Fantasy Football Week 5 (NFL week 6)

Whoohoo! Going into Monday night I was fifteen points behind my buddy, known around here as Socialist. But in a taste of what's to come on Election Day the 'Publican rose to the challenge and smoked the liberal, spanking him by more than 30 electoral votes, er, fantasy points :)

[Much obliged to the cast and crew of the Cleveland Browns. I know I've pis*ed and moaned about how you've let me down in the first four games, but I forgive you - as long as you keep up the monster point totals.]

The win brings me to 3-2 and fifth place in the league, well within striking distance of a playoff berth (which, granted, is month's away). Next up, one of the strongest teams in the league, the L-Train.


SlapJacks

Pos Player Opp Status Projected Actual
QB Peyton Manning
(Ind - QB) 23.83
WR Santana Moss
(Was - WR) 2.20
WR Marvin Harrison
(Ind - WR) 24.30
WR Braylon Edwards
(Cle - WR) 27.40
RB Fred Taylor
(Jac - RB) 0.00
RB Jamal Lewis
(Cle - RB) 17.20
TE Zach Miller
(Oak - TE) 4.60
K Mason Crosby
(GB - K) @Sea12.00
DEF San Diego
(SD - DEF) NE W, 17.00
Total 128.53

The Rodgers Era
B Philip Rivers
(SD - QB) 25.20
WR Terrell Owens
(Dal - WR) 4.20
WR Muhsin Muhammad
(Car - WR) 6.80
WR Bernard Berrian
(Min - WR) 21.40
RB Adrian Peterson
(Min - RB) 6.60
RB Edgerrin James
(Ari - RB) 2.90
TE Kellen Winslow
(Cle - TE) 0.00
K Nate Kaeding
(SD - K) 12.00
DEF New York
(NYJ - DEF) 18.50
Total 97.60

* * * *

On a more serious note, a recent poll gave Obama a 17 point lead here in Wisconsin. Wisconsin's vote totals will always hinge on two areas - Madison, a hopeless hotbed of the Left, and Milwaukee. Majority rules, I know, but something about Milwaukee's vote troubles me.

I've mentioned before how my hometown is exclusively the right of one party, and always has been. We were run by the Socialist Party until the late 1940's, when the Democrats took the reigns. Top to bottom the city is run by Democrats and has been for sixty years, with many running unopposed for office.

I believe a monopoly of that magnitude is anathema for a republic, and I would say the same if the Republicans had the same stranglehold. There is no truly original thought, no incentive for honest improvement, no competition to spur progress. You may point to cities which consistently vote Republican and hold them up as a counterexample - off the top of my head, perhaps Dallas or Austin, although I honestly don't know - but I will bet you there's some odd duck Democrat that sneaks into office there every decade or so.

[oh, the Milwaukee County Exec is a Republican, which defies all odds, but he was originally carried in by the suburban vote, and even then only on the heels of a corrupt and disgraced Dem. administration]

People here vote for local offices out of pure habit and tradition, and with rare exception that carries over into the Presidential vote. The idea that our herd mentality translates into carrying Wisconsin and thus potentially changing the course of the nation's future . .well, that annoys the hell out of me. Milwaukee would probably embrace Obama even if (gasp!) a two-party system existed here. Well and good if they did.

But that should at least be an actual *decision* and not just a habit we picked up from our grandparents, no?