NBD - Week 5 Review A

It's Columbus Day, which once again means that I got to celebrate the Discovery of America by not having to teach children today, and for that I tip my hat to ol' Cristobal Colon. It also means I've got time to get a head start on the blog this week, with an exciting Monday Night game on the schedule and a few games hanging in the balance. Here are some Menomenas to keep your eyes on tonight:

McClusterfuck vs. Worthless
I'm currently trailing Papkin by a mere two points, and each of us has one player to go tonight. He has a definite advantage, as my player (Santonio Holmes) is dependent on his player (Mark Sanchez) to have a good night. But with a few lucky breaks, like significant yardage/td's to Holmes - which are worth more to him than Sanchez - and a few picks/fumbles by the Manchise, McClusterfuck could pull out yet another undeserved win.

Sir Lucious Left Fut vs. Burke City Giants
The Battle of the Toobins comes right down to Monday night and depends on the night's prominent storyline: Randy Moss's debut with the Vikings. Elliott holds a six-point advantage at the moment, but that could disappear quickly with a single downfield strike from the Favre-Moss combo.

Laters on the Menjay vs. Sex with a Pharaoh
No, these two teams aren't playing each other, but with Adrian Peterson and Braylon Edwards going tonight, Colly has an outside chance at surpassing Derek for Classic Soul Jam High Scorer of the Week honors. They'll have a long way to go, as SwaP is currently 25 points down and Menjay still has LDT to go, but you never know when AP's going to explode and you never know when Tomlinson's going to remember how old he is.

By the way, wanted to mention that this week's Classic Soul Jam is arguably my favorite song of all time, not so much in any singular incarnation (though this Sam Cooke one is certainly incredible, as is the live one from the Harlem Square Club), but in that almost any version I hear of it brings me the same joy. It is infinitely coverable. There are solid versions by rockers, bluesmen, jazzmen, and even in Spanish. A couple of years ago my buddy Jared - whose awesome sustainable farming blog can be found here - had a party where a band called Roosevelt Dime played their version as a closer and I almost creamed my pants.

Anyways, a few teams have already brought it on home this week, so let's get a few re-caps out of the way:


Laters on the Menjay (120+) defeat Buck Stops Here (65)
As previously mentioned, Derek and his Laters on the Menjay squad already have the inside track on this week's $20 high scorer prize, but he hardly needed it to defeat a Buck Stops Here team that was without its top QB (Tom Brady), WR (Wes Welker) and DEF (Pittsburgh) due to Bye weeks. The results were not pretty. Improbably, Terrell Owens (16) led the team in scoring again, but this time with about half as many points as last week. Other than T.O., it was a shitstorm. Perhaps, lacking major drama in Cincinatti this season, he has found a way to tear apart the virtual locker room instead, leading to uninspired performances by Anquan Boldin (1), Cadillac Williams (3), and Matt Cassel (6). The last time I hung out with my Dad, he professed a belief that Cassel was going to blow up, but did not provide any back-up for this argument other than his sincere desire that it be true. Good luck with that, Pops. Of course, even a 2008-like performance from Cassel would not have brought the Truman Show up to speed with Laters, who had utterly outstanding days from Tony Romo (26) and Malcom Floyd (27). Interestingly, neither Romo's 409 passing yards and 3 touchdowns nor Floyd's 213 receiving yards and a touchdown were able to bring victory to either of their real teams. Perhaps Derek should send a note of consolation and thanks to each. At the same time, he can send a note of congratulations to Michael Bush (21) and the Falcons' D (20), each of whom celebrated double-victories on Sunday, as well as their best outings of the season.

Wild Stallions (90) defeat Finga Sniffs (74)
Several weeks back, Manning spent $51 NBD-bucks to acquire Brandon Jackson, which constitutes the largest free agent expenditure of the year so far and, combined with the later acquisitions of Jermaine Gresham ($25) and Demaryius Thomas ($24), has left Manning completely bankrupt. This week, Manning read the writing on the wall and sent his big-ticket pick-up to the bench, only to have his best performance (14) of the year. Oh fantasy, you are a fickle bitch, although you are a lot fickler towards morons who waste their free agent budgets on over-valued acquisitions. One Finga-Sniff investment that did live up to billing was top overall pick Chris Johnson (25), who together with the surprising Peyton Hillis (12) gives Manning a pretty solid 1-2 punch in the backfield. Unfortunately, fantasy requires us to start all the other offensive positions as well, and here Manning was at a severe disadvantage to DeYoung's Stallions. Philip Rivers (23) is having the season that a lot of folks were predicting out of Matt Schaub (5); Calvin Johnson (12) has re-discovered the same mojo that Greg Jennings (2) is still looking for; and Mike Williams (14) is looking like the most explosive element in an otherwise inert Tampa Bay offense. A strong showing from the Bears Defense (18) was the icing on the cake in an effort that will bring the defending champs a step closer to re-claiming their throne.

More later this week.