Week 2 Recap: Fantasy Football

WOW! Performances of The Week

• Matt Schaub - 357 Yards, 4 TD
• Chris Johnson - 3 TD, 9 catches, 284 total yards
• Carson Palmer - 4 TD
• Mario Manningham - 150 yards, TD
• Frank Gore - 207 yards, 2 TD
• Colston & A. Johnson - 2 TD
• Philip Rivers - 436 yards, 2 TD
• Willis McGahee - 2 TD (again)

WTF! Performances of The Week

• Greg Jennings - 0 catches!
• Tom Brady - 216 yards, 0 TD
• Matt Forte - 29 yards, 0 TD
• Randy Moss - 4 catches, 24 yards
• Willie Parker - 47 yards, 0 TD

Trends To Keep An Eye On

• RBBC Growing List: Ravens join Jets, Cardinals, Cowboys, Bucs
• Brian Westbrook's injured again?
• Mario Manningham is the new Plaxico?
• Fred Jackson keeping his job when Marshawn Lynch returns?
• Tom Brady is good but not wow good anymore?
• Pierre Thomas taking back job from injured Mike Bell

Trade Targets

• Steve Slaton - 2 bad weeks and ridiculous easy schedule coming up
• Matt Forte - Ranked 148th in Yahoo
• Brandon Jacobs - sharing carries but will have goal-line no matter what
• Boldin/Braylon - frustrating to many owners due nagging injuries
• Greg Jennings - I have him and wow would I trade him right now

Waiver Wire Picks

• Ted Ginn, WR MIA - 11 catches on MNF plus returns kicks
• Johnny Knox, WR CHI - Jay Cutler's new BFF (sorry Earl)
• Mike Sims-Walker, WR JAX - UCF product but not crazy like Brandon
• Justin Forsett, RB SEA - Julius Jones and Edge will not stay healthy
• Mario Manningham,WR NYG - playing the Bucs next week too
• Jets D - Rex Ryan is genius
• Kevin Walter - again please see Texans schedule over the next month (Jags, Raiders, Cards, Bengals, 49ers)

Fall LA Concert Calendar

9/22 Miley Cirus @ Staples Center
9/23 Britney @ Staples Center
9/25 PitBull @ Club Nokia
9/26 Mickey Avalon @ Galaxy Theatre
9/26 Common @ Palladium
9/30 Alice in Chains @ Avalon
9/30,10/1,10/6-7 Pearl Jam @ Gibson
10/1 Paramore @ Palladium
10/10 Jason Mraz @ Hollywood Bowl
10/10 Blink 182 @ Hollywood Palladium
10/13-15 Bob Dylan @ Hollywood Palladium
10/14 Moby @ The Wiltern
10/16 Jamie Foxx @ Nokia Theatre
10/19+20 Snow Patrol @ The Wiltern
10/20 Owl City @ The Troubadour
10/25 U2 @ The Rose Bowl
10/27+28 Colbie Caillat & Howie Day @ HOB-Sunset Strip
10/31 Phish @ Indio Valley
10/31 Rob Zombie @ The Palladium
11/5 The Bravery @ The Wiltern
11/9 So You Think You Can Dance @ LA Live
11/10 The Used @ The Wiltern
11/16 Kanye West @ Staples Center
11/20 Ray Lamontage @ The Orpheum
11/24 Wolfmother @ The Wiltern
11/28 Black Crowes @ Club Nokia

New Music Tuesday

New albums from David Gray(!!!), Vertical Horizon, and 3 Days Grace

New songs:
Meet Me Halfway - Black Eyed Peas
Mediocre song, will be overplayed so get use to it

Funhouse - Pink
A girly little Pink song

Midnight Romeo - Push Play
New band with a great name but it is Ryan Cabrera Jr.

