Wednesday 29 February 2012

360 Degree Thinking

Amazingly, there are easier ways to find your perfect NFL team.  There was me, thinking that the simplest method was to spend months analyzing numerous categories, looking at lots of different aspects of the sport and eliminating teams one by one.  Then I discover there's a website called nfl-360.com that does it all in the space of a couple of minutes.

NFL-360.com is a great site if you are new to the sport or just want to brush up on the basics.  It's full of information on teams and players, as well as having videos and articles explaining the various positions on the field.  There's nothing too in-depth and if you're an experienced NFL fan you may find it a bit pointless, but for newcomers it's a great "NFL For Dummies" site.  Word of warning, some of the player videos are a bit out of date - Leon Washington at the Jets, Asomugha at the Raiders etc.

The aspect of nfl-360 that is most relevant to this blog is the "Pick a Team" function.  This provides you with 3 ways in which you can pick a team to support.  One of them is an extremely basic game involving you using the space bar to throw a towel in a basket, you are then allocated a random team.  Hmm, I've already done one completely random elimination (the coin toss) so I'm not going to do another one.

The other 2 methods involve answering 6 multiple choice questions and then being allocated a team based on your answers.  One of the roots is a series of sports related questions, the other involves lifestyle choices.  The aim is to find the team that best fits your personality.  Clearly it's not an exact science, but if you want to quickly land a team to follow, there are worse methods out there (I should know, I've used some of them!).  But, I'm not using the nfl-360 process to pick a team...I'm using it to eliminate a team!  I'll complete the surveys until the suggested team is one from my list of remaining franchises.  The questions vary each time you take the test, so I won't just get given the same team every time.  These "out of the blue" eliminations are my favourite as I have no way of making an educated guess as to the outcome, when I find out the winner/loser it's a complete surprise.   Let's begin with the sports questions...

1. Which Gold medal matters most?
One man who can escape from
Revis island
a. 100m  b. 4x100m  c. Long Jump.  Got to be a, it's the one event that everyone watches.

2. You get a free ticket to Wimbledon, who do you watch?
a. Federer  b. Nadal  c. Murray   Nadal annoys me with his time wasting, Fed is past his best so it's got to be the Brit.

3. What's your raquet sport preference?
a. Squash  b. Tennis  c. Table Tennis  I've never played squash, table tennis is fun but tennis wins just because it's better exercise.

4.  What's your favourite extreme sport?
a. Snowboarding  b. Kite Surfing  c. Mountain Biking   Err, none of them but at least I can ride a bike.

5.  Your team scores a Touchdown, what happens?
a.  Scorer shakes hands with teammates and jogs back to the sidelines  b. Scorer leaps over the hoardings and celebrates with the fans  c. Scorer does a dance routine and gets fined.   Boring answer but a is the only one that doesn't incur a fine or penalty! Unless you're at Lambeau.

6.  What is the "money shot" in golf?
a.  The booming fairway drive  b. The long putt  c. The flop shot from an unplayable lie  Got to be c, love it on the rare occasions when I do one of these successfully

I pause before hitting the final answer, this could be my next elimination. I hit enter and "Congratulations, you have picked the New York Giants".  Grr, I got rid of them at the start of February, this could take a while.  Time for some lifestyle questions...

1. What is your favourite thing to eat at a BBQ?
a.  Chicken  b. Ribs  c. Burger    Burger every time, but where's the sausage option!?

2.  You're hungry...
a. Pizza  b. Pasta  c. Steak     All good but if you're asking now then it's c.


3.  Pick a colour
a. Red  b. Blue  c. White    No thinking time, blue.

4.  Favourite Britpop band?
a. Blur  b. Pulp  c. Oasis  Liked them all but for longevity alone it's got to be a.

5.  Your mobile phones is...
a. PAYG  b. Monthly contract  c. Lost  

6.  The music CD is...
a. Awesome  b. Obsolete  c. Expensive   hmm, it's 2012 so got to be b

Again, I pause before hitting enter...the Cleveland Browns.  Man alive, I may have to cancel my evening plans.  Back to the 1st option and let's hope for some different questions! As it turns out I get 4 new questions:

Which of these would you rather be?
a. Wide Receiver  b. Running Back  c. Quarterback  


What's your sports superstition?
a. Socks on a specific order  b. Don't have one  c. Same breakfast on match days.  a, this extends to pads when I play cricket!

Who earns you respect in the Tour de France
a. Yellow jersey  b. Green Jersey  c. King of the Mountains   a - he is the winner after all, until he fails the drugs test.

You are a World Class footballer, are you...
a. Box to Box Midfielder  b. Goal poacher  c. Flamboyant wide player   c, which is ironic to anyone who's ever seen me play.

Time to see my destiny...the sodding Giants again.  Time for a coffee and some more lifestyle options!

Time to pay, do you use...
a. Cash  b. Credit Card  c. Debit Card  

The best drama on TV is...
a.  The Wire  b. Sopranos  c. The Bill   a, fo sho

The answer is...
a. 42  b. None of your business  c. On the tip of my tongue  a, hate sci-fi but have a soft spot for Hitchhikers Guide.

Verdict number 4 is...the Cardinals.  Getting annoyed now.
Matty Ice - He freezes in
January
Anyway, you get the gist, I keep finding another couple of new questions but keep getting given irrelevant teams, this pattern continues for lots more attempts, 3 cups of coffee and numerous shakes of the head.  The only thinking keeping me from giving up is the fact that I keep getting new teams, so it stands to reason that I must eventually get a hit.  Finally I do! After around 20 attempts I find my next elimination...the Atlanta Falcons.

Well, that wins the prize for the most frustrating elimination of them all!  It marked the first time I've come close to abandoning the method and picking something different.  But I stuck with it and finally got myself an elimination.
Big shame to lose the Falcons as I'd expected them to be in for the long haul.  They're a strong outfit and have had some good seasons of late without managing to make the big leap and becoming a Superbowl team.  All of a sudden, I'm down to just 6 teams:

Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.


Which means, I'm getting near the end of the process and my attention has turned to how I can carry on the Blog after finding my team.  I don't want to turn it into a team specific blog, as that will inevitably turn off a lot of people, besides there are some great team sites out there anyway.  Instead, I want to look at various aspects of the NFL and what they mean for supporters.  Some of these will be timely - such as Free Agency, the Draft and Training Camps, whilst others will be broader such as fan culture, rivalries and positions.  I'll also look at player positions, styles of play and predication for the new season.  Then when Week ! comes around I'll be all set to follow my team's Superbowl run. (Note to self - Edit this if Buffalo win)
Obviously, I will have a team to support so the blogs will have some references to this but I'll endevour to keep it in a similar style to my current efforts.

