The fever dream called ‘Him’

This felt like the perfect movie for me. I love Jordan Peele (he produced the movie), I love American football and I generally enjoy the horror genre. The premise also seemed very great. I still like it; the film seemed to set itself up pretty nicely for success in the opening scenes. Walking out of the theater though, I feel like I just spent 96 minutes in a fever dream, not unlike our main character, who was hallucinating at various times.

I do like the idea of a cult around the GOAT, Isaiah White played by Marlon Wayans, that we see in an early scene. Also, in that early scene though, we see intense security around White’s house. How does a cult member magically end up in the sauna? I don’t dislike that scene entirely, Wayans presumably killing her and then roughly saying something like we love the fans is a great ending to it in my book, but that act also sums up kind of my problems with the whole movie. It has some great moments, but struggles with coherency.

I thought it was an interesting watch, I didn’t hate it, but at the same time I would have a really hard time recommending it to anybody.

If I had to pick a favorite theme, it’s White’s line about football first, family second and God third. It’s a basic anecdote, but it’s true for lots of Americans and certainly it’s football stars.

Holistically, it felt like a mess. I absolutely understand the introspection on American football and think it is well intended, but it feels like it tries to be an all encompassing indictment against professional American football and as a result never really does anything noteworthy. The arguments it was trying to make were good, but it couldn’t effectively hammer down any single one of them. It seems to suggest that playing pro football is inherently dangerous, which is a good point. That being said, the main character gets hurt by a crazed fan much akin to Monica Seles, a tennis player. That had little to do with the characters playing actual football and being harmed because of football being an inherently violent game.

The ending also doesn’t do it any favors. It felt like we realized at the last minute that we were making a horror movie and decided to drastically ramp up the gore, because we were lacking in horror for the first hour plus. On a very surface level, we grazed over the idea of these contracts being exploitative and the owners being bad, but not in any sort of serious or meaningful way.

Also, why was everybody there wearing masks again? It doesn’t much sense aside from just wanting us to dehumanize them and root for the protagonist. It’s a cheap trick at best. It’s surface level symbolism and that is why this film disappoints. Everything in it is surface level.

The film is so broad and is mostly a rather confusing mess of jumbled ideas. It has its moments and its anecdotes, but overall it is a train wreck. It needs to pick an argument, stick to it and make sense. As it is, it feels like it bit off way more than it could chew and rather lacks any sort of relevant point.

Sports announcers being dumb

There is a real reason I watch sports games with the channel on mute most of the time.

In the opening minutes of Wednesday night’s game between Cincinnati and the L.A. Dodgers, the team of Jon Sciambi, Doug Glanville and Alden Gonzalez rather embarrassed themselves. They started it up by saying Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Dodgers pitcher, was having “a Cy Young caliber season.” Defining what “a Cy Young caliber season” is might be a bit difficult, so ok, I’ll let it slide. Some years a 2.49 ERA might be good enough, so—wait, what? Oh? they doubled down? Yamamoto is now “certainly a Cy Young candidate.” How do I get a job where I can make six or seven figures while doing drugs at work like these guys?

I love Yamamoto, he’s a very good pitcher, but have you checked the odds recently?

Paul Skenes, a Pirates pitcher, is currently at -$50,000 in betting odds to win the National League Cy Young Award. That means you would have to bet $50,000 on him winning just to win $100 when it actually happens. Trailing way behind him are Cristopher Sanchez, a Phillies pitcher, and Freddy Peralta, a Brewers pitcher. Then, finally, in fourth you find Yamamoto. He has a 100 to one chance of winning.

It would be one thing if the voters were getting ready to make a horrific mistake (they have been known to do that in the past), but checking the statistics, Skenes leads Yamamoto in Wins Above Replacement, Games Pitched, Games Started, Innings Pitched, Earned Run Average, Earned Run Average Plus, Strikeouts and Strikeout Percentage. Skenes has also walked less batters and has a lower walk percentage. In major statistics, Yamamoto only leads in one category. He has 12 Wins to Skenes 10.

Is it impossible to say somebody is good without trying to deceive the American public? A player does not have to be the absolute best in the league to be worth watching.