Baby By Me - 50 Cent F. Ne-yo
Funny hook only an OK songs

Meet Me At The Equinox - Death Cab For Cutie
Great band, song off Twilight soundtrack

Blood On My Hands - The Used
Dark song, but another great NHL skate-in song

Substitution - Silversun Pickups
Solid song, but not wowing anybody

If You Only Knew - Shinedown
Sounds too much like Nickelback and not that's not a good thing for me

Monster - Skillet
Definition of a loud angry rock song

RECOMMEND Take A Bow - Glee Cast
Another great cover from FOX's new show

RECOMMEND Young Forever - Jay-Z + Mr. Hudson
Yes, another cover but it's Jay-Z so what's not to like here

Break - Three Days Grace
Too loud for my ears

Two Is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls F. Taylor Swift
Kept waiting for tempo to pick it up but it never did

10 Keepers for The Shuffle:
Down - Jay Sean
Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z F. Alicia Keys
The Fixer - Pearl Jam
1901 - Phoenix
Fireflies - Owl City
Uprising - Muse
Use Somebody - Kings Of Leon
Toes - Zac Brown Band
Never Say Never - The Fray

45 Premieres This Week!!!

DVR it
How I Met Your Mother, Mondays 8 on CBS
Two and Half Men, Mondays 9:30 on CBS
Best shows on CBS hands down, Neil Patrick Harris and Charlie Sheen are funny enough to watch them all

NCIS: LA, Tuesdays 9 on CBS
LLCoolJ and Chris O'Donnel come to primetime in the new one

Modern Family, Wednesdays 9 on ABC
Ed Bundy gets a new show similar to his old life

Law & Order: SVU, Wednesdays 9 on NBC
Guest star Wentworth Miller (Prison Break), then it's off my DVR for the year

CougarTown, 9:30 Wednesdays on ABC
On the name alone plus Courtney Cox

Flashforward, 8 on Thursdays on ABC
If you like Lost, this one is for you

SNL, 11:30 Saturdays on NBC
No election this year but wow that show got funny again last year

60 Minutes, 7 PM Sundays on CBS
Sorry I'm a dork like that

The Cleveland Show, 8:30 PM Sundays on FOX
Family Guy, 9 PM Sundays on FOX
Funniest cartoon ever and the remix

Dexter, 10 PM Sundays on Showtime
More from America's favorite serial killer

For you, maybe
House, Mondays 8 on FOX - not a big fan of needles
Dancing With The Stars, Mondays 8 on ABC - belongs below, but hot women put it here
Big Bang Theory, Mondays 9 on CBS - Comedy filler
Castle, Mondays 10 on NBC - Odd premise that I just don't get
The Forgotten, Tuesdays 10 on ABC - Christian Slater on TV round 2
The Good Wife, Tuesdays 10 on CBS - Chris Noth and Julianna Marguiles, I'm just not that old
New Adventures of Old Christine, Wednesdays 8 on CBS - Elaine is still on TV
Criminal Minds, Wednesdays 9 on CBS - Procedural drama #1
CSI, Thursday 9 on CBS - Procedural drama #2
Grey's Anatomy, Thursdays 9 on CBS - More needles
The Mentalist, Thursdays 10 on CBS - The guy from Devil Wears Prada
Ghost Whisperer, Fridays 8 on CBS - Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ghosts
Smallville, Fridays 8 on CW - Superman is alive
Law & Order, Fridays 8 on NBC - Still on the air? Solid show, but I'm over it
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sundays 7 on ABC - Don't own one, but you might
The Amazing Race, Sundays 8 on CBS - Still going and picking up Emmys
The Simpsons, Sundays 8 on FOX - 20 years and they haven't grown up or moved still
Desperate Housewives, Sundays 9 on ABC - Eva Longoria and friends one last time
American Dad, Sundays 9:30 on FOX - it's funny but not that funny
Brothers & Sisters, Sundays 10 on ABC - Calista Flockhart and Sally Field, woohoo

