Week 2: Daily Fantasy Outlook

Going into week 2, the Rams offer a lot of exciting opportunities in daily fantasy as they host the New Orleans Saints in the Coliseum. This article will be taking values from Fanduel. There are some dynamic, Ram-centric lineups you can put together. A weekly lineup can include Goff, Gurley, and Cooks while being well within budget to fill out your lineup with other studs like Zeke Elliot and Austin Ekeler. I’m looking for the Rams to put up some big numbers in front of thousands of fans at the Coliseum in their home opener. Let’s get into it!

Jared Goff ($7,600) has a high ceiling this week after a lackluster fantasy performance on the road against Carolina in week 1. Goff is historically better at home and will be facing a familiar Saints secondary that gave up 3 TDs through the air, plus one on the ground, to Deshaun Watson in their opener.

Just in case you did not believe me with the whole “historically better at home” thing

Goff had four TDs himself last year against the Saints in their week 9 defeat. At only $7,600, Goff should have shaken off the week 1 rust and should continue to reap the benefits of a full-strength WR group. Goff will enjoy spreading the ball around to Robert Woods ($7,300), Brandin Cooks ($7,000), and Cooper Kupp ($6,800) who were targeted a whopping 29 times as a unit (13 to Woods, 10 to Kupp, 6 to Cooks) in week 1. They are one of the best receiving trios in the league. The difficultly in approaching them on a week to week basis in daily fantasy is figuring out who is going to have the big game. I could see any, or all, of these guys putting up big numbers. Which one of them breaks out is anyone’s guess. I, personally, love putting players up against their former teams — Cooks was drafted by New Orleans with the 20th overall pick in 2014 – so I’m going with The Archer in my WR slot.

Todd Gurley ($7,000) is looking like a great value pick. Anytime you can get a guy coming off of a TWENTY-ONE Touchdown season for $7,000, you are looking at a lot of value. Gurley is a threat from anywhere and could see more targets out of the backfield this week. The Rams and Saints is sure to be a barn burner with two of the best offenses in the NFL, the teams scored 80 combined points in their last regular season meeting. If Gurley can find space in a spread out game, look for him to have several chunk plays. The obvious downside of Gurley in daily fantasy is that he will be sharing carries with Malcolm Brown. To me, the caliber of player you can get for $7,000 in Gurley is something I will not be passing up.

The Texans ran with ease last week in New Orleans, averaging 7.82 yds/carry

Other Rams on the board with value include Malcolm Brown ($5,500) who is coming off a two TD performance. He could very well see a few more redzone touches like last week. Last year, Brown had a tip toe-ing TD reception against the Saints in the regular season matchup. How many $5,500 running back are doing this? Do not be surprised to see Brown’s touchdown dance again in week 2! The last notable Rams on the board include Everett ($4,700) and Higbee ($4,500) at TE as value options if you are looking to stack the rest of your team. Higbee had 5 targets and found the endzone last week in Carolina. Both TEs could be finding themselves in favorable matchups this week and have always showed sure hands near the endzone. Good luck this week, may the odds be in your favor, and go Rams!

 

October 2nd, 2017 — Las Vegas Shooting

I woke up today, reached for my phone, and opened up Twitter.

 

This was the first tweet that I saw. I continued to browse my timeline and began to realize the severity of what had happened. 58 people dead, and hundreds (400+) more injured to a man firing his weapon from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. 58 people dead because they went to a country music festival.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/mandalay-bay-shooting.html (This article has some footage of the event. Puts the terror into perspective. It is a pretty horrific scene, no blood just fear.)

Before I continue, I would like to extend my thoughts to everybody impacted by this senseless tragedy. Thoughts and prayers probably mean very little in dampening any wounds, but regardless, my best goes out to everyone affected.

