Bringin' the Lame

You may recall Brad Evans is one of the Yahoo! yahoos who tries to use slick lingo and mockery of those who email to mock him in order to get himself over.

Here is his latest column.

He starts off talking about how to make trades while at a party. While I appreciate him holding off on this till now (everyone else was talking about trades after Week 3), he should've mentioned that some of his advice just doesn't work on-line. Obviously you don't have to worry about alcohol consumption, so I'm talking about the rest of his advice.

2. Be arrogant yet open-minded
This works online, too, with emails, but another tool at your disposal is the "Trading Block". CBS Sportline and Yahoo! both have one, so I'm sure they all do. This takes an EXTRA layer of desperation out, as you're truly just 'throwing stuff out there'. An added benefit is now potential traders KNOW they're in a competition and in a free-market system, competition is good!

3. Don't low ball
I think this really depends on the league. I'm in a league where lowballing is the norm. For example, long story short, prior to Sammy Morris getting hurt, I had a deal in place to get Derrick Mason (the guy needed him b/c of byes). After Sunday, I instead offered Barber. The guy countered by asking for ADDAI!! If you're lucky and NOT in a league where everyone tries to screw everyone, then great, don't low ball. But sometimes you have to 'play the game'. Ideally, you and the other guy will reach a point where you can say "Okay, now that we've established that neither side is screwing the other, consider this fair proposal".

Another reason to lowball is when you really don't have any idea what the other guy would take in return. In the same league, I was interested in a WR, but the guy had a pretty balanced team. I 'offered' Greg Olsen, but put in the note "hey, I would like Engram and I know Olsen isn't enough; take a look at my roster and counter-propose". We ended up not trading, but I think I handled that right. Bottom line: sometimes you don't want to open negotiations with a trade proposal that the other guy can accept right away; sometimes you just want to get his attention.

UPDATE: after following my own advice and putting Marion Barber 'on the block', the aforementioned owner offered Derrick Mason for him. I've accepted the deal.

Brad's column takes a nosedive, though, with his picks of 2 'Fantasy Flames/Lames':

• Kevin Jones (Flame) - Repeat after me, "there is RARELY a good time to start Kevin Jones". Yes, I'm speaking as a jaded former owner over the past FOUR YEARS. I don't care if Brad "anticipates Mike Martz to feature the ultra-versatile Jones noticeably in the Lions' aerial gameplan. Have faith in him as a No. 2 in all 12-team formats.". I anticipate that Jones will reinjure himself in the first quarter. I'd rather start Brad's "Shocker Special" of Kevin Faulk.


• Marion Barber (Lame) - I'll admit Brad does have some good points regarding the Vikes' run D. He left out a key bit of info, though: Dallas has gone to a true RBBC, whereby Barber and Jones alternate series. No more "Julius between the 20s and Barber to finish the drive". That's what's kept Barber's numbers down these past couple of weeks and that'll help keep them down even after Week 7 is over.