The Jersey Chronicles: The Junction Draft

For about 6 years, The Junction fantasy football league has held court, ushering a brand new era of gridiron enthusiasm in my close-knit group of friends at home. We’ve built a tradition over the years to include a live draft on a Saturday in August. It’s turned into a day that some of us now call “Second Christmas”.

Why Second Christmas? For one, it’s a day you receive gifts. You get a whole new fantasy football team, which is nothing more than a fun toy for a young man who loves football. Second, its time for family to get together, eat food and celebrate the goodness of close relationships. We arrive early and go to bed late. We toss in a game of whiffle ball and a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers.

A growing highlight of the day evolved from the league’s general appreciation of American craft brews. As the beer-tasting hobby grew, several league members began to brew their own beer. After a few initial tries, the brewers gained traction on the slippery slope of homemade beer and starting producing some quality beverages. Last year, about half of the league brought coolers full of unmarked bottles and shared them with the party. This year, the unmarked bottles turned into pony kegs with fully pressurized systems. The tastiness grows with each passing year. It may actually be the best part of our late summer ritual.

With each year the legend of The Junction grows. This year will be no different. Last year a rookie took the glory after snatching up Tom Brady in the 2nd round. We watched as he pounded a brass nameplate onto the Junction Stump, our league’s Stanley Cup. I vowed revenge on that team for knocking me out in the semifinals last season en route to his championship.

It’s a twelve-team league and we play points per reception. Given that we drafted on the 9th, I feel pretty good about my work. I picked fourth and we worked a snake draft. Here is the 2008 depth chart of Zie Beserkers

QB
Brett Farve

RBs
Joseph Addai
Willis McGahee
Rudi Johnson
Rashard Mendenhall

WRs
Terrell Owens
Anquan Boldin
Calvin Johnson
Javon Walker
Marty Booker
James Hardy

TE
Jeremy Shockey

DEF
Dallas Cowboys

K
Kris Brown

Summer’s closing and football is starting. We’ll see how well I can manage from the subcontinent.