Week 3 Match-ups

This Week features the following contests between your Legit Domination brethren:

Rage Blackout (2-0) vs. Jager Bombs (1-1)

Commissioner Miller tries to bounce back against early-season leader Courtney GoodIceCream. Blackout's secret weapon? Ryan Fitzpatrick in the QB slot. (Or maybe on the bench...)

He's Heating Up. (2-0) vs. T.O.'s Bacon (1-1)

Was Ted's big win a fluke, or is Mr. Gore the key to his future? Also, can golden boy Patch Eakin keep the winning streak alive? Or will a loss by both the 'Skins and Heating Up push him over the edge.

Laser Sounds (1-1) vs. My Vick in a Box (0-2)

Does the defending champ have any self-respect left? Stuck in dead last, it might be time for MViaB to blow up the roster. Then again, another start by the real Vick might be just the thing needed for Matt Lamb to topple New Guy Josh. 

Shamrock Shake (1-1) vs. Righteous Tugboat (1-1)  

The NGC vs. the classic John Devaney in a match-up of the timeless nature of shots against the still-popular Dunkaroos. 

Gin in the Gatorade (1-1) vs. Get-er-Done (1-1)

Cason lines up against the JenAdams 4000 this week, looking to save himself from the undeniable power of robot overlords. Jen and her curly hair, meanwhile, look to keep the fairer sex on a roll in division play. (Aside from the Shananimals, that is...)

Shower Beer (1-1) vs. Shananimals (0-2)  

Tough luck loser Shannon looks to take out her frustrations against Erick Bond's team. Erick's stuck down in Puerto Rico for work (poor him) -- will he be back in time to craft back-to-back wins?

Week 2 – Return to the Middle

The second week of Legit Domination play saw almost the entire league end up at 1-1, as four teams that won in week one lost their bid for back-to-back Ws, and four on the losing end in the first week rebounded against their second opponents. Sitting at the bottom after two weeks are former LD Champ Matt Lamb’s squad (My Vick in a Box) and tough-luck loser Shananimals, while topping the league this week are Rage Blackout (Courtney’s team) and Patch Eakin’s He’s Heating Up squad.

By the way, in case people forgot or didn’t know, your Commish would like to remind you that you can weigh in on the various match-ups each week by voting on the fantasy site. To vote for who you think will win a given fantasy match up each week, one needs merely to click on a match-up in the right-hand column of the Legit Domination homepage, and scroll to the bottom. While it’s not very scientific and often wrong, it can be a fun way to taunt Ted and let him know you think his week 2 win was a fluke.

Rage Blackout (2-0) 140 – Gin in the Gatorade (1-1) 100

Diddian the adorable football-eating pouch struck again this week, leaving Jen this week’s “That Blows” loser with 100 points. QBs were the keys to Courtney’s success this week, with Peyton Manning (Ind) and Donovan McNabb (Was) combining for 50 points. In addition, Rage Blackout pulled down 32 points from unheralded running back LeSean McCoy (Phi) and an impressive 21 points from Miami’s suddenly stalwart defense. Though no other player scored more then 8 points, Rage Blackout had more than enough firepower to win her match. Meanwhile, Gin in the Jadams got decent days from her top three players, including 25 from Phillip Rivers (QB, SD), 28 from Jay Cutler (QB, Chi, heartthrob), and 21 from WR DeSean Jackson (Phi). The rest of the team abandoned poor Gatorade, however, as Maurice Jones-Drew (RB, Jax), Brent Celek (TE, Phi) and the N. England and Buffalo Defenses combined for a total of 5 points. Though Gin left 11 points from the now-broken Reggie Bush (RB, NO) and 19 points from TE Dustin Keller (NYJ) on the bench, there was no way she was taking this match.

He’s Heating Up (2-0) 89 – My Vick in a Box (0-2) 81

Despite having only 89 points, Patch Eakin’s surprise start to the season continues – I suppose this is what happens when someone actually checks his team. In the match, Lamb’s ViaB side was betrayed by the QB position yet again, as Alex Smith (SF) and his (somewhat shocking) 13 points rode the pine while David Garrard (Jax) put up an ugly -6. Though it probably doesn’t need to be pointed out, that 19-point swing was far more than the margin of defeat this week. Vick was bolstered by 22 points out of the Pittsburgh D, which is shaping up to be a take-away machine again this year. He’s Heating Up(.), meanwhile, survived a -2-point day from Jason Campbell thanks to 11 points from Matt Forte (RB, Chi), 14 from Josh Cribbs (WR, Cle) and 15 from Clinton Portis (RB, Was). An ugly game all around, this one is best forgotten by all involved, and quickly.

