Erich Stauffer

Category: Pop Culture

  • Fantasy Football 2007: Best Players Grouped by Team

    Top Teams:

    1. Colts
    2. Bengals
    3. New England
    4. San Diego
    5. New Orleans
    6. St. Louis
    7. Philadelphia
    8. Tennessee
    9. Seattle
    10. Detroit
    11. Dallas
    12. Carolina

    Worst Teams:

    1. Minnesota
    2. Oakland
    3. Atlanta

    Best Players Grouped by Team:

    Q: Peyton Manning
    WR: Marvin Harrison
    WR: Reggie Wayne
    WR: Anthony Gonzales
    RB: Joseph Addai
    TE: Dallas Clark
    K: Adam Vinatieri
    D: IND
    BY: 6

    Q: Carson Palmer
    WR: Chad Johnson
    WR: T.J. Houshmandzadeh
    RB: Rudi Johnson
    TE: Nate Lawrie
    TE: Reggie Kelly
    K: Shayne Graham
    D: CIN
    BY: 5

    Q: Tom Brady
    WR: Randy Moss
    WR: Donte’ Stallworth
    WR: Wes Welker
    RB: Laurence Maroney
    TE: Benjamin Watson
    K: Stephen Gostkowski
    D: NE
    BY: 10

    Q: Philip Rivers
    WR: Vincent Jackson
    RB: LaDainian Tomlinson
    RB: Michael Turner
    TE: Antonio Gates
    K: Nate Kaeding
    D: SD
    BY: 7

    Q: Drew Brees
    WR: Marques Colston
    WR: Devery Henderson
    RB: Reggie Bush
    RB: Deuce McAllister
    TE: Eric Johnson
    K: Olindo Mare
    D: NO
    BY: 4

    Q: Marc Bulger
    WR: Torry Holt
    WR: Isaac Bruce
    RB: Steven Jackson
    TE: Randy McMichael
    K: Jeff Wilkins
    D: StL
    BY: 9

    Q: Donovan McNabb
    WR: Reggie Brown
    WR: Kevin Curtis
    RB: Brian Westbrook
    TE: L.J. Smith
    K: David Akers
    D: Phi
    BY: 5

    Q: Vince Young
    WR: Eric Moulds
    WR: Brandon Jones
    RB: LenDale White
    RB: Chris Henry
    TE: Bo Scaife
    TE: Ben Troupe
    K: Rob Bironas
    D: Ten
    BY: 4

    Q: Matt Hasselbeck
    WR: Deion Branch
    WR: D.J. Hackett
    RB: Shaun Alexander
    TE: Marcus Pollard
    K: Josh Brown
    D: Sea
    BY: 8

    Q: Jon Kitna
    WR: Roy Williams
    WR: Calvin Johnson
    WR: Mike Furrey
    RB: Tatum Bell
    RB: Kevin Jones
    TE: Dan Campbell
    K: Jason Hanson
    D: Det
    BY: 6

    Q: Tony Romo
    WR: Terrell Owens
    WR: Terry Glenn
    RB: Marion Barber III
    RB: Julius Jones
    TE: Jason Witten
    K: Nick Folk
    D: Dal
    BY: 8

    Q: Jake Delhomme
    WR: Steve Smith
    WR: Dwayne Jarrett
    RB: DeAngelo Williams
    RB: DeShaun Foster
    TE: Jeff King
    K: John Kasay
    D: Car
    BY: 7

    Q: Matt Leinart
    WR: Larry Fitzgerald
    WR: Anquan Boldin
    RB: Edgerrin James
    TE: Michael Gaines
    K: Neil Rackers
    D: Ari
    BY: 8

    Q: Damon Huard
    Q: Brodie Croyle
    WR: Dwayne Bowe
    RB: Larry Johnson
    TE: Tony Gonzalez
    K: Justin Medlock
    D: KC
    BY: 8

    Q: Ben Roethlisberger
    WR: Hines Ward
    WR: Santonio Holmes
    RB: Willie Parker
    TE: Heath Miller
    K: Jeff Reed
    D: Pit
    BY: 6

