Some hard rockers have teamed up to form a fantasy football league on ESPN.com, all for a good cause and bragging rights.
Hard-core NFL fan Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains has recruited some fellow heavy metal musicians and friends to take part in his other passion, fantasy football.
The full lineup, which is listed below with each owner's bio information, includes Duff McKagan of Guns 'N' Roses and Velvet Revolver, Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, Scott Ian of Anthrax, former NFL player Matt Willig and ESPN's own Talented Mr. Roto, Matthew Berry.
Later this season, each participant will put up an item for an online auction and all of the proceeds will go to the charity chosen by the champion of the Alice In Chains & Friends fantasy football league. Examples of the items that will be up for bidding later include a Scott Ian signature Washburn guitar and a G&L guitar autographed by the members of Alice In Chains. More details about the auction will be published later this season in The Life.
As most fantasy sports owners can relate, the live draft was not without controversy on Aug. 23. Inez had been listed first but then the randomly drawn draft order shuffled things around and gave Kenny Wayne Shepherd the top pick an hour before the start.
These are some of the comments we can repeat from the draft room:
"I smell a rat! That's bull----!!!" Inez wrote.
"Inez got screwed," Zakk Wylde typed.
But before anything like an on-stage fight broke loose, everyone shook it off as if it was some unwanted concert feedback and quickly got back to business (view the entire draft results here).
Shepherd drafted Minnesota's Adrian Peterson first overall to start the trend for running backs, and here's the rest of the first round:
Ian: Falcons running back Michael Turner
Vinnie Paul: Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald
Berry: Bears running back Matt Forte
Wylde: Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams
Cantrell: Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew
Kenny Aronoff: Rams running back Steven Jackson
Willig: Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson
Inez: Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson
McKagan: Titans running back Chris Johnson
We won't list each round of the draft, but here are a few comments and exchanges from the draft room:
"My first draft! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!" -- Ian
"I hate mjd (Maurice Jones-Drew) but couldn't pass on him." -- Cantrell
"That sukd." -- Willig after drafting 49ers running back Frank Gore in the second round.
"Gore not sitting well with you?" -- Cantrell
"Gore is a gamer. Lotta carries." -- Inez
"But he's got a pretty crappy O-line." -- McKagan
"No love for your Niners, Matt?" -- Cantrell
"Haha." -- Inez
"Not really" -- Willig (a former Niner)
"Housh in Seattle" -- Inez, after he drafted Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the fourth round.
"Should do pretty good if Hasselbeck stays healthy." -- McKagan
"Walter Jones just went down and so did the center ... not looking good." -- Cantrell
"Ouch. This is going to be Walter's last year, right?" -- McKagan
"I think so ... could be another long year ... no O line." -- Cantrell
Since the draft, some of the owners have tweaked their rosters slightly and you can check out the rosters here.
We won't pass judgment on their draft picks and lineups, but you can by ranking the teams in the order you believe they stack up.
Weekly updates on the Alice In Chains & Friends Fantasy Football League, trash talk and interviews with the owners will be published on ESPN.com's The Life section throughout the season. Members of the league will also drop by for occasional chats on SportsNation. So check back to see which metal maven is king of the league.
As Inez said, "This is gonna rock."