The precious time of preseason football has come to an end. Many are relieved and ready for real football, but maybe they should hold that thought. Based upon the struggles of certain teams, and the minimal acquaintance time for rookies and new teammates, it’s going to be a long first month of the regular season. So what does this mean in the fantasy football world?

It’s definitely going to be a circus month. Don’t expect any reliance of rankings to help bolster your team’s chances of winnings. Furthermore, expect the no name borderline starting players to make big contributions. That will fade quickly for those players, and then you’ll see the big name athletes come into form.

It just seems like NFL teams are no where near prepared to start this season. That’s a trend that can be supported year in and year out, as team’s don’t get enough real game time preparation. All the training camp drills and mini simulation drills are great, but the sloppiness and timing against other opponents you can’t prepare for. So why do people continue to hate on the NFL preseason, and propose to it being reduced?

Injuries are going to occur, regardless if the preseason was cut short or not. Jeff Garcia breaking his leg in Detroit’s last preseason game was a perfect example of how one play can change a season. The Lions could have sat him out and prepped him for backup duty in the regular season, but it just was an unfortunate injury. Injuries happen, and simply reevaluating on decisions is plain stupidity. The Lions needed to test Garcia more, and see if he could showcase that he is worthy of being the Lions starting quarterback. Everyone knew that based upon the previous four weeks of preseason, Harrington had Garcia beaten by a long stretch.

So Garcia is out, and the media is starting a frenzy once again about cutting the preseason short. The whole reason for having depth at a position is for injuries. All Garcia’s injury did was bump up the third stringer into the backup spot, and gave some other quarterback new life as a third string. Success in the NFL often occurs because of breaks, and getting a shot usually happens because of injuries.

It was sad to see the majority of the NFL teams sitting out their starters completely. Shying away from competition is what that gives off. Indianapolis was a team that went winless in the preseason, and still decided to sit out their starters against Cincinnati in their last preseason loss. On the flipside, Cincinnati gave their starters some tune up time, and looked solid. Maybe it doesn’t make a difference at all in the Colts case, but I can guarantee it will. The slightest mishap of a Manning throw that is picked off in the first game will be because of timing being off.

All in all the NFL is primed for one of the most exciting years of football. New England’s dominant days seem to be behind, and that means a new contender will have the ultimate shot at bumping them out. Both conferences really don’t have a front runner, but the playoff caliber teams are bundled together with little leeway. Lets get this first few weeks of the season over with because it’s going to get ugly.

Opening up eyes with preseason play is always over evaluated. Just because a team goes undefeated or winless, doesn’t support any structure for season success or non-success. With the Arizona Cardinals, there are more problems than Dennis Green would like to believe. All conclusions of the Cardinals winning the division, aren’t going to come close to happening if things don’t getting straightened out in a hurry.

The foundation of any team begins at the line of scrimmage. Defensively, the Cardinals boast a great attacking defensive line and unit that will likely be a top ten defense. The main problem though is the offensive line, which has numerous problems. All preseason the line has played pathetic. With that horrible play, it hasn’t allowed Kurt Warner to have sufficient time in the pocket, or for JJ Arrington to get any lanes to run through. Warner has started to complain, and deservingly so. If he is on his back weekly, it’ll only be a matter of time before Warner is sidelined.

With a brittle offensive line, it’s only going to cause disastrous problems. The Cardinals line is definitely near the bottom with the likes of the Texans. With poor offensive line play, comes turnovers. Unforced errors with rushed throws, in the backfield disruptions, and the mentality of having a shorter time clock to get rid of the football is all going to boil over to a bad offense.

Week by week Dennis Green says the offensive line is a work in progress. It’s going to take more than progress, and more like a season of whoops I missed my assignment. It’s unfortunate that the offensive line will keep the Cardinals from making the next leap into the playoffs, but it’s a simple forecast to predict.

Nor only will the Cardinals offensive line force the quarterback and running back position to suffer, it’ll also hurt the Cardinals receivers. Game planning for shorter routes is going to be a must, because the time for a big play throw won’t be there. The Cardinals only hope for success is on the other side of the ball. If their defense can be a top five unit, than they may be able to make a push into the playoffs. The defense has progressed nicely, and will need to be a force somewhat like the Ravens.

Football careers are usually cut short due to an injury. Nowadays, an athlete can come and go just because he wants to. One or two contracts and an athlete is financially stable for the rest of his life.

In any newspaper there is always a section for NFL news and notes, primarily just reworded information from Sportscenter the previous night. Lately, there has been other news than just training camp injuries, with a big surprise with a few athletes retiring.

The blurbs are put in as if the athlete has fulfilled a career, and has exited because he is satisfied with football. Don’t get me wrong an athlete should be able to make big decisions like that, but they should also get the criticism for being a quitter.