But first I need to find a team!


Tuesday 28 February 2012

Location, Location, Elimination

Contrary to my last article, I don't want to go to an NFL fixture purely for the match-up.  I want to spend a few days in the city and make the experience a memorable holiday.  In the past, I have visited fantastic cities when attending football matches - Lisbon, Porto, Dortmund, Braga...all beautiful places and the experience of being in these locations is sometimes more memorable than the actual match.  I don't want to go to an NFL match and want to go home straight after the game - for a start, it's a bloody long way to go for a quick visit!  What's  more, any mention of a holiday and my other half will be making sure she's on the flight.  So, once again I'm going to put the elimination into her capable hands and asking her which of the 8 remaining NFL locations she would least like to visit for a holiday.

If it was up to me and I had all 32 teams to pick from then it'd spell the end for Green Bay.  Green Bay is comfortably the smallest NFL location with a population of just over 100,000.  The main tourist attraction in Green Bay is the national Railroad Museum and the average temperature is sub zero for the second half of the NFL season.  So, if looking at train tracks and freezing your arse off is your kind of thing then I'd recommend Green Bay for a visit.  However, this isn't up to me...

This immediately means good news for the Jets as her first response is that she wants to go New York.  The other 7 entrants receive a lot of attention and plenty of research.  An hour or so later, I'm informed that it's going to come down to 3 teams:  Buffalo, Carolina and Detroit.

Buffalo; as it just looks very dull.  She likened it to a trip to Gillingham, which is extremely harsh on Buffalo. But I took her point that there didn't appear to be much to do there.

Charlotte, North Carolina wasn't getting rave reviews on travel websites.  The most exciting things to do there appear to be eating chicken or eating BBQ chicken at a drive through.  I like chicken, but I would like more to do on a holiday.

Downtown Detroit - Beautiful
Then we come to Detroit, to quote a Lonely Planet review - "Tell any American you’re planning to visit Detroit, then watch their eyebrows shoot up quizzically. ‘Why?’ they’ll ask, and warn you about the off-the-chart homicide rates, boarded-up buildings with trash swirling at their bases, and plummeting population (down from 1.8 million in 1950 to 886,000 today).  Detroit’s a crap-hole. You’ll get killed there"


This appears to spell the end for the Lions, but I complete the formalities and ask her who she is eliminating.

The answer?  The Carolina Panthers. 
"Surely you mean Detroit"
"Being shot in Detroit ain't good, but it sounds more exciting than Charlotte"

And there we have female logic in a nutshell, she'd rather run the risk of death if the alternative was eating chicken for a few days. I'll hold my hands up and accept full responsibility for this elimination.  My decision to place it in her hands and my fault if I end up with the Lions and have to spend a holiday in Detroit.

The future looks bright for
the Panthers
Which means I'm losing the Panthers, which is a bit of a wounder.  I can see big things in store for Carolina in the next few years. Cam Newton is the real deal and, ironically, I think they will see a similar upturn in fortunes as that seen by the Lions in recent times.

I'm down to just 7 teams now and there are just 6 more eliminations to go.  Next time, I'll be looking at an alternative method of picking a team - the nfl360 website - and I'll be explaining how the blog will continue after I've found my team...

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Can't Get There From Here

Apologies for the almost complete lack of football related content in this article! 


I live in the UK, have a job, am not ridiculously rich and do not have a pilot's licence.  As such, it seems unlikely I'll be travelling to watch my NFL team play very often.  But I do intend to watch them at least once in my lifetime, and seeing as I can't guarantee they will be playing in the International Series, I would need to hop on a plane to fulfil my desire.

Misery
Travelling to sports events can be a fraught process.  Traffic jams, delayed trains, missed connections, discomfort and sky high prices are all part of going to modern sporting events.  I can lay claim to some truly horrendous experiences when travelling to and from fixtures.  Just this season, I spent 8 hours on the M25 in a failed bid to attend Gillingham first home game of the season.  An experience that still brings me out in a shiver whenever I drive round the godforsaken road.

In 2004, a friend and I decided that the best way to get to Portugal for the Euros was by Inter-railing.  We were wrong.  Sleepless nights, encounters with lunatics, bad hygiene, too much time stuck in Paris (the worlds most overrated city!) and malnutrition ensued.  Capped off by a delightful night near the Spanish border with a group of Croatian alcoholics, who rounded off an all night session with some Stella at 7am in Marseilles train station and my friend being written a love poem by a transsexual.  We spent the final night of the trip, watching a bloke abseil off the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic flame and a load of disgruntled French fans beat up some Greeks because their team had the audacity to beat France.  Although, it has to be said that Portugal was wonderful and I can highly recommend a trip to Porto, Lisbon and Braga.  Beautiful cities and fantastic stadiums.  Just don't inter-rail your way there!
Needless to say, we got the plane for the 2006 World Cup.

Therefore I don't want days of misery when I get round to watching my NFL team play live.  A nice easy flight will do me just fine.  So, for this elimination I will be looking at how quickly I can get to each of my remaining teams stadiums and getting rid of the one that takes the longest.  In the interests of fairness I will driving to the UK airport that takes me to the relevant city and getting a hire car when I arrive at the destination.  I will be travelling to watch Week 1 of the 2012 season. I am assuming that my time spent at each airport will be equal.  And I will be drinking a bottle of Rjoca while I carry out the exercise!

I do realise that in reality, I will be making my visit more of a holiday than just jumping off the plane and going straight to the game, but I'll cover off that part of the process in the next elimination.  Time to open the wine and plan my journeys...

1. Atlanta - I can get a direct flight from Manchester airport (89 Minutes away) that takes 9 hours 10 minutes.  Upon arrival it takes 15 minutes to drive to the Georgia Dome.  Total time = 10hrs 56mins


2. Buffalo - A flight from Heathrow (111 mins) to Buffalo Niagara Airport takes a whopping 10 hours 58 Minutes (including a stop), then it's 19 minutes to drive to the stadium.  Total Time = 13 hours 8 minutes.


3. Carolina - Again I can go from Manchester (89 mins) but this time it requires a change at Philly meaning the journey takes 11 hours 10 minutes plus another 14 mins by car.  Total Time = 12hrs 54mins


4. Detroit - I can fly direct from Heathrow (1hr 51 mins) to Detroit in 8hrs 25mins. Add 28 mins to get to the stadium and it's 10hrs 54mins in total.