I would say I’ll turn off baseball and wait to watch ESPN until they have Monday Night Football on, but then I’ll have to deal with Troy Aikman repeating himself non-stop. Time to put the TV back on mute, I guess.

We Love L.A.

I abused my journalist privileges the other day and sent the L.A. Dodgers a media request that basically was just questions about why they use the song “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman and the history of that song’s use by the Dodgers. Judging by the fact that they have not responded, I am guessing they realized this was an abuse of my journalist credentials and that I have done exactly one sports story in the past two years and that it had nothing to do with the L.A. Dodgers. I maintain it was still worth a shot.

I am somebody that bleeds Dodger blue and was born in the 1990s. I don’t truly know who Randy Newman was, but I will forever associate a Dodgers win with him and will always love hearing his voice because of that association. Perhaps the best part about that song is that it starts out bashing New York and follows it up by explaining how Chicago is basically a favela. We were a line throwing San Francisco under the cable car away from it being the perfect baseball song.

Beyond that though, let’s actually talk about baseball. I still have concerns about this bullpen, but what a dominant showing by the offense. I worry about the back end of the lineup a little bit too. Having Will Smith back, if he’s able to get there, would be phenomenal. That being said, that is exactly what you want out of the heavyweights. No messing around, just getting down to business and running the Reds out of town. The starting pitching also looked very good.

I’m not really worried about Philadelphia coming up. The only thing standing in the way of this team is itself. They are better than anyone, but baseball is inherently a sport with a lot of randomness and streakiness, are they going to be better in the moment?

I just realized Randy Newman also performed “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” the iconic Disney’s “Toy Story” song. Like it makes sense in hindsight, but my mind is now scatterbrained. I have and will continue to die on the hill that Toy Story is the best series Disney has ever done. Newman is an American icon and the Dodgers are phenomenal, at least until Saturday. That’s all I have to say.

Week 5: fantasy kings (for now)

I am sitting at 4-0 in sole possession of first place in the league and, as a result, am obviously the only undefeated team left.

Last week, I had to go play the second highest scorer in the league and a fellow 3-0. I went in and took it home, although it took me a moment to get there. My QB woes with Joe Burrow severly injured have been halfway fixed by picking up Justin Fields and trading for Dak Prescott. I went into Monday Night Football last week down roughly 50 points and De’Von Achane, Garrett Wilson and Fields came through.

Unfortunately, the grind is not over. I’ve got the third highest scorer and a 3-1 team this week. To add extra fuel to the fire, this is my brother, who’s one of my absolute best friends. I also consider him a serious rival, because we are insanely competitive. He’s also the reigning league champion. Fortunately, he has five players on bye and another injured, so that rather balances the tables, if not slightly tilts them in my favor. I currently have three injured, including my no. 1 QB and WR. Then another player is suspended. It’s hard to say until things happen, but I feel rather decent about this week. Better than last week at least. My biggest weakness right now is WR. Currently, Tre Tucker is WR3, but I have no idea if he gets the start or if I pick up the best guy I can find on waivers. Tucker was rather disappointing last week.

Good news is, regardless of this week, Rashee Rice and, hopefully, CeeDee Lamb are not that far off from returning. With Burrow injured, QB is always going to be iffy for this team, but once I get those two back, the rest of the roster will look insanely good.

I did get a chance to play a bit of defense this week. Normally, this early in the year I wouldn’t really care, but being up against my brother and him being a waiver wire spot behind me, I took the liberty of wasting my waiver priority to grab Woody Marks, the Houston RB. His options at RB no. 2 right now are Michael Carter for Arizona and Isiah Pacheco for Kansas City. Judging by the choice words he had for me, I think I stole his easy start and play for this week.

Also, a random thought, but me and Luther Burden, the Chicago WR, are having a very weird adventure this year. I drafted him, dropped him, picked him back up and, just recently, dropped him again. It’s not really relevant to the team, but he puzzles me and, at this point, I’m sure I puzzle him too. I so want him to be good and still somewhat believe in him, but I also cannot justify having him on the roster when its his bye week coming up.

