Week 1 - News & Notes

A fantastically successful week of games has now been completed. We had some terrific NCAA action, and then tons of NFL hotness lighting up the site. Thanks to you for helping YouBeQB become a phenomenon in online interactive fantasy sports!

Let's start by taking a quick look at some of the hottest YouBeQB's, and then I'll give you some news, notes and general thoughts on life in general.

YouBeQB MVP: The top dawg in the standings at this moment is user: Davidtodohalloffame (32,880 points)

This guy is simply an animal. Want me to hit you with some stats? OK, I'll hit with you some stats.

You talk about a "power user" - Davidtodahalloffame was a QB in 53 separate games (primarily NCAA matchups), and he called 4,398 plays with a 31% success rate. His YouBeQB rating is now 143, and his 'salary' is an astronomical $33,880,000. Unbelievable. That's more amazing to me than the fact that Ashlee Simpson used some rhinoplasty to become hotter than her older sister.

YouBeQB Honorable Mention: Among top point-getters in the Pro category, you've got the QB nicknamed FOZZIE .

FOZZIE got very comfortable with the YouBeQB interface, piling up 25,680 points in 17 games. His play-call percentage sits at a sparking 42%, and this pegs his QB Rating at 210.

Insanely good, and I'm planning to ask for lessons, if he would be willing to share some of his considerable expertise. I just hope he doesn't charge me any more than 75 bucks and hour, because I'm on a fixed income.

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JOHNNY U's CRACKBACKS - Week 1 Edition:

• Interesting article from ESPN.com about the New England Patriots being suspected of spying on opponents. I'm shocked! Shocked, I say. We all know Bill Belichick looks for any edge to help his team win, and I thought it was noteworthy that an anonymous member of NFL's Competition Committee was quoted in the article as saying, "It's not their first time." NFL officials got wind of the shenanigans, apparently, and confiscated a camera from a Pats sideline employee and sent the thing off to the league office in N.Y. to be inspected. Good luck with that, Commissioner Goodell - it should be the least interesting video since the Kim Kardashian "accidentally" leaked her home movies.


• The 'Frisman Jackson Memorial Fantasy Award' is going to be given out this week. (This prestigious award, of course, is given to a player who has a monster Week 1, followed by a general frenzy for the guy in fantasy leagues nationwide, and then Dude is never heard from again for the rest of the season). The award's namesake - in case you can't recall the immortal Frisman - is a guy who caught like 800 yards worth of balls for the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 of 2005. Everyone got more revved up than a groupie in Justin Timberlake's hotel lobby, and then Frisman didn't catch another ball for the rest of the season (which is a shame, since I love the name 'Frisman' like a fat kid loves cake. We all need more 'Frisman' in our lives). In any event, this year's nominees for the award are: Ronald Curry (133 yds, 1 TD), Antwaan Randle-El (5 catches, 162 yds - but 55 yards came on a fluke ricochet at the end of the first half), Shaun McDonald (90 yds, 1 TD) and an Honorable Mention to Drew Carter (2 cheap TD catches on only 19 yds receiving). I think the smart money to become the next Frisman is Randle-El, since the guy did virtually nothing in 2006, and Santana Moss is clearly The Guy in Washington. (I'm probably wrong about this, as I am about most things across a variety of subjects.)


• From the "Can You Frickin' Believe It?!" File: I don't know if you knew this (you probably did, because you seem pretty sharp), but Michigan and Notre Dame have never (EVER) both started out 0-2 in the same season. I'd put the Over/Under on "Total # of 'For Sale' Signs Planted in Charlie Weis's and Lloyd Carr's Front Yards by Angry Fans" at 42.5. (And give me two dimes on the Over.)

• Tough opening week for Browns QB Charlie Frye. First, his Browns get blown out by the Stillers in Week 1. No real big surprise there, the Browns have been getting the business-end of the Steelers wrath for years now - but Frye didn't just lose a game, or even his starting job. The guy got traded first thing on Tuesday morning, before his jockstrap even finished the Delicates cycle in the dryer! Now that's a tough week.


• I think it's pretty easy to read the tea leaves on that one - even though Brady Quinn held out for most of training camp, it's clear that the Quinner is being groomed for the starting job, sooner rather than later. (And by 'sooner', I mean before Target can get their Halloween decorations put up). Personally, I believe this is a mistake. Does no one remember the mistakes that were made with Tim Couch and Akili Smith? (and I'm talking about mistakes *besides* the decision to draft them in the first place.) Rushing along a young QB, especially one who missed big chunks of training camp, always ends badly. Couch and Akili fit that bill, and both of them bombed worse than K-Fed's rap album. (By the way, before any of you wise-apples point out to me that Akili Smith was not a Brown, I'm well aware of this. Thank you. My point was that - even though Akili Smith's extraordinarily-brief NFL career imploded in Cincinnati, which is right down I-75 a spell from Cleveland - he held out and then was rushed along too soon. That, coupled with the fact that he sucked, spelled doom for his chances of success.)

• I attended the Niners-Cardinals game on Monday night (GREAT ending, by the way - more action in the last five minutes than an entire Kansas City Royals season), and I have to say that Vernon Davis looked like a complete non-factor in the Niners offense. For a guy selected #6 overall in the NFL Draft, I was amazed to see Alex Smith never look in his direction. V.D. grabbed one little 4-yard pass on the final drive of the game, but other than that he looked like a high-priced decoy to me.


• Don't know if you caught this in the highlights (since I sincerely doubt you were watching the Chiefs-Texans game), but it was good to see beleaguered former-#1 pick Mario Williams have a good game. While the Texans were (justifiably) pilloried in the media and skewered by their fans - who would have much preferred to see them use that top pick on Reggie Bush or hometown boy Vince Young - Williams has experienced the brunt of the blowback, through no fault of his own; after all WILLIAMS didn't make the mistake of picking himself #1. That blame gets apportioned to former Texans GM Charlie Casserly and owner Bob McNair. What should Williams have done? Say, "Sorry, I think there are a couple of more-deserving guys than me to take this $64 million. I'd prefer to go #3." Is that reasonable? That's about as likely as Samuel L. Jackson or Ben Stiller ever saying No to a script.

• So, on Sunday against Kansas City, Williams had a pair of sacks and returned a fumble for a TD. Good for him. It's not going to wash the stink of Charlie Casserly's mistake off of him, but it's nice to see him have some success.

That's it for this edition of the blog! Be sure to check back regularly for the newest installment.

--JohnnyUnitas