Thurston Blogging

I know nothing about NASCAR

My Dad is a huge fan of NASCAR. I've watched it with him since I was a little kid; I even remember the first race where in-car cameras were installed.  This year, he and I are going to do "Fantasy NASCAR".  I'm at a terrible disadvantage since I don't follow the sport.  However, I know that Toyota will have a few cars this year, the first race of the season (Daytona) is the biggest and that they broadcast in high-definition.  Anything in HD is cool, so I'll give it a shot. 

There are a few drivers I know - Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr.  Little E is probably the driver I will root for the most.  Seems like a cool guy for a redneck.  I remember seeing his home on MTV's Cribs, and he had a bar in his basement complete with a stripper pole.

 

My Dad and I are using the Yahoo Fantasy Racing to compete each week.  You pick three flights of drivers - one in the top tier, two drivers in the second tier, and one driver in the third tier.

Below is a commercial with Dale Jr. and his late father in a Chevy commercial:

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercial

Last Sunday was Super Bowl XLI.  There were a lot of new and somewhat funny commercials.  There was a commercial about two men kissing over a candy bar, another one where a guy hit another dude with an actual rock during "rock, paper, scissors" and a wrap-around beard.

As a Letterman fan, this commercial was my favorite. To see Letterman and Oprah sitting together, watching the game and representing their home-town teams by wearing the respective jerseys was hilarious.

2nd Quarter Update

This game is awesome, yet very schizophrenic.   I'm eating for two - here is my plate o'  food:

Super Bowl XLI

It's raining in Miami, but it snowed like Hell on the west side of Michigan all weekend.  So, instead of hitting the Super-est Super Bowl party of the year, Sharon and I are homebound.  I was looking forward to tasty meatballs, 22 ouncers of BLD, and leaving without my pants.

Instead, I've setup my command center, Sharon has kept me in food and drink and I'll make the most of it in front of my 46" Sony HD TV.

2007 NFL Mock Draft

A quarterback.  The Detroit Lions sign John Kitna last off-season.  He throws for over 4000 yards, yet cannot stay upright.  To me, that says "Lets draft somone who can protect Kitna".  Let me say, I'm not Kitna fan.  I rank him just higher than Andre Ware and Scott Mitchell in the pantheon of Lions quarterbacks.

It looks like the Lions take this as, "We should find another quarterback".  Here are a few mock draft lists that show what all Lions fans fear:

From CNNSI:

Robert Davis from Footballs Future also has the Detroit Lions taking Brady Quinn:

Starting to see why I drink so much?  These are not the only two websites predicting this - there are sites like Condraft, Draftclass, and Football.Com that all feel that Notre Dame's star QB will be in Ford Field this year.

While QB's like Joe Montana, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady all winning Super Bowls and not being first-round picks, it appears Matt Millen wants to restock his fantasy team with  a  #2 overall quarterback.   

In fairness, a few other draft boards show the Lions making some sense and drafting Joe Thomas, the big tackle from Wisconsin.  While I'm out on Big Ten linemen (Aaron Gibson, Robert Gallery, Tony Mandarich and company), the Lions need stout guys on the end of the line to stop the rush.

What will happen?  We'll find out the two days after my birthday this year.

My Super Bowl Picks

Here are my Super Bowl picks:

The Saints somehow beat the Bears to represent the NFC.  Rex Grossman cannot win when it matters most.

In the AFC, P. Manning takes the Colts to the promised land.  Tom Brady finally has to stay home and watch the best QB in the league play on the last Sunday.

In the Super Bowl, it's all Colts.  42-27.

Put it in the books.

My Fantasy Football Team - Week 13

                                                                                                                             

Position	Player	Team
QB	Peyton Manning	Colts
QB	Mike Vick	Falcons
WR	Muhsin Muhammad	Bears
WR	Chad Johnson	Bengals
WR	Marvin Harrison	Colts
RB	Thomas Jones	Bears
RB	Julius Jones	Cowboys
TE	Ben Watson	Patriots
W/T	Plaxico Burress	Giants
W/R	Dominic Rhodes	Colts
K	Nate Kaeding	Chargers
D	Atlanta	Falcons
Bench	Jay Cutler	Broncos
Bench	Randy Moss	Raiders
Bench	Ronnie Brown	Dolphins
Bench	Corey Dillon	Patriots
Bench	DeShaun Foster	Panthers
Bench	Kevin Jones	Lions
Bench	Phillip Rivers	Chargers
Bench	Vince Young	Titans

Fifth place.  Had a great chance to move up last week, and I tanked.  So I'm in fifth, and looking like no playoffs.  I dropped Mike Furrey and picked up Jay Cutler, the rookie QB of the Broncos.  Since Jake Plummer was benched, I thought I could snag his replacement.  Not sure if I'll start him or one of the other 27 QB's that I carry on my roster.  That's a ton of clip boards.