Laser Sounds (1-1) 158 – Jager Bombs (1-1) 94

New Guy Josh laid the wood against the division commissioner this week, with 42 points from Jahvid Best (RB, Det, home-wrecker) and 30 points from Aaron Rodgers (QB, GB) doing almost enough damage alone to put down Miller’s Jager Bombs. As if it was needed, QB Matt Ryan (Atl) put up an extra 24 points to help end Jager’s day before it even got started. On Doug’s side, the -9 from Vince Young (QB, Ten) was not very helpful, nor was the 0 from Lee Evans (WR, Buf). Despite 17 points for TE Antonio Gates (SD), Jager took the biggest beatdown of the week.

Shamrock Shake (1-1) 144 – Get-er-Done (1-1) 89

While New Guy Josh was busy burying Doug, the NGC (New Guy Christine) notched the first win of her fantasy career against one Jason-er-Done Cason. The NGC’s big day was punctuated by Kyle Orton’s performance for her hometown Denver Broncos (QB, 26 pts), but really her win was based on consistency; eight of 11 starters were in double figures, with Knowshon Moreno (RB, Den), the SD Def and the Indy Defense each pulling in 17 or 18 points. For Cason, the day might have been done when Flacco (QB, Bal) underperformed to the tune of -5 points, though the G-e-D squad didn’t have anyone else to play QB left on the bench. The lone bright spot for Cason was a 26-point romp by Adrian Peterson (RB, Min), who reminds us that even if Brett Favre (QB, Min) is throwing picks, he can still carry the rock.

Shower Beer (1-1) 94 – Righteous Tugboat (1-1) 67

In week one, EJ Bond’s Shower Beer didn’t bring it. At all. Week 2 was a different story, however, as his QB Matt Schaub (Hou) racked up 31 points and only one player, Derek Anderson (QB, Ari) was in the negative. Duck's RT warriors were hamstrung by a combined 6 points from QBs Chad Henne (Mia) and Dennis “I’m Injured Now” Dixon (Pit).  Even worse, bounce-back Player of the Week Mark Sanchez (QB, NYJ) was bolted to Righteous Tugboat’s bench, instead of in the game scoring 25 points. Each team also left some WR points on the bench, with Shower Beer forgoing Dez Bryant’s 14 points (Dal) and Tugboat leaving the great train robber Braylon Edward’s 12 points (NYJ) out of the game. Aside from Matt Schaub, the highest scoring player for either team was RT’s Tim Hightower (TE, Ari, 19 pts), a nice member of the roster going forward for Devaney.

T.O.’s Bacon (1-1) 103 – Shananimals (0-2) 98

All Shannon needed for her first victory of the season was for T.O.’s Bacon’s last player, one Frank Gore (RB, SF), to score less than 25 points during Monday Night Football. Instead, Gore put up 30 points, combining with Andre Johnson’s 23 points (WR, Hou) to push the previously hapless Bacon over the hump. [NOTE: OUCH!] The Shananimals had good, if unspectacular, scoring from many quarters, with Tony Romp (QB,Dal) putting up 15, Miles Austin (WR, Dal) netting 16, and Dallas Clark (TE, Ind) scoring 14. Despite the big day from Gore, the play of Bacon’s QBs almost doomed Ted, as Brett Favre (Min) posted a sweet -8 and Matt Moore (Cal) earned a measly one point. One move could have saved the week for Shannon, but sadly CJ Spiller’s return-powered 12 points (RB, Buf) were on the bench, while Ricky Williams (RB, Mia, 1 pt) got the nod instead.

