Football Movie Marathon #3: Two For the Money (2005)

The fact that Two For the Money is an Al Pacino movie made in the 2000s means that it should be probably approached with some skepticism. The fact that Matthew McConaughey shares the lead should only increase these feelings.

McConaughey plays a star college quarterback who suffers injuries that end his playing career. When he realizes he has an uncanny knack for correctly betting on pro football games, he starts making large quantities of successful predictions and is eventually recruited by gambling-advise man Walter Abrams. Abrams makes him the star of a TV gambling show, where he changes his name from Brandon Lang to "The Million Dollar Man" John Anthony. His image is adjusted accordingly and he makes solid picks until he gets too cocky. From here the movie tries to blend a rise and fall story with a father/son like relationship between the main characters. Rene Russo costars but seems to be under utilized on screen. Jeremy Piven gives a decent supporting role in an Ari-like character.

Overall the film is pretty unsuccessful. The last 45 minutes are messy, and most importantly, the stakes in all of the character's stories seem way too overblown and it just gets exhausting. One really ends up not caring what happens to any of them. For me, the highlight of the movie is the big monologue Al Pacino gives at a gambler's anonymous meeting. It's his second-best "so bad it's good" moment of his career, falling behind his speech about God in The Devil's Advocate ("HE'S A CHOKE ARTIST!!! HE'S A SADIST!!! HE'S AN ABSENTEE LANDLORD!!! WORSHIP THAT?! NEVER!!"). Over the top Al can really be a lot of fun, especially with Keanu Reeves or Matthew McConaughey trying to breathe in exactly what the hell he is doing.

Football Movie Marathon Rankings
1. Brian's Song
2. Varsity Blues
3. Two For the Money

All Eyes On Running Backs as Phreaks and Fister Collide in Week 4

To this point, one of the real bright spots for the Phreaks (1-2) has been the stellar play of Buffalo running back Fred Jackson, who has been consistently making significant contributions. This could all change as division rival Fister? I Hardly Know Her (2-1) is prepared for the much awaited return of Marshawn Lynch, who was 13th among running backs in the leauge last season.

Lynch has been an impact player for fantasy owners since entering the NFL. Most fantasy mock drafts had him going somewhere in the 30th to 40th pick before the season started, despite a 3 game suspension. Oddly, he went lower in the LFPFFB draft, where he would have seemingly higher value given the extended fantasy regular season.

The week 4 battle between these two teams should be a fierce divisional rivalry. Will we see one of the two players emerge as the star? Or will both disappoint because of a timeshare with the other? Time will tell.

My Question in Deadspin Column!

Can't do this name dropping on Facebook or anything. Too many relatives on there and the article talks prominently about masturbation.


Jrod944:

Who is going to be the first boner in the media that makes his case for Favre being MVP? You know it is coming...

He'll show up on King's ballot next week if the Vikings win, and I'm certain one of the NFL Live guys will toss it in there sometime this week. And you know damn well Gruden and Jaws will bring up the idea sometime during Monday night's telecast. Speaking of which…


link to article

Oops...

Folk stymies fast start for Lynnhood, LFP Phreaks avoid 12.5 point deficit after missed field goal. Here come Smith and D. Williams.

Monday Night Showdown

It's familiar territory for Mike Harris from the 2008 season, but it's a new year and he's facing a familiar division foe, J.J. Didier, in a must win game for both teams.

With a 7.8 point lead, the Lynnhood Curbstompers look to a couple of stars in the Dallas night to maintain. Roy Williams and Nick Folk will team up to try and keep their team on top of the defending West Division LFP Phreaks and sneak away with a huge win. Meanwhile, DeAngelo Williams who was poison for Harris on Monday Night last year with another team, will join forces with returning Phreaks wide receiver Steve Smith in an effort to narrow the gap and pull the first come from behind Monday Night win of the year for the Phreaks.

Tensions will be running high and the stakes are as high as they can get in Week 3 of the season, so don't miss the fireworks tonight on Monday Night Football!

