Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy

In honor of his new disc being released last week (one that I really need to listen to more carefully) I’ve decided to post a Josh Ritter song tonight as a part of the Wednesday Night Music Club. This song is called “Kathleen” and is probably one of my favorite songs of the past few years. It definitely has my favorite opening verse in recent memory “All the other girls here are stars, you are the northern lights. They try to shine in through your curtain but you’re too close and too bright.”

Oh, and I get a weird sense of self-satisfaction that the immediate response to a post of “what I have done with my life” is a comment reminding me that Alexander the Great had conquered the world by my age while I can barely win a game of Stratego. I wish I could keep up the self-loathing but right after I published the blog last night I got a phone call and got to hear my nieces sing happy birthday. It’s really difficult to remain depressed when you get to experience something that cute. I’m still going to change my entire life this year, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I view it as a great adventure as opposed to “oh my God, I’ve wasted everything.”

Anyway, tonight was my fantasy football draft and I thought I’d officially release the names of the 2007 edition of Cobra Kai. Picks are listed in order as I picked 5th in a 12 team league with no TE requirement

#1: RB Joseph Addai: Indianapolis
#2: RB Ronnie Brown: Miami
#3: WR Larry Fitzgerald: Arizona
#4: WR Lee Evans: Buffalo
#5: RB Carnell “Cadillac” Williams: Tampa Bay
#6: WR Jerricho Cotchery: New York Jets
#7: QB Matt Hasselbeck: Seattle
#8: Defense/Special Teams San Diego Chargers
#9: WR Mushin Muhammed: Chicago
#10: WR Wes Welker: New England
#11: QB Brett Favre: Green Bay
#12: K Robbie Gould: Chicago
#13: RB Michael Bennett: Kansas City

My initial reaction: I got the running back I wanted with Joseph Addai, who won the coin flip over Shaun Alexander. I just couldn’t risk Alexander killing me two years in a row. I was stunned that Ronnie Brown was there in the second round as I was willing to settle for Edge James in that spot. All of the quarterbacks through Mcnabb were gone before I made my third pick so that was an easy choice of Fitzgerald and then a pure steal of Lee Evans in the fourth. Cadillac gives me the best running back depth I think I’ve ever had. I’m not completely happy with the rest of my receiving corps though I took Welker because I truly believe that he is going to have a huge year as the Pats possession receiver. Hasselbeck is a safe QB choice. It was either that or trust Jon Kitna and I just couldn’t do that over an entire season. Favre will back him up nicely though the fact that I picked a guy from the Packers disgusts me. For once I actually have a good defense and a good kicker as I lucked out on both picks. I’ll at least get to cheer whenever the Bears score, though it’s sad that I’ll be cheering for field goals over touchdowns.

Also, just to make things interesting, I had to pick one of my buddies teams as well. Here are those selections, drafting ninth this time. I might have done a better job with his than with mine.

#1: QB Peyton Manning: Indianapolis
#2: RB Brian Westbrook: Philadelphia
#3: WR Torry Holt: St. Louis
#4: RB Clinton Portis: Washington
#5: WR Laverneus Coles: Washington
#6: RB Chester Taylor: Minnesota
#7: WR Joe Horn: Atlanta
#8: WR Devery Henderson: New Orleans
#9: Defense/Special Teams: Miami Dolphins
#10: RB Vernand Morecy: Green Bay
#11: WR Brandon Marshall: Denver
#12: K Neil Rackers: Arizona
#13: QB Trent Green: Miami