Green Acres Yard Football League Midseason Report

Fantasy football is one of my favorite pasttimes...and in past years, it has always been something that I seemed to have had a penchant for. Unfortunately, for my fantasy football franchise, the Motor City Madmen of the Green Acres Yard Football League (better known as the GAY-FL), success isn't being found quite as easily as it has in the past. Blame it on poor player evaluation for the draft...blame it on being too busy to make the right roster moves...or chalk it up to everyone else in the league stepping up their level of expertise and play...whatever it is, I'm having a rough season, and I'm trying to hold onto any sort of playoff hope.

For those of you just discovering my blog, let me give you a little background on the GAY-FL. The GAY-FL is in its seventh season as a fantasy football league, and the league was originally named to honor the mean streets of the Green Acres subdivision of Montgomery, AL where many of the league members learned about manhood in one form or another, such as throwing bicycles in swimming pools, concocting foul smelling potions to pour on people's front porches, and even parking with the girl of your choice on Llyde Lane.

It should be noted that it was in the inaugural Green Acres Yard Football League season that an astute league member realized that the league's acronym was GAY-FL....and henceforth, that is what it has been called. This particular league member is world renowned for naming the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball franchise.

The majority of the current league members are original founding members that have grown into fantasy football veterans under my watchful eye as commissioner, and currently, every member of the GAY-FL has been a member of the league for more than 2 seasons. This veteran cast of league members has lead to one of the most competitive GAY-FL seasons in recent history.

There are 15 regular season weeks in the GAY-FL, and after 7 weeks of fierce competition the standings are:

1. Drink One for Haner 6-1 (total points - 914)
2. Monchichis 6-1 (total points - 910)
3. White Castle Knights 5-2 (total points - 882)
4. Donde Esta Su El Haner 4-3 (total points - 926)
5. Biscuit Eaters 3-4 (total points - 842)
6. Motor City Madmen 3-4 (total points - 830)
7. PJ's Bad Boyz 3-4 (total points - 828)
8. Spring Valley Snipers 2-5 (total points - 697)
9. Tater Salad 2-5 (total points - 682)
10. Towelheads 1-6 (total points - 581)

So before the final 8 weeks of the season and the final push towards the playoffs, let's take a moment to look back at the highs and lows of the first half of the GAY-FL season...

Best Coaching Move - In Week 2, with starting WR TJ Houshmandzadeh out with an injury, Drink One for Haner needed a WR to fill in. Rather than stick with either Eric Parker or Keenan McCardell into the starting lineup, Drink One for Haner hit the waiver wire and picked up Jerricho Cotchery and Antonio Bryant. It could have been tempting to stick with McCardell or Parker with the Chargers playing the Titans, but Drink One for Haner inserted Cotchery into the starting lineup, and he responded with an 18 point performance that gave the team an 18 point win (170 to 152) over PJ's Bad Boyz. Sure, even if Drink One for Haner had left McCardell or Parker into the starting lineup, the team would have still defeated PJ's Bad Boyz, but Cotchery scored 11 more points than McCardell that week, and without that 11 point differential, Drink One for Haner would not be sitting in the top spot at the halfway point in the GAY-FL.

Worst Coaching Move - While it would be rather easy to pick any coaching move by the owner of the Towelheads as the worst move of the year so far (mainly because the owner in question has not even accessed the league website since September 9th!), this dubious distinction goes to PJ's Bad Boyz for the Week 6 decision to start Rex Grossman over Philip Rivers. Grossman earned a total of -16 points, while Rivers posted a stellar 44 points...making this coaching decision of 60 point swing and to make matters worse, PJ's Bad Boyz last in Week 6 by a score of 151 to 107. Ouch...those are the types of coaching moves that you look back on when you miss the playoffs.

