Welcome to Part III of my five-part 2009 Fantasy Forecast Oscars Edition. Before reading today’s post, be sure to check out Part I (Doubt) and Part II (Milk).

The Wrestler – This movie is the closest thing to a sports movie the Oscars bring us this year so I had to at least plug it. Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’ stars Mickey Rourke as a washed-up professional wrestler from the 80′s who 20 years later is offered one more big matchup against his former rival. His doctor in the movie, and I’m not making this up; says that if he fake wrestles one more time he could die. Helping him with this decision is Marisa Tomie who plays a washed up stripper with a heart of gold. Aronofsky probably did a casting call at the Hollywood unemployment office where he was after blowing 50 million dollars on 2005′s box office bomb ‘The Fountain.’ This leads me to a list of washed up fantasy players to be weary of in 2009. As fantasy baseball owners will probably admit to in 2008; if they held onto Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Sheffield, or Todd Helton all last season; they probably also held onto last place. As well as fantasy owners this year holding onto Allen Iverson. Now I don’t mean you should drop him; I just mean don’t draft him next year and trade him this year if you can. He no longer contributes much as a PG, he doesn’t shoot 3′s anymore, his FG% and TO’s are still a problem; he’s no longer a 20.0 PPG player and really only helps you in one category and that is Steals, if you drafted him to be your PG. His value did take a hit with the trade to Detroit but he was underperforming in Denver as well. If you had burnt a second round or third round pick on Iverson this year, then you were counting on more than 18 PPG and 5 Assists; but expect those numbers to drop off as well next year. Go ahead and say RIP to these other fantasy basketball dinosaurs: Lamar Odom, Shaquille O’Neal (he was actually dead 2 years ago), Jason Kapano (not sure if he was ever good), Tony Battie (for the 1% that still own him), Wally Szczerbiak (I still remember the 99 NCAA Tourney when he was at Miami, Ohio like it was yesterday), Bobby Jackson, Tim Thomas, and Antonio McDyess (good riddance). Fantasy Football actually has an age deadline; it’s called 30 years old if you’re a RB. Yes, that means you LT. Its not set in stone, Tiki Barber proved that 2 years ago but in most cases, for instance Corey Dillon, Mike Alstott, and Shaun Alexander; 30 is the drop off. This means LT drops to a second rounder for me, I’d say 18th or so. Sproles will likely steal more carries from him next year and injury problems will linger more. Jamal Lewis turns 30 as well next season; I don’t even see him as a 3rd tier RB anymore and falls to the mid rounds were Fred Taylor went this year. As far as Fred Taylor goes; you’d be better off he retires and a better 2nd RB takes over in Jacksonville. Westbrook also turns 30 but not until mid-season. Even with all the injuries I’d be hard pressed to let him fall out of the first round because he’s such a double threat. Edgerrin James turned 30 this year and wasn’t even a top 100 RB. I can’t see even drafting him next year. Edge will probably end up with a new team even if he continues to step it up in the playoffs but might end up retiring rather than playing in a secondary role for under 1 million a year. Deuce and Larry Johnson are both 30 as well. Deuce will likely be released by the Saints with the emergence of Pierre Thomas and won’t land anywhere in a starting gig. I see something similar to Shaun Alexander happening to Larry Johnson who wants out of Kansas City but brings with him a poor locker room reputation, injuries, and off the field problems. LJ is smoking some of Ricky Williams’ secret stash if he sees himself getting a multi year deal. If LJ ends up anywhere next season he likely won’t be the starter and may enter the season as a FA. Last but not least is Ricky Williams who is 32, though his lungs are 90. Ricky might have a little left in the tank since he was just getting high half his career but I doubt he does any better than this last season and he was of very little use unless you had a league with 4 starting RB’s or 3 flex positions. Getting back to the movie though, Tomie and Aronofsky may get nods but only Rourke is predicted to win Oscar gold; which would be useful to him since it would give him something to pawn in a couple of years.