So, here we are again. 58 people dead, 400+ injured. Time for the NRA to go silent for a couple of days, gun control advocates to push their agendas (“this is why guns are bad…”), gun advocates to push their agendas (“this is why we need guns…FOR PROTECTION”), and for everybody in the world to send their thoughts and/or prayers. I feel like I have sent my thoughts out to victims of mass shootings almost too often to be genuine anymore.

  • October 1st, 2017 – Las Vegas, Nevada: 58 dead and counting, 400+ injured.
  • June 12th, 2016 – Orlando, Florida: 49 dead, 58 injured.
  • December 2nd, 2015 – San Bernardino, California: 14 dead, 24 injured.
  • September 16th, 2013 – Washington, D.C.: 12 dead, 8 injured.
  • December 14th, 2012 – Newtown, Connecticut: 26 dead, 2 injured.
  • July 20th, 2012 – Aurora, Colorado: 12 dead, 70 injured.
  • November 5th, 2009 – Fort Hood, Texas: 13 dead, 33 injured.
  • April 3rd, 2009 – Binghamton, New York: 13 dead, 4 injured.
  • April 16th, 2007 – Blacksburg, Virginia: 32 dead, 23 injured.

Our thoughts and prayers were probably felt in all of these tragedies, but when does that not become enough? How is it that this happens too many times to count? I was eleven years old when the Virginia Tech shooting happened. I have grown up with this. It is normal to me. This whole process, it is just what happens. It is a safe assumption that once a year a mass shooting will happen, and ultimately nothing will change. Entire generations of American’s do not know what it is like to live in a society where mass shootings are not normal.

Maybe it is because we do not know what to change? Maybe our political institutions are too slow and corrupt? Blame whoever you want. Blame hatred, blame Trump, blame Obama, blame ISIS, blame Christianity, blame Islam, blame the internet, blame the media. It really does not matter because everybody is going to blame someone else and nothing will get done. How are we going to get something done when half the country thinks more guns are the answer and the other half thinks no guns is the answer?

The scariest part of this is not that nothing will get done. The scariest thing is that it is probably just going to happen again, the normality of such tragedies is terrifying. Everyone is going to send out their thoughts and prayers, tweet about what they think the resolution is, and then forget it happened.

We are going to wake up in a couple of months, years if we are lucky, rollover to grab our phones and we will be right back where we started.

#MakeAmericaDreamAgain

Our president, Donald Trump, is bringing back the American Dream. Let me explain.

The idea of the American Dream once inspired millions of people to make their way to the United States with the hopes of economic prosperity. An opportunity to pursue life, liberty, property, and happiness. What a wonderful concept, the idea that if you worked hard enough you could be anything you wanted. You could walk on the moon if you set your mind to it. With the rise of economic disparity in our country, you can easily make an argument that the American Dream is dead. Growing economic disparity (click that hyperlink to #StayWoke) clouds opportunity for middle and lower class citizens. College is more expensive than it has ever been, and young people are forced to strap themselves with student debt to get a degree. The trust of our American government and institutions is abysmal. The last time Congress had above a 40% approval rating was in February of 2005. That is right around the time the first Razor Flip Phone hit the market. Probably the greatest phone in history, but that argument is for another day. Back to the point, the America dream, to me, was a bit of a myth. I saw it as a marketing scheme and a political sentiment past its time. Not anymore, though. I’ve been reinspired! How? By who? Well, by none other than the 45th President of the United States of America.

#MakeAmericaDreamAgain

 

Donald Trump, a man who was recently assaulted by Stephen Colbert, has done something I thought no person could. He has bought back the American Dream. As of today, I have blossomed from a cynical, wannabe intellectual, college liberal into hardworking American that believes anything is possible. Why?

Well, if Donald Trump can be president of the most powerful country in the world, what can I not do?

Maybe Trump is struggling to make America Great Again, but he has certainly, if nothing else, made America Dream Again. I, because of Donald Trump, now believe all of my wildest dreams can come true. I, because of Donald Trump, now believe all of your wildest dreams can come true. I, because of Donald Trump, believe WE can make OUR wildest dreams come true.

