It’s the time of year again… the annual ‘will I’ or ‘won’t I’ retire decision brought to you by New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre. Still feels weird typing New York Jets instead of Green Bay Packers. Packer fans are disappointed about how the season has turned out, but Brett Favre drama is one thing they don’t have to cringe about this offseason.

“I’m an emotional guy, and I’m sure people are tired of seeing me get emotional. People would probably say, ‘Oh, here he goes again.’ I think it would just better for me to just thank the Jets, and I sincerely mean that. It was well worth what I invested. But I’m going to just quietly step away if that’s what happens.”

The Jets went 1-4 over their last five games. Over that span Favre (who allegedly was injured for most of those games) threw 2 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for a QB rating of about 55.

“I have the ability to turn it off just like that,” Favre said. “I don’t feel I have anything else to prove. Do I have to redeem myself for the last five games? No. I could be trying to do that until I’m 60 years old. There is nothing left out there for me from that standpoint. I’m disappointed with the last five games, sure, but I know I did everything I could have.”

What’s your take on this year’s Favre Saga? Do you think he will/should retire, or come back for one more year?

Today’s post is Part II of a five part 2009 Fantasy Forecast. Be sure to check out Part I if you missed it. Now, continuing on with the Oscar theme…

Milk – Sean Penn plays late American politician, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. In my opinion, his performance on screen was terrible; the only people acting in this movie are the stand ins. This allows me though to talk about the biggest fantasy news in the Bay area, where ‘Milk’ takes place. Is it about how Don Nelson angers me when he shuffles his lineup every week; no it’s nothing new. Is it about my man crush on the underrated 49ers QB Shaun Hill; no he had several man crushes this last year. No this news is depressingly bad news. It’s Matt Holliday being traded to the A’s. Now, if you owned him in a fantasy keeper or dynasty you knew the possibility of him being traded was pretty good; but you held out hope that if he was traded he would get dealt to a contender or a team with a solid hitting lineup, or even a team with a hitter’s ballpark. But alas, none of this happened. Let me warn you non keeper/dynasty leaguers. You may look at Holliday’s numbers in Colorado and want to draft Holliday in the first round. Please don’t. This isn’t only because of Matt’s sad road numbers when he was a Rockie, because lots of players struggle a bit on the road (unless you’re Adrian Gonzalez). This is also because Holliday moves from a lineup filled with great hitters like Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe to a lineup of lousy hitters like Daric Barton and Jack Cust. It doesn’t really matter where Holliday hits in Oakland, his RBI opportunities will be few, he’ll get walked a lot, and he’ll find it tough getting home. Billy Beane wrote a book called ‘Money Ball,’ I’ve never read it but I think its about bringing together a bunch of small ball players and then not playing small ball. With the A’s ranking nearly dead last in SB’s over the past couple of season’s, makes me think that Holiday’s speed upside may go away as well. I think Holliday could end up with the following line: 90 Runs, 20 Hrs, 85 RBI, 8 SB’s, .300 BA. It’s not a bad line and if you’re in a league with OBP, OPS, or Walks; he will add more value. Still this makes him about the 14-16th best OF and no longer the top OF in fantasy. It’s sad, like on Oscar night when Milk gets nominated for a slew of Oscars but pulls a Shawshank Redemption and goes home a complete loser.

The sports movie genre is filled with instant classics. These movies are not made just for men or sports fans, but all movie watchers. Sports movies are comprised with elements of competition, humor, joy and sorrow. There are highs and there are lows. Often, the audience is taught an important life lesson.
There are hundreds of sports movies to choose from. To narrow it down, I tried to spread the Top 6 among movies from different sports. I could comprise a list of Top Sports Movies and use only basketball films (Hoosiers, Blue Chips, Air Bud, etc) but that wouldn’t be any fun. Variety makes a Top list worthy.

Below are my picks for Top 6 Sports Movies of All-Time:

	No. 6 – The Pride of the Yankees Gary Cooper stars as Lou Gehrig in this great American baseball story. I remember watching this movie for the first time in speech class because of the amazing delivery of Gehrigs speech in his last game as a Yankee. Watch the Speech
	No. 5 – The Sandlot The Sandlot is another baseball movie that takes grown-ups back to their childhood. What kid didn’t spend his summer days playing baseball, swimming in the community pool and chewing tobacco on the tilt-a-whirl? Sandlot tells the story of Scotty Smalls and Benny “The Jet” during that magical summer on the sandlot.
	No. 4 – Rudy Rudy is the ultimate underdog story. Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger’s lifelong dream was to play football for Notre Dame, but his entire life he’s always told he’s too small, too slow or just can’t do it. Rudy has heart, never gives up, and eventually steps on the field as a walk-on senior in the last game of the season. Check out how hardcore a Notre Dame fan Rudy is.
	No. 3 – Bull Durham Kevin Costner probably has 3 or 4 movies in the Top 25 Sports Movies of all-time, but Bull Durham is his best. It’s a hilarious baseball movie that tells the story of a minor leaguer Crash Davis. the movies brings you inside the clubhouse and the lifestyle of a lifelong minor leaguer.
	No. 2 – Slap Shot Another minor league sports film on the list! This time it’s hockey. Slap Shot, starring Paul Newman is one of the funniest movies of all-time. It’s not the raunchy and vulgar humor that make this film an instant classic, it’s the Hanson Brothers and the notorious Ogie Ogelthorpe.
	No. 1 – Caddyshack You don’t have to be a golf fan to appreciate the greatness of Caddyshack. This is one of those movies that you will stop flipping channels and watch till the end no matter what time of night it is. The entire cast is great and the characters are even better. Who could ever forget Ty Webb, Judge Smails, Danny Noonan, Lacy Underall and Carl Spackler?

