NLYTM

If you really like heavily-produced albums that are a mish-mash of genres and feature few ounces of talent from a formerly talented songster, you'll really like Rob Thomas' latest album, "The Great Unknown." Personally, I'll leave it off my playlists, especially the weird, "NLYTM."

I think my fantasy football draft, which was last Saturday went really well. This is my starting lineup as of week one:
QB- Eli Manning
RB- CJ Anderson
RB- Alfred Morris
WR- Dez Bryant
WR- DeAndre Hopkins
TE- Owen Daniels
FLEX- Carlos Hyde
FLEX- Sammy Watkins
K- Connor Barth
DEF- Carolina
BEN- Eddie Royal, Alfred Blue, Nelson Agoholor, Isaiah Crowell, Sam Bradford, Chris Matthews


I have eight photos to share from recent events:

Sobieski left fielder, Scott Litchy, takes a big hack at a pitch in the Region 8C Championship against Nisswa, Aug. 15.

Andrew Lange chops a ball just in front of the plate.

Skis outfielder Josh Wenzel hustles to first after laying down a bunt.

Lightning shortstop Jeremiah Piepkorn walks off after he failed to tag out Litchy.

Beau Hanowski with a single up the middle.

Lange fires to first for an out.

Lange winds up for a throw to first.

Pierz junior Claire Reardon passes the ball during a practice, Aug. 19.

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.

Kings Never Die

I haven't seen the recently released "Southpaw" movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal (though I want to), but I can tell you one thing: the album is fantastic. Eminem has a couple songs (you may have heard Phenomenal before NBA playoff games this year). It also has a couple Bad Meets Evil songs, and a great Action Bronson tune. The album kicks off with "Kings Never Die," a collaboration of Eminem and Gwen Stefani.

I'm here to drop some more fantasy football knowledge, but first, lets look back at a turmoil-soaked year at WR in 2014:
Picked No. 1 for 2014, Calvin Johnson. Actually finished: 14. He missed three games, and had two others where he was basically a decoy, so whatever.
Picked No. 2 for 2014, Dez Bryant. Actually finished: 4. Solid.
Picked No. 3 for 2014, Brandon Marshall. Actually finished: 34. Missed three games, and played for about two minutes in one other game. Still disappointing though.
Picked No. 4 for 2014, Pierre Garcon. Actually finished: 54. Ouch. I was really off here. Not sure what I was thinking.
Picked No. 5 for 2014, Demaryius Thomas. Actually finished: 2. Underestimated him a bit.
Picked No. 6 for 2014, AJ Green. Actually finished: 24. He also missed three games.
Picked No. 7 for 2014, Antonio Brown. Actually finished: 1. Didn't expect such a meteoric rise, but not too bad.
Picked No. 8 for 2014, Randall Cobb. Actually finished: 6. Solid pick here.
Picked No. 9 for 2014, Roddy White. Actually finished: 27. What was I thinking?.
Picked No. 10 for 2014, Kendall Wright. Actually finished: 36. Clearly didn't realize he had no quarterback to throw to him.

Rankings for 2015:
1. Antonio Brown: No reason why he shouldn't be No. 1 again. He is a safety valve for Big Ben.
2. Odell Beckham Jr.: He should be primed for a HUGE season. Many don't remember that he was a top-five receiver after missing the first four games!
3. Julio Jones: He was healthy all year, and proved why the hype was so high.
4. Dez Bryant: 16 touchdowns will be a bit unrepeatable, but big numbers won't be unexpected.
5. AJ Green: Should return back to a strong position 10+ tds and lots of yards.
6. Mike Evans: Was a stud as a rookie, and with Winston tossing him lots of passes as the Bucs try to climb back from deficits, he should do even better.
7. T.Y. Hilton: Catching passes from Andrew Luck can't be bad, can it? Plus he should do better than seven touchdowns.
8. DeAndre Hopkins: Doesn't have a QB, but it didn't matter last year, so...
9. Demaryius Thomas: Can't push him out of the top 10 because of his talent, but I'm expecting regress from Manning, and the Broncos are promising to run more.
10. Calvin Johnson: Also too talented to be taken down too far, but he's not going to be back to form with Stafford floundering behind a sub-par O-line.

TE's next week, but here are some baseball photos from Region 8C's first weekend of playoffs:

Sobieski draft pick from Flensburg, Luke Thoma, pitches Sunday, Aug. 2 in Pierz.

Kyle Boser prepares to walk across the plate for a run Aug. 2 for the Randall Cubs.

