MB:  Hi Josh! First off thanks for putting together this interview so the Toughasnailz franchise can finally get the national coverage they deserve. This website is national, right? I believe my early years of setting my “Super Tecmo Bowl” on auto-season and then letting it play out would qualify as my early fantasy sports experience. Shortly after that it moved to picking players that were in the NFL playoffs from a hat and then reading box scores to track stats. When fantasy sports moved online the Toughasnailz franchise was born.

JB:  What does it mean to be Toughasnailz, and which NFL players have been toughasnailz for your fantasy teams thus far?

MB:  Great question. Toughasnailz means you can’t be broken. I know “tough as nails” may not look or sound very original or tough but when you replace the “S” with a “Z”  and squeeze the 3 words together to form 1 word it makes you instantly stronger and more intimidating. The Toughasnailz franchise has been around for nearly 10 years and are very well respected as the solid veteran team that they are.  Aside from the fact that I picked up Miles Austin last week to start in place of Jerricho Cotchery (genius)  I’ve had some standouts. Cedric Benson and Ronnie Brown have been Toughasnailz biggest upside surprises.

JB:  I know you are a huge Chicago sports fan.  What would it mean to you to see the Cubs finally get over the hump?

MB:  You got that right! I live and die with the Chicago Cubs. All I know is I would leave Los Angeles and spend all of late October in or around Wrigley Field when the Cubs get to the NLCS. I don’t even know how I would react when the Cubs win the World Series. We will just have to wait and see. (Notice I used the word “WHEN”… the Cubs will win the World Series before I turn 40)  The World Series… is that the hump that you speak of? Or is it the new hump? The one where we can’t seem to even win a Playoff game (07 & 08).  We have new owners. Things will change!

JB:  Were you saddened when Matt Murton was traded?

MB:  I was kinda sad because I thought he had a future with the Cubbies but I was relieved since I was seeing an uptick in the Matt Murton comparisons. If I wore a Cubs hat I immediately became Mattie Murton. This, of course, can be traced back to the fact that the majority of people think that anyone with red hair looks like every other person they know with red hair. 98% of the time they don’t even resemble each other.

JB:  What are you thoughts on the new Pearl Jam record?

MB:  I absolutely love it! 37 minutes of powerful and uplifting music. There are a bunch of gems on this album and they are just as good or even better in concert. I just saw them 6 times on this tour and they are still unreal.

JB:  Are the Bears going to be able to keep this pace up without their heart and soul, Brian Urlacher?

MB:  Although it was a huge blow to lose Urlacher for the whole season, I believe its opening the door for some real good young guys to play. They will eventually be the guys who permanently replace Urlacher and that will happen sooner than we want to think. I don’t feel the linebackers are the problem. It’s more about the secondary and their holes. The Bears got some big tests coming up on the schedule.

JB:  What was your initial reaction when the Bears made the move to acquire Cutler, and are you happy for Kyle Orton, his neck beard, and his success in Denver?

MB:  I was absolutely loving it when the Bears got Cutler. It was the first time the Bears made a move to bring in a Pro Bowl QB in his prime! As for Kyle Orton, I’m happy for the guy and surprised at how well his team is doing. He was better than Sexy Rexy, but wasn’t gonna do much to change our QB problems in Chicago. As for the neck beard, I tried growing one recently and all it did was itch a lot. How does he do it?

JB:  What has Rex Grossman been up to?

MB:  Well week 1 of this season it appeared that Rex Grossman stole Jay Cutler’s jersey and played in the Bears/Packers game. I think he’s 3rd string on the Texans now. So he just practices and collects a decent check.

JB:  What are you working on these days?

MB:  I’m still working on the Alltel Wireless cell phone commercials. It’s been over 3 years working for Alltel. We’re actually shooting some more commercials at the end of October. I also do a web series about some idiot cops who get stuck with the worst jobs. Check it out at www.duckncovershow.com.   Believe it or not,  4 out of 5 of the guys from the Alltel commercials are avid Fantasy sports geeks. Most of the ad agency guys are crazy fantasy dorks too.

JB:  Is Devin Hester going to step up and be worthy of a fantasy start week in and week out?

MB:  I have Hester on 2 of 3 teams and I make sure to start him in at least one league each week. I just don’t want to miss out when he breaks out and he’s on the verge of doing that.  He may not be the #1 WR that everyone thinks you need but the Bears have weapons and a QB. That can lead to big plays and lots of fantasy points. They will score and Hester will be in on the action!

JB:  What is Classic Wrestling Night?

MB:  Classic Wrestling Night is an event we hold once a month.  We get together to watch classic wrestling matches, interviews, commercials, music videos, etc. One of the guys prepares 3 to 4 hours of highlights on DVD and we sit back and watch our childhood heroes on the big screen. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, Jimmy Superfly Snuka, and Rowdy Roddy Piper were featured this month. Oh and we had a tribute and moment of silence for Captain Lou Albano.

JB:  Finally, Matt Forte has just one rushing touchdown this season.  Can fantasy owners expect him to eclipse ten this season?