E-cigarettes 1

There are some subjects that I inherently want nothing to do with. Electronic cigarettes is one of them.

As an at least halfway politics reporter in Bell County, there are moments where you think you could do better and be more decisive than the people we have currently elected. There are also moments where I really do not envy their place. Some issues are really hard to address and e-cigarettes, to me, is one of them.

I support the rights of adult Americans to do what they want, within reason. I support the rights of small businesses, within reason. But what happens when those rights start infringing on the safety of our children? From where I sit, it’s a really complicated and difficult subject to address.

I went on the KDH News podcast to talk about it Sept. 25.

I am obviously grateful to be invited on there and I do feel like, as difficult of a subject this may be, it is good to at least talk about it.

To give you a reporter’s perspective, usually, when I go to small business events, I figure there is an implied idea that, if this is something you are interested in, you should stop by there and support them. Personally, I am a very big small business supporter and very much in favor of local nonprofits. With smoke stores, I absolutely wish them no harm and will be there to advocate for them, but, at the same time, if you are not a regular customer of smoke stores, I would under no circumstances encourage you to go there or start smoking. The Center for Disease Control says all tobacco consumption, including e-cigarettes, is inherently bad.

Should we be sad these businesses are struggling or glad? It’s a very fine line to walk and, frankly, one I don’t know how to.

I will note, the far and away most controversial aspect of this bill seems to be the restrictions on selling e-cigarettes from China. One person associated with a smoke store indicated that the other restrictions were somewhat confusing. Beyond that, I did not hear any complaints against the other key tenets of the bill, which basically said no advertisements aimed at children and no disguised e-cigarettes.

Matthews 1 (Not the Jesus kind)

I mentioned Mike Matthews, a professor at Central Texas College, in my overview of this website. I’m happy to give him a two, maybe three part set.

Obviously, I was heavily involved in speech and debate during this period of my life and he’s kind of the other catalyst, I suppose. That line is not meant to be a subtle jab or insult, for the record.

I had my momentary flashes when young and my momentary horrors. Perhaps what sticks out to me most is my parents and others accusing me of plagiarizing an essay about a historical figure. I cannot remember who that historical figure was, more so I just remember sitting in a corner of my room crying about it (I have never plagiarized anything). When you are in Eighth grade or whatever, that, I would think, kind of kills your writing inclinations. Plus, I was also decently good at math. At least until I dealt with that precalculus ghoul at Central Texas College. Growing up, I felt as though I could not be bothered with writing, I was better at mathematics. Yet, here we are.

Matthews was the first person in college, after about a year of being there and quite a few ‘A' grades, to ever give me a ‘B.’

Last I checked, I was the sole inaugural member of Central Texas College’s Speech and Debate Team Hall of Fame (This is my way of trying to downplay the prior paragraph).

I have a whiteboard by my desk today. There is a line that I believe maybe originated from me on it. It says, “Don’t start a battle unless you can win the war.”

I wrote an essay about going to a Round Rock Express game and Matthews dissected it. I want to say I got like a 76 on it. To an 18- or 19-year-old, that was difficult. Frustrating, even. But, with the benefit of hindsight, looking back, it was a very inconsistent and all over the place argument. One where I halfway argued in favor of going to the games, while simultaneously decrying the horrors of the game.

It’s funny or sad in the sense that these days I kind of mimic that mistake. I, at times, waffle around consistently. I figure a good journalist reports things as they are and many issues are inherently messy.

In those moments though, Matthews made me a better writer. He took an inconsistent thesis and battered it. Academic writing is all about learning how to make concise and coherent arguments. I struggle with it today, not from a writing sense now, but from an emotional sense. You have to focus on the big picture. If you lose sight of that picture, then what you’re doing may be all for naught.

Today, I am more than capable of writing a very strong argument in favor of almost any cause you choose. As much as that first low grade hurt, I will forever remember when I got an ‘A’ in his class on an essay. It wasn’t necessarily anything to write home about, after that I went back to getting lower grades, but it stands up there in the echelon of my academic career. I remember him handing me back my folder and me refusing to open it until I got in my car. I’m absolutely not big on public displays of emotional vulnerability. Plus, if you open it when they first give it to you, it makes it seem like you really care. I never care, except when I secretly do.