One year ago, an athlete decided to retire and garbage was thrown at him everyday. We all know the real reason why Ricky Williams retired for a brief year. Still, the only wrong thing he did was leave his teammates in a bind, and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world for his departure.

So what makes the offensive lineman from Tampa Bay that decided to retire, and tight end Freddie Jones any different than Williams? They both bailed during training camp, and have quietly went riding into the sunset. The difference is that Williams was a high profiled athlete, and Jones and others are just your everyday average athlete.

The politics in life is unbelievable, but in sports it’s on a different broader scale. Perhaps the Panthers and Buccaneers didn’t need their recent retired athletes, but if that were the case why would the Panthers sign Jones in the off-season? They wanted a tight end that fit Jones bill, and he voided that out one-month before the season starts. Who’s to say that the Panthers would have a different tight end, if Jones would have retired a Cardinal after the 2004 season?

Obviously these athletes have the idea of retiring on their mind, more than people think. The drive is gone in a lot of athletes, just because they are financially secure. Money has changed the game in a good and bad way, and for the most part the outside has seen the good. Over the next five to ten years, that will change as the greediness of money and lack of interest is going to pattern into more and more retiring athletes.

Who can blame them? They’ve made their money, and can now use that to start a business or whatever they feel happy doing. Why would they sit around and have their bodies mutilated and endure verbal abuse from coaches?

This issue keeps staying away from mainstream media, and is only one more big name player away from taking center.

The big knock on the whole issue, is if you’re going to walk away from the game do it at the appropriate time. True professionals like Barry Sanders and Robert Smith did it correctly, and that’s the way it needs to be done.

Peyton Manning has broke or will break many of Dan Marino’s records, but Marino’s displays with his arm as a quarterback will never be touched. His uncanny quick release and footwork were top notch, and therefore I truly believe Marino is the best quarterback to ever play the game.

Argue all you want, but out of all other great quarterbacks who has had the weakest cast? Without even thinking on that one, it would go to Dan Marino. Instead of Terrell Davis, Marino had Kareem Abdul Jabber, Bernie Parmalee, Irving Spikes, and a list of no name non dependent backs. Literally every year Marino’s running back was one of the bottom five in the league.

Miami was never able to enter the next phase as a franchise, but yet were a consistent playoff team. The whole reason was because of Marino, as often times he could win games just with his arm. Every defensive coordinator knew candidly that Miami’s offense was one dimensional, and yet every week Marino managed to thread throws in areas as unsafe as Iraq.

His body would take a repeated beating, but through it all his arm was as sharp as could be. Sure in the latter part of his career it looked like his velocity and judgment in throws had completely gone disarray, but it was his body that had given out. If you watch any of the highlights in his last season, the bottom half of his body was unable to deliver that needed power from the lower body. It was all arm strength, and that’s when Marino had to make the tough decision to exit from the game.

Marino’s arm could have lasted for another five to six years. It’s almost like Roger Clemens on the mound in baseball. Clemens legs and body are of his true age of 43, but his arm is the cannon of a 20 year old. If an arm was all that you needed to function in football, Marino would not be being inducted into the Hall of Fame this early.

It’s truly sad and disheartening to watch how Marino’s career winded down. He had to watch John Elway win back to back Super Bowl titles and retire on a high note, while he kept giving it his all for nothing. He kept taking a beating every week, and I only could feel bad for the guy. He was so loyal to Miami that he wouldn’t speak up to be traded to a team that would give him a running back.

Every off season there was always the talk of bringing in this back or a wide receiver. The names of Barry Sanders and even Carl Pickens were brought up on occasions, but the closest Marino ever got to having a star receiver was OJ McDuffie, besides the Clayton’s early on in his career.

This went on for his complete seventeen year career without a running back. Deep down in Marino’s heart there is strong animosity towards the Dolphins organization. What makes it worse is as soon as Marino was gone they brought in Lamar Smith, who had a solid season and set a playoff record with 240 yards against Indianapolis. Then they bring in Ricky Williams, and this season draft Ronnie Brown. You talk about a slap in the face. Every time Marino has done a Dolphin highlight for CBS, and they showed a running back touchdown he has to be thinking he is dreaming.

The separation Marino should have had in the record books is an after thought now. He was the Michael Jordan for quarterbacks, and this wasn’t a five man squad. He was able to make an eleven man squad, that was below average most of the time, into a contender every year. He never pouted, but would you could see the disgust in his face often on the field.

When the Dolphins cleared house after they were dismantled by the Jaguars in the 2000 playoffs, there was a lot of question on what Dan Marino would do. Miami had already told him they weren’t interested in retaining him as a starter, so Marino sought out his options. The strongest offer Marino got was to play for Minnesota, and have a chance to play in a prolific offense with Randy Moss and Cris Carter. In fact, talks were very serious but Marino ended up turning it down specifically due to the Vikings turf.

