TooSerious

The season is finally upon us! After a couple of months planning for our fantasy NBA season, we can finally watch our players run around when it actually counts. Not sure about the rest of you, but Im so excited about the coming season - I reckon this is the most excited I have ever been leading up to an NBA season .

The poll we had going this week was much closer than the East. The question was: Who do you think will be this seasons Western Champ? and the Lakers finished on top with 44% of the votes, followed by the Thunder and the Trailblazers tied with 22% of the vote each.

The next poll Im setting up is to sort out what trophy we should go with out of the suggestions weve had over the last couple of weeks. Go <a title="poll" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/leagueoffice?leagueId=23530" target="_blank">HERE[/url], and login to be able to vote. The question is: Which trophy do you think we should include for the season, out of these suggestions made by league members on TooSerious? There are 6 choices.

All season, Im planning to do a preview and review of each matchup in our league. To view the schedule you can go <a title="schedule" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/schedule?leagueId=23530" target="_blank">HERE[/url]. The first matchup begins in a couple of days with the first NBA games of the season and runs for longer than any other matchup of the season -  13 days in total, from 26/10 to 7/11. It should be noted that matchup 16 goes for 14 days, however includes the All Star break within it.

So 13 days is a long time - Portland play the most games during this time with 8, followed by Miami, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Minnesota, Milwaukee and the LA Clippers, all with 7 games. Washington, San Antonio, Indiana, Dallas and Chicago all play the least games with 5 each during this matchup.

Now over the break Ill do a quick preview of each of our upcoming games :::::

<!--more-->First up is <a title="Team Stowie...

Hey guys another massive week in the EPL. Liverpool have got new owners but find themselves sitting in 19th spot. Wayne Rooney is not happy at Mancehster United and has put contract talks off(he still has 20 months left to run). Also came off the bench. Chelsea dropped more points but had a few outs so they will be happy getting a point at Villa which they have had troubles in the past. First time in 10 years United gave up a 2 nill lead at half time and not win. Manchester City did it the hard way against Blackpool but are now 3 points clear in 2nd.

Gameweek 8 Review

Arsenal Vs Birmingham
Arsenal played host to Birmingham here in a must win game for the Gunners. Didnt start weel for them with Squaliaci heading home from a Nasri freekick only to be ruled offside and moments later the 6"8 striker Zigic towering over the defence and headin home just past the half hour mark. On 40 minutes Chamakh went down rather easily and Arsenal were gifted a soft penalty which Nasri ended up converting. Chamakah then with some nice footwork rounded keeper Ben Foster just after the break to put through what ended up being the winning goal. Rising star Jack Wilshire got sent off in the last minute of injury time with a very poor tackle. Arsenal winning 2-1.

Manchester United Vs West Brom
United player host to West Brom here and West brom found them in uncharted waters starting this league match in 6th spot, however they didnt get off to the best start with Hernandez starting in front of Rooney latching onto a Nani freekick that Scott Carson could only parry after 5 minutes. Afetr 25 minutes it was 2-0 as some great 1-2 work from Berbatov and Nani, with the later with the finsh. United took a 2-0 lead into half time but West Brom came out firing and were rewarded after 50 minutes with a cross coming in and some scrappy defending with Patrice Evra putting on into his own net. 5 minutes later West Brom were equal with a massive holwer from...

Once again, I want to thank Steve for helping out with the previews of all the NBA teams - last week was the East and now weve got the Western teams.

Theres only a week to go now until the season starts, and there have been a couple more trades completed. Firstly, Dan managed to get Dirk Nowitzki from Walesy, having to give up a fair bit for him, in JR Smith, Hibbert and Ridnour. I reckon Walesy has done fairly well here, and Im a bit worried about my first game, which is against him. Although not finalised yet, another trade has been accepted - Karlos sending DeRozan to Heaver in exchange for Monroe.

Not surprisingly, Miami won the poll for last week: Who do you think will be this seasons Eastern Champ? The Heat finished with 67% of the vote, followed by the Bulls in 2nd place with 22% of the votes.