As we approach a new year is fantasy sports, though we are mid-season in Basketball and Hockey; I can’t help but look towards next season. Also as one who is intrigued by fantasy sports; I’m also intrigued by the Oscar’s where the best movies and actor’s and movies really win; but rather who gives the most free gifts and bribes prevails. So I though I would go through the Oscar contenders and pretenders and loosely tie them into fantasy sports. This should be fun.

Doubt – In the movie ‘Doubt’ Meryl Streep’s nun character senses something’s just not right in the churches rectory when Philip Seymour Hoffman is around little boys. Shame, shame, shame Mr. Capote and shame, shame, shame on fantasy hockey owners for wanting too much for fantasy quick starts Phil Kessel and Jeff Carter. Kessel had a nice run but with just 2 points in his last 5 and only 8 points in his first 15 games this season; you should know that dry spells will come and will be long. You could still swap this guy for a top 2nd half Goalie like Kiprusoff or Turco or you could spin him for a top forward like Joe Thornton or Mike Richards. Hold onto him too long and you’ll be settling for a Patrick Sharp or Alexander Frolov. If you’re in a keeper league; he may be an interesting keeper but there are several more youngster’s with more upside in my opinion; I highly ‘Doubt’ that Kessel will be a consistent 80 point player, especially with less than stellar stick skills. Jeff Carter’s in the same boat but may be tougher to sell low, since he leads the league in Goals scored. The problem here is, when Briere comes back and when the Flyers take the imminent stumble that we all know they will take, Coach John Stevens will start to re-tool the lines like we know he likes to. I can’t imagine Carter will lead the 1st line all season, eventually Mike Richards will get the bump and Carter will be stuck with Giroux and Gratton. Mike Richards has already out played Carter as of late and will start to steal more of Carter’s power play minutes. Carter is a 60-70 point a season fantasy player, especially on a deep team like the Flyers; I’d move him now and see if you can luck into a Patrick Kane or Pavel Datsyuk. If not I’d settle for a #2 Goalie, if you need one. There is one more unexpected start and that’s Rookie Goaltender Steve Mason. Goaltender’s never get the credit they deserve in fantasy because their categories are usually weighted less than your forwards and defensemen. This is always a mistake, at least in roto; as you can’t actually win a league by punting wins and percentages. Do I think Steve Mason will keep a 30 win, 1.70 GAA pace. I doubt that, but the Blue Jacket’s do have a very underrated blue line with Russell, Commodore, Hejda, Klesla, and Tyutin; so I think 25 wins and a 2.20 GAA is possible with a few more shutouts. Given that he’s on Columbus, makes me think that his trade value as actually much more limited than it should be and unless you are offered a top 10 RW or LW or a defenseman like Chara, Souray, or Boyle; I’d stay put. In closing I like Hoffman for best supporting Actor Oscar but not Streep for Best Actress (she’ll be a nominee though) and it’s my guess that Slum Dog Millionaire and the Dark Knight will leap frog it for a best picture nomination.

Football Fanatics offers the largest selection of BCS Bowl Game Championship Gear. In addition to Bowl Bound merchandise, we also feature Champs gear from the winners of the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game. We have hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and more.

Check out these hot market videos for a visual of the gear you can buy.

Virginia Tech Hokies 09 Orange Bowl Champs Gear

USC Trojans 09 Rose Bowl Champs Gear

Utah Utes 09 Sugar Bowl Champs Gear

More to come as the games are completed!

The BCS Championship Game in Miami, Florida will host the No. 2 Florida Gators (12-1 overall, 7-1 SEC) from the Southeastern Conference and the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners (12-1 overall, 7-1 Big 12) from the Big 12 Conference. The game is scheduled for January 8 at 8:00 p.m. and will be televised live on FOX. These teams will be meeting for the first time.

College football fans couldn’t have asked for a better national championship game. Not only are the champions from the two best fan-supported conferences playing against each other, but for the second time in history we will see two Heisman Trophy winners play each other for a National Title (Leinart and White were the first back in 2005). Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford are two of the best quarterbacks in college football.

The Florida Gators are favored in the game by 3 points. It’s not often we see a No. 2 ranked team favored over a No. 1 ranked team in a championship game. This might be because the game is played in Florida, and the Gators are counting on having a huge home-field advantage.

“I hope it’s a home-field advantage,” Meyer said. “I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t a tremendous showing (by Gators fans), but I know Oklahoma has a great tradition of traveling fans as well. In the back of our minds, even in the front of some of our minds, this was our target to get to Miami — because it’s our home state, because of recruiting, because of all of the above.”

Both teams feature high powered offenses; Oklahoma has scored over 60 points five games in a row. It will be interesting to see if either team will show up on defense. If both teams get rolling in the first quarter we could see a high scoring game with both teams trading shots.

A quick note about the game from ESPN:

Loosen up the old necks, because the BCS National Championship Game between Florida and Oklahoma might look more like a NASCAR race than a football game. The Gators (12-1) have averaged 49.4 points during their nine-game winning streak, and nobody has come within single digits of them since their 31-30 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 27. The Sooners (12-1) have scored 61 or more points in their past five games, and their closest call during their seven-game winning streak was 14 points. — Chris Low

What is your prediction for the game? Check out our poll on the right sidebar.