Well, as fantasy football exploded over the last few years, I resisted the urge to join in with the rising tide. I don't really know why, except for maybe the fact that I didn't want to put time in. Anyway, I've finally joined the crowd and am participating in my first fantasy football league. Now, if I'm going to do something sports-related, I like to do it right, so I've been making sure to read up on fantasy stuff and be well prepared. We had our draft tonight, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

The draft order was determined randomly at the start of the draft, and the 12th team added (just a few days ago) ended up nabbing the first pick. Here's how the order played out.

1) WAREAGLE (we figure him getting the #1 pick was compensation for his Michigan team getting embarrassed earlier today)
2) Mountain Men
3) The Doobie Doo-Wahs
4) The Techmo Bos (Me)
5) Dirty Mugs
6) UNC Sucks
7) Bengals Anonymous
8) kill me i'm a noob
9) Norv Turner's Neck
10) Beer
11) The Empty 7
12) Bootsy Collins

Picking 4th was not optimum, but it certainly could've been worse, and with the way things played out it turned out to be a great spot. Anyway, here's how the picks went.

Round 1

1. LaDainian Tomlinson WAREAGLE

2. Steven Jackson Mountain Men

3. Steve Smith The Doobie D...

4. Larry Johnson The Techmo Bos

5. Joseph Addai Dirty Mugs

6. Frank Gore UNC Sucks

7. Shaun Alexander Bengals Anon...

8. Laurence Maroney kill me i'm ...

9. Rudi Johnson Norv Turner'...

10. Brian Westbrook Beer.

11. Reggie Bush The Empty 7

12. Willie Parker Bootsy Collins

Round 2

1. Travis Henry Bootsy Collins

2. Peyton Manning The Empty 7

3. Ronnie Brown Beer.

4. Maurice Jones-Drew Norv Turner'...

5. Willis McGahee kill me i'm ...

6. Brandon Jacobs Bengals Anon...

7. Carson Palmer UNC Sucks

8. Cedric Benson Dirty Mugs

9. Edgerrin James The Techmo Bos

10. Deuce McAllister The Doobie D...

11. Philip Rivers Mountain Men

12. Marvin Harrison WAREAGLE

Round 3

1. Terrell Owens WAREAGLE

2. Jerious Norwood Mountain Men

3. Tom Brady The Doobie D...

4. Torry Holt The Techmo Bos

5. Chad Johnson Dirty Mugs

6. Drew Brees UNC Sucks

7. Clinton Portis Bengals Anon...

8. Antonio Gates kill me i'm ...

9. Thomas Jones Norv Turner'...

10. T.J. Houshmandzadeh Beer.

11. Marques Colston The Empty 7

12. Reggie Wayne Bootsy Collins

Round 4

1. Larry Fitzgerald Bootsy Collins

2. Marion Barber III The Empty 7

3. Roy Williams Beer.

4. Marc Bulger Norv Turner'...

5. Donovan McNabb kill me i'm ...

6. Anquan Boldin Bengals Anon...

7. Andre Johnson UNC Sucks

8. Marshawn Lynch Dirty Mugs

9. Lee Evans The Techmo Bos

10. Jamal Lewis The Doobie D...

11. Randy Moss Mountain Men

12. Carnell Williams WAREAGLE

Round 5

1. Javon Walker WAREAGLE

2. Calvin Johnson Mountain Men

3. Deion Branch The Doobie D...

4. Adrian Peterson The Techmo Bos

5. Donald Driver Dirty Mugs

6. Fred Taylor UNC Sucks

7. Hines Ward Bengals Anon...

8. Reggie Brown kill me i'm ...

9. Plaxico Burress Norv Turner'...

10. Ahman Green Beer.

11. DeAngelo Williams The Empty 7

12. Braylon Edwards Bootsy Collins

Round 6

1. Julius Jones Bootsy Collins

2. Laveranues Coles The Empty 7

3. Santana Moss Beer.

4. Joey Galloway Norv Turner'...

5. Vincent Jackson kill me i'm ...

6. Vince Young Bengals Anon...

7. Devery Henderson UNC Sucks

8. Darrell Jackson Dirty Mugs

9. Jon Kitna The Techmo Bos

10. Kellen Winslow The Doobie D...

11. Dallas Clark Mountain Men

12. Todd Heap WAREAGLE

Round 7

1. Jerricho Cotchery WAREAGLE

2. Tatum Bell Mountain Men

3. Donte' Stallworth The Doobie D...

4. Tony Gonzalez The Techmo Bos

5. Chris Cooley Dirty Mugs

6. Chicago UNC Sucks

7. Jeremy Shockey Bengals Anon...

8. Santonio Holmes kill me i'm ...

9. Vernon Davis Norv Turner'...

10. Tony Romo Beer.

11. Bernard Berrian The Empty 7

12. Matt Hasselbeck Bootsy Collins

Round 8

1. Alge Crumpler Bootsy Collins

2. Heath Miller The Empty 7

3. Baltimore Beer.

4. Mark Clayton Norv Turner'...

5. New England kill me i'm ...

6. Chris Chambers Bengals Anon...

7. Anthony Gonzalez UNC Sucks

8. Jay Cutler Dirty Mugs

9. Greg Jennings The Techmo Bos

10. Adam Vinatieri The Doobie D...

11. Kevin Curtis Mountain Men

12. Matt Leinart WAREAGLE

Round 9

1. San Diego WAREAGLE

2. Miami Mountain Men