Scores Updated

The scoring update is up both on the homepage Week 3 at a Glance, as well as the full scoring breakdown on the Week 3 scoreboard accessible from the drop-down menu. Jason Jakubiak, this is to let you know that your wide receivers are all fucked up thanks to ESPN, so Eddie Royal and Vincent Jackson's stats are not updated. Don't worry, it's just more of a blowout when they get added in. If ESPN stops being a fucking waste of my time I'll get those guys added in. For the rest of you, I'll just say the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" is the "Leaguewide Fucking Nuisance".

Love always,
Commish

Scoring Delay

Due to unforeseen circumstances and the typical fucking I received tonight at the hands of ESPN and their gamelog pages for wide receivers, scores will not be updated until tomorrow around lunch time. I sincerely apologize for the delay in scores, but sadly the issues continue for the time being. Know that I am hard at work trying to get things squared away and I feel that in future weeks there will be far fewer surprises and problems that arise. Next weekend I will be back at full strength on things. Once again, I apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience.

Sincerest apologies,
Commish

Football Movie Marathon #2: Varsity Blues (1999)

The second movie in the marathon, Varsity Blues, came out when most of us were in high school. Maybe it is just because of the time frame of the movie's release, but I really have a soft spot for this one that just doesn't seem to be apparent to the general public. On IMDb, where just about everything that's half decent or better scores a 7.0/10 or higher, Blues only comes in with a 6.0/10. That's lower than all those ridiculous Star Wars prequels and the like. Rotten Tomatoes isn't a whole lot kinder, giving the movie just a 40% approval rating. I would never argue that it is a great movie, but I do think that its a pretty damn good one.

I think a lot of the problem is in perception. On the surface, you get cardboard actors like James Van Der Beek ("I.Don't.Wahnt.Yoh.Lahife!") and Paul Walker playing 23-to-35 year old looking high school kids just trying to balance fun and high school football, like a fucked up mix between Friday Night Lights and American Pie. Jon Voight plays the coach that is out there to win at all cost, much to the dismay of the other main characters.

A lot of criticisms one might have about the movie are valid. Some of the characters and subplots are weak. The final game is laid out in a stupid and clumsy fashion..."Let's win the game by 1 point on the last second with trick plays and teamwork like we're the Mighty Ducks! Yeah!". Where are all the defensive players on the team? Why do all the assistant coaches seemingly disappear and let Lance coach the squad when Kilmer walks out? Etc, Etc. These are difficult criticisms to overcome, but I think the movie succeeds is in the scenes that they won't make you aware of in a preview or plot synopsis. What is great about this movie is the town. Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights attempt to dabble in showing a high school football obsessed environment but really don't do a terrific job. This movie does. Mox and Lance aren't particularly exciting to watch on screen, but the scenes with their fathers are excellent. Good football players are treated like celebrities...breaking the law, being given free beer despite being underage, etc. You also get a lot of randoms throughout the movie reflecting on their past that always seems genuine.

When I first watched this movie in high school, I would've described Jon Voight's Coach Kilmer as the bad guy, but now he's more of a sympathic antagonist in some ways. If he is as racist as he is alledged to be by the running back, Wendell, then that is unforgivable. The pushing players to injury when he knows better is unforgivable. Other than that however, he is a man crushed by the weight of his own shadow, and of the expectations in the town. Watching the movie when I'm a little bit older, you realize he is in the right half of the times he is being a bastard. The team shouldn't be screwing around with trick plays in practice when they should be working on the game plan. They shouldn't be at a strip club all night before a big game. He punishes them and is justified in doing so on several occasions. Perhaps the best scene in the movie, is when despite being angry with several of his guys, he sticks up for them when he overhears two of his ex-players bad mouthing the current team in the town diner.

Anyways, its a solid film with more to it than people give it credit for.


Marathon Movie Rankings
1. Brian's Song
2. Varsity Blues

Clark Awarded Week 2 Player of the Week

A bittersweet morning in the records department here at LFP Fantasy headquarters today as we saw two records threatened, maybe even three, but when the dust settled only one record fell.

