Fantasy football thoughts.

Don't worry Mr Rivers, as fantasy
football owners of you, we understand
your pain.

It is hard to enjoy fantasy football this season. Not once do I go into a Sunday looking forward to seeing my fantasy football team perform. I am always nervous that my players will lay a dud, or one of them will be scratched before the game, or they will be victim of a horrendous performance by the teams QB. I am talking about CJ2K’s and Julio Jones’s horrific inconsistencies, Philip Rivers giving me headaches all season (who thankfully I was able to flip last week trading Alfred Morris/Rivers/S.Smith for Peyton Manning), and playing waiver wire with the TE position all season thanks to Aaron Hernandez’s continuing injury problems!

For all my problems, I am thankful for getting Alfred Morris off the waiver wire to save me from CJ2K’s early season woes. I am thankful that one of my opponent’s internet cut off during the live draft subjecting him to a horrible auto-draft. I am thankful that one of my opponent's first two picks was Eli Manning and Shonn Greene. I am thankful that I have been outscored overall throughout the season, but I hold a stellar 6-3 record.

I am sure many of you have similar stories. For those of you who picked up Maurice Jones-Drew in the second round thinking you have a steal when he takes the field in game two then racks up 150+ yards against the Colts in week 3, only to see him injured already. For every person who took a gamble on Michael Vick there is also the lucky buggers who took a gamble on Peyton Manning. For those of you who gambled taking RG3 in the sixth round are just hoping he holds up to steer you through the fantasy playoffs or for those of you who were wondering if you took the Bears defence far too early in the 7^th round are now in..Uh...7^th heaven.

Hopefully RG3 is aware of the Madden curse and lets
Andrew Luck take the honous for Madden '14

Just be thankful you paid attention to the dreaded Madden curse and avoided Mr Calvin ‘Megatron’ Johnson (maybe just Supertron or Goodtron this year?). Halfway through the season Megatron has been the biggest bust – with the person drafting them passing on the likes of Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Ray Rice in some drafts.

P.s. Dear John Madden,

As a Washington Redskins fan, I beg you not to put RG3 on the cover of Madden ’14.

NBA Betting Predictions for the 2012/13 Season

The Heat are on a scoring spree to start the season while
forgetting to defend so take the overs before the betting
lines start to catch up.

It looks as though we could be in for a profitable year in the NBA. There are a couple of elite teams who will score a ton of points (Heat and Spurs (once Ginobili come back)) so we can look at those games to frequently go over the points total. A couple of the other elite teams (Celtics and Thunder) are pretty strong defensive teams so if the total is floating around 190/191 total points and these teams are playing at home, it is a strong play to go under the total.

Looking at the mid-tier teams in the East such as Atlanta, Philly, both NY teams and Chicago in the East, none of these stand out offensively. If they are going against a like-minded team or another weak team offensively (Toronto, Washington, Charlotte, Detroit) look for the under total. If this is floating around 190, lock it in.

In the West, defense seems to be a lot stronger. Teams such as the Grizzlies, Clippers, Lakers, and Hornets will all be strong defensive units this year. If you have two of these mid-tiers defensive teams going against one another, look for the total to be in the 183-187 range.

If you have a mid-tier team going against a Heat/Spurs/ or the Nuggets/Suns/Bobcats (who can’t stop anyone on the defensive end) and the total is around 198-200, take the over. The Heat and Spurs are so strong offensively and like to score fast break points, meaning more possessions for both teams.

If a team has a young point guard who likes to attack, such as the Cleveland Cavs (Kyrie Irving) or the Portland Trailblazers (Damian Lillard), if the over is looking enticing (anything that is under 190 DEFINITELY take the over, and anything more than that, take the other teams strengths into consideration), take it. Both of these guards like to play a high tempo offense meaning lots of possessions and lots of fast break points.

3 tips to use as a nice guideline over the opening weeks.

Until Wall is back in uniform, take
the Wizards under totals.

• Until John Wall comes back for the Wizards, never take the over in a game they are involved in.

• Until James Harden slows down, always look at the over in games that he is involved in (on a side note – how exciting do the Rockets look this year?!).

• Until the Heat takes the time to care about defending, take the over in their games.