When one prepares to draft a fantasy football team, myriad criterion should be considered in evaluating who to target, and, likewise, who to avoid. One word bouncing around just as frequently as anything else during said evaluation? Injury. Maybe a guy was injured for several games last season, maybe he suffered a season-ending injury or maybe he's just an injury-prone guy. This affects the value of players on draft day.
Let's check out the value of 10 guys with injury concerns, and judge whether or not they are up to the task for 2009.
Let's be honest, there are few things more entertaining in sports than when an athlete is absolutely despised by a city. And I don't mean despised in the Michael Jordan-tears-out-Cleveland's-heart-with-a-wooden-spoon level hate. That's rooted in Jordan's superhuman play on the field.
I mean on a level like LenDale White stomping on the Terrible Towel and refusing to apologize -- where the entire city is outraged at one particular player.
It's June, a.k.a., a terrible time to find a quality basketball coach. But that will be USC's task after Tim Floyd's sudden resignation Tuesday amid a slew of allegations regarding the recruiting of star guard O.J. Mayo. Athletic director Mike Garrett (right) is used to hiring coaches on the fly. He fired Henry Bibby just four games into the 2004-2005 season, tabbed Jim Saia as interim coach for the season and then nabbed Floyd.
Garrett has time before having to go the interim route and there are some qualified coaches who either are unemployed or at mid-majors and would likely leave their schools and incoming recruiting classes for a job at a major school in a major conference. The USC athletic director has a history for going after tough gets and succeeding, but the question is whether the Trojans basketball program will be severely punished for the Mayo situation? Floyd was accused by former Mayo associate Louis Johnson of giving $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, an alleged street agent representing Mayo.
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.
In an otherwise jumbled mess, there is one thing we know about the running backs when it comes to fantasy football drafts: Adrian Peterson is easily the class of the position. After that, there appears to be a large clump of running backs who have a good chance to excel this season. If you think the old school fantasy football "running back-running back" draft strategy (drafting a running back in each of the first two rounds) is truly antiquated, ask yourself the difference between a Frank Gore and Marion Barber tandem in your backfield as opposed to Ronnie Brown and Jamal Lewis. Is it worth taking a wide receiver, then, before a Barber type?
On behalf of David Feherty, I'd like to apologize for the following column. It again takes shots at House Mis-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not to mention her fellow victims of CIA subterfuge, Roger Clemens, Tim Floyd and Mine That Bird.
Who knew the CIA was plotting to overthrow the Preakness? You will after reading the latest installment of Week in Review.
LenDale White, the Tennessee Titans running back who played alongside Reggie Bush at USC, has an interesting idea about the controversy currently swirling around the Trojans' athletic program.
Lloyd Lake understood his civil suit against former Southern Cal running back and 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and his family could be a long and arduous legal process. The suit over alleged benefits remains unsettled since it was filed in San Diego County Court in October 2007.
Tuesday's news that NCAA investigators appear to be building a case to show that USC has demonstrated a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor some aspects of its football and men's basketball programs did not surprise San Diego attorney Brian Watkins, a lawyer for Lake.
The Lions have the first overall pick of the 2009 Draft. This is the reward for going 0-16. Perhaps former team president Matt Millen's biggest accomplishment is that never during his misguided eight-year tenure did Detroit have the first selection. It seems almost impossible in retrospect.
On three occasions the Lions chose second (Joey Harrington in 2002; Charles Rogers in '03; Calvin Johnson in '07), but by the time Millen finally got it right with Johnson it was too late, the team was too far gone.
After restructuring his contract earlier this week, LaDainian Tomlinson will be in San Diego for at least one more season. There was speculation that if the two sides couldn't reach an agreement, the Chargers would either trade or release him, but it never came to that.
That doesn't mean LdT didn't think about the possibility of finishing his career with another team. In fact, on Thursday he appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and talked about just that. Via SI.com:
After a drama-filled Day 1 of the NFL combine -- thanks entirely to Andre Smithmagically disappearing -- Sunday has been more about the important on-field stuff: a bunch of guys in tights running 40 yards at a pop. Because, as even casual fans know, the correlation between straight-line speed and NFL success is off the charts.
Of course, that doesn't keep teams from falling in love with players who bust out sub-4.4 40s. Last year, Chris Johnson ran an impossibly fast 4.24 at the combine and parlayed that into a first-round pick courtesy of the Titans. This morning, wide receivers Darrius Heyward-Bey (Maryland) and Percy Harvin (Florida) turned in times of 4.32 and 4.37, respectively.
It's June, a.k.a., a terrible time to find a quality basketball coach. But that will be 
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version. 
The Lions have the first overall pick of the 2009 Draft. This is the reward for going 0-16. Perhaps former team president 
After 
After a drama-filled Day 1 of the NFL combine -- thanks entirely to 
