The link to the gang’s forum, as always is:
http://www.steventrevino.net/yabb/

Love,
Steven

Fellow Owners,

With NFL training camps around the corner, the fantasy season can’t be too far behind. With this in mind, Steve and I have created the leagues for next year and have prepared something to guide you through next season.

Here is a list of both leagues and their draft type:

Auction Draft League (The Gang’s League 1):

• David U
• Michael F
• Max D
• Andrew Fo (League Manager)
• Steven T
• T
• Nick S
• David W
• Corey E
• T-Rav

Standard Draft League (The Gang’s League 2) :

• Nick G
• John Fo
• Matt D
• Brad D
• Nate L
• Lauren B
• Megan W
• Sticky R
• Kurt M (League Manager)
• Bob Exline

The Essentials a.k.a Things You Have to Know/Do

1) CHECK If YOUR DRAFT DATE WORKS!

Andrew’s auction league [TGL1] drafts Aug 10 @ 7:00 pm ET (6:00 CST).
Kurt’s draft league [TGL 2] drafts TBD Aug 17 @ 7:30 pm ET (6:30 CST).

Check your schedule, ask off from work, whatever, but get off for this date, as this is something we can’t do for you. If these dates irrevocably conflict with your schedule, tell me or Steve ASAP.  I can not overstate how important it is for you to clear this date or tell us quickly so we can find a better one early on.

2) Make sure you have computer access with a decent internet connection on this day.  This may seem basic, but inevitably there is someone who tells us last minute that they won’t have a computer on this date.  Find a computer or talk to Steve or I ASAP so we can plan on finding you one.

3) Make sure your computer can run the draft software.  Check your computer here, regardless of it worked last year.  Browsers and systems change and the check only takes a couple minutes.  If it doesn’t work, once again, get with me or Steve as soon as you can and we can try to fix the problem.

OK, those are the must-do’s by draft day.  Check on those things quickly.

Highly Suggested Things To Do

1) Participate in a mock draft at ESPN.  A mock draft is a draft that does not end up creating a league that you will play in.  Ultimately, it is a practice draft.  I suggest doing just so you can be familiar with the software, as you will have to make quick decisions when we do this for real.

2) Take a look around and read a little.  A lot of things happen and some of it goes unnoticed.  Read Fantasy websites and see what’s being talked about.  Basically, become familiar with what’s going on.  There are endless ways to do this, including the popular sites ESPN, CBS, FOX, and Yahoo!.

3) Become familiar with our rules and scoring system.  You can find our scoring system here, or by going to the setting tab when you’re logged in.  It helps to be familiar with how things will be scored when thinking about who you want to draft.

If you need to get a hold of Steve or I, please send us a message via facebook or reply by email.

Thanks,

Steve and Andrew

Hard to believe that this season has come to an end, isn’t it? Here are reactions and preditions from the League Managers, Drew and myself. Click the image above and frame it as a poster, this one is going to be epic.

The Gang’s League 1

In Gang League 1, our championship round features an intriguing match up between the #4 seeded La Maquina Ultimo of Brad “Wild Turkey” Doherty and the #7 seeded Green Bay Gradys of Nick “Shady” Grady.

Both teams had interesting paths to the championship game. Grady’s team was one of the bottom four, having to play when most had a bye. Grady hasn’t minded, averaging 117.3 points per game in the playoffs. Stellar play from DeAngelo Williams, including two 30+ games, and Aaron Rodgers makes Grady a formidable opponent, as Stephen Colbert would say.

While the Green Bay Gradys had to play an extra game, Doherty’s bunch couldn’t have had a harder path to the final game. Playing the top two scoring teams in his league over the regular season in Bob “Rough and Tumble” Exline’s Evansville Thunderbolts and Andrew “Commish” Foster’s Malicious Mustaches, Doherty’s team had to be resourceful. Averaging a respectable 94 points per game, Doherty will need a big performance from Brian Westbrook and better than average showings from Brett Favre and Calvin Johnson to topple the streaking Gradys.

