August 19th, 2009 at 1:09 am by Howard Chen under Sports
August 16th, 2009 at 11:28 pm by Howard Chen under Sports
Expanded, with defenses and more players… will continue to update and post online.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:48 pm by Howard Chen under Sports
Decided that Brian Westbrook didn’t warrant being a top-fiver… but his potential for a HUGE year is still there because he is so good catching balls out of the backfield!
August 12th, 2009 at 4:29 pm by Howard Chen under Sports
I promised it, and here it is. I haven’t gone through EVERYBODY yet, and there are defenses to add too.
PLUS… not all these guys are deserving of a top 100 spot. They’re just here for now because I saw their name, first come first serve, and I ranked them compared relatively to other players who were ranked.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:17 am by Howard Chen under Sports
I’ve been procrastinating, I know, but I’ll be working on Mr. Fantasy’s 150 tomorrow (Wednesday) before the first football version of Mr. Fantasy’s Weekly Watch hits the air.
THAT, I PROMISE.
A preliminary copy will be online tomorrow night.
Holla.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:10 am by Howard Chen under Sports
DISCLAIMER: this blog isn’t meant to be a form of self promotion. Instead, it’s just common sense.
Right now, with training camps having started up last week in the NFL, the time is now where you go to the grocery market and see fantasy football draft previews line the magazine racks. Most ordinary football fans playing fantasy have been known to purchase a few of these magazines for the sake of reference.
Don’t waste your money.
I’m not saying the information in those magazines are bad. I’m just saying that, by the time most leagues should hold their drafts, the preseason is just about over, position battles will have just about finished, and you’ll have your fair share of injuries. These are things that those magazines cannot predict. They’d be outdated. Now if you’re like me and you have a subscription to what I believe is the elite of sports magazines – Sports Illustrated – then you’ll automatically receive their fantasy football guide.
I’ve learned over the years that Sports Illustrated is actually very weak in their fantasy evaluations. They’ll occasionally get a sleeper right, but most of the time, that’s not the source to go to. Yahoo Sports, which puts on a GREAT fantasy-sports product, has HORRIBLE fantasy advice because as soon as somebody, regardless the sport, has one good appearance, they jump on the bandwagon. I personally believe in the advice of Fox Sports, and trust me when I say I am looking at this objectively and I am NOT doing any cross promotion.
Another great source of fantasy knowledge is Lance Zierlein, a Houston sports radio personality and the son of NFL assistant Larry Zierlein. Be sure to check out the Z report on the Houston Chronicle’s sports website (http://www.chron.com/sports). LZ knows his stuff, and he’s also a tremendous guy to boot.
As for myself, I create my own unique rankings where I use straight-up common sense. How many carries will a running back get? What team does he play for? If it’s a winning team, that means more value for a running back because he’ll carry the rock more to run out the clock. Is the team primarily a running team or a passing team? What weapons are around the fantasy player in question? What’s the offensive line like, because THAT seriously determines things.
And so I’m very close to beginning work on my fantasy football rankings. This blog will be where I keep you posted as to my thoughts. I’ll tell you this much… I think Pierre Thomas will be this year’s version of Steve Slaton- overlooked for no good reason, and then finish with a tremendous season.
Wow… didn’t mean to rhyme there.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:32 am by Howard Chen under Sports
Joe Mauer was my man.
Now, Gordon Beckham… I love you.
Obviously, this is in the pure fantasy-sports sense of love, but still, Beckham is just ripping the cover off the ball. Remember, in late June, when Beckham finally crossed the .200 mark?
Of course, from that point on, it took him all of two days to jump from .206 to .267 when he went 6-for-his-next-7. In July, he hit .330. In fact, Beckham’s gone hitless in only 1 for his last 11 games. The man is sick. He already has surpassed former BGSU star Nolan Reimold for the American League rookie lead in RBI. Beckham’s numbers, as of Tuesday night, are a .316 average with 6 home runs and 38 RBI. Expect him to have about 75-80 RBI when the year is done.
By the way, fantasy sports aside, Reimold is a tremendous individual. I had the pleasure of going up to Comerica Park when I did my 1-on-1 interview with him (http://tinyurl.com/ltaqxn). He’s a quiet guy, but definitely was well-mannered. His manager, Dave Trembley, was also impressive. Before we started asking Trembley about Reimold, the skipper was gushing about current Mud Hens pitching coach and former Tigers pitcher/UToledo quarterback A.J. Sager, calling him “first-class.” Seriously, talking to Trembley was like talking to a grandfather who had some baseball stories to tell. All that was needed was a campfire. Alas, it was batting practice and not a family get-together.
