SCU Monday Morning Hobby Quarterback

Wow, what a big week one and we still arent done. I cant remember this many stories coming out of a beginning to a season in a REALLY long time. Either way, I am going to do a weekly write up after the Sunday games with some impact on the hobby, so if you are a football guy, this is for you.

Tom Brady

This is bad. This is really fucking bad for the league. When one of your poster boy(s) goes down for the year, you lose a lot of interest. Regardless of how you felt about the Patriots last year, they made things more interesting. It brought a lot of eyes to the game. Now, it will be less watchable in my opinion as the best team in the league just dropped big time. That’s how much of an impact on the pats he had.

Hobby Impact: For the hobby, his stuff will drop significantly. That’s the fickle bunch that the collecting base is, so if you wanted to get in on Brady, wait two weeks and buy, buy, buy. He will still be a HOFer, he will remain one of the best ever, and he will be valuable regardless of any injury. People don’t seem to get that.

Matt Forte

So far, he was the rookie performer of the week... or well, kind of. He had 22 carries for 122, but what people didn’t see is that outside of his 50 yard run, he was 21 for 71yds. That is pretty average for a starter. I also saw the run, and I will say this right now, any back in the league better be able to do that. You could have driven a truck through that hole, and he made 1 guy miss. That is EXPECTED.

Hobby impact: You better believe his stuff is going nuts. 60 bucks for a chrome auto. That is stupid. Beyond stupid. If you are paying this after one game, you better get off your small sample sized horse. One run people. One fucking run. Give him a few more games behind one of the leagues worst offenses.

Brett Favre

So yeah, the golden boy is back, and seems to be his old self. He had a great game, and the Jets won. He also had 2 TDs, one of which should have been an INT on that awful wounded duck jump ball he threw up. That’s Favre for you.

Hobby impact: Nothing new, he is still top 3 ever. His stuff will never drop. However, his Jets stuff just got a huge bump. I never knew people wanted a base card that much. You don’t see people clamoring for the first Montana Chiefs card. Whatever though.

Turner, Ryan and the awful Dirty Birds?

Im glad Michael Turner has come into a starting job. Good for him. He wasnt ever going anywhere in SD with LT taking the reigns and he showed that a new environment can help a guy. Also Matt Ryan throws no interceptions and a long TD? Wha? That was unexpected, right? Weeeeelll, kind of. It is the Lions, lets see them against a great team before we crown them.

Hobby Impact: All of you who sold off all your Turner stuff a while ago are missing out on another small sample size feeding frenzy. For fuck's sake people, its week one! Can we wait one more week before you flip out on buying these guys? Fuck!

Monday Night Football

This night should be called Monday Night Beasts. McFadden and All Day are going to be going face to face with some tough teams tonight, and I am PRAYING that at least AD has a good game. He probably wont, but this is the Vikings football way. Disappointing.

Hobby Impact: This night is one of the biggest of the year. By far. If McFadden has a huge game, his stuff will spike like an old man's heart rate on viagra. If he sucks, his stuff could drop pretty far. For AD, with a huge game, not much will happen, but with an awful game, it could be really bad.

Overall, week one was fun. Its nice to see the starters in for the whole game, not worrying about whether or not they will be pulled next series, leaving you with old episodes of Desperate Housewives instead of good football. That blows. We also saw some nice performances from Ryan, Stewart, Felix, and some of the 2007 RCs finally getting their chance, which all made me happy. Its good for us when the RCs do well, and this week didn’t disappoint.

Sidebar: how the fuck did Davone Bess make the Dolphins starting roster? Sidebar 2: What idiot parents would name their kid Davone?

Run DMC and the All Day Funky Bunch

Right now in football products, Darren McFadden is the shit. He is the guy you want to pull and really, its kind of expected with the numbers he put up in college. The problem with this is that the Joe Collectors are jumping all over his stuff because of what All Day did last year, not because he actually deserves to be at 175 for his Classics autos (just wait until SPX and the Topps RPM autos come out). Last year at this time, Peterson autos were at 100 bucks a pop out of classics and the like, and his cards were MORE short printed at 100 instead of DMC's 125. Yet, due to an explosion mid year, All Day's stuff doubled in price. That wont happen to Mcfadden, I can almost guarantee it.

The other funny thing is that for the first time in as long as I can remember, ALL the running backs are the big pulls instead of just the top guys from the skilled positions. Felix Jones is at 80 bucks, Stewart is at 50, Matt Fucking Forte is at 30, and Mendenhall is up there at 75 too. What the fuck are people thinking? Now, thanks to the JCs, affordability just went out the window with most of their intelligence. I would say that eventually, years down the road, one or two may be worth that, but definitely not now.

Back to McFadden, there are some huge reasons why he wont do what Peterson did. First and foremost being that the Raiders are fucking awful. They have a rookie QB, a shitty O-line, and NO 2nd RB like Chester Taylor to carry some of the load. Fargas is good, but not THAT good. Once people see that teams are not going to take any chances with McFadden, his prices will come down, but still not far enough. He will be a good player, but not until the Raiders get better. Peterson had an AMAZING line to run behind, and even he had problems late season. Who is to say that McFadden even makes it that far with the team he is on at the moment.

Besides, the JCs who drive up the price are a fickle bunch, and once Felix Jones or Johnathan Stewart has a big game, it will be those prices that jump - hell most of these guys arent starters yet. Personally, I wont be buying a McFadden card all year. If I pull one, its going straight to TWGM. Its not worth keeping right now, but most people don’t get that.

Just wait, week 8, you will be able to buy both McFadden and Peterson at rock bottom prices because its tough to live up to hype, even with the talent that those two have. Peterson is #2 on the fantasy board and number #1 in your heart, but that wont help when he goes against 8 and 9 in the box every play. Just keep this in mind before you fall in with the JCs.