Las Vegas Weekly

September 11, 2008 · 6:58 PM

Celebrity NFL picks: Fantasy league selection fells Brady

By Sal DeFilippo

I’d like to take responsibility right now for Tom Brady’s season-ending injury.

Don’t blame Bernard Pollard of the Chiefs -– after all, the hit on Brady that caused the injury during New England’s 17-10 victory over Kansas City was ruled perfectly legal by the league.

Don’t blame the lack of exhibition playing time for Brady, who didn’t take a snap in the preseason because, somewhat ironically, he didn’t want to risk further injury on his right foot.

Don’t blame the football gods or Madden ’09 or Sports Illustrated. They had nothing to do with it.

This one was all me, folks. My apologies to those in the Boston area who were anticipating another Super Bowl run. My bad.

You see, I made the mistake of drafting Brady in our office fantasy league. In doing so, I am now comforted by the fact that my first-round pick will finish the season with exactly 50 fewer touchdown throws than he amassed last year. Quite a memorable seven minutes and 33 seconds of production for that slot on the roster, indeed.

Sure, this is a little selfish, I’ll admit, but one could argue that Brady’s injury is more difficult for fantasy owners than for the Patriots, who will now try to protect a Cassel – backup QB Matt – while fantasy owners who had Brady are stuck in the dungeon.

I know I’m not alone in the fantasy football world of disgruntled Brady owners who spent a good portion of Monday scanning the waiver wire for a suitable replacement – “hey, Vinny Testaverde is still available in the free agent pool. He’s bound to be back in the league this year at some point, isn’t he?” – but it still hurts. OK, maybe not as much as Brady’s knee, or as much as being a Raiders or Rams fan right now, but it hurts.

Speaking of pain, I opened the season in the usual fashion with a 1-2 mark against the number. This week, I’ll take the Packers-Lions over 45, the Colts –2 at the Vikings and the Bills plus 6 at the Jaguars.

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