Evans World–Week 4

Greetings, everyone.  I apologize for such a late posting.  Mindi, Alex and I just got back from Oklahoma for the funeral of my grandmother, Jeanette.  It was a rough week, not just because of her death, but because of Berk Brown.  I hate losing, especially by such a small number of points and thanks to a loser like Dez Bryant.  Arg.

HONORING JEANETTE FORD

My late grandmother, Jeanette Ford, was a huge football fan.  While she couldn’t spout off stats or ever participated in an FF league, she loved her Cowboys, both Oklahoma State and Dallas.  As a graduate of Oklahoma A&M, which became OSU, as well as the parent of an OSU graduate (my mother), she was always there to root for her team.  I know she loved to watch each game, and I like to think behind her calm demeanor was a shouting, crazy fan who always wanted to win.  Jeanette lived in Dallas for a time, and I’m sure her love for the Cowboys grew then with Landry, Staubach and all the other greats.  I know she loathed Jerry Jones, the owner and person, but still found a way to root for the team.  There were few people in the world that she didn’t like, and Jones was near the top of the list.  Jeanette could always provide a good bit of insight or a fun story for every game we watched together, and she always respected the other team like the good Midwestern Dame she was.  Marshall and Nathan got the chance to meet Jeanette as she hosted us one night on our way down to a Nebraska-Oklahoma game, and afterwards she always spoke very highly of the gentlemen you are.  I know Jeanette will continue to cheer for her Cowboys even now in her own way … and perhaps haunt Jerry Jones a little.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

• So, how much did Berk ruin my week?  Well, I don’t want to make it sound worse than it is, because Berk really just won a close matchup between the two of us.  I had a healthy lead going into the Monday night game, and I didn’t think that Bryant alone would be enough for Berk to beat me.  Obviously, I was wrong.  Ah, the joys of the PPR.  As I lay on the bed in the hotel room watching the matchup totals as the game went deep into the fourth quarter, I saw my hope diminish more and more.  And when is that ever fun?  I’ll just take my frustration out on Mike this weekend.
• I’ll just ask one more time … please reply to trade requests as quickly as you can.  As Commish I like to promote a FF culture where requests are accepted/rejected/adjusted the same week they are made to ensure we all have full lineups ready by the time we need to setup for our matchups.  I hope you all agree that’s best for everybody.
• Don’t you hate it when a player goes from an average of 13 points a game to 0 points?  A big, fat, fucking goose egg for me from Dennis Pitta.  Unbelievable.
• Don’t change your team name, Tony G.  Chris Johnson may have given you one good week, but that’s probably the only good one you’ll get for a while.
• So, Gary’s team went from 30 to 90 points by the time the Giants game was over.  Gary has definitely hitched the success of his season to the world champions.  It’s hard to argue with his strategy, at least as long as he can launch up 60 points consistently.  Looking at the Giants’ schedule that is certainly possible.  But, I know I get nervous about having more than 2-3 players from one team on my FF team at any time.  It puts too much reliance on a single team’s success to ensure my own.  You could fill a team full of Patriots and Packers, and still have no guarantees.  We’ll have to see how it pays off for Gary in the long run.
• Nathan has not given up, folks.  I don’t think his chances are good this week, but time will tell if he makes another late-season surge into the playoffs to get some money.  He’s done it many, many times before.
• I just can’t figure out if Arizona is really this good or not.  Certainly from a FF perspective they’re towards the top of the heap.  The Arizona defense is certainly surpassing expectations.  I questioned Jason’s decision to pick Fitzgerald in the first round considering the doubts at QB this season, but now it looks like it should pay off.  Now, if the rest of his team would just step up.
• I love to see the Jets lose.  I loved to see them get shut out completely.  I think if they want to make their failure complete they should turn the offense over to Tebow.  That would be probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in NFL history.  Right up there with hiring Barry Switzer as a coach.
• As much as I loved to see the Packers win, it’s still hard for me to fathom that the Saints are 0-4, even with all of the FF points they continue to generate.  This is going to be a crazy season.  But, if you were to ask me, after 4 weeks I’d say the Super Bowl would feature Atlanta and Baltimore.

WEEKLY AWARDS

• MVP – Well, I’ve already given credit to Bryant for beating me this week, so I won’t give him the award.  Certainly Tom Brady helped Nathan and Aaron Rodgers helped Ritchie to their wins.  But I’ll give the award to Tony P.’s entire fucking team.  Wow.  What a week, and just in time to hold off Jason whose Week 4 surge would have beaten 70% of the rest of the league.
• Honorable Mention – I was planning on giving this to Jordy Nelson for giving me enough points to beat Berk … then he didn’t.  So, I’ll give it to Tony G. for Torrey Smith a another great week for him.
• Best Owner Choice – I was going to give this to Tony G. for Torrey Smith, but I’ll give it to him for picking up Nick Novak at K.  Not sure if he had some inside info on that one, but picked him up at just the right time.
• Unfortunate Bench – I thought about giving this to Mike for Vincent Jackson, a player who finally managed to earn points for a Tampa Bay team that just defies understanding (from a FF perspective).  But even that wouldn’t have been enough to stop Stormin’ Nathan.  So I give this week’s award to me for incorrectly selecting RG3 over Cam Newton.  I had thought the Atlanta DEF that had shutdown so many QB before him would have had his number, especially after all the crappy things he said to/about his own team. 
• Lawrence Philips Award – Ah, the joys of having the regular refs back.  I can finally look to give this to players for a change.  And who else but Merriweather and Robinson of the Redskins to give this to?  Come on, guys!  Seriously, taking both of you out during a pre-game collision?  At least LP would have the decency to get thrown out of a game before he suited up.  Ouch, dudes. 
• I also give an honorary LPA, posthumously, to Amanda Clayton.  If you read my blog this past year you’ll perhaps remember her.  She was the young woman on welfare who continued to draw her checks even after winning millions from the Michigan state lottery.  She was charged with and eventually settled for fraud.  Last week she was found dead, lying in bed beside her young daughter.  Autopsy results are pending but it looks like her death was the result of a drug overdose, her drug use brought on due to the social repercussions of her decision to stay on welfare after her win.  What a sad waste of a life and of the opportunities she could have provided for her children with that money.  She could have been a model for others on how to take a life of poverty and build something better.  I only hope she took the time to ensure whatever she had left will provide for the well-being of her children.

Well, that’s about it for this week.  I promise to have more next week.  Let me just say I wasn’t a huge fan of the Wisconsin uniforms, and the Nebraska uniforms took some time to grow on me.  But, I did enjoy watching the game with Tom and Kevin who are both looking forward to joining us again next season.

Good luck to all this week!