Bits & Pieces

 

By Kim J. Harmon

DRAFT DAY – No matter how well prepared I seem to be, I always find myself in a cold sweat as I head out the door to the War Room. Even armed with The Sporting News NFL Preview, The Sporting News Fantasy Football magazine, the Sports Illustrated NFL Preview, ESPN The Magazine NFL Preview, and the rankings of all the top players from the ESPN.go.com web site, I still feel like I will be stuck taking some hack while a guy like Randy Moss slips right under my radar.

It has happened before. I have bad luck at these drafts. I also couple that bad luck with some bad picks and a few bad decisions . . . so it’s like this little trifecta all my own.

Like last year. I picked Corey Dillon of the Cincinnati Bengals (1,435 yards, 7 TD), but I didn’t play him until after he rushed for almost 300 yards in one game. But by then, he was pretty well spent. His numbers are really misleading.

And I also picked Tiki Barber of the New York Giants (1,006 yards, 8 TD), but kept playing him even after he did most of his damage early in the season.

One thing I can say, though, is none of my first-round draft picks – the cornerstones of the team – have ever blown out their knees right out of the gate . . . ala Terrell Davis, Jamal Anderson, and Duece Staley.

At least Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens had the common courtesy to blow out his knee before the draft because I was aiming to grab him as my No. 1 back.

Somewhere inside all of these pages and pages and pages of statistics and predictions and analyses are the players who will make up my Fantasy Football team for the year 2001. Maybe I will pick someone who will have a bust out year (I never do), maybe I will pick up a diamond in the rough (I usually don’t) and maybe I will pick enough decent guys to be suitably mediocre (I always do).

Hey, at least I have fun.

For anyone who hasn’t yet heard, the South-West Conference has been realigned for football. The Colonial Division will now include Masuk, Pomperaug, Bethel, Foran, New Fairfield, Stratford, Notre Dame and Joel Barlow. The Patriot Division will include Newtown, New Milford, Brookfield, Jonathan Law, Bunnell, Immaculate, Weston and Bullard Havens. In all other sports, the Colonial Division will include Bethel, Bunnell, Foran, Jonathan Law, Masuk, New Milford, Newtown and Pomperaug while the Patriot Division will include Brookfield, Immaculate, Joel Barlow, Kolbe Cathedral, Lauralton Hall, New Fairfield, Notre Dame, Stratford and Weston . . . the Nighthawks – who were 9-1 last year and earned a trip to the CIAC Class L state semi-finals – will open the 2001 season at home on Friday, September 14, against Bethel . . . Fall is my favorite time of year – always has been and always will be. It is, in part, because of football. But I’ll tell you, there is just something about taking a hike in the woods with the kids and swirling your feet under the fresh blanket of fallen leaves that is just perfect.