I can't release all of the details just yet, but there is going to be a Pride of Detroit fantasy football league this year for readers of this blog to compete in.  Everybody loves fantasy football, and now you can add another league to the never-ending list of all the ones you are signed up for.

I'll post more details when I can, but in the mean time let me know if you're interested in joining the league by leaving a comment or e-mailing me at SYBlogs@yahoo.com.

Thanks and I look forward to kicking some serious fantasy ass!  My team name isn't "Better Than Millen" for a reason.  Then again, that doesn't really say much.

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson talked with Tom Kowalski over the weekend and had a few interesting things to say.  The most, though, was the fact that his back injury never really went away last season despite it happening in the third game of the year.

C.J. went up for a catch last year against Philadelphia early on in the season.  Johnson made the grab in exciting fashion, but unfortunately landed right on his back on the way down.  It was a rough hit since he couldn't brace himself at all, and the injury knocked him out of that game. 

Although C.J. had a solid season even with the injury, it affected him more than he let on, and Mike Martz apparently didn't help the issue at first either.

If Johnson can stay healthy next season, he should definitely have a breakout type of performance.  Obviously Roy Williams will be the premier receiver in the offense, but since it is looking like he will be gone after 2008, Johnson is going to have to start preparing to be a #1 type of receiver in the NFL sooner rather than later.

All season long my two fantasy teams (one on CBS and one on Yahoo!) have really been complete opposites.  My CBS team stunk for the first 7 games of the season, winning 0 games.  Things got better as the season finished considering I managed to win 5 out of the final 6 games, but there was just far too much ground to make up in the playoff race.  At the same time, my Yahoo! team had been great all season long.  After a couple of early slip ups, I got a big winning streak going before falling in the final week of the year.  Regardless of the loss to close out the regular season, I was still very confident going into the playoffs.

As I sat out the opening week of the playoffs with a bye, my team scored enough points to beat all of the other teams in the playoffs if I had been playing someone.  Going into the second week of the playoffs, the same thing could be said, almost.  I outscored every team except one, and it happened to be my opponent.  Despite the dominance I had all season long and my usual ability to outscore any team I played, this time I came out on the wrong end of things.  Although I did score 93 points, my opponent dropped 119 on me to advance to the finals.

Overall, I am very disappointed to see my reign as champion come to an end.  Winning back-to-back titles would have been great, but the one time my opponent scored a ton of points came at the worst possible time.  There are many times I could go back and wonder why I made some decisions relating to the draft or who I started, but we all can do that for anything.

I do have to admit, this was a pretty fun season for fantasy football.  Most of the top draft picks didn't deliver, which really shook things up for a change.  I would say I am already looking ahead to the draft next summer, but honestly, not worrying about which player did what for a change will feel nice.

Although I didn't come out on top in the end, I didn't lose by a single point to be eliminated, and I didn't have to watch Brian Westbrook stop a yard short of a touchdown on Sunday, which actually prevented a lot of fantasy teams from winning, so no matter how bad it feels to lose, I can't even imagine the feeling of losing like that.

The regular season finally is over for both of my fantasy teams and one of them gets to continue its quest for a league title.

My CBS team ended up finishing 5-8, which surprisingly is actually a solid record considering how this team started the season.  After having a horrible draft in hindsight due to taking Steven Jackson and Drew Brees, my team started 0-7.  By then I had no chance of making the playoffs, but I did want to put together a respectable finish.  After going 5-1 down the homestretch, I did put together a great finish and don't have to look at that horrible of a record now.  If only my team would have played like this all year, I probably would be talking playoffs for this league.

Shifting gears to a successful team, my Yahoo! one, I ended up finishing with a record of 10-3.  That was good enough to secure 1st place in the standings and now I get to enjoy a first-round bye for the playoffs.  The route I took to get to 10-3 is an interesting one after I started the season with a loss.  After that, I rattled off 3 straight wins before suffering loss #2.  Then things really went well.  I won 7 straight games and was able to clinch 1st place because of that.  My winning streak would have been 8 consecutive games had I won the regular season finale, but I lost by 9 points.  Unfortunately, people haven't bought the excuse that I was resting my players for the playoffs since I had 1st place locked up already.  

Although I didn't finish the season with my Yahoo! team the way I would have liked, I still am feeling good about the playoffs.  Had I started Packers running back Ryan Grant last week I would have won, so it's not like I didn't have the ability to win, I just made some poor lineup decisions.  Either way, I am only two wins away from winning my second straight title in this league, so here's to getting this dynasty started.

