Coliseum Fantasy Insider

Happy Tuesday! I'm starting a new weekly feature in this slot, in which I discuss my sports fantasy endeavors. Y'know, my own fantasy leagues, my fictional leagues I kept planning but never really starting. Things like that. Currently, the only thing I'm actively doing is my fantasy football team that goes by the über-creative name "Team Simms" (Suggestions are welcomed). However, I have plenty of projects coming down the shoot. Or else I wouldn't be starting this feature!

My fantasy football team is a member of a league that is ran by my father and is entering its fifth season. Most of the members live in the Las Vegas area, so I'm a bit of a satellite member. I have been to the championship twice (I think), but never took home the crown. Every year brings new hope, but after my draft, I'm a bit on edge.

The problem is that I'm pretty light in the running back department. This league is a PPR league, so I was focused on getting the best receivers and a couple of good QBs. In turn I lost sight of the fact that running backs need love, too, and I came out with Reggie Bush, Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, Knowshon Moreno. With super-slim pickings in free agency, these are essentially the guys I'm stuck with. I came in to Week 1 prepared for a long season.

But in the end, things actually worked out. Below was my starting lineup with their point total:

QB: Drew Brees (27)

RB: Reggie Bush (31)

RB: Ryan Mathews (13)

Flex: Marques Colston (17)

WR: Brandon Marshall (24)

WR: Roddy White (3)

TE: Brandon Myers (19)

D/ST: Chicago Bears (12)

K: Blair Walsh (8)

I can't get too upset with Roddy White's performance, as he was battling an injury. Everybody else did great. I didn't expect Brandon Myers to get me that many points, but he was able to pick up a touchdown towards the end of the game which really helped. The big surprise to me was Reggie Bush leading all scorers. He got a lot of carries and a lot of catches out of the backfield. I'm hoping he can stay healthy and will be a big asset to the Lions this season.

As my biggest concern was running back, I was really worried about how Ryan Mathews would do this first week. I picked him because he was the best available at the time, forgetting about his injury history. He was my only starter playing on Monday, and I was down 8 after huge performances for my opponent by Anquan Boldin, Andrew Luck, and Reggie Wayne. I kept my expectations low on Ryan, but he came through! I was able to win the week 154-149.

Heading into week two the projections say I have the upper-hand, but again I'm going to keep my expectations low. I'm going to substitute Steve Johnson for Roddy White and Knowshon Moreno for Ryan Mathews right now, but those situations will be fluid through the week.

Tune in next Tuesday to find out if I can improve to 2-0!!!

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Now, before I go, let me take this time to discus some of my upcoming sports fiction work. All of these projects will be posted on my blog for the Coliseum Sports Network. You can click the link here or the one located at the top of the right sidebar.

For one there's the United Basketball Clubs, a project of mine that I have worked on on-and-off for over a decade. I have tried to bring to the web in various forms over the past several years, but I'm looking to stick with it this time. I will begin posting events about the league October 1st.

Also in the vein of basketball I'm going to be doing a fantasy college basketball league called the Futures League of Professional Basketball. The idea from this league stemmed from the idea of having a professional league for college-aged ballplayers as refuge from the restrictions of the NCAA. At first I was going to make up the stats based off of player projections, but that would be too time-consuming. Instead, season play will be a Head-2-Head Points league while tournament play will utilize the SimMatchup engine on WhatIfSports.com. Posting for the FLPB should begin about early November.

Lastly, I have a baseball and football league in mind for the spring. The leagues will utilize the customization abilities of the MLB: The Show and NCAA Football franchises. Even though the football league won't begin until after the Super Bowl and the baseball league won't start until late May, I'm going to start working on those very soon.

I will continue to keep you posted on the development of these projects in this spot each Tuesday. But, again, don't forget to check out the Coliseum Sports Network site.