Surprise, surprise! This weeks question is: Who do you think will be this seasons Western Champ? <a title="poll" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/leagueoffice?leagueId=23530" target="_blank">Go HERE to vote.[/url] and you need to be signed in to vote.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked for suggestions for a regular trophy we can have each week during the season. There were a few suggestions:  Smitty has come up with "The Mad Bombers Trophy": For the team that hits the most 3-ptrs each round. "The Dirk Diggler Award": For the team with the longest … win streak of the season &amp; "The Bakery Award": For the team that piles up the most turnovers each round. Owen suggested "the Katy Perry award": team with most double doubles each round. Dan came up with the "Itchy Trigger Finger": the person who trades of the FA list the most. I think thats all that was suggested, please let us know in the comments section what you all like out of these, or if you have any new ideas (or any that you have already suggested that i havent mentioned). If anyone wants to have a look at the current trophies on offer, <a title="trophy"...

Ok, Heres another thread to stop getting lost.

Theres a few things to talk about.
First, the Geelong Coach. Good call or bad call? I think potentially perfect for where they are at, but bad call if they want to win a flag with the same game plan. I think Scott will make their team more competitive over time, but if they are looking at a maximum strike while their top players are great, not sure. Sanderson would have given them one last drink at the premiership, but Scott might not be able to change the game plan straight up.

Where to play Riewoldt? Its a source of debate, and only because I said so. But Id sure think St Kilda should at least toy with playing him in defence for extended periods, to give him a rest, and help him become a defensive leader, along the lines of Maxwell, Hodge and Harley. Im not convinced there will be no Hart/Brereton/Carey in the future, but in the land of the zoning, defence seems to be king.

Other talking points have been the good pickups for next season. There appears to be quite a few, mainly with the last name of Swallow, a team of Gold Coast or coming back from VFL/Injury (Fraser, Petrie). There was an encouraging article on Petrie in todays news.

Other than that, type away.

Round 5 proved to be another quality round for the Too Serious league, with 3 games being decided by 10 points or less.  We also saw a couple of teams flex their fantasy muscle and stay ahead of the pack but just about everyone is within 2 games of the leaders so its still anybodys from here.  Probably the most interesting news to come out of NFL fantasy this week was the scores that many of the S/DTs rewarded their owners with.  Plenty of scores in the teens and a couple that were larger than that, but the three biggest scorers were left to rot on the pine.  Each conference has a clear leader now and in the West, Boldin Showers is coming off a three game winning streak and is looking like hes ready to take all-comers.  So onto the review...<!--more-->

Ill start the week off with the biggest win of the week.  This week the prize goes to my boys, MR WIGGLES(e) who were too strong for ADELAIDE MAGGOTS(e) 101-53.  Finally the wiggles were able to snap a three game losing streak, albeit, a very patchy performance carried over the line by a few standout performances.  Matt Forte topped the league scoring for the week with 30, and supported by stand-in QB Shaun Hill who got a tidy 22.  I was also helped along by the Bears giving me 18 for the week.  But with the good comes the bad and the two 0s were the evidence of a thin roster.  The Maggots really had no shining light with veteran WR Terrell Owens top scoring with 16.  Add that to two 0s also and a QB that could only manage 4 and youve got yourself a bona-fide shocker.

Next up, TEAM STOWIE(e), leader of the eastern conference  held his nerve to get over DOOBIA DOOBS(e) 81-72.  This was despite two 0s and the Rams scoring -6.  This match-up came down to the final half of the last game and for a while there it looked like we were going to have the upset of the round, but alas, it was not to be.  Scores of 20 from the QB and 21 from WR were enough to see Stowie home, despite Doobs Miami posting...

Weve only got a couple of weeks until the season starts now, so its time for a preview of the NBA itself. A big thanks to Steve, GM of Stevos Nuggets, for putting this (and next weeks) preview together! First we are starting with the mighty Bulls and the rest of the East, and then next week we will preview the West side. I was planning to do a preview of the league before the season started, however I would have just copied (and referenced) something from the net, so I am very happy that Steve put up his hand to do them - thanks heaps mate.