As the regular season of fantasy football nears its end, teams will have two options as far as what happens next.  The first and desired option is to continue playing, meaning your team has qualified for the playoffs.  The second, less appealing option is that your season ends when the regular season ends.  That means that your team has missed the playoffs and you must wait until summer 2008 to put together a new team.  Of course, most of you probably have more than just a single team competing, so chances are that usually at least one of your teams makes the playoffs.  Others may not be as lucky, but thankfully I am categorized in the first group.

Both of my fantasy teams finishes the regular season with Week 13, which begins on Thursday with the Packers-Cowboys match-up.  For my team in the CBS league, this is it.  After an 0-7 start, I've won 4 out of my last 5 games, putting me at 4-8 with 1 game left.  I obviously have no shot at making the playoffs, but I just hope to come out and get one more win to make the record look a little better.

The complete opposite can be said about my Yahoo! team.  Being the defending champion in this league, I started the season hoping to eventually win another championship.  Things didn't get off to a good start at all as I lost in the opening week of the season, but since then I have won 10 of 11 games, putting me atop the standings with a 10-2 record.  I clinched the playoffs a week ago but just wrapped up a first round bye this past week with a 90-79 win.  Surprisingly, that is the lowest point total I've had since Week 5 when I last lost.

Heading into the playoffs, I am only going to be two wins away from a second straight league championship.  Although I have nothing to be proud about for my CBS league, good things happen for my on Yahoo.

With the playoffs for fantasy football coming in a few weeks, it is very important to pick up wins if you are looking to clinch a spot in the postseason.  For my Yahoo! league, I will likely clinch a playoff spot after this week as I increased my lead over everyone else to a full 2 games.

In my Yahoo! league for Week 10, I won by 10 points and dropped 99 on the board in the process thanks to Ben Roethlisberger and Terrell Owens.  The two combined for well over half of my total points, so they really were vital to picking up win #8 on the season.  As I already said, a playoff spot will likely be coming my way after this weekend if I am able to pick up another victory, so increasing my winning streak to 6 games will be vital.

Moving on to the CBS league, my team once again had a great performance.  Despite an 0-7 start to the season, I've managed to put up over 100 points in each of the last three weeks, and because of that, I have been able to win 3 straight.  Although the playoffs are out of reach and have been for a while now, it's nice to see that something good came from this team.  When I saw the record of 0-7 next to my team's name, let's just say I was scratching my head wondering how I could've done so badly.  As it turns out, I caught a lot of unlucky breaks with the players I drafted, but things are coming together now.  Better late than never I guess.

With Week 11 approaching, there are no more byes, meaning you no longer have to scan the waiver wire to find a replacement if one of your stars doesn't have a game.  That makes me very happy as I really had to pick up some players that I didn't want recently, and although it didn't hurt me in the short run, I did end up losing a couple players that would add nice depth right now.  I probably shouldn't be complaining since my team is in fine shape with an 8-2 record, but still, I'd like to get a couple guys back on my team.

As the regular season for fantasy football begins to wind down in the coming weeks, it is vital that you pick up wins to clinch a playoff spot.  In my Yahoo! league, with sole possession of first place, I am on the verge of doing that already.  In my CBS league, on the other hand, I don't even have a shot at the playoffs thanks to starting 0-7, but at least I am winning now.

I'll start with my CBS league since that is a lost cause.  As I said, I started the year 0-7 after Steven Jackson got injured and Drew Brees did nothing for most of the year, but in the last two weeks, my team has been great.  This past weekend, I scored over 100 points and won easily, making it 2 straight.  I already mentioned that the playoffs are out of reach for me, but I might as well do some damage to other teams in the playoff hunt.  That's the only thing left to play for.  I just wish that my team had been this good all season long instead of these two select weeks.

Moving on to the league that I am dominating right now, let's look at the how I did in Yahoo! for Week 9.  Matching up against the second place team, I wanted a win badly to not only keep sole possession of first place, but to pull farther away from the other players.  That way, I can clinch a playoff spot in the next couple of weeks to get that out of the way.

As far as how my team did in Week 9, I won easily by scoring 123 points, and if I had started Ben Roethlisberger, it would've been close to my season-high.  Looking back at each player, it was Joseph Addai, Terrell Owens, and Carson Palmer that put up the most points for my team.  Even though those three topped everyone else, there was still a nice balance between the rest of my starters as each player managed to play pretty well.

