The Blast that is the Fantasy Football Draft

We are less than a week away from the official kickoff of the 2011 NFL season (Saints@Packers on Thursday), and for all the football junkies out there you know that means one thing … fantasy football and dominating your drafts. I love the NFL and I love watching the games, but fantasy just adds a different little "something something" to it. You know what I mean. It gives you that extra rooting interest for players and teams all across the league. Plus it’s a great excuse to talk serious smack with the guys (or gals) in your league.

The draft for our ESPN 12-team league (I'm the commish) was last night. We met in person (nine of the 12 owners, at least) at Journey Church, huddled around tables in the lower level and began the journey. Alternating between staring intently at our laptop screens and cramming down plates of junk food, we spent a jam-packed two hours picking, jawing, laughing and finally, basking in the glow of a drafting job well done. Shout-out to the boys in the league: Derrell Carter, Mel Stanger, Mark Freeman, Brad Mudd, Brandon Cathcart, Chris Hudson, Andrew Hopkins, Jesse Quiroz, Corey Hudson, Mike Huber, Casey Miller and yours truly. Listed in the order of last year’s finish, of course!

Even though I won last year’s league title, my draft was a disaster. This year, with everybody running their own draft board and picking via laptop, it went much smoother. For anyone that hasn’t done a fully online draft, it is definitely the way to go. Try it. You’ll like it.

My Starting Team: QB Ben Roethlisberger; RBs Jamaal Charles, Peyton Hillis; WRs Larry Fitzgerald, Santonio Holmes, Kenny Britt; TE Zach Miller; Rams D/ST; and K Jay Feely. Plus a solid bench. Not too bad.

We had a blast at the draft last night. It was a chance to talk football and have fun drafting, but it was just as much about being with friends, hanging out, getting to know each other and most of all … TALKING SMACK!

As always, I’d love to hear from you. How did your draft go? What surprised you in this year’s fantasy pre-season? Who is going to be the breakout player this year?

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steve