Brett Favre Signs with the Minnesota Vikings!

Hey there. It seemed that it was more of a matter of "when" instead of "if". Well, today is the "when". Even though reports claimed that Brett Favre called it quits for real this time, he has gone out and signed a deal with Minnesota. His signing is no more than a few hours old and he's already in pads, practicing with the Vikings. What does this mean to the football world? One of many things. Are we going to be blessed and see one of the game's greatest QBs make a gallant effort to end his career on top? Are we going to see "Old Man Brett" hanging on my his last thread just to make it through the season? What does this mean to fantasy football players? Will you trade to start Brett? Will Adrian Peterson get his now that Favre is in the lineup? It's exciting, I'll admit, but it's hard to look forward to seeing The Legend in action when we've seen him have extreme highs and extreme lows these past couple of seasons.

His first retirement was heart felt. I remember seeing him weep at his press conference. It made me feel somber knowing that one of the best QBs in the game is retiring. It made me feel old to see a player from my childhood hang up his cleats. Then he came back, and then retired, and then came back again. I'm not a Green Bay Packers fan, but I am a fan of the game and of individual players. Naturally, I want to see the best players on the field. That's the only way we're guaranteed great football, but if Brett's time is up, he may regret this move. Viking coach Brad Childress better hope this gamble is worth the risk. His job hangs on Brett Favre's arm. I don't want to see him fail, but if Favre fails, not only will Childress look foolish, but so will the legend of Brett Favre. Later.

Do Fantasy Football Better with Waiver Wire

Hey there friends. Football season is fast approaching. We've already had a few good looks at most NFL teams in preseason action and the anticipation is building as the season opener is approaching. Most football fans are scrambling to get their fantasy football teams together before the season starts. I've been playing fantasy football for years now. I've tried different leagues from different places since I haven't been able to find a league that provides the ultimate experience in fantasy football. After signing up and trying WaiverWire, I believe I may have found my home.

After going through the packages that they offered, I went with the appropriately named, Stimulus Package, that is 100% for the 2009 season. That's a savings of $20. Here are all the perks that come with it.
That is a lot of information for a free site. Many other fantasy football sites do not offer anywhere this amount of information. Being a guy that loves numbers (profession: credit analyst) I love being to get all sorts of information from a single source.

WaiverWire.com is brought to you by some former Wall Street guys that love football. Say what you want about Wall Street, but if someone is going to analyze football for me, I'm going to want the guys that did analyzing for a living.
I went ahead and entered my fantasy team into their database and started my research. There is so much information to digest. Projections, odds, player information, team news, player stats, etc. etc. It simply has everything you need to build and research your players so that you can make the best choice for the week. The projections tab is especially useful for this task. Who do I start? Peyton Manning or Matt Schaub? You can go to the projection tab and compare the players and make the best choice for the week. I love this feature!
And when you're done with all the researching for your team, you can stop by the Guru Zone for a weekly challenge. This is definitely my favorite part of the site. WaiverWire provides you a chance to gain Guru Points which is a way to display you're football knowledge by taking part of it's weekly challenge. Who do you believe will gain the most yards? Most TDs? Cover the spread? You submit your answers and points are awarded depending on correct predictions. It's for bragging rights amongst other WaiverWire members. My Guru Status is a big fat 0 but I'm hoping to improve that number as the season goes on.

I spent a good amount of time going through the player news and team statistics. I went through most of the players on my favorite team, Oakland Raiders, to get a better grasp of what's going down with them. I'm reading good things on them and I hope that they come out on top of their division. I'm also reading up on them since I like to have a few players on my fantasy team from my favorite team. As you can see from my autodrafted team, I don't have any OAK players. It's OK, though. I'm planing on claiming their defense and WR Schilens on my team. I play to win! But I also try to stay loyal to my team and I'm not showing much loyalty if I have the SD defense on my side. lol

Sign up at WaiverWire today and take advantage of all the information that is readily available to us football fanatics. Make sure you look for me to add me as a friend for some friendly competition and trash talking among some football lovers. See you there! Later.

Weekend Internet Hiatus

Hey there. I took the weekend off. I did not go online at all this weekend. lol I took a two day sabbatical from all things internet, well almost everything. I still had Email. But anyways, my wife brought up a point on Friday night when I was doing my online work. I mentioned something along the lines of it being a drag to get my work done at night so that don't have to do it during the day. My wife responded to that by saying something along of the lines of "don't do it religiously and take it easy." I wouldn't say I do it religiously, but I've come to realize that it's more of a habit now. I tend to work online until about 11:00 to 11:30 PM. That's the time I go to sleep anyways so I figured that I might as well get some work done. This weekend, I felt like I SHOULD be working at night since I couldn't sleep anyways. I refrained, but it felt off. It felt weird that I wasn't online at night. I stayed in bed and watched TV but at the end of the night, I couldn't really sleep because I felt as if my routine threw off my body. I actually stayed up later than usual. Go figure...

We did have an eventful weekend, though. Once I'm able to get some pictures, I'll post. If anything, I really regret that I forgot my camera at work since I wasn't able to take pics of our event myself. Until then, later.

