"You should of just asked"

I've been thinking about this lately and i've decided to throw my thoughts down on paper, er, keypad.

You know how when a friend of yours gets busted for a DUI, and you tell them "hey man, you should have just called me, i would have given you a ride." or maybe a friend of yours gets busted for stealing something small at a grocery story "hey dude, if you needed some food you should of just asked." Maybe your friend nabbed a few bucks from your ash tray, or from the offering plate, or the cash register at work and lost his job - "bro, you could of just asked me for a few bucks, i would have gladly given some to you. If you need some cash just ask me."

Yea, hindsight is always 20/20. of course now that your friend is in jail for a DUI, or lost his job for a measly $20 you would gladly have offered to change his course. Well why didn't you intervene before the problem got worse? Why did you wait until your friend asked for help?

If your friend calls you at 1225a and asks for a ride from some downtown bar would you shrug? probably. and that shrug is probably why your friend doesn't call you. If your friend never pays for lunch, you always get stuck with the bill, would you start avoiding eating out with your friend? that's probably why they don't ask you for cash. When you receive a real-life phone call on your cell (not a text, email, notification, DM...) do you avoid a real-life conversation and let the call go to voicemail? that's probably why your friend didn't call you when they needed some help or food, they never get a hold of you anyway.

Have you ever been in need? the first thing most people feel when they're in need is shame, or embarrassment. "crap, i don't have a well-paying job like my friends, i can't afford a house or a car like my friends. i don't have a nice little family and a great spouse like my friends." this friend already feels bad about their situation and now we expect them to also put aside their pride and approach us first and ask for a handout? no wonder they conclude "my house isn't that far and i'm only buzzed, it'll only take a few minutes to drive home. better than calling BMer at midnite and pissing him off."

If you're a caring friend you should welcome these situations. you should care enough about your friends to know whats going in their lives. you should be helping them out without putting them in their place, if they're in need they already know it. you should be pro-active about help, you should SHOW that you care enough to pick them up at midnight, or get them some supplies that might ease their weekly needs, instead of just SAYING that you would have done that, if only they asked.

Friendship is about loving one another, about truly caring about each other. stop wasting time poking friends on facebook, or retweeting them, and actually get involved in their life, and show that you're there for them all the time, whether they're in need or not. Next time they're in a tough spot they shouldn't hesitate to call you. Next time they're in need they should feel confident that they can rely on you without being reprimanded, judged, reminded, instructed, lectured...

in the midst of a tight-spot, the first thing a friend needs is support, you can worry about addressing the problems later.

join my Fantasy Football and Soccer leagues

Here are all of the different leagues i'm running this Fall. sign up for one of them, or all of them.

NFL Pick'em w/Skins

This is just basic Pick'em, pick all of the winners every week. We've added a Skins element where for $20 you can be eligible to win weekly cash. Each week is worth an amount of money, like $10, the person who picks the most games right wins the $10. If two or more people tie for the most right picks the money from that week rolls into the next week, making it worth $20. It keeps rolling over until there is an outright winner. Last year Kassie won $65 over 2 weekends! it's a lot of fun. You don't have to join the Skins part, you can just play the Pick'em in this league but you won't be eligible for the cash unless you choose to pay up-front!

Join Here

Group ID#: 862
Password: browns

Last years winner: Noah with 176 correct games

NFL SURVIVAL

This is a game where you basically pick one team to win every week. Once you pick a team you can't pick them again. No one ever makes it through the season perfect so you get three strikes. super easy and challenging.

Join Here

Group ID# (442)

Password (browns)

English Premier League Fantasy (salary cap style)

Basically you have a set amount of money to fill your roster, you can make changes every week, players value go and down based on performance. good way to learn about the EPL and which players are good, trial by fire!

Join Here - click "Leagues" then enter our league code: "300825-78876"

World Cup Game with Friends

okay, so a friend of mine just introduced me to this cool game you can play while watching the World Cup. If we can get 16 people together this will be a blast, with a pretty good payout.

Basically you throw all 64 teams into a hat, each player gets 2 teams by a random draw. If one of your teams wins the World Cup you win the Pot! i think we'll have smaller payouts too for the following:

$25 for most goals scored combined
$20 for the least amount of goals scored combined
$10 for second place in the Final

We'll say everyone pays in $10 and that way we'll aim for 16 people, $160. the winner of the World Cup will get $100 and the other $60 will be split above.

Player Teams (Total Goals)
DaveM - spain / italy: (0)
NoahV - south korea / chile: (2)
DerekM - nigeria / france: (0)
ScottW - germany / serbia: (4)
GregM - argentina / usa: (2)
BrianL - paraguay / netherlands: (2)
BMer - mexico / brazil: (1)
TravisM - japan / slovakia: (1)
AaronB - algeria / new zealand: ( 0)
Tahoe - ivory coast / portugal: (0)
ChrisC - uruguay / england: (1)
SeanN - greece / honduras: (0)
ScottH - ghana / cameroon: (1)
JeffS - australia / slovenia: (1)
JordanH - south africa / korea dpr: (1)
JoshO - denmark / switzerland: (0)

Josh Cribbs is like Birdman!

So in case you haven't been following the headlines surrounding the Cleveland Browns, our best player Josh Cribbs is asking for a new offer. This started last year after Cribbs established himself as the best kick returner in the league. This season he not only continued that, but he inserted himself into the offense as a WR, and the QB of the Wildcat Offense, showing that he could throw and run the ball in for points. No doubt that Cribbs was the best player on the Browns this season, but i think that is more telling of the lack of quality skill players, not so much Cribbs.