In an incredible performance the likes of which we have not seen in LFP Fantasy, Dallas Clark started his night off with an 80 yard touchdown strike from Peyton Manning, an impressive feat from the Indianapolis and Breaston My Face tight end. Without scoring another touchdown Clark managed to add another 103 yards and the 175 yard or more scoring bonus to post a final tally of 29.3 points for Jared's team in Week 2. That's a mere 0.3 points, or three yards, better than Alge Crumpler's 29 point record that stood for a full three years. This league has seen two individual records fall in the first two weeks after Drew Brees' stunning performance for the Party Animals in their Week 1 win, and owners around the league hope lightning strikes for them next.

On the radar was the record for highest single team score in one week, where Clark led a late charge to take the top spot away from J.J. Didier's 2006 Rae Carruth's Rap Sheet at 168 points. Oddly enough, the margin of difference was the same as Clark's new record, as the Breaston My Face squad finished with 167.7 points, just 0.3 away from team immortality. Had Clark scored another touchdown or two the record for biggest blowout could have been threatened, but that one will have to wait for another day.

Another high flying week is in the books and free agency starts today, good luck to all the owners of LFP Fantasy.

Records are meant to be...

Broken? Keep an eye on Dallas Clark tonight as Jared's Breaston My Face are poised to take the record for highest single team score in history tonight if his big performance keeps rolling!

Frank Gore Giving Chris Johnson a Run For His Money

38.8 points and hopefully NOT counting for Frank Gore thus far against Seattle. This isn't looking could for the Hawks.

Heck of a start...

Week 2 has started off with some fireworks and we're hoping the second wave of games keeps up the pace! Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub went off across the line from Chris Johnson who was on a mission to show that he won't have any sophomore slump. Now Frank Gore is going crazy against the Seahawks early on and the Buffalo Bills are trying to run things up on Tampa Bay with minimal assistance from T.O. the team killer. Great week of football so far heading ever closer to Sunday night and Monday night games!

Chris Johnson, aka Superman

91-yd TD run just now takes his stat line to:
179 yds Rushing & 2 Touchdowns
91 yds Receiving & 1 Touchdown
Grand total of 50 points for the Gas man... So far.

Name that tune...

Well, it might have felt right at the time, but now that Drew Brees is playing the league leading defense in Philadelphia, let's play name that tune and figure out who said this one:

"luckily for the rest of us, Drew Brees can only play the Lions once (until the playoffs at least"

In the wake of this comment Drew Brees has just tied the NFL record for passing TD's over two games.

Not to jinx anyone but....

Lions up 10-0. Without even unleashing Megatron yet.

Hatred

I select teams I root for as "favorites" so when ESPN shows the scores at the top of their page, I can convinently read the Ms scores or whatever. It just puts the team first so you can read the score without wading through all the other ones. It is nice.

When playing fantasy sports however, this is a real bitch on the scoreboard pages. It gives you juuuuuuuuusssssttt enough time to scroll down to the game you want to look at the vital statistics on, then it refreshes to put the Seahawks game on the top of the pile, rearranging all the other games accordingly. I refresh approximately every 3 minutes, and every goddamn time I forgot that it is going to do this reconfiguration and my reading gets interrupted. Balls.

Titan effort.

Chris Johnson is working on what some may consider a potential upset in Tennessee. 60 yards rushing, 78 yards receiving, and a touchdown both ways... Heck of a first quarter, what can he do the rest of the game to help Nick & Gas try and topple the LFP West leader K-Steezy?

Schaub to Johnson

So far today this is #1 on the highlights on SportsCenter. Andre Johnson just went all Andre Johnson on Tennessee.

Week 2 Starts... Now!

Lady & Gentlemen, here we go! Week 2 is about to be under way and unfortunately the majority of us will be more intently watching the updates on NFL.com and the like than the single game on at 10:00am. If anyone can figure out what channel is NFL Red Zone on Comcast in Seattle let me know!

Rosters Up

Here we are 5-10 minutes after the roster deadline and guess what?... Everything's updated on the website! I hope you all lose this week, see you in the morning!

-Commish

League Leaders

League Leaders are now available from the drop-down menus on the website, go see if your players made it in to the top tier of players after one week of play... Hint, Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson are the tops in the categories, I know a lot of you were wondering.