5. Houston - Heathrow again, this time for a 10 hr flight and a 22min drive.  Total Time - 12hrs 11mins


6. Minnesota - 111 minutes to Heathrow. 9 hr flight to Minneapolis then just 17 mins of driving. Total Time -  11hrs 8mins


7. New York Jets - Direct flight from Birmingham to Newark is 7hrs 55 mins and then it's 22 mins by car.  Total Time - 8hrs 34mins


8. Philadelphia - Back to Manchester (89 mins) for a direct flight taking 7hrs 50mins followed by a mere 11 mins by car.  Total Time - 9hrs 30mins


9. Tennessee - Again it's Manchester for my flight (89 mins), this time stopping in Chicago, making it a trip of 11hours 45mins plus a 14 minute drive. Total Time - 13hrs 28mins.

Chris Johnson 2011 - the poor
man's Chris Johnson 2010
Anybody still awake?  If so you may have noticed that I'm saying goodbye to the Tennessee Titans!  It was a close run thing and only a last minute double check for London flights saved the Bills.  Perhaps another sign that Buffalo have their name on the trophy, so to speak.

Just one round after claiming their first victory, the Titans are sent packing.  Finishing 9th seems about right for them - a bit better than average but never really threatening.

Down to 8 and just Atlanta, Carolina, Houston, New York Jets, Buffalo, Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia remain.

Next up, I'll be employing my girlfriend for the 3rd and final time.  This time to pick the destination she would least like to spend a few days in....

Monday 20 February 2012

Strength in Depth

Team sports aren't really team sports anymore.  You don't win titles simply by having the best team.  In modern sport, you need to have the best squad.  Gone are days when a team can win a league title using only 14 players - as Aston Villa did in 1980.  It's not necessarily the side with the best 11 players that wins the league, but it will be the one with the best 20+ players.
Modern sport is faster and more physically demanding and its participant are more susceptible to injury, fatigue or lose of form.  Not to mention the possibility of missing matches due to racial abuse, deliberately bowling no balls or concealing a blood capsule in your mouth!  Luckily, there is a lot more money in sport, so it's easier to build a squad and have strength in depth.

This probably doesn't end well
In the NFL, injuries are commonplace.  You can wear protection from head to toe, but if a 20 stone man slams into you it's going to hurt.  Concussions, fractures and breaks are part and parcel of NFL life.  Rule changes have helped and players have a lot more protection from officials, but there are still a high amount of injuries.  Not surprisingly, Quarterbacks are the victims of a lot of the big hits in the NFL.  As I discussed in a previous article, quarterback is king in the NFL.  Take out the quarterback and you are putting the opposition at a great disadvantage.

In the 2011 season, 13 teams finished the season with a different QB to the one they started it with.  Of these teams, only Denver & Jacksonville didn't suffer a serious injury at the position.  In addition Pittsburgh, Philidelphia, Tampa Bay and Seattle had injury problems at QB.  That's over half of the NFL teams that required their back up Quarterback to play during the season.  Some teams manged to absorb the injury - TJ Yates at Houston (who was actually the 3rd choice!) proved to be a capable game manager and even helped the team to a play off victory, John Skelton had a better record at Arizona than 1st choice Kevin Kolb, whilst Matt Moore did an excellent job replacing Chad Henne in Miami.

It was a very different story at a lot of other franchises.  Chicago collapsed in a heap after Caleb Hanie had to replace Jay Cutler halfway through the season, Kansas fans had to witness some bloke called Tyler Palko throw the ball wildly for a few weeks and far too many column inches have been devoted to the problems in Indianapolis for me to be able to add anything new.

Back up quarterbacks are usually either veterans who can use their experience to handle game time at short notice or inexperienced young players learning their trade.  Some players make great back ups, some are terrible and some are still unknown quantities.  Whoever your team has in the position, one thing is certain, if you haven't got a capable replacement QB, your team's season is a torn muscle away from an early ending.  That's why I don't want to support a team with a sub standard Quarterback.

So for this elimination, I'm going to look at the ten back up QBs at the remaining teams and eliminate the one with the lowest career QB rating.  Again, it might not be entirely fair - some QBs are improving, some are regressing, some teams will have different players in place before the 2012 season kicks off.  That's not to mention the previously documented flaws with the QB rating system.  However, seeing as my crystal ball still hasn't been delivered I'm going to have to go with what we know.

For the purposes of this elimination, I will be using the player ranked at Number 2 in their Teams depth chart  prior to Free Agency and their QB rating as per nfl.com.  Here are the results...
Jake Locker - Thrilled to be
in the NFL

Atlanta Falcons :                Chris Redman 79.4
Buffalo Bills:                       Tyler Thigpen   72.5
Carolina Panthers:            Derek Anderson 68.8
Cincinnati Bengals:           Bruce Gradkowski 65.8
Detroit Lions:                    Shaun Hill 84.7
Houston Texans:               Matt Leinart 71.6
Minnesota Vikings            Joe Webb 66.6
New York Jets                  Mark Brunell 84.0
Philadelphia Eagles         Vince Young 74.4
Tennessee Titans              Jake Locker 99.4

So by a whisker, I'm going to eliminate the Cincinnati Bengals. Which comes as a bit of a surprise. Before going through the teams my money was firmly on either Redman, Anderson or Webb coming bottom. Shows what I know!  Jake Locker came out on top, giving the Titans their first category victory and showing that they could be a bit of a QB controversy between him and Matt Hasselbeck this season.  Locker showed plenty of promise in his rookie season and may prove to be a great example of how being a back up can be beneficial to your career development.

Every team I lose now is a bit of a disappointment as I'd be happy to support any of them, but the Bengals were a team I expected to last the distance. Upwardly mobile with a bright young team.  On the plus side, we won't have to see this monstrosity again....

Fenton.......FENTON!!!

Nest time will be the first of 2 Geography based eliminations.  Only 8 more teams to go.......



Saturday 18 February 2012

Listen to your Heart


This feels like an important elimination. The survivors will form my Top Ten.  A landmark in my search and, as such, I'm going to use an all together different method.  No stats, no external help...I'm just going to look at each team and deciding which one I can not realistically see myself supporting.

"Planning can only take you so far, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith" (which TV show?)