The numbers point to Grady winning this match up. Williams has a favorable match up against Denver, but the rest of the Grady’s chances are very dependent on good games from the Packers and Giants. If either of these teams falter, Grady might be in for a disappointing end to his season.

And in the end, I think he will lose to La Maquina Ultimo. A major reason for this is that when I look at it, Grady should win. But things never go the way I see (my fantasy curse), so I am going against myself and going with Doherty, if that makes sense.

I think Williams will have less than a stellar game because his breakout last week will tip off Denver to stopping the run and making Jake Delhomme throw. I think Dallas is a desperate team that will outplay the Giants, who have no real motivation to win right now. Nick might get some points from a favorable match up with Green Bay at Jacksonville, but I have been waiting for Nick’s “eggs in one basket” approach to fail, and I think this is the week.

Doherty has explosive players on his team, and if the stars align, Marques Colston and Johnson could couple with Westbrook to end Grady’s season.

Final prediction: La Maquina Ultimo 110, Green Bay Gradys 88.

The Gang’s League 2

I like to think my midseason predictions weren’t wrong, but I love the matchup between T’s G-Street Gangstaz versus Lauren’s Vicious Vag in League 2’s championship round in Week 15. I was right about our Final Four fanatasy finalists (say that 5 times fast) for TGL2. You may say “It’s not very hard to pick the top four seeds”, but you try doing that at 5th seed. I was “high on Mike” and Lauren did get my “Most Impressive First-Timer” award, right?

Close matchups in Week 14, which almost favored my predictions. Leading T’s victory over Jessica [110-105] was Brian Westbrook (34 points). Lauren’s DeAngelo Williams (30 points) stuck it to Nick Seibert [114-99]. Throw in some nice team numbers and you got yourself a championship team.

How is this matchup going to end? It will be a close call but T is projected a 33 point winner. Look at this: Rivers [T] is throwing to Jackson and Gonzalez [Lauren], Romo [Lauren] is throwing to Owens [T]. What do I predict? This matchup will be decided Monday night by Westbrook, who should have an explosive evening against the Browns. With Frank Gore questionable, QBs/WRs locks, and Fred Taylor’s injurying giving Jones-Drew a boost, Lauren’s hope is that Westbrook’s infamous injuries all come back to haunt him at gametime and that her team logo can continue to rally her team.

Final prediction: G-Street Gangstaz 128, Vicious Vag 112.

Good luck to all in the championship rounds and cheers to everyone for a fun 2008 fantasy season. Drew and I are holding a celebration and league discussion next Thursday, December 18th, and will keep you all up-to-date.

Wired will be a drawing one lucky winner on Feburary 15th (2/15/2009) to win a bag full of desirable gadgets. From the rules page, value of the prize is $8,560. The “bag” is actually a $1600 computer tote bag, but all the gadgets on their wishlist sure would be a life-changer.

Entry is free, one per person per email address, US residents only.

Here is the 25-item list:

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Laptop
Nokia E71 smartphone
Ducati Corse rollerball pen
Phiaton MS 400 Headphones
Canon PowerShot G10 Digital Camera
Manfrotto ModoPocket camera stand
Leatherman Serac S2 LED flashlight
Buffalo Shinobi hard disk drive (60 GB)
Oliver Peoples Victory 58 Sunglasses
Creative Zen X-Fi media player
TomTom Go 930 GPS navigator
Moleskine Cahier notebook (set of 3)
PRS-700 E-Reader
Monster Outlets To Go 3 USB power strip
llpod Chargepod device charger
igg 0.4L traveler bottle
Iqua 603 Sun solar-powered headset
Monster ScreenClean cleaning fluid
Sprint Merlin EX720 mobile broadband card
Nintendo DS Lite gaming console
Tod’s Cartella Computer Bag
Tiffany Business Card Case
Clear Card airport security pass (1 year)
Snow Peak titanium spork
Small Dog Chill Pill mobile speakers

• Submit your entry
• Photos of wish list gadgets

Orange-shirt believes in my predictions.
Green-shirt wants to, but is better off not.