Anyways, I got to the car and I want to say it was a 92 or something. It will never beat getting a 109 on a test, but that grade was way more meaningful than any 109.

October calling me

Welcome to October.

Technically, we are not there yet, but, effectively, it feels like we are. One last day of baseball to decide if Cleveland is better than Detroit, if Toronto is better than New York (I hope so) and if Cincinnati is better than the other New York.

I figure standings stay about where they are today, but that's the special thing about baseball: It can surprise you.

As a relatively young Dodgers fan, I’m debating between two things being the most important: the Astros are playing a meaningless game and then … well, that man is pitching.

It’s hard, because at this point you cannot be sure Clayton Kershaw will make the postseason roster. There is a lot I want to say, but until another, final post, I will leave it at this: Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher I have seen in my lifetime. Enjoy today, because he might be the last great pitcher we ever see.

Week 4: everything collapses

It has been a somewhat good, but mostly brutal week on the fantasy football front. Incredibly, we have followed up winning without Joe Burrow by winning without CeeDee Lamb. It was a two-point margin, but we will take what we can get.

This feels massive. I cannot take anymore injuries and I really worry about our QB position, but we’re 3-0, tied for top 3 in the league. It’s incredible.

Since we last talked, I sent out a massive amount of trade offers for QBs to replace Joe Burrow. I ultimately settled on a counter-offer of Dak Prescott for Harold Fannin Jr. That may sound silly or not like much, but these clowns hoard quarterbacks, like some teams have three or four, and they are completely unwilling to trade. I will take what I can get.

I don’t think this injury sidelines Lamb for the entire year. At this point, we are ridiculously reliant on Garrett Wilson. We are three weeks away from Rashee Rice returning and who knows how long from Lamb coming back. I’m kind of happy to wait. Obviously, I will arrange this roster in the best way I think we can win games. This current week’s setup is looking like:

• QB: Dak Prescott

• WR1: ???

• WR2: Garrett Wilson

• WR3: Tetairoa McMillan

• RB1: De’Von Achane

• RB2: ???

• TE: Jake Ferguson
  FLEX: ???

• K: Brandon Aubrey

• DEF: New England

We have Chase Brown, Travis Etienne, Calvin Ridley, Quishon Judkins, Malik Washington, Luther Burden III and Tre Tucker on the hypothetical bench. There are no two ways about it, some hard decisions have to be made this week. But I mean, my goal was to build a championship team. These early injuries have been unfortunate, but we have some major reinforcements coming. A lot of teams do not. We are 3-0, a lot of teams are not. I figure this will be a hard couple weeks for us, but I will obviously try to win. Biggest thing I would say is I feel blessed to be 3-0 right now. Considering how many injuries we have had and what all, we are chugging along way better than I suspected.

We do, unfortunately, have to play a fellow 3-0 next week.

Jake Ferguson, to date, is my absolute best draft pick this year. Hopefully, he can produce Sunday night. Beyond that, Garrett Wilson better go score us 40. I expect we lose this week, but this team is built to bounce back.

I don’t anticipate any trades on the horizon, but I would very much like Calvin Ridley out of here and maybe Chase Brown too. If Prescott continues to suck, I may try to swing Ridley for Jared Goff. I have word that might be favorable. With where I am at and the others are at, it’s incredibly hard to see Chase Brown leaving.

Also, we did change the team name from “Bench don’t kill my vibe” to “Jerry World” after the Prescott trade. I probably cursed us by doing that, but oh well.

The god of football

What if I told you that you were watching the greatest NFL player to ever live and you didn’t even realize it?

The NFL is obviously a complicated game, some positions are worth way more than others as evidenced by the way they are paid. Dak Prescott is going to get $60 million this year to play quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. He is hardly considered the best player in the league; Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen … the list goes on when looking at players a franchise would likely rather have. And while Prescott does have some illustrious awards to his name, looking all-time, most people would probably consider fellow Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman better. They would almost certainly also take a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning over Prescott. Clearly, measuring people by monetary value is a bad and rather sad way of looking at the world.