    Q: Alex Smith
    WR: Darrell Jackson
    RB: Frank Gore
    TE: Vernon Davis
    K: Joe Nedney
    D: SF
    BY: 6

    Q: Jay Cutler
    WR: Javon Walker
    RB: Travis Henry
    TE: Tony Scheffler
    K: Jason Elam
    D: Den
    BY: 6

    Q: J.P. Losman
    WR: Lee Evans
    RB: Marshawn Lynch
    TE: Robert Royal
    TE: Ryan Neufeld
    K: Rian Lindell
    D: Buf
    BY: 6

    Q: Matt Schaub
    WR: Andre Johnson
    RB: Ahman Green
    TE: Owen Daniels
    K: Kris Brown
    D: Hou
    BY: 10

    Q: Brett Favre
    WR: Donald Driver
    RB: Brandon Jackson
    RB: Vernand Morency
    TE: Donald Lee
    TE: Joe Werner
    K: Dave Rayner
    D: GB
    BY: 7

    Q: Eli Manning
    WR: Plaxico Burress
    RB: Brandon Jacobs
    RB: Reuben Droughns
    TE: Jeremy Shockey
    K: Lawrence Tynes
    D: NYG
    BY: 9

    Q: Jason Campbell
    WR: Santana Moss
    RB: Clinton Portis
    RB: Ladell Betts
    TE: Chris Cooley
    K: John Hall
    D: Was
    BY: 4

    Q: Chad Pennington
    WR: Laveranues Coles
    WR: Jerricho Cotchery
    RB: Thomas Jones
    TE: Sean Ryan
    TE: Jason Pociask
    K: Mike Nugent
    D: NYJ
    BY: 10

    Q: Charlie Frye
    Q: Derek Anderson
    WR: Braylon Edwards
    RB: Jamal Lewis
    TE: Kellen Winslow
    K: Jesse Ainsworth
    K: Phil Dawson
    D: Cle
    BY: 7

    Q: Jeff Garcia
    WR: Joey Galloway
    RB: Carnell Williams
    TE: Jerramy Stevens
    K: Matt Bryant
    D: TB
    BY: 10

    Q: Trent Green
    WR: Chris Chambers
    WR: Ted Ginn Jr.
    RB: Ronnie Brown
    TE: David Martin
    K: Jay Feely
    D: Mia
    BY: 9

    Q: Rex Grossman
    WR: Bernard Berrian
    WR: Muhsin Muhammad
    WR: Devin Hester
    RB: Cedric Benson
    TE: Greg Olsen
    K: Robbie Gould
    D: Chi
    BY: 9

    Teams Not Listed by Group:

    Minnesota
    Oakland
    Atlanta

    Compiled by Erich on August 15, 2007.

  • Fantasy Football 2007: How and When to Pick Players in Draft

    Fantasy Football is finally here again. Prepare your yourself with a draft strategy. I try to follow these rules:

    Round 1 and 2: Pick two running backs. These are the most rare and make the most points. There is usually only one or two Tier I running backs and five Tier II.

    Round 2 and 3: Pick two wide receivers. These are less rare, and make the second most points. There are usually three to five Tier I wide recievers and up to fifteen Tier II.

    Round 4 and 5: Pick two quarterbacks. Play this by ear. It depends on how many people are in your league. There are usually an abundance of Tier II players, but only two or three Tier I QBs. Quarterbacks are a solid staple of points each week and team is important. More on that later*.

    Round 7 through 10: Pick two tight ends and two defenses. There is normally only one Tier I tight end and they do not make that many points. There are normally two Tier I teams and they can either get a lot of points or nothing, making them less important.

    Round 11 through 13: Pick up a kicker.

    Round 14 through 15: Pick up another running back, wide receiver, and quarterback, in that order.

