HBFL Second Round

13. + arod drinks ’em with a straw — C. Johnson, WR, Cin (Arguably the best WR in the draft and he goes in the first pick of the second round. Solid pick)

14. Jeter drinks wine coolers — B. Westbrook, RB, Phi (Heelsfan redeems his horrible first-round pick with a good pick here. Westbrook will be solid again for Philly)

15. Pawtucket Pot Roasts — R. Johnson, RB, Cin (Another beneficiary of the ridiculous first-round picks. R. Johnson paired with W. Parker is a fantastic start to a team)

16. GC Rams — M. Harrison, WR, Ind (Head-scratcher here … you do know you need RBs in this league, right? Harrison will do fine, but I can think of at least three RBs you could’ve picked here who would produce more points)

17. Exlax Induced Bowel Explosion — M. Drew, RB, Jax (I know you’re married to the two-RB thing, but you essentially drafted a part-time starter with your No. 2 pick?)

18. Gridiron Gladiators — W. McGahee, RB, Bal (A spectacular pick. Really surprised Exlax didn’t pick him)

19. Tom Sheehey All Stars — T. Henry, RB, Den (Another great pick; along with Addai, I have to think this is the best first two rounds of the draft)

20. Henderson Gunners — R. Wayne, WR, Ind (A bit of a reach only if Harrison doesn’t begin the slide I think he is set to start. Otherwise, a good compliment to Gore in the first round)

21. Screaming Seahawks — C. Palmer, QB, Cin (All he did was continue the run on QBs. In that vein, not a bad pick)

22. Free Press Predators — R. Brown, RB, Mia (Not a great pick. Barely 1,000 yards last year and 5 TDs?)

23. Tobacco Road Tigers — D. McAlister, RB, NO (Another reach here. Why pick up a parttime RB when there are still a couple of sole No. 1’s out there?)

24. Deep Run Tar Heels — T. Jones, RB, NYJ (A good pick. It’s Jones’ show in NY and he’ll make the most of it. Tobacco, this is one of the backs I was referring to)

HBFL First Round

Here’s how the first round and a half of the blog draft shook down with my commentary in parentheses:

1. Deep Run Tar Heels — L. Tomlinson, RB, SD (Ho-hum. I’ve seen probably 200 drafts and he’s gone No. 1 in all of them)
2. Tobacco Road Tigers — P. Manning, QB, Ind (Way, way, way too high; he’s questionable in the first round. Tap made a boo-boo that makes me VERY happy at No. 3…) 
3. Free Press Predators — S. Jackson, RB, StL (I wouldn’t quite call him a steal at No. 2, but I’ve not seen him go lower than 2 in a few weeks)
4. Screaming Seahawks — L. Johnson, RB, KC (Safe pick. LJ is going to have a rough few weeks until he gets back into the flow, but he’ll be fine)
5. Henderson Gunners — F. Gore, RB, SF (Solid pick. Gore was last year’s breakout player and could be a top-3 before all is said and done)
6. Tom Sheehey All-Stars — J. Addai, RB, Ind (The first REAL steal of the draft to this point. I’m projecting Addai as the No. 3 overall player, so for him to slip to 6 is good for BW)
7. Gridiron Gladiators — R. Bush, RB, NO (Bush is a dual threat who is going to get his fantasy points. A good pick at this spot)
8. Exlax Induced Bowel Explosion — S. Alexander, RB, Sea (Another good pick; but since this is Drew’s 55th draft, he should be used to making good picks!) 
9. GC Rams — T. Brady, QB, NE (OK, this is a serious reach. Brady is going to have a good season, but he would’ve been available in the third round)
10. Pawtucket Pot Roasts — W. Parker, RB, Pit (Solid pick. This is about where I had Parker projected) 
11. Jeter drinks wine coolers — D. Brees, QB, NO (Three QBs in the first round? Doggone it guys, I thought we were getting some professionals in this draft. Brees would’ve been available in the late third to early fourth round)
12. + arod drinks them with a straw — L. Maroney, RB, NE (Another safe pick, especially with the QB hoarding going on above him)

HBFL — It’s on!

