fantasy football analysis, as promised:

year three or four of a keeper league. this year, we kept four players. in a 14-team league that starts QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, TE, DEF, PK, RB/WR, i kept the following:
RB: Ahman Green (on the way down)
QB: Trent Green (still strong, it seems, although not having any WRs can hurt you)
RB: Domanick Davis (incredibly consistent first two seasons, a longtime destroyer, i hope)
RB: Michael Bennett (major question mark, played well late last year)

Bennett was the last choice of the four. The thinking being that I could get the equivalent to the other guys I considered keeping - WRs Eric Moulds, Ashley Lelie, and Roy Williams - in the draft. Bennett, being a starting RB (still, a questionable but, indirectly, Whizzinator-aided one), is much more difficult to come up with. (Looking back, Williams went 6th in the draft and Lelie 14th, perhaps higher than Bennett would have gone.)

[Also, I drafted Bennett in the third round two years ago, not realizing he was quite injured. Failing to operate on the oft-repeated "sunk costs are sunk" mantra, I kept him for last season. Again, frequently injured. In theory, he's okay this year.)

We contracted from 16 to 14 teams, with only one true impact player - the fantastic Marvin Harrison - thrown into the draft pool. This meant the draft featured slim pickings: several faceless WRs, Matt Hasseleck and Carson Palmer [probably tops among the available QBs], plus starting RBs Lamont Jordan, Tiki Barber, maybe another one or two, JJ Arrington, and all the rookies. Again, not much talent in the draft.

I made a scam of a deal before the draft, proposed not by me but by a friend. My first-round pick (2nd overall) for Tony Gonzalez. Normally one to avoid the QB-WR combination, I couldn't afford not to take this deal. (My pal thought Harrison would slip to second because the guy with the top pick didn't have any running game; he was wrong, and settled for Ronnie Brown. I win the deal big, I think.)

So I got Gonzalez, probably a second- or third-rounder in most leagues of this size, for essentially an early-fifth round pick. Again, happy with it, although he may be starting his downard spiral soon.

With my roster makeup, I needed to draft WRs. My first pick of the day was the second-to-last of the second round. Ugh.

Just missed on Drew Bennett, sadly.

I chose to adopt the "avoid WRs with crappy QBs" theory in advance of the draft. In practice, not quite.

My first set of picks (13th of round 2, 2nd of round 3):
Rod Smith (the terrible Jake Plummer is his QB)
Derrick Mason (awful-er Kyle Boller)

Second set:
RB Najeh Davenport (a great pick, for when Green gets hurt)
WR Eric Moulds (considered a keeper, nice to get him here, his QB is rookie JP Losman)

I just missed out on Tyrone Calico at this point, but later in the draft landed such talents as TJ Houshmandzadeh, who should hit 1,000 yards opposite Chad Johnson and with Carson Palmer throwing to him, touchdown machine TE Chris Cooley as my backup TE, fun-because-he's-a-college-quarterback-and-a-first-round-pick WR Matt Jones, plus ultra-accurate [last year] kicker Shayne Graham and the generally weak defenses of San Diego and the Packers. I originally drafted former-Brown and current-Patriot Andre Davis, but dropped him post-draft to grab RB Chris Perry, who was so impressive at Michigan but was apparently hurt after being a first-round pick of the Bengals. Could have a big year.

Fact is, I'm happy with how I fared. Although I wish I hadn't missed Reche Caldwell by three picks. He's tremendous.

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I did accomplish cleaning today. Place looks presentable for visitors [now anyway], and I'm looking forward to the possibility of visitors.

I also accomplished going to the "going-away party." recruited two coworkers. when we arrived at 7:32, the boss was leaving. we said hello. other boss was there as well. as were a just-married couple of the to be departed. as was in my sales pitch when recruiting two coworkers, we made it fun. little drinkee and little johan on the tube. johan's fantastic.

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I also made not one, but two, CD purchases.

New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Not nearly as infectious as I anticipated. Still nice, though. I always fear terms like "more mature" and "expanding the scope of his sounds" or similar phrases, especially when it refers to something like Newman's mile-a-minute pop songs, but those seem to be apt descriptors here. I'm sure I'll like it more on repeat listens, but my initial impressions were more positive for Mass Romantic and Electric Version, as well as The Slow Wonder.

So, Twin Cinema was on the "New Releases" sale rack at Borders (there's one local indie 'chain' of two; their employees are unhelpful and ignorant idiots, and their selection isn't that good; it's Borders or Best Buy or amazon for me, although generally Borders). And it was next to...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
A band I first heard on a Sunday night in Austin, Texas, as the first of three bands at a three-dollar show in mid-May 2001. Centro-matic was the headliner. The suddenly-hip Greenhornes were the support act. BRMC was along for the ride. Less than 100 people were there. I wasn't blown away by BRMC that night (I was there to see Centro-matic), although I was fascinated by their drowsy pop and, more importantly, by their use of smoke machines and floor strobes in front of a crowd of 30 (again, Sunday night, 7:00.)

Three weeks later - no exaggeration - they were signed to Virgin and performing on Craig Kilborn. They were poised to take over the world, although they didn't, although "Love Burns" made it into rotation on MTV2.

Anwyay, BRMC (2001) was an immediate and fantastic record, and is in my top 50, I think. The follow-up, Take Them On, On Your Own (2003) was sort of disappointing, although I really enjoyed it last month while walking around a cemetary in Dayton. (Bad hotel location. And, neat headstones and the like.)

This record is very much nothing like either of those two albums. It's not smoke-and-strobes friendly. (Although the singers both maintain their smoke-and-strobes friendly voices.) It's Americana. Countryish. "Still Suspension Holds You Tight" sounds downright Dylan-like. I think the best comparison I can think of is Califone's Roomsound, a similarly raspy, country, frontporch indie blues by white guys record. [Oddly, the title track calls to mind Radiohead's "No Surprises."]

It's also very Jesus-y, although I think only in homage to the genre that's being aped (trubutized?).

I just think it's fantastic. I'd recommend it strongly.