Let us take your hand and guide you through the scary, massive forest that is fantasy football.
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DON'T Forget That There Are Games On Thursday Night
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Last night, the Bears played the Packers. Last night was a Thursday. While you were out eating at restaurants or getting YOLO tattoos, Jay Cutler was throwing four interceptions and Aaron Rodgers was underachieving. And if you FORGOT TO START him or Brandon Marshall, then — well, actually, that would be a good thing. But most of the time it would be bad. So remember to check your lineup on Thursday, because there's football EVERY Thursday this year.
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DO Start Matt Ryan And Julio Jones
Image by Dave Kaup / Reuters
In Week 1, these two dudes showed that they could be one of the most potent QB/WR tandems in the league this year: Ryan threw for 299 yards and three scores and ran for another, and Jones accounted for 108 and two of those. Both of these guys are way too inflated to trade for right now, but if someone's stupid enough to give them up, go for it — Matt Ryan's Average Draft Position (ADP) in ESPN leagues has him as the 11th-drafted QB, meaning that some people might have him as a QB2. This week, they've got the Denver Broncos, who appear to have a middle-of-the-road pass defense. Sure they sacked Ben Roethlisberger five times last week, but that has a lot to do with the fact that his offensive line is five subway turnstiles wearing Steelers jerseys. Go with Matty Ice and Julio "Keg Stand" Jones.
Shane "Footsteps" Falco, QB — Washington Sentinels — "The Replacements"
Despite his disastrous Sugar Bowl at Ohio State, Footsteps was able to use a players strike to reclaim his place in the spotlight. The Washington Sentinels great could start for no fewer than 10 NFL teams today.
A former DB from who finally got a chance to play quarterback when the Miami Sharks' first two QBs went down, Willie Beamin became an overnight sensation. He was Michael Vick before Michael Vick, and he also starred in an awesome music video. How can you not love him?
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Paul Crewe, QB — Mean Machine — "The Longest Yard"
Sure, he spent some quality playing years in prison, but he used that time to lead a prison team over a bunch of asshole guards. That's the type of leadership you can't teach. Do you think noted french trapper Blaine Gabbert could pull that off?
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Tim Riggins, FB — Dillon Panthers — "Friday Night Lights"
Have you ever wondered what Mike Alstott would have been like if he grew up in Texas, and was an alcoholic teen? Well look no further than Rigg. He's the only guy I'd be more comfortable starting on my fantasy team if I knew he'd been out partying with strippers the night before.
“As a neurologist, I can't help but cringe,” says one. But even doctors who see the worst results of the game say they tune in on Sundays.
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The Neurosurgeon David Frim, Chief, Section of Neurosurgery, University of Chicago Medicine
I grew up in Boston and started watching the Patriots when they were 2-14 every year, but now it’s more fun, because they’re doing a little better. I catch the Patriots games when they’re on TV and I go to call my mother and talk about the game.
It’s a dangerous game and there’s a lot of injuries for sure. I guess they talk about more on TV now but certainly I’ve always been aware of it.
It used to be that kids would come in every so often when they got knocked out. They would come in with their mom and they just wanted to get cleared and get out to play because that’s what their coach said they should do. Now they come in with their mother and father and ask, "Do we really want to play football anymore? What are the risks?" Especially for kids who are academically gifted, their parents ask, "Is it worth it? Is this going to affect his schoolwork and how they feel emotionally?"
I tell parents all the time there are neurosurgically unfriendly and friendly sports. For example, soccer is a neurosurgically unfriendly sport. Women’s soccer at the collegiate level accounts for as many concussions as football.
For me, brain injuries in football have always been a concern. I remember watching the game when Darryl Stingley became a quadriplegic. There was also a Boston University hockey player who was knocked out on the ice. I remember watching as he was being resuscitated on national television. He ended up a quadriplegic.
