NFL Europe Fantasy Football Update
by Tommy Brown
April 1, 2005 - National Football League Europa (NFLE)
I recently brought up USA Today's online fantasy football page to see what my friends at USA Today had to say about the world of fantasy football. There is currently an article from Nate Ravitz as the featured column, where he breaks down a 2005 mock fantasy football draft. (All eight rounds) The story was written on January 13th, 2005 and apparently it is the most important thing that the USA Today fantasy football minds can produce during the off-season. I am sure Mr. Ravitz is a lot smarter than his picture on the web page indicates, (it would have to be) but I can't wait till September to play fantasy football again.
NFL Europe fantasy football is not only the answer, but also my redemption from the boredom of other non-interesting fantasy sports. Much to my disappointment, according to NFLE league officials and their websites www.nfleurope.com and www.nflgames.net, the NFL Europe fantasy season actually starts in week two. What? God forbid the fantasy season actually coincide with the playing of games that count in the standings. The league thinks everyone needs to start in week two because everyone is too lazy to do any research themselves on the players.
Well, NFL Europe powers-that-be, I know who the players are, I know which players are legitimately good and which players are a bunch of hype (Please refer to the Hamburg Sea Devil roster.) My NFL Europe season starts in week one. My fellow Fantasy-football-freakzoid and I did a massive breakdown of the NFL Europe rosters prior to our fantasy draft. We even did some spying on players while they were in Tampa for the team training camps.
Best of all, these are real games, with real players, with real footballs on real TV. No crappy mock NFL drafts here like the ones on www.fanball.com. During the NFL regular season it is one of my favorite sites. But the boredom of what is going to happen in the NFL draft and what teams need to do in the off-season is boring. "Will the 49ers take Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers?" "What will the Dolphins possibly do with the second pick? What running back does Nick Saban have his eye on?" The real question should be "Who Cares?" Whatever happens, ESPN and Mel Kiper will be there to label the teams as geniuses and we won't know if they are right for two years, and by then we won't remember what they said anyways unless they bring it up.
Meanwhile, tomorrow, my NFL Europe fantasy team takes the field and will be kicking it and taking names. My Stadtkern team takes the field against my friend Kevin's Backwoods Bandits. See Stadtkern is German for Downtown, which rhymes with my name. Ha ha, that is funny because most of the NFL Europe teams are based in Germany. The street signs are even in German in Germany Mr. Crouch.
Stadtkern starters:
QB â Dave Ragone
RB â Larry "Zoom Zoom" Croom
RB â Joe Smith
WR â Kelvin Kight
WR â Terrence Stubbs
TE â Tony Donald
Team D â Berlin
Kicker - Nick Setta
Backwoods Bunch
QB â Gibran Hamdan
RB â Ahmaad Galloway
RB â Jarrett Payton
WR â CJ Jones
WR â Cedric James
TE â Ben Moa
Team Defense â Amsterdam
Kicker â Kevin Miller
So basically, email Nate Ravitz and tell him that you will check in with him in July when you care what he has to say. You have real football to watch. www.nflgames.net is where you go to get your fantasy team, but only after the season has started.
My picks in the games this week:
Berlin over Frankfurt
Berlin is good. Dave Ragone is the best and most legit QB in the league. Frankfurt will be using the rotating quarterback system with rusty Akili and Eakin who? Repeat of last year's world bowl.
Cologne over Hamburg.
No World League/NFL Europe team has won its first ever game. This game won't be different. Hamburg's General Manager is not a very bright chick, I mean she did pick Eric Crouch. She may be the first ever female GM in NFL Europe, but that doesn't mean she is smart.
Rhein over Amsterdam
Rhein loaded up with good defense in the allocation and draft process. I really like Jarrett Payton at running back for the Admirals, but not this week. Good defense against QB Gibran Hamdan equals victory.
Tommy Brown can be reached at tommy33624@yahoo.com.
• Discuss this story on the National Football League Europa message board...
National Football League Europa Stories from April 1, 2005
- NFL Europe Fantasy Football Update - OSC Original by Tommy Brown
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
