Lavonardo

#11 Marcelo Velazquez Splits the Uprights by MulesAFPilot (CC)

Another week, another split for the teams. Hakkapeliitat endured their first loss of the season, whereas ‘99ers took down the only remaining team with a clean slate in the league.

Hakkapeliitat indeed lost, to a team with a 0-4 record in the previous weeks. But a team with some serious receiving power - both Andre Johnson and Roddy White pulled in close to twenty points. Even though Aaron Ridgers played yet another great game and T.J. Houshmandzadeh finally pulled in a double TD, the rest of the team was out if synch. Marion Barber had a very quiet game and Redskins’ Santana Moss didn’t catch a single pass. Vernon Davis at the tight end has overstayed his welcome, yet another zero-point evening for the guy who seems to be relegated to a blocking role in the niners rollicking offense.

Niners opponent in the game suffered a might blow early, when their quarterback, Bills’ Trent Edwards was lost to a concussion. His replacement, J.P. Losman, played well and his favorite receiver (Lee Evans) ended up being the highest-scoring player in the match. But the loss of all the points from the QB was too much to withstand, especially when the niners old guard (Jason Witten and Devery Henderson) was more than adequately supported by the rookie brigade (Tim Hightower scored twice, showing that Edgerrin James is far from being a lock in the red zone). When the Chicago defense almost shut down Detroit, that was basically the game. The extra points from Saints’ odd loss in MNF were just icing on the cake.

This was a busy weekend roster-wise:
Picked up Marques Colston off a waiver for niners as a long term solution (a broken thumb keeps him sidelined for at least a week). And since the Broncos’ receiving corps got pretty much decimated in the game against Tampa Bay, picked up the likely secondary target for Jay Cutler - Brandon Stokley, who served well in Hakkapeliitat a couple of years back (when playing in the Colts).

For Hakkapeliitat it was indeed time to replace unproductive Vernon Davis (took Oakland’s Zach Miller as the new tight end) and upgraded my kicker from low-scoring Cleveland to high-rolling Denver.

Bring on week six.

Brett Favre by Maltri (CC)

This week’s two games both ended up in victory. The ‘niners with a minimal margin, Hakkapeliitat more soundly.

Indeed, the ‘niners had another tought matchup. Brett Favre, the veteran who jumped from Packers to Jets this fall had one of his greatest games ever. A quarterback passing for six touchdowns usually ends up winning the day. After his demolition of Arizona I was pretty sure that the game’s lost. But no, the rest of the opponent’s team (apart from Muhsin Muhammed) played sub-par, and the niners squeezed out a victory. Drew Brees was his reliable self with a triple-TD performance against the San Francisco Fortyniners and LaDainian Tomlinson finally got his act together on the second half of the game against Oakland Raiders. The Chicago defense played well, which cannot be said of Arizona fielded by the opponent, they finally gave up 56 points in the beatdown.

Hakkapeliitat had an easier time. Aaron Rodgers continued his unexpectedly good performances at the helm of Green Bay. Even though he threw three picks, both touchdown passes went to Greg Jennings, thus netting double points for the team. Marion Barber had a very quiet night for Cowboys, whereas Frank Gore continues his yard-heavy campaign (though without a TD this week). This was a bye-week for a lot of players in the team, so no second-guessing was available.

No transactions this week, the two teams continue as is.

Bring on week five.

Flying Weenie by geckoam (CC)

This week’s games were a split - Hakkapeliitat won, niners lost.

Hakkapeliitat won and took a position on top of the standings. Leading the march were the two running backs - both Marion Barber and Frank Gore (Cowboys and ‘niners, respectively) put up formidable yards in their games. And the air force responded to the gropos call, all three of the wide receivers scoring in double figures. The first minuses of the season were hauled in by the Patriots’ defense that was turned into swiss cheese at the feet of the Miami running game.

Niners lost pretty much on account of a single opponent. Ronnie Brown of Miami Dolphins single-handedly massacred the still high-flying Patriots by running for four touchdowns and passing for one to add insult to injury. The Cincinnati air force finally clicked, and the previously well-hidden T.J. Houshmandzadeh returned to his scoring habits. The rookie brigade had a quiet night, especially Eddie Royal, whose single point was the low mark for the season. Chicago’s defense and Nick Folk continued their scoring ways, though neither of them put up an exceptional performance this week.

Apart from a surprise acquisition of Ronnie Brown for the Hakkapeliitat (the owner waived him before the sunday’s game) the transactions for the week were to cover the incoming byes on the upcoming games.

