I hope everyone is staying upbeat and chipper despite these dismal days in our nation's history. I know you don't come to a fantasy football site to read even more political news so I won't bother you with it here, just let me use one analogy for you.

Let's say that the Denver/Oakland game should ended with Oakland winning. Mike Shanahan doesn't like the outcome so he petitions the officiating crew that since he is the home team coach there needs to be a replay of every touchdown to see if the points should have counted. Surprisingly, he gets his way but the officials find that one field goal should not have counted but Oakland is still a winner. Shanahan protests again this time saying that he feels that Jon Gruden's offense was confusing and should not have been allowed but will overlook it if all of Oakland's offensive and defensive plays are looked at for penalties that were not called. I think you are getting my point... football and politics have long been compared to one another. And the above story isn't too off-base. Now, let's turn our attention to another concern... injuries.

I want a way to predict them, injuries that is, I mean why should a team be forced to draft players that are inevitably going to be injured? I believe I've mentioned that I feel like I have an innate ability to know when a player is to be injured. It's scary really... last year in baseball I traded Todd Stottlemeyer the day before he tore is rotator cuff. Last year in football I traded Terrell Davis one week before he tore his ACL. This year I traded Duce Staley one week before he broke his foot. And two weeks ago I traded Ricky Williams for Jerome Bettis. There are certainly players that are predictable for injury. Namely those that are old... Emmitt Smith (he gets hurt every week), those that are fragile... Charlie Batch (he needs to drink some milk), those that have had there bell rung more times than the church on main street... Chris Chandler. I'll take those players but not without considerable begging or more than adequate back-ups. In fact in all of my years of fantasy football this is the first time I have ever had Emmitt Smith on my team.

Hey while were talking injuries you might want to bench Amani Toomer for a couple of weeks after this quote in a recent USA Today article:

Toomer declared himself about 75% back, the dizziness and headaches having cleared up by Tuesday. The only thing he's battling now, he said, is an apprehensiveness about getting hit, which he carried onto the practice field.

''I can run around, but I don't know what would happen if I took a hit,'' Toomer said. ''I don't want to take another shot like I did the other day. But if I do, I'll hope everything will be all right.''

That's not exactly the sentiment that you want to hear from a possession receiver.

If you want to predict injuries, here are a couple of ways to figure it... let me say though that there isn't fail-proof method.

1. Look At A Player's History
   It isn't always a true indicator but it helps. Does a player get hurt every year... Yatil Green... or has he played several years mostly injury free? However, the flip-side of this is a player like Isaac Bruce that sat out all year two years ago with various hamstring injuries. Just because a player exhibits injury tendencies doesn't mean that he will always be injured.
   
   
2. Look At The Depth Chart
   Did the players team in question draft a player of equal ability to back up the starter? Teams can't afford to stock up on players that won't be playing. If your player in question isn't a free agent and the team is loading up they must think there is some question about the player playing the entire season.
   
   
3. Look At The Surface
   Teams that play a majority of their games on astro-turf are going to suffer more concussions, knee and ankle injuries. If they play on the Philly turf... double their risk.
   

:: comments to the commish