Christian Zavisca

Fantasy football update: You win some, you lose a few more

In my decades-old, full-roster league, I'm languishing in seventh place out of eight. In this league, we keep score by head-to-head results as well as cumulative totals, and I somehow managed to win the "weeks" crown with a 12-5 record, thanks to a combination of lousy weeks by my opponents and a few big-scoring weeks by my squad. Jay Cutler did a nice job of torpedoing my overall season with his multi-interception outings.

In my other league, I placed third out of 10 teams. Chris Johnson and Tom Brady kept me in it, but the rest of my roster wasn't much to brag about.

Fantasy football update: Both teams surging

I know there's other news out there, but let's talk about the important things.

I'm in second place overall and 3-1 in the Hamilton Field league (which, if you'll recall, is the rare league that includes individual defensive players).

• Jay Cutler, much like the rest of my team, has been effective after a Week 1 disaster.
• Jerricho Cotchery (Jets WR) has been a godsend. Reggie Wayne has been great and Antonio Gates very good.
• I've gotten tremendous contributions on defense from Patrick Willis (SF LB) and Jared Allen (Vikings DE).

Long-term, Cutler needs to continue playing well, and I need to get more from running backs Steven Jackson and Michael Turner if I'm going to keep up this pace.

In the Bears Win XLIV league, I'm also 3-1 but in fourth overall.

• Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has put together just an OK season. I need him to start piling up some stats.
• My bacon has been saved by WR Steve Smith (Giants) and SF TE Vernon Davis, and a huge Week 2 by Chris Johnson (Titans RB).
• Again, I need a running back (NO's Reggie Bush or Seattle's Julius Jones) to start paying off, or I'm in trouble long-term.

Anyway, I'm in good shape so far. Can't complain.

Fantasy Football 2.0

It was a rough debut for the S.B. Studebakers, my Hamilton Field league team, as we got walloped 696-423 by The Steiners.

My first-round running backs, Michael Turner and Steven Jackson, failed to show up, and quarterback Jay Cutler threw four picks. Plus, opposing QB Drew Brees threw six touchdowns. Not a great Sunday.

To explain: This league dates back to my high school days (i.e. 1991). Unlike most fantasy football leagues, we draft individual defensive players, who score points for tackles, sacks, interceptions, touchdowns, and other accomplishments. Under our scoring system, 500 points is a good team week.

We've advanced from the days when The Commish tallied the points out of Monday's USA Today to a Web application that does most of the heavy lifting, and we draft via chat room instead of from O'Malley's basement. But the same camaraderie, trash talking and good fun remains.

Many more weeks like this, though, and the league isn't going to be much fun for yours truly. I've won my other league two years running, but in this league, I've been in the wilderness for a few seasons.

My roster:

Cutler, Jay CHI QB
Hasselbeck, Matt SEA QB
Quinn, Brady CLE QB
Jackson, Steven STL RB
Johnson, Larry KCC RB
Jones, Felix DAL RB
Lynch, Marshawn BUF RB
Moreno, Knowshon DEN RB
Turner, Michael ATL RB
Bennett, Earl CHI WR
Bowe, Dwayne KCC WR
Cotchery, Jerricho NYJ WR
Crabtree, Michael SFO WR
Nicks, Hakeem NYG WR
Wayne, Reggie IND WR
Davis, Vernon SFO TE
Gates, Antonio SDC TE
Mare, Olindo SEA PK
Henderson, John JAC DT
Ratliff, Jay DAL DT
Allen, Jared MIN DE
Ayers, Robert DEN DE
Kerney, Patrick SEA DE
Long, Chris STL DE
Laurinaitis, James STL LB
Merriman, Shawne SDC LB
Tatupu, Lofa SEA LB
Urlacher, Brian CHI LB
Willis, Patrick SFO LB
Bailey, Champ DEN CB
Bodden, Leigh NEP CB
Cromartie, Antonio SDC CB
Rodgers-Cromartie, Dominique ARI CB
Bethea, Antoine IND S
Landry, LaRon WAS S
Rhodes, Kerry NYJ S
Chargers, San Diego SDC ST

Fantasy Football 1.0

In the "Bears Win XLV" league, I wound up with the fifth pick out of 10 teams — not the worst spot, but not all that great either.

I went with Patriots QB Tom Brady, a high-risk, high-reward type of choice since he's coming off of a season-ending injury and all. The first four picks were all running backs (Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams).

In the second round I took Titans running back Chris Johnson. In subsequent rounds:

RB Reggie Bush
RB Marshawn Lynch
WR Antonio Bryant
WR Lee Evans
WR Laveranues Coles
QB Carson Palmer
WR Steve Smith (NYG)
WR Julius Jones
WR Sidney Rice
TE Zach Miller (Oak)
DEF NYJ
TE Vernon Davis
WR Earl Bennett

I think I did OK depth-wise. I forgot to take a kicker (oops), but I can get that figured out before the season starts.

I'm the defending champ in this league. I'm hoping to put enough decent weeks together to make another playoff run (the top four teams qualify).

Up tonight is the big draft in the league I've been participating in with my high school buddies for the past two decades or so. Time to get some further studying in.