Why?
Heroes, Monday 8 on NBC - Too man heroes, impossible to follow
Accidentally on Purpose, Mondays 8:30 on CBS - Knocked Up the TV Show
CSI: Miami, Mondays 10 on CBS - Procedural Drama #3
NCIS, Tuesdays 8 on CBS - Procedural Drama #4
Mercy, Wednesdays 8 on NBC - Needles, nurses, thought ER was off the air
Gary Unmarried, Wednesdays 8:30 on CBS - I hate Jay Mohr (TY Jerry Maguire)
CSI: NY, Wednesdays 10 on CBS - Procedural Drama #5
Eastwick, Wednesdays 10 on ABC - Witch show didn't work twice, let's try it again
Brothers, Friday 8 on FOX - Michael Strahan in a comedy
Medium, Friday 9 on CBS - Dumped on NBC, wonder why?
Dollhouse, Friday 9 on FOX - There is a reason it got the Friday night 9
Numbers, Friday 10 on CBS - #1 show on Friday, thinking about math on the weekend
Cold Case, Sundays 10 on CBS - Procedural Drama #6

Back next week for Shark Tank and The Hills premieres. Does Jerry Bruckheimer own CBS? It's his birthday today so they might as well give him a share. Sorry, I'm just not a huge fan of all these procedural dramas. Click the TV link below for the past few weeks premieres as well.

Waiver Wire All-Star Team for Fantasy Baseball

With MLB season winding down and the playoffs pretty much locked up I'd figured I'd take a look back at the best waiver wire team one could assemble. I'll be using ADP data from Fantasygameday.net which is a composite of many sites and any player drafted after 250 to define "undrafted" as most 12 team leagues goes 23 players or 246 players total. For actual values are taken from Yahoo's rating system.

C: Pablo Sandoval (Drafted 255, Actual Value 73, #3 Catcher)
Kurt Suzuki (Drafted 231, Actual Value 175, #5 Catcher)
1B: Kendry Morales (Drafted 372, Actual Value 53, #9 1B)
2B: Aaron Hill (Drafted 317, Actual Value 36, #3 2B)
2B/SS: Ben Zobrist (Undrafted, Actual Value 62, #8 2B. #4 SS)
Marcus Scutaro (Undrafted, Actual Value 91, #10 2B, #8 SS)
Asdrubal Cabrera (Drafted 360, Actual Value 112, #11 2B, #9 SS)
3B: Mark Reynolds (Drafted 222, Actual Value 17!, #1 3B)
OF: Adam Lind (Drafted 288, Actual Value 39, #11 OF)
OF: Michael Bourn (Drafted 368, Actual Value 59, #17 OF)
OF: Michael Cuddyer (Drafted 378, Actual Value 85 ,#27 OF)

Sandoval, Hill, Zobrist, and Reynolds are fantasy MVP's. Interesting that only 3 undrafted OF make the cut for top 30 OF this year.

I always draft my entire offense before pitching and here's why:
SP: Chris Carpenter (Drafted 340, Actual Value 13, #6 SP)
SP: Wandy Rodriguez (Drafted 290, Actual Value 47, #15 SP)
SP: Randy Wolf (Drafted 382, Actual Value 60, #18 SP)
SP: Joel Pineiro (Undrafted, Actual Value 80, #20 SP)
SP: JA Happ (Undrafted, Actual Value 93, #24 SP)
SP: Scott Feldman (Undrafted, Actual Value 94, #25 SP)
SP: Edwin Jackson (Undrafted, Actual Value 96 #26 SP)
SP: Tommy Hanson (382, Actual Value 107, #28 SP)
SP: Randy Wells (Undrafted, Actual Value 150, #37 SP)
SP: Jorge De La Rosa (384, Actual Value 158, #38 SP)
SP: Jarrod Washburn (Undrafted, Actual Value 161, #39 SP)
RP: Andrew Bailey (Undrafted, Actual Value #49, #2 RP)
RP: David Aardsma (Undrafted, Actual Value #83, #6 RP)
RP: Ryan Franklin (Undrafted, Actual Value #89, #9 RP)
RP: Michael Wuertz (Undrafted, Actual Value #108, #13 RP)
RP: JP Howell (Undrafted, Actual Value #116 #16 RP)

Happy fantasy baseball offseason!

New Movies for The Weekend

Best week of new movies in what seems like forever and will be up until November as there are 4 big openings this weekend plus a few other movies coming out.