Week 11: the final week of regular season. Titans are 10-0, my previous projections are further skewed, and your next loss will be your downfall of this season.

Let me remind you readers that many are on byes for Week 12 while the bottom four teams battle for a chance of glory. Bonus points, based on the number of wins, will be added on all Playoff matchups except the final. Good luck to you all.

I am going to change it up here at STnet (stee net, stuh net, es-tea net, whatever you are comfortable with): I’m going make yet another prediction. Those who feel jinxed by them (see Mackey, Jessica) are advised to pay the League Managers, Drew and myself, off for a fixed outcome. I will break down each matchup in a future post, but this is who I see in the final four at this moment (current positional ranking listed):

TGL1: Bob Exline (#1), James Thomason (#2), Brad Doherty (#4), David Ubelhor (#6)

TGL2: Lauren Blanc (#1), Jessica Mackey (#2), T Trevino (#3), Nick Seibert (#4)

For those of your curious, the Week 11 scoring leaders can be found here (TGL1 | TGL2). Cassel, unowned in both Leagues, took 1st at 36 points. Gage, placing 2nd and also unowned, with 28 points. If you wish to view the current playoff brackets, they can be found here (TGL1 | TGL2).

Here is a simple guide that I decided to write up. This will get you firmware 2.1 and Apps installed (should work with iPhone). Should be easy to follow if you have some know-how. Enjoy!

On your computer:

1. Download the 2.1 restore file, QuickPWN, cracked MobileInstallation, any iPod/iPhone Apps (.ipa) you desire, and either WinSCP (Windows) or Cyberduck (Mac)
2. Connect your iPod/iPhone and load iTunes
3. Go to Device > Summary
4. Hold Shift, click Restore, select the 2.1 restore file. This will wipe your device.
5. Run QuickPWN, follow instructions, verify Cydia installation

On your iPod:

1. On your iPod/iPhone: Run Cydia, let it update, Select “Featured Packages”, download OpenSSH then BossPrefs. Device should restart.
2. In BossPrefs, make sure OpenSSH is On.
3. Go to Settings > Wifi > Select your network. Note IP Address.

On your computer:

1. With device connected, run WinSCP/Cyberduck
2. Add new connection. Host: IP address, Username: root, Password: alpine, set as SFTP/SSH connection
3. Navigate to the iPhone folder: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileInstallation.framework
4. Backup and replace MobileInstallation file with downloaded.
5. Set permission of new MobileInstallation to 775
6. In /private/var/mobile/ : set Applications folder to 777 and have reclusive checked
7. In /private/var/mobile/Applications/ : create Documents folder (777)
8. In root folder, navigate to Applications, and create Documents folder (777) there
9. Close WinSCP/Cyberduck, reboot iPhone, restart iTunes

On your iPod:

1. Go to App Store and download/install an application (free is fine)

On computer:

1. Load up iTunes
2. Drag (or double click) .ipas into iTunes
3. Sync, smile, and give thanks below

I agree with Troy Polamalu: the NFL is being emasculated. This season, the league has been handing out fines to players like free kittens after any particularly rough play.

A Fabergé egg

Keeping players from injury is an understandable and noble goal, but at a point, measures taken to keep the game safe and clean damage the spirit of the aforementioned game. Quarterbacks cannot be protected like priceless Fabergé eggs. Hitting one hard should not constitute a finable offense.

This is a sport which, distilled to its essence, revolves around large armored men running toward each other at high rates of speed and often colliding violently. Playing football involves some inherent danger. Participants will get hurt on occasion.

The NFL seems to be trying to prevent this inevitability by imposing fines on every blitzing linebacker who so much as sneezes on a quarterback after he releases the ball, every safety who so much as bumps into a wideout after he runs out of bounds.

