Top News from 2011

1. Occupy Wall Street-  A small protest of a couple hundred people against the excess of the corporate executive, and corporate business practices exploded.  It began in September and continues even through the cold of winter into January 2012.

2.  The Republican Presidential Race-  The faces and voices of Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and Michelle Bachman are daily occurrences on news broadcasts.  A serious challenger for President Obama is still not clear.  This could get interesting with Newt Gingrich getting in the mix.  Stay Tuned!

3. The Economy-  Can we all get back to work, and start building things back up?  Everytime the media reports that we are out of the recession another news story breaks that will negatively affect the recovery.  Hard work and smart people will be our only solution.  Vote wisely!

4. The U.S. military pulls out of Iraq-  8 years of action in Iraq leaves a mess behind for private contractors to clean up, and a weak Democracy starting out at ground zero.  

5. Giffords Assassination Attempt-  Amazing that she survived and still made it to the House vote on the debt ceiling. That's dedication we can all appreciate.

6. Penn State Scandal-  I'm not even going to go into any detail on this, like the media outlets should have done when this story came out.

7. The Debt Ceiling Raised-  At some point our government needs to get it's books right.  Is this really the only answer?

8.  R.I.P Steve Jobs-  The eccentric Jobs passed away from Cancer, the world has lost a "visionary" says President Obama.  I wonder how many people worldwide read the news on their Ipad, or Iphone?

9. Strange Weather-  The golf courses in Michigan were packed on January 11th when it was 50 degrees and sunny.  Tornados, earthquakes, wild fires, etc have certainly impacted a lot of people this year. 

10.  Troy Davis-  He was executed on September 21st, and the media followed this one like a missing kid in a weather balloon.  It seems to me that there was more to this story than actually came to light, but now we'll never know.

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Fantasy Football for Beginners part 2
  

Ok, so you drafted a team or are getting ready for your draft next fall.  There are 2 major things to consider when equipping your team with players. 

1.  Bye Weeks-  Every team has a bye week, and so do your players.  You will need to bench the player on the bye and select someone else to play in his place.  This can be very difficult if you get a lot of players off one team.  This means if you are a fan of one particular team, you need to avoid drafting too many players in the same bye.  You never want to be too invested in one team unless it happens to be the Patriots or Saints.  Even then you should only draft 2-3 from one team, you can always grab guys off the waiver wire but you usually won't get as much production unless you pick up a diamond in the rough.

2. The Waiver Wire-  Many times you will get an injury, bye week or just need to find a more productive player for your regular squad.  The waiver wire is a list of the players who are not rostered by any player in your league.  I know from experience that every season there are undrafted stars in the waiting.  It's up to you to find them early, before the rest of the league.  This can really boost your team if you can find one, as you don't need to spend a draft pick to get that player.  If a player is dropped from one team (released), then you can place a claim on him.  There is a waiver order and someone with higher priority could snag that player away from you. 

Keep an eye out for part 3 next month!

Dale

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