I have the cold that just will not die! I think it’s been more than ten years since I’ve had a cold that has kicked my ass like this. And it won’t go away, no matter how much OJ I drink, hours I sleep, NyQuil I chug… I’m still hacking up a lung and blowing my nose. Damn the person who spread these germs to me! Whoever you are! *waves fist*

On the bright side, football season is quickly approaching, as evidenced by my fantasy football league holding its draft today. And when I tell you I hate my team, I really hate my team. Both Tom Brady and Wes Welker were swept up right from under me! I ended up drafting *gasp* Phillip Rivers for my QB. At least if he sucks, thus making my team suck, I won’t care much. Worst case scenario, I drafted Baltimore’s Joe Flacco as my back-up.

I was able to draft Brandon Jacobs for running back (yay!) and at tight end I drafted Visanthe Shiancoe, who you might remember as the poor guy who was frontally nude on national television last season:

Things are really heating up in my Fantasy League and I am finally riding high after last year’s nightmare. Last year, in what I thought was my lucky day, I was able to draft Daunte Culpepper with, as everyone knows, disastrous results. Looks like he’s sucking it up again this year but it makes no difference to me. I have solid depth at QB with Peyton Manning and Rex Grossman. Oh yeah, baby.

Another part of our fantasy league is picking the game winners which, I’m going to brag like a Mofo, I was 14 and 2 last week. I had selected the Giants over Philly and the Jags over Pitt-y. If only Daunte Culpepper didn’t suck it up and if only the Rams showed up to play, I would have correctly selected all 16 winners. To add to my cockiness confidence, I even did better than my dad, the NFL pundit himself. Although he picked NYG and Jacksonville, he also selected Miami, Kansas City, and Green Bay. Ha ha, Dad. The student has surpassed the teacher!

Don’t worry about my dad though. He’s making a new prediction regarding the Patriots wide receivers. My dad, the genius armchair-GM, who once correctly predicted Corey Dillon would come to New England two years before it actually happened is now predicting a superstar move, something I think is so shocking, it’s difficult to imagine it happening. My dad is predicting the Patriots will make a trade for Randy Moss. Yes, that Randy Moss. My dad is contending that the Patriots, with an extra first round draft pick, might try to make a deal with Al “George Steinbrenner is my hero” Davis to bring the troubled wide receiver to New England. I swear, when my dad made the Dillon prediction, I thought he was crazy. He might just be on to something here. Everyone knows the Oakland Raiders’ season was over before it even started. We’ll just have to see.

Waiting for the impending football season is torture for me. This is what I hate most about preseason… getting a small taste of the excitement to come. I guess this is what it’s like to be a heroin addict on a methadone program… it gets rid of the withdrawal but it is by no means an adequate replacement. That’s me, the NFL Junkie.

Adding to my restless torment, Dave held our Fantasy Football draft this past Sunday. Everyone in my league went after running backs in the first rounds. I decided to buck the trend and went straight for the best non-running back player on the board… Peyton Manning. I still needed a running back and I left the decision up to my father who instructed me to take a risk and pick up Reggie Bush. I hope my dad’s right here. He’s not very good at Fantasy Football.

Other players on my roster include Antonio Gates, Jonathan Vilma (despite his allegiance to the Jets, he’s one hell of a player) and the Chicago Bears defense. Much like the current Patriots, I’m really thin at Wide Receiver. I’m hoping the combination of Manning and Gates will save me.

These are going to be the longest two weeks EVER!