Conflict of interest, Fantasy

For the last two weeks, I've been entering professor and spring course information for a load of new colleges that we're entering into the Houghton Mifflin database. And I've already gotten two schools that are in Gordon's conference: Salve Regina and Eastern Nazarene College. ENC is our second biggest rival: alongside those evil Gulls of Endicott. ENC is the only other religious co-ed school in the 13-team conference, so the rivalry comes naturally, though it's more friendly than others. Then again, the only thing they're really good in is men's basketball so I don't have much of a problem with them. Now if they ask me to add Endicott, I will "politely" pass on that, thank you very much.

Fantasy football is winding down this week and one of my teams, Not Easy Bein' Green, is in the championship game. Even though I'm seeded second and he's first, I believe I have a great chance to win my first fantasy championship ever. Here's the lineup as of now.

My team
Carson Palmer (CIN QB)
Hines Ward (PIT WR)
Joey Galloway (TB WR)
Roy Williams (DET WR) or Plaxico Burress (NYG WR)
Shaun Alexander (SEA RB)
Ryan Moats (PHI RB) or Fred Taylor (JAX RB)
Tony Gonzalez (KC TE)
Jeff Wilkins (STL K)
Pittsburgh (vs. Cleveland) DEF or New England (vs. Jets) D

His team
Peyton Manning (IND QB)
Jimmy Smith (JAX WR)
Rod Smith (DEN WR)
Eddie Kennison (KC WR)
Larry Johnson (KC RB)
Greg Jones (JAX RB)
Jason Witten (DAL TE)
Jason Elam (DEN K)
Chicago (DEF)

Now Manning, first of all is not going to play much. Tony Dungy has said he will rest his starters after x amount of time since the Colts have homefield advantage secure. Nice move, Tony. You're a smart man. Jimmy Smith has a quad injury. Kennison has a sprained MCL and is questionable. Larry Johnson is my biggest concern. He's going aginst San Diego who will be desperate to get into the playoffs. The biggest question is will Greg Jones or Fred Taylor get more running opportunities. Taylor is the incumbent coming back, but Jones has been a fine replacement. Now Jones is hurting after getting a stinger last week. I have Jason Witten on my other fantasy team and he is useless. He scores a TD once every 4 weeks and that's it. Elam will get a few points against Oakland. The Chicago defense will probably do very well against the Bay of Pigs.

Carson Palmer is a guy I drafted in the sixth round and has been a steal. Against Buffalo, it at home should continue. Galloway and Ward have been fine all year. Burress or Williams? Williams is going against Atlanta and Burress against Washington, both very good pass defenses. I'm getting a little annoyed with Plaxico. Actually, it's really Eli Manning's inability to throw a straight pass that's hurting him. I like Shuan Alexander against the Colts if they are going to rest their regulars. And Indy Pro Bowl LB Cato June is out for the regular season. That can only help. Ryan Moats has been great and is playing Arizona, an average run defense. But Fred Taylor is back and playing the hideous Houston Texans, second worst in the league. Sometmes you need luck to do well and that happened to me in the draft for this league. I was the last guy to select a kicker and took Jeff Wilkins. He's been excellent. And with the Rams playing San Francisco at home, he'll score more than a few. I can play Pitt or NE on D and right now I'm leaning towards New England. I think Cleveland will give Pittsburgh a tough game and score some points. And the Jet offense is more prone to turnovers.

Right now, the Yahoo projected totals have me winning 70-54. But that's with Manning throwing for 80-99 yards and no touchdowns. I'll give him one, adding 6 points to his total. They have Palmer throwing 2 TD's for 250 yards and Alexander scoring 2 as well. Ward, Galloway, and Williams are all expected to score a touchdown which I don't think is realistic. My WR play has been very disappointing as of late. I'll take 6 points out of my total. That would have me winning 64-60.

Last year I won the regular season title and fell in the semifinals over not having access to a computer for 3 days since I was traveling out east. I couldn't make the subs I wanted to and lost. That's not happening this time around.

OK, time to enter Eastern Nazarene's information...