Fantasy Football Guidebook

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame Inductees

2012-01-29T08:36:00.001-05:00

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

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

2012-01-28T07:26:00.007-05:00

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

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

2012-01-27T08:08:00.001-05:00

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

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

2012-01-25T09:17:00.006-05:00

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 .com ‘s 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:

1. The Fantasy Shrink

2. 4 for 4.com

3. FFToolbox

4. FootballGuys .com

5. Draft Sharks

6. Pyromaniac .com

7. Fantasy Football Guidebook

8. Bruno Boys

9. Fantasy Football Maniaxs

10. Fantasy Football Calculator (ADP )

11. Fantasy Football Geek Blog

12. FantasySharks .com

13. CBSSports .com (Dave Richard )

13. FantasyFootball .com

15. RotoProfessor

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

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

2012-01-24T08:03:00.001-05:00

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)

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

FF Librarian and FSTA WR rankings accuracy contest

2012-01-23T08:00:00.003-05:00

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)

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

FF Librarian and FSTA RB rankings accuracy contest

2012-01-22T08:55:00.003-05:00

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)

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

Mission Impossible 4 and what it means to Fantasy Football

2012-01-21T12:21:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-21T08:50:00.001-05:00

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)

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

Ask the Expert: Through two weeks of playoff games, which player in your eyes has HELPED or HURT himself the most for the 2012 fantasy season?

2012-01-20T09:11:00.004-05:00

Through two weeks of playoff games, which player in your eyes has HELPED or HURT himself the most for the 2012 fantasy season?

Two WRs: Hakeem Nicks and Marques Colston. Both finished in the top 15 in PPR leagues for the regular season, but they missed a few games. Their playoff performances so far (13-280-4 for Nicks; 16-256-1 for Colston) will boost them into the top 10 for 2012.

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

ESPN Radio: Fantasy Focus Football-Great Podcast!

2012-01-19T08:44:00.018-05:00

It is has ended for the year, but I have been meaning to award kudos to ESPN's Fantasy Focus Football podcast. Hosted by ESPN Fantasy experts Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz, they provide daily fantasy football player previews, game overviews, injury reports and strategy. It reminds me of getting together with a few close FF friends and just talking over the days events or the upcoming week.
Make no mistake this is entertainment and you are not going to find non stop FF strategy. But you will get so good advice and it is great way of talking (ok listening) through some discussion points.
I especially love when Stephania Bell (the injury lady) comes on the show too.

I try to listen to every episode and often download it and listen while i am at the gym working out. Killing two birds with one stone. Look for it in 2012 when it starts again before the 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

What happened this weekend? None of my teams won....

2012-01-17T09:06:00.009-05:00

Had Houston as a long shot to win AFC.
Had NO as long shot to win Super Bowl.
Had GB as favorite to win SB.
Hoped the good guy Tim Tebow would continue his fantastic journey.

O for 4. Now I get NYG@SF and BAL@NE.
Now I am rooting for another Harbaugh brothers Super Bowl.....or am I just trying to jinx them and get a rematch of NE vs NYG. You make the call.

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

Congratulations to the Footballguys Players Championship (FPC) National Champion

2012-01-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

Ronald Eltanal stands alone on top of 2,963 other teams as the 2011 Footballguys Players Championship National Champion. Ronald won $125,000 and a custom-made TitleCraft trophy. Not bad for a $350 entry.

Ronald's team finished the regular season 7-4, with 1651.70 points. He was the #2 seed and had the most points scored in his league. Ronald ended up winning both of his league playoff games and took down his league title.

Ronald's three week playoff round scoring total was as follows:

Week 14: 178.55
Week 15: 244.90
Week 16: 162.50

That is a 3 week average of 195.31 points.

Ronald's draft is below where he had the 11 pick:

1.11 Calvin Johnson
2.2 Roddy White
3.11 Micheal Turner
4.2 Mark Ingram
5.11 Tom Brady
6.02 Marshawn Lynch
7.11 Aaron Hernandez
8.02 Rob Gronkowski
9.11 Michael Bush
10.02 Sidney Rice
11.11 Jermaine Gresham
12.02 Eagles D/ST
13.11 Donald Driver
14.2 Jerome Harrison
15.11 Montario Hardesty
16.2 Jason Hill
17.11 Stephen Gostkowski
18.02 Donovan McNabb
19.11 Terrell Owens
20.02 Eric Decker

