Trade Winds Blowin'

Two hours into my first ever season of fantasy football, I already sucked.

For those who missed it, or are too lazy to read the blog entry (http://whitwatson.sunsportstv.com/2005/08/stl-fantasy-football-draft-resultsouch.html), we have created a Sports Talk Live fantasy football league, pitting your intrepid host against a pool of so-called talent, including former Cy Young winner Frank Viola, ESPN Radio's Todd Wright, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, Chevy Tailgate Saturday analyst Brady Ackerman, and Sun Sports production
staffers Mark Cassoni, Jamie Shapiro, and Mike Wargo. Sole purpose: to embarrass the losers on live television. Ours was an auto-pick league, and through the magic of computer rankings, I ended up with eight backup running backs, no backup QB, no backup TE, only two wide receivers, and Big Ben Roethlisbergowitzenstein as my quarterback. The rush was on for me to revamp my roster.

This, I have done before. As I related earlier on the blog, I traded Tracy McGrady from my NBA fantasy team last year and went on to win the league. When it comes to pulling the trigger, I ain't skeered.

First, I knew I had to make use of my overflow at RB to get a decent starting QB. I asked Jamie Shapiro, the producer of Sports Talk Live, what he wanted for Trent Green, one of the four QB's he had on his roster behind Daunte Culpepper. Jamie proposed Green and Muhsin Muhammad for Jamal Lewis and Brian Westbrook. Steep, I know, but I really needed a quarterback, as well as a wideout. After about ten minutes of consideration - this is a football league, and I'm a basketball guy - I verbally agreed to it.

Lucky for me, we couldn't complete the trade, because FoxSports.com has a nifty feature called "Draft Lock," which prevents owners from making any deals until at least two days after your draft. This might as well be called "The Idiot Clause," because it stops idiots like me from doing stupid deals like that one. With two days to ruminate, I backed off, and instead convinced Jamie to ship me Brett Favre for Westbrook, straight up. Remember, my roster already included Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis, Stephen Jackson, Cedric Benson, Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Travis Henry, and Duce Staley. Westbrook was expendable, and I get a QB ranked as high as fourth in the league by some sites. So far, so good.

With Favre safely in the fold, I placed Big Ben on waivers. I realize that all the kid did last year - as a rookie - was navigate the Steelers to a 15-1 record. And yet, not only do I feel just fine about dropping him, no other owner in our league has so much as sniffed him. Now watch him throw for nine million yards and 80 touchdowns.

Next, I pounced on Mark Cassoni, the studio director here at Sun Sports and an avowed hockey guy. He had both Dallas Clark and Jason Witten at tight end, and I had bodies. For reasons still being studied by medical science, he wanted Travis Henry, a capable (but injured) running back who is fighting for playing time in Tennessee behind Chris Brown. I asked for Witten, the current darling of fantasy drafts at TE, and got rebuffed. I asked for Clark next.

Henry for Clark, done. Tight end is filled. My backup is Eric Johnson of the Niners, a player so nondescript that I forgot I had him.

Now came the hard part. If I was going to land another QB - which, given Favre's age, I felt was necessary, never mind that he hasn't missed a game in twelve years - I was going to have to deal with a more experienced owner. Chances of me getting fleeced have just gone up twenty percent. I cautiously approached Todd Wright, the ESPN radio host whose football knowledge is considerably larger than mine. He had several QB's on his roster, and some decent wide receivers as well. Long story short, he wanted Chad Johnson in a bad way, and I felt that wide receivers not named Moss or Owens wouldn't matter very much in our league. So I dealt Cedric Benson and Johnson to Todd in exchange for Tom Brady and Ashley Lelie. I have received a fair amount of grief from fellow owners for dealing Chad Johnson, but I can take it. I didn't come here to paint, people, I came here to deal. Plus, as a man born with the name "Whitney," I have an inexplicable kinship with a man named "Ashley."

So once the NFL season officially kicked off on Thursday night, my roster looked thusly: Favre and Brady at QB (can't go wrong there), Edge, Jamal, Stephen Jackson, Cadillac, Ronnie Brown, and Duce Staley at RB (an embarrassment of riches, if I do say so myself), Lelie, Isaac Bruce, and free agent pickup Antonio Bryant at WR (three members of the 2005 Preseason All-Maybe Team), Clark and Johnson at TE (whatever), Ryan Longwell at kicker (ditto), and the Atlanta Falcons defense (liking it). What did I give up to get this roster? Chad Johnson, Cedric Benson, Travis Henry, and Brian Westbrook. Look at those names, and look at who is still on my squad. With the possible exception of a weak spot at wideout, I think I did pretty well for a rookie owner.

Here's where I suck.

Faced with a Thursday night start to the season, with Brady facing the Raiders, I had to set my lineup early. I chose to start Favre. Naturally, Brady goes 24 of 38 for 306 and two touchdowns against zero interceptions. But he had a really good seat on my bench. Hey, I just logged on to NFL.com and saw that the Raiders had the 3rd-worst passing defense in the league last year! Wouldn't that have been an AWESOME stat to check out BEFORE I set my lineups?

Sunday, we'll see if the Favre choice was wise. Hey, he could go for 450 against the Lions, and we've all seen it. In the meantime, if anyone out there needs a running back, I'm ready to make a deal.