Finally, all you fantasy fans out there are probably wondering when my fantasy football rankings will start coming out. I just joined my first league, and I’ll be looking at making my unique rankings soon enough. I’ll keep the blog posted with my updates on my Mr. Fantasy 150. I will say that, no matter what, Adrian Peterson is my #1 pick overall. Seriously, if you had the top pick and didn’t take him, you’d be spending the whole season praying for an injury. Granted, he gets hurt, but you shouldn’t have to pray for that to happen to your opponent. A good fantasy player makes sure his or her own team is legitimate enough. No excuses. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if AP went through a year injury-free and I missed out on an opportunity to take him in the draft.
A couple of other things- the top fantasy QB to me is New England’s Tom Brady with his three wideouts of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and former Buckeye Joey Galloway. Speaking of top wideouts, numero uno is Houston’s Andre Johnson. The guy just keeps on coming down with balls thrown to him, making him unstoppable in your fantasy football league.
Geez, now I’m itching to work on these rankings.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:49 pm by Howard Chen under Sports
Cliff Lee’s gone to the Phillies. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner has taken his pitching prowess to another city.
But did the Indians get enough for Lee? Did they say yes too soon into the process?
Here’s the deal: Philadelphia wanted Toronto’s Roy Halladay, but couldn’t get him because the Blue Jays held firm in their demands that they were going to get some bona-fide prospects in return. Too often in pro sports, big-time proven players are given up for mediocre prospects who are overhyped.
Well, in my mind, the Indians could’ve AT LEAST gotten one of the so-called Phillie untouchables. Lee isn’t THAT much removed from Halladay in terms of sheer ability. Outstanding control, he’s been pitching great… he is a GREAT pitcher.
When I say a Phillie untouchable, I’m talking about getting either J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, or Dominic Brown. Yes, prospects are all hype, but like all stereotypes, there are reasons why these guys get the hype. Percentage-wise, they have a higher chance to succeed.
Now I do think the Indians got some good prospects in the trade. Jason Donald is top notch. So is Lou Marson. Carlos Carrasco is pretty advanced for his age. Apparently, the “prize” of the deal is Jason Knapp. Let me tell ya, this prize can definitely strike out hitters. Over 110 strikeouts in just over 85 innings is pretty awesome. He’s 18 years old. What’s not so awesome is that Knapp was recently shut down due to shoulder fatigue. Doesn’t exactly sound like he has a Nolan Ryan arm. Not that we should compare anybody to Nolan Ryan, but the point is that there’s a red flag, and when it comes to giving up somebody proven like Lee, those red flags need to be eliminated. If I was Mark Shapiro, I would’ve accepted the fact that Drabek wouldn’t be included in the deal, but ask for Happ. Get Happ, Carrasco, Marson, and Donald and hold firm to that. Right now, the Phillies are in a win-win. They got an ace that they needed, AND they have ALL their top bona-fide prospects. Cleveland had leverage in this scenario and they flat-out didn’t use it.
Now I’ve learned in the past that it’s hard for me to criticize management considering they know more about their trade than I ever will, and Mark Shapiro did pull off the magical Bartolo Colon trade that netted Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and of course, Lee.
That’s the ironic part. Lee was part of one of the best trades in franchise history. For Cleveland’s sake, let’s hope this most recent Cliff Lee trade gets a result that is somewhat similar, because right now, it really does look like the Indians could’ve done better.
July 27th, 2009 at 2:02 am by Howard Chen under Sports
At the risk of having PETA and other groups turn against me, I write this blog in support of Michael Vick.
For crying out loud, let the guy play football.
Let’s think about what he’s done. He was involved in a dogfighting operation. Dogs killed each other. Dogs were killed. That is totally barbaric and yes, it’s cruelty to animals.
Let’s think about what Vick has had to face. He served 23 months of jail time while the others who were involved in the trial got off with lesser sentences, so the stereotype that the athlete gets away with the crime does NOT apply here. Actually, it may have backfired on Vick because he became a target for all the focus groups. Vick also served time under house arrest and had to get a regular blue-collar job before being released from his duties in society.