I think kids should play sports, though. I was a collegiate track runner and it was formative in my development and my ability to discipline myself. I always did better in school when it was track season, having to go to organized practice, and I think that’s probably true for a lot of athletes.
The ICU Doctor Andrew Naidech, Director of the Neuro ICU, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
I grew up a stalwart hockey and football fan. I find now that when you see the big hits that everyone used to think of as just plain rough-housing fun, I cringe.
I’m a little bit afraid of what we'll learn about football next. What I’m afraid of is that now that we know, for example, that the more soccer players head the ball, the more trouble they have with depression and cognition later on. If those are the consequences of heading the ball in soccer, who knows what the consequences are of being repeatedly hit in the head in football.
It’s conceivable that one day I won’t be able to watch football. It depends on what we learn in the future. I hope when we learn more we'll take the appropriate steps to take the risk out of the game.
I think the NFL has taken steps to make the sure the game is played more safely.
At work, we sometimes talk about football but I don’t think those conversations have changed. They tend to be more strategic talk about how which team is doing better in their division. Other doctors may talk about it differently, but I’m a neurologist and we tend to be strategic.
The Psychiatrist Kostas Lyketsos, Elizabeth Plank Althouse Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Vice Chair of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Medicine
I’m a big football fan because I’m from a town where the Baltimore Ravens play.
I still watch football about the same amount as I used to. I’ve always felt the same way: Football is a very rough sport and people are going to get hurt, so I haven't changed since starting to study my new interest [Lyketsos serves on the NFL Players Association Mackey-White Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee]. I do still worry about these men who get very banged up. On the other hand, I know some of them, and they think of themselves as modern-day warriors, grown men making a conscious decision to play.
I can’t say I ever really cheered for the big hits.
At work, I wouldn’t say we talk about football and brain injuries a lot. I talk about football with my friends. When we do talk about it at work, it’s more of a scientific context.
The Professor Paul Schulz, Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Texas Houston Medical School at Houston
I go to a game every couple of years and watch on a semi-regular basis.
I was at a meeting one or two months ago and a neuropathologist from Boston University showed life-sized slides from brains of several football players who had passed away. You can actually see damage — you didn’t even need a microscope. One of those things that really struck me was she actually had another person who played high school football and was killed in a motorcycle accident. His family donated his brain as a control [for her study] and it turned out that he already had changes to his brain that were visible and he only had played in high school.
I have patients now that are former football players that have dementia and you have to wonder if some of it came from the bumps they got on their head 30 and 40 years ago.
I watched the game last Sunday and saw one guy hit the other guy pretty hard and [the second guy] didn’t get up right away. You could see that he “had his bell rung” and I thought, "Oh my goodness." I guess what was striking to me was after all that talk we’ve done about the need to protect our heads and despite the good helmets that we’ve got, I would have thought folks would have started modifying their behavior and saying, "Until we make this safer we shouldn’t hit each other in the head so hard."
I’ve been around long enough that I know we have to make baby steps on projects like these, but I know we have to have more conversations about it.
It’s a great sport, a lot of strategy, but gosh, I would hope the message will get out to play the game in a safe way so we can all enjoy it.
We don't put our work stuff aside while we're watching the game, so when I’m seeing the game I’m enjoying the game. But when I see one of those big hits, as a neurologist, I can't help but cringe.
Rollaball is a documentary-in-progress about an inspiring team of Ghanaian polio survivors who're pioneering an extreme sports hybrid of skating and soccer.
Skate soccer may be the next Paralympic sport. Rollaball is a new documentary trying to give this bruising new sport the exposure it deserves.
So far in this insane era of replacement refs we've had extra timeouts given to teams, a Saints fan assigned to ref a Saints game, and a total and complete lack of Ed Hochuli. But this story that Eagles back LeSean McCoy told on WIP is easily the most damning of the season so far.
