It's the same with "expert" reviews of books, food, music, video games, and tons of other stuff. I would rather hear from people who are more like me, the common blogger, message boards, people who enjoy these things as often as i do, rather than some elitist critic who is never happy. but everyone feels this way, why am i blogging about it?
Because i'm now the "expert" rather than the casual fan when it comes to Fantasy Football. I really enjoy fantasy football, i follow about 5 fantasy "experts" on twitter, i read numerous fantasy related articles every week, and i follow team beat writers for numerous teams just to have an edge. i love the information regarding NFL, and i'm more than ready to apply it to my fantasy teams.
I only play in 2 leagues each year, i've learned that having too many teams can ruin the whole season for you, but apparently thats not the only thing that can ruin it. This year i played in my friend Alan's league, which i've played in for the last few seasons. I prep for the draft, making my own lists and spreadsheets, reading everything i possibly can, scoffing at my opponents draft picks, drafting players that are "sleepers" while ignoring the obvious names, and everything else that makes me feel like i'm way ahead of these other dudes. well this season, that didn't work out so well for me.
This past weekend was the last weekend of the Fantasy Season in the "Roethlishotdog" league and after making a league-high 67 moves (picking up players from the waiver-wire, trades...) i finished in 8th place, out of 8 teams. But thats not all, our champion, Pete Deusterman made a league-low 17 moves, scored 1521 points (150 points more than 2nd place) and rolled through playoffs relatively easy. why is that impressive? well he didn't have access to our fantasy website almost all season. he would email me on tuesday morning and ask me if i could look on the page to see whether or not he won his matchup that week. The dude drafted a team of well-known players like Randy Moss and Steven Jackson and stuck with them. Meanwhile i'm drafting sleepers like Matt Forte and Calvin Johnson who were basically worthless this year.
Pete didn't get caught up in all of the hype around the players, he stuck with the players that most people know, his draft was what most average football fans would draft, and he owned our league. he didn't just survive and do alright, he owned us all, and i tried everything. i even offered him a trade that i thought would look good, but turn in my favor eventually, but no, giving up Joseph Addai midseason for T.O. hurt me even more! ouch.
This is a case of me trying to be too close to the product, and not just going with the obvious. it's like ripping Transformers for a lack of plot, yes it doesn't have much plot but hey, i was really entertained, and the movie is a hit!
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1 comment:
Hey man. Interesting post.
In case you're interested: I did actually mega-prepare for the draft this year, and the reason I ended up taking the more common draft choices is because they slipped past the spot they were worthy of while others were cleverly reaching for the players they thought would exceed expectations.
I use projected stats for individual players combined with the league's scoring system to rank players, then I line that list up with the players' average draft position (ADP) according to various popular mock drafts to find the players with the greatest discrepancy between the two. For example, if a RB is worth an early round two pick but is lasting until the middle of the third round in most mocks, I won't take him in round 2. I'll take him in round 3, essentially giving me a free pick in round 2.
The last major component to my prep is that I rank players overall, not just by position. Many feel that they have to get a top-5 QB if a run starts, but if it's a reach, I'll ignore QBs and stock up on quality depth at RB/WR. It all depends on who will score the most points over the season and how many roster spots you have.
Of course, luck and injuries play a major role, too. I prepared about equally for the 4 leagues I was in this year. I won two of them, and finished below .500 in the other two. Feast or famine, you know?
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