Rantin and Ravin

Alright,
After this weekend I’m more ready for the kickoff Thursday night than I’ve been in a long time. Maybe it’s the 4 live drafts I had for my fantasy teams over the past month, not to mention a live auction draft where I sat in for a close friend (on the condition of anonymity we’ll just call him Ty’Rell). Side note: I felt more pressure in this draft than you’d imagine. I’m trying to play it cool the entire time watching as people left the board and I start thinking…what if I end up overpaying for Shaun Hill because I hadn’t gotten him a starting qb, then only have enough funds left over to buy deuce mcallister and plaxico burress. What’s the chance “Ty’Rell” would question everything I’ve ever said about sports vs. the chance he’d politely ask me to “put in” on his fees since I have provided a handicap worse than a golfer with one arm. This all went thru my head in the 1^st 5 minutes. Luckily I was the only one who did a mock draft so paying ¼ of my budget to get Adrian Peterson was a strategy that I wasn’t about to venture in to. Was any of that interesting? Shrugs. I’m still frothing over the mia/fsu game last night. I made sure to sit up-right the whole game as to not miss a play and it came down to one dropped pass (Not sure how the qb takes no responsibility for a low pass but that’s not for me to debate). I like the Qb from Miami. Reminds me of a cross between vince young and aaron brooks and that’s meant as more of a compliment than the obvious insult one could draw from that. And yes I picked those to qb’s because he’s black. So there. This weekend of college football got me ready to go for the NFL season. The networks did a good job of opening with some big games. Perhaps they do this every year but it seemed to be more evident this year in my eyes.

Can anybody inform me of the thought process behind the Raiders personnel moves? Let’s say Richard Seymour has another season like he did last year (and I can’t even recall what that was). Do the Raiders feel they are ONE player away from ____? I mean, for a team that has looked more like a mid-level college team since a superbowl appearance, making the jump for them would be 9-7 (then again, 9-7 would’ve won their division). I just can’t justify a team with young talent giving up a potential top 5 pick for a player that will produce HOPEFULLY for you for the next 2 years. They already gave away moss (not arguing they shouldn’t have) for peanuts, and now this. Perhaps Bellicek has some footage of Al Davis pulling a Hugh Hefner left over from their illegal recording days.

I give you my word that if you ever ask me to advise or represent you on something where millions of dollars are involved, I’d play hardball for you but at some point I’d probably just cave and say “ok man, take the 10 million since they won’t budge on the 15 million mark”. Crabtree’s agent/cousin/whatever is giving him some baffling advice. Has he not heard of restructuring a contract after year one…or 2? I still won’t believe he’d sit out a WHOLE season and just miss out on 3 or so million. I use that number because if he does go back to the draft I would assume he’d still garner a 20+ million guarantee and the balance paid out over a 4 or 5 year contract. Still, you take the risk of taking a year off and not being as sharp as you once were (hey Charles rogers). You also take the risk of a black flag saying STAY AWAY planted directly on your back. I mean, the endorsements alone waiting for him in S.F. if he plays and is halfway decent I would presume would be worth it.

Maybe it’s just me. But the thought that Mangini will not announce the starter for the game against Minnesota as some sort of slight advantage is laughable to me. Do you think Jared Allen is going to say, Holy Crap batman, they’re starting Quinn, NOW what do we do?! Wouldn’t this only be some sort of advantage if you had say 2 completely different qbs on your team (running, throwing)…and yes I know, they are 2 different qbs but I don’t think Checkdown passer vs. inaccurate passer qualifies (thank you thank you, I’ll be hear all night..be sure to tip the cocktail waitresses on the way out). Not to mention there is film on both of them. Perhaps if they had an unknown qb on the roster this could make sense as well. Idk, just one man’s opinion

Week 1 winners - Pitt, ATL, Cinn, Minn, Indy, N.O., Dallas, Philly, Bal, Hou, NYG, ARZ, SEA, GB, NE, SD