Bring on week four.

OS 007 by L. Marie (CC)

Both of the campaigns continued with victories on the second week of the season.

Hakkapeliitat had an easier time this time, winning with a comfortable margin. Though the team’s composition is far from the original. The Cincinnati Air Force is having terrible problems hittings its stride, and I’m truly glad I benched Carson Palmer in favor of Aaron Rodgers. The kid replacing the Cheeseheads’ icon in Green Bay has had a running start for his first season, fortunately dragging Greg Jennings from the reciving corps with him. And even when T.J. Houshmandzadeh continues to wilt alongside with his quarterback, the WRs were not a problem this week as the Washington team got their act together from a lopsided game in the first week. The triple-scorer from week one, Steelers’ Willie Parker had a quiet night, just like the rest of the team. The defense and kicking were both OK, though nothing spectacular.

Haaga ‘99ers had an extremely tight matchup, only pushing ahead of the opponent on the shoulders of two players having a successful bout of MNF. Consistency was the key this week, no player scored north of twenty points, but apart from the two highest offensive picks (and a curiously off-key Devery Henderson) everybody contributed to the pot. LaDainian Tomlinson is having a very slow start of the campaign, just like last year. Unfortunately this year he’s nursing a hurt toe, and not just having some random issues in the red zone. All of the three rookies in the team played well, and even with the return of Brandon Anderson to the bucking Broncos’ offense Eddie Royal put up respectable numbers. Kicking and defense (Dallas’ Nick Folk and Chicago, respectively) continue to be pillars of the team.

Next week looks scary, with both opposing teams fielding prolific Jay Cutler as the QB. But it’ll be the games on sunday that decide and not statistics.

Bring on week three.

Redskins Kickoff by lopolis (CC)

The fantasy football season is now underway, with all the first round games having been played.

I’m running two teams this year, both in Yahoo!, but in quite different leagues.

The very traditionally named Haagan Hakkapeliitat plays in a public division, and was autodrafted without any serious re-ranking of the players.

Haaga ‘99ers is the new kid on the block, my very first livedrafted team. It plays in Finland Fantasy Football, a league set up by Phil Schwartzmann of Finland for Thought fame.

The draft lottery of Hakkapeliitat was of a very traditional kind. I got the last spot on the first round, which meant that all the big guns were gone by the time of my turn. Got two running backs with the back-to-back picks, both of whom have served the team well in the past years: Dallas Cowboys’ Marion Barber (who seems to have taken over from Julius Jones totally) and niners’ Frank Gore. The quarterback didn’t get picked up until the fifth round - choosing Carson Palmer and T.J. Houshmandzadeh meant that Hakkapeliitat relies a lot on Cincinnati Bengals’ aerial attack. The second prime WR is another veteran of the team: Saints’ Marques Colston has been very productive during his two years in the league. The Hakkapeliitat is rounded out with the New England defense (very stingy last season), Browns’ Phil Dawson in the kicker spot and a couple of second- or third stringers. And Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre’s heir as the backup QB.

The live draft for ‘99ers played out last sunday, and exactly the opposite happened in the lottery: I got the first pick. And didn’t spend long figuring out whom to choose: San Diego Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson has been the most lethal weapon for a couple of seasons, and seeing him in home team jersey definitely was a heart-warming sight. The other big scoring threats (RBs and Tom Brady, to put it bluntly) disappeared during the next 26 picks, this being a big league all right. For first duo of picks I again settled on Houshmandzadeh but decided on Saints’ Drew Brees as the primary QB. Brees has been phenomenally good the last few seasons (clocking in just behind Brady and Peyton Manning productivity-wise), and with the addition of Jeremy Shockey into the Saints receiving corps has an even more options to choose from. Chose a prime kicker and defense early (Cowboys’ Nick Folk and Chicago, respectively) early. And figured that since the easy picks are long gone, it’s time to take a risk on a couple of top-shelf rookies.

Both of the teams won their first games.

Hakkapeliitat with a three-point margin, niners with six - so neither enjoyed a blowout.

Key players in Hakkapeliitat were the running backs - both Barber and Gore scored well, the air force was very subdued, with none of the players on the field scoring a touchdown. But in the end it was the reliable reception skills of Packers’ Greg Jennings that won the game - I was six points behind the matchup before the two MNF games. Jennings picked up closer to a hundred yards, with a point per ten, that was basically the game. Two benched players outdid themselves: Steelers’ Willie Parker scored a triple behind some serious yardage, and Santana Moss scored the Redskins lone touchdown against Giants in the season opener on thursday. At least the former will move into the gridiron next sunday.

