Dave Richard

When people meet me, they usually have two questions:

"How the heck did you get that job?!"

and

"Are you guys hiring?"

I can answer the first question easily: I fell backwards into it.

The second answer usually is no.

But not today. We're hiring.

The folks who market our Fantasy products are looking for someone who (1) loves Fantasy (2) wants a career in marketing (3) has some marketing experience, preferably search engine marketing and/or optimization and (4) lives in or is willing to relocate to South Florida (sorry, without assistance).

If you meet that criteria, we’d love to get your resume.<o:p></o:p>

To be considered, click here. Any resumes emailed to me will die in a grease fire.

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The NFL released their "strength of schedule" for the 2008 season. Fantasy owners flock to this to see who got the "easiest" schedule.

And if you buy into that sack of propaganda, I'd like to play in a Fantasy league with you.

For starters, anyone who plays Miami, St. Louis, Atlanta or Oakland in 2008 is going to have a "favorable" schedule based on those teams' horrid 2007 final stats. However, both teams have upgraded and are expected to be better than top-of-the-draft worthy, especially Oakland (gasp!).

What *I* recommend you do is look at which teams are EXPECTED to stink this season, then check out the NFL schedules. That's a much, much more reliable way to decipher the sked and see what it means for your Fantasy team.

What's that? You don't want to do all that? You think someone should do it for you?

I'm on the case. But just to whet your appetite, here are six non-playoff teams from 2007 and what I expect from them in '08:

CHICAGO: BAD OFFENSE, DEFENSE SUFFERS ALONG WITH THEM.
KANSAS CITY: DOWNWARD SPIRAL. ANOTHER TOP-5 PICK IN 2008.
N.Y. Jets: IF THEY DRAFT WELL, THEY MIGHT FINISH 2ND IN AFC EAST AND 8-8.
ARIZONA: WILL BE MUCH IMPROVED. POSSIBLE PLAYOFF TEAM.
HOUSTON: VERY COMPETITIVE, ESPECIALLY OUT OF CONFERENCE.
CLEVELAND: MY PRESEASON AFC CHAMPIONS.

This is lifted from the Associated Press. And it's PRICELESS!

DAVIE, Fla. (AP) -Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue, or subterfuge scripted by Bill Parcells.

Or maybe Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland inadvertently tipped his hand regarding the team's plan with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

At a news conference Thursday to discuss the draft, Ireland said he wouldn't talk about the Dolphins' strategy, and he didn't discuss specific players. But one comment he made was surprisingly specific.

"Of course I want guys that have great upside," Ireland said. "This is the first pick in the draft. This guy is going to be - you hope that he's a pillar of your defense for a long time."

Defense? That would be news. As Ireland continued, the room broke out in laughter.

"What did I say?" he asked.

"You said, 'pillar of your defense,"' someone replied.

Ireland's face began to turn red.

"Pillar of your defense, or offense, or team," he said to more laughter. "That's a Freudian slip."

Or perhaps a smoke screen, someone suggested.

"I'll let you guys decide," Ireland said.