Team owners, the draft will begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. You’ll have two hours to make your pick, but please do it well before then. I’m hoping we’ll have the draft done by Friday or Saturday at the latest.

Here are the draft positions and the team owners:

1. Deep Run Tar Heels — The Kid
2. Tobacco Road Tigers — Taplie Coile
3. Free Press Predators — Me, with name subject to change
4. Screaming Seahawks — JMassey
5. Henderson Gunners — Randy Capps
6. Tom Sheehey All-Stars — BW
7. Gridiron Gladiators — Heelatious
8. Exlax Induced Bowel Explosion — Drew Loftis, who creates the best team names in the history of fantasty football
9. GC Rams — DubG GC
10. Pawtucket Pot Roasts — Charlie Kraebel (go to urbandictionary.com for the meaning behind his team name…)
11. Cowboy Crusaders — Heelsfan
12. Oak — GZino

That’s it. Any questions, e-mail me at bhanks@freedomenc.com. I’m going to keep the folks up to date with the draft with my commentary (and yours, if you’d like to post it).

Update at 11 p.m. on Tuesday: The Kid takes (surprise, surprise) Ladainian Tomlinson. Taplie Coile is on the clock (starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning).

Kass suspended for Va. Tech game — and that’s all

From ECU Media Relations: 

EAST CAROLINA’S ROB KASS SUSPENDED FOR SEASON OPENER

GREENVILLE, N.C. — East Carolina sophomore quarterback Rob Kass has been suspended for Saturday’s season-opener against No. 9 Virginia Tech for a violation of team policy according to an announcement from head coach Skip Holtz Tuesday afternoon.

Kass, who was expected to make his first collegiate start against the Hokies, experienced action in five games as a redshirt freshman in 2006 where he completed 14-of-30 passes for 184 yards. He enjoyed his top contest against USF in the Papajohns.com Bowl last December, throwing for a game-high 138 yards on 10 completions.

“There is an expectation of conduct associated with being a member of this football program,” Holtz said. “I regret anytime we are put in a position to take disciplinary action but we take the responsibility of representing East Carolina University seriously.”

After serving as James Pinkney’s top backup last season, Kass had earned the early nod as the Pirates’ starter at the conclusion of spring drills.

“Suspensions are reviewed by the athletics administration to ensure that departmental and university policies are applied consistently for similar violations in all sports,” ECU Director of Athletics Terry Holland added. “Of course, prior violations and other extenuating circumstances are part of the consideration.”

My reaction: To tell you the truth, I’m a little surprised it wasn’t longer than one game. I’ve never been one to throw the book at someone (those who live in glass houses, etc.), but with him being only 20 and his bac of 0.19, I thought he’d get at least three games.

I’ll leave it to the folks at ECU to do what they think is best. But I’m really interested to see what y’all think…

New blog for you to check out

Take a minute and check out Washington Daily News SE Kevin Travis’ blog here. Kevin is a true-blue, errr, true-purple ECU supporter who does a great job following the Pirates.

Pick these games, Week 3

Prep

North Lenoir at Kinston

Parrott Academy at Trinity Christian

C.B. Aycock at Greene Central

North Pitt at Ayden-Grifton

North Duplin at Jones Senior

College

ECU at Va. Tech

Central Florida at N.C. State

Tennessee at California

Ga. Tech at Notre Dame

James Madison at UNC

Connecticut at Duke

Virginia at Wyoming

Oklahoma State at Georgia

Wake Forest at Boston College

Florida State at Clemson

Michael Vick’s statement

Too bad he’s not paid for every time he says “you know.” Here’s the transcript of his speech, courtesy of The Associated Press:

Michael Vick’s statement following his guilty plea in U.S. District Court to a dogfighting conspiracy charge:

“For most of my life, I’ve been a football player, not a public speaker, so, you know, I really don’t know, you know, how to say what I really want to say.

You know, I understand it’s — it’s important or not important, you know, as far as what you say but how you say things. So, you know, I take this opportunity just to speak from the heart.

First, I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that — that I’ve done and that I have allowed to happen. I want to personally apologize to commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, my Atlanta Falcons teammates, you know, for our — for our previous discussions that we had. And I was not honest and forthright in our discussions, and, you know, I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself to say the least.