3. Pittsburgh The Doobie D...

4. Brandon Jackson The Techmo Bos

5. Philadelphia Dirty Mugs

6. Ben Troupe UNC Sucks

7. Dallas Bengals Anon...

8. Terry Glenn kill me i'm ...

9. Muhsin Muhammad Norv Turner'...

10. Jason Witten Beer.

11. D.J. Hackett The Empty 7

12. Seattle Bootsy Collins

Round 10

1. Nate Kaeding Bootsy Collins

2. Brett Favre The Empty 7

3. Shayne Graham Beer.

4. Jake Delhomme Norv Turner'...

5. Jeff Wilkins kill me i'm ...

6. Robbie Gould Bengals Anon...

7. Ladell Betts UNC Sucks

8. Neil Rackers Dirty Mugs

9. LaMont Jordan The Techmo Bos

10. Eli Manning The Doobie D...

11. Josh Brown Mountain Men

12. Jason Elam WAREAGLE

Round 11

1. Chester Taylor WAREAGLE

2. DeShaun Foster Mountain Men

3. Kevin Jones The Doobie D...

4. Denver The Techmo Bos

5. LenDale White Dirty Mugs

6. Derrick Mason UNC Sucks

7. Vernand Morency Bengals Anon...

8. J.P. Losman kill me i'm ...

9. Carolina Norv Turner'...

10. Warrick Dunn Beer.

11. Leon Washington The Empty 7

12. L.J. Smith Bootsy Collins

Round 12

1. Chris Henry Bootsy Collins

2. Benjamin Watson The Empty 7

3. Ben Roethlisberger Beer.

4. John Kasay Norv Turner'...

5. Michael Turner kill me i'm ...

6. Isaac Bruce Bengals Anon...

7. Randy McMichael UNC Sucks

8. Joe Horn Dirty Mugs

9. Wes Welker The Techmo Bos

10. Dominic Rhodes The Doobie D...

11. Reuben Droughns Mountain Men

12. Jerry Porter WAREAGLE

Round 13

1. Ron Dayne WAREAGLE

2. Ronald Curry Mountain Men

3. Brandon Jones The Doobie D...

4. Jason Campbell The Techmo Bos

5. Chad Pennington Dirty Mugs

6. Matt Jones UNC Sucks

7. Mike Bell Bengals Anon...

8. Brandon Marshall kill me i'm ...

9. Dwayne Jarrett Norv Turner'...

10. Eddie Kennison Beer.

11. Mike Furrey The Empty 7

12. Rex Grossman Bootsy Collins

Round 14

1. Brian Leonard Bootsy Collins

2. Jacksonville The Empty 7

3. Sammy Morris Beer.

4. Mike Nugent Norv Turner'...

5. Owen Daniels kill me i'm ...

6. Alex Smith Bengals Anon...

7. San Francisco UNC Sucks

8. Anthony Thomas Dirty Mugs

9. Greg Olsen The Techmo Bos

10. Adrian Peterson The Doobie D...

11. Matt Schaub Mountain Men

12. Steve McNair WAREAGLE

Round 15

1. Tony Scheffler WAREAGLE

2. Jason Hanson Mountain Men

3. Marcus Pollard The Doobie D...

4. Stephen Gostkowski The Techmo Bos

5. David Akers Dirty Mugs

6. Olindo Mare UNC Sucks

7. Eric Johnson Bengals Anon...

8. Drew Bennett kill me i'm ...

9. Michael Vick Norv Turner'...

10. David Martin Beer.

11. Rian Lindell The Empty 7

12. Chris Henry Bootsy Collins

So, here's what my team ended up looking like.

QB
John Kitna
Jason Campbell

RB
Larry Johnson
Edgerrin James
Adrian Peterson
Brandon Jackson
LaMont Jordan

WR
Torry Holt
Lee Evans
Greg Jennings
Wes Welker

TE
Tony Gonzalez
Greg Olsen

K
Stephen Gostkowski

DEF
Denver

Well, I lucked out when The Doobie Doo-Wahs started their draft-long routine of drafting 1 to 2 rounds too early on every pick by taking Steve Smith with the 3rd pick, allowing me to grab Larry Johnson at #4. Edge James was a great value pick, though I didn't realize until a few rounds later that he and Johnson have the same bye week, but it didn't end up being too bad because I was able to load up on running backs with value picks later. I'm real high on Kitna since he has a great receiving corps, and Campbell was a solid high-upside backup I was able to grab late. I really wanted Alex Smith there, but he has the same bye week as Kitna, so I went with Campbell instead. I got my favorite wideout in Holt and another elite WR in Evans, then 2 high-ceiling guys. I really wanted Gates and even considered taking him over Holt, but Gonzalez is the second best TE, and Olsen is a real high-ceiling guy who should be catching plenty of passes a few weeks into the season. I was perfectly fine with Gostkowski, who should get lots of opportunities in a high-octane Pats offense, and the Denver defense should be fine. I wanted the Chargers D, but really, once you get past the Bears and the Ravens, the difference isn't that big.

Anyway, that's the team. I'm pretty happy with it, since I think I got great value with each pick and I filled out the roster pretty evenly. You can never have too many running backs, and the 5 I have should yield at least 3 top-flight backs. Anything more than that is gravy.