Sunday, January 29, 2012

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame Inductees

The following excerpt is from the FSWA email:


To gain entrance to the Hall of Fame, finalists needed to appear on two-thirds of the 21 ballots cast. The selection process for the 2012 class of the FSWA Hall of Fame will begin this summer.
The FSWA welcomed six members to its Hall of Fame at the 2012 FSTA Winter Conference: David Dodds, Brandon Funston, Emil Kadlec, Nate Ravitz, Peter Schoenke and Ron Shandler. The group joins Greg Ambrosius, Matthew Berry, Scott Engel, Eric Karabell and Greg Kellogg, who made up last year's inaugural class.

Here is a brief bio for each of this year's six inductees (in alphabetical order):

David Dodds, FootballGuys.comDodds was the founder of mr.football.com, and his website was featured by Yahoo! as one of the top three fantasy football sites on the internet. After selling mr.football.com to Fanball.com in 1999, Dodds created Footballguys.com with Joe Bryant. Currently, Footballguys.com generates $1.2M in sales, and has just under 40,000 subscribers, boasting a free list of 140,000 names. Dodds has been instrumental in creating some of the industry’s best web-based fantasy tools (draft calculator, schedule maker, QB rating calculator, Draft Dominator, and Rate My Team).

Brandon Funston, Yahoo!Since 2004, Funston has been Yahoo!'s managing editor of fantasy content. Funston also writes several popular online features, including the Big Board and the Skinny. He has also been a primary editor and contributor to the FSWA award-winning Yahoo! draft guides, and Funston has been a featured analyst on Fantasy Football Live since the show's inception. Prior to Yahoo!, Funston worked as a columnist for ESPN the Magazine, managing the fantasy content group, and he was one of the featured writers for their website. Funston began his career on the NFL.com staff as an editor/writer in 1997, covering Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego.

Emil Kadlec, Fantasy Sports Publications/FootballDiehards.comKadlec began publishing the Fantasy Football Pro Forecast magazine in 1990 under the publishing company Fantasy Sports Publications (FSP). Later they added The DraftBook (1996), the CheatSheets (1998), Football Diehards (2001) and WCOFF (2005) magazines to become the country's largest fantasy football publisher. The Pro Forecast was the first magazine to provide readers with actual forecasting of potential player performance and it was also the first magazine to introduce value-based drafting. Kadlec also founded FootballDiehards.com (2004), FSPnet.com (1996) and FantasyNation.com (2010). He is also the co-founder of the World Championship of Fantasy Football. Kadlec is also the vice-president and co-founder of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and serves as a board member for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Nate Ravitz, ESPNRavitz’s is the co-founder of Rototimes.com and the Fantasy Hot Sheet. Following the merger between TQStats/Rototimes and CDM Fantasy sports, Ravitz served as Executive Director for all content/editorial operations for a company with more than $14 million in annual revenue. One year after arriving at ESPN.com as a writer/editor/talent, Ravitz was named Deputy Editor, responsible for fantasy sports content across all ESPN platforms. Ravitz is also responsible for the writing/career development of such stars as Matthew Berry, Eric Karabell, Stephania Bell, Christopher Harris, Jason Grey and Tristan Cockcroft. Ravitz was also one of the original board members for the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.

Peter Schoenke, RotoWire.comSchoenke co-founded RotoNews.com (now known as Rotowire.com) in 1997. Rotowire has emerged as a pioneer in the fantasy world introducing a plethora of “firsts” including the first real-time customized cheat sheet in 1998, the first free online commissioner service in 1998, the first website to offer a fantasy magazine in print in 2000 and the first website to offer wireless player updates in 2004. Schoenke has written over 50,000 of the player notes used for RotoNews.com and RotoWire.com. Many of them have been used on almost every major media site throughout the years (ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, NFL.com, AOL and many more). RotoWire has won 18 FSWA awards the last three years (1/3 of all awarded). RotoWire has also won multiple awards from the FSTA for content as well. The RotoWire brand is seen as one of the industry leaders with partnerships from ESPN to Yahoo! Sports to XM Radio to the leagues themselves (NBA.com, NFL.com, NASCAR.com) based largely on the strength and quality of the content.

Ron Shandler, Baseball ForecasterShandler began publishing his unique brand of statistical information under the Shandler Enterprises, LLC name in 1986. Shandler was the first author to develop sabermetric applications for fantasy league play. He is the author of the Baseball Forecaster annual, now in its 26th year of publication, and the founder of BaseballHQ.com, and First Pitch Forum conference series. His "Fanalytics" column has been appearing weekly during the baseball season in USA TODAY since 2008. In fall 2009, he began a periodic blog in the Sports section of the Huffington Post. In 2007, he was a regular columnist for ESPN Magazine and ESPN.com. He has been quoted and cited by many other sources, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week and Money magazine. Shandler was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the FSTA in 2005.