Before we get to that, our first two trades (involving players) were completed today. Firstly between myself and Heaver!; I sent KLove, Azubuike &amp; Maxiell packing, in return for 2 frenchman and a rook, Diaw, Pietrus and Turner. The second trade was between Walesy and the co-owned Do Something Knicks, involving 8 players; Walesy received Bargnani, Landry, Teague &amp; Greene in exchange for Odom, Kleiza, Udrih &amp; Milicic. I personally think I may have been jibbed (but I keep going back and forth on it) haha, although ive got a better spread of players now, with more MPP, which I was after; and I think Chris and Steve may have done slightly better out of the other trade, however Walesy got the big centre that he was chasing. So all in all, both trades were fairly even and fair IMO.

Weve also had a poll going on our league homepage for the last week and a half, and 15 of us voted in it. The question was "Who do you think was the best value pick in the draft?   James Hird esque..." and it was a tie between two players: Andrei Kirilenko, who was taken at 114 by JASMINES MOB, and Linus Kleiza who was taken at 155 by TOO SERIOUSESES (and then traded to DSK), both with 20% of the votes each. FWIW, I was one that voted for AK47, and I was happy to see that someone voted for my bloke, Anderson Varejao.

Ive just set up a new poll about this weeks topic: Who do you think will be this seasons Eastern Champ? Click <a...

Fez here again filling in for the injured JoshyC. The disagnosis is a 10 week injury so i guess the JoshyC camp arent telling us the real extent of the injury???

5A-Side wrap up

TooSerious1 3 - 1 TossersRus

Benji 54 defeated NedFlanders 53
Gumby 52 drew Walesy 52
Anthak 49 defeated Soups 44
PlacentinoFC 50 defeated JoshyC 38
StkildaThunder 40 defeated by Fezkat 49

A draw and a 1 point loss, couple of points the other way and the result could have been different for the Tossers.

Flaming Buddhists 5 - 0 TooSeriousToo

Brogie 49 defeated UnderAchievers 34
Slarty 47 defeated Eleviathan 45
Gravesy 47 defeated Ausjb 29
Ianovich 57 defeated Johnana4 38
Nutstar 49 defeated Crew 48

Couple of close losses to the Toos but really they got spanked and the 5-0 scoreline shows that.

TooSeriousTree 2 - 3 The Wenches

Tricky 46 defeated by Sideways 60
Pokersnaz 54 defeated Cheryl 51
Macca 63 defeated Rokkitgurl 53
MattyBomb22 25 defeated by Clammers 43
CelineF 30 defeated by Susan 39

The Trees battled hard but couldnt get the win and are still holding up the 5A-side table.

Standing After 7 rounds

1.Flaming Buddhists 16 points GD 8
2. Tooserious1 P 15 GD 8
3.The Libertines P 13 GD 6
4.Les Pommes De Terre P 13 GD 5
5.Feral Dingos P 13 GD 3
6.The Wenches P 12 GD -1
7.TooSeriousToo P 10 GD 5
8.Hippos Yawn P 10 GD 2
9.JLP5 P 6 GD -2
10.Nameless P 6 GD -9
11.Tossers P 6 GD -9
12.TooSeriousTree P 6 GD -16

Gameweek 8 Preview (just copied the previews off Fanfooty)<!--more-->

[span style="font-weight: bold;">Tossers v JLP
The Tossers will play the JLP back into form.
I see nothing but a spanking for the skips in this clash.
Crompton will comfortably beat Ned Flanders but might decline shaking the Tossers hand afterwards <img title="Laughing" src="http://www.fanfooty.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" />
Yer Old Da will pack too many guns for Walesy
Weeman wont even have...

Alright so it is even later than last week...I get it, but its not all my fault, honest.  With the Commonwealth Games being broadcast instead of the NFL I lost my groove a bit, not being able to watch a few games really threw me, (can I use that excuse for why I lost, too?).  Anyway, this week saw the mighty fall.  Finally someone was able to take Stowie down at the knees and hand him his first loss for the year, well done Walesy.  As far as the NFL was concerned the biggest news of the week was Randy Moss not taking a single catch for the first time in six years. The Pats didnt take kindly to this and promptly traded him to the Vikings.  One of the Pats said later in the week, Moss hadnt been trying since halfway through their second game and good rid-dens, gotta love that Yankee honesty, cant imagine J.Selwood telling Gary we are better off without you.  The Patriots didnt really care if Moss was trying or not, they belted the Dolphins anyways.  Time for the league review...<!--more-->