MB:  It is evident that with the addition of Cutler the Bears have become more of a passing team. Which I personally love but I do have Forte on one of my 3 teams and until Week 4 he was mediocre. I think he will become a bigger part of the Bears offense moving forward and his numbers should get better.

Thanks Josh. Da Bears. Toughasnailz 4 life! I’m officially a ROTO DORK!

JB:  James, first let me thank you for sparing a moment of your time to provide us with your fantasy sports insights.  How did you first get involved in fantastical sports?

JR:  I’ve been playing in the same ESPN online league with the same group since ‘99.  I started playing the NFBC and NFFC three years ago.  Truth be told, a couple of buddies and I created our own little fantasy basketball league in high school based on some mail-in system we read about in USA Today.  This was before internet — wow, it’s hard enough to accept that I am older than all those giant dudes playing college football on television and now I’m faced with the reality that I was in high school before the internet?  Damn.

JB:  What’s it like being the best actor/fantasy sports athlete in Hollywood?

JR:  I’m not gonna lie Joshua, it feels good.  I wish there was a way to get in a room with every other actor/fantasy sports geek and prove my dominance.  I’m THAT confident.

JB:  I know you follow the Tennessee Titans religiously.  What was it like growing up rooting for the Oilers in a Cowboys household?

JR:  Brutal.  It’s sacrilegious and cemented my claim as “black sheep” from jump street.  But I never wavered and now my father quietly supports the Titans anytime they aren’t playing the Boys.

JB:  How many Super Bowls would America’s team have won if Warren Moon was their QB instead of Troy Aikman?

JR:  Zero.  Though they would have had the best record in the league at least four times and lost in the divisional round of the playoffs six years in a row. 

JB:  Can we expect even bigger things from Chris Johnson this season?  Or will we be subjected to more 36 yard, three touchdown games from LenDale White?

JR:  I’m in the business of keeping Chris healthy — I don’t have him on any of my teams this year for the sole purpose of having no issues with Lunchpail vulturing touchdowns.  We all saw what happened to the Titans O after CJ got hurt against Baltimore.  I don’t care who scores as long as my squad is standing when the smoke clears.

JB:  If you had to choose between the Titans winning the Super Bowl or receiving the Emmy for your portrayal of the multi-faceted Shawn on psych…

JR:  I would choose the Titans winning a ring everyday of the week and thrice on Sundays. I’ve been a long suffering fan for 30 years and I’m due. And they’re due. I’m beyond lucky to have the gig on psych. The opportunity to work with such great people doing what I love most is a gift that keeps on giving.

JB:  Better movie dealing with the paranormal state, Ghost or Always?

JR:  How dare you not include Dragonfly…

JB:  How did your NFFC draft go?  Are you happy with your squad?

JR:  Really weird drafts this year.  As we all suspected it was pure bedlam after AP went first.  There was a run on elite wideouts at the beginning of the first round and I ended up abandoning my initial strategy almost immediately.  That being said, I finished the first three rounds of an incredibly competitive 14 team league with Westbrook, Brees and Boldin.  Can’t be mad at that.  I’ve got decent depth at WR with Lance Moore, Percy Harvin and Darius Heyward-Bey.  I’ll be counting on either Felix Jones or James Davis to breakout and matter behind Westbrook.  Perhaps most importantly, I have Kevin Boss lining up every week at TE.  That means W’s Joshua.

JB:  I have this recurring nightmare in which Roger Clemens chases me around my high school wielding Mike Piazza’s broken bat.  I can never seem to run away quickly enough. Do you have any like dreams?

JR:  Yeah, I dream that Dyson breaks free and dives into the end zone.  Waking up is always a major bummer.

JB:  In the episode that we worked on together you had a fight scene with Craig Sheffer, undoubtedly known to 98 percent our readers as Joe Cane from The Program.  At any point were you worried that he was going to “put the women and children to bed and go looking for %#&@$*! dinner?”

JR:  I was but I think my poker face served me pretty well.  That dude was a lot of fun and together, we whipped his ass. 

JB:  Better all-time Yankee, Ed Whitson or Randy Velarde?

JR:  This is close but the answer is actually Glenallen Hill.

JB:  Your initials are JR.  Was that fodder for ribbing in your Texas elementary school?

JR:  I got shot once a week.

JB:  Being a classically trained actor like me, do you anticipate with baited breath the day that Marcus McBeth gets his call-up to the big leagues?

JR:  I’m tired of waiting.  I’ve put all my eggs in Demetrius Williams’ basket. 

JB:  Thanks again for taking some time away from filming to enrich us all.  Can you leave us with your fantasy football picks to click and picks to nix for 2009?

JR:  Click: Percy Harvin, Cadillac, Ray Rice, Kenny Britt, John Carlson.  Nix: TO, Joe Addai, Matt Schaub and Clinton Portis

Psych can be seen Friday nights at 10 on USA.

PG Jonny Flynn

SG Ramon Sessions

SF Ryan Gomes

PF Kevin Love

C Al Jefferson

That might just be a top 15 starting line-up by year’s end.  It’ll be interesting to see if Rambo and his legendary assistants can get some cohesion to commence.  And don’t sleep on Brian Cardinal.