Niners’ Drew Brees begun the game well, scoring on the opening drive, but fizzled as the match went on. A lone interception didn’t mar the excellent offense against Tampa Bay - 340+ yards and three scores. Tomlinson was on the subdued side, and Seahawks Nate Burleson was seriously injured after beginning the game with a long touchdown pass. In the end it was the Chicago defense, avenging the Superbowl XLI loss to Indianapolis that won the game. The rookies all got their first touches on the field, with the penultimate pick, Broncos’ Eddie Royal surprising everyone with a dominating two-touchdown display of force. Too bad he sat on the bench, and too bad that Denver’s Brandon Marshall returns next week from disciplinary suspension as the first receiver.

In other news the totally dominant Patriots’ offense was knocked down hard from its top position. Tom Brady suffered a serious knee injury and is out for the season. Matt Cassell filled in competently, but his work in the pocket this season will be under close scrutiny, following the winning ways of the New England team last year.

Bring on week two.

The league filled out. Not that I would have been worried.

Go niners. In real life, and in here. Though I’ll probably field a better QB than the San Francisco team does.

The fantasy football season kicks off soon, the first NFL game is next thursday.

I will be defending the championship ring with Haagan Hakkapeliitat in a public league at Yahoo!

And in addition I took on a challenge, an eight team league with my first live draft ever. I’ll report back on sunday after the selections have been made.

And every week after that on success in both.

Hakkapeliitat won the bronze game in Yahoo! public 159358 virtual NBA league.

The margin was seemingly large at 5-3, but the differences in a lot of the individual categories (including points) were in single points.

The key player of the final game was Bulls’ Luol Deng - with very much appreciated output also from John Salmons subbing for the hurt Sacramento Kings stars. I don’t know what’s the status of his contract, but anyone that can adequately run the game instead of Ron Artest or Kevin Martin ought to have a more significant place than the sixth man.

Definitely the best season ever for the Hakkapeliitat, one that’s hard to repeat next year: won the bowl in football, took silver in hockey and now this bronze in the basketball. Hard to repeat next season, but I’ll give it a shot.

Haagan Hakkapeliitat are ready for yet another year in the violent world of virtual NFL, and hungry for success after the lowly 7th spot last year.

The game’s not the same - the scoring (to which I seem to have lost the link momentarily) has been significantly altered: thrown touchdowns have been downgraded to four points from six, not so subtly pushing the message that non-quarterbacks ought to be drafted first. I’ll keep LaDainian Tomlinson on the 1st spot in the draft list, obviously, but am not so sure that Peyton Manning deserves the massive downgrading he’s been subjected to…

For the first time in four years I did not lose the final game in Yahoo’s fantasy football league.

Seventh position in the league is no source of great joy, though. The team played way inconsistently - the offense was not reliable (on any front, be it the QB, running backs or the receiver corps), kicker stalled after a fabulous start, and the previously reliable defenses were continuously outplayed.

The season’s down in the league, but NFL barges onwards. Niners are out of playoffs despite flashes of brilliance from Alex Smith and very reliable footwork of Frank Gore. The Colts have taken the perfect season-jinx too seriously and dropped a few games - the very last and unexpected one to Texans. The elder Manning ought to get his troops in form for the playoffs, the margins are tiny at the top.

Lost the consolation placement game, and will be bravely fighting for spot #7 this weekend.

This time it was pretty much three factors that settled the loss: bad play by the receivers (across the board, bench fared no better), Giants scoring only on running plays (Eli Manning had very decent yards, but no touchdowns), and a great game by the opposing quarterback (Michael Vick scoring on no less than four throws).

Oh well, time to concentrate on the fantasy basketball and hockey leagues.

… it’s reality for the brave Hakkapeliitat.

The last game of the regular season was a defeat, and that means that a trip to the consolation row just began. On one hand it’s sad that the series of bowl appearances ground to a halt after four consecutive ones, on the other this was a long time coming.

Lost the last playoff spot by the smallest of margins, by placing fifth, after getting beaten by the team that finished fourth. The loss was entirely my own doing. Ran the wrong RBs - both guys on the bench reached the end zone, whereas Marion Barber, hero of two previous weeks with four TDs, ran a grand total of three carries. Picked up Vince Young for this round, and while he has the makings of a franchise quarterback, he wasn’t too productive this time around. Eli Manning, who had shown improvement the previous week was steady, but I misguidedly ran the Tennessee freshman instead.

