TooSerious

Round 8 provided another really close round with a few upsets, a couple of close ones and the odd belting. It was a cross conference round with East taking on West in all five matches, with The west proving eventual winners 3-2. The big news from the league is the end of Boldin Showers five game winning streak, taken down in a close one by Team stowie and propelling stow to the top of the east ladder.

In the NFL this week it was a case of life imitating fantasy. Only three weeks ago Randy Moss was cut be the Patriots and picked up by the Vikings. After three disappointing weeks and a few eyebrow raising post match remarks from Moss he was again cut and sent to the waiver list. Sounds a bit like my roster! Other big news included the continual beating Brett Favre gets every week, again leaving the field early after this time getting a knock on the chin, have we finally seen the last of Favre? The patriots won again, giving them a league best 6-1 record and well on the way to taking out their division and on the flip side the Cowboys stank it up again. This time it was so bad the team owner came out and apologised to the fans and pleaded with them to stick by the team, season over for them and it wasnt even October yet. Anyway onto the league review...

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Well start the week with the belting. Yes it was my boys, MR WIGGLES(e) getting a touch up at the hands of SAM CROW(w) 106-58. Sam Crow put in a very impressive effort having three of his players score in the twenties with Calvin Johnson scoring three touchdowns on his way to a game high 28 points. I had a shocker with Brady top scoring with a pretty miserable 13.

The biggest upset of the round was the defeat of TOO SERIOUSESES(e) to bottom side DOOBIA DOOBS(w) 77-41. What made it even more embarrassing for Tseses is that Doobs gave up a few weeks back and had started three players on byes! Tseses were terrible, three zeros and a D/ST on a bye did not help matters but a score of...

OK guys, the fixture is out. Ive just got a couple of quick notes about it, but gotta open this thread for discussion!

Firstly, looks like we have 3 of the dreaded 3-bye rounds in rounds 4, 5 and 6- right at the key upgrade time. Which should make things interesting.

Gold Coast are the first to get 2 byes, so it might be worth picking up their premiums after the second bye. Collingwood, Then St. Kilda are the next two to do so- 4 and 5 rounds later.

Essendon have scored the Grand Final bye- so if youre finals driven, steer clear of those premiums! Heck, if its that important, you might want to avoid Carlton, Geelong and North as well!

Anyways, the full list of byes are over the break, while the full fixture is <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/portals/0/afl_docs/fixture_document.pdf">here[/url]
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BYES.
1- Gold Coast
2- Adelaide
3- North Melbourne
4- Brisbane, St. Kilda, Western Bulldogs
5- Melbourne, Sydney, Eagles
6- Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn
7- Collingwood
8- Carlton
9- Gold Coast
10- Essendon
11- Richmond
12- Port Adelaide
13- Collingwood
14- St. Kilda
15- Eagles
16- Adelaide, Fremantle, Melbourne
17- Hawthorn
18- Port Adelaide
19- Brisbane, Richmond, Sydney
20- Western Bulldogs
21- North Melbourne
22- Geelong
23- Carlton
24- Essendon

Well, last week got away from me and so I will combine both weeks in one review.  Ill try to keep it brief.  Week 6 in the NFL was a close round, with no less than 8 games being decided by a touchdown or less and 2 of those going into OT.  The Pats held their nerve and ground out an OT win to keep their streak of wins after the bye going, now up to 6.  The other big news was the Cowboys were beaten again, taking their season to 1-4  and leaving them on the brink.  This is big news because they are hosting the superbowl this year in their huge new stadium and were desperate to be there for the big dance.  If you dont know about the stadium check it out, it has the worlds biggest TV and the players race runs right through a members bar, just to name a few features

Week 7 also had a couple of interesting match-ups, most notably Brett Favre playing against the team which he won the Superbowl with.  His time lost in controversial circumstances and he hobbled away with two fractures to his ankle.  The Pats won again!  Overall there was seven games decided by less than a touchdown and plenty of controversy all over the place.  This is a game in which the rules dont allow for grey areas and to us Aussies it can seem a little harsh sometimes, (surely the Vikings reciever caught that, right?)...anyways the league looks like this

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Week 6, BOLDIN SHOWERS beat Walesys men, TOO SERIOUSESES and claimed the soul leader status in what is turning out to be a tight comp.  No real individual standouts, in fact there were so many single digit scores its not funny.  It was just one of those weeks, no one scored 100.

SAM CROW beat ADELAIDE MAGGOTS 91-78, putting AMs on the brink of season collapse.  Interestingly it was Kevin Kolb that was the high scorer in this game.  It was only a few weeks ago that it looked like his job had been pinched by Michael Vick for the year.

Last week I said things were looking shaky at the top of the east...

Hey all, its been a while since my last post. [insert confessional joke here]. [token apology].

Looks like the NAB preseason has been <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/104572/default.aspx">announced[/url]

Im quite interested to see how this goes. Three teams playing two 40 minute games on each night should make for some interesting viewing.

I reckon itll hurt those people who watch the preseason and pick their teams purely on the numbers though as I can imagine teams running with some parculiar strategies to get minutes into all their players over the 40 minutes.

Anyways, the fixture is as follows
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<blockquote>
ROUND ONE POOLS AND THEIR LOCATIONS
- Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Melbourne at AAMI Stadium, February 11 (Friday night)
- Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond at Etihad Stadium, February 12 (Saturday night)
- West Coast, Fremantle and Hawthorn at Patersons Stadium (Subiaco Oval), February 13 (Sunday afternoon)
- Essendon, the Brisbane Lions and St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, February 18 (Friday night)
- Greater Western Sydney, Sydney Swans and Gold Coast at Blacktown Olympic Park, February 19 (Saturday night)
- Geelong, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs at Skilled Stadium, February 20 (Sunday afternoon)
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Personally, I think all the groups look great! A little harsh for the Dees and Hawks, but I guess someone had to go West. Its gunna be a very interesting night on the 19th of February I reckon!

Now, just to change the topic a little- GWS speculation is already under way, with Andy swallow being the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/swallow-has-teammates-backing-if-he-takes-bait-20101024-16z9w.html">first speculated catch[/url] for the new club. After seeing what happened this year to Gaz, with the intense media speculation- not to mention a coaching panel who decided to utilise him more often as a forward than in the center- it could be an interesting year for...

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 :::::

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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...