I have been inspired by a recent Bill Simmons podcast and have decided to give you my top twenty players to draft in fantasy football if you held your draft today. At this point in the nfl season we know who is good, who is bad, who is hurt and who is missing the whole freaking season (Tom Brady I’m talking to you!). So let’s just say that you and nine friends all wish to do the 2008 fantasy football draft all over today (just before week 7). Well… my name is Brandon Schrey and here is who you should pick and why.

1) Marion Barber: 700 combined yards and 6 tds

2) Clinton Portis: 643 yards rushing (leader) and 6 tds

3) Adrian Peterson: 563 yards rushing and 3 tds

4) Reggie Bush: 239 rushing, 361 receiving and 8 total tds (3 PR)

5) Matt Forte: 459 rushing, 206 receiving and 5 tds

6) Drew Brees: 1993 yards and 12 tds through 6 weeks

7) Frank Gore: 524 rushing, 196 receiving and 6 tds

Ladainian Tomlinson: 405 rushing, 124 receiving and 4 tds

9) Brandon Jacobs:447 rushing and 4 tds

10) Michael Turner: 597 rushing and 6 tds

11) Maurice Jones-Drew: 301 rushing, 184 receiving and 5 tds

12) Ronnie Brown: 336 rushing, 107 receiving, 7 tds and 1 passing td

13) Brian Westbrook: 194 rushing, 94 receiving and 6 total tds

14) Greg Jennings: 653 receiving and 4 tds

15) Brandon Marshall: 521 receiving and 3 tds

16) Larry Fitzgerald: 546 receiving and 5 tds

17) Chris Johnson: 381 rushing and 2 tds

18) Marshawn Lynch: 319 rushing, 91 receiving and 4 tds

19) Stephen Jackson: 348 receiving, 243 rushing and 1 td

20) Roddy White: 566 receiving and 3 tds

This post was originally written by Brandon Schrey over at the Brandon Schrey Report.

This year’s olympics was a special one for me as we pulled away to beat China in the overall medal count over the last few days of competition. China has always been a supressive country, but the world got to see it in the spotlight these past few weeks. Once we caught on that China has a horror of the concept of freedom, beating them became very fulfilling.

One of my buddies was so caught up in all of this that he watched the games 40 hours straight. What did he watch at four in the morning? “Badminton because it’s the s***,” he replied. He was pumped over every medal and every event. Be it table tennis or gymnastics, he wanted US domination.

When Michael Phelps pulled out an 0.01 second victory. he had an asthma attack. He bet me that Nastia Liukin would beat Shawn Johnson in the individual beam event (a bet which I won much to his annoyance). In short, the kid went all out for the red, white, and blue.

In fact, his passion brought a deeper appreciation of the games to me. I loved the redemption for US basketball. They went out and basically proved to the world that if we give it our best shot for our team and country, then we will win and win big. What’s not to like about that.

The basketball team even embraced the other athletes. Kobe Bryant cheered on Michael Phelps and the US swim team. That’s the kind of appreciation the US has had for these games. And it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.

So congrats to these athletes and the fans led by my buddy. Hopefully our country will continue to show some old school fervor in 2012 in London. God Bless America!

Goodbye, Olympics.  We would love to say that you will be missed, but we cannot.  Oh sure, the exciting dives, stretch finishes, well-studied rowing analysis, and ping pong matches that would make Forrest Gump hit the practice facilities were able to keep the energy alive, but even Michael Phelps’ record 8 Gold Medals couldn’t override the smog, the threat of violence, the murder of an U.S. Olympic family member, and the most unusual lip-synching controversy that made Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan share a giggle.

The return of U.S. Basketball to its place of dominance was overshadowed by Chinese gymnasts who would need to show I.D. to watch a “Hannah Montana” movie.  Wallace Spearmon’s disqualifying in the men’s 200m final and his being stripped of the bronze over a ridiculous rule was no help for the U.S. Track & Field fan.  Baseball was gone because it is too American (although ping pong is oddly enough allowed to stay in Beijing).  And the only thing stronger than the Chinese Government’s Internet blocking festival was NBC’s lock-down of anything Olympic and complete owning of ‘YouTube.’

Yes, it is debatable to say if this was the most unenjoyable Olympics in recent history even though television ratings were high.  However, the pre-Olympic talk of athletes not wanting to attend the games due to their location and poor environment conditions did lose some steam and memory recall thanks to the wonderful uniforms in synchronized swimming, female tennis, and the lack thereof in women’s beach volleyball.  And France, your spitting in the pool didn’t help either; next time focus on your task at hand and it could be your all white flag flying high at the podium.

Word of advice to everyone: try to avoid looking at all images of Big Ben for awhile, you’ll get your fill of it soon enough.  London, we’ll see you in four years.

Feel free to bash me at haydenhodges34@gmail.com or pay me a visit at www.thebigredboard.com.  Thanks.

After being reminded by a friend that the original Olympics were played in the nude we discussed the awkwardness and this caused the juvenile in our minds to wander.  What if (and why not) the Olympics of today were played in that same fashion?  While we have zero desires to see the effects of steroids on the multitudes of male competitors, there are a few athletes who are inspiring a new push for the Olympic games to be contested in the nude once again.  Here are just a few of the “Wonder” Warriors:

Exhibit #1

Leryn Franco, Paraguay – Javelin Thrower

 Exhibit #2

Amanda Beard, United States – Swimmer

Exhibit #3

Allison Stokke, United States – Pole Vaulter

Editor’s Note:  This one’s got a “good father.”  He made Cal take down ALL pictures of her.  She must be the Holy Grail.  You know, The Divine Feminine.  If she starts experiencing Stigmata, we’ll all know for sure.  Want to see more pictures of her?  Buy a camera and pretend to have developed an interest in photographing the beautiful sport of pole vaulting.

Here’s a bonus interview with her from 2006:

Not only is she great at her event, she’s also a has a way with words.  Can we say “ummm,” filler?

Any other nominations can be sent to me at haydenhodges34@gmail.com.  No trash (and if you consider your sister hot, we consider that trash), please. 

Oh, Mr. President, you shouldn’t have. 

While visiting the U.S. Women’s Beach Volleyball team during a practice, player (and hottie) Misty Mae-Treanor asked the President if he would like to partake in the post-point beach volleyball tradition by slapping her backside with what had to be a seductive “Mr. President, want to?” 

After a brief pause, temptation bested the little boy with candy in his eyesight as Mae-Treanor leaned forward slightly to present her tailfeathers to W. as he smiled and brushed the backside of his hand against the lower part of her spine.  Naughty boy, Mr. President, but we cannot blame you.  There’s not many of us that would have refrained in the same given position either, but then again, we’re not followed around by the press corps either. 

Maybe next time you’ll ask yourself “What would Condoleezza Rice do?”  Hey, at least it was a good photo op.

Please feel free to e-mail me at haydenhodges34@gmail.com or by visiting www.thebigredboard.com.