The Oakland Raiders and The Michael Vick Signing

Hey there. I'm a huge football fan. I follow football and all news that is football. I had my Heavy Metal Rankings last year that took a lot of time to compose, but I'm bringing it back this year as a top 10 list as opposed to a league wide ranking system. Yesterday was the first preseason game for my team, the Oakland Raiders. I've been a fan since forever and I was looking forward to finally see my team in action. Even though it was only a preseason game and the starters would not be on the field for the full 60 minutes, it provided me with a sense of, "YES! Football!" lol I hate, HATE, the summer months. Not only does the heat get to me, there's no sports to watch. Sorry people, but baseball is such a bore to me that it's not even considered a sport in my book. Once the basketball season is over, there isn't a sport out there that will get my adrenaline going and no reason to have some guys over for a game and a few brews. So to see my Raiders on the screen and kicking some ass was definitely welcomed.

I love what I saw. The timid JaMarcus Russell that started for the Raiders last season is gone. Last night's Russell was consistent and poised. He stood in the pocket, he didn't eye his receivers through the whole route, he looked left and right scanning the field well, and even ran for a good 18 or so yard run. This is the QB that will take the Raiders places. Not the guy from last season that made it easy for the defenses to read and take apart. The Raider team as a whole looked real good. They spoke confidently and walked tall. They look like a team to be reckoned with. The running backs were superb. Especially Darren McFadden. And considering that we have three strong backs in Fargas, McFadden, and Bush, we should have a very strong running game that should soften the defenses up for Russell and his receivers. Speaking of receivers, Chaz Schilens looked outstanding. Last year, Russell looked for his TE Miller for completions but Russell looked comfortable passing to his WRs. We even saw a few bombs launched by Russell to rookie Darrius Heyward-Bey. I believe that once the timing between these two is right on, they are going to be a deadly combo. Heyward-Bey has speed and Russell underestimated his speed and he under thrown the first pass to him and on the next, he over thrown the pass. One thing is for sure, the Raiders are looking very capable of making some noise in the AFC West.

The Raiders were not all offense either. Their defense stepped up and stopped the Cowboys in goaline situations and the Cowboys were never really in rhythm. The only touchdown for the Cowboys came on Romo's last drive of the first quarter. Michael Huff even came up with an interception and there was constant pressure on the Cowboys QBs. Their run defense is better, but still needs some work. That's the one of many areas that coach Tom Cable has addressed to his team. The Raiders look like a team that is listening and their look and demeanor convey that. The Raiders are finally moving on the upswing and showing the commitment to excellence that owner Al Davis has been preaching for decades. Preseason game or not, when your team can put a 31-10 beat down on your opponent, you are doing something right.

Now, on to Michael Vick. While driving home from work, I started listening to ESPN Radio, in hopes of hearing about the Raider game, instead I hear about the breaking news... Michael Vick signs a 2 year deal with the Eagles. We all know the story of Mike Vick by now. The guy ran, or funded, a dog fighting ring where many dogs were seriously injured and killed. He claimed that he didn't know it was wrong since he grew up around dog fighting rings and what not. The man paid his debt to society and spent almost 2 years in jail. The commissioner, who I believe is doing one hell of a job, conditionally reinstated Vick, allowing him to sign with a team, but not play in a game until the commissioner makes his final decision on whether or not to fully reinstate Vick.

Many fans are divided on the Vick signing. Some strongly feel that he should not be allowed to play, others feel that he should deserve a second chance. The one thing that is going for Vick is that he has Ex-Indy coach, Tony Dungy as a mentor. Tony Dungy is a class act guy. Everyone respects him and when he talks, players listen. Having Tony by Vick's side made his signing possible. Let's face it, the Eagles signed Vick, knowing that he is under the watchful eye of Tony Dungy. If Vick did not have Tony as a mentor, I do not believe that he would of signed with any team.

Even the Eagles owner did some "soul searching" before approving Vick's signing. I praise the owner, not for signing Vick, but for having the stipulation that if Vick is not proactive in anti-dog fighting campaigns, then his tenure with the Eagles is done. That takes guts. Imagine your boss coming up to you and says that you'll be fired unless you spend a good 10 hours a week at the local YMCA for community service. Many of us would say hell with that, not because we don't want community service, but because we know that we can get another job elsewhere that will not require us to work an extra 10 hours a week without pay. Vick does not have that luxury. The Eagles' owner is making it known that Vick MUST work for his spot on the Eagles and you have to give him huge praise for that.

People make mistakes. And those of the criminal kind, pay their debts to society with jail time and then are released back into that same society without any guidance what so ever when they have paid their debt. It's difficult to be reinserted without guidance. Looking at a job application, it clearly asks if you've been charged with a felony and if you've been in jail. They claim that the information will not be taken into account when the job decision is made, but let's be real. If it will not be taken into account, then why the hell would you ask? Just to know? It's BS, if you ask me. Imagine Vick trying to get signed by a team without someone with credibility backing him. He wouldn't be able to do it. They'll look at him as a criminal, someone that's a liability to himself and their team. But because he has Tony on his side, teams can see that he's on the right path. He's being guided by a man that the NFL highly regards as it's personal Jesus. If you have Jesus backing you up, that stigma of a criminal does not have as much weight as it had before. Mike Vick should be thanking his lucky stars that Tony Dungy exists. If not for him, Vick's career would have been over in 2007. Tony Dungy will not allow his name to be tarnished by Vick. If Vick screws this up and blemishes Tony Dungy's name, Vick will have truly committed the ultimate crime and should forever be labeled as the biggest screw up in NFL history. Later.