Legit Domination Week 1

The first week of the fantasy season has been packaged up and turned in, with two error-filled Monday Night Football games rounding out the light-scoring weekend. [Seriously, though, that 14-penalty 10-9 loss by the Jets was painful to watch (though delicious to savor for non-Jets fans).] The dearth of scoring in week 1 of the NFL, where only 11 of 32 teams put up 20 pts or more, led to some solid scores from Defenses in the league, With Seattle, Arizona and the NYG defenses all netting 15+ Fantasy points. Big scores turned up in weird places this week – such as on Jen Adams’ Gin in the Gatorade team – with many QBs turning in sub-10pt performances with RBs and WRs doing the heavy (fantasy) lifting. Despite the paucity of scoring on the field, there was a lot of scoring to go around in fantasy. With half the teams in our fantasy league currently undefeated, things are certain to get interesting on the waiver board this week, and in next week’s matches.

(Note: Quick reminder about waivers. Each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, all players who are not on anyone’s rosters are considered to be On Waivers. That means if one of the teams in our league is interested in picking up a player, they must put in a Waiver Claim. On Wednesday morning of each week the computer will automatically place any players who have a waiver claim on them onto teams. In the event a player has multiple waiver claims on them, the yahoo system automatically places that player on the lowest ranked team that requested them. Once waivers have been resolved for a week, all other available players are Free Agents and can be added by any team.)

He’s Heating Up. 134 (1-0) – Shananimals 96 (0-1)

Surviving some dubious grammar and the only period in the league (well, at least in a team name), Patch Eakin’s HHUp squad scored the most points this week, leaving Shananimals once again lamenting her draft strategy and stupid luck in first week fantasy opponents. Eakin’s squad leaned heavily on classic QB pick Tom Brady (NE, 28 pts) and lesser known Matt Forte (RB, Chi, 32 pts) to power the offense. Though HHup could not avoid the “points left on the table” bug that most teams in the league caught, they managed to get a solid 12 pts from Hines Ward (WR, Pit) while leaving only people on the bench who netted 7 points or fewer. On the other side, Shananimals got 16 from QB Tony Romo (Dal) and 22 from Miles Austin (WR, Dal), but was hampered by getting zero points from two starters: CJ Spiller (RB, Buf, “totally dynamic’) and Matt Stafford (QB, Det, separated shoulder).

Rage Blackout 127 (1-0) – Shamrock Shake 96 (0-1)

Her football icon includes her dog Diddian trying to eat a football, and her team just tromped our only rookie. That’s right, Courtney’s aptly-named Rage Blackout team laid the hurt on Christine’s new green team this week, though the latter posted a respectable week one score. Courtney rode Peyton Manning’s 400+ yard day to the tune of 36 points, and added 21 from Rashard Mendenhaul (RB, Pit) as the match-up became a rout. The Shamrock Shake got 15 points from the younger Manning and 11 from her BFF Kyle Orton (QB, Den), but couldn’t overcome the huge day from Peyton. Christine also got a nice 14 points from her kicker Mason Crosby (GB), and left only a 10-pt day from RB Peyton Hills (Cle) on the bench – and since few of us have ever heard of him it’s hard to fault her for that. Oh, and as per Erick Bond’s suggestion, since Christine is the newest member of the league, and the only new member this season, she will henceforth be called New Guy Christine, or NGC.


Gin in the Gatorade 122 (1-0) – Laser Sounds 106 (0-1)

The artist formerly known as New Guy Josh was right to worry about his (somewhat accidental) pick of Shonn Greene (RB, NYJ), as the lead runner for his favorite team racked up a rough -1 pts  in the Jets 10-9 loss. Laser sounds made up for this with a ridiculous 43 points from Arian Foster (RB, Hou), though I’ll be damned if anyone really expected that brosef to bust out for 200+ yds against the Colts in week one. This plus 15 points from RB Jahvid Best (Det) was not enough, however, as Jen Adams 2000 strung three 20-plus performances together into a convincing win. Gin in the Gatorade’s big performances came from Phillip Rivers (QB, SD, 21 pts), Jay Cutler (QB, Chi, 21pts), and Chad Ochocinco (WR, Cin, 23pts).  While New Guy Josh left 15 points on the bench in the form of QB Josh Freeman (TB), it’s doubtful he could have overcome Gin in the Gatorade even if Matt Ryan’s (QB, Atl) pitiful 4 points had been on the bench instead.