This will be the first time since my initial elimination of the Steelers that I will be deciding which team to eliminate.  I feel like Alan Sugar eyeing up the candidates in the boardroom or Simon Cowell sitting in his Barbados villa, listening to some tone deaf loon trying to sing.

So, in no particular order the candidates are:

"Get Ragnar off the roof!"
Minnesota Vikings - Surprising they've lasted this far.  On the one hand they've got the top Running Back in football, an excellent Receiver in Percy Harvin and last season's sack leader in Jared Allen.  Add to that a promising young quarterback and you've got the makings of a good team to support.  Then you see that they the only won 3 games in 2011 and can't help thinking that there are a lot of weak points outweighing the positives.
The question is - can I see myself supporting the Vikings?



No caption required
Cincinnati Bengals - A team on the up. Good young Quarterback, excellent young receiver and a solid defence. The future looks positive for the Bengals.  However, they are in a very tough division with the Ravens and Steelers, plus Who Dey is an awful mascot and I'm not a fan of their kit!  The Bengals are known for being a bit of a "snake bitten" franchise and don't have the most glittering recent history.
However, They can lay claim to the moment of the 2011 season!

Atlanta Falcons - The safe choice.  The Falcons are good in most areas, without being able to find the extra spark needed to win in the playoffs. It's unlikely that supporting the Falcons would lead to years of misery, but equally would it lead to Superbowl's and excitement? Maybe they are just a bit drab.  If this was a box ticking exercise then the Falcons would be in the Top Ten, but this is about my instincts and who I can see myself supporting.

Is he cool?
Green Bay Packers - See above.  Best QB in the game - check, strong support in the UK - check, likely to be contenders in 2012 - check.  It all looks good for Green Bay. But there's something bugging me about them.  Is it the Lambeau Leap?  Is it the fact I'd be labelled a glory hunter?  Or is it just because their fans wear cheese on their heads?


Are Buffalo's hopes resting
on this chin?
Buffalo Bills - The Jedward of the contest.  Nobody knows how they got here but they are still going.  They turn up to each round and perform badly but still manage to get through.  Maybe they are destined to win.  The team have been poor for years now, but remember back to October - the Bills were a threat and people were talking about the playoffs so maybe there is some potential there.  Admittedly, things went a bit pear shaped in the second half of the season, but hey, their Quarterback has a great beard!




Carolina Panthers - Another team on the up. Although seeing as they were the worst team in 2010, it was fairly inevitable.  Nonetheless, 2011 saw the Panthers improve immeasurably, largely thanks to the remarkable performance of rookie QB Cam Newton.  Newton broke numerous records and if I support the Panthers I'd be safe in the knowledge that the team had a leader for the next ten years. Having said that, they do have a remarkable ability to toss away leads and concede an alarming number of points.  Do I want to spend my Sunday evenings screaming at my laptop in annoyance?

Colin
Detroit Lions - Detroit are a couple of years ahead of Carolina in terms of upward progress.  0-16 in 2008 has been the catalyst for an impressive rebuilding operation. They've got a great quarterback for years to come and arguably the most unplayable receiver in the game.  But, again like Carolina, they do concede an awful lot of points.  Plus, I find their coach Jim Schwarz highly annoying and the nearest the NFL has to Neil Warnock.

Houston Texans - Great 2011 and had they not lost 2 quarterbacks they may have gone all the way.  The Schaub-Foster-Johnson triumvirate is one of the most solid in the league and their defence improved greatly under Wade Philips.  They also have the advantage of playing in a relatively weak division.  However, without wanting to sound like a Liverpool fan, they've got no history!

Smile and the world smiles
with you
Philadelphia Eagles - If this was played on paper (as opposed at a laptop!), then the Eagles would be in the Top Ten no problems. A star studded team that under-performed in 2011, the Eagles will once again be strongly fancied this season.  Any team with Vick, McCoy, Jackson (maybe) et al is bound to have a chance but will they flatter to deceive once again.  Coach Andy Reid isn't a man you'd want to sit next to on the train - and that's not just because of his girth.



Tennessee Titans - The dark horses. Seems like they get the least amount of media exposure in the UK, they are average in most position, but they do seem to get results.  Admittedly not quite enough to make the play offs or threaten the top teams, but Tennessee are a solid team.  However, it all seems a bit 5/10 across the board.  Star running back Chris Johnson is the main attraction, but he had a very mediocre 2011.  I'm just not sure whether the Titans have enough to make me want to support them.

Rex spots something he likes
New York Jets - If the Titans are the dark horses, then the Jets are very pale donkeys.  Lots of media coverage, always in the news, but quite often for the wrong reasons in recent times.  Coach with foot fetish, "captain" who quits on the team, average quarterback with a pop star ego.  But, the Jets did reach the Championship game in both 09 and 10, so they are clearly doing something right.

Hmm, this is difficult, I have renewed appreciation for Sir Alan and the Dark Lord Cowell.  I've spent ages thinking about my decision and I've weighed up every teams' pros and cons.  Do I get rid of a "safe" option, do I get rid of a team that concede too much or should I try to avoid supporting a really bad team?

In the end, I've decided to just listen to my heart and having carefully considered the evidence, there is one team that I just cannot see myself supporting.

Next time, I'll be starting the Top Ten with a look at back up Quarterbacks and what they mean for my remaining teams in 2012.


Oh, who have I got rid of? The Green Bay Packers. No explanation needed, it just feels right to eliminate them at this stage.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Is this the Real Life?

My first encounters with Fantasy Football (round ball version) were in the early nineties. Every summer, I'd study the statistics in the newspaper before carefully filling in my team and posting it off.  Then the season would roll round and by the end of August I'd realise that I had no chance of winning the thing, Brian Deane (the Roy Williams of his day) was not going to score 30 goals, and that Jamie Redknapp might be a decent passer but you don't get points for a nice haircut and a pulled hamstring.

However, such trivial matters wouldn't perturb me and I'd gamely try my luck every season, even expanding my Fantasy efforts to cricket and rugby, but every time I'd fail miserably.

I tried joining smaller, private leagues, in which the players were "auctioned", so each player could only play for one team.  But still I'd find myself off the pace early on, with no chance of winning.  Clearly, the biggest problem was my lack of management skills but there was surely more to it than that!

The solution presented itself when I started getting into the NFL.  Here was a much more fun way of playing Fantasy Football  - join a league of ten players (nfl.com and/or many other sites run such leagues), have a draft, pick a squad. pick a starting line up (Usually a QB, 2RBs, 3WR, a TE, a Kicker and a team Defence - but there are variants) and then play 1v1 matches every week with another league member.