Ronald has some excellent value picks in Brady, Lynch, Gronkowski, Michael Bush and Eric Decker.
Ronald ran a 3 RB, 2 WR, 2 TE lineup for the playoff run. Here was his typical starting lineup in the playoffs:

QB - Tom Brady
RB - Michael Turner
RB - Marshawn Lynch
WR - Calvin Johnson
WR - Roddy White
TE - Rob Gronkowski
Flex 1 - Michael Bush
Flex 2 - Aaron Herndandez
K - Stephen Gostkowski
D - Seattle

The FPC pays out $1,000 or more through 60th place 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

Congratulations to the winners of the Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) in 2011

2012-01-15T10:10:00.002-05:00

From a FFPC (www.theFFPC.com) email blast:

"The FFPC has crowned a new World Champion! Tim Daneau and Tim Beaulieu, aka T-N-T, have won the 2011 FFPC Main Event. In a close battle, T-N-T held off Glenn Lowy and his team Glenneration X to win it all. T-N-T and Glenn were vitually tied heading into the Monday night game. T-N-T had Colston and Glenn had kicker Matt Bryant. Bryant started with an early field goal, but there would be no denying Drew Brees, and Colston was his favorite target. T-N-T finished with 701.42 points, while Glenneration X ended with 692.55. Glenn takes 2nd place and cashes for $20,000.

On top of the $200,000, Daneau and Beaulieu also have won a beautiful, custom FFPC TitleCraft trophy.

Daneau and Bealieu drafted online and were in league #52, "We Let 'Em Off The Hook". Let's check out their draft round-by-round which was from the 8 hole:

1.8 - Arian Foster
2.5 - Hakeem Nicks
3.8 - Miles Austin
4.5 - Ryan Mathews
5.8 - LaGarette Blount
6.5 - Steve Johnson
7.8 - Matt Stafford
8.5 - Devery Henderson
9.8 - Marques Colston
10.5 - Rob Gronkowski
11.8 - Delone Carter
12.5 - Greg Little
13.8 - Brandon Gibson
14.5 - Heath Miller
15.8 - Shane Vareen
16.5 - Dexter McCluster
17.8 - Eric Decker
18.5 - Marion Barber
19.8 - Josh Brown
20.5 - Shaun Hill

Colston at the 9.8 and Gronk at the 10.5 were the obvious keys to their team success. What insane values. Similarly to the 2011 Footballguys Champion, Ronald Eltanal, T-N-T did not make any high impact free agent pickups. Here is their typical starting lineup for the playoffs:

QB - Stafford
RB - Foster
RB - Mathews
WR - Colston
WR - Austin
WR - Steve Johnson
WR - Nicks
TE - Gronkowski
K - Nugent
D - Eagles"

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

BN offers 15% off the price of one book by Extra Point Press-use by Jan 16th!

2012-01-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

Barnes and Noble and BN.com are now offering 15% off one Extra Point Press book purchased between now and the end of 16 Jan. Enter code D8C7C9J at checkout. That means Fantasy Football Guidebook can be $16.95 or Fantasy Football Tips will be $9.35. Great deals for those after holiday gift cards!!!!

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-tips-sam-hendricks/1017000616

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-baseball-for-beginners-sam-hendricks/1028503683

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-sam-hendricks/1100639984

Fantasy Football Guidebook(2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-guidebook-sam-hendricks/1008633837

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-basics-sam-hendricks/1030680433

Congratulations to the winners of the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) for 2011

2012-01-14T08:37:00.048-05:00

The National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) winners:
NFFC Classic (a 14 team high stakes event):

Michael Treffiletti beat 279 other teams in the National Fantasy Football Championship’s Classic event and took home the $100,000 grand prize. The 35-year old Albany, New York native has a 14 year history of playing fantasy football. He is a seven year veteran of the NFFC.

Oh and in case you did not hear, Michael beat his brother, as Joe Treffiletti also had one of this season’s finest teams. When the playoffs began Michael’s team was the No. 2 seed in the playoff competition while Joe’s was fourth. Week 16 began with both brothers one and two in the standings.

Victor Cruz was one of Michaels waiver wire pickups and he proved critical in week 16. But Tony Romo let him down by departing his game early with an injury and zero points. That departure crushed many FF fans that Sunday. But Michael came back when NO Scored on their last play from scrimmage with a late TD to Darren Sproles-the record setting TD pass with minutes left in the MNF game--to win the NFFC Classic. And what of his brother Joe? A very respectable third place finish.
George Melbrod Rancho finished 2nd winning $15,000.