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That's a giant issue. Once you have refs with a financial stake in the outcome of the game, the very legitimacy of the sport gets called into question. What's to stop him from calling a face mask to give McCoy a shot at more carries? This is a giant conflict of interest and the fact that this ref was allegedly flaunting it to a player shows just how badly we need the real guys back. Also Ed Hochuli's dulcet tones have been missed.
Toronto's Yunel Escobar has a strange way of getting himself hyped up for games. UPDATE!
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Yunel Escobar indicating how many times he'll have to apologize publicly for being a knob.
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Yunel Escobar!
What would ever possess you to write "tu ere maricon" (sic) (translates to "you are a faggot") on your face? I can't think of a single instance where that thought could enter your head ("Got a few options here...Bible verse...say hello to mom...pre-emptive attack on imaginary homosexual") and not be dismissed as the dumbest of all possible ideas. And I'm even conceding that you think it's acceptable to dislike gay people. What I don't get is, what did you think would happen? I mean I know the Blue Jays aren't having the greatest season, but that doesn't mean that literally nobody is watching. You're not on the Astros, man — you play professional sports.
Also, do you know that Spanish isn't some secret language that you and your friends made up? If you had written your message in Elvish, you might have been able to fly under the radar, but you don't seem like the kind of guy who gets down with the Tolkien. You seem like the kind of guy who has a special funny name that he calls people who would write messages in Elvish.
Some have suggested that you didn't write this. That it was a clubhouse prank. If that's the case, I apologize, but let's be real, that's not the case. The way these strips work is that you write on them before peeling them off a page and putting them on your face. And as Kevin Kaduk at Big League Stew points out, the handwriting seems to match other eye black you've worn! The "prank" possibility is pretty thin. (Also, the correct form of that prank would be "Yo Soy ____.") (We suggest "un member de several different Mariah Carey fan clubs.")
I know things are frustrating in Toronto these days. I know you are probably watching the Orioles and thinking to yourself, "we should have been the ones to make the leap." I know you're probably finding ways to amuse yourself until the season finally ends. But here's a thought: Be less of a dickbag.
UPDATE 3: Yunel Escobar's press conference was... interesting. Some highlights per HarballTalk. Escobar apologized and said "I have friends who are gay." A reporter asked who, to which Escobar responded, “the person who decorates my house is gay … the person who does my hair is gay.” No word on whether Escobar is friends with any Broadway actors or fashion designers.
Additionally after saying that he didn't mean it to be offensive, Escobar was asked what he meant by it then. The shortstop's response? He just didn't mean it. “It’s a word that is said often among the Latino community.” I think that's part of the problem, Yunel.
Unless you're a magician who specializes in tricks ILLUSIONS that are accompanied by the band Europe's music, you should never look like this on the way to work.
WARNING: Most of these videos contain some NSFW language, but hearing drunken cries of rage really livens up the whole experience.
ROUND 1: Cowboys vs. Seahawks
The beef: A Cowboys fan is rightfully unhappy that the 'Boys just got stomped 27-7 by the Seahawks, and just as he is about to hop into his 90s Astrovan, he meets a Seattle fan that wants him to "get the f*** out of here."
The highlights:
:10 A goofier, white Dez Bryant makes his namesake proud by naturally finding a fight within seconds.
:35 The Seattle fans gang up on a Cowboy fan, pin him to the ground, and unleash hell.
:40 A wimpier version of Emmitt Smith, who appears to be wearing face paint or some sort of Phantom of the Opera mask, half-heartedly attempts to free his fellow Cowboy fan.
1:08 Model citizen Dez tries to serve as a mediator between the two sides and break up the fight.
1:30 Some guy drives a motorcycle right through the fight (really, motorcyclist?), and a woman wearing lime green overalls shouts for mercy.
WINNER: The Seattle Seahawks fans, by unanimous decision.
An amazing Tumblr tribute to the world's most apathetic quarterback.
Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is known for seeming aloof and apathetic. How did one Bears fan react? By putting a cigarette in Cutler's mouth to properly capture how little he cares.
The 30-year-old running back went from NFL hero to getting pulled over drunk in four hours.
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Approximately 8:45 p.m.: Touchdown
Image by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images
Turner got on the board early in Monday's game against the Broncos, rushing for a touchdown to put the Falcons up by seven less than two minutes into the game.
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Approximately 12:15 a.m.: Game Ends
Turner also had the last relevant carry of the game, a first-down run late in the fourth quarter to seal the Falcons' win
The game went pretty long, ending (not including halftime) in 3 hours and 27 minutes. "I bet here in Atlanta there will be a lot of people not showing up for work tomorrow, " Mike Smith joked, not knowing one of those people would in fact be his running back.
That terrifying moment when that little piece of trash you toss off the field turns out to be a grenade.
The details of the story are vague right now, (and take this with a grain of salt, as a YouTube description is the source), but during a club soccer match in Iran, some fans threw an object onto the field. A player found the object, and thinking it was trash, tossed it off the pitch. As soon as it hit the advertising board it exploded. No one was injured, and the match was called off. Authorities are investigating the matter.
And people say the bleachers in Oakland are dangerous.
Joe Paterno started as an assistant at Penn State in 1950, and died in 2011, after 61 years at the school. According to Onward State, the billboard is at the corner of Pugh Street and Beaver Avenue. The billboard was paid for by "Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship," which describes itself as a group of "alumni, students, friends and supporters working together to achieve positive change at The Pennsylvania State University as a result of recent events."
Does a pro-Joe billboard three games into the Bill O'Brien era really show a commitment to "achieve positive change"? Meanwhile, the message itself — "You can't cover up 61 years of success with honor" — could've been worded better. It sounds like the honor is the thing covering up the success. And why is "cover up" in yellow? The Sandusky case involved a lot of abhorrent behavior, but it wasn't really a cover-up — if anything, Paterno and others were faulted for not even trying to find out whether there was anything that needed to be covered up in the first place.
See what the best damn pee wee football team from Urbania, Ohio is up to now.
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Becky "Icebox" O'Shea — Shawna Waldron
After kicking ass in Little Giants, Icebox grew up. Like, really grew up. Like, had a major role in the just-this-side-of-porn Poison Ivy: The Secret Society. But unlike many of her co-stars, Waldron has worked pretty consistently over the 18 years since Little Giants came out. Becky O'Shea's doing well.
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Rashid "Hot Hands" Hanon — Troy Simmons
Simmons didn't act much after Little Giants, and seemingly lived a normal life in North Carolina. He did, however, rap on this song under the name "Hot Handz." The years have turned that "s" into a "z."
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Junior Floyd — Devon Sawa
Every girl I went to school with had a crush on Devon Sawa. I think if they've kept up with him, they probably still would. Sawa, who also was in Casper as a child, has acted very consistently since Little Giants, appearing in films such as Final Destination and SLC Punk, and more recently as one of the stars of the CW's Nikita. No word on whether he can still throw toilet paper like a young Joe Montana.
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Jake Berman — Todd Bosley
The little guy with the over-protective mother and that CGI snot bubble grew up to be pretty funny. He was memorable in a stint on Scrubs and recently did voices for a little video game called Mass Effect 3.
For those that may have trouble reading the menu in the photo:
McClure's Potato Chips Baked in Brooklyn Everything Flatbread Beigals Black and White Tumbador Vitality Fruit And Nut Bar Stinky Brown Butter Rice Kirspy Treat Tumbador Chocolate Bar
and of course a: New York ARTISAN Jumbo Pretzel
Regular jumbo pretzel are for plebs.
No word on if the domestic draft will be PBR. I do have a feeling you'll at least be able to get some locally grown vegetarian options somewhere. That kind of food will go great with your Brooklyn Nets jorts and your Brooklyn Nets flannel.