It's a brilliant way of playing Fantasy Football.  Have a bad week and you lose that game but it's only one game so you're still in contention.  Sometimes you may have a bad week but your opponent has a worse one so you still win.  In short, it keeps things close.  What's more, the league is decided by a play off between the top 4 teams over the last 2 weeks of the season.  Again, this keeps it interesting for players as they are striving to get in the top 4 rather than having to finish first.

Fantasy Football US style
As you may have guessed, I'm quite a fan of NFL Fantasy Football and I usually have one eye on my teams' progress on a Sunday evening. Having a player in your Fantasy team can make the most inconsequential NFL game relevant.  Seattle v St Louis -nothing to play for? Maybe for them, but I've got Brandon Lloyd as one of my Wide Receivers!

Fantasy Football English Style
If I've got one criticism of Fantasy Football NFL style, it's the sometimes over serious way in which it is reported.  Sites such as NFL.com have excellent Fantasy sections, with plenty of advice and stats. But they also employ people like Michael Fabiano, to purely talk about Fantasy Football and to even host shows entirely dedicated to Fantasy Football.  Fabiano is a good journalist, but the way he discusses Fantasy Football, you'd think he was talking to people who genuinely owned the players.  I like his enthusiasm, but sometimes he needs reminding that it's not real!  At times, it feels like you're watching a Finance programme. It's all a bit serious for what essentially is a fun game to play whilst watching the NFL.  Give me Skinner, Baddiel and Statto any day of the week! Well, any day before they moved to ITV that is.

Anyway, what's this all got to do with eliminating a team?  Well, it'd be great if I could draft a couple of players from my real life team into my Fantasy team.  I'm not talking about "mass team drafting" - this is the process whereby a supporter of a team will fill his Fantasy team with players from the team he supports. This  invariably ends in abject failure.  No, just a couple of players will do.
So, I'm going to look at the Fantasy totals achieved by the best team available from each of my 12 remaining teams and eliminate the lowest.  To complete this I will be using the end of season totals from nfluk.com, the team's highest point scorer for each Fantasy position and approximately 5 cups of strong, black coffee.

If you didn't follow all that then don't worry, just look at the pretty numbers below:

1. Detroit 1122
2. Green Bay 1109
3. Philadelphia 1072
4. Atlanta 1069
5. Carolina 1011
6. New York Jets 919
7. Cincinnati 916
8. Houston 872
9. Buffalo 856
10. Tennessee 848
11. Minnesota 842
12. Denver 768

There we have it, by virtue of having the lowest Fantasy score of the 2011 season, I'm eliminating the Denver Broncos.  As usual, it's not an entirely fair way of eliminating a team but rules are rules.  Detroit topped the charts, largely thanks to the Stafford-Johnson partnership that terrorized Secondaries in 2011. The only rivals to Denver were the Vikings, but a team with arguably the best running back in the league were always likely to avoid the wooden spoon.

Some bloke kneeling down.
He's probably a bit tired
Hmm, I'm torn over whether I'm happy with this elimination or not.  On the one hand, Denver's 2011 story was one of the most extraordinary I've encountered in any sport I've ever followed. Some of their comebacks beggared belief and in Timothy Tebow they have one of the most polarizing sportsmen on the planet.  I actually like Tebow, as say what you like about him, he undeniably works so hard at his game and has an unshakable belief in his potential.  Besides, how can you not love this  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CWdPXn4xqo&feature=related

Having said that, there is still a large part of me that can see it all ending in tears next season. The experts can't all be wrong.  Surely Tebow will get found out and the Option play will be exposed as the out of date strategy that it is?  When it's bad, it's really bad (See the last 3 games of the regular season) and no matter how often you talk to God, if you can't adapt into an efficient passing QB then your days in the league are numbered.
Believe it or not, Denver also have other players! And it's a shame to lose talents such as Von Miller and Denaryius Thomas, but there you go.  Seeing as I've got no teams left from the AFC West, I'd like to see Denver have a good 2012 as it'll make for some unmissable viewing and "experts2 going into meltdown at the implausibility of it all!

I'm down to 11 teams now.  Next time, I'll be listening to my heart and getting rid of the remaining team that I cannot ever see myself supporting.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Clash of the Tight Ends

Evolution plays a significant part in all sports. Look at any sport and you will find that the way it is played and/or the levels of performance will have changed in the last 20 years.  People are bigger, faster, fitter and stronger.  They eat better, train more effectively and have more developed techniques.  20 years ago the idea of somebody legally running 100m in 9.58 seconds was absurd.  The idea of the same person strolling the 200m in 19.19 seconds was even more fanciful.  This level of development is improving performances in all sports.

Sport has evolved in other ways too.  Equipment has improved vastly in recent years.  Golfers hit the ball further, tennis players serve the ball faster and cricketers can hit the ball harder. The classic pub debate regarding who would win between greats of the past and current heroes is largely pointless. Is Roger Federer better than Rod Laver?  No idea, but Federer's 1st serve would probably destroy Laver's wooden racket! And I'd like to see Cristiano Ronaldo dribble round 5 players with a 1950's football at his feet. He'd drop to the floor after the first contact and claim the ball had fouled him.

The other way that sport is evolved is regarding the rules and legislation.  A prime example of this is the back pass rule in football.  Before 1992, goalkeepers very rarely had to kick a moving ball and game could be killed by defenders and the goalkeeper just passing the ball between themselves.  Stopping the keeper picking the ball up put an end to this and led to a more open game.  It also led to lots of keepers embarrassing themselves with their lack of ball skills and coordination.  Unsurprisingly, my very own Gillingham led the way when it came to comedy interpretations of the new law  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiMfijJ7V9Q .
Nowadays, goalkeepers are very proficient when it comes to controlling and kicking a moving ball and there are very few comedy goals conceded in top level games.  Although a search on YouTube can lead to an amusing half hour of back pass hilarity.

This "horse collar" type tackle
is now outlawed
In the NFL, rule changes have been at the centre of the games evolution.  Quarterbacks have greater protection - leading to them passing the ball more, so players like Tom Brady and Drew Brees can break long standing passing records.  Equally, the rules surrounding tackling have been changed to protect players and make it harder for defenders to bring them down - leading to higher scoring matches.  Safety is the key issue regarding the rule changes and whilst that's not to everyone's liking, anything that can help prevent a few players having a premature end to their career can only be a good thing.

