Words are failing me right now. What I just witnessed a few hours ago as I write this was surreal. This was one of those once-in-a-generation scream-your-lungs-out moments like Robert Horry's game-winning shot in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the then-hated Sacramento Kings, Derek Fisher's 0.4 buzzer-beater, or in a football context, 16 year-old Wayne Rooney scoring in his Everton debut to beat an unbeaten Arsenal. Guess what, what I had seen could be 100 times greater than all three of those euphoric events combined. Today, we've just witnessed the making of a demi-god who Travis Ishikawa will prostrate himself to 100 times over, and his name is Federico Macheda, the greatest thing to ever come out of Italy since Nutella. When the world needed a hero, up stepped Federico Macheda. Last time I checked, the North Koreans launched an ICBM with a nuclear warhead, but Federico Macheda rose in the air, made a full 90 degree pivot, composed himself and kicked the warhead into the far corner of the Andromeda galaxy. All hail Macheda, the god from... the Macheda.

Hope you all had a nice international friendlies break. We're entering the run-in just as the Premier League title race is broken wide open yet again and just as the new wrinkles are thrown to what appears to be another thrilling relegation battle. Lots to cover today, including my personal thoughts on Manchester United's perceived implosion, some musings on the Champions League draw, and even a thorough review about England's new home kit. I'll even compare Magic Johnson with Alan Shearer in this one.

So, here I am. After one long offseason of seeing a shrink in coming to terms with the truth that Rickie Weeks is a jerk and avoiding John Lackey in all but one mock and real draft, I'm back in the 2009 H2H World Series, hoping that the second time around would be more kind. I'm also here to talk about the H2HWS draft, just about an hour or two removed from the draft finishing. Yeah, I know, I suppose it'll be wrong to deprive Chris the pleasure of writing about the draft first, but we're like Siamese twins after last year's H2HWS final and I'm the one wanting to grab the scalpel in this 2009 H2HWS rubber match league. It would seem like justice to get in my two cents in first, no? Anyway, read on for my thoughts on the draft...

I have to admit I'm somewhat of a foreigner when it comes to points leagues, having played them only once or twice ever. However, I couldn't turn down an invite to play in Brad Evans' Yahoo H2H points league, aptly named as the "Big Noise Challenge". Our very own bigh0rt also received an invite, but so they say, the early bird gets the worm, and a few of the other Cafe invitees snuck in before him.

OK, here's the story, party people: Brendan and I both took a siesta after suffering a few hangovers. Yours truly was hung over actually and spiritually over United losing big to Liverpool and apparently, they're still hung over if losing to Fulham shows me anything. As for Brendan, well, he just has the habit of getting hung over.

March Madness. It seems to mean more this year than just the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament (in Brit-speak, it's like a condensed version of the FA Cup for college basketball), with the World Baseball Classic emerging as a pleasant surprise, and of course, for you procrastinators getting into late fantasy baseball drafts. While a number of you are focused on your brackets, football is still on the 'ol noggin and personally, I'm writing this after witnessing Hamburg come out of nowhere to beat Galatasaray at the Ali Sami Yen, 4-3 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup.

Yuck. To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't been looking forward to writing this recap column ever since United laid an egg to Liverpool, to the extent that I didn't watch the remainder of Premiership football matches or highlights this weekend. At any rate, Chelsea picking up three points against Manchester City puts an interesting twist on the title race, as both Chelsea and Liverpool are four points back of United, though United have a game in hand against Portsmouth.

A Carling Cup, an FA Cup round win for Manchester United over Fulham, and an ousting of Jose Mourinho's Inter later, and I'm back. We've got some catching up to do, with the Premier League being idle for almost a couple of weeks, and it's Manchester United-Liverpool headlining this weekend's slate of games. There's only nine games left on the ledger for anyone but United and Portsmouth after this weekend's through, as we head down the last quarter-turn of the league season. The FA Cup semifinals are set in stone and so is the European Cup's elite eight and I'm set to talk a little football.

Today's draft day dilemma deals with two up-and-coming shortstops who have similar upside and can do some serious damage to your stress threshold: Stephen Drew and Troy Tulowitzki.

It's a messy schedule over the weekend and next week in the Premiership; Yahoo hasn't done any favors in cramming so many games in to the point where not only is it a double-dip week for all teams except Manchester United and Portsmouth, but a couple of teams have a tripleheader. So much to sort out and sort through this week and I'll walk you through the best matchups to squeeze the most out of this odd gameweek. First off, some quick thoughts on this week's Champions League action...

Today's dilemma pits two Tampa Bay Rays pitchers against each other: James Shields and Scott Kazmir, both of whom couldn't be any more different than the fact they're teammates for the defending American League champions. In the fantasy world, Scott Kazmir still pulls the strings of fantasy managers' hearts with his tantalizing strikeout upside and the capability for dominant stretches.

It was bound to happen: Manchester United finally conceded a goal to end their remarkable 14-game clean sheet run. Did it prove costly? Blackburn sure gave United more than a dogfight, I'd say. At Anfield, Liverpool had to do the business against Manchester City to hold serve on their Premiership title hopes while the match itself also marked a second homecoming for former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy, now in a City strip. Would the wild Welshman come back to put a serious dent in Liverpool's Premiership challenge?

The Champions League resumes this Tuesday and Wednesday, which could complicate player selections and playing time for Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal. We'll peer into which players are likely to be affected by rest and preparation for the first knockout stage leg of the season. Also, we'll take a look at less significant games which could give you an edge in your fantasy leagues as chasing managers should start thinking about making some lineup changes to differentiate themselves from the teams at the top.

Welcome to the first debate of our Draft Day Dilemma series. With Chase Utley's recuperation from offseason hip surgery going better than planned to the point he can be ready for Opening Day, the debate as to who's the top-ranked 2B entering 2009 continues to heat up. By default, Utley has rightfully been the most sought-after second bagger in fantasy baseball for the last 3-4 seasons.

Coming very soon to Rotodatabase is a special draft prep series called "Draft Day Dilemmas". In each entry, Brendan and yours truly will look at two closely valued players with similar average draft positions and/or similar production value. Then, we'll both take a side in making a case as to why player X should be drafted over player Y, or vice versa. Here's a preview of topics we'll cover:

Apologies for the delay with the following week's rankings and I've taken advantage of it by taking into account the make-up fixtures (Pompey/Man City and tonight's Man Utd/Fulham match) as well as the FA Cup action this past weekend. No crazy changes this time around as the top 50 is intact, but there's quite some shuffling around as you'd come to expect.

And now for something completely different... It's been a while since I've done a fantasy baseball piece, but like a number of you, I'm gearing up for this season's league drafts and arguably, this is perhaps the best time for any avid fantasy baseball player. Little by little, I've been viewing and making my own rankings for the seasons, making and comparing my projections with others, and even being involved in a few slow mock drafts on the side to make the day's work go by like a sea breeze.

This is a picture of Luis Felipe Scolari feeling the noose tighten on his Chelsea tenure as the Blues' boss in last Saturday's uninspiring draw against Hull City. The writing has been on the wall for "Big Phil" in the last two months that Chelsea have been strategically vulnerable and with each game at the Bridge, the supporters let Scolari and his boys hear it. According to Chelsea's website, Peter Kenyon and the front office had enough of their "Phil" of Scolari and gave him a good sacking...

 This weekend's action was quite polarizing: it had its beatdowns, its drab moments, goalless draws in expected and in surprising places. Somewhere stuck in the midst of all this was the North London Derby, the chance for Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar to set a British league goalkeeping record for the longest streak of consecutive shutout minutes, and another wrinkle in the Premier League title race. The story of the week was down at Fratton Park as Liverpool were on the verge of suffering an embarrassing hiccup of falling to defeat at Portsmouth.

We're in for a funky fantasy week, as four teams (Manchester United, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Fulham) have double-dip weeks to make up for some postponed matches over the course of the year. With the transfer deadline officially past, this weekend's games could provide a preview into how the new transfers pan out for the remainder of the season. Toss in a few injuries to Jermain Defoe and Steven Gerrard which will likely force you to be searching high-payoff alternatives in this round.