Kickers League Draft Night

Last night my buddies D-Lib, Nattie Ice and I held our 3rd Annual Kickers League Draft. The draft itself took 2 minutes (results below), but the real highlight was the time we spent at the new wings place on The Ave. Last week when I was standing at the bus stop on 45th for the first time in a year, I noticed that the Mexican restaurant was no longer there - replaced by a wings place that was advertising $10 pitchers on Monday and at least 10 different flavors of wings sauce. It seemed like an obvious choice for the draft.

Nattie Ice and I got there at 5:00 and started off with a pitcher of Stella. When D-Lib arrived at 6:15 we ordered another pitcher and 25 wings - one half with the 2nd Degree Sauce and the other with the Bourbon Street BBQ sauce. Turns out our server (who was so young and attractive that there is no way she would have talked to anyone of us had she not been trying to get our 30-year old money) was actually right - the 2nd Degree is the way to go. Anyways, we then got another pitcher and out of no where, the head cook brought us out a Grilled Cheese Bacon Cheese Burger that they are 'trying out'. So in all, we got 3 pitchers, 2 baskets of fries, 25 wings and a burger for $20 each. Not terrible. The only thing that could have gone better - had the Mariners hit a home run while we were there, we would have gotten 5 free wings. Up til then I had never actually been mad at their offense for anything, but now I am officially annoyed (ok, J-Will get mad at me for being unfair to your M's).

I certainly had more beer yesterday than I have had in a long time. I love my Stella. Right as I was getting ready to leave, The Wife called and reminded me that I offered to go out and get diapers for The Incident. Damn, stupid responsibilities slapping me in the face. When I got home I instantly fell asleep and then proceeded to wake up every hour. Now today I feel like crap. Damn, stupid age slapping me in the face. Oh, and as I went to pay for the diapers I realized I didn't have my credit card and had left it at the bar. Damn, stupid, well...stupid me slapping me in the face.

Anyways, let's look at the final rosters:
Me: Nate Kaeding, Rod Bironas, Billy Cundiff, Alex Henery, Sebastian Janikowski, Dan Carpenter, David Akers, Ryan Succop, Kevin Huber (P)

D-Lib: Steven Gostkowski, Mason Crosby, adam Vinatieri, Jay Feely, David Buehler, Jeff Reed, Larry Tynes, Olindo Mare, Matt Turk (P)

Nattie Ice: Neil Rackers, Josh Brown, Garrett Hartley, Nick Folk, Matt Bryant, Ryan Longwell, Robbie Gould, Matt Prater, Jeremy Kapinos (P)

Comments: My team is an interesting lot. I have two of the most stable kickers in the game - Kaeding and Bironas who barring a miracle should be among the top 5 again at the end of the season. In Carpenter I think I have another guy who could be in the top 5 if 2010 is any indication. Janikowski was great for me last year and is just fun to have around the locker room because he is certifiably crazy. The problem with crazy kickers is that it can blow up at any time, so who knows what he will do. Cundiff and Henery, a rookie out of Nebraska, are my two wild cards because I have no idea what they might give me. Akers is a nostaliga pick - he has burned me the past two years, but was available in the 7th round so I had to pull the trigger. Last time I took a SF kicker (Joe NEdney in 2009) it didn't work out. And last time I took a prolific kicker who signed a deal with an NFC West team (Josh Brown in 2009) it also didn't work out...so I guess I'm not expecting much. As for the punter, John Huber, I expect Cincinnati to have the worst offense in the game, so the pick was an obvious one.

The great thing about this league is that no one is the favorite to win. Honestly, anything can happen with kickers...hopefully after finishing last both previous years my team decides it's time to get lucky.