-Commish

Football Movie Marathon #1: Brian's Song (1971)

Just to keep some content on the blog during the week, I am going to do a marathon of football movies, one a week, until week 17 of the NFL season. I don't do star ratings or anything, because I would just want to change them a week later, but I will keep a running list at the bottom of each weekly post, ranking all movies reviewed from best to worst.



Arguably the best and most famous made-for-tv movie ever made, Brian's Song is my pick to start this little marathon off.

The film stars James Caan (The Godfather) and Billy Dee Williams (The Empire Strikes Back) as Chicago Bears running backs Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, and is based on a book cowritten by Sayers himself.

Sayers, obviously an all time great NFL running back, is an athletic marvel and a shoo-in to be the starting running back of the franchise. Piccolo however proves himself to be a real work horse and also makes the team as a running back. It is from here that the movie begins to lay out one of the better potrayals of friendship committed to the screen. The players room with each other for road games, despite it being very uncommon at the time for a white and a black player to share a room. Eventually, Piccolo moves from backup running back to starting full back, making the pair a force to be reckoned with on the field. The bond between the two assists them in enduring hardships. Sayers is injured badly and Piccolo is an inspiration for him to get back on his feet. When Piccolo comes down with cancer, Sayers is there by his side.

Overall, I really like this movie because I appreciate its honesty. Racism is obviously a prevalent issue in the setting of the movie, and is addressed in a way that never feels didactic (as it will be for future movies in the marathon). They also show a friendship forming properly and growing out of respect. The players bond the way guys actually bond. You know how you'll say shit to your friends that would be "crossing the line" if you just met somebody? The movie has moments like that that one can really appriciate...jokes about the other person's race, who is a better football player, etc.

Probably one of the few movies that guys are allowed to cry at while watching. I didn't of course. I'm a real man.




Marathon Movie Rankings
1. Brian's Song

Adrian Peterson May Become a Star this Year

NBC sports writer makes a column stating that Phillip Rivers, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Matt Ryan and Adrian Peterson may become superstars this year.

The article is appropriately pwned by the fine folks at Fire Joe Morgan here

Ode to Drew Brees

Here's a little ditty that only Drew Brees' owner is old enough to remember when it came out.

Oooooh, Monday Night!

Closest game on record at the moment is my own as the LFP Phreaks got a big boost from Randy Moss but blew a slim lead heading into MNF part deux, as Darren McFadden is making a bid to put Breaston My Face.

Breaston My Face 76.3
LFP Phreaks 72.8

Got it!

For the record, Gostkowski just kicked me into the lead by 0.1 points. Bring it Jared, so what if you have a QB and RB still!

Trying Week 1

Well, as we draw nearer to Monday Night Football fireworks for the first time this season, I will say that the past day has been one of the more stressful for me fantasy football operations-wise. I've been adding your players in and watching things come along with only a few glitches here and there, but my schedule alone over the past three days has absolutely drained me. I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate Kyle and Jared's help with the blog today, as I think it adds a whole new dynamic to the league. Keep up the great work guys and I'll be blogging during MNF for those who can't make it over for the games.

Thanks and enjoy the updated score,
Commish

Afternoon update

Nick/Gas - 59.45 vs. Tony - 45.3
Tony looks in good shape with Brady, Grant and Olsen left

Vick - 123.80 vs. Wong - 29.7
What is the record low again? Jason has Rodgers, Tomlinson, and Gould left

J-Jak - 117.55 vs. Craig - 77.30
Craig should close the gap,but 40 points is too much to make up

Jared - 64.1 vs. Mike - 42.6
Mike has firepower left, but so does Jared. This could come down to the wire

JJ - 81.2 - Kyle - 92.95
Zack Miller and 11+ points against New England's defense

Drew Brees Puts up a Staggering 45.9 Points

2.15 points away from the all time league record for points by a QB

early game update

These updates include defense and all action from the early games

Nick/Gas - 47.35 vs. Tony - 22.2
There is a shitload of fantasy left to play in this one