Bluelight Specials at Kmart

Hey there friends. Kmart is having a sale! You know me, I'm always good to save a few bucks. Especially now that we have a little one on his way, every dollar that we can save will help us in the long run. This is why I'm glad that the Kmart Bluelight specials are back. I mean, we already shop at Kmart and it's been awhile since I've heard the PA system announce a Bluelight item.

It's about time, if you ask me. Since the kids will be back in school soon, we'll be hitting up the local Kmart on Aug. 15th (this Saturday) to take advantage of the 40+ Bluelight Specials that they have planned. Since the kids will need back to school items, we're definitely going for backpacks, since they just don't seem to make it past a full year. lol So it would be great to get a $20 back pack for $8 during their Bluelight special. Come to think of it, we could also use some patio furniture. I got our shed up this week and since I got it up, my wife and I created a lot more patio space now that the items that cluttered the patio are now in the shed. Patio furniture will be on sale (70% off) but if we get there for the Bluelight special, it's an additional 20% off! We need a patio set of some kind. Maybe a bench and a table with at least 4 lawn chairs. We have an open space in our back yard that we just don't hang out on because there isn't a table with chairs there. When we have company over, we usually stay indoors since there really isn't anywhere to seat our guests when we walk outside. And you know what else I can pick up while there? A grill! My wife and I were just talking about getting one yesterday. I had a small, old grill that wasn't covered (again, no shed) so it got ruined by the sun and rain and needed to be thrown out. Now that we have a place to shelter a grill, I can look into getting a decent sized grill. Something where I can grill more than 4 or 5 patties at once. Thinking realistically, I doubt that I would be able to get all the items that I need, UNLESS, the price is right! Considering that the price is slashed significantly during Bluelight time, maybe I'll be lucky enough to get everything I want. We'll see what I can score from Kmart come Aug. 15th! If by chance we won't be able to make it to Kmart, we'll check out Kmart.com, since they'll be having their own set of Bluelght specials there. Hmmm.... maybe we should do some online shopping since I know my wife can't be up on her feet for so long. Then again, I've never heard her say no to shopping in store so maybe we will end up going. lol

I also started following Kmart on Twitter, since I've discovered that they offer printable coupons for items. Who wouldn't want to score free coupons? I'm looking at one right now where I can get a free set of wooden pencils for buying back to school stuff. I'm going to buy back to school items anyways, so yeah, I want free pencils too. lol Sale starts Aug 15h, friends. Check it out. You know we will. Later.

Are We Overprotective Parents?

Hey there. I got to thinking... Are we overprotective of our kids? The thought came up when my wife was telling me how one of her workers was complaining how his pops didn't let him ride his bike out on the street. He was 10 or so years old and could only ride his bike in his back yard. Mind you, his pops is/was a private detective so I can see where he would not want his kid on his own. My wife then said that we let our kids ride their bikes in the yard too and not on the street. He asked when she planned on letting them ride their bikes around the block, and her answer was, "When I'm walking right behind them." lol

Now... It's been a couple of days since our boy left for summer camp. We all miss him and we swear that we hear him sometimes at home. We're parents that talk to our kids daily. Even when we were in New Orleans, we called home to say goodnight to the kids. Having our son be at camp is tough since we are not allowed to call. Might make the kids homesick, we guess.

Anyways, it made me think on whether or not we're keeping the kids close to the vest. I know that when I was kid, I left through the front door in the morning and I wouldn't come back until waaaaaaaaay later in the day. And this was before I was 10 years old. I chalked it up to it just being the times and how things are different now.

As a child, my brother and I were always up to mischief and we were not in the house much. I feel as if the kids are always in the house doing 1 of 3 things: playing video games, playing with each other, or watching TV. We had to mandate a rule to make them go outside and play because I am sure that if it were up to them, they'd hang out in front of the TV all day. Every day, when we get home, we force them to go outside and play with the dogs for at least an hour. This gets them outside of the house to get some much needed outside playing time. And even then, they're in our yard and no further than that.

So I'm thinking, are the kids in the house because we don't let them take off and explore? I mean, how much exploring can you do walking down the street? Its weird because when I was a kid, I knew where my friends from school lived, so if I wanted to hang out with a friend, I'd walk to his house. Since we live in a different city from where the kids go to school, they don't have that option. Maybe that's the problem... I don't know. It's something that my wife and I will have to figure out. This is a big reason why we felt that camp would be good for our boy. To be outside, with his peers, enjoying nature and other activities. Our daughter has expressed an interest in camp and wants to go next year. My wife says that she's not sure if she can deal with 2, soon to be 4,kids away without communication. Come Saturday, we'll get a chance to speak to our boy and see how things played out. Until then, later.