Best Draft Pick - Of all the midseason awards, this one was the most obvious. Even though he failed to attend the draft yet again, the owner of the Monchichis selected Donovan McNabb in the 8th round of the GAY-FL draft this year. That's right...the EIGHTH round. Just look at the quarterbacks selected before McNabb - Peyton Manning (1st round), Tom Brady (2nd round), Matt Hasselbeck (4th round), Jake Delhomme (6th round), Eli Manning (6th round), Carson Palmer (7th round), and Marc Bulger (7th round). While many of those quarterbacks are posting solid numbers, McNabb has earned 44 more points than the next closest quarterback (Peyton Manning). After Peyton Manning, his little brother Eli is the next closest in points amongst the quarterbacks chosen before McNabb, and Lil Manning is 72 points behind McNabb! Like I said, this was the easiest award to give.

Worst Draft Pick - Had you taken a poll of all the GAY-FL owners on draft night and asked them what was the worst pick of the draft, I believe the unanimous selection would have been the Towelheads selecting Thomas Jones with the last pick of the first round. While certainly not a great pick, Thomas Jones has earned respectable numbers as he ranks in the Top 25 for RBs in terms of points scored this season. So, since the Towelheads did not earn this honor, who did? The winner of the Worst Draft Pick in the 2006 GAY-FL draft is....the defending league champion, Donde Su El Haner! Now, winning this honor should not come as too much of a surprise considering that the owner of this franchise showed up to the draft without even one magazine from which to draft...but as the aforementioned records indicate, Donde Su El Haner had an overall strong draft. However, with his second round draft pick (the 17th overall pick), Donde Su El Haner selected Domanick Davis, and that lingering knee injury cost Davis his season...and thus, since Davis is the only people selected in the first 8 rounds of the draft to not even earn one fantasy point this year, Davis is the worst draft pick in the GAY-FL this season.

Team Most Likely for a Strong Second Half Performance - Since losing their first two games of the year, including a loss to the lowly Towelheads, the White Castle Knights have rolled off point totals of 136, 154, 130, 127, and 139, which clearly indicates that this team is on a roll. Of the top 11 scoring quarterbacks this season, the White Castle Knights have 3...of the top 21 scoring running backs, the White Castle Knights have 5 (2 of which are in the top 4). While there are some questions at the WR slot for the White Castle Knights, the depth at quarterback and running back provides a lot of options and also some trade bait to bolster the suspect WR corps. This is definitely a team to watch in the second half.

Team Most Likely to Fade in the Second Half - Last year, the Tater Salad franchise shocked the GAY-FL upon their return to the league after a short hiatus by charging into the playoffs. After what appeared to be a strong draft, it looked like Tater Salad was ready to make another run at the playoffs...but as the second half of the season gets ready to starts, it seems more likely that Tater Salad could be battling the Towelheads for the basement of the GAY-FL. With starting quarterback Matt Hasselback out at least 3 weeks...with star running back LaMont Jordan nursing numerous injuries...with wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald still out with a hamstring injury...and with wide receivers Terry Glenn and Deion Branch now dealing with quarterback issues on their respective teams...it could be a long second half of the year for Tater Salad, especially when you consider that Tater Salad has upcoming games against the Monchichis, Donde Su El Haner, Drink One for Haner, and the White Castle Knights.

Best Free Agent Signing - There have been several key signings this year - WR Wes Welker by the White Castle Knights, WR Reggie Williams by the Motor City Madmen, QBs Rex Grossman and Philip Rivers and WR Bernard Berrian by PJ's Bad Boyz - but the best free agent signing of the first half of the GAY-FL season is WR/TE Marcus Colston by PJ's Bad Boyz. With the luxury of being able to fill the WR or TE slot, Colston has given PJ's Bad Boyz plenty of flexibility, and Colston currently finds himself as the highest scoring TE in the GAY-FL and the 18th highest scoring WR. Not too bad for a guy that barely was even drafted in the NFL draft much less the GAY-FL draft!

And finally...predictions for the GAY-FL playoffs:

1st Round:

Monchichis over PJ's Bad Boyz
White Castle Knights over Drink One for Haner

Consolation Game:

Drink One for Haner over PJ's Bad Boyz

Championship Game:

Monchichis over White Castle Knights