Probably the most rapidly evolving position in the NFL is that of the Tight End.  For detailed and very well written pieces on this topic can I point you towards the 2 blogs listed on the right hand side.  In short, the position of Tight End is a hybrid of a blocker and a receiver. In recent years, Tight Ends have become more focused on receiving.  Players like Antonio Gates and Anthony Gonzalez are effectively basketball players in NFL uniforms and can catch and run as well as most receivers, as well as being 240lbs!  The position has developed to the extent that last season Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots set a record for most Tight End touchdowns in a season with 17 and led the entire league in touchdown catches. Scoring as many on his own as the entire St Louis Rams team!  Across the league it is clear to see that a lot of the best teams have Tight Ends that play a large part in the passing offence, whilst many of the weaker teams have failed to find an effective player to fill the position.

I don't want to support a team that is being left behind in the Tight End revolution.  I want my team to move with the times, so I'm getting rid of the team with the worst production from their leading Tight End in 2011. Admittedly, this team may well acquire a top notch player before the next season, but I'm not in possession of a crystal ball so we'll have to go with last season's stats.
I'm basing the elimination on receiving yards gained by each teams leading Tight End:

1. T Gonzalez (Atl) 875
Tony Gonzalez
2. D Keller (NYJ) 815
3. B Celek (Phi) 811
4. B Pettigrew (Det) 777
5. J Finlay (GB) 767
6. J Cook (Ten) 759
7. O Daniels (Hou) 677
8. J Gresham (Cin) 596
9. G Olsen (Car) 540
10. V Shianchoe (Min) 409
11. S Chandler (Buf) 389
12. D Fells (Den) 256
13. Z Miller (Sea) 233

Not even an earthquake
can have Seattle

 It's goodbye to the Seattle Seahawks thanks to a lack of production from Tight End Zach Miller.  Miller ranked 41st overall in the position and many teams had 2 players with better stat lines than him.  Miller clearly wasn't helped by a run first offence and a limited QB in Tarvaris Jackson, but as I've said before, it's a team game, so Seattle have to pay the price.
Shame to lose Seattle as I quite like them. Marshawn Lynch is one of my favourite players and his earthquake causing 67 yard run versus the Saints is probably my favourite moment since I started watching the sport.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynn7VGY2Asc.

Which leaves me with just 12 teams to pick from.  Next time I'll be looking at Fantasy Football and the impact it has on our enjoyment of games.





Sunday 12 February 2012

Look at the State of That!

I can't say I'm a big fan of mascots.  Admittedly, I'm 20+ years older than the target market but this is my search for a team so I'm making the decisions!  So my next decision is to get rid of the team with with the worst, most stupid, most embarrassing mascot in the league.  It may seem a trite and non football related reason for getting rid of a team (and it is), but I'm calling the shots here!

Not the worst idea in the world!
My experience of the world of mascots has mainly been at Gillingham FC.  At the Gills, we are graced by the presence of Tommy Trewbleu, a man in a horse costume who parades around the pitch whipping the crowd into a frenzy of apathy.  Tommy is a one man horse who stands up, as opposed to the more traditional, pantomime ,"one in front, one in back" horse - which would clearly be stupid!
In recent years Tommy has toned down his act, but back in his hay (sorry!) day, he regular used to join in with the pre match kickabouts, half time shoot outs or would even stand with the players in the centre circle for minutes silences!

My favorite mascot moment occurred at Preston North End in the late nineties. In the pre match warm up, Gills midfielder Nicky Southall hammered the ball into the face of Deepdale Duck.  Poor Deepdale was left with blood streaming out of his beak and had to be led away by paramedics, whilst hundreds of young children were left scarred for life.

Anyway, here's Deepdale Duck with a Preston player in much happier times:
Words fail me

Mascots are popular in the NFL, most are available for hire and have their own sections on team websites.  Colourful biographies have been penned for them, including absurd back stories for how they came into existence and lists of their favourite films etc.  So if you want to know what Big Red, the Cardinals mascot, reads (Where The Wild Things Are) then go to your teams website for full details.
Pat going long and deep
The most controversial mascot story I could find concerned the 2009 arrest of Pat the Patriot in a prostitution sting.  There's no truth in the rumour that a similar fate befall Deepdale Duck just after the above photo was taken.
Jaxon de Ville

By far the most entertaining NFL mascot is Jaxon de Ville.  Jaxon has been involved in numerous on and off field incidents. He has been known to bungee jump into stadiums and often rides a motorised scooter around the field.  Unfortunately Jaxon sometimes takes things a bit too far and has been reprimanded by the NFL for  - among other things - stamping on a life size doll of a Steelers Quarterback and shaking the goalposts before an opposition field goal.  In fact, it was after Jaxon had spent too much time on the pitch during a match ,that the Colts filled a complaint with the league and Jaxon appeared at the next Jags home game locked in a steel cage!

He can type 100 words purr minute
As for the worst mascot in league?  Well, Green Bay and the New York Jets receive a bye into the next round as they don't have mascots - clearly a better option than having a really rubbish one! As with the worst jerseys I decided to hand the judging over to my other half.  To my surprise, she approached the challenge with relish and researched each mascot thoroughly.  Even checking out the prices charged for appearances and the full background story for each character.  She rated the mascots on 3 categories - Bios, Diva Demands and the Scary Scale.

Her favourite was Sir Purr of the Carolina Panthers, mainly due to his impressive belly shaking record of 351 shakes per minute (no me neither) and his rating of 0 out of 5 on the "scary scale".  Visit the Panthers website if you want to read 200 "purr" based puns.
Close to being in the worst 3 were T-Rac from the Titans who scored just 1/5 for his "run over by a bus" back story and Freddie Falcon, who is currently charging $200 for a Valentines Day message! Apparently that's not a romantic gesture - thus ruining my plans for Tuesday.

"Horrible face"
The elimination boiled down to a choice between 3, so in reverse order the worst mascots are:

3.  Miles the Denver Broncos horse.  Miles has a "so bad it's shit" back story on the Broncos website that involves lightening, a year in the rocky mountains and numerous wild animals. He also has a "horrible face", but in his defense, he does like partying. - "If there's a party, Miles wants to be there". Roughly translated this means, "go to the next page and fill in your card details, then Miles will turn up at the house and dance for ten minutes".