What did his team look like? He drafted Gronkowski in the 8th and Sproles in the 10th. Cruz and SF K David Akers were waiver wire pickups.

NFFC Primetime Event (a 12 team high stakes event):
1st Place: Dave Clum Pembroke Pines, Florida Primetime $100,000
2nd Place: Bradley Shairson Hermosa Beach, California Primetime $15,000

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

Ask the Expert Question: In a playoff fantasy league with a single draft for the entire postseason, who should be the first player selected?

2012-01-13T08:30:00.001-05:00

Which player, performance, or fantasy trend was the biggest surprise to you this season?

The record setting year for QBs was a surprise. On the bright side, I predicted lots of good TE depth, an injury plagued year, a poor performance from Peyton Hillis and the sinking of the Titanic.

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

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Players of the Year Named

2012-01-11T07:24:00.002-05:00

I am proud to announce that all of my FSWA ballot players were named as players of the year with the exception of IDP London Fletcher.

FSWA members named Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers the 2011 Fantasy Football Most Valuable Player.

Drew Brees and Rob Gronkowski tied for second, with LeSean McCoy and Cam Newton coming in fourth and fifth, respectively.

In Rookie of the Year voting, Newton dominated, receiving every first place vote cast. A.J. Green finished second, followed by DeMarco Murray (third) and Julio Jones and Andy Dalton (tied for fourth).

The 2011 All-Fantasy Team:

QB: Aaron Rodgers
RB1: LeSean McCoy
RB2: Ray Rice
WR1: Calvin Johnson
WR2: Wes Welker
TE: Rob Gronkowski
K: David Akers
IDP: London Fletcher

This is the fourth year FSWA members have helped to select the official fantasy football awards.

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com (aka Sam Hendricks) finishes 2011 Fantasy Football season in 6th overall out of 51 Experts in the 411fantasy.com Rankings Contest

2012-01-07T07:20:00.002-05:00

In Week 7 Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) set a 411Fantasy.com record with a 28-point effort, which propelled him into a commanding lead over a field of 50 fellow experts. It was enough to sustain him for the next 10 weeks and Greco held on to win the 2011 411Fantasy.com Expert’s Contest.

Greco has worked in the Fantasy Sports industry since 2007. As a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, Greco made his mark on the industry by teaming up with legendary fantasy baseball analysis Lenny Melnick to help create FantasyPros911 along with Patrick DiCaprio and Tony Cincotta. Greco also is the Associate Editor at BaseballDigest.com and co-owner of Gotham Sports Media Inc. Along with Cincotta, Greco has co-hosted the FantasyPros911 show for the last two years on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports radio. His body of work includes contributing to USA Today’s Sports Weekly, World Championship of Fantasy Football Magazine, Gotham Baseball Magazine, and Baseball Digest.

Greco actually took the lead in Week 6 with a 19-point effort, but it was his 28 points in Week 7 that gave him a one point lead, which is rather large in this format (that’s what she said). He backed it up with two second place finishes in Weeks 10 and 11 and his lead swelled to 1.73 points. But he would average 12.83 points over the last five weeks which allowed several, namely Schauf, Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline), John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink), Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) and Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) to gain ground and threaten to steal the title.

The Final Top 25:

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 17.38

2. Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 17.23

3. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) 16.92

4. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink) 16.85

5. Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) 16.77

6. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 16.77

7. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 16.69

8. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) 16.62

9. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 16.54

10. Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 16.23

11. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 16.23

12. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 16.15

13. Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) 15.92

14. Ken Zalis (Fans FF) 15.77

15. Brandon Funston (Yahoo Sports) 15.77

t16. Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) and Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 15.54

18. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) 15.54

19. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) 15.38

20. Tommy Landry (RotoExperts) 15.31

21. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 15.23

22. Andy Behrens (Yahoo Sports) 15.23

23. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts) 15.08

24. Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts) 15.08

25. Chris Morgan (RotoWire) 15.0

Week 11 article after placing first.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Ask the Expert Question: In a playoff fantasy league with a single draft for the entire postseason, who should be the first player selected?

2012-01-06T07:37:00.000-05:00

In a playoff fantasy league with a single draft for the entire postseason, who should be the first player selected?