Some of the most ridiculous recent examples include San Francisco running back Frank Gore’s $5,000 fine for grabbing the facemask of Seahawks cornerback Kelly Jennings on a freaking stiff-arm (How does one stiff-arm without applying a hand on or around the facemask of the stiff-arm recipient?) and the $10,000 fine against Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley for sacking Jason Campbell “in an intimidating manner”. Linebackers aren’t allowed to intimidate anymore, apparently.

Obviously, these are not the only cases of wanton fining. Roger Goodell, the Comissioner of the NFL, has been throwing around too many to mention. These are just a few notables.

Since when has a 15-yard penalty been not enough to punish players who break rules? Most of the time when rules are broken, it’s not a deliberate attempt to cheat or gain an advantage, it’s a consequence of the speed at which football is played.

A player who makes a tackle by the face mask is usually just grabbing whatever he can to take down a ball carrier. A defensive lineman who roughs the passer usually does so because a 300 pound man has a lot of momentum and often can’t stop before hitting a quarterback. A block in the back on a kick return is usually a consequence of the chaotic nature of kick returns.

In the worst cases, players are receiving fines for incidents that referees didn’t even see fit to penalize during the game, such as the Woodley sack. He didn’t hit Campbell dirty, just hard.

Fines should be reserved for things that are blatantly unsportsmanlike. They should be used to punish fighting, dirty hits, not just hard ones, off-the-field issues, and things of that sort. The way they are being thrown around this season really does weaken the sport. It takes away from the toughness, from the spirit of the game.

Players must be allowed to do what it is they do best, that is, play, without fear of league retribution for them playing too hard.

Let them hit hard. Punish the dirty players, not the tough ones, not just the mean ones, only those that deliberately cause injuries and flaunt the rules. Restore the toughness of the NFL, and don’t use more fines to silence those like Polamalu who speak the truth about the direction the league is taking. Stop the madness.

Roger Goodell, give the NFL back its balls.

Week 10: Giants crush Rams (47-3), Titans are still undefeated (9-0), I am no longer #1 in TGL2 (Sticky beats me and my projections), and I name the player of the week “Big Week Bob Exline” (119 points playing, 72 points benched). Week 11 is our last regular season fantasy game before playoffs.

Another reminder that ESPN scores are not official until the start of the next week. I tend to report on Tuesday’s scores and minor corrections are usually not game changing. I reported a tie-breaking win for Sticky, but David Akers had a score correction and made T the winner. For up-to-date standings, see TGL1 or TGL2. Expect a post tomorrow from Max Dahlquist (his first on the blog) about his views about current NFL rulings.

Leading the league for Week 10 is RB Thomas Jones (above) who rushed for 149 yards and 3TDs: 32 points
(TGL1: Bob Exline [bench] | TGL2: Lauren Blanc)

The second highest, QB Jay Cutler had a career-high 447 yards and 3TDs in an upset for the Browns: 31 points
(TGL1: Bob Exline | TGL2: Steven Trevino)

RB Adrian Peterson rushed 192 yards with a TD, proving once again that he can run “All Day” with his 4th consecutive 100+ game: 28 points
(TGL1: Bob Exline | TGL2: David Wichman)

RB Maurice Jones-Drew takes #4. MJD rushed 70 yards and 3 TDs, reminding all of us fantasy players what really matters.
(TGL1: James Thomason | TGL2: Michael Trevino)

Kurt Warner and Tyler Thigpen need yet more praise. Warner now ranks #1 with one point above Rivers and his 3rd consecutive 20+ game. Thigpen became a starter in Week 8 and has earned 20+ points per week since.
Warner (TGL1: James Thomason | TGL2: Max Dahlquist)
Thigpen (Unowned)

Jake Delhomme takes a fantasy uppercut with 70 yards, 1 TD, and 4 interceptions: -2 points
(TGL1: Bob Exline [bench] | TGL2: Matt DeCastra)

Scoring: