'Hard Knocks' at Afterbuzz TV

I can't believe how quickly Football Training Camp came and went.  'Hard Knocks' focuses on those five weeks and specifically one team; this year it was the newly re-located back to LA Rams.  After 21 years in St. Louis, they came back to Cali!  This year I was Lead Hosting and Producing our segment with my new co-host, Joe Doyle.  We also had Throwback Joe join us for the first and last episodes to bring a little extra to our show!

Throwback Joe, Joe Joe Doyle and I Hosting 'Hard Knocks'

I am a die-hard Packer fan and will be for life; I've been on that season ticket waiting list since I was nine years old, thanks to my Mom.  They used to say by the time we were in our 50's, we would finally get tickets.  Now we'll be lucky if we get them in our lifetime, thanks to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, along with the other greats, leading us to victory and winning the Superbowl many times over the last 20 years!  

One thing I've noticed watching 'Hard Knocks' over the last few years is that you get invested in the team they are profiling.  I was excited about the Falcons and even said Devonta Freeman would be a late draft pick-up for Fantasy and would yield high results and I was right!  Last year's Houston Texans got me excited about their team and made me a huge fan of J.J. Watt, who I should already have been a fan of because he's from Wisconsin and played at UW-Madison.  This year it was exciting to have an LA Football team and someone else to root for, and learning about the players, I really enjoyed watching Aaron Donald, William Hayes, Tavon Austin, and Austin Hill.

Over the five weeks, you get an inside look at practices, team camaraderie, the pre-season games, home life, and most importantly, cuts to the teams roster which ends with 53 players making the team.  I got Throwback Joe's contact info from my friend, Shawn, who's been a Rams fan for as long as he can remember.  Throwback Joe creates new Rams gear with that Throwback-style, and has some big time players on board, like Vince Ferragamo and Eric Dickerson.  He gets the new players to sign the gear and then sends it out the people who have placed their orders.  He's been a fan of the Rams and followed them wherever they've been so it was great having a true fan in to chat with us about the Rams.  Plus, he was gracious enough to give us some gear to do a Giveaway with and send to some lucky fans!

Episode 1 of our 'Hard Knocks' Aftershow

Joe and I had a really great season Hosting our 'Hard Knocks' Aftershow at Afterbuzz TV and I will continue to keep track of the Rams this season and hopefully get to attend a game as well!  Ram Nation...let's go :)

Always a believer in Mermaids!  Our final 'Hard Knocks' show at Afterbuzz TV this season :)

*You can find Throwback Joe's in the App Store which you need to check out if you want to get any LA Rams gear!

'Hard Knocks' is back!

'Hard Knocks' is back and that means I'm Hosting at Afterbuzz TV with our Football fans, Christina, Stef, and new Host, Frank this season while we talk all about the Houston Texans!  J.J. Watt, originally from Wisconsin, went to school at UW-Madison is clearly the stand-out on the team but it's exciting to see new additions and other big players continuing to make plays during the pre-season and I think under the Coaching of Bill O'Brien, it's a strong team to contend with!

Hosting at Afterbuzz TV with Christina, Stef, and Frank for Week 1 of 'Hard Knocks'

The fact that we get to talk about Football for nearly an hour already excites me but when you add that insider perspective behind the scenes at training camp, you really reel me in!  With the addition of some awesome players and a very New England heavy team, including Coaches. I believe the Texans will make it to the play-offs this season.  Their schedule this season looks good and if their wide receivers and running backs come in confident, Hoyer will make contact, and lead his offensive team well.  He's got Cecil Shorts coming from Jacksonville, DeAndre Hopkins who is currently listed as their number one receiver while Freddy Blue is listed as their number one running back.  With the plays that Chris Polk was making during last week's pre-season game, I think he'll be coming in and potentially start depending on how well Blue does.  Jaelon Strong also showed promise as a Rookie wide receiver so we'll just have to see what happens in the upcoming weeks.  J.J. is always such a leader, and there's no doubt that their defense with Vince Wilfork, Brian Cushing, and Rahim Moore, their line is going to be massive, and I'm really liking Charles James at cornerback and jumping in at running back as well.  During the show we haven't seen too much of special teams so I'll be interested in seeing who will be taking that starting position returning punts!

I was able to Lead Host during Week Two of 'Hard Knocks' so that was very exciting since we just started doing a 'Hard Knocks' show at Afterbuzz last year.  I started watching Football with my Mom at a very young age, always cheering the Packers on, and my Mom put me on the Packers Season Ticket Waiting List when I was nine years old.  I'm still waiting and it seems like it's going to be quite some time before I even see an opportunity for those tickets.  I started Cheerleading and took camps in Middle School and was on our High School and then Winona State's Cheerleading Team all throughout college.  When you're a Cheerleader, you're literally right in the action so I got used to knowing what was going on and what each of the positions had to do in order to win or lose a game.  I miss being right on the sidelines when I go and see Football games nowadays.  

Week Two of 'Hard Knocks' coming to ya from Afterbuzz TV

Needless to say, I've been interested in Football ever since I was a little girl and getting to Host our 'Hard Knocks' Aftershow at Afterbuzz TV is a dream come true!  The perks of doing this show are the insights we get into the team as well as other teams.  Finding out who will be starting or playing back-up is very beneficial when I get ready to draft for my Fantasy Football Team.  I'll start doing Mock Drafts next week and figuring out where and when I can draft certain players and more than likely I'll pick up a Texan or two since I'm on the Houston train...or should I say, Wisconsinite Watt Train!

I'm looking forward to an exciting Football Season and all I can say is, Go Pack Go!  And Aaron Rodgers...you'll always be my favorite <3

Home for Christmas! Part 2.

Christmastime at home in Wisconsin always flies by and with Christmas falling on Wednesday I knew my trip back home was almost half-way over.  It had snowed the day before Christmas so the backyard looked magical and white.  That's exactly what I want when I'm heading home; it just doesn't feel right here in California to see Christmas lights and no snow.  It was a perfect White Christmas!

Wegner Christmas Family Photo!

Gifts had been opened on Christmas morning and I was proud of some good finds, including a cool Beatles shirt for Bobby, a new Nintendo so Mom could play Dr. Mario, as well as a Lady Antebellum Christmas CD, a matching scarf and pants for my Dad, as well as a Duck Flop I found in Santa Barbara were some well-received gifts.  Later that day the rest of our family came over and we had a nice feast and played games late into the evening.  Mom and I did our annual after-Christmas shopping trip on Thursday and since we had been efficient we had enough time to stop by the Casino for an hour so Mom could get her fix and so I could win a little money on the Wizard of Oz game.

It's on...

On my last night back home I got to see some of my close friends while going out in Downtown P-Town as well as spend some time with my cousin and have a couple cocktails.  No trip to Wisconsin is complete without an Old-Fashion or two, a Leinenkugel beer (this time it was the Vanilla Porter) and Beaver shots which are Cherry Liquor dropped into Orange Soda.  Yummy!

I even spent a couple days in Chicago with Neil and his family, including Diego, enjoyed some amazing Football food and an edge of your seat game when the Packers beat the Bears to become division champs.  Unfortunately, my Fantasy Football team saw it's demise again falling into 4th place even though I had a great game from Cordarelle Patterson, Vernon Davis (whom I needed to have a good game the week before), Gostkowski, my Kicker whom got me 15 points and my Cincinnati Defense.  It wasn't enough to beat Travel Belly but he probably had icky tummy when his Bears lost to my Pack and I'll take a Packer win any day over a Fantasy win.  We watched American Hustle on Sunday night and I really enjoyed it.  I wasn't a huge fan of Silver Linings Playbook and enjoyed this movie much more.  I loved Amy Adams performance, and wanted to wear all the ladies outfits and costumes, and thought the movie moved quickly and kept me entertained.  It's one of my favorites so far!

It was back to LA before I knew it and now I wish I could be back in Wisconsin for a couple more days without the responsibilities of the holidays and just time to enjoy family and relax.  I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2014 :)

Fantasy Football Semi-Final for Week 16 and Placing in Week 17

It came down to Monday night this past week to find out if I would be playing for the big money in the Championship this week but unfortunately, Vernon Davis had his worst game, not catching anything and didn't have any rushing or running yards therefore, scoring no points, and knocking me out of the Winner's Circle.  I out-scored my projections and beat every other team in the league but couldn't out-score The Dawg's who will take on Count Drunkula in the final.  I'll be playing for 3rd against the fallen Travel Belly's and hoping to win back my buy-in.  It's possible!

Cordarelle Patterson has proved to be a great pick-up and brought nearly 18 points and playing my other pick-up Emmanuel Sanders also was smart, even though I benched Cooper for him, playing Randle instead, and those extra points would have been what I needed to prevail against The Dawg's but with Cooper not doing much, I didn't think he'd be a winner with Randle and the Giants playing Detroit.  Per usual, Murray had a wonderful game but Jennings had an average game with McFadden back in but I have no doubts for this week's game!  Once again, my Kicker, Gostkowski brought in a huge game with 13 points and my Cincinnati Defense got me 24 points.  It's unfortunate I lost but I'm proud of my season and team for playing their best!

My Week 16 Match-Up

This week I picked up Michael Crabtree at WR since Sanders was Questionable and Randle hasn't had a good game in weeks thanks to my arch nemesis, Eli Manning.  I've got Cooper back in as well as Patterson who is already having an incredible game.  Even though Aaron Rodgers will be starting this week against the Bears in what's going to be a great game to make the play-offs I'm playing Foles who will also be looking for a play-off spot.  I had to laugh when I heard the analysts this morning talking about who to start at QB and they all said start Rodgers unless you have Foles, then you have to start him.  Of course, I have both of them.  

Most of the games are really important today in teams making the play-offs or having a home field advantage. Keep an eye on your favorite players and root for the best team, The Packers to make play-offs and bring an interesting season to fruition with a win today and perhaps a fun Superbowl in a few weeks!

Fantasy Football Play-Off Week 15 and Semi-Final for Week 16

I had a great Play-Off game this week but it was close for a while!  The Cowboy Monkey's started off strong for their Thursday Night Game and on Sunday morning we were still neck in neck, thankfully a strong performance by DeMarco Murray, Rashad Jennings, Nick Foles, and Vernon Davis brought me a win, even though my Cincinnatti Defense was bordering on another week with negative points.  In typical fashion, my WR's couldn't get anything together, and that was partially due to horrible play by Eli Manning, as well as a continued disconnect for Riley Cooper with Foles.  My pick-up of Cordarelle Patterson was a smart one as he got me 11 points!  *I do know what I'm talking about!*  I beat my projected points by 14 and am going to need another big week in order to beat my nemesis, Ditka's Dawgs.

My Week 15 Play-Off Match-Up

I lost Victor Cruz for this week due to a concussion and knee injury (not that he's been that much help in the past month) and with Detroit's Defense giving up the 3rd most Fantasy points to WR's I'm considering playing Rueben Randle even though he was catch-less this past game.  He should be starting this week with Cruz out but it's still a risky play.  I could use another WR in place of him or Cooper, and Rod Streater continues to be on the radar since his bro-mance with McGloin has been on par since Week 11.  He's over-shadowing Denarius Moore and has become the go-to guy!  I've also mentioned Emmanuel Sanders before, and he had a 3 TD streak going up until last week but should be back on track for his game against the Packers this weekend, even if I don't want to admit that.

With the incredible game that Foles brought last week I couldn't bench him even if Rodgers was coming back this week.  I love my Packer's QB but coming off an injury and not playing for the past 6 weeks is too risky to start him.  I've got Murray and Jennings starting at RB and moved Patterson up to my WR1 spot with Davis at TE.  I might look at some other Defenses this week since Cincinnati has been having some trouble as of lately but that's not something I'm completely worried about.

This week's semi-final is going to be a challenging one as I haven't won any match-ups against The Dawg's but that doesn't matter, because it just comes down to this game.  I'm still in 3rd place, playing the 2nd place team, while Travel Belly is still in first playing the 5th place Count Drunkula team.  There were a lot of close match-ups this week but for the most part, the best teams have prevailed and if I can out-wit my good week vs bad week for the past 6 games I can win this game with hitting past my projections and rooting on the good guys of Elle Dubbs Dudes!  To top it all off, my Packers have won their last two games in a row and can still make the play-offs so good vibes to them this week against the Pittsburgh Steeler's :)

Fantasy Football Week 14 Recap and Play-Off Spots for Week 15

In true form I went from a fantastic week to an average week and didn't meet my Fantasy points expectations.  Not that it would have mattered because Ditka's Dawgs out-scored their projections by 25 points and I lost by almost 60.  As the first games of Sunday began and I saw the snow storm happening in Philadelphia I knew it was going to be a tough week for me, thinking Nick Foles wouldn't get close to his projections because how could anyone catch any balls, and it was probably going to be a running game but he impressed me hitting his projections in the snow and Cooper found chemistry with his QB out-scoring his projections as well.  Wes Welker finally came back after a bad showing for the past month but got a concussion in the last quarter of the game which will cause him to more than likely miss his Thursday night game this week.  I can always count on DeMarco Murray and Gostkowski and Vernon Davis also had a good game this week.  My troubles came into play with my suggested pick-up of Donald Brown, a negative score from my Cincinnati Defense and yet again, darn you Eli Manning, it's got to be your fault that Cruz only got 4.2 points.

My Week 14 Match-Up

Since this week begins the Play-Offs for Fantasy Football I'm not going to get too in-depth with pick-ups because most league owners probably have their line-ups set and back-ups on deck in case you've had any late season injuries.  Since Rashad Jennings got a concussion in Week 13 and didn't play this past weekend along with Darren McFadden I picked up Marcel Reece who had an awesome game this past Sunday getting over 24 Fantasy Points.  I'm not sure I'd play him over Jennings if he's cleared for play but he's good to have in my back-up spot.  With Wes Welker out and inconsistent Wide Recievers on my team I could use another WR so looking at Cordarrelle Patterson isn't a bad idea.  He's scored a couple TD's in the past couple weeks and with Peterson out he's looking at more playing time.

I've got decisions to make in my QB, WR, and RB spots since injuries have plagued my team this season.  With the possibility of Aaron Rodgers return thanks to the win against Atlanta this weekend I'd love to put him back in his starting spot but I'm not even sure he'd play the entire game since they'll want to protect him if we get further into the play-offs and Nick Foles has been having an incredible season.  I've moved Riley Cooper up to my WR1 with Cruz at WR2 and Randle at my Flex position but I honestly don't trust any of them completely.  It would be nice to have a great WR for the next 2 weeks to count on during these tough play-off match-ups.  As for my RB I've just got to wait to see who is going to be playing this week.  There's no way I'd play Brown again so I've got Murray in for sure but need to decide on which Raider RB to play and that'll be a game-time decision.  It was a fluke this past week with Cincinnati and believe they'll come back and bring a strong Defense this week against Pittsburgh.

I'm still in 3rd place and playing the 6th place team, The Cowboy Monkeys, this week in the first round of play-off games.  There's a 6 point difference between our projected points with the Monkeys winning but I have faith in my team to come together and have an awesome week and start the play-off round strong to keep my 3rd place status and go into the 2nd round of play-offs next week.  Let's go Packers...I want to see a great game against Dallas this weekend; big points from DeMarco Murray, having to run the ball for TD's but with a Green Bay win overall :)

Fantasy Football Week 13 Recap and Projections for Week 14

It happened again...after a 66 point game last week, I almost doubled my score this week bringing in 126 points and winning my match-up!  Still inconsistent and frustrating are Wes Welker who hasn't hit his projections in the past 4 weeks, Riley Cooper seems to have lost his chemistry with Foles, and Victor Cruz who hasn't seen many balls from Eli Manning but luckily I made the smart choice this week by leaving Randle on my bench and playing my optimal line-up.  I had great games from Foles and my Cincinnati Defense, and even better games from my New England Kicker, Vernon Davis, Rashad Jennings, and DeMarco Murray all out-scoring their projections.  It was a great start to Thanksgiving seeing Murray and Jennings starting my games out right this week!  The Westside Dukes certainly put up a good fight but I needed this win and am solid at 3rd place, with an 8-5 record, tied with Ditka's Dawgs who are in 2nd and only beating me by 60 points.  I can do this!

My Week 13 Match-Up

This week you might want to take a chance on QB Ryan Fitzpatrick for a pick-up.  He's scored over 20 Fantasy Points in 4 of his past 6 starts and taking a chance on him could prove beneficial with play-offs right around the corner.  Donald Brown has taken over for Trent Richardson at RB on the Colts and with 4 TD's this past week he had a huge game.  It'll be a tough match-up at Cincinnati this weekend but he should be on par for bigger games the next couple of weeks.  Another RB to take a look at would be Montee Ball considering he was the #2 option for Denver in the backfield with 117 rushing yards against the Chiefs.  He's got a good match-up with Tennessee this weekend.  For a WR, even though he's a Flex option or WR3, Emmanuel Sanders has scored TD's in his last 2 games.  He's up against Miami this weekend and hoping for a bigger game than last week as long as he can hold onto the ball.  At TE Ladarius Green for the Chargers is a nice pick-up with Gates still not 100%.  He's a TE1 and considering he's up against the Giants who give up the 8th most Fantasy Points to TE's, he's a consistent choice.

 

With Rashad Jennings still questionable after his late game concussion on Thursday, Darren McFadden may be taking over for him, either way, I'll have a strong RB to start in addition to Murray.  I picked up Donald Brown in case I'm not feeling my Oakland boys and considering Ridley has been riding that bench like a champion jockey.  I really need to find a consistent Wide Receiver and continue to check the Waiver Wire and Free Agents to pick someone up but there's no one that I can count on more than my current team so I have to trust that Wes Welker will get back to his season starting awesomeness, Cooper and Foles can find some chemistry on the field and Manning starts to play like an actual QB and not just some lucky guy that won a Superbowl.

 

I've got a difficult Match-Up this week against Ditka's Dawgs who beat me back in Week 7 with a low-scoring game.  The Dawg's are projected to beat me by nearly 9 points but I still have faith in my Dudes and their ability to do awesome as long as they play like winners!  There's some great match-ups against teams this week so the games should be close and we've got an exciting week of Football ahead!

Fantasy Football Week 12 Recap and Projections for Week 13

I'm not quite sure how it happens but I have an incredible week with over 130 points and the next I'm scoring less than 70.  Two of my star players had one of their worst weeks with Victor Cruz scoring just 0.7 points and Wes Welker with 3.62.  I ended up playing Stevan Ridley over DeMarco Murray which was a mistake considering Ridley scored NEGATIVE 0.6 thanks to a fumble in the first quarter and was benched immediately following it.  Case Keenum was a bust only scoring 5.96 and those 4 players, had they scored a combined 31 extra points would have helped me beat Count Drunkula.  I barely hit 50% of my projected points!  Unfortunately, the rest of my team did a pretty good job with my Houston Defense bringing in 16 points, my NE Kicker bringing in 10, and Rashad Jennings and Vernon Davis bringing in 12 a piece but my other players blew it.  Thankfully, I'm still in 3rd place with a 7-5 record.

My Week 12 Match-Up

Since the Bye weeks are over I can bring back some of my players from the bench but let's talk about a few pick-ups since there were some injuries that plagued Week 12.  With Cutler out, Josh McCown has taken over and considering the match-up with the Rams, he should have a good week.  Alex Smith has been getting the ball to Dwayne Bowe more frequently and this will be the Chiefs biggest game of the year against the Bronco's.  A good WR choice would be Rod Streater since he's been Matt McGloin's go-to guy for the Raiders with Denarius Moore out.  He's scored 9 points in 3 of the 4 last games.  Wide receiver Nate Burleson came back strong after his forearm injury with 77 yards and a TD; the Lions schedule is favorable and Burleson would be a good pick-up for the play-offs.  Benny Cunningham at RB has filled in for Zac Stacy who's out with injury and made the most of his touches with 109 yards and a TD and that's no fluke!  The Buffalo Bills lead the NFL in sacks and interceptions and their upcoming games should bring major points for them; their Defense would be a smart pick.

This week I'll be playing Nick Foles who is back from his Bye in addition to Riley Cooper and I'm hoping their chemistry is back on track for some major points from both.  I'm up in the air as to play Cruz or Randle and that decision follows me around the entire weekend and taunts me considering Randle has out-scored Cruz (or gotten close) in the past few weeks and I've played Cruz.  I picked up Baltimore's Defense but will still consider playing Cincinnati as I've been able to count on them weekly.  I've got Rashad Jennings and DeMarco Murray back in my starting RB positions and look forward to that match-up tomorrow for the Thanksgiving games.

My Packers are playing tomorrow and with Matt Flynn starting I'm looking forward to a great 9:30 am game from my team!  I'm hoping to get a good start for tomorrow's games so that I can relax a little this weekend.  I'm playing The Westside Dukes and our projections will put us neck-in-neck till the end but we should know our fate at the end of Sunday night's games.  I can solidify 3rd place this week with a win, but need to gain some points to get back on track for a 2nd place finish.  Enjoy the Turkey and Football that Thanksgiving brings tomorrow :) 

Fantasy Football Week 11 Recap and Projections for Week 12

I won my Match-Up this week going into it a little doubtful considering our original projections were nearly 20 points apart with Green Bush Shorts winning but pulled off a win thanks to an awesome game by Nick Foles and my Cincinnati Defense who brought in 37 points!  My pick-up of Rashad Jennings was spot on considering he scored 22.8 points.  I'm a little bummed on my pick-up of Riley Cooper considering the chemistry between him and Foles in previous games but I'm sure he'll bounce back in the following weeks.  Thankfully Victor Cruz was one of Eli's favorite WR's this week and was able to out-score Randle, just barely, but got back to the double digits.  I really needed a win this week considering The Shorts and I were both 6-4.  I'm back in 3rd place this week and 80 points behind The Dawgs who are also 7-4 and tied with me.

My Week 11 Match-Up

Since Aaron Rodgers is out for another couple weeks and Foles is on a Bye I needed to pick up a QB so I went with Case Keenum, one of my suggestions from a couple weeks ago who according to Coach Kubiak will be the starting QB even though Matt Schaub took over for Keenum who was benched, and did worse in relief.  Carson Palmer would also be a good pick-up for this week if you've got your QB on a Bye and need someone for Week 12.  Bobby Rainey the RB for Tampa Bay, got 32 touches in the game against Atlanta and scored 3 TD's getting 167 total yards.  This week may not be his best week considering Tampa Bay is going up against Detroit but the next couple of games should be great match-ups.  Another RB to consider would be Montee Ball, who plays behind Knowshon Moreno but scored 2 TD's against an undefeated Kansas City.  He's a rookie so he's not completely reliable at this point but a good flex option.  As for your WR, Santonio Holmes is back in the Jets line-up after a hamstring injury.  Holmes should be targeted more each week and even though he only saw 8 targets this week he got 71 yards and should be able to produce even more for the Jets as he's back in action.  Some of my frustration this year has come from Vernon Davis at my TE position.  He's been injured, in and out of games, had monster weeks, and then done nothing the following week, so I'm always playing around with that position.  So if you're looking for a TE, Delanie Walker, from Tennessee has continued to pursue more looks and just this week against Indianapolis got 91 yards and a TD.  He'll be heading towards the number one TE position on the Titans again.

This week I'll be playing both Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle as they both seem to be scoring points and there's no way I can bench Cruz to play Randle, and I haven't seen any good WR's in our league's available players.  At least for now.  I want to play Rashad Jennings again, I'm just not sure which of my other RB's to bench.  I've got to decide between DeMarco Murray who is back from his Bye but playing against the Giants who've given up the 5th fewest Fantasy Points to RB's or Ridley, who continues to fumble but seems to find the end zone as well.  I picked up Houston's Defense this week since they're playing Jacksonville and they've given up the most points to Defense's this season so they should bring me some points.

My Match-Up this week is going to be close as there's not even a 2 point spread and I've picked up new players and need to count on them this week to hit their projections in order to win.  Onwards and upwards and good games for all my players and perhaps I can back up to the #2 spot in the next week or two!

Fantasy Football Week 10 Recap and Projections for Week 11

I'm on a 2 game losing streak and starting to get a little frustrated with the injuries that continue to plague my team.  Not to mention, a bad suggestion from the Cowboy Monkey's to sit Randle since I was already playing Cruz, and why would I play two WR's from the same team?  Well, that decision brought me a loss, and had I played Randle, I would have beat the Monkey's (no pun intended) by 0.7.  My advice friends, go with your gut, and trust it!  I'd be tied for 2nd place right now (only being on the bottom end of that because I have fewer points than The Dawgs).  My pick-up of Foles was right on since he out-scored his projections by over 8 points and at least I could count on DeMarco Murray to bring in over 15 points with my Cincinnati Defense rounding out my double digits with 17 Fantasy Points.  My decision to pick up Justin Tucker was good since he got 9 points but Wes Welker, Victor Cruz, Vernon Davis (who went out with an injury) and Marvin Jones brought in a total of 6.9 points against their projected point total which would have been 34.72.  Horrible.

My Week 10 Match-Up

For pick-ups this week and starting with Running Backs, I'd take a look at Dennis Johnson considering Ben Tate still isn't 100% (but if Tate is still available in your league, pick him up) because he's taken over Arian Foster's role, now that he's out due to necessary back surgery.  That's my #1 draft pick lost to an injury...fantastic!  Since I lost Mike James, who went out with what's been listed as a broken ankle, in the first quarter just before he could score a TD I picked up Rashad Jennings (who I suggested last week) since he seems to have taken over for Darren McFadden who is still doubtful to return this week and seems to enjoy sitting on my bench nursing his injury.  Yet another RB to look at would be Danny Woodhead and although he was a bust for me when he played on the Patriots he seems to have found his groove with the Chargers and is projected over 10 points this week.  After having to drop yet another player because of an injury, in place of Michael Floyd, a good WR pick-up would be Andre Roberts who caught 5 passes for 72 yards and got a TD.  The Charger's have given up the 4th most fantasy points to Wide-Outs, so Rishard Matthews from from the Dolphin's may be a good WR choice.  He scored 2 TD's with 120 yards on Monday night!  And if you're still looking for a QB, Case Keenum is proving himself for the Texans, Nick Foles is bringing the heat on the Eagles and Matt Flynn has re-joined the Packers, even though he won't be starting this week.  Flynn is a great pick-up for the Packers and he clearly has chemistry with the team and we need him around if we want to make the Play-Offs and get another Superbowl win!

I'll be starting Ridley and Jennings at the RB position this week with Riley Cooper in my flex position since he is an undeniable talent when catching passes from Nick Foles.  I think that Welker and Cruz just had off weeks and will be back on the points game this week since I'm playing The Green Bush Shorts who took my 3rd place position and I want to be back on the top!  He is projected almost 20 points more than me but I just need a monster week from my team and hopefully Vernon Davis will be healthy this weekend.  I've got Gostkowski back as my Kicker and my Cincinatti Defense against Cleveland so it is possible!

Guys, eat your Wheaties, drink your milk, and up your vitamins!  I know this is a tough game and obviously very hard on your bodies, but something needs to change so everyone isn't so injury-prone.  Having the Bye weeks has been challenging enough but then with my players out due to injuries, it's been down-right difficult to get a win.  Thankfully, the Bye weeks end after next week so we can get back to the real game and let our players decide our fate :)  Good Luck in Week 11!

The Catch Up Game

It's November and that means Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Sauce, Green Bean Casserole and other fun Thanksgiving treats are making their way to the front of the grocery store.  It also means Christmas commercials, holiday music, and Santa will all be here very soon.  Even though the change of seasons in LA isn't as noticeable as in Wisconsin, I can still tell that it's Fall because the air gets a little crisper, it gets darker sooner, and people are walking outside with hats and scarves on the 40ish degree nights.  I'm playing the catch up game and reflecting on my resolutions and goals for this year and I'm really happy with where I've been at the last year and past couple months!  

Find me on Twitter.com/LyndseyWegner or Facebook.com/LyndseyWegner

In August, Neil and I played a live show at The Garage for a friend's Birthday Party and that was something completely new for me, singing a whole show with Neil, just us and his acoustic guitar.  Totally different than Karaoke but absolutely addicting.  We also saw an 80's Cover Band play at Canyon Club in Agoura Hills which I had never been to before and is known for it's performers and shows.  I heard Pat Benetar plays there, so the next time she's playing I hope I can go!  I saw 'Women Are Crazy, Because Men Are A**Holes' because I had friends who were in the show, and it certainly made me want to get more involved in theater after seeing such an awesome production!  And to top it all off, my brother's band, The Hussy, came out to LA while they were doing a West Coast Tour and performed at Redwood Bar!

Keeping an eye on my goals!

When September rolled around, I had already worked on a friend's music video (we just filmed some more footage this past week and have a couple final scenes before the video is completed) which will be coming out in December.  Neil and I took my first trip to Santa Barbara where we went Wine Tasting at a couple different Wineries and walked all around the city, eating Dinner at a quaint little Italian Restaurant in downtown.  Even though we missed the Sara Bareilles show we still had a blast!  At the end of the month, Neil and I saw Keith Urban perform at the Hollywood Bowl (my first show there) and he was incredible :D

By October I had decided to launch a new concept for my blog so I filmed a Fantasy Football Teaser and now currently feature a weekly blog about Fantasy Football Pick-ups, Projections, and Stats, along with my Weekly Match-Up.  I also did my first ever show for Afterbuzz TV, where we do a post-game wrap up of the show 'Supernatural.'  I filmed my 5th episode this week and love working for the company and getting to Host on a weekly basis!  Neil and I worked on a Halloween Music Video, where he rapped and I sang, (in the style of Eminem & Dido) and the music video came out just before Halloween.  We also saw 30 Seconds to Mars perform at the Hollywood Bowl as well (our second time seeing them together)!  I spent a lot of time with my girlfriends in the past month, grabbing Dinner, hitting up a party, and even seeing a Kings Game from the Luxury Box thanks to Marty.  In the midst of all the crazy I did a workshop at ACT Now for 2 weeks so that was a fun learning experience too and also uploaded my Commercial Reel to be viewed on YouTube!

Talk about a busy couple of months but I wouldn't want it any other way.  I'm paving my own path and when things start to get frustrating or I wonder what I'm doing, something makes me realize everything is happening for a reason and that's when the big things hit!  I can't wait to see what's next...

Fantasy Football Week 9 Recap and Projections for Week 10

I always say that if I have to lose my Match-Up it's totally worthwhile if the Packers win.  I'll take their win and a loss any day just because I want me Team in the Superbowl but this week I saw 2 losses.  I had an absolutely horrendous week with so many players on Bye and gambling on new players and with McFadden and Rodgers leaving their games with injuries I had no chance to even get a decent point total and fell flat at just 57 points.  I left Ridley on the bench to score over 22 points, which was practically half of my total points for this week.  My pick-up of Ted Ginn Jr was worthless considering he brought in under 2 points but I have to be happy since Bowe and Jones nearly hit their projections and Jones was a good pick-up for the week.  Even though Kyle Rudolph went out with an injury it wasn't before he scored a TD and got me 9.50 points.  In the most unfortunate of situations my Kicker out-scored everyone on my team.  Yup.

My Week 9 Match-Up

I've already made some pick-ups this week and first off is Nick Foles who had a fantastic week with 7 TD's, no Interceptions and over 400 passing yards.  I suggested him as a great Pick-Up just a few weeks ago and with Aaron Rodgers out and Foles still available in my league, he'll be starting for My Dudes until Rodgers is healthy again!  Jay Cutler is supposed to be back this week and since he's un-owned in most leagues and has a productive passing offense he may also be a good starter if you're unsure about your current QB, lost Rodgers, or have your QB on a Bye.  Speaking of Foles, his partner in crime seems to be Riley Cooper who scored 3 TD's last week against the Raiders.  Even though DeSean Jackson is their main WR, Cooper will be an honest WR2.  Rashad Jennings will be taking over once again since McFadden is out and Jennings has some good chemistry with Terrelle Pryor.

This week I've got Foles starting and most of my accountable players back in the line-up.  I'm currently keeping Jones as my Flex Player and playing Cincinnati's Defense since Foles will be playing against the Packers and we need a win this week.  With Arian Foster still questionable and Ridley on a Bye I was forced to pick up another RB so I snagged Mike James from Tampa Bay as they're playing Miami this week and they've given up the 2nd most Fantasy Points to Running Backs this season.  It feels as though lately the only person I can count on is my Kicker and since he's also on Bye I picked up Justin Tucker from Baltimore.

I'm still in 3rd place in my league, just 2 games behind our leader but now my point total would put me in 5th place so I need a really high scoring week to come back after the joke of a week I had during Week 9.  Our leader and 2nd place will be playing each other this week and I'm playing the Cowboy Monkey's who are currently in last, and have yet to hit their projections this season but with my 2 losses in the past few weeks, it might be the Monkey's time to kick some butt.  I hope not but we'll find out during this nail-biting week of games!

Fantasy Football Week 8 Recap and Projections for Week 9

Woo Hoo...I won my Match-Up this week and had the highest points in our league!  I'm still in 3rd place but my point total is the 2nd highest and I'm playing against the 2nd ranked team in our League, Travel Belly.  I did a lot of swapping out on Sunday, taking out Greg Jennings to play Michael Floyd who got 8+ points more than Jennings and playing my Bengal Defense over the Packers who out-scored them by 21 points.  Darren McFadden had a great game and the highest point total this week for RB's and I was worried that Ridley would have an average game but even he scored a TD.  My original Projection was actually lower than listed in my Match-Up because I took out Jennings and the Packers D so I actually scored 40 points over my projections which was necessary after a low-scoring game last week.  In my first Match-Up with Trojan Man I beat him by less than a point so this was a well-deserved victory this week!  

My Week 8 Match-Up

For pick-ups this week at RB you might think of picking up Andre Ellington from the Cardinals as he had an 80 yard TD last week and 162 yards total; not a bad day for Arizona.  Montee Ball may not have started off strong but after a good game last week and the fact that Moreno hasn't been out on the field as much and Hillman's missing scoring opportunities, Manning may look to Ball to take the pigskin into the end zone.  After an injury in Week 3, Lance Moore is back and ready to score, getting a TD last week, and since Jimmy Graham is still not 100%, Moore will be seeing the ball more ;)  Kenny Stills, another Saint's WR has had a great couple of weeks with 3 TD's and seeing far more snaps even with Moore back in action.  He might be a good Flex spot this week.  The Bengals had a phenomenal Week 8 showing against the Jets with Marvin Jones scoring 4 TD's and catching every pass thrown to him.  That's huge and he might be taking a place on my team!

All my starting Wide Recievers are on a Bye this week and since Bowe and Jennings have been pretty much a bust weekly I had to pick up another WR since my recent pick-up Floyd is also on his Bye.  I'm hoping Ted Ginn Jr can exceed his projections and my other WR's can hit theirs.  I might pick up one more WR and swap out one of my current guys but we'll see how Player Stats are looking this weekend.  Since Vernon Davis is also on Bye I'm counting on Kyle Rudolph from the Vikings to score some points at TE.  Demarco Murray will be back this weekend and although Foster is questionable I may keep McFadden in and hope for another great week out of him.  I'm glad I can count on my Kicker to bring me some points each week!

Currently, my points are higher than Travel Belly's so as long as my team hits their projections and Belly's hit par I'll be up for a win and in 2nd place!  All that Drafting and making sure I didn't have players on the same Bye was fine and dandy at the beginning of the season when I thought I could count on my guys at the WR position but now it's up to fate and the Fantasy Football God to bring me a W this week.  Let's Go Dudes!

Fantasy Football Week 7 Recap and Projections for Week 8

My streak is over and it's back to normal for my Fantasy Football Team as yet again, Eli Manning, messed with my Winning Streak, breaking his losing streak, but causing me to be in 3rd place with a 5-2 record.  Last week's score blew me out of the water by over 60 points and this week, I had some low-scoring players including Arian Foster who got me just over 1 point and went out in the first quarter and was seen wearing sweats on the sideline.  It was almost as bad as seeing Jay Cutler riding the exercise bike after he got taken out of the Packers/Bears Play-Off game a couple years ago.  Once again I had another terrible week with Kenbrill Thompkins not even getting 2 points, but thankfully Stevan Ridley had a decent week and out-scored his projections.  I counted on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers Defense who both out-scored their projections and my other QB & Defense options.  But Victor Cruz and Vernon Davis were huge disappointments this week with their low Fantasy points.  It's pretty bad when your kicker out scores over half your team!

My Week 7 Match-Up

Unfortunately there were quite a few injuries this week, with yet another one of my Packers going out, and another player will have to step up to fill the shoes of Jermichael Finley.  Let's talk pick-ups for Week 8 starting with my Pack; Andrew Quarless will be taking Finley's place and since Aaron Rodgers loves to move the ball around, he may be a good pick-up even if he's only had 28 catches in his career with the Packers.  I'm not sure what St. Louis is going to do without a QB and their only option right now is Kellen Clemens who has 7 TD's and 13 Interceptions.  It's been rumored Tim Tebow may be brought into the mix but we'll just have to see what happens.  You can't be sure if either are worth a pick-up.  On the other hand, Roy Helu the RB for the Redskins got 3 TD's this past weekend so he'd be a good option since the byes and injuries are heavy this week.  With Reggie Wayne out, Darrius Heyward-Bey will be taking over and could prove to be a smart choice as long he holds onto the ball.

Thankfully, McFadden is back after his Injury in Week 5 and Bye last week so I'm playing him in Arian Foster's place since both he and DeMarco Murray are out for at least another week or two.  I'm trusting Ridley to have another good week and hopefully he can just hit his projections.  I'm looking forward to a huge game for the Packers against Minnesota and putting my faith in my boys for a great game.  It's still up in the air for my Flex player as The Gronk is back and Thompkins will barely see any touches and with Minnesota not really having a QB in Freeman just yet, Jennings may not see the ball as much as he should, even though I know he'd love to score against his former Packer Team.  I'm playing Jennings since he may be looking for revenge!  

I've got an over 100 Point Projection again this week so let's hope last week was just a fluke and I gain some points back and get back up in the Top 2 positions in my Fantasy League!  I'm coming for you Dawgs again in Week 14!  We're at the half-way point in games this season so you can still get to the top of your league with smart decision-making and avoiding anyone that can be affected by Eli Manning.  Let me know how your team is doing and good luck winning your Week 8 Match-Up :)

Fantasy Football Week 6 Recap and Projections for Week 7

We're going streaking...well, my Fantasy Football Team is anyway, as this is my 4th win in a row as we come into Week 7 and probably my toughest match-up yet against Ditka's Dawgs, who are in first place, as I trail them by less than 17 points with the same 5-1 record.  I had a Monster Match-Up this week in scoring, getting over 30 points from my TE Vernon Davis and almost 21 from Arian Foster, whom I now feel comfortable starting without question!  I played Stevan Ridley the first couple games only to be disappointed by him and had benched him the past couple games.  This week he scored 23 points while hanging out on my bench with the Green Bay Defense who scored just a few more points than my playing Bengals.  It didn't matter this week as I beat the Westside Dukes by over 80 points.  Sorry Andy & Aimee!

My Week 6 Match-Up

As for pick-ups this week, Joseph Randle, the RB for the Cowboys replaced DeMarco Murray on Sunday and scored over 9 Fantasy Points, with a TD and 17 Rushing yards.  Since Murray is more than likely going to be out, he'll be a good choice this week.  Brandon Jacobs had a huge game this weekend against the Bears and even though the Giants lost, he brought in over 100 Rushing yards and 2 TD's, so pick him up if you're short a RB.  Since Fantasy Owners lost Randall Cobb this weekend to an injury, which is now being reported as a broken fibula, Jarrett Boykin may be a good choice, since Aaron Rodgers loves to find multiple players in a game!  Lastly, if you're looking for a TE, Joseph Fauria from the Lions would be an awesome pick-up after an incredible game this weekend, scoring 3 TD's and dancing like it was 1999.  He's a Free Agent in my league so I may pick him up for Davis' Week 9 Bye.

Since Murray might be out this weekend I need to decide whether to gamble on another potentially good week by Ridley or pick up a RB since McFadden and the Raiders are on their Bye this week.  Ridley is projected to get over 8 points and was the main RB of the game last week, even though he didn't get into the game until right before the 1st quarter was over so I'll have to see if there are any risky high scoring RB's available.  I'll also keep Thompkins in this week as he had a last minute TD this past week and Dwayne Bowe has clearly been a bust.  I'm switching it up and playing my Packers Defense since they're against the Browns and hopefully it'll be another great Match-Up and win this week!

Did anyone out there have Jacobs but left him on their bench like the Owner in my league did?  Are you planning on starting him this week?  What about Ridley; he's unpredictable but can I trust him to help me win this week against the Dawgs?  Once again, feel free to comment or let me know how your team is doing; who's a scoring a machine or who's a slow baby with a full diaper, barely making any progress crawling on the field ;)  See ya next week!

Fantasy Football Week 5 Recap and Projections for Week 6

I won my Fantasy Football Match-Up for the 3rd week in a row this past week and I'm looking for another win this week against the Westside Dukes.  I brought back Aaron Rodgers into my QB starting position after a Week 4 bye and benching my big Week 4 pick-up, Phillip Rivers.  Even though Rivers out-scored in Fantasy points my heart lies with Rodgers.  I also benched my Packers Defense for the Cincinnati Bengal Defense getting 20 points from them vs 17 points from The Pack.  Even with the low-scoring players on my team, Cruz and Thompkins, I still won my Match-Up by almost 40 points!

My Week 5 Match-Up

You may want to pick up Nick Foles this week since Philadelphia is dealing with an injured Michael Vick, and Foles usually puts up some TD's.  Greg Jennings had a huge game two weeks ago and coming off his bye may have another big week since Ponder is still out and Matt Cassel and Jennings seem to have good chemistry.  The Bronco's Ronnie Hillman had a great game with 70 yards and a TD last week and he may be seeing more touches than Knowshon Moreno.  Charles Clay, the TE for the Dolphins has had a couple good weeks and if he keeps it up would be a great pick-up since he's averaging higher point totals than Owen Daniels, Jermichael Finley, and Greg Olsen.

This week I'm looking at playing Dwayne Bowe over Thompkins and it's honestly a toss-up between my Defenses since the Falcons are 1-4 and the Bills are 2-3.  It seems as though my #1 Draft Pick, Arian Foster, has gotten his mojo back and after coming off a huge week 2 weeks ago and a solid week this week; I'm hoping he'll continue to shine!

Feel free to comment or let me know about your Fantasy Football team; who you picked up that had a monster game or who you played that was a bust (like Thompkins for me this week).  Good luck and keep an eye out for the Bye Week Players on your starting line-up and find some good replacement players on your bench or the Waiver Wire :)

Fantasy Football Teaser

I decided to add a new concept to my blog about Fantasy Football!  A lot of my friends play, or should I say, their boyfriend's play Fantasy Football, and this year I was asked to be in a couple different leagues.  Honestly, concentrating on one is plenty enough for me, because I do look into to my team and watch most if not all the games each week.  Thankfully, I work at a couple different sports bars so that makes it a little bit easier!

I've been playing Fantasy Football for the past couple years and each year it becomes a little bit easier to understand and I learn more and more about Football as well.  I started watching Football as a little girl with my Mom, and got involved in Cheerleading Camps until I became a Cheerleader for Football and Basketball in High School and then College at Winona State University.  After moving to LA I've become an even bigger fan of watching my Packers play (even though I'm still waiting for Season Tickets as I've been on the Waiting List for over 20 years) and then got involved in Fantasy Football.

Each week I'm going to talk about how my Fantasy Football Team is doing, who I've picked up or dropped, who I'm playing, who I'm benching, perhaps a tip or fun fact of information but the point is to make Fantasy Football easy and fun to understand for everyone.  You may find a piece of information here and impress your friends and might actually enjoy getting involved in a league next year or help out someone this year!  It's not all stats and facts, it's opinions, an educated guess, or just liking someone based on the fact that they're smiling in their picture ;)

My first blog about Fantasy Football will be posted this week so get ready!

Football Season is Back!

As soon as the Superbowl is over I look forward to August when Pre-Season Football begins, which means Regular Season is just around the corner.  It also means Fantasy Football is back, and my love/hate relationship with that enticing little game.

I've been a Packer Fan for as long as I can remember, not to mention, I've been on the Green Bay Packer Ticket Waiting List since I was 9 years old.  Originally, my brother and I, were told we would get the tickets when we were about 50 years old, well, that number has changed and we hope to see those tickets in our lifetime.  Who can blame Packer Fans for still going to all the games because we are an amazing and loveable team, led by my all-time favorite Packer draft pick, Aaron Rodgers!  Every week I look forward to watching my Packer game, whether I'm working at the bar and cheering along with my team, or at home on the couch, with a Bloody Mary and some Football treats, or sipping a beer at my favorite Sports Bar, there's nothing like watching my favorite game of the week!

Go Pack Go!

Fantasy Football has been around for a long time, and while this is my 3rd consecutive year playing, I was initially talked into Fantasy Football when I had first moved out to LA 8 years ago by my friend, Tim Gage, (miss you all the time, and won't forget the incredible experience of working on 'The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told' with you and some of the most memorable people of my acting career) but didn't do so well that year because I didn't quite understand the game.  Well, the past 2 years have been good and bad; my first year I got 3rd place, while last year, I came in nearly bottom of the barrel.  This year, I'm in the middle, but it's only the 3rd week, and hopefully I'll move back up towards the top after Monday night's game and because each team in our league has an awesome Super Team thanks to a No Auto-Draft League.

I do have a love/hate relationship with Fantasy Football.  Who doesn't get excited about a little healthy competition between friends, cheering on players and wanting them to succeed but I can't tell you how frustrating it is, week to week, relying on specific players to win your match-up.  For instance, I have Victor Cruz on my team and in the first week he scored over 30 points while last week he scored almost 13, which is still awesome, but Eli Manning still manages to ruin my game because I have to worry about how well he's going to play and he's completely unreliable.  That brought a loss for me last week considering my opponent had Denver's defense who brought in 23 points (scoring an extra 10 points above their projections) against the Giant's offense in Manning Bowl.  I blame it all on Eli.  Yet, for some reason, I love playing and get excited about watching all the Football games throughout the week, and keeping track of my scores on the Stat Tracker!

I'm so happy that Football is back in full effect!  So if you can't figure out which team to cheer for, why not pick our team, the Packers, as they are the only team who's owned by the fans; and there's nothing like being at a Packer Game in the middle of December, while it's negative 10 degrees outside!  You have to do it once in your life :)

Wednesday Cheer

I love Grocery Shopping and after my work-out today I went out and did my Grocery Shopping for the next couple of weeks.  It's always exciting to see how much money I can save and today I spent $60 and saved almost $30!  My best was saving $48 on $52, but my Mom can sometimes save more than she spends, so I'm always trying to do that!  If I were to set aside the money I saved grocery shopping over the course of a year, I could take a nice little vacation, except when you're saving money at the grocery store, you're not setting it aside, it's just not being spent, so that's probably a better thing in the long run to save it and pull it out to use for a rainy day later.  I'm one of those people that needs to have snacks in the house, healthy and fun, so I always have a carton of ice cream and this trip's flavor was 'Cupcake Party' and indeed it was, along with Triscuit's and Gold Fish, plenty of healthy juice choices, and some things to make a fun dinner and breakfast when my Mom comes to visit next week!

 

Wednesday night was the first night of the Regular Season of Football and I was stoked because my new Fantasy Football Quarterback, Eli Manning, was playing with the Giants against Dallas.  I've already said I'm not a huge fan of his and this first game was not good for him or the Giants, there were a bunch of dropped passes and a missed touchdown which caused Manning to have a low Fantasy score of 12.52.  He was projected to get over 20 points so this was quite a disappointment.  I have to hope that the rest of my team makes up for the lack of scoring by Manning.  It'll be a tense weekend if I don't see some good scores right off the bat on Sunday morning!

 

After watching the Football Game I was Hosting Karaoke at Gabe's.  Recently, the floor was re-done and we just got brand new carpeting so the bar definitely looks more updated!  It was pretty quiet when I got into work but we were able to get started around 10 pm and it ended up being a busy night with a short rotation but everyone being able to sing a lot!  Sean sang a Tonic song I hadn't heard in years, and once Jamie came in, she was singing a couple new songs as well, including a version of 'Smile' by Jimmy Durante.  Khad actually sang 'Won't You Be My Neighbor' which was so much fun!  I finally felt like I had gotten my voice back after a few weeks of laryngitis and allergies trying to slow me down, so I opened with The Eagles 'I Can't Tell You Why' and then sang 'Don't Turn Around' by Ace of Base for Jamie, because I hadn't sang either of those songs in a while.  Since I had worn my old Winona State University Cheerleading Baseball-style shirt, I sang 'Mickey' by Toni Basil as my new song and had the crowd clapping and cheering along.  I even did my first high-kick at Gabe's, taking after Debbie and her dancing.  Debbie actually sang 'Let's Get Physical' by Olivia Newton-John, and had me doing push-ups and jumping jacks for her.  At least I got in a work-out!  I also did 'Black Velvet' which I haven't done in years and was actually a lot of fun.  Sean wanted to sing 'Man or Muppet' with Khad but unfortunately, he's got to find a new Muppet Duet Partner because Khad has retired ;)  Jamie sang a fun Musical song as well, with Sean singing Pearl Jam, and Khad singing a Kate Bush cover to close out the night for me!  I love when it's a night full of my friends singing, it just makes it so much more fun and exciting.

 

Wednesday shaped up to be a pretty productive day, and with an audition, work, and then Wine Tasting tomorrow night, Thursday is surely up for the challenge of matching it!

Labor Day Weekend

To me, Labor Day, is just your normal average day, no different than any other day during the year that isn't an actual Holiday, but this year I had lots to look forward to!

First off, I cannot describe how excited I am for the first Football Game of the Regular Season tomorrow night!  Let me preface that by adding that I finally had my Fantasy Football Draft this past Sunday.  Last year I had Aaron Rodgers as my starting quarterback and was hoping I would be able to get him, but knowing how many points he's projecting, I knew that would be highly unlikely unless I had a first or second draft pick.  Usually the Running Backs go first and then perhaps on a second round pick you draft your quarterback.  Well, this year, Aaron Rodgers was the first to go, and the first to go in all my friend's Drafts and Mock Drafts!  I was devastated.  But I was ok because I got Darren McFadden, a decent running back, where last year, my running backs were hit or miss.  I ended up with Welker again, (he scored me lots of points last year) Jordy Nelson because I had to have a Packer, and Jimmy Graham who should all score me big points.  Overall, I have a pretty good team, and aside from having the biggest crybaby in Football as my Quarterback, I'm happy with my picks!  Yes, I don't like Eli Manning, but he will hopefully bring a lot of points for my team because he has great receivers and a great defense, not to mention won the Superbowl last year.  So now we'll see how well my team does this week and I'll report back!

Of course, no Labor Day is complete without wearing white at least one more time, and for me, that means the only time that I wore white pants all year!  Why don't I take advantage of that during the season when it's acceptable?!?!

Andre Ethier!

After recovering from a fun night with friends on Sunday night after an awesome BBQ, Monday brought the Dodger Game.  It was $1 Dodger Dog Night so everyone should have known where to find me...at Dodger Stadium!  Neil got us tickets to the game and when we got there I couldn't believe how awesome our seats were.  I've been to a few Dodger games in my time and these were probably my favorite seats of all time.  Not only were they front row in Right Field but there were directly behind Andre Ethier, my favorite Baseball player for the past 6 years!  I knew we would be sitting close to him, but I didn't realize how close until I was leaning on the edge of the field's foam cover, just 20 feet from Andre!  As he was walking out to his fielding position I caught his eye, and yelled, 'Andre' and showed him my Ethier shirt and Neil gestured 'signing it' and he nodded and made a yes gesture and as he turned back to the field I jumped up and down and did a little dance.  I couldn't believe I was going to get his autograph and meet him.  As each inning went by, we made eye contact and I was waiting for the 7th inning stretch or end of the game so he could sign it for me.  In the meanwhile, Neil and I each had 2 Dodger Dogs, a couple of beers, a Frozen Lemonade which is one of my favorite Dodger treats and a fairly slow game.  Some high points were seeing Magic Johnson and Tom Hanks at the game; although, they were alone.  Don't you spend the day with your kids BBQ'ing, or better yet, bring them to the game!  At the 9th inning, Dodgers were losing by one but then Ethier hit a Home Run to tie the game!  When he came back out to the field I yelled, 'Nice Home Run, way to tie it, Andre!'  Then as the game went into extra innings and the Dodgers went on to win it, I realized, he wasn't coming back out to the stands and my excitement of meeting him was dismissed by one of the security people saying you have to get autographs before the game during Batting Practice.  I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that he'd come back out, but he didn't know I was a fan before there were even shirts with his name on it, so I'll have to come back again.  And with seats like that, you're going to have to try and stop me!

A perfect 90 degree Labor Day at Dodger Stadium with amazing seats in Right Field!

Overall, Labor Day Weekend was pretty exciting...lots of BBQ, lots of fun, lots of laughs, and plenty of sports.  That's just the way I like it :)