    *Most league owners / commissioners setup the league to increase points when a quarterback throws or passes to another person on your / their team. As much as you can, try to draft combos like this, which can give you a real point boost in the season. For example, if you draft a running back from the Colts, then you’d want to get the quarterback from the Colts, but consider that the quarterback from the Colts is number 1 and will probably go in the first round. This means that if given the choice, choose running backs with Tier II quarterbacks that you can pick up later. Same goes for wide receivers.

  • Defining Generations

    Generations

    Sometimes it feel like the generations are getting smaller, or at least the names for the generations are getting named more often. A generation is generally defined as 20-30 years as this is the time it takes one person to grow up and have a new family. After Generation X (1961-1981) the names for generations began to take off. First there was Generation Y (1976-1997). In general, Generation Y is the offspring of Generation X, but since Generation X and Generation Y overlap by five years, both my older brother and I are both Generation X and Generation Y and our parents are part of neither generation. So what generation are my parents?

    My parents are Baby Boomers (1946-1964). Generation X, also known as Echo Boomers, Cold War Generation, or Baby Busters, is the offspring of Baby Boomers so by definition my brother and I are from Generation X even though we fall into the potential range of Generation Y. Because our parents were Baby Boomers (the 12th Generation of Americans), we are by default, Generation X (the 13th Generation of Americans). But if I am definitively Generation X, and by definition my children are Generation Y (1976-1997), I had my children seven years too late. So what generation are they and what went wrong?

    They are officially Generation Z (2001-2???). Did we skip a generation? Yes and no. To answer this question, we need to defined sub-generations. These are much more specific and this chart does a great job of explaining it. I am a member of either the Baby Busters (1960-1981) who are defined by experiencing Vietnam War/Cold War or a member of the MTV Generation / Boomerang Generation (1974-1985) defined by the Rise of Mass Media/End of the Cold War. Being that those generations overlap by 4 years, I am going to go with the MTV Generation because culturally, that is what I identify most with. What then, is the sub-generation of my parents?

    Even though my parents could be considered Baby Boomers, they themselves have never identified with that generation and so I think them better fit to be in Generation Jones (1951-1971) and within the sub-generation called Beat Generation. Beats are considered the first modern sub-culture, but my parents were not “Beats”. They are simply the lost generation between Baby Boomers and Generation Xers which probably highlights why I feel lost between Generation X and Generation Y. My children’s generation will probably be more defined due to better tracking with technology such as the Internet and the World Wide Web.

  • Dr. James Dobson’s Twelve Steps of Intimacy

    James C. Dobson, Ph.D., is founder of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that produced his internationally syndicated radio program. A licensed psychologist and marriage, family, and child counselor, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in the field of child development. The author of more than 30 books, including his most recent bestseller, Bringing Up Boys.

    Written extensively about in Love for a Lifetime: Building a Marriage that Will Go the Distance and mentioned specifically during one of his Focus on the Family radio programs, Dr. Dobson recounts the 12 steps of intimacy:

    1. Eye to Body. A glance reveals much about a person — sex, size, shape, age, personality, and status. The importance people place on these criteria determines whether or not they will be attracted to each other.

    2. Eye to Eye. When the man and woman who are strangers to each other exchange glances, their most natural reaction is to look away, usually with embarrassment. If their eyes meet again, they may smile, which signals that they might like to become better acquainted.

    3. Voice to Voice. Their initial conversations are trivial and include questions like “What is your name?” or “What do you do for a living?” During this long stage the two people learn much about each other’s opinions, pastimes, activities, habits, hobbies, likes and dislikes. If they’re compatible, they become friends.

    4. Hand to Hand. The first instance of physical contact between the couple is usually a non-romantic occasion such as when the man helps the woman descend a high step or aids her across an obstacle. At this point either of the individuals can withdraw from the relationship without rejecting the other. However, if continued, hand-to-hand contact will eventually become an evidence of the couple’s romantic attachment to each other.

    5. Hand to Shoulder. This affectionate embrace is still noncommittal. It is a “buddy” type position in which the man and woman are side by side. They are more concerned with the world in front of them than they are with each other. The hand-to-shoulder contact reveals a relationship that is more than a close friendship, but probably not real love.

