A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
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In two days, the kickoff to the 2011 NFL season will begin. I have been waiting for this day to come for what feels like an eternity. My fantasy team is drafted, and I’m ready to go.
Now let’s take a look at the questionable fantasy-relevant players and their expected injury status For Week 1.
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Someone is going to have to explain how this makes a lick of sense.
First, the report, broken by Jay Glazer on Twitter just moments ago:
I’m reporting the Jaguars today have informed starting QB David Garrard they are releasing him! Luke McKown will start opener! Shocker!!!
I noticed a few people on Twitter saying they were “waiting for confirmation” before reacting. Umm, what more confirmation is needed beyond Glazer’s word? He’s as solid as they come.
So now some reaction.
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Maybe it is time to go with the Chris Berman theory and keep picking the same two teams to reach the Super Bowl.
Back in the day Berman started a preseason tradition of predicting of a San Francisco 49ers v. Buffalo Bills Super Bowl. For seven consecutive years the Berman theory would have proved half right. The Niners won Super Bowl’s 23 and 24, then the Bills appeared in SB’s 25 through 28 before the Niners won Super Bowl XXIX. Sadly, the stars never quite aligned for Jim Kelly and Steve Young (or Joe Montana) to meet for all the marbles.
Obviously I wouldn’t touch either franchise to get anywhere close to the big game these days. But I’ve got my own two horses…
The Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.
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The 2011 White Sox season — you know, the one in which we were supposedly “all in” — has pretty much been a disaster. The White Sox are definitively a .500 team that has tried to masquerade as a contender. The Tigers put an emphatic end to that over the weekend.
But all is not lost in 2011, at least for someone like me who considers Mark Buehrle to be on his Personal Sports Mount Rushmore. And it’s all thanks to Reva Friedel, my new #1 favorite White Sox fan. (Sorry Josh and KVB.)
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[Editor's note: Spreads for the Monday night games have been added and picks posted.]
For the third straight year, our weekly NFL coverage will include a Bettor’s Guide and a Viewer’s Guide to get you ready for that week’s action in the National. Football. LEAGUE.
In the Bettor’s Guide, normally posted on Tuesdays, we run down the point spreads and over-unders for each game, and I give my against-the-spread picks. The Viewer’s Guide, typically posted on Wednesdays, runs down the TV listings and announcer assignments for each game.
And for those of you wondering whether you should pay attention to my picks, I’ve been relatively successful the last two years since I started doing this post every week. In 2009, I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 games over .500 for the season. Last year, I went 131-103-8.
Longtime readers of MSF know that I never wager money on sporting events, but I do enjoy the challenge of picking games against Vegas spreads. My methodology is simple: I get the earliest spreads during the week and post my initial gut reaction. That’s it. And as my records show, it’s been a successful strategy.
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Sometimes things go as planned during the course of your draft. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes your guys make it through the season without suffering major injuries. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes your sleepers perform just as you planned. Sometimes they don’t.
When those things go wrong – and from time to time they will – you’ll turn to the waiver wire in your moment of need. And that’s why I’ll be here at the beginning of each week to highlight players owned in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.
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This is the final edition in a monthly series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicled my visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2011 season. (Part 1 can be found here, part 2 here, part 3 here and part 4 here.)
In this edition, I regale you with tales and photos from my visits to brand new Werner Park in Omaha’s suburbs to see the playoff-bound Storm Chasers. Lastly, I’ll update you on how the seasons ended for my new home team, the Lincoln Saltdogs of the Independent American Association, and my former home team, the Indianapolis Indians.
AJ Kaufman is the Co-Editor of MSF. Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ajkauf7| Tweet | Email Post
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Ohio State began their 2011 season with a commanding 42-0 win over Akron. This was the first game of the Luke Fickell era and the first after the resignation of Jim Tressel. Joe Bauserman and freshman Braxton Miller split time at QB, which filled the void left by Terrelle Pryor after his decision to leave for the NFL.
Before Pryor became eligible for the Supplemental Draft, Roger Goodell made it known that Pryor would be suspended for the first six weeks of the season. Yesterday, it was announced that Jim Tressel would similarly miss games during the first part of the season. This is good and a trend that needs to continue.