But in the way that some positions are worth more than others, many other positions require different skills than others. It’s why I will always be a proponent of Devin Hester, an electric Chicago Bears returner, going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Typically, return men are kind of an afterthought on an NFL roster. Currently, only a few current NFL teams actually pay a semi-legitimate return man, usually it’s just assigned to somebody that can catch kicks and has other uses. Back to Hester though, if you successfully return more kicks to the end zone than anybody else in NFL history, well, shouldn’t you deserve a spot in the hall?

Canton only enshrines “exceptional figures” in the sport of pro football. Hester was undeniably an exceptional figure—he’s the only one in history to return the opening kick of the Super Bowl for a touchdown for god’s sake.

Prescott, on the other hand? The jury is still out. He may turn into one and may already halfway be one, but his best accomplishment to date is getting second in MVP voting in 2023. Good? Absolutely, but does it meet the criteria for exceptional? He couldn’t even best everybody in his own league, let alone all-time.

But what if there was a man that, to date, has obliterated his way by everybody in the history of the NFL and everybody currently in the league? What if he’s on the same team as Prescott? What if he makes around 50 times less?

Brandon Aubrey is nearing immortality.

He just hit a 64-yard field goal to send a game to overtime this weekend. Then, he followed it up with an “easy” 46-yard field goal to seal the win.

With quarterbacks, it’s complicated. You can grade them on their vision, their decisions, their movement, the accuracy of their throws, the strength of their throws … the list goes on.

With kickers, it’s not so complicated—at least in this instance. You want a kicker who can kick the ball exceptionally far and exceptionally accurate.

When looking at NFL players, oftentimes, you take a sacrifice. You’ll draft a guy like Anthony Richardson, who can throw a football exceptionally far, in the top five of the NFL Draft with the hope that can develop his accuracy. Alternatively, perhaps you live with Drew Brees knowing that his accuracy will lead you to a Super Bowl, even if he doesn’t make ESPN’s top 10 regularly.

With Brandon Aubrey, sacrifices are non-existent. Typically, to be qualified for the all-time field goal percentage kickers leaderboard, you need 100 attempts. Aubrey is at 91. Barring a historic collapse, which he has shown no signs of, Aubrey is very likely to join that board as its leader. His current field goal attempts made percentage sits at 90.1%, a full percentage point above the next kicker. He is the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

That in and of itself is a phenomenal and grand accomplishment, but to understand the magnanimity of that situation, you must look deeper.

Not only is he the most accurate kicker in NFL history, he’s also successfully kicked the most 60-yard or more field goals in NFL history. He’s attempting the most egregious shots and is still the most accurate man on the face of the planet.

He has kicked the second and third longest field goals in NFL history with seeming ease. In preseason, he also tied the record for the longest NFL field goal at 66-yards, but that does not count in official statistics.

There was a time in the NFL when 60-yard field goals were unthinkable and when 40- or 50-yard field goals were a hit or miss chance. In 1982, Mark Moseley won the NFL MVP award despite never making a kick over 50 yards. He went 20 of 21 with his longest registering at 48-yards.

There is only a small section of kickers in Canton and someday, Brandon Aubrey is set to join them as the greatest of them all. In the meantime, enjoy the show. When the Cowboys face off against the Bears Sunday, their greatest advantage has nothing to do with Prescott. Instead, the question is: Can Prescott get them to the logo at midfield?

The fantasy football team

Back in the day, I used to play fantasy football A LOT. These days I’m a one-team kind of guy just playing in my mother’s league. I’m not willing to let it take up too much of my life anymore, but it’s still rather fun (or infuriating).

Here’s a look at the squad we drafted:

QB: Joe Burrow

Last year, I took Tua Tagovailoa late and, well, you know what happened. I had Malik Nabers, Rashee Rice, De’Von Achane, Tua, etc. We absolutely won some games by big margins, but Tua got hurt, Derek Carr got hurt … we ended up limping to elimination from the playoffs with a game or two left in the season and finished in the middle of the standings.

