MJD eying The Miz’s 2011 Trophy

By: Evan Marx

The Fantasy Fix was welcomed back yet again to the 2012 SiriusXM Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. 

SiriusXM's Fantasy Sports channels have opened a whole new world to the industry and the turnout grows each year. 

This year's celebrities included: the NFL's league leading rusher, Maurice Jones Drew; Comedians Artie Lange and Nick DiPaolo; Famed Guitarist Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne bands; WWE Superstar and 2011 SiriusXM Fantasy Football champ Mike "The Miz" Mizanin; George Wednt (Norm from Cheers); Sports Commenter Steve Phillips; Host and Comedian Jay Thomas; Radio Host Scott Ferrall; Playboy model Pilar Lastra; Fantasy Gurus John Hansen and Scott Engel; and radio hosts Steve Covino & Rich Davis. Adam Schein and Rich Gannon again emceed the event.

The Nick and Artie show held a live taping of their show at 8 AM and as a huge Howard Stern fan, it was a real treat to see Artie Lange back in action and funnier than ever. 

Lange and DiPaolo compliment each other perfectly, each knowing when to jump in with the most vulgar but hilarious jabs at any given moment. For what seemed like the majority of the show they beat up on a guy in the front wearing a New England Danny "Insert Joke" Woodhead jersey. 

Staying clean for Lange has been no easy task and having a unlit cigarette in his hand seemed to keep him occupied. Neither of the two seemed to be too much into Fantasy Sports but regardless had a good time making fun of it.  In our interview with Artie, it became much more clear why he doesn't care for Fantasy Football. He reminded us that he is a degenerate gambler and fantasy football could be a trigger. See the interview here >

Nick and Artie interviewed Sports Guru John Hansen and Scott Engel from RotoExperts.  The guests tried their best to actually talk Fantasy Football but the conversations kept veering more towards gambling, women, and of course Andrew Dice Clay impersonations.

After the live tapping was over, all the celebrities were ushered onto the red carpet where we were lucky enough to interview Maurice Jones Drew, Artie Lange & Nick DiPaolo, The Miz and Pilar Lastra, Zakk Wylde, Steve Phillips and Covino & Rich.

Check out the videos here…

As for the draft itself, it was a blast to watch and hear all the smack-talking but I would never in a hundred years use it as a basis for my own draft. George Wendt literally didn't know the first thing about Fantasy Football, but regardless I thoroughly loved his first selection of Da Bears/Mike Ditka. 

After doing this draft previously, you would have assumed Jay Thomas would have known not to pick Dez Bryant as his first round pick, but guess what? At least he later followed it up with fellow law-breaker, Marshawn Lynch.

Speaking of ridiculous picks, Scott Ferrall chose the San Diego Chargers in the 4th freaking round! Now granted he had special guest nose tackle Antonio Garay, but he could have brought him out a few rounds later. 

Maurice Jones-Drew had the pleasure of picking himself with the first pick of the draft. Fellow real-life quarterback Blaine Gabbert ended up on MJD's team as well as a backup to Big Ben Roethlisberger. 

Here is the link to the full results of the draft 

Who do you think has the best team going in? Can the Miz will for a second year in a row or will MJD steal the crown?

I beg of you though, please, please, please don’t take this celebrity draft seriously. Wait for our 2012 Fantasy Football Draft Guide to come out in the next week or so, if you really want to achieve Fantasy Gold. This year’s guide will be our best yet, with 2 Mock Drafts (PPR/Standard), 150 Player Profiles, Auction Values, Team Reviews, Sleepers, Busts and so much more!

Check out these awesome photos courtesy of ShootmePeter.com