I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts and, you know, what I did was, what I did was very immature so that means I need to grow up.

I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward to bettering Michael Vick the person, not the football player.

I take full responsibility for my actions. For one second will I sit right here — not for one second will I sit right here and point the finger and try to blame anybody else for my actions or what I’ve done.

I’m totally responsible, and those things just didn’t have to happen. I feel like we all make mistakes. It’s just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions. And you know, those things, you know, just can’t happen.

Dog fighting is a terrible thing, and I did reject it.

I’m upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.

Like I said, for this — for this entire situation I never pointed the finger at anybody else, I accepted responsibility for my actions of what I did and now I have to pay the consequences for it. But in a sense, I think it will help, you know, me as a person. I got a lot to think about in the next year or so.

I offer my deepest apologies to everybody out in there in the world who was affected by this whole situation. And if I’m more disappointed with myself than anything it’s because of all the young people, young kids that I’ve let down, who look at Michael Vick as a role model. And to have to go through this and put myself in this situation, you know, I hope that every young kid out there in the world watching this interview right now who’s been following the case will use me as an example to using better judgment and making better decisions.

Once again, I offer my deepest apologies to everyone. And I will redeem myself. I have to.

So I got a lot of down time, a lot of time to think about my actions and what I’ve done and how to make Michael Vick a better person.

Thank you.”

Kass, ECU’s starting QB, arrested on DWI charge

Rob Kass, East Carolina University’s starting quarterback, was arrested on a Driving While Impaired charge early Saturday morning. 

According to his arrest report, Kass was arrested at 1:28 a.m. on Saturday morning. His blood alcohol level was 0.19, which is more than double North Carolina’s legal limit of 0.08. He actually had two misdemeanor charges against him; one of DWI and another of provincial DWI (underage drinking). Kass is 20.

Kass was driving a black 2003 Dodge Ram, which was left at the scene (East Fifth St. and Green Springs Pkwy). He was released under a $1,000 secured bond.

Kass’ court date is set for Nov. 13 in Greenville. You can see his impaired driving query here.

According to information from the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Kass’ driver’s license was taken from him at the scene and it has also been revoked for the 30 days from the date of the offense.

I was at Skip Holtz’ press conference that began at noon and the coach refused to comment on the situation, other than to verify that it happened. He did say that Kass is still No. 1 on the depth chart, but of course, that could change at any time.

Some of Skip’s quotes from Monday’s presser:

“There’s been a lot made of the Rob Kass situation, from a public standpoint,” Holtz said. “It is something we’ve been made aware of, that we’ve known about for a couple of days. It’s something that (ECU Athletics Director) Coach (Terry) Holland and myself have talked about. I’ve visited with Rob.

“But at this point, I’m not ready to address it publicly. When I am ready to address it publicly, I will. Right now, I’m going to handle it within this football team until I have the opportunity to address and talk to everybody I have to talk to. When it’s appropriate, I’ll make it a public issue. At this point, it’s not.”

 

Special thanks to News Editor Jeremy Falls for helping out with this report.

 

Hanks Blog Fantasy League

There is three two one spot still available and we need to start the draft IMMEDIATELY. Here’s your chance to get in…

Go to fanball.com and then click on real leagues. Register your team and pay your $9.95 (you actually get two teams). Find HBFL (Hanks Blog Fantasy League) in the private leagues and sign in. The password is blog.

As soon as we get our 12th team, I’ll have the draft order set (fanball sets it) and we’ll start the draft. I’m going to give each team 2 hour intervals to draft (although I — and everyone — would appreciate if you drafted more often than that) with pauses between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. every day. We should be able to finish the draft within a week if we do that.

Get in! I’ll keep everyone up to date here on the blog on the progress of the draft.

Clearing up the AT&T-NASCAR feud

OK, maybe this doesn’t “clear it up”, but David Poole of the Charlotte Observer does an outstanding job explaining the AT&T-NASCAR feud here.

My take: NASCAR has the whole freaking pie and it proves its pettiness again in this situation. While I can understand NASCAR’s position — to a degree — isn’t it being stupid by turning down AT&T’s money? They’ll regret it when their pseudo-sport continues its slide and they’re begging for sponsors.