Get-er-Done 104 (1-0) – Shower Beer 58 (0-1)

Erick Bond’s renamed fantasy team got, dare I say, dominated by Cason this week. Cason got strong performances from the bottom of his line-up with K David Akers (Phi) and the NYG and Tennessee defenses each scoring in double figures. In addition, Cason survived 1-pt games from Joe Flacco (QB, Bal) and me-first Michael Crabtree (WR, SF) thanks to 23 points in garbage-time scoring from Cason Palmer (QB, Cin) and 18 points from the rejuvenated Wes Walker (WR, NE). As for Mr. Bond – a combined 2 points from his QBs is not gonna cut it, as Matt Schaub (Tex) only netted 4 in his team’s big win over Indy and Kevin Concussion Kolb exited after a -2 pt showing in Philly. Though he got 14 points from Pierre Thomas (RB, NO) and could have gotten another 13 from bench-warmer Derek Anderson (QB, Ari), Shower Beer’s day was done early.

Righteous Tugboat 96 (1-0) – T.O.’s Bacon 47 (0-1)

And then this happened. Somehow the soft-talking Canadian refused to be out-done by Shower Beer’s 58 points, and thus T.O.’s Bacon recorded the only sub-50 score of the week. How did he do it, you ask? Start with -1 pts from QB Matt Moore (Car), throw in a goose-egg from WR Mike Sims-Walked (Jax) and 1 pt master class from WR Dwayne Bowe, and you’re pretty much there. In the end, Ted had only 1 player in double digits – and it was his kicker, Nick Folk (NYJ, 11 pts). While TO kept a surprise 25 pts on the bench from Hakeem Nicks (WR, NYG), there really wasn’t much he could have done to win this day, despite Righteous Tugboat receiving only 4 points from his QB combo of Chad Henne (QB, Mia, 4 pts) and Mark Sanchez (QB, NYJ, 0 pts). Hell, Devaney’s squad barely needed anything more than Chris John’s 28 pts at RB (Ten) to secure this win.

Jager Bombs 88 (1-0) – My Vick in a Box 60 (0-1)

Though he would have lost to every other winning team in Week, not to mention half of the losing teams, Commissioner Miller hung on for a pretty commanding victory over last year’s league champion, non-Asian Matt Lamb. The bulk of Miller’s win came thanks to Lamb’s dubious QB choices. By missing the draft, our defending champ ended up with Alex Smith (-1 points) and injured Byron Leftwich (0 pts) as his starters. Compounding the error for the team with the early lead in the Best Name of the Year category, My Vick in a Box left David Garrard – a man who actually did start a football game this past Sunday (albeit for the Jags) – on the bench. Those 24 points would certainly have helped Lamb put on a better show against Miller and perhaps pull out the win. This week, with Mike Vick actually available on waivers, will Lamb pull his head out of his arse important dentistry studies to upgrade his team? Mayhaps. For Miller’s part, his scoring came largely from three players with double digits: Drew Brees (QB, NO, 14 pts), Vince Young (QB, Ten, 17 pts) and Antonio Gates (TE, SD, 13 pts). MViaB’s lead scoring – aside from players on the bench – came from his two Wide Outs, with Anquan Boldin (Bal) putting up 13 and Greg Jennings (GB), who scored 14. 

Draft Day

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Legit Domination. Today is draft day. We have 11 of our 12 teams returning from last year, with only Mike Roffe's "Just the Tip" team not on board for another year. Last year, Matt Lamb's Mack's Choppers squad took the surprise victory, with Hell's Cooks (Erick Bond) in second and Jager Bombs in third.

Here's this season's roster of luminaries and thieves:

My Vick in a Box -- Matt Lamb
Shower Beer -- Erick Bond
Jager Bombs -- Commission Miller
Laser Sounds -- New Guy Josh
Gin in the Gatorade -- Jen Adams
Rage Blackout -- Courtney Bongiolatti
Shamrock Shake -- Christine Smith
Get-er-Done -- Jason Cason
Righteous Tugboat -- John "Duck" Devaney
T.O.'s Bacon -- Ted the Canuck
Shananimals -- Shannon Meade
He's Heating Up -- Patrick Eakin

That's right. We're going four deep with females in this season's Legit Domination league. Will the fairer sex hold up to the intense competition? Will New Guy Josh blow out his other knee? Can Matt Lamb and his awesomely-named squad resume it's unexpected crushing of its competition? Only time will tell, but tonight it all begins... with the draft.

Game time.