This is how many bookings
I had last year
2. In the runners up spot is Who Dey from the Bengals. Predictably, his terrible name was cited for the low score.  In addition, he doesn't do birthday parties and doesn't speak at public appearances.  Preferring instead to communicate through "pantomime and generally acting silly". Worst of all, Who Dey charges $100 an hour but has no way of telling the time, so it is up to the client to tell him how long he has left or risk incurring an additional fee!  What a fun character he is!






But taking the number one spot and thus eliminating his team from my search is.....

Do not accept sweets 
from this man
1.  Sourdough Sam of the San Francisco 49ers.  One of the few human characters in the league, Sam looks like a cross between Woody from Toy Story and a sexual predator. He received low marks across the board for problems like "scary face" and "boring bio", but what tipped the balance was Sam's appearance fee.  At $400 an hour ($150 for any additional hours) he doesn't come cheap, but further reading reveals that you are also required to supply your own bodyguard for Sam...and have to use a 49ers approved bodyguard and pay $75 an hour for the privilege!  This fact caused outrage in my living room and has led to the demise of the 49ers.  Shame because I can see them challenging next season and I'm a big fan of Vernon Davis and the 3 Smiths.  But, as I keep saying, I am committed to this process so I won't be supporting the 49ers next season.


And so ends the strangest chapter of my search.  I'm going to select something more football based next time and look at one of the positions that is rapidly changing in the NFL, that of the Tight End.

13 teams to go...



NB - A free appearance at your birthday party goes to anyone who can name the sitcom that the title of this piece is taken from.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Kicked Out

I recently posted a comment on the nfluk website asking people what aspects of the NFL annoyed them.  One of the common threads in a lot of responses was kicking.  Some didn't like the kick off process, some didn't like the ease of extra points and some didn't like the importance given to kicking in the league.  So let's make kicking the basis for the next elimination.

Miami's  Dan Carpenter
The closest "other sport" equivalent of an NFL kicker is a rugby place kicker, but there are still many differences.  The rugby kicker has to attempt kicks from narrower angles, whereas it is always a straight kick for the NFL player.  However, the rugby player can take as long as he likes to prepare for his attempt.  The NFL kicker has to do it all in a couple of seconds and is reliant on the center getting the ball back to holder, and then the holder setting the ball up in time for the kick to occur before the defending team can block the kick.  He is also reliant on his blockers stopping the defense getting close to the ball before he kicks it.  There are more factors to consider and overall it's such a different discipline that any debate as to which sport has the most skilled kickers is largely irrelevant.

Like it or not, kicking is a key element in winning NFL matches. With so many games being settled by less than 5 points, the difference between winning or losing can often be the ability of your kicker to plant the ball through the posts.

A kicker in the NFL has a strange existence.  He spends the majority of the match sitting at the end of the team bench with the punter, they don't even look like they are part of the team and rarely interact with the other players during a match.  The kicker occasionally gets up to blast some balls into a small net, like a 5 year old playing in his back garden.  His only match action is to trot on occasionally to take a kick.  Often the kick is just an extra point - a simple chip shot from the 3 yard line - or a short, 3 point, field goal.  Over the course of the 2011 NFL season only 7 extra point kicks were missed, this equates to over 99% being made - so it's hardly something to celebrate!  Generally speaking, all kickers make the vast majority of these kicks, but there are 2 elements of kicking that separate the elite from the also rans.

Firstly, there are the longer, more difficult kicks.  Some kickers will have a "stronger leg" than others and be able to make kicks over 50 yards. Some can even make kicks over 60 yards.  Sebastian Janikowski of Oakland made a kick of 63 yards this season.  The equivalent of kicking a penalty in rugby from 13 yards inside your own half!  Having a strong kicker, means the team can attempt long range field goals rather than just punting the ball back to the opposition, although sometimes greater leg strength can be to the detriment of accuracy.

Vinatieri v Oakland. Easy huh?!
The term "clutch" was alien to me before I became an NFL fan, but it is relevant to so many sports.  It essential means "the abilty to perform under extreme pressure".  So, it could apply to a footballer in a penalty shootout, a batsman needing 4 to win from the last ball, a tennis playing serving at break point, a golfer with a putt to win a tournament.  The ability to be "clutch" is one of the key things that separates great sportsmen from the rest.  Adam Vinatieri of the Colts is widely regarded as being one of the best clutch kickers in the history of the NFL - he has kicked game winners in 2 SuperBowls and also landed arguably the most difficult clutch kick off all time, from 45 yards in the middle of a snow storm in the 2001 play offs.

It's impossible to conclusively say who is the best and worst kicker in the league.  But as ever, the NFL has a multitude of stats on the matter.  I've decided to keep it simple and just look at the overall percentage of kicks made and eliminate the team with the worst record.  I'm only including teams 1st choice kickers, so the likes of Dave Rayner of Buffalo are excluded, as whilst he had the worst percentage in the league he only played when 1st choice kicker Ryan Lindell was injured.

GaNOOOOOOO
Bottom of the list is Shaum Suisham of the long eliminated Steelers. He landed just 74% of his kicks during the season.  2nd is the also eliminated Josh Brown of the Rams on 75%.  Which leaves us with the 3rd placed Graham Gano of the Washington Redskins.  Gano missed 10 field goals in 2011 giving him a 76% success rate. In Gano's defence, 5 of his misses were due to blocks so some of the blame has to go to his colleagues, but seeing as I'm eliminating a team then I'm fine with that.

I have to admit, Washington were one of the "forgotten" teams of my search, they hadn't come close to an elimination, but equally hadn't come out on top of any stats.  So, I won't be losing any sleep over the elimination.  They are another of the teams with problems at quarterback and until that is resolved it's very hard to see them progressing to the playoffs.

I'm now down to 14 teams:
Atlanta, Seattle, Carolina, Denver, Green Bay, San Francisco, New York Jets, Tennessee, Houston, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit



Wednesday 8 February 2012

Heads or Tails?

I've debated whether to include this elimination method since I started the blog. It's a pretty inane topic and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get much out of it.  In the end I decided I'd go with it, as luck is a key element in picking a team - after all, it's just be chance that somebody turns on a TV, watches a team play and starts supporting them, it's by chance that somebody gets taken to watch a team play and starts supporting them.  On another day, something else would happen and that person would support another team.  With that in mind,  I'm going to eliminate a team by pure chance. More precisely, by the toss of a coin.