If only that offer could have happened two to three years earlier for Marino. The year of 1998 with the Vikings loss to the Falcons in the conference championship, would have been the other way around. Should of, could of, would of, is the whole story of Marino’s surroundings and environments. In Marino’s hands though, nothing was questionable in his career.

Game planning for favorable matchups is one of the hardest aspects of fantasy football. Making the right or wrong decision of who to start and who not to start can be a be the decisive factor, between a win or a loss.

It’s a situation that cannot possibly be predicted, as the majority of minor role players have big weeks unexpectedly. Then when you give them a chance to start they prove why you didn’t risk them in the lineup.

When Sunday is over though, it shouldn’t be over for your fantasy football team. On paper almost every team is finished, but the daunting Monday Night football game, shapes up the complete weekend.

Monday night football is one of the safest bets to keep your team in the thick of things. Prime time players and mediocre players play big under the spotlight, especially on Monday nights. Who knows why that brings the best out of an athlete, but it’s a protect your back thing for fantasy football.

It’s like Randy Moss playing against Dallas, you just do it because good things are going to happen.

When is the last time you’ve seen a low scoring Monday night game?

The whole objective of Monday Night football games is to stray away from boring games. That’s why the Cardinals, and teams with prior losing seasons don’t take center stage.

In fact last season twenty one times a team scored twenty four points or more on Monday night. Including the back to back weeks of Seattle vs. Dallas and Kansas City vs. Tennessee, in which all the teams were near or over forty points.

It’s a nail biter for a fantasy team if they’re done on Sunday. If the opposing team is down by eight points, and has a kicker left for Monday, it’s almost a guarantee the team with the kicker will come out on top. It’s just previous trends and easy mathematics that configure to that easy calculation.

Don’t be left a team that is staring at the tube angrily on Monday. Adjust your lineup accordingly. Only if your matchup is absolutely horrendous on Monday night, then you should start that athlete.

It adds some extra trash talking that can carry over an extra day as well. With the type of monster performances that have happened on Monday night, a fantasy team could be down by twenty or more and still win. That’s when praising the fantasy football gods for your “W” is worthy.

The average true football fan probably can dedicate three percent of their vocabulary to John Madden. In fact, John Madden 101 is probably more educational for today’s kids than what their teachers are blabbing. They may be in school for seven hours a day, but their attention may be there for thirty minutes of that. When they are playing Madden against friends, they are concentrating every second.

John Madden, a legend before most of our times, and yet has transformed the world of football more than any coach in NFL history. Nobody can breakdown plays better than he can. Anyone can break down a play by the books, but Madden is creative with his perspective views. He will notice the strangest things and make them into perfect sense.

His energetic knowledge is what helped revive Monday Night Football, and is why NBC pursued him with mega dollars. Everything in Madden’s life has something to do with football, and his love of the game will never go away.

Who would have thought, that true love could turn into business? When he first started out as a commentator for CBS in the 80’s, the contract definitely was probably a chump salary at best. As the revenue in sports grew, so did the video game era. It was perfect timing, and Madden jumped on the idea of having his name branded with a football game.

From day one, he wanted it as realistic as can be. None of this cyber ball type video game, where it looks like marching band members moving to spots on the field. He was behind the scenes, and a mastermind into developing and clearing errors in the game play.

The game has grossed remarkable sales and has shown no signs of ever having a challenger. The Gameday’s, Quarterback Club, and the Joe Montana football games never stood a chance in surviving against Madden. Its fan base is too strong and devoted to ever change over.

A non-sports fan will try to argue that Madden looks the same every year. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Every year new features and little noticeable things are added to make the game even more realistic. It is so smooth the way it has been constructed, and that is why a non-football fan cannot open their eyes to the smaller things changed.

The loyalty will never go away. It is like candy canes on a Christmas tree, to a previous Madden purchaser. It will be in their Xbox or Playstation come the release date. Put it down with the annual doctor visit, because it is a routine yearly check off.

When your buddies are ready for a tournament, the only question is who is bringing the copy and how many extra controllers are needed.

It is the only game that does not need to be tested, or see if your friend has. If a friend has it and you go to over to challenge, you will be blown out. Then you will exit out and head to the closest store, and quietly practice at home to hone your skills.

The preparation of playing the game by yourself is needed, if you want to compete with serious Madden gamers. The infamous Madden Challenge has grown into a huge national success, and furthermore on internet game play.

I will not argue I was one of many Madden fans that purchased ESPN’s NFL2k5 last season. It did offer a few different aspects, but it is overall functioning and game play was not near Madden. It quickly became buried and an after thought whenever video game play was needed.

Madden 06’s release is right around the corner. For the ump-teenth time I will grab another copy.

The creator in John Madden deserves much more attention than what he gets. The game could have became sloppier when the dollar sign became involved, or Madden could have easily exited calling games and lived a prosperous quiet retirement. Instead, neither his announcing or business side has fell off. His tireless work continues to prove his excellence in the football world.