Fantasy Draft, Part Deux

Sounds like there's interest in doing a fantasy draft party again. Would the evening of 8/31 (Sunday) work? I'm driving back on Monday and Saturday night is Spartan football, so that seems to be the best night to me. Who wants to host? The Stoeckle residence of Cass City is open if we want to party there, but if one of you homeowners wants to host that would be great too. Any other thoughts?

Here's some resources to help you get ready, if you're going to:
-Funston's Big Board
-NFL.com Top 100
-Rotter's Top 500 (Probably the default list for the draft, due to it's size)
-ESPN.com Top 200
-ESPN.com Cheat Sheet (pdf file)
-ESPN Live Draft Results
-Projected Looks and Touches
-Fox Sports Average Draft Position

UPDATE: Added more resources.

UPDATE 2: Added another resource. Seriously, you should be good to go.

UPDATE 3: I'm working on a spreadsheet for the draft, I'll post it here when it's done so it's easily available. How would everyone feel about me doing the random picks for position before the draft so that I could enter team names before it started? Also, just to be sure, can we hook the laptop we're using up to the TV, or are we just going to go without?

UPDATE IV: One more resource.

UPDATE V: THE UPDATE STRIKES BACK Here's the spreadsheet, as much as is done anyway.

Throwing Hankies

Check this quote out. In reference to MLB using instant replay starting on Thursday, Cubs manager Lou Piniella wondered whether a team could challenge a call. "I'd love to be able to throw a red hankie or a green hankie. Imagine being able to throw something on the field and not be ejected," he said. "I shouldn't say it's not going to work, but this could turn into a little bit of a fiasco initially."

You know what, I'll be spontaneous, why not post a little video in tribute to Coach Lou.

The Dangers of YouTube

One of my coworkers has a daughter in dance. Apparently at the recital the fathers had a dance of their own. This coworker participated and his wife taped it. It was posted on YouTube. So far, good. Then, another coworker stumbled across the video. A mass email went out, hilarity ensues. Moral of the story: be careful what you post on the internet, it may come back and get you (say, at the daily production meeting).

Too Good

Here's a story for you little league folks: Youth baseball officials in New Haven, CT dissolved and 8 and 9-year-old team because it's coach refused to sit his star pitcher, who was deemed "too good". The team went 8-0, but the players were moved to other teams and won't play in the playoffs. All of the players refused to go, now there's a lawsuit. By the way, the second place team is run by the league officials who dissolved the unbeaten team. Hmmm. (Hat tip: Jack Fowler at The Corner)

The Fountains at the Bellagio

Breath-Taking

I'm only an amateur film maker so far.

Winter Olympics 2010

I hope this works, it's my first uploaded video. That's me at Boyne Highlands.

"And here we go"

Finally, the Cass Theater is showing "The Dark Knight." Only took him 5 weeks to get it. I've never been more excited to see a movie for a second time. In fact, this marks the first time I've ever seen the same movie twice in the theater. The odds are also good that I'll watch it twice in CC. Probably on "bargin night."

In other related bat and olympic news, Haag took home the Gold last night (3:00am) knocking his 6th bat out of the air and onto the kitchen floor. It was actually a tie for Gold, but extra points were given for use of the tennis racket.

Donkey Kong Jenga

This looks pretty cool:

9-7?

Mike O'Hara thinks that the Lions will go at least 9-7. Not necessarily playoffs, but enough wins to put them close. Is he crazy? Kitna sounded crazy last year, and just when it looked like the team might be able to deliver, they collapsed. Expectations aren't quite so high this year, but can they manage it?

106-57

That's the score after Team USA smacked down Chris Kaman and Team Deutschland, knocking them out of the tournament. Team USA will advance to the quarterfinals versus Australia and Chris Kaman will return home to be jeered by crowds all next season.

.007

No, that title wasn't a teasing attempt to make you read the post thinking it would be something about James Bond. I'm sure we've all seen the video and heard about super fish Mike Phelps winning his 36th gold medal on Friday night...or Saturday afternoon depending on where you roll...by one-one hundredth of a second.

But, what if the laser timers actually measured to the thousandth. What I'm trying to say is, what if Phelps actually won by 0.007 seconds, but the laser timer (since it only measures in hundredths of a second) rounded up to the nearest hundredth of a second, marking the win differential by 0.01 seconds. Heck, he may have touched 0.005 seconds sooner than the other guy...who will inevitably be kicking himself for the rest of his life if he had just taken another half stroke.

Looking for a date?

Check this story out about arguably the world's strongest woman. Not only that, but read some of the comments. I've posted one for you:

"A woman after my own heart. One that can lift the truck up and hold it there while I rotate the tires and change the oil......."

Someday

Broke

Remember how Michael Vick had lots of money before going to prison? Not anymore. Is it that hard to find good help?

Funny Because It's True

All I want out of life is to be a monkey of moderate intelligence who wears a suit. That's why I've decided to transfer to Business School.
-Guenter the monkey, "Mars University", Futurama

Where there's smoke, there's fire

Just to steal a popular phrase used by the Pimp in the Box, check out this story. First off, do you really need a passport to tell these girls aren't 16? Just look at them. If they even are 16...disgusting. EAT!!! I mean, how do you not take one look at them and not say CHEATERS. Again, I'm not an Olympic guy, but Fritz got it start, so now it's on.

