2012 fantasy recap -- week 8

In honor of our weather this week, and because there's a 75 percent chance I won't have power in another five minutes, I'm posting early. So let's pretend that the MNF game didn't happen, and look at some great hurricane moments in sports.

** In June 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes won their first (and only) Stanley Cup Championship, thanks in part to forward (and former Philadelphia Flyer) Rod Brind'Amour.

** In January 2003, the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Miami Hurricanes for the college football national championship in an upset, double-overtime thriller.

** In October 2010, the Seattle Storm won their second WNBA championship, making them the most successful sports franchise in city history. 

**  In February 2009, the Ohio Vortex of the Professional Arena Soccer League won their final game of the season, 7-5 over the Winnipeg Alliance, to finish their inaugural season 8-8.

** In October 1999, 13 years ago this week, Dodgers P Sandy Koufax was honored as part of MLB's All-Century team.

QB: Matthew Stafford, 37.23 pts -- started by Jeff
WR: Titus Young, 27.67 pts -- on the wire
RB: Doug Martin, 33.77 pts -- on Joel's bench
TE: Rob Gronkowski, 29.73 pts -- started by Joel
K: Lawrence Tynes, 19.00 pts -- started by ChampMike
DEF: Miami, 28.00 pts -- on the wire
D: Tim Jennings, 15.50 pts -- on the wire

Not a great week for us, but I assume the real top performers will all be in that exciting 49ers-Cardinals match-up tonight. When was the last time that Michael Crabtree wasn't the top WR? (Checks his records). OK, never, but still...


"Craptastic" edition
3rd place: Robert Meachem, -0.60 pts -- on Jim's bench
2nd place: Minnesota, -5.00 pts -- started by ChampMike
1st place: St. Louis, -6.00 pts -- sitting on the wire

The Patriots/Rams game in London this weekend features a rare thrill for the British fans -- The worst possible fantasy performance by the St. Louis defense. 45 points allowed, no sacks, no turnovers, no positives ... U-S-A! U-S-A! How could they not love the NFL after that?

Four years ago yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, ending a 25-year championship drought for the City of Brotherly Love. 

Now, four years later, where are we? The city has won zero more championships since then, and Iran is four years closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

Coincidence? 

Next Tuesday, vote Utley. 

On Friday, while I was watching the Moncton Wildcats play the Blainville-Boisbraind Armada -- the NHL channel was carrying Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action because of the lockout -- one of the announcers said that the Moncton defense was ...

No, you know what? I'm stopping there. I was watching the Moncton Wildcats play the Blainville-Boisbraind Armada. That's the stupidest thing I can thing of. Do you see what you've reduced me to, NHL? You really can't get your act together at all? What happens when I decide to stop watching the Eagles? (That happened three weeks ago.) Am I really going to have to watch regular season basketball? I thought we were more civilized than that.

For the record, the Wildcats won 3-2.

Typically, decoding the mystery that is the Dallas anagram insults is a time-consuming slog, devouring hours of my week and untold quantities of my energy. It's physically and mentally exhausting, a sacrifice of my sanity for the sake of humanity.

And then there are players like Cowboys SS Eric Frampton, whose name took me less than a minute to anagram six times:

Eric Frampton
** Frantic moper
** Prancer motif
** Prim face torn
** Confer armpit
** Farce in tromp
** Oft crap miner

"Confer armpit" is my favorite, thought I can't quite explain what it means.


Week 8 standings

These numbers were pulled Monday afternoon, so I'm not ready to say that I've been knocked out of first place. After all, I still have a linebacker to go. He could score 34 pts...

** Let's just say that I did not follow up on last week's success in the picks against Dad, and now I'm down 11. You don't need the rest of the details.

** Here's a quick bit of NFL trivia -- Only two men have caught passes from both Peyton and Eli Manning: WR Brandon Stokley and FB Jim Finn. Here's another bit of trivia -- both Manning brothers can rot in hell. I'm sick of those guys.

** I'm sick of the Giants and the Giants too. I hate all the Giants. I even hate Rick Moranis for making the movie "Little Giants" right now. Andre the Giant is still cool, rest his soul.