View From Across the Pond – Fantasy and Reality Blurred as Lockout Continues
By author
I was disappointed to see that I had the 10th pick in Round One, meaning it was highly unlikely I would get my first choice, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans. In fact he went first pick overall to the obscurely named JJAB3. By the time my choice came round, it was all running
backs, Johnson going 4th to the eponymous CJ2KChamp, with only Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick (to Vickadelphia!) breaking up the backfield monopoly. I didn’t disappoint and took Oakland’s Darren McFadden.
I then had the first pick in Round 2, and continued the running back theme taking Cleveland’s Peyton Hillis. I was delighted that I was able to choose my first choice wide receiver with the last pick of Round 3, selecting Brandon Lloyd of Denver.
However the next pick was one of sheer panic. The last round had seen pretty much all my quarterback selections disappear. However, of the men left, one of them was one of my favourite players ever. When I saw him play college ball I was blown away, and for that reason and having visited Florida, the Gators are my college team. But when push came to shove, I couldn’t bring myself to select Tim Tebow. With him unsure of securing the starting spot in
Denver, I took a safe option and selected the highest scoring QB from last season that was left, Josh Freeman of Tampa Bay.
I then took the chance to select my first choice defense in Round 5, choosing the Pittsburgh Steelers, before selecting my first choice kicker with the first pick of Round 6. Despite my heart telling me to select Bironas, I went with my head and picked Dan Carpenter of the Dolphins.
By the 7th round, CJ2K was still the only Titan selected, and choosing last that remained the case, as I selected Jacksonville’s Marcedes Lewis as my Tight End. The 71st pick was mine also and I chose Mike Williams of Seattle, as my second wide out.
The 9th round saw me take a bit of a gamble with my only rookie selection. Alabama’s former Heismann Trophy winning running back Mark Ingram became my wild card offensive player, a third running back selected over the option of a third receiver. With the first pick of the 10th
round I went back for Tebow as the back-up quarterback.
One pick later with the 92nd pick of the draft, the second Titan was selected. A team called the Packers took Kenny Britt for their bench. Ronnie Brown, Johnny Knox, Tony Gonzalez and Lance Moore made up my bench before CJ2K Champ showed his loyalty by taking the Titans defence with the 137th pick, and only then as a back-up to that of the Jets.
The 15th round saw Randy Moss (technically still a Titan) chosen by Vickadelphia before CJ2K Champ again used his heart to select Rob Bironas as his back-up kicker. It was a kicker who was the last pick in the draft, as I selected Robbie Gould of Chicago with my final choice.
So were six and a half hours of effort worth it? When I looked at my team along with the others, it ranked 5th on last season’s production and that includes no points from Ingram. Normally my NFL season consists of watching the games shown in the UK and looking out for the Titans results. Now I have a real reason to get excited about the performance of other players. What started as bit of fun, is already starting to turn into an obsession.
So now speaking as an NFL (fantasy) team owner, I hope that we can bring negotiations to a speedy resolution so that I can get my team into training camp to ensure we are ready for our opening matchup against the Packers in Week 1. That way we will also see the Titans ready to play the Jags in the real thing.