We might as well start with the upset of the round,  TOO SERIOUSESES(e) taking down the previously undefeated STOWIE(e) 91-59.  Stowie would have had head in hands if hed been watching Chicago Bears v NY Giants.  If he had watched this game he would of seen his QB, J.Cutler, pillar of his team etc, etc, being hit time after time after time (you get the picture).  All in all he got sacked 9 times in the first term, leaving the field all banged up.  The Bears offensive line had a shocker, because on comes his replacement and he leaves the ground in a crumpled mess and his replacement has to see out the game.  This earned Cutler a score of -3, which will surely be lowest we see from a QB all season.  Walesy was finally able to cheer about his first draft pick, MJD as he was able to crack a big one with a huge 23.  TSes were able to put up 4 double digit scores and a very respectable 91 to really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Next up saw SAM CROW(w)...

So we all obviously know there is the AFL trade week currently going on.

Theres been a few trades finalised: Veszpremi for Everitt, Tambling to Adelaide, Brennan to the Suns...  but whats going on with our league - I know it hasnt even been a week since we had our draft, but apparently there have been heaps of proposals; however as yet, not a single trade completed.

Im not too fussed about it to be honest; Im actually a lot more interested in the AFL trades, however I reckon it would be nice to get in the spirit of it all, so this week Im going to go over a few things related, such as the trading block, free agents and the waiver wire.

Also, more importantly, the NBA pre-season games have started up this week. So far its been a bit hard to get a grip on what players seem to be in favour at their clubs, as most teams are playing with lineups that they obviously wont use in the regular season. As a fair few of us will be watching these games closely, and because the question was asked again recently, I will explain how the scoring works in more detail. Not the points breakdown, as i think we are all across that, but  particularly who will score for you and when.

- have a look over the break for this, and some stuff about trades and free agents etc :::::

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Ok, so weve all got 13 roster spots for our team - 10 starters and 3 bench players. The fantasy points scored by the 10 starters on that particular day will count towards your teams total score, whereas your 3 bench players do not count. The idea is to get as many players that you can that are playing on any given day into the 10 Starters positions for that particular day. That is why MPP helps so much in this game, as there are only a certain amount of spots for each position. And you can do it all in advance as well: just under your team logo, you will see Set Your Lineup: with the dates next to it. You can click on any of these dates and adjust your lineup for that particular day...

Trade week. Always a fun week to watch. And generally very important to us fantasy sports nuts. Generally when a player is picked up, its because they are envisioned as filling a role in their new team. Which should make for improved TOG and improved points.

A couple of the notible examples from this year were Mumford, Ball, Burgoyne, Jolly. Of course, sometimes it goes the other way- see: McLean, Fev, Williams...

Just reviewing last year- man Mumford for pick 28 was a bargain!

Anyways, Im got a bullet pointed list underneath of the main rumours that are circulating at the moment. Ill list off each trade as they become official.

Official Trades:
Veszpremi (SYD)($334k, $234 with a discount) for Everitt (WBD)($343k)- Both players will be awkwardly priced so probably not too fantasy relevant. Vesz has shown a lot of potential over the journey, but hes going to need to get over his injury problems before I consider him. Itll be interesting to see where Everitt fits into the Swans backline, which has looked fairly settled this season.

Tambling (Ric) ($321k) is going to Adelaide for their Bock compensation pick and their third rounder. Which has got to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Crows fan- Bock and their third rounder for Tambling... ouch!. Anyways, its done now- so what is fantasy relevent to us- Tambling. The big question is- will he get a roll which sees him return to his 90 point average in 2009. He scored 8 tons that year and averaged over 21 possessions. This is made potentially more tasty by the bargain basement price hell be coming into next year with. I spose though, the biggest factor will be if he can get non-mid eligibility.

Peter Faulks (CG) + 61 to Fremantle for pick 55. Considering Faulks is a key defender, with Tarrant going, and if we need 3 bench players in defence next year, he could definitely weigh in as a solid slow burner in the backline.

Andrew Krakoeur, Jonathan Ceglar...