So, at 7-7, it’s time to face the challenge of the consolation, and emerge at the top of that. Not as flashy as a bowl game, that’s for sure, but a decent goal nonetheless.

The Colts, who at one point looked like a sure thing were neatly trounced by the Jaguars, and they still haven’t clinched even their division yet. And Drew Brees sure has landed on his feet in New Orleans, showing with a five touchdown game that he’s not dependent on the top flight receivers he enjoyed working with in Chargers. Chargers, who are in scary form themselves, as LaDainian Tomlinson has already set a new record for regular season touchdowns - and there are still two games to go.

This week’s loss in yahoo’s fantasy football league was brought on by one man: the very same that almost single-handedly whupped the Broncos.

The conspicuously named LaDainian Tomlinson scored four touchdowns, and pushed Hakkapeliitat once again below .500.

The team was not helped by the sensationally well-playing rookie tight end Marques Colston spraining his ankle on the very first offensive play by the Saints, nor by both Packers and Rams being shut out by opponents.

And with the Bears having their hands surprisingly full with the Jets, and Rex Grossman only bringing home one thrown touchdown, the loss was certain.

Watched the first half of Dallas putting on a very good show against the reigning Colts - forcing three turnovers in the first quarter alone. Colts suffered their first loss of the season, but I’d long since climbed into bed.

Indeed, there’s finally NFL on television during the regular season. Viasat shows a good selection of games each weekend, most of them live, and I’m sorely tempted to continue the free two-week trial subscription. If they offer a decent rate until the superbowl, I’ll consider myself sold.

Had to check this week’s output from Hakkapeliitat before turning in.

Lost. By a wide margin.

Lost to the top team in the league. And despite a decent score racked up by Hakkapeliitat, the opponent just had piled on more points. Players such as Joey Galloway just seemed to have their lucky days, despite their teams picking up hefty losses, the players scored big on individual stats.

No second thoughts - wouldn’t have won even with optimal allocation/benching of players from the team.

Whoo, after a series of mediocre weeks, the Hakkapeliitat returned to the winning fold. Despite Eli Manning not having his best day in the windy Meadowlands stadium, the team pulled through. Aided mightily by the Dallas running backs (three touchdowns between Jones and Barber) and two fourth quarter touchdowns by a serious candidate for the rookie of the year award: Marques Colston.

Sadly the Hakkapeliitat team seems to be on a losing streak, third loss in a row is no laughing matter - and a place in the season finishing bowl appears to retreat further from grasp.

An ugly and low-scoring week for participants, and unfortunately my team scored lower.

The embarrassment of the loss is increased by the three byes taken by the opposing team. In a week where none of the offensive players picked up touchdowns, the kicker scores no field goals and the defense acts like a sieve, a loss is only to be expected and accepted.

Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck’s injury brought down Deion Branch as a scorer, but no explanation for the lousy output of the Dallas running backs really exists.

At 3-3-0 now, following a loss to the Brown Bombers, who remain behind the Hakkapeliitat on the merit of points scored alone.

Rex Grossman, the quarterback sensation of the year, and one of the factors of the resurgent Chicago Bears had a not so good night against the Arizona Cardinals’ defense. No touchdowns, and six turnovers. Yes - six turnovers. Two lost fumbles and four picks by the opposing secondary.

The Bears were saved by the second factor of their success - defense. The second half of the game was dominated by the Bears cornerbacks, returning picks for touchdowns.

So, the Bears remain undefeated 6-0, together alone on top with the Colts who enjoyed a bye this week. Both teams are coming off very shaky games, so talk of a perfect season is not appropriate at the moment.

And it wasn’t really Grossman’s off night, nor my failure to run Deion Branch, who got his chance in a depleted Seahawks WR corps. Nope, even with Grossman replaced by Eli Manning and Deion’s two sixpointers counted in, the Bombers would’ve still opened a can of whupass on the declining Hakkapeliitat. Sure could have used some sacks from the otherwise reliable Philly defense, or more than PATs from the Rams’ Jeff Wilkins.

An unpleasantly narrow defeat.

Big shoulda: replaced Philly defense with that of Indianapolis. The latter were so-reliable last year, but this time had their hands full with the lowly Titans.

As expected, the last game of the week did not change the fantasy football result.

Hakkapeliitat won this week, and now occupies a decent slot in the standings. Though with the season barely begun, it’s way too early to draw conclusions.

Unlike the parent league, in which the Chicago Bears have established themselves as one of the top dogs, and this seaon it’s not just their defense that’s state-of-the-art, but the offense has been clicking as well - on the ground, as well as in the air.