    6. Hand to Waist. Because this is something two people of the same sex would not ordinarily do, it is clearly romantic. They are close enough to be sharing secrets or intimate language with each other. Yet, as they walk side by side with hand to waist, they are still facing forward.

    7. Face to Face. This level of contact involves gazing into one another’s eyes, hugging and kissing. If none of the previous steps were skipped, the man and woman will have developed a special code from experience that enables them to engage in deep communication with very few words. At this point, sexual desire becomes an important factor in the relationship.

    8. Hand to Head. This is an extension of the previous stage. The man and woman tend to cradle or stroke each other’s head while kissing or talking. Rarely do individuals in our culture touch the head of another person unless they are either romantically involved or are family members. It is a designation of emotional closeness.

    9-12. The Final Steps. The last four levels of involvement are distinctly sexual and private. They are:

    • (9) Hand to Body,
    • (10) Mouth to Breast,
    • (11) Touching Below the Waist, and
    • (12) Intercourse.

  • To be read at my funeral.

    Want to be asleep.
    Pain to stop.
    Life to be fun.
    Have moments of comfortableness.
    Mean people to shut up.
    Friends.
    Someone to laugh at my jokes.
    To love.
    To see the grand canyon.
    Space.
    A place to call my own.
    Blink182 to get back together.
    A truly original idea.
    To finish my novel.
    To be a good dad.
    To be faithful.
    To be fearless.
    To stand up for myself.
    To be in control.
    To be taken care of.
    To learn.
    To be loved.
    To leave an impression.
    To be without a shadow of a doubt.
    To meet Jesus.
    To drive less.
    To laugh more.
    To give when I can.
    To be.
    To remember.
    To have something to look forward to.
    To find out what color her eyes are.
    My daughters to respect me.
    To be almost debt free.
    To take a warm shower.
    To lay down in cold, clean sheets on a cool October night.
    To work with Derek again.
    To find a diamond in my own back yard.
    To meet someone on top of the Empire State Building.
    To build my own car.
    To make my parents proud.
    To let my wife know how much she means to me.

    Mile 100150.

  • The Art of Naming a Sandwich

    When one goes to name a sandwich, they normally name it after what lies between the slices of bread rather than the bread itself. Conversely, when someone refers to a set of non-food items that resemble a sandwich pattern, the ‘sandwich’ is often named after the ‘bread’ parts. This may be because most of the time, outside of bread, similar things in life do not surround something else, but when it does, one wants to point attention to it, not what is in between and do so by naming the sandwich after the two alike peices rather than the one unique.

  • My Voice

    My whole life I’ve been searching for my true singing voice. Today I found that voice and, though it was true, it did not sound good. I raised my soft pallete, removing the nasality, and pushed the air hard from my diaphragm. It hurt my lungs, my ears, and my heart. Its like when we grew up and realized all of our dreams would not come true. I want to create a masterpiece.

  • Hot Fuss

    I like pulling up to red lights at the bottom of hills with my hands up as if I’m falling. Its right up there with doing the windmill on overpasses. It makes me feel weightless.

    I’m listening to The Killers’ “Hot Fuss”. Song 5 is my fav so far, but they are all good. Its a band that makes me wish I still had my band as a creative outlet.

  • Theres a Reason Why Life Rymes with Wife

    I’m really sick of people constantly asking me to make life-changing decisions. I am not good at making decisions. My personal philosophy for the last three years has been the following:

    • Surround myself with people that I like
    • Dissasociate with those who hurt me
    • Be happy as long as it is not at the expense of others happiness
    • Try to make other people happy

    I followed these rules instead of a formal religion. I feel now it has culminated in these circumstances:

    • I have fewer, but closer friends
    • I have to make harder choices about WHO to make happy when conflicts arrive
    • I more frequently find myself giving up my own happiness for others
    • This last gift does not spontaneously mean I will support them, just get out of their way

    I still feel nothing.