Let’s say it again: he did 23 months of jail time.
I stress that because the NFL currently has players like Ray Lewis (let’s pretend he didn’t murder anybody or was involved in any murders) and Leonard Little (DUI manslaughter and then gets another DUI with which he gets off scott-free because of a loophole in the law). Dead PEOPLE were involved in these circumstances.
Granted, Roger Goodell wasn’t the NFL commish back then, so maybe it’s unfair to compare to Lewis and Little. How about Adam “I used to be Pacman” Jones then? He’s in trouble time and time again (involving people, not pets), but before his release from the Cowboys, even he got a second chance.
For Vick, he didn’t find himself in trouble with the law. He didn’t surround himself in bad environments a la Pacman or Brandon Marshall. This guy was guilty of a crime, served his time, and now awaits the NFL’s decision as far as what’s up with his playing status.
The word is he’ll get a 4-game suspension. Um… that means there’s no way he’ll be a starter anywhere unless he goes with a team in turmoil that switches quarterbacks late in the year. His value automatically takes another hit.
Let’s face it- his value already took a cash hit because NO ONE in their right mind will endorse him. His hope is to start fresh with a relatively small NFL city and work his way up. But then there’s this 4-game-suspension potential.
So on one end, you could say he’s still getting a 2nd chance because he’ll be able to play after those 4 games, but on the other hand, a 4-game-suspension impacts him for this entire year and possibly more, because it limits which teams would be willing to stay patient with him, and which teams would be good for him to go to.
So hate me for writing this if you want, but for a rare moment in my life, I’m in agreement with T.O.
Michael Vick has suffered enough. Make him do all sorts of community service, but don’t punish him any more with taking away the game he loves and the game he’s been without these last two years.
July 25th, 2009 at 12:56 am by Howard Chen under News, Sports
I first heard about the Dragon Boat Race Festival in Toledo from a buddy of mine. You may have heard of him or actually, you may have heard him at a Mud Hens game. He’s Kevin Mullan- PA announcer at Fifth Third Field… a very underrated part of what makes a Mud Hens game so enjoyable.
Anyhoo, that’s for another day. I had struggled to find ANY Asians in Northwest Ohio outside of the stereotypical nail salons, Americanized (for the most part) Asian restaurants, those in medical careers, and foreign exchange college students.
It’s something that’s very different for a guy like me who grew up in highly diverse environments. In Calgary, they have a Chinatown. In Houston, they have a HUGE Chinatown. Basically, they both have enough of a Chinese population to do this, so obviously as a result, there was a ton of Americanized Asian students who grew up with me. I had friends of all races. This was what I thought was the norm in America. I’ve since learned that mainstream America is not quite that way.
Don’t get me wrong: I like Toledo. The people are really nice here. You all have treated me great. There are GREAT sports to cover here. I am truly a blessed man to be here doing what I do. Heck, I’m able to cover the best female golfers in the world, the best collegiate golfers in the country, and that’s just the summer I’m talking about. High school football, anyone? Ohio State? Michigan? It’s great stuff.
So yea, I’m happy to be here, and I was even happier to discover that, even in a city not known for its Asian diversity, there was actually a Dragon Boat Race. All my friends from around the country have reacted by saying, “They have that?” Toledo, that’s a GREAT thing for people to say, because it means that other medium-sized cities don’t necessarily have the same kind of event.
This gives me the chance to represent my culture. After all, this was entirely the reason I chose TV over radio and newspaper in college. I figured TV was more influential in convincing the next generation of Asians that they can follow their dreams, that they don’t have to do the stereotypical careers that their parents might be pushing upon them. For all the Asians in Northwest Ohio, this dragon boat race is MY way of saying I’m there for them. I know it’s tough for some of them where English is not their number-1 language. This is my way of helping them out, by showing that even though my language skills are catered more to Americans, I still deeply respect my roots. I am not ashamed to say that I am Asian-American. I’m not just American. Well, actually, I’m Canadian, but you get the picture.
Plus, it’s really cool to be rowing a boat. I’ve never done that before in my life, so this past week’s 2 practices were amazing experiences. Our China Dragons team has been working hard as a group and I think we’ve really come together. Not that I’m predicting victory, but this shall be extremely fun.
The Dragon Boat races take place Saturday morning at the Docks. There’ll be more coverage on FOX Toledo News, First at 10 on Saturday night.