The big winner this week was Chris, who turned away a strong performamce from Nick (third highest scorer of the week) to win the $20, extend his points lead, and be part of that 5-2 first place mix, and technically on top of it since points are the tiebreaker. Chris has had all sorts of luck with unheralded players he's taking a chance on, and this week, neither Darren Sproles not DeMarco Murray let him down. And neither did "Large Benjamin," a.k.a "Big Ben," (yes Dan L., I said "Large Benjamin"), who continued his recent hot streak. Chris appears to have emerged as the team to beat at this point. For Nick, it was a tough loss as anyone other than Chris and Tom would have lost to him this week. But that's fantasy football, and at least AP and Plaxico Burress showed Nick some respect with solid performances.
Another guy in the mix at 5-2 is Mike, who got a whale of a game from Arian Foster (speaking of whales, Dan L.: did you know that a whale's penis is the dictionary definition of the word "dork?" True story) as well as respectable numbers from Mike "60 Minutes" Wallace. Mike defeated the aforementioned Dan L. in an interesting matchup in which both guys had a couple players go off but the rest of their team not show up to play.
Have you ever seen this before? Eddie is another owner in the 5-2 mix despite being dead last in the league in points scored. This week, Eddie did his best to turn Uncle Joe into "Uncle Hoe" by bitchslapping him down to a losing record for the first time in god knows how long. Matt "Ow, my ankle!...never mind, I'm good" Ryan and Delone "This is why you should always own Joseph Addai's handcuf" Carter did the damage for Eddie.
Another stellar game saw Tom ride the backs of weekly high scorer Drew Brees and his hometown hero Greg Jennings (yes Dan L., I said Tom "rode" Brees and Jennings...does it seem Dan's homoerotic tendencies are taking over the league???) to defeat a high scoring Jeremie, who got another surprisingly good performance from Mark "Okay, that guy I just threw it to is not on my team...but at least I'm having a better career than Matt Leinart" Sanchez. Tom is having a great year in points but somehow sits two games out of first. "Ooga Booga" indeed. :)
And finally, look out Obsessed With Sundays! Kevin Clark--the crown prince of talking trash he can rarely back up--won his first game of the year! After starting 0-6, Kevin defeated Paul behing Aaron Rogers and Marques Colston. And he did it in style, besting his foe by 20. For Paul it was a tough week, as injuries and a slough of bye weeks left him barely able to field a team. But at least his Sharks have defeated Kevin's Red Wings in the last two NHL playoffs, so he has that going for him.
THIS WEEK'S $20 WINNER:
Chris, 147.78 points
HIGHEST SCORING PLAYER:
Drew Brees (Tom), 43 points
TOYOTA "ASS RAPING OF THE WEEK":
Tom beats Jeremie by 32.95 points.
SCORES:
Chris- 147.78, Nick- 135.04
Marc- 96.27, Dan T.- 77.47
Mike- 116.76, Dan L.- 97.71
Eddie- 91.42, Uncle Joe- 68.92
Tom- 139.9, Jeremie- 106.95
Kevin- 107.8, Paul- 87.94
STANDINGS (Records):
1. Chris (5-2)
2. Mike (5-2)
3. Marc (5-2)
4. Dan T. (5-2)
5. Eddie (5-2)
6. Paul (4-3)
7. Tom (3-4)
8. Dan L. (3-4)
9. Uncle Joe (3-4)
10. Jeremie (2-5)
11. Kevin (1-6)
12. Nick (1-6)
STANDINGS (Points):
1. Chris (889.82)
2. Mike (840.60)
3. Marc (830.5)
4. Dan T. (823.19)
5. Tom (815.71)
6. Kevin (801.38)
7. Dan L. (778.79)
8. Paul (777.21)
9. Jer (786.23)
10. Nick (761.24)
11. Uncle Joe (741.57)
12. Eddie (738.32)
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUPS:
Jeremie (Deez Nutz) vs. Eddie (Full Hairy Jacket)
Nick (Purple People Eaters) vs. Marc (Octomom's P-Word)
Paul (Strictly Business) vs. Dan L. (Hebrew Hammer)
Chris (Wyld Stallyns) vs. Mike (dcwarpath)
Dan T. (Inferno) vs. Uncle Joe (Mongrels)
Tom (SD Spankfest) vs. Kevin (Motor City Madman)
MATCHUP-OF-THE-WEEK
Chris vs. Mike. There may be a logjam at the top of the standings (yes Dan L., I said "logjam"), but these two are #1 and #2 in both records and points scored. Not a hard choice.
LEAGUE NEWS & NOTES:
-This week's byes: Panthers, Lions, Jaguars, and Vikings
-The Commish is leaning towards eliminatng the rule next season limiting owners from making more than 5 roster moves in a week. There were two reasons for enacting the rule: (1) to try and dissuade people from picking up someone and then changing their mind 10 minutes later and cutting him; and (2) to prevent someone from "sandbagging" their opponent by picking up guys they might need and then cutting them just so they'll be tied up in waivers for 48 hours. However, the first concern is not an issue now that Yahoo sends guys who are cut within 24 hours of being picked up straight to free agency and not the waiver wire, and the second concern is highly unlikely to happen and if it does, can be dealt with by the Commish invalidating such moves. As such, the rule only seems to harm owners who because of injury and bye weeks need to make a lot of moves just to field a competitive roster. So as of now, don't expect that rule to be joining us next season.
-Two trades involving Paul this week. Paul sent RB Maurice Morris to Mike for LB Patrick Willis, then acquired WR Malcolm Floyd from Tom for WR Nate Burleson.