This year, I decided to fix all our QB woes by drafting QB Joe Burrow early. I had Burrow at QB3 on my board. Umm … that’s gone terribly. R.I.P. Joe. One of my absolute favorite QBs in the league; I had no doubts about him, but the injury really sucks.

We’re in panic mode at QB, will update you later. There will absolutely be some trade proposals going out this week once Yahoo lets me do them, but I’m also halfway content to wait.

HB: Achane, Chase Brown, Travis Etienne Jr., Quinshon Judkins

I thought Chase Brown was kind of a way to ensure I got points out of the Bengals offense, if Burrow didn’t perform. Like not a stack, moreso a way to mitigate damage. Unfortunately, that has all fallen apart. I initially considered Brown a steal in the draft and untouchable; he’s now on the block because this team feels weak and we have another HB outshining expectations. If I can get a top-tier QB for Brown, he’s probably gone. Granted, I feel the QB market is too high right now, so I want to wait a week before I try anything drastic.

I figure the objective strategy in a 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 non-super flex league is that you want a fourth WR. I think I smartly broke the rules and won because of it this week. Etienne got the start in the flex.

Obviously, this injury luck has been absolutely brutal with Burrow going out for most of the fantasy season, if not all, and me having no backup QBs on the roster. But, I had no idea Tank Bigsby and Adam Thielen were getting ready to get traded. That was a major boost to this team. I kind of just took Etienne because I didn’t think Jacksonville Jaguars were as bad as some people were making them out to be and it paid major dividends. I don’t think Etienne is a league winner, but with my QB going out, he gives me the flexibility to trade Brown and be ok.

WR: CeeDee Lamb, Garrett Wilson, Tetairoa McMillan, Calvin Ridley, Rashee Rice, Matthew Golden, Luther Burden III, Jayden Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk

This is an incredible troop. My no. 1 philosophy is to get good WRs and I think I did that ok. Aside from Rice, I do worry I have a lot of really good receivers on bad teams. Like that’s probably the biggest concern, but my thought process is if they’re trailing every second half, the offense should be throwing a lot, which should inherently benefit me? Like Wilson was at two points after halftime last week and then got up to 10 because what could the Jets do besides throw the ball?

I don’t feel super comfy in the WR corps, but I’m ok with it. Big thing for me is with this QB injury, I’m fully willing to ship Ridley.

I also think Rice will provide a massive boost when the NFL stops suspending him.

The one scary thing is both Golden and Burden look terrible. I feel ok with McMillan, but beyond that my rookie WR plan is failing. I’m the guy that always takes a bunch of rookie WRs searching for a boon. Golden probably goes first in order of guys that need to be cut and, if I need to ditch a second, Burden, who really hasn’t played much, isn’t far behind on that list.

TE: Jake Ferguson, Harold Fannin Jr.

This is where things get fun. I initially drafted Kyle Pitts as my no. 1 TE with Jake Ferguson set to be the backup. I traded Pitts and Tyler Bass, Buffalo kicker, for Zach Ertz, Washington tight end, and Brandon Aubrey, Dallas kicker.

I’m currently sitting here thinking it's a pretty fair trade. Obviously, I feel bad Bass got hurt, but I think we’re both doing rather ok? Also, my leaguemates think I’m crazy, but like when you look at TE stats, I really think Harold Fannin Jr., who I dropped Ertz for, has a lot of potential.

K: Brandon Aubrey

Best kicker in the NFL playing for a team with a bad defense that must score a lot of points to win. To say I’m happy and I trust him is beyond an understatement.

DEF: San Fran

It was WAS week one and SF week two. Not really worth talking about. There is a specific website I use to determine who I stream every week and usually I do it after the waivers process. To me, defense is about the least interesting part of fantasy football.

OVERALL:

One of the conscious decisions I made when building the team this year was that we are not trying to go undefeated. We are trying to win the league. I’m ok with Rice and possibly Judkins being suspended.