Vick - 102.3 vs. Wong - 18.6
About that prediction....Wong has a lot of players left but this is over. Drew Brees > Detroit pass defense

J-Jak - 117.55 vs. Craig - 47.9
Must be some bad blood here with Jason using a utility when Craig didn't even field a full team
updated to include Flacco's 27.15 points. Still a long way to go for Craig, but not nearly as embarrassing

Jared - 64.1 vs Mike - 43.6
Too close to call, but Jared is looking good

JJ - 58.4 vs. Kyle 82.95
Kurt Warner will decide this one

Halftime Update

This is were we stand after every early game is at halftime. This should be more accurate, and again no defenses have been tabulated except those that went on thursday and Philly because they were easy to tabulate

Nick 33.2 vs Tony 9.2

Vick 63.8 vs Wong 7.6

J Jak 38.95 vs Craig 14.55

Jared 30.3 vs Mike 21.05

JJ 26.7 vs Kyle 37.75

12:19 update: I'm fucked. fuck you JJ

11 AM update

Obviously this is way unofficial

Nick 30.5 vs. Tony 7.5

Vick 28 vs. Wong 6.8

J-Jak 34.5 vs. Craig 2.75

Jared 29.1 vs. Mike 18.45

JJ 24.9 vs. Kyle 30.95

This doesnt include defenses except Desean Jackson's Punt return

Week 1 predictions

Let's take a look at the first Sunday of the season. We have one game in the books with 13 more today. It's time to get down to business.

My Team Blows Again vs. I Stiff Armed Your Mom (again)
My team Blows looks like a good bet here. Craig has Forte going against a tough GB defense, while J-Jak has AD against Cleveland and Ray Rice against KC. Both of those should have huge days. Craig has the advantage in the receiving corps, but he didn't submit a utility so he would need a miracle to pull this off. Especially with J-Jak inexplicably using Marion Barber in the Utility spot in Week 1.
Prediction MTBA - 107 ISAYM - 81

Show me your TD's vs Hail to the Chefs
Great Googily Moogily this looks like a blowout. Brady>Ryan at the QB slot especially on Monday Night. I would have given Nick/Gas the RB advantage, but they already got a sub par showing from #6 overall pick Chris Johnson on Thursday. Tony has Reggie Bush going against Detroit with starter Pierre Thomas sidelined. Slight edge to Tony with the WRs. Though it will be interesting to see Boldin vs Fitzgerald. When they played together last season they were remarkably close. TE advantage to Tony with Olsen and Keller against Boss and Davis (how did he make the week 1 roster?)

SMYT - 79 HTTC - 98

Party Animals vs. Angry Asians
Vick had 3 players on Thursday account for less than 18 points...not good. Brees should have a huge game vs Detroit, but is it enough to overcome the RB disadvantage? not to mention TE and Kicker advantage. Both receiving corps look weak today, though Welker is the best of the bunch. This should be the lowest scoring game of the day

PA - 77 AA - 80

Breaston My Face vs. LFP Phreaks
Jared already looked at this game in an earlier post. This game looks remarkable close on paper. Both have elite RB1 and substandard RB2, although McFadden should kill Ward over the course of the season. especially with TBs 3 headed time share. These are the two best receiving corps in the league. How well TO performs on Monday night will decide this one

BMF - 104 LFPP - 108

Lynhood Curbstompers vs. Fister? I hardly know her.
JJ's overtly racist curbstompers should be in for a good game this weekend. Warner should be slighlty better than Romo, and the RB match-up should be interesting. JJ has a stronger duo but Kyle (3rd person, bitches) has better match-ups. WRs are a check mark for Kyle especially if Brandon Marshall comes through. Best thing we have going in this game is Kyle's NYG defense vs. Portis and Moss for Wshington. that could decide the game

LC - 91 F?IHNK. - 97

Draft Positions Add Extra Intrigue to Two Games

Two matchups this week are of particular interest, since they pit one owner against another who drafted directly adjacent to them. While many of us will be slapping our foreheads in the near future and whining about who we couldve gotten where, this weekend gives four owners the chance to want to punch a fucking hole in the wall.



