Just how tough is Cool Hand Carl Landry (left), as he’s known to The Troll? Welcome to the Boxing Day Edition of The Wire Troll. The Troll hopes you and yours had a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season. In keeping with the frenetic pace that is the Boxing Day shopping/return experience, this week’s

Dampier’s illness (apparently related to numbness in his arm, which sounds life-threatening scary, but his reaction was nonchalant — “I just had a little numbness in my arm,” he said) appears to be behind him, and the beefy centre is once again snaggin’ boards and swattin’ shots. He has averaged 9.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in nine December starts, but is available in more than half of all Yahoo! leagues. Dampier is entrenched as the team’s starter, and is a worthy waiver wire pick-up if you’re in need of boards and blocks.

Since Granger’s injury happened Tuesday, weekly lineup leaguers were once again stuck without their stud – and had no recourse to try to shuffle their lineup and adapt. Hopefully this was just one more nail in the coffin of the ridiculous and out-dated league format known as “weekly lineups.”

Hopefully, those of you playing in daily lineup leagues rushed CP3 back onto the floor in time. Weekly lineup leaguers were almost certainly out of luck…and you guys need to remind me again why this “set and forget” format is an enjoyable way to play the game. Go ahead and get him in your lineup for next week — and maybe use this as a learning experience concerning your league format preference for next season.

Before we dig in to the week ahead, let’s take a moment and pay homage to those players that have truly embodied the term “turkey” with their play so far this season. You know, that third round pick who has been playing like a seventh rounder…and dragging your team’s fortunes south in the process. Since no such dubious assemblage of underachievers would be complete without a kitschy name, let’s call this crew the 2009 Gargling Gobblers.