Another conscious decision I made was to draft Burrow and never have to worry about the QB position again. That obviously failed us. Obviously, a ton of QBs got hurt lately so I don’t want to overreact and trade prematurely. If I can get Danny Dimes, I feel good, or if I can make a reasonable trade, I feel good. It’s not uncomfortable for me streaming QBs either, but I really think this team can persevere as long as we don’t get more injuries. It’s also just really nice being 2-0. I can afford a bad week or two waiting for Rice to get off suspension that a lot of other teams cannot.

This team was not built to win now, it was built to halfway win now with a focus on steamrolling people late in the year. As long as I get the QB situation figured out, we can absolutely do that.

Week 2: NFL

Last week I felt like I had a great lead in picking up Harold Fanning Jr., even if the league mates made fun of me for it.

This week, I don’t really see anything. I’m sitting at ninth out of 10, so I figure I tank it and try to improve my waiver spot for the next week.

It’s obviously crucial for me re: quarterback, but I’m ok losing this week since I really can't beat anybody but no. 10 to waivers and I know he’s not going to pick a QB (I’m possibly trying to get a QB from him via trade).

I will say, if you want league advice:

I have Brandon Aiyuk stashed and I fully believe in putting him on your IR. If you have to keep him on the active fantasy roster, it gets more tricky, but could still be worth it depending on how deep the league is and how good your bench looks. Obviously, I hesitate to start him until Purdy is back.

Cedric Tillman is an ok addition for me. Like, at this point, I would rather have him than Golden, who I have. I will say, I’m sitting on Fannin and Judkins and am not starting them until I see something better in Cleveland. For me, this is a long term stash and I’m not really willing to throw a third Browns player on the bench. But if you do not have Fannin and/or Judkins, I think this is a viable add to wait and see if this offense gets it together.

Elic Ayomanor. I’m tempted to straight up drop Calvin Ridley for this man, but obviously I am trying to trade Ridley, so I don’t want to say that upfront. If you’re in desperate need of a spot start, I think Ayomanor is probably your best choice. I also think he’s the no. 1 WR in this Tennessee offense and absolutely deserves a roster spot. I would be ok with him spot-starting and I absolutely think he needs to be rostered in any leagues 10+. As bad as Cam Ward has been looking, he is the No. 1 target in Tennessee and that makes him a valuable asset. Plus Tennessee will inherently get better as life goes on.

Jayden Higgins. I have zero faith in the Houston Texans or anything of the sort, but you know I love my rookie wide outs. I have him on my team’s roster and I would take him over Burden or Golden at this point. He’s purely just a stash and hope he gets better at this point, but he’s at least showing some signs of life.

Jaydon Blue. I did not draft Jayden Blue in fantasy, but it was purely because I was not presented the opportunity, not because I didn’t want him. If I have him, I would keep him and if I do not have him and somebody else dropped him, I would grab him. I would like to think at some point Dallas realizes who the better back is? Granted, they have been known to do very long things for very long times.

Keenan Allen. I figure he must be sucking Justin off or something. He runs routes like he’s washed, he acts like he’s washed, yet, somehow, he keeps catching passes. I struggle to know what to make of the Chargers right now and I’d only be halfway confident starting Allen, but I think he is absolutely worth a bench spot.

Wan’dale Robinson. I figure the Cowboys defense is atrocious and Robinson and Wilson had an insane start. I don’t think any sort of sustained fantasy projection will happen, but if you’re desperate, sure, you can start him.

Tyler Allgeier. I love him as a spot start, if you’re in desperate need of somebody who can get you fantasy points, I’m all for it. Long-term, I’m iffy, but I think he’s a better roster than a lot of running backs in this league.

Overview

It’s hard to say what you want something to be, when you’re not exactly sure what the end goal is.

I asked Mike Matthews, a professor at Central Texas College, for writing advice a while back and he essentially said write every day.

My mother can inundate you with stories about how I set up a table with a lot of baseball cards in her living room and pretended to be a sports broadcaster when I was growing up. In some ways, I’ve moved beyond that, in others, I never have. I figure this is one great American football and baseball thing with some other ideas sprinkled in. The idea isn’t to do something spectacular, it’s to write regularly and not because of a job, but because my sports opinions and predictions are just that much better than yours.