Fish Fear Me

Sporting News

Friends, Minnesotans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury the Twins, not to praise them;
The evil that starting rotations do early in the season lives after them,
The good is oft interred with old pennant hopes,
So let it be with the Twins...

Sorry. When the Twins couldn't complete the sweep of Detroit yesterday, admittedly a very difficult task, instead of hitting the road one game behind the Tigers they are three games back today. They have three in Chicago, then three at KC, then four in Detroit, before ending the season back home with three against KC again. Now, it's possible that they will pick back up on their winning streak, they had won six in a row to get back into the hunt, and I hope they do. I'd like to see one more AL Central pennant to bring to the new ballpark next year. If they pull that off it will truly be an accomplishment based on what they have done so far this season. Which is why I temper my expectations.

On the plus side, the Twins are the best in the division as far as intra-division play at 35-24. Countering that is their record on the road, a dismal 31-40. And while the six-game winning streak was fun, before yesterday's loss it merely brought them to 10-7 for the month of September. That is hardly an inspiring record.

Go for it boys, I'll be rooting for you. I really don't think you have a prayer, but hey, prove me wrong.

The Vikes started slow again yesterday and let me indulge in bitching about my Vikes pet peeve, an offense that does several three and out series in a row and leaves the defense tired and scrambling. Detroit couldn't take advantage enough of that though, and when the Vikings offense finally got their act together Detroit was toast.

This is a good Vikings team. I'm a little concerned about rookie right tackle Phil Loadholt, but some patience is in order. All accounts that I've read say that he is working hard at all aspects of the game and so maybe he just needs some time to grow into the job. The dude is a monster at 6-8, 343 lbs. officially. If, when, he gets adjusted to the NFL, he's going to be a force.

On the FFL front, I cruised to victory this weekend. I think I was up like 25-0 yesterday by the time most of the early games had finished the first quarter. All of my starters scored with the exception of Brandon Marshall and it looks like I will have the high score for the week. Not that I think I have the greatest team in the world, but it's a better start than last year.

The 2009 FFL Lineup

I'm not sure I was in my right mind when we got together on Monday night to draft teams for this year's fantasy football season. We have ten teams and draft 12 players per team. I had the fourth pick of the first round and pretty much knew that Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, and Maurice Jones-Drew would go before me. If that happened(and it did), I decided I would go with a receiver instead. So I bet the franchise on Larry Fitzgerald this year. Uh, no pressure though, Larry.

The 2009 Team Hoot:

• QB-Jay Cutler
• QB-Brett Favre
• RB-Marion Barber
• RB-Darren McFadden
• RB-Marshawn Lynch
• RB-Larry Johnson
• WR-Larry Fitzgerald
• WR-Marques Colston
• WR-Brandon Marshall
• WR-Antonio Bryant
• K-Ryan Longwell
• DST-Green Bay

I've got my share of head cases and old farts there. RBs went quickly and by the time it got back around to me I really didn't want Barber, but he was the best of the rest. I like my receiving corps, if Brandon Marshall takes out his frustrations on his opponents and not his own team. I picked Favre up in the final round almost for the heck of it. If he can click this year the Vikes will have one potent offense. We'll see.