Cribbs is not a good WR, just like Devin Hester of the Bears is not a good WR. Cribbs was the default #2 WR after Braylon was traded because we don't have anyone else, you can't even name the Browns the WR's. Now Cribbs wants a new contract after he signed a relatively cheap one 2 years ago, that goes through 2013. Yes he has outplayed his contract, but what is he worth to the Browns?

I compare this situation to Chris "Birdman" Anderson of the Denver Nuggets. A great story no doubt, recovering from drug addiction (being kicked out of the NBA) and working his way back into shape and returning to his first team, the Nuggets. The Nuggets scored Birdman really cheap from the Hornets and last year he established himself as the fan favorite. He was playing out-of-his-mind for the 2nd half of the season, blocking shots and bringing the energy. After the Nuggets failed to reach the Championship, Anderson was a free agent. Everyone in Denver said to pay the man, but honestly, he doesn't do that much for the team. He doesn't score often, he is an average rebounder, he's slow in defense, and he blocks shots out-of-bounds instead of grabbing the ball for a turnover. But Kroenke and Denver caved and paid him good money. Now this season he's been hurt (he has a history of injuries) and hasn't played at nearly the level of last season.

This is why Cribbs is the new Birdman. Cribbs doesn't have much value. Do you remember want Dante "the X factor" Hall did after being dominate at kick returning for 2 seasons? nothing! What has Hester done in Chicago the last 2 years? nothing. consider this:

Recent history suggests that explosive kick returners (see Dante Hall and Devin Hester) don't maintain their productivity for much longer than three seasons, and Devin Hester's $5.45 million-per-year contract with the Bears has become something of a laughingstock. Hester hasn't returned a kick for a touchdown in two full seasons since signing his new deal. -Cleveland Frowns

Cribbs is "offended" by the Browns offer of $1.4 million, a raise from the $700K he's making now. Consider this from Cleveland radio host Will Burge on Twitter:

Players who made appx $1.4M in 2009:Dwayne Bowe $1.4M, Miles Austin $1.5M, DeSean Jackson $1.1M, Vincent Jackson $900K, Santnio Holmes $1.8M

Now tell me Josh Cribbs worth so much more than ANY of those WR's that the offer is insulting. You just cant do it...

I love Cribbs, but i don't think the Browns will break the bank for him, and they shouldn't. Just like how everyone now like coach Eric Mangini after he ended a terrible season winning 4 games in a row (against OAK, KC, JAC, and PIT), but i believe that new team president, Mike Holmgren, is going to still fire him, and he should.

Sentiment doesn't win games, it just costs a lot of money.

Why I Don't Listen to Movie Critics

I've often thought about this theory, but now it has affected me in a new way. I've never thought movie reviews by official "movie experts" were very valuable, they seem to be too close to their product. All they do is watch and critique movies, so they're looking at much more than the average person looks at. they're looking for themes, character development, camera work, plot, etc, whereas i'm usually just looking to be entertained for 2 hours. If i want to know if a movie is worth seeing i'd rather ask a few of my friends about it instead of looking up the review from the LA Times.

It's the same with "expert" reviews of books, food, music, video games, and tons of other stuff. I would rather hear from people who are more like me, the common blogger, message boards, people who enjoy these things as often as i do, rather than some elitist critic who is never happy. but everyone feels this way, why am i blogging about it?

Because i'm now the "expert" rather than the casual fan when it comes to Fantasy Football. I really enjoy fantasy football, i follow about 5 fantasy "experts" on twitter, i read numerous fantasy related articles every week, and i follow team beat writers for numerous teams just to have an edge. i love the information regarding NFL, and i'm more than ready to apply it to my fantasy teams.

I only play in 2 leagues each year, i've learned that having too many teams can ruin the whole season for you, but apparently thats not the only thing that can ruin it. This year i played in my friend Alan's league, which i've played in for the last few seasons. I prep for the draft, making my own lists and spreadsheets, reading everything i possibly can, scoffing at my opponents draft picks, drafting players that are "sleepers" while ignoring the obvious names, and everything else that makes me feel like i'm way ahead of these other dudes. well this season, that didn't work out so well for me.

This past weekend was the last weekend of the Fantasy Season in the "Roethlishotdog" league and after making a league-high 67 moves (picking up players from the waiver-wire, trades...) i finished in 8th place, out of 8 teams. But thats not all, our champion, Pete Deusterman made a league-low 17 moves, scored 1521 points (150 points more than 2nd place) and rolled through playoffs relatively easy. why is that impressive? well he didn't have access to our fantasy website almost all season. he would email me on tuesday morning and ask me if i could look on the page to see whether or not he won his matchup that week. The dude drafted a team of well-known players like Randy Moss and Steven Jackson and stuck with them. Meanwhile i'm drafting sleepers like Matt Forte and Calvin Johnson who were basically worthless this year.

Pete didn't get caught up in all of the hype around the players, he stuck with the players that most people know, his draft was what most average football fans would draft, and he owned our league. he didn't just survive and do alright, he owned us all, and i tried everything. i even offered him a trade that i thought would look good, but turn in my favor eventually, but no, giving up Joseph Addai midseason for T.O. hurt me even more! ouch.

This is a case of me trying to be too close to the product, and not just going with the obvious. it's like ripping Transformers for a lack of plot, yes it doesn't have much plot but hey, i was really entertained, and the movie is a hit!