ben Johnson got caught, Lyle Oilseed died and the media began to cover the drug issue more," states Courson. "Unfortunately, I think a lot of the public doesn't want to hear about all this; they just want their Sunday afternoon entertainment."

And players dance to the music. What else can they do in an environment where every incentive is to be as big, as freaky and as powerful as possible?

But what about drug testing, right? After all, the NFL has a year-round testing policy. During the season, seven players from each team are tested each week using a randomized program. Random testing continues during the off-season, and every player must submit to a drug test during training camp. That should take care of it, shouldn't it?

Not so, say Courson and Yesalis, both of whom know the weaknesses of drug testing, NFL-style. "At best, you're missing many anabolic agents even when you test correctly," says Yesalis. "At worst, it's completely useless."

Courson adds, "Random testing is the biggest joke of all. If you have half a brain, you understand the frailties of testing; you can get around all of it at basically any time. One thing that we all [athletes] should do is expose drug testing for the farce it is.

"The facts are, first, drug testing doesn't work. Second, resistance training and nutrition hasn't changed much since the 1960s, and third, size, strength, speed and aggression are still highly valued in the NFL. What results from this mix is drug use. Period. No, not everyone's using, but many are."

What I can't keep getting out of my head is what these guys are going to go through when their playing days are over? An occupational necessity for health-damaging drugs leaves them with a shorter lifespan and a predisposition to heart disease and cancer.

The notion of "the bigger, the better" also means players are going to support their increased body weight with excessive calories, often from unhealthy sources. For instance, scanning the typical foods on the New York Giants' training camp table, you'd find everything from Canadian bacon to devil's-food cake--not very healthy choices.

And what about the physical part of the game? Now we've got 300-lbers running at each other at high speeds. What do you think is going to happen to joints when they're hit with such force?

Courson agrees. "Bigger bodies are moving faster with more power; the kinetic energy of the game has increased. It'll be real interesting to see what happens when you combine that over time on Astroturf. You may need to change equipment, too."

The recent light shed on O.J. Simpson and his football-related, long-term injuries, incurred when drugs were not as pervasive in the sport as they are now, only underscores what today's players might suffer in the future. Not only that, but larger muscles overload muscular attachments at joints. This places unusual stresses on the joint. As a result, the risk of osteoarthritis is dramatically increased when this occurs.

The Conspiracy of Silence
Why are so many fans who prop their feet up on the couch every Fall Sunday afternoon in the dark about the reality and pervasiveness of drug use? It comes down to money.

First, the fans like it with as much beef and power as they can get. "The engine that drives the train is the sporting public. They have become addicted to bigger, faster, stronger and are willing to pay for it. What player or coach wants to risk losing because he couldn't keep up the other guys? If you lose, you lose fan support and you lose money.

"Second, it's not within the best interest of the NFL or any of its players to admit that they have a big problem with performance-enhancing drugs. The image of the sport and the whole business would suffer," Courson continues.

So money drives the use of drugs, and secrecy perpetuates it. "The thing that keeps the lid on all of this is the conspiracy of silence in the NFL. No one [players] can really talk about it while they're in the sport for risk of losing their job.”

“huh? i fell asleep, what was that?”

“The NFL is abusing men. It also objectifies women.

Shame on you.”

“They abuse themselves to get the Hummer, La Casa Grande, and ultimately a date with the cheerleaders”

“Exactly, frimfram. Money is the method by which we are controlled.

Sex, on the other hand... Well, please see my post on subliminal messages.”

“nutrition hasn't changed since the 1960's? i find that one a little hard to swallow. just doesn't sound right. everything else has evolved so much, you'd think maybe nutritions would too.”

“Uhh, player politics aside, I'm in on the fantasy football part. Here's hoping that four more people show up!”