Suitcase Nuke

Probable, questionable or doubtful? I'm finding the constant buzz of sore hamstrings and bruised shoulders can drive a fantasy football owner crazy. Every thirty minutes, checking the news wires to see if Ryan Grant, one of my starting running backs practiced a full day on Friday. Will he play on Sunday against a soft Detroit defense? Now we have to wait until Saturday to find out. Sure, I have Willie Parker playing beside him. Yes, I have Randy Moss and Hines Ward, not to mention the beast that is Donovan McNabb. But, I want every point I can get - and I don't have any decent replacement for him. The high cost of all those players is that I don't have any starters sitting on my bench. The backs on my bench are backups in the real game, too. Ahman Green is a starter, I guess, but he's injured. Ahmad Bradshaw is a No. 2 at New York, but he hardly took any handoffs last week. Deuce McAllister? Doubt there are any points there. I just picked up Dominic Rhodes (dropping Isaac Bruce to make it happen), so he'll probably be the guy if I have to play somebody. I wish had been able to handcuff Brandon Jackson. Of course, Coughlin says it's his fault Bradshaw didn't get many handoffs, and that he will get more in the future. Ah, the headaches and nervous moments. I want to WIN! Maybe as the sun goes down tomorrow, hopefully rather, we'll get the word Grant's in. Is all this a headache? No. It's all part of the game. And I love every miniscule bit of attention it commands. I'm already hooked.

My favorite is the Cable Cam (viewed above). This reminds of playing Madden a little bit, allowing a better picture of the formations, and strictly game action. Star Cam swivels around between QBs, RBs, and WRs, as well anyone else making big plays. This view will also swing to players who are being discussed by the announcers after a play. End Zone and Sideline Cams simply grab the action from their respective locations. Main Broadcast should need no explanation. One interesting feature occurs during commercials. Only on the main broadcast view do you see them. (Although you do hear them no matter what.) If you have the other views selected, you'll instead see a stat screen for the game. (Pictured Below)

Another nice touch is that no matter which image you have selected in the forefront, the others will continue playing in the background, allowing you to decide which view to switch to easily. There is also a 'Fullscreen' option; this isn't truly full-screen, but rather replaces the multi-view with a larger, single view. Aside from a few stutters and sometimes poor video (buffering, no doubt), this broadcast is a nice alternative if you're at your computer, or prefer to make the directing decisions yourself.

UPDATE: Another thing I just noticed during the broadcast: the main broadcast is tape-delayed online just as it is over the air by a few seconds. This is noticeable when you are viewing the other angles, which are not tape-delayed. So, you'll here some calls by Michaels a few seconds after it already happened.