A coin toss is part of many team sports. In some, it is largely insignificant, but in others, like cricket, in can help to shape the course of a game.  If conditions are going to deteriorate then it's wise to bat first. If it's a gloomy morning then have a bowl.  It's often the difference between winning and losing.  The importance of the toss was taken to it's extreme in a club cricket match I played in when I was about 17.  Our captain went out for the toss with the opposition captain.  He tossed the coin.  Other skipper calls. The coin lands and our captain picks it up immediately and declares that he is going to bat first.  He gets about 5 yards before the he's called back, as the opposition captain didn't see the coin after it landed, so thinks he is being lied to!  After a brief argument, there is the unusual spectacle of a "re toss".  I'm not revealing whether or not our captain was lying, but let's just say that he returned to the pavilion with a rather embarrassed look on his face.

Toss fans gather at SuperBowl 42
In the NFL, the coin toss is more of a ceremonial procedure and in regulation time it's not very significant to the game, sure it gives one team a choice of whether to start with the ball or not but that's doesn't matter overly in the context of the game.  That doesn't stop a multitude of players and officials standing in the middle of the pitch for it. Some fans even cheer when their team wins the toss!  I can only assume these people are so overcome with excitement that even the slightest thing will push them over the edge. "Oh my God! Its heads! We're going to win this game now!"
Of course, if a game goes to Overtime then the coin toss is a lot more vital.  Getting the ball first is a massive advantage when it's a "first score wins" scenario.  This point was illustrated in the Denver-Pittsburgh play off game in January. Denver win the toss, some bloke called Tim Tebow throws the ball 80 yards from the first play and Denver wins.

The most famous toss in the NFL (insert your own joke here) occurred on Thanksgiving Day in 1998.  At the start of overtime, the referee heard Steeler's captain Jerome Bettis call heads, so awarded the toss to the opposing Lions. Bettis claimed he'd called tails and a controversy was born.  Naturally, the Lions went and won the game and the incident is still a bone of contention in Pittsburgh.

The only other toss of note I could find from NFL history was this from the Green Bay Packers v Chicago Bears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x30zecUWhMc


I can confidently predict that will be no controversy during my tossing. To eliminate a team I will be conducting a 16 team knockout competition in which the "winning" team will be knocked out of contention. All teams winning their toss will progress to the next round.  To bracket the contest I have simply put the 16 remaining teams in alphabetical order and made the top team heads.  Please note that nobody else is in the room with me to witness this sad spectacle:

1st Round
Atlanta v Buffalo                                Houston v Minnesota
Carolina v Cincinnati                          New York Jets v Philadelphia
Dallas v Denver                                 San Francisco v Seattle
Detroit v Green Bay                          Tennessee v Washington

Quarters Finals
Atlanta v Carolina                             Houston v Philadelphia
Dallas v Green Bay                           San Francisco v Tennessee

Semi Finals
Carolina v Dallas                               Houston v San Francisco

Final
Dallas v Houston

Winner and team to be eliminated is...

Dallas Cowboys

Sorry Dallas, bit of a harsh elimination but I had committed to the idea.  For fans of coin tossing I used a 50p piece for the earlier rounds but upgraded to a £2 coin for the final to give it a bit more gravitas.  I was flicking with my left thumb and the coin was landing on a wooden table.  No animals were harmed during the contest.

Dallas are a team I'm not particularly endeared to so I can cope with losing them from the hunt.  There's something a bit grating about a team with an owner who has his own press conferences post match!  On the flip side, if I ever happened to go to a match in the US then Cowboy Stadium would be number one on my list.

After that somewhat dull exercise, I'm down to 15 teams and ahead of schedule. This is a good thing, as the more time I've got to build up my support before the 2012 season the better.  Next time, I'll be writing about the things that really annoy me in the NFL...

Monday 6 February 2012

No Pain No Gain



A primary school playground circa 1986
When I was growing up, the school playground was full of Liverpool fans. I was brought up 250 miles away from Merseyside, but Liverpool were the best football team in England at the time. So naturally enough they were the team of choice for many easily influenced children.  I don't actually mind kids finding their teams in this way, after all it's a bit harsh to criticise a 5 year old for their decisions in such matters. If they stick with the decision for the rest of their life then fair enough, but equally they may change when they get a bit older and stumble upon a more suitable reason for supporting a team.

However, when an adult makes such a decision it rightly gets frowned upon.  Why should they miss out on all the misery and pain of losing, relegation and just general ineptitude?  That's part of the fun of your team winning.  The knowledge that you've gone through the bad times and therefore deserve the triumph.

There's also a stigma attached to supporting the best team. When I see somebody in a Man Utd, Liverpool or even Chelsea shirt I raise an eyebrow and presumptuously assume they are a glory-hunter.  It's completely wrong of me of course.  There's a good chance they have a perfectly good reason for supporting their team, but nonetheless there is a definitely downside to supporting the best team out there.  Imagine the following scenario:


It's Sunday 28th October 2012. I'm at the rather splendid Green Man pub near Wembley stadium, having a few pre match ales with my mate before the St Louis v New England match.  I'm wearing my New York Giants shirt.  Two other fans come and sit next to us and strike up a conversation.  After a few pleasantries one of them turns his attention to my shirt...

"Big Giants fan then?"
"Yeah"
"Bet you were buzzing after the Superbowl?"
"Ermm...not really"
"Huh...How come?"
"Well, I didn't actually support them at the time"

Bang, there goes my credibility as a fan. I could try and explain the elaborate process I went through to end up with the Giants, but it'd smack of a lie.  To all intents and purposes I'd be a bandwagon jumping, glory hunter in a suspiciously shiny new shirt.  I don't want that stigma.  Besides, for a team that's just won the biggest prize in their sport, the only way is down. Or at best sideways!  Anything less will make the 2012 season a disappointment. So, for those reasons I'm eliminating the New York Giants from my search. 

By eliminating the Giants I'm getting rid of yet another strong side, but I'm perfectly happy with the decision.  I really don't want to start by supporting the champions, it would just detract a bit form my supporting journey.  And what if they never won it again in my lifetime?! I spend 50 years watching the Giants lurch form one miserable season to another knowing full well that they'd found glory approximately a month before I started following them! That'd be a bit hard to take.  The more I think about the more I think I'm right in ditching the Superbowl winners from my search

There's now 16 teams left. So  I'm over halfway words finding my team. I've already got a few ideas for continuing the blog after I've selected my team. I don't want to make it a blog exclusively about my team, as that would make it largely irrelevant for the vast majority of fans. It's going to more about the culture of supporting, the various ways we can support a team and a look at the different types of fans out there.

All I need to do first, is get rid of another 15 teams.