Pierz Bulldogs first baseman Ben Watercott runs into the fence trying to get a foul ball.

Randall's Kyle Peterschick takes a big rip at a pitch.

Cubs catcher, Alec Zak, rips a fly ball.

Bulldogs starting pitcher, Aaron Schultz, tosses a pitch.

Pierz' Brandon Kiel fights off a pitch.

Lastrup's Chad Weiss started in the win Sunday, Aug. 2.

Weiss prepares to hurl the ball.

Dan "Scoop" Rocheleau connects during a pinch-hit appearance.

Fool in the Rain

Led Zepplin re-released their final album with Jon Bonham on the drums, 1979's "In Through the Out Door." The only charting song on the album, "Fool in the Rain," was also relevant, as it is raining cats and dogs outside as I write this piece. I love Zepplin, as most classic rock fans do, so it is a treat to re-listen to the end of the Bonham era.

Before I get to the photos from last week, I am going to again focus on Fanstasy, and this week I'll be previewing running backs.

Last season I made what I now realize was a mistake by not grabbing a strong running back in the first two (probably first round though) rounds. I decided to take a bolder strategy (taking two stud receivers and waiting to take two high-upside potential RBs). In my main league, which I finished in fourth place (narrowly losing both playoff games, but whatever) I wound up with Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall in the first two rounds, and my two top backs were Shane Vereen and Rashad Jennings. That probably seems like I should have been in last place, right? Most season's it probably would, and in hindsight, I likely should have went for an Eddie Lacy or Demarco Murray, who went 8th and 10th respectively. Or, I could have even drafted a Le'Veon Bell or Arian Foster, who both went in the third round. I got lucky, and hit with Emmanuel Sanders in the seventh, and even Philip Rivers in the 12th (anyone remember his run early last year?) I also took Mike Evans in the 10th (and then dropped him before his week 5 bye, but don't remind me).

Anyway, all this means, I'm not screwing around this year, and that starts with getting a running back early. I have the 10th pick, so my options will be limited, but hopefully there is a guy or two who slides to me, or I might have to resort to last year's plan again, ugh.

Without further ado, how I did on my predictions a year ago, followed by this year's rankings of Running backs:
Picked No. 1 for 2014, Matt Forte. Actually finished: 4. Not a bad pick, I said lots of receptions. He had 102.
Picked No. 2 for 2014, Adrian Peterson. Actually finished: 118. Nobody saw this coming.
Picked No. 3 for 2014, Jamaal Charles. Actually finished: 7. Missed a game, or he would have been top five.
Picked No. 4 for 2014, LeSean McCoy. Actually finished: 12. He had a really strange year.
Picked No. 5 for 2014, Arian Foster. Actually finished: 5. Spot on. Back-pat for me.
Picked No. 6 for 2014, Le'Veon Bell. Actually finished: 1. I expected the rise, but not as high as it went.
Picked No. 7 for 2014, Gio Bernard. Actually finished: 18. Not good, but missed a chunk of time, and Hill is a stud.
Picked No. 8 for 2014, CJ Spiller. Actually finished: 65. Whoops.
Picked No. 9 for 2014, Montee Ball Actually finished: 89. Haha. He is soooo bad.
Picked No. 10 for 2014, Eddie Lacy. Actually finished: 6. Meh.

The top 10 for 2015:
1. Adrian Peterson: With a year off, have to believe he is determined and fresh for a huge year.
2. Le'Veon Bell: Despite the two game suspension, he will be a stud the rest of the way.
3. Matt Forte: Love his consistency and his involvement in the passing game.
4. CJ Anderson: He is going to be mightily involved in their offense this year, and should benefit.
5. Jamaal Charles: High ceiling, but injury risk is always there.
6. Marshawn Lynch: When do his wheels fall off? Not quite yet.
7. Eddie Lacy: Should be strong in that high-powered offense.
8. Jeremy Hill: One of the best young runners.
9. DeMarco Murray: New situation, but Murray is a hard runner.
10. Justin Forsett: Has a strong Oline in front of him, and the Ravens like to run.

Here's to another year. Wide receivers next week. Enjoy a few photos:

Randall's Nick Anderson comes off the mound to make a catch in Sobieski, July 26.

Cubs shortstop Peter Herman clubs a hit.

Sobieski shortstop Colin Eckman (left) flips to Austin Weiss at second for a force out to end an inning.

Eckman awaits a ground ball to short.

Josh Wenzel rips a groundball.

Little Falls VFW pitcher Derek Poser in a game at Joe Faber Field, July 24.