In any future debates, please feel free to take me out of context in the above paragraph.

#MakeAmericaDreamAgain

The Gentrification of ESPN

Gentrification – The process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste…

Frank Gallagher explains the concept here…

With Donald John Trump as our president, we get to hear about fake news on a daily basis. Maybe the criticism of media is warranted in the sense that news outlets have essentially become social media meme generators and entertainers more than journalists. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a white supremacist idiot who just does not like news because they say ‘negative’ things about him. Just because a fact or something you said makes you look bad and is reported on, does not make news fake, Donald. Man, our president sucks. I’m not here to talk about him, I’m here to talk about ESPN… THE WORLDWIDE LEADER IN SPORTS!

I have been watching sports since before I can remember, specifically Sportscenter. Almost every morning. Quick sidebar as to why I am qualified to speak on this subject, I have almost dunked a basketball on multiple occasions… proof. So, as a lifetime sports fan, I used to wake up every morning before school and watch ESPN’s Sportscenter in the morning. The format of Sportscenter used to be simple…Highlights, box score, highlights with a top 10 nominee, box score, highlights with a cool catch phrase ‘Back back back back back, gone.’ (Chris Berman) or ‘Boo-yah!’ (from the late, great Stuart Scott)… Those were the days. All morning Sportscenter would replay those same highlights, just in case you missed one. It was awesome. It was simple. It was sports! Now, you turn on Sportscenter and the morning feature includes Stephen A. Smith with some ridiculous hot take (0/6) or Lavar Ball WWE highlights. If you think I made that up, guess again… I present to you… Lavar Ball WWE Highlights courtesy of THE WORLDWIDE LEADER IN SPORTS. Here is a quick video of both of our subjects of interest together horsely screaming at each other. While I enjoy Lavar’s antics as much as the next guy, it is not sports. It should not be covered to the extent it is by a company that prides itself on sports journalism. I’ve tweeted it before and I’ll say it again, the gentrification of ESPN has been disappointing beyond belief. Here are some tweets to further prove my point, buckle up…

The first tweet when I look up Sportscenter on Twitter is about last night’s great baseball game where the consensus World Series favorite Dodger’s had a 3 run 9th inning to beat the Southside White Sox 5-4. Just kidding, that was not the first tweet at all. That would have been cool, though. The first tweet was Sportscenter tweeting about a Twitter argument between Lil Dicky and Kevin Durant about if LeBron James should stay in Cleveland. True journalism.

For the record, there was not a tweet from our WORLDWIDE LEADER IN SPORTS about the comeback from the best team in baseball at all. Instead, their next tweet was about…

Wait for it…

A tweet about Chick-fil-A in the Falcon’s stadium being closed on Sunday’s. #SportscE!nter

 

I cannot fathom how easy it was to prove this point. Gentrification, people…Gentrification.

Those were literally the first two tweets on Sportscenters Twitter page as I wrote this. Haven’t had enough Chick-fil-A, though? Just 9 hours before they had already tweeted about Chick-fil-A…

Cannot wait to hear Roger Goodell’s take on this Chick-fil-A scandal.

I thought the point of this blog would be harder to defend, but I guess not. This is the easiest thing I’ve done in a long time.

I’ll top it off with one last tweet from our friends at Sportscenter.  In case you did not know, LeBron James, the best basketball player in the world and maybe ever, is playing basketball this off season. Confirmed here by ESPN.

#WhenBallisLife

I am going to have to do a full cover Kanye West’s I Love Kanye, but base it upon SportsCe. I miss the old SportsCe, straight from the Go SportsCe…

I hate being nostalgic as a 21 year old kid, but here we are. Missing the good ole’ days. Take me back to sports, please.

Kids, do not get older because if the world is following Sportscenter’s trend, Lavar Ball will be president by 2024.

Quick update on this…