Heading into Week 10, it is make it or break it time for some teams in both the pros and in fantasy football.  I'm sure many of you out there are in the hunt for a playoff spot, making for a week like this to be especially important.

Check back here next week for a look at how Week 10 played out in the fantasy world.

After 8 weeks, I'm finally a winner in both of my fantasy football leagues.  I have had a solid year so far in my Yahoo! one as I am 6-2 and have sole possession of first place, but my CBS league has been a completely different story.  

Drafting players like Steven Jackson and Drew Brees quickly put my team into a big hole.  I went from thinking I had a great shot to do great things in the league to quickly realizing that I was screwed.  Brees struggled through the first part of the season and Jackson was out with an injury.  He just returned for Sunday and quickly helped my team get its first victory of the season.  Even Drew Brees showed up in a big way, dropping 37 points.  I actually had him on my bench, but it didn't matter as a I scored a season-best (for myself) 120 points, easily getting a victory.

Thanks to Derek Anderson, Lee Evans, and the Chargers defense, I won comfortably.  Actually, that's an understatement.  If all of those players would've been on the bench I would've won comfortably as my opponent only scored 36 points.  Still, though, the fact that I managed to put up 120 is a nice thing to see.  My playoff chances are pretty much gone due to starting 0-7, but hopefully I can throw together a nice run here in the second half of the season to at least finish with a respectable record.

Switching gears back to my Yahoo! league, I took over control of first place by myself after a third consecutive win.  Yet again, I managed to score a solid amount of points (94), and managed to hold on to a victory.  The reason I say "hold on" is because my opponent trailed by 3 points after Brandon Marshall started getting yards on Denver's last drive yesterday.  Marshall actually almost caught a touchdown, and although it would've got the Lions into first place by handing Green Bay a loss, it would've given me a loss, so I'll take it.  

Looking ahead to this week's match-up, I get to face the team in my league that has Tom Brady.  I am hoping that the Colts do their best to shut him down, otherwise I could be looking at loss #3.  Why couldn't I have played this team next week when Brady and the Pats have a bye?  That really would've been lucky scheduling.  Regardless, here's to hoping for a victory.

Fantasy football players out there are currently right in the middle of the season and the time to make your move is now. For me personally, I am experiencing two completely different things in my two leagues. In one, I am sitting comfortably at the top in first place and have scored the most points out of anyone by far. In the other league, however, thanks to Drew Brees and Steven Jackson, I am 0-7 and am dead last.

What's so interesting about the differences in the two leagues besides the record is how I can draft so well one time but then just completely do everything wrong another time. Right now, the players I drafted in my league where I'm in first are the same ones starting on a weekly basis. That obviously doesn't take bye weeks into effect, but I'm talking about the usual starters.

The other league, which we'll just refer to as "0-7" from now on, features an almost entirely different starting lineup. Since I can't count on most of the players I drafted from that trusty #2 spot, I have actually had to completely overhaul the roster. It still hasn't worked as I still am winless, but I have been improving each week and got very close to a win for a short period of time on Sunday. Of course, the margin of victory for my opponent was comfortable in the end, but at least I'm somewhat competitive now.

As we head into Week 8, we hit a crucial time in the fantasy football world. Right now a lot of teams are tied at the top of my Yahoo! league (where I'm 1st), so wins become vital to stay out in front. In my 0-7 league, I have given up all hope, although I still am gunning for win #1. At least then I can be on par with Notre Dame. That would make me feel a little better.

I'm just going to get it out of the way right now.  My fantasy football team in the league with other SB Nation writers is dead.  After Week 3, my record now stands at a dismal 0-3 and my team is decimated.  It's not like it makes a difference that Steven Jackson is now injured considering he didn't do anything to help my team in previous weeks, but it just adds to the pain.  Right now I'm just trying to survive and somehow manage to pull off the upset, but being the underdog by 42 points isn't very promising.

Moving on from the joke that is my CBS fantasy football team, the league I'm in over at Yahoo! is going well after a Week 1 loss.  I now stand at 2-1 after a solid 89-73 win last week and am feeling confident in this team considering I lead the league in points scored.  For Week 4, I am a 25-point favorite and have a chance to move into a tie for first place with a win.

Stay tuned for a recap of Week 4 next week.