picks

when you don't know a whole lot about football making picks -- that is, picking which teams will win which games and picking which players will earn you alot of points on your fantasy football team -- don't involve skill. not yours anyway. it can't. you don't have any. so you find yourself relying more heavily on others with more knowledge of the game. and what you end up hoping is that their knowledge will translate into you making good choices.

they might be winging it, too, but to you they sound like they're flying high while you, like the bird in the movie, Rio, don't even know what your wings are for. 

but i guess this is how you start. slowly. sometimes painfully. all the while reminding yourself of how much fun you're having.

yes. i am having fun.

really.

who are these experts? fantasy football blog writers/prognosticators that have transitioned into becoming tv personalities. there are a number of those. and, my husband, who finds most of them (these fantasy gurus) and have recommended them to me, leaving me to do my own research.

one of the things i'm learning from my husband, and that these experts, seem to emphasize is this delicate blend of both the player's overall potential and their possible effectiveness in certain matchups (that is, who they happen to be playing against that week). i didn't realize how key that was, but midway through the second week of games, i'm starting to.

for instance, adrian peterson, mr. all day, was indeed playing like he could do it "all day" last week, against the detroit lions. i don't know much, but obviously something about that matchup seemed to be a good thing for him. recall, he did earn me 30 points from that game.

this week's matchup, against the chicago bears, seems to have brought him down to earth a bit. they kept him from being "all day" effective, and, as a result, he only earned 9 points this week.

as an aside, aaron rodgers, a quarterback owned by the team i'm playing this week, earned 35 points for his owner against the redskins.

when i told my husband of this, he encouraged me to consider starting all the players facing the redskins for the foreseeable future.  didn't matter who. that matchup promised to allow players to be their best, no matter what.

i know he meant it as a joke, but, you know what? i just might.