My Fantasy Football Legacy

  The first fantasy football league I took part in was in 1990. It was a league sponsored by a very popular Lake Tahoe bar, and inclusion was something of an honor. Guys waited for years to be asked to join the league by the bar's owner and league's commissioner. When I was given a team by my bar owning friend, I thought there would be a boycott of his fine establishment by those who had dream of inclusion. I made it a bit worse by winning the first overall pick in the draft lottery.

  Fantasy leagues back in the 90s weren't driven by computers. They didn't have experts, and half the statistic that drive modern day fantasy leagues were non-existent. We used a chalkboard. The chalkboard we used was held in borderline religious reverence by the bar's patrons. Grown men would stand - beer in hand - before the "Board" in deep thought and contemplation. If a trade was announced, it was done by the league commissioner in front of a packed crowd each Friday night. The winner of the "BT League" pocketed a sizable chunk of cash, as well as minor celebrity status for a year.

  My first choice that year was...

... none other than Warren Moon. He passed for 4689 yards that year, snagging me 33 TDs. The rest of my team was an absolute disaster. During the draft, I got called "rookie" and "idiot" more times in one night than I had in all my first dates combined... Women can be tough, but they have nothing on Fantasy Draft-nicks. As the season progressed, my visions of proving my prescient football knowledge and giving the league guys "I told you so" smirks faded. I finished in last place that year.

  Fast forwarding to this season, I'm really not much better off than I was in 1990. I started the year out with an 0-4 record with players like Sam Bradford, Ryan Matthews and two rookie WRs: Julio Jones and A.J. Green. Green was the only bright spot. Did I mention I had the 1st pick overall again? No?

  Yup! I passed on nothing players like Aaron Rodger, Adrian Foster, Wes Welker... Instead I took Sidney Rice and the San Diego defense... I actually hung up on my Mom when I told her who I drafted and she started laughing between calling me a "rookie" and "idiot"...

  My team this year is somehow clawing it's way back. I'm now 4-4; more through maniac level drops and adds than I am from my original draft team. I've made more moves this year than the rest of my league combined. I've missed a few good starts for my players. I didn't start Julio Jones last week, or Denarius Moore this week. Instead I started Mark Sanchez as my quarterback last week for a whopping 9 points last week, with Santonio Holmes taking Julio Jones' slot... Stop groaning! I won last week because I had some Dallas Cowboys players come through, and the fact that the team I was matched against didn't realize two of his players wouldn't play.

  This week? Here's my starting line-up:

  QB - Cam Newton

  WR - Marcus Colston

  WR - Santonio Holmes

  WR - Antonio Brown

  RB - Steven Jackson

  RB - DeMarco Murray

  TE - Jason Witten

  Detroit Defense

  K- Dan Bailey

  My bench: Julio Jones, A.J. Green, James Jones, Denarius Moore, Cedric Benson, and just added Tim Tebow in place of Mark Sanchez.

   So who would you start and why? I also would like to see your fantasy team starts this week! Good luck to all you fantasy buffs this week!