The first matchup is that between the Angry Asians and the Party Animals. LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees were considered first round type players by many sources. In a leauge where the skill level is considerably higher than anything the ESPN "experts" could generate however, both slid into the second round. Will either owner strongly regret not taking the other team's player while the option was on the board? The Party Animals bring a 17.7-0 lead into Sunday.



The second matchup is between the LFP Phreaks and Breaston My Face, who selected star running backs DeAngelo Williams and Maurice Jones-Drew with consecutive picks. In the following round, both owners selected wide recievers with Breaston My Face selecting Andre Johnson and the Phreaks picking up Randy Moss. Sources say that Moss and Jones-Drew are both fuming over their snubs by the opposing owners, and are out for street justice.

What's up Sluts?

I will be guest blogging on Sunday while Mike is at the Hawks game. I will try and have a lot of content, especially during the morning games, when I will also try and have scoring updates (unofficial, of course). So make sure to check the site often on Sunday for such things as me making fun of Vikki for drafting Joseph Addai, and me making fun of JJ for getting his ass kicked by me. Hopefully we can make the site more interactive on gamedays. See you tomorrow

VG

It's not completely operational...

Well, thanks to the Thursday game all of my coding is done for week 1 and all that needs to happen is for everyone to play so I can import their data in to all of your spreadsheets... That probably doesn't mean anything to any of you, but just know that things are going swimmingly so far and it looks like I'll be able to get scores updated smoothly after week 1 is complete.

Two things I'm working on:

1. IE compatibility with the website. For now just rock Firefox, Safari, whatever else because only IE doesn't work with the site.

2. GASP! Automatic updates? Yeah, I'm trying. I've got a shit-ton of learning to do about website building, but I'm going to try and make this happen. If anyone knows how to import data from an Excel file directly in to a web page with formatting and everything, I want to talk to you. Major challenges ahead but I'm confident we can rebuild it... We have the technology.

Enough for now, enjoy the updated scores and be thankful I love doing this for you guys.

Sincerest regards,
Commish

Madden Curse Strikes

Polamalu... Welcome to the cover of Madden 10. Is Larry Fitz next?

First blunder of the season?

Creeping up on halftime of the first NFL game of the season and I can't help but notice the glaring absence of Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes from a starting lineup... Ohhh Craig, here's hoping that doesn't cost you!

-Commish

Time to Start Rolling

As you are all waking up for work, the Commish is finally getting ready for bed. I've updated every team's homepage to reflect their freshly chosen new roster, and the draft information is posted in detail on the LFPFantasy.com front page. I hope you all like the changes I have made to team pages so that there is more information, and hopefully everyone has a browser other than IE (preferably Firefox) so that they can use the website functionally. I am working on figuring out how to get the drop-down menus to work on Internet Explorer, but I'm definitely done trying to do it for the night and next day or so. Thanks everyone for helping in another successful draft. Hopefully next year we'll have an entire league in the same room, but who knows really. Side note: If anyone has Gaskill's e-mail for me, that would be great.

The next three days are going to be extremely hectic for yours truly, as I will be recoding every team's spreadsheet for my one-click stat-tracking. All of this hinges on the fact that ESPN and Yahoo won't change their format from last year once we officially hit the NFL regular season, so keep your fingers crossed or I might end up harming someone or something. I'll be more than willing to address questions, comments, concerns, or anything else you might have before Week 1 begins on Thursday night, so fire away.

Free Agency will officially open for Week 1 at noon (12:00pm PST) today, September 8th, and will close for the Thursday game on Wednesday night at 9:00pm PST. If there is an issue with this time please let me know as soon as possible and we can see what the story is. Free agent lists are updated and available from the drop-down menus on the website, but if you see someone who is not available or the lists are missing a player, please notify me immediately. I appreciate everyone helping me keep things straight over the course of the season.

I was extremely happy with how smoothly the draft went, and I was happy to see our three newcomers to the draft feeling confident heading in to the season. Please, no one hesitate to get in touch with me or anyone else in the league if you have questions about anything.

Thanks for a good start everyone, we'll be in touch.

-Commish