We're all for finding new reasons to play fantasy football, but using it to bail out Minnesota's sinking horse racing industry doesn't strike us as a particularly good fit.

Is there ever a good reason to trade your mid-round pick for a lower pick? We say no - usually.

Brandon and I are in a keeper league that got its start in the '06 season. I'm the commish, and I've been pretty happy with the system we have in place for keepers. It's relatively conservative, it's fair, and it rewards good judgment on player potential while not going so far as to slam the door shut on teams who didn't make the best keeper decisions the previous season. The system we use is after the jump, and after using it for two seasons, I feel comfortable recommending it.

But that doesn't mean I think it's necessarily the best system in the world. I'd love to try something a little more extreme - something with few limits on how many players I can keep, and how long I can keep them. That, to me, would be the epitome of the keeper league concept. Really, I'm just curious to hear about any system you've tried and liked. If you'd be so kind as to share, please do so in the comments.

...and I haven't even heard one yet. They're inevitable, though, now that the Dolphins plan to offer their head coaching job to this guy (see photo).

His name? Tony Sparano. Close enough for Boomer!

For all of you that made your league's championship game this weekend, tonight begins your last match of the season, so good luck! Hopefully we can answer some last minute questions to get you that trophy.

Nothing's more devastating in fantasy football than watching your stud player sit out a late-season game because his coach chose to rest him up for the playoffs. It's as if they have no idea there are fantasy championships on the line, or that - unimaginable as it seems - they don't really care. Peyton Manning sat out most of the week 16 game in '05, and many owners still have yet to forgive him.

Wow…I must say that last weekend did not exactly go according to plan. I promised everyone that my picks would be near perfect, but I guess I pulled an Anthony Smith in that regard, posting my worst record of the season. However, I can't be completely to blame, as bad weather conditions in certain venues ruined the fantasy production of several players, such as Derek Anderson, while other players just seemed to take a vacation ( Antonio Gates). I will take credit for a few picks though, such as suggesting Adrian Peterson would rebound with a big game and that Kurt Warner would also have a big day against the Saints. Kellen Clemens and Chris Redman also helped the cause with pretty poor performances (although I doubt anyone considered starting them in the first place). Anyways, with that anomaly of a week out of my (and hopefully the NFL's) system, let's get to the studs and duds of week 16…most likely the championship week in your league (hopefully you're still in contention!)

After watching David Patten go off and validate my decision to declare him a potential shocker for week 14, I'm going with the theory that three really is a lucky number. Or maybe I'm just lazy and only feel like giving you three shocker picks instead of five, since a good portion of our audience is probably out of contention at this point (we take no responsibility for this. If you win, though, we strongly feel that we deserve at least some of the credit, and a portion of your winnings).

Did you survive the first round of the playoffs? Are you still in contention for some consolation prize? Before I get into this weekend's picks, let's take a look back at how last week went. As hard as a few players tried, I still ended up with a pretty solid record. The Buffalo running game, plus my boy Ryan Grant, turned in very solid performances, while the Tony Romo to Jason Witten connection was in full force, even if T.O. was left out of the action. Kevin Jones came out of no where to log multiple touchdowns, while the Buffalo and Houston passing games went huge in the touchdown department…which was NOT expected though. This weekend I'm looking to make perfect recommendations (no misses!), but we'll just have to wait and see how that works out. So without further ado, here are your suggestions that should hopefully propel your team to the next (and possibly final) round of your playoffs…

Week 15 begins tonight, as the Denver Broncos go to Houston to take on the Texans, so let's get started with a few early questions from our readers…

So I survived the first round of the playoffs in the two leagues I made the playoffs in, in large part due to the performance of Brandon Marshall, Jay Cutler and Ryan Grant… not to mention the Buffalo defense. Hopefully most of our readers can say the same thing and have survived long enough so that this list even matters to them at this point! I didn't want to go off on any tangents about how the Patriots or still undefeated after stomping the Steelers or anything like that, so let's get right to this weeks waiver wire suggestions…

On a day when the Patriots crushed the Steelers to move to 13-0 (can we take anything Anthony Smith says seriously now?), one of my proudest (and luckiest) moments was seeing my pre-season sleeper pick, Brandon Marshall, step up and go huge in the first round of my fantasy playoffs.

I'm a bit ashamed to realize that the last Shocker post I did was for week 11. At least it was a decent one… I correctly predicted big games for Ronald Curry (120 yards) and his QB Daunte Culpepper (a whopping 340 yards, only 1 TD though). The picks of Northcutt, Boller, and Grossman were wrong and stupid.

Here are this week's potentially wrong and stupid picks. I'm pressed for time this afternoon (damn these Thursday games rushing me) so I can only offer three today. As always, here's a brief explanation of my definition of a fantasy "shocker": A player who comes out of relatively nowhere, has a gigantic, multi-touchdown game, becomes the hottest waiver commodity the following week, and then soon sinks back into the relative obscurity from whence he came. Like I've said before, these are long-shot picks and I don't expect to hit on most of them.

Here's a look at the guys who spent their time in week 13 doing one of three things: rumblin' up the player value charts with big performances, bumblin' through a rough week and making their owners nervous, or stumblin' badly enough to pretty much wreck their fantasy value.

Going into week 14 of the NFL season, I'm assuming that this is the first round of the playoffs for most managers out there. Hopefully some of my suggestions last week were able to give you that final push to secure a playoff spot (and hopefully they didn't cause you to miss the playoffs!) If you listened to my recommendations and started Justin Fargas or Derrick Ward, you were most likely pleased with your decision. Also performing well was the Colts passing game, especially the Manning to Wayne connection. Then, as expected, Kevin Jones played poorly…although I can't take credit for just how terrible he'd actually be. Three carries for one (1) yard?!!! At least he got 16 receiving yards I guess.

Anyways, there were a few players who apparently didn't read my post last week, like Larry Fitzgerald (didn't even play!), Anquan Boldin (played, but poorly), as well as David Garrard, Laurence Maroney and Willis McGahee, all who had a chip on their shoulder and played much better than I gave them credit for. In my defense though, Maroney got most of his yards through the air…something I actually hope to see more of as a Patriots fan. He's a beast once he starts moving vertically, so what better way to get him going that way then to send him out on a receiving pattern instead of letting him dance around behind the line of scrimmage.