Free time is at a premium this week (hence the slow blog week.) One of my online Fantasy Football leagues is starting our initial draft tomorrow. This means my non-work time has been spent talking football and doing research. 

You'd be stunned how much actual "work" this hobby (Fantasy Football) is. This league is a dynasty league, meaning you keep all of your players until... well...  you decide to get rid of them. So that running back you draft first tomorrow might be with you for years and years. So choose wisely.

I pick tenth in a 12-team draft. Lots can go wrong at the ten hole. The number one through three picks are a given... it gets murky after that. I'll post my team after I draft (it's an online draft with a 12-hour clock, which means it'll probably take us about 2-3 weeks to get through 24 rounds.)  

I mentioned last week that I was drafting in one of my Fantasy Football dynasty leagues. We're about halfway through the draft - here are my first 12 picks and the round/position they were drafted. This is a PPR league, and a TE is required.

Team name is Literally Possessed

Romo, Tony DAL QB 8.03
Young, Vince TEN QB 4.03
Addai, Joseph IND RB 1.10
Bell, Tatum DET RB 5.10
Jones-Drew, Maurice JAC RB 2.03
Washington, Leon NYJ RB 9.10
Brown, Reggie PHI WR 5.08
Cotchery, Jerricho NYJ WR 6.05
Furrey, Mike DET WR 10.03
Marshall, Brandon DEN WR 6.01
Clark, Dallas IND TE 12.03
Gates, Antonio SDC TE 3.12

There were some trades in there. I traded my first pick in the rookie draft (1.3) for Gates (some other picks were moved around in this deal.) I also traded *my* third round pick (Lee Evans) and Chris Chambers for Jerrico Cotchery and Reggie Brown (I got the short end of that deal, but being a Jet fan, I *had* to have Cotchery - remember, this is a dynasty league, so I'll have him for years.) 

I am very pleased with this squad so far. Highlights are Addai at 1.10, reaching early for Vince Young at 4.03, and having Mike Furrey fall to me at 10.3. I'm happy with the reach on Brandon Marshall in round 6 as well.

What does this have to do with writing and marketing?

Absolutely nothing. Except maybe to tell you it's ok to have a hobby, and "work work work" isn't always the answer.

I'll post more on the rest of the draft in about a week or so. 

My draft for one of my Fantasy Football Dynasty Leagues is over. Here's my team:

Literally Possessed:

After a few weeks, a few trades (most notably Maurice Jones Drew for D Williams and J Norwood), and the rookie draft, my initial startup dynasty team I posted last month now looks like this (probable starters in bold):

QB
---------
Clemens, Kellen NYJ
Edwards, Trent BUF
Romo, Tony DAL
Young, Vince TEN

RB
---------
Addai, Joseph IND
Askew, B.J. NYJ
Bradshaw, Ahmad NYG  (R)
Gado, Samkon HOU
Norwood, Jerious ATL
Washington, Leon NYJ
Williams, DeAngelo CAR

WR
-----------
Brown, Reggie PHI
Bruce, Isaac STL
Copper, Terrance NOS 
Cotchery, Jerricho NYJ
Furrey, Mike DET
Hill, Jason SFO (R)
Marshall, Brandon DEN
Toomer, Amani NYG
Walker, Mike JAC (R)

TE
-------------
Gates, Antonio SDC TE
Martin, David MIA TE
Miller, Zach OAK  (R)

Not including DEF and kickers, because they don't matter much. I have another fantasy startup team that I just drafted in another league. I'll post it next week (fantasy football is really addicting.) 

Just want to comment on the football season and such. Very happy for the Giants - I'm a Jet fan first, but a NY fan second (well, technically both teams are in NJ), so if the Jets can't be in, hey, then go Giants!!

I also did decent in my fantasy leagues, although I failed to keep you updated throughout the year. I'm sure you're all really upset (trust me, there's nothing more boring than someone else's fantasy football team.) In fact, after a lackluster season, I actually stormed through the playoffs and made the final in my redraft league. I lost the final game by six points (curse you Jay Cutler), but still pocketed second place. But again, you probably don't care about that.

I'm sad that football is ending. One more game, then it's over. That's kind of the beauty of dynasty fantasy football - because you can trade players and draft picks, it keeps it going all year. If you are a football fan, and mourn football ending, you owe it to yourself to check out some dynasty FF - you'll probably like it. Maybe we'll get a few other writers / marketing guys and start a league - I'm game.