My take:
This years class is highly respected and join an outstanding inaugural group. 


David Dodds is a colleague (He beats me more than I care to admit, especially in Auction leagues) and I recommend his Fantasy FootballGuys.com website in all of my books. It is that good!


I have read Brandon Funston's articles at Yahoo for many years.


I had the pleasure to meet Emil Kadlec at the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) in 2007 and he was kind enough to write the forward for Fantasy Football Basics. 


I have followed Nate Ravitz for years and especially enjoy hearing him on ESPNs Fantasy Focus. He has a great mind for talent as evidenced by his impressive list of stars discovered.


Rotowire.com and Peter Schoenke have a high standard and are also recommended in my many books.


I have a great amount of respect for Ron Shandler and his baseball books are mentioned in Fantasy Baseball for Beginners.





Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Saturday, January 28, 2012

Sam Hendricks 9th of 25 Experts in Fantasy Index Magazine TE Rankings for 2011

Congratulations to Bob Henry of Footballguys.com. He¹s the winner of the
Tight Ends portion of the Experts Poll that appeared in the 2011 edition of
Fantasy Football Index magazine.

Henry ranked Rob Gronkowski 6th, higher than any other expert, and that got
his campaign off to a good start. He also picked up some value by dropping
Antonio Gates to 2nd; the majority of experts had Gates No. 1.

Alan Satterlee of Dynasty Rogues finished in 2nd place, and Scott Pianowski
of Yahoo! finished in the 3rd. The pair of shark entries rounded out the top
5 ­ Tony Holm of ³Fantasy Sharks² and Lenny Pappano of ³Draft Sharks². Those
are separate companies. Pappano founded Draftsharks.com in 1999, and Holm
came along a little later. Same animal, but different guys.

The scoring for this competition is notorious complex. In short, the higher
you rank a player, the more his production counts towards your overall
score. With Gronkowski, for example , he scored 241 fantasy points. If you
ranked him first in your top 20, that would be worth 4,820 points (20 x
241). If you ranked him 2nd, that would be worth 4,579 (19 x 241). If you
ranked him 18th, that would be 723 points (3 x 241). And if you didn¹t rank
him at all, you would take a zero for the Gronk.

EXPERTS POLL -- TIGHT ENDS
  Points
  23,794  Henry
  23,482  Satterlee
  23,127  Pianowski
  22,802  Holm
  22,610  Pappano
  22,556  Eleff
  22,331  Dorey
  22,187  Laskiewicz
  22,170  Hendricks
  22,162  Schneller
  22,105  Millman
  21,649  Liss
  21,554  May
  21,437  Tranquilli
  21,297  Davis
  21,230  Zegura
  21,206  Maleman
  21,042  Rosenthal
  20,983  Harris
  20,454  Serra
  19,941  Bonini
  19,837  Mason
  19,810  Kipp
  19,711  Kamys
  18,988  Kellogg



DEF, K, WR, RB and QB rankings will follow in the days to come.



Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Friday, January 27, 2012

Ask the Expert: What is going to happen in this years Super Bowl?



New England starts strong and finishes well to revenge their previous Super Bowl loss to the G-Men.
NE is up 17-10 at halftime. The Giants score a late third quarter TD pass from Eli to Hakeem Nicks to make it 23-17.
But a hard TD run by the law firm (BGE) seals the deal 37-20. Tom Brady throws for 300 yards and 3 TDs (one each for Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez).




ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly at http://www.fantasyindex.com/
 with answers to a new question posted Thursday morning.

Sam Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips, Fantasy Football Basics and Fantasy Football Almanac 2011, all available at his website, http://www.ffguidebook.com/, at all major bookstores, and at http://www.amazon.com/. He is a 20-year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 top players) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC).




Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634


Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650


Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693


Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011






Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sam Hendricks (aka FFGuidebook.com) places 7th (out of 46) in 2011 New York Times Fantasy Football Accuracy contest










46 sites participated in the rankings accuracy challenge that is run in conjunction with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (F.S.T.A.). The results of the contest were revealed a week ago at the F.S.T.A. Winter Conference. Refer to the New York Times blog article below for even more information:


http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/fantasy-football-accuracy-rankings-for-2011

Web sites that were interested in participating in the contest were asked to submit their preseason rankings for the top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 50 wide receivers and 20 tight ends based on the standard scoring system below:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing & Receiving Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions & Fumbles Lost (-2)
Using Fantasy point totals for QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs based on the above scoring system, the Fantasy Football Librarian (aka Sara Holladay ) created an end-of-season ranking for each position by using FFToday.coms statistics page. She took the difference between each site’s preseason positional ranking and the end-of-season positional ranking and squared that difference in order to penalize large errors in rankings. Then she summed those squared differences and averaged them for each position, which determined which site’s positional ranking was most accurate.
Finally, to determine which site was the most accurate across all four positions, she summed each site’s average squared difference for the four positions and divided by four for the four positions analyzed to see which site had the lowest average. The site with the lowest average was the most accurate site.
That is a whole lot of math my friends. And the outcome?
The FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football rankings accuracy results are as follows:
Most Accurate Rankings Across All Positions:

So to recap 2011. FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football rankings accuracy contest and 6th of 51 in the 411Football.com Experts Rankings contest. 
I'd call that a pretty good 2011 FF season. 



Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sam Hendricks (aka FFGuidebook.com) places 4th (out of 46) in 2011 TE Fantasy Football Accuracy contest










46 sites participated in the rankings accuracy challenge that is run in conjunction with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (F.S.T.A.). The results of the contest were revealed a week ago at the F.S.T.A. Winter Conference. Refer to the New York Times blog article below for even more information:


http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/fantasy-football-accuracy-rankings-for-2011

Web sites that were interested in participating in the contest were asked to submit their preseason rankings for the top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 50 wide receivers and 20 tight ends based on the standard scoring system below:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing & Receiving Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions & Fumbles Lost (-2)
Using Fantasy point totals for QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs based on the above scoring system, the Fantasy Football Librarian (aka Sara Holladay ) created an end-of-season ranking for each position by using FFToday.coms statistics page. She took the difference between each site’s preseason positional ranking and the end-of-season positional ranking and squared that difference in order to penalize large errors in rankings. Then she summed those squared differences and averaged them for each position, which determined which site’s positional ranking was most accurate.
Finally, to determine which site was the most accurate across all four positions, she summed each site’s average squared difference for the four positions and divided by four for the four positions analyzed to see which site had the lowest average. The site with the lowest average was the most accurate site.
That is a whole lot of math my friends. And the outcome?
The FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football TE rankings accuracy results are as follows:


Most Accurate Tight End Rankings:



1. The Fantasy Shrink
2. NFL Soup
3. Football Guys
4. FF Guide (FFGuidebook.com)
5. Fantasy Football Sherpa
6. Stocks Jocks
7. Fantasy Football Calculator (ADP)
8. 4for4.com
9. Yahoo!
10. Fantasy Football Starters
FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football QB rankings accuracy contest and 4th of 46 in TE and 6th of 51 in the 411Football.com Experts Rankings contest. 


Great job in 2011!!





Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Monday, January 23, 2012

FF Librarian and FSTA WR rankings accuracy contest










46 sites participated in the rankings accuracy challenge that is run in conjunction with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (F.S.T.A.). The results of the contest were revealed a week ago at the F.S.T.A. Winter Conference. Refer to the New York Times blog article below for even more information:


http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/fantasy-football-accuracy-rankings-for-2011

Web sites that were interested in participating in the contest were asked to submit their preseason rankings for the top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 50 wide receivers and 20 tight ends based on the standard scoring system below:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing & Receiving Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions & Fumbles Lost (-2)
Using Fantasy point totals for QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs based on the above scoring system, the Fantasy Football Librarian (aka Sara Holladay ) created an end-of-season ranking for each position by using FFToday.coms statistics page. She took the difference between each site’s preseason positional ranking and the end-of-season positional ranking and squared that difference in order to penalize large errors in rankings. Then she summed those squared differences and averaged them for each position, which determined which site’s positional ranking was most accurate.
Finally, to determine which site was the most accurate across all four positions, she summed each site’s average squared difference for the four positions and divided by four for the four positions analyzed to see which site had the lowest average. The site with the lowest average was the most accurate site.
That is a whole lot of math my friends. And the outcome?
The FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football WR rankings accuracy results are as follows:


Most Accurate WR Rankings:


1. ESPN
2. Fantasy Football Sherpa
3. Bruno Boys
4. FFToolbox
5. CBSSports.com (Dave Richard)
6. Football Guys
7. Fantasy Football Maniaxs
8. RotoProfessor
9. Fantasy Football Geek Blog
10. FF Trader
FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football QB rankings accuracy contest but not in the top 10 in RB or WR and 6th of 51 in the 411Football.com Experts Rankings contest. 





Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Sunday, January 22, 2012

FF Librarian and FSTA RB rankings accuracy contest










46 sites participated in the rankings accuracy challenge that is run in conjunction with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (F.S.T.A.). The results of the contest were revealed a week ago at the F.S.T.A. Winter Conference. Refer to the New York Times blog article below for even more information:


http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/fantasy-football-accuracy-rankings-for-2011

Web sites that were interested in participating in the contest were asked to submit their preseason rankings for the top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 50 wide receivers and 20 tight ends based on the standard scoring system below:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing & Receiving Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions & Fumbles Lost (-2)
Using Fantasy point totals for QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs based on the above scoring system, the Fantasy Football Librarian (aka Sara Holladay ) created an end-of-season ranking for each position by using FFToday.coms statistics page. She took the difference between each site’s preseason positional ranking and the end-of-season positional ranking and squared that difference in order to penalize large errors in rankings. Then she summed those squared differences and averaged them for each position, which determined which site’s positional ranking was most accurate.
Finally, to determine which site was the most accurate across all four positions, she summed each site’s average squared difference for the four positions and divided by four for the four positions analyzed to see which site had the lowest average. The site with the lowest average was the most accurate site.
That is a whole lot of math my friends. And the outcome?
The FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football RB rankings accuracy results are as follows:


Most Accurate Running back Rankings:

1. CBSSports.com (Jamey Eisenberg)
2. Pyromaniac.com
3. Fantasy Football Starters
4. Bruno Boys
5. The Fantasy Shrink
6. FFToolbox
7. FFToday.com
8. FantasySharks.com
9. RotoProfessor
10. Draft Sharks

FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football QB rankings accuracy contest but not in the top 10 in RBs and 6th of 51 in the 411Football.com Experts Rankings contest. 





Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



Saturday, January 21, 2012

Mission Impossible 4 and what it means to Fantasy Football






Okay, I just saw Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol at the theaters. I spent $8 (it was a matinee) and left disappointed. Overall I thought it was worthy of a Netflix rental or pay per view pop at $3 but not $8 or the eye gouging $10 that movies charge these days for a night time visit. But I digress.

What did I not like? Plot was old with nuclear bombs and Russians (very cold war-ish), the action especially the final scene was ...boring. Tom Cruise fighting an older villain and both looking like they had arthritis at the end limping around, and the theme of "disavowed" as if it is new. I thought the MI team was allows "disavowed" if they messed up...so why the big deal about this time?

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the work that went into MI 4. It just was not as good as some of the other MI films.

To be fair I liked the cat fight scene between the good girl and the bad girl (but it was too short) and the funny Brit computer guy and the high altitude scenes on the Dubai hotel were interesting,  But to be honest I think the MI series has run its course. I also saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and it was much much better IMHO. I left the theatre really excited about the outcome and the way it played out on the big screen. It was great!!! PS Previews for Red Tails look great as well.

What does this have to do with Fantasy Football you ask?
All too often we get carried away in the hype of something FF wise. Whether it be Cam Newton (deservedly) or Terrell Owens (not so much), the bottom line is we need to evaluate things on our own and not believe all the hype or pundits. Take the time to ask yourself "is this a real trend or just a story? Do I like this or am I just carried away by the media". Just like a movie with a ton of build up (MI 4) you should evaluate things on your own. Sometimes the best things come in small packages (Ray Rice anyone).


Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100



FFGuidebook.com finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 QB rankings accuracy contest










46 sites participated in the rankings accuracy challenge that is run in conjunction with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (F.S.T.A.). The results of the contest were revealed a week ago at the F.S.T.A. Winter Conference. Refer to the New York Times blog article below for even more information:


http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/fantasy-football-accuracy-rankings-for-2011

Web sites that were interested in participating in the contest were asked to submit their preseason rankings for the top 25 quarterbacks, 50 running backs, 50 wide receivers and 20 tight ends based on the standard scoring system below:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing & Receiving Touchdowns (6)
Interceptions & Fumbles Lost (-2)
Using Fantasy point totals for QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs based on the above scoring system, the Fantasy Football Librarian (aka Sara Holladay ) created an end-of-season ranking for each position by using FFToday.coms statistics page. She took the difference between each site’s preseason positional ranking and the end-of-season positional ranking and squared that difference in order to penalize large errors in rankings. Then she summed those squared differences and averaged them for each position, which determined which site’s positional ranking was most accurate.
Finally, to determine which site was the most accurate across all four positions, she summed each site’s average squared difference for the four positions and divided by four for the four positions analyzed to see which site had the lowest average. The site with the lowest average was the most accurate site.
That is a whole lot of math my friends. And the outcome?
The FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football QB rankings accuracy results are as follows:


Most Accurate Quarterback Rankings:
1. Fantasy Football Maniaxs
2. FOX Sports
3. Football Outsiders
4. Fantasy Football Geek Blog
5. 4for4.com
6. Pyromaniac.com
7. FF Guide ( I think this is me FFGuidebook.com)
8. KFFL
9. Junkyard Jake
10. Ask the Commish

FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 7th of 46 in the FFLibrarian/FSTA 2011 fantasy football QB rankings accuracy contest and 6th of 51 in the 411Football.com Experts Rankings contest. 





Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669


Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100