SEE
The Informant! - Matt Damon stars as Mark Whitacre a who works with the US goverment to show a price fixing scheme at his work. I'm pumped to see it and you should be too as it's gotten rave reviews plus Steven Soderbergh directed it.

IF SHE MAKES YOU
Love Happens - Jennifer Aniston and Harvey Dent himself (Aaron Eckhart) star in a late in life suprising love story. Sounds like every another Jennifer Aniston movie, but it'll be what the wifey wants to see this weekend so play along.

IF HE MAKES YOU
Jennifer's Body - Megan Fox plays a possessed high school cheerleader whose a killer. Bad reviews are abound, but it's a R movie and it's Megan Fox people will see it.

IF THE KIDDIES MAKE YOU
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - animated movie based on the best-selling book sure to please the little ones and who doesn't want to see food fall from the sky like rain

LITTLE RELEASES THAT MIGHT BE JUST RIGHT
Bright Star - indie film about a young poet and his lover before his untimely death
Burning Plain - Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger star in a mother-daugher film trying to rebuild their relationship

Definitely something for everybody this weekend. Shanah Tovah to my Jewish readers.

A123 Systems to IPO Next Week

For those of you reading this you probably have no idea who in the world A123 systems is. A123 is a lithium-ion battery producer based out of Massachusetts. They've been making batteries for 8 years and already employ 1100 people. The reason why the company picked my interest is that they are a huge player in green cars. They make batteries for Aptera and Tesla Motors. After a quarter billion dollar grant from Barack, $160 in capital funding, A123 is out for more cash when they IPO next week.
Usually one would shy away from a company that has never produced a profit and has been cash flow negative for years. Their capital expenditures are huge and will continue to be in the future. I think the stock will do pretty well at IPO and down the road as their are very few true green pureplays are out there. I could see this being a story stock for brokers. I can see the call now. "I know you've been trying to diversify your portfolio and get into greentech. So there's this company out there right now who makes batteries called A123. They have deals with Gillette, GM, BMW, Delphi and are working on parts for the smart grid. Is that something that might interest you?"
The answer will be yes there more times than not even thought the company lost 17, 19, and 56 million over the last 3 years. Keep an eye on this one next week. I know I will be.

TechCrunch 50

This conference is held every year around this time to "get the best startups and launch them in front of the industry's most influential VC's, corporations, and press". Launching a startup is never easy. The best ideas out there are sometimes poorly timed or managed. 98% of startups fail within 5 years. On the flipside if all goes well, I will be there next year myself with my own green company. Here are this year's finalists: http://http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/08/announcing-the-techcrunch50-finalists/ (I figured out how to link on my blog!)

A few of what I think our the best ideas:

Blah Girls - it's has Ashton Kutcher's backing and gossip, it's a winner for the tweens
LiveHit & QuantNews - both use web based applications to track web PR/clicks
Exchange P - fantasy stock market for private companies
ICharts - Youtube of stock charts
Mobclix - monetizing IPhone apps
Bojam - musical collaboration over the Internet
Closet Couture - like the Clueless closer on the Internet

Analyzing the NL Schedules

Braves - 10 April Games, Interleague vs. Rays-Tigers-Royals
Marlins - 11 April Games, Interleague vs. Rays-Rangers
Mets - 16 April Games, Interleague vs. Tigers-Yankees-Twins
Phillies - 7 April Games, Interleague vs. Sox-Twins-Indians
Nats - 13 April Games, Interleague vs. Orioles-Pirates-Reds

Comments: The Phillies and Mets are the big winners here and the Nationals are the big losers, what's new?