It's also a fun article to read because the girls first name is He, which makes it difficult to understand if the person writing is talking about men's or women's gymnastics. Kind of a "Who's on First" thing. Kind of.

Sights for Sore Eyes

I thought I might take some time to post pictures. I don't have cheesy stories to go with them, but hopefully a caption to shed some light on the photo.



The sunset at Grand Canyon.




The end of the thin trail you see running below on the right side of picture would have taken about 4 hours to hike and would have eventually taken us to the Colorado River.




Yes, he's real...and real close. Never know what you'll see when hiking at the Grand Canyon.




The "Strip" at night...from atop the "World's Highest Restaurant" at the Stratosphere.




This pic was taken in Canada in Sept. of '07. I couldn't remember if I posted this before. How "a-boat" that Bald Eagle, 'eh?




This pic was sent to me from Adam via MSN messenger in the fall of 2000, I believe.

Rat-brained Robots

I'm not sure if this is cool or disturbing. Maybe both.

The Olympics are Great.

As a teen, with only antenna TV I remember being glued to the olympics when it was on. Particularly Barcelona, Lilyhammer, etc. As of recent years I dont hardly remember a thing, Sydney, Athens, Etc. However, this time I'm hooked. Maybe it's got a lot to do with the freak of nature Phelps but none the less, its got me.

Second Reason has got to the Jim Rome show. If you have a chance to listen or to read the takes or whatever. The show has been awesome during these games. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that

Canada has a big fat ZERO in the medal count and well the USA is just Big & Fat
or
Its the Olympics not a Org.........5,000 Male Olympians, 5,000 Female Olympians = 100,000 Gloves for the unit.
or
Phelps washing down 3 egg sandwiches with an omelet, bowl of grits, french toast, 3 chocolate chip pancakes, and 1000 calories worth of energy drinks and thats just breakfast.
or
Michael Phelps = George Murason
or
Canada vs USA.....numerous, numerous emails.

If you've got a chance, tune in, or do whatever you can to listen this week. Well worth the time.

Signed.

The round Bacon around my neck.

Say Hello to the Bad Guy

Want more proof that Russia is determined to be the bad guy again? Take a look at this list from John O'Sullivan's article in today's New York Post:

In recent years, the Russian state has:

* Been credibly accused of murdering an exile in London;

* Expropriated foreign investments on behalf of an energy company controlled by itself;

* Cut off energy supplies to other states as a means of political intimidation, and

* Assisted secessionist rebels in neighboring states in order to keep their newly independent governments off balance.

Plus, of course, it has now - no more Mr. Nice Guy - invaded and bombed the sovereign state of Georgia.

Also, you can read another great article on the subject by Melik Kaylan at the Wall Street Journal.

Glory

There's a new post at Monkie's Progress. Yes, it's been a while.

Return of History

This is the best article I've read so far on Russia attacking Georgia. Frightening though.

My Desk At Work

In case you're wondering, that's Hank Scorpio.

Mercenary

Want to know why the Olympics is a joke? Read this story about LA Clippers Center, and former CMU player, Chris Kaman. The short version: Kaman is playing basketball in the Olympics... for Germany. Somehow this is legal; the article gives the impression that you could apply for citizenship in Germany and then be allowed to play. I don't care much about Olympic basketball, but as a sports fan and an American, that's pretty disgusting.

"Never batted an eye."

This is a pretty funny story.

Invisibility

According to Fox News, scientists at UC-Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around objects. This means that the technology to turn people or objects invisible might have just arrived from a science fiction story. Maybe we are living in the future.

J-E-T-S

So, Brett Favre is the new QB for the NY Jets. Bad news for Chad Pennington. I've been a big Favre fan until now, but I can't wish him well with his new team. This whole thing stinks. Favre's tarnished his image with this ugly episode, and it's pretty tough to root for a NY team anyway. I think I'm going to be an anti-Jets fan this year.

Jailbird

So, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in jail. What took so long?

Fantasy Draft

So, what's everyone thinking for the 2008 Cass City Monkie Fantasy Football Draft (we should get a corporate sponsor)? Would people like to try and do a party? Should we try something else? I'm sure there's not many good online draft times available, but we could probably come up with something else if necessary. I might potentially be able over Labor Day weekend. We can also discuss how to set up the draft. Was the random order satisfactory for everyone?

Also, we've added one new player this year, brother-in-law Joe. We're still short 4 players at the moment, so some of you (probably not the ones reading) need to sign-up.

Funny Stuff

Okay, I'm going to do something I never thought I'd do: post a Paris Hilton video on the blog. No wait, it's funny, not that other stuff.



Seriously, how strange is this election going to get by November?

Zoo Tax

Hey Andy, how does it feel to now be partly responsible for keeping the Detroit Zoo afloat? Maybe, if you're lucky, you can get free admission to see the snow monkeys.

Coach to Lions: You Suck

Okay, that's not quite what offensive coordinator Jim Colletto told the Lions, but he did say that he didn't think they were mentally tough enough to run the ball, and that's just about the same thing.

We Are One

The One

This is hilarious: