The Fix

As many kids who grew up in the early 2000s, I was a big fan of St. Louis' Nelly. He recently released a sex-fueled single with Jeremiah titled "The Fix." It even has a bit of a sample from Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." The innuendo-filled lyrics are a bit corny, but overall the song is all right. It is far from "Country Grammer," but still loving the Nelly.

As I promised last week, I will have one more week of fantasy football advice, as most leagues will be drafting in the next few weekends. First, a look back at how I predicted tight end last season:

Picked No. 1 for 2014, Jimmy Graham. Actually finished: 3. He had a bit of a down year, though he was only behind Antonio Gates and Gronk. 
Picked No. 2 for 2014, Julius Thomas. Actually finished: 7. Not really that bad of a pick considering he had a lot of injury issues.
Picked No. 3 for 2014, Jordan Cameron. Actually finished: 24. Cameron missed six games, and the crapshoot at QB in Cleveland didn't help.
 Picked No. 4 for 2014, Jason Witten. Actually finished: 10. Not a great pick, though his season wasn't horrible: 700 yards and five tds.
Picked No. 5 for 2014, Kyle Rudolph. Actually finished: 37. Should have figured he would miss 10+ games.

I picked Gronk to finish seventh. That was stupid. Here are this year's ranks:

1. Gronk: Can't not pick him here. I have a really sneaking suspicion that he might get hurt, and that's why I likely won't take him with my 10th and 11th picks in my draft, but the potential is too great to not have him at the top.
2. Jimmy Graham: Still gotta have him up here because of his physical talents. Russell Wilson hasn't thrown to the tight end a whole lot in recent seasons, but he hasn't had anybody with 1/2 the talent of Jimmy.
3. Martellus Bennett: The recent news of Kevin White's injury has Bennett jumping up from fifth to third in my rankings. The Bears will be throwing because they will be behind, and Cutler likes to hit the safety valve.
4. Travis Kelce: Alex Smith also likes to find his safety valve, who happens to be a really talented tight end in Kelce. Expect another good year.
5. Greg Olsen: Carolina still doesn't have a lot of quality targets in the passing game for Cam Newton, so Olsen will continue to get a lot of targets, and targets=fantasy points.

As in the past, I once again advocate not taking a kicker until the final round. They are by far the most unpredictable, and wasting any other late-round pick on one just because he had some success last year is not smart. The pick would be much more useful by drafting a lottery ticket, and hopefully getting someone like last years' Mike Evans or Jeremy Hill.

I still advise streaming defenses (taking a defense each week based on the matchup). In most online engines (yahoo, espn, flea flicker) you can sort by projected points, which is usually pretty reliable, and taking one of the top available teams is good. Having a top defense (like Seattle or whoever) week in and week out is great too, but I just do it that way. As far as drafting a defense goes, I will take one in the second to last round based on their week one matchup. This year anybody who is playing the Jets, Browns, Titans or Bucs will be good picks.

Thanks for reading, here are several photos from Aug. 6-11:

Lastrup's Brad Meyer tries to stay on third base as Fort Ripley's Brett Kramer puts a tag on him in Region 8C play, Sunday, Aug. 9.

Lakers' third baseman Jason Sodlovsky takes a big cut.

Rick Schlieman, a first baseman for Lastrup, takes a healthy cut at the ball.

Kramer connects with a pitch.

The Upsala Heritage Day parade, Saturday, Aug. 8.

Lastrup second baseman makes a no look, diving effort.

A band plays during the Upsala parade.

The one, the only, Grant Dirkes.

Little Kensi Stangler covers her ears as fire trucks go by. She is next to her mother Trista Stangler of Albany.

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This little Upsala Blue Jays fan tosses out candy.

Upsala band director Denise Cheney plays with the band.

Morrison County commissioner Duane Johnson.

Scott Litchy rips one of three hits against Lastrup, Aug. 9.

Luke Thoma, draftee from Flensburg, pitches against the Lakers to see who would play in the championship.

Sobieski's Josh Wenzel looks to bunt.

Meyer fouls a ball through his legs.

Riley Hirsch searches for a pop fly behind the plate.