Cubs - 11 April Games, Interleague vs. White Sox-A's-Angels
Reds - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Royals-Indians
Astros - 15 April Games, Interleague vs. Rays-Rangers
Brewers - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Twins-Mariners-Rangers
Pirates - 9 Home Games, Interleague vs. White Sox-Indians
Cardinals - 10 Home Games, Interleague vs. Angels-Mariners-A's

Comments: Pirates and Reds win here as they minimized the games during April pulled 2 regional teams in for interleague, also Cardinals do well with Ichiro coming in

D'Backs - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Yankees-Blue Jays
Dodgers - 8 April Games, Interleague vs. Yankees-Tigers-Angels
Rockies - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Red Sox-Blue Jays
Padres - 11 April Games, Interleague vs. Mariners-Blue Jays-Orioles
Giants - 13 April Games, Interleague vs. Red Sox-Orioles-A's

Comments: Poor Padres getting no Sox or Yankees, but they got Ichiro, Dodgers are the big winners here with the Yankees and minimal April exposure against the Lakers

Games vs 08 AL Playoff Teams:

15 Dodgers
9 D'Backs, Phillies, Mets
6 Rockies, Braves
3 Nationals, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Pirates, Cardinals, Giants
0 Marlins, Padres, Reds

Comments: The Dodgers will win at the box office, but they might miss the playoffs because of it, while SF/COL head to the playoffs. Same goes for the Marlins winning the East while the Phillies stay home to count their regular season money.

Analyzing the 2010 AL Schedules

The optimal baseball schedule when it comes to the business side is to have as many key games on the weekend, play as little as possible in April whil NBA/NHL are still going, and hopefully pull off a big Interleague draw to make the most revenue. To many it is not a big deal but given the current baseball economics the difference between drawing the Red Sox and Orioles is probably 250,000 fans (due to leveraging) over the few games plus all the concessions, parking, merchandise, etc. The MLB lottery are taking a couple million each way for the teams depending upon who you get. I'll go ahead and run through all AL teams below:

AL East
Yankees - 7 April Games, Interleague vs. Astros-Phillies-Mets, Plus 2 Red Sox Weekends
Red Sox - 13 April Games, Interleague vs. Phillies-Dodgers-D'Backs, Plus 2 Yankee Weekend
Orioles -10 April Games , Interleague vs. Mets-Marlins-Nationals, Plus Sox & Yanks Weekend
Rays - 13 April Games, Interleague vs. Marlins-Padres-D'Backs, Plus 2 Yankee + Red Sox Weekends
Blue Jays - 15 April Games, Interleague vs. Giants-Cardinals-Phillies, Plus Yanks + Sox Weekend

Comments: Why didn't the Jays trade Halladay (again)? They got 3 teams who will beat them and not sell that many tickets. Poor Orioles & Rays won't sell any tickets and the teams that got the biggest help here is the Yankees and Sox who don't need it all to sell tickets

AL Central
Tigers - 10 April Games, Interleague vs. Pirates-Nationals-D'Backs, Plus Sox Weekend
Indians - 7 April Games, Interleague vs. Mets-Reds-Nats
Royals - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Rockies-Astros-Cardinals, Plus Sox + Yankees Weekend
Twins - New Stadium, 9 April Games, Interleague vs. Brewers-Rockies-Braves
White Sox - 12 April Games, Interleague vs. Braves-Cubs-Marlins, Plus Yankees Weekend

Comments: The Indians are screwed here good thing they traded 2 of their best players already and Tigers got screwed too, only real winners here will be Twins with their new digs and Royals nabbing the 2 big boys on the weekend

AL West
Angels - Host AS game, Interleague vs. Dodgers-Brewers-Rockies, Plus Yankees Weekend
Mariners -10 April games, Interleague vs. Cubs-Padres-Reds, Plus Sox & Yankees Weekend
Rangers - 13 April Games, Interleague vs. Cubs-Pirates-Astros, Plus Sox & Yankees Weekend
A's - 14 April Games, Interleague vs. Giants-Pirates-Reds, Plus Sox Weekend

Comments: Most of the division comes up well as Mariners and Rangers have at least 10 sellouts with the Cubs coming (Ichiro vs. Fukudome) and the Angels have the All-Star game, A's got the short stick here

Games played vs 08 playoff teams via Interleague:
12 Boston, Anaheim
6 Yankees, Blue Jays, Twins, Royals
3 Tigers, A's, Mariners
0 Orioles, Rays, White Sox, Indians, Rangers

The Rays and Rangers might not be good for the regular season books, but I can see the Sox and Angels sitting home while the they print they're playoff tickets.