Last week, my QB flipped the bird to the crowd.  That cost him 20 grand, but more importantly, it will probably cause him to ride the pine this week for the GR Chumps.  I need to drink more to make a final decision on my other starter opposite of Peyton Manning. 

I know nothing about basketball

Here is a quick hit from Fox Sports B-Ball Blog:

 

We saw a theme in yesterday’s NBA games: rejections. In what was probably the play of the night, Kobe Bryant had a ridiculous left-hand open court swat when Deron Williams tried to dunk on KB24 on the break.
Josh Smith had a sick block of his own, pinning Chris Bosh’s layup to the backboard from behind. J-Smoove finished with four blocks …

Why do I put a post up about this?  Because all four of these guys are on my Fantasy Basketball Team.  It's not good to have one teammate beat on another.  Stop the violence!

No real changes to my team - I've added the aforementioned Willams and released Battier.  Also picked up Chris Webber for Pau Gasol. 

I won my first week, got crushed in week 2, and it's neck and neck so far this week.

My Fantasy Football Team - Week 12

                                                                                                                              

Position	Player	Team
QB	Peyton Manning	Colts
QB	Mike Vick	Falcons
WR	Muhsin Muhammad	Bears
WR	Chad Johnson	Bengals
WR	Marvin Harrison	Colts
RB	Thomas Jones	Bears
RB	Julius Jones	Cowboys
TE	Ben Watson	Patriots
W/T	Plaxico Burress	Giants
W/R	Dominic Rhodes	Colts
K	Nate Kaeding	Chargers
D	Atlanta	Falcons
Bench	Mike Furrey	Lions
Bench	Randy Moss	Raiders
Bench	Ronnie Brown	Dolphins
Bench	Corey Dillon	Patriots
Bench	DeShaun Foster	Panthers
Bench	Kevin Jones	Lions
Bench	Phillip Rivers	Chargers
Bench	Vince Young	Titans

All hail the Chumps.  They pulled off a much needed win last week.  This gives me sole possession of 5th place, and I was very close to moving into 4th.  If LT had one more touchdown for the Chargers, I would have been in. 

A few lineup changes this week.  Gone are Chad Pennington and Lamont Jordan.  Pennington was never going to play behind Peyton, Vick, Vince and Rivers.  Jordan didn't do jack all season long, and he blew out his wheel, so he's on the shelf for the season. 

In are the enigmatic (read: insane) wide receiver Randy Moss, and the  Colts  running back Dominic Rhodes.  Moss is too good of a talent to let sit on the waiver wire, so (like Vick) I snatched him up.  With injuries to Kevin Jones and D. Foster, I needed a solid running back.  Rhodes is splitting time with Joseph Addai, but I'll take what I can get.  Even though I have a million QB's, I considered Tony Romo.

I need a win to get a shot at the playoffs, but it's going to take some work.  I'm favored this week, but it is only Tuesday.  With three games on Thursday, I wanted to get my lineup set early.

Now to things I don't like - I DO NOT like the third game on Turkey Day.  This is the league giving into that old fart Lamar Hunt, who griped that the Cowboys and Lions got to host the games each year.  Too bad!!  And NFL Network wanted to start broadcasting games, which seems like an anti-trust suit in the making.  It's tradition, and you're mucking it up.

My Fantasy Football Team - Week 11

                                                                                                                             

Position	Player	Team
QB	Peyton Manning	Colts
QB	Mike Vick	Falcons
WR	Muhsin Muhammad	Bears
WR	Chad Johnson	Bengals
WR	Marvin Harrison	Colts
RB	Thomas Jones	Bears
RB	Kevin Jones	Lions
TE	Ben Watson	Patriots
W/T	Plaxico Burress	Giants
W/R	Julius Jones	Cowboys
K	Nate Kaeding	Chargers
D	Atlanta	Falcons
Bench	Mike Furrey	Lions
Bench	Chad Pennington	Jets
Bench	Ronnie Brown	Dolphins
Bench	Corey Dillon	Patriots
Bench	DeShaun Foster	Panthers
Bench	Lamont Jordan	Raiders
Bench	Phillip Rivers	Chargers
Bench	Vince Young	Titans

If I win this week and another guy loses, I can jet into fourth place in my league.  The playoffs aren't for a few weeks, so a win would be timely.  I'm not counting on it, but anything is possible.  My weekly Furrey or Burress dilemma is still bothering me, and I've considered starting Foster over T Jones.  We'll see, but for now this is the lineup.