Drew Brees, as I see NO going to the SB and thus playing 4 playoff games.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Sam Hendricks and FFGuidebook.com 5th of 51 Experts thru Week 16

2012-01-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

Patrick Welsh (Fantasy Pros 911) was Week 16’s co-winner with 23 points. He was joined by CBS Sports guru CBS Sports guru Dave Richard as each expert eclipsed his season high by three points (both in Week 7).

Leader board through Week 16:
(first numer is adjusted for dropping lowest weekly score; number in parenthesis is the weekly average):

Leaderboard through Week 16:

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 17.15 (15.56)

2. Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 16.62 (15.38)

3. Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) 16.54 (15.63)

4. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) 16.54 (15.0)

5. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 16.46 (15.0)

6. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink) 16.31 (15.0)

7. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 16.15 (15.06)

8. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 16.08 (14.94)

9. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) 15.92 (14.94)

10. Ken Zalis (Fans FF) 15.77 (14.75)

11. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 15.77 (14.69)

12. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) 15.77 (14.56)

13. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 15.62 (14.69)

t14. Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) 15.54 (15.0)

t14. Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 15.54 (15.0)

16. Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 15.54 (14.63)

17. Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) 15.38 (14.38)

18. Brandon Funston (Yahoo Sports) 15.15 (14.31)

19. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.85 (14.33)

20. Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) 14.85 (14.31)

21. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts) 14.85 (14.29)

22. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) 14.85 (13.88)

23. Robb Perkins (FF Trader) 14.62 (13.88)

24. Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts) 14.54

Week 11 article after placing first.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Ask the Expert Question: If you were writing an "end of the year" recap story, what would be the Fantasy Football story of the season?

2011-12-30T08:56:00.002-05:00

If you were writing an "end of the year" recap story, what would be the Fantasy Football story of the season?

The 2011 fantasy football season will forever be known as the “Year of the Injury”. The absence of off-season training activities (OTAs) and abbreviated preseason training camps resulted in more injuries this season. Good owners were forced to suffer through numerous hamstring injuries and the dubious returns of some of the top players.

The waiver wire and injury reports dominated FF performance rather than the start/sit decisions of otherwise sane individuals. This rant comes not from a down on their luck owner who lost one too many bids for a playoff spot, but instead is from an owner who won much more this season than any other. Playoffs in 64% of my leagues (I play with some of the best in Expert leagues and the FFPC and NFFC). Of those I won the championship in 57% of them. Return on investment 260%. But there was too much luck!

I hate luck. I hate good luck and bad luck. Luck in any form. Luck is a cruel mistress. 2011 will be remembered for the fickle hand of fate and how she toyed with fantasy footballers through Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Darren McFadden, Matt Forte, Jahvid Best, Peyton Hillis, Ahmad Bradshaw, Frank Gore, Felix Jones, Steve Johnson, Ryan Mathews, Greg Jennings, Miles Austin, LeGarrett Blount and DeSean Jackson. And that was just the first two rounds of most drafts. I defy any FF owners to find a starting roster untouched by the mayhem that fate (the lock out) wrecked upon us all. I can only hope 2012 brings some sanity. And less luck… unless it is the rookie QB kind... maybe in Indianapolis?

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Fantasy Football Tip #222: Information management-what you need to know and how to compile it

2011-12-29T08:03:00.029-05:00

Unfortunately this is too late for the 2011 season since most leagues have played their championship games this week. I highly encourage week 16 League Championship Games (LCG) because if you play them in week 17 you are much more likely to get players resting or not playing entire games (see GB in week 17). NFL teams do this to prevent an injury to key players when those teams have nothing to play for in the remaining regular season games. This is much more common in week 17 than in week 16. Although in previous years there have been some rare week 16 shenanigans...but I digress. This tip is how to manage the information flow during the week. From the news flashes on Sunday and Monday night to the following Sundays pregame shows, a ton of information is out there and you need to organize it.

I start with a clean sheet of paper and label the top with the week ahead and any bye week teams that will be out.
Next I divide the top 1/3 into 4 columns:
New Starters ETP (Expected to Play) P (probable) Q (questionable)

the 2nd 1/3 of the page is labeled with 6 columns:

D (doubtful) GTD(Game Time Decision) NETP (Not expected to play) OUT DNP-W/Th/Fr Watch

Finally the bottom 1/3 of the page is for free agents to add and drop, so labels are:

Add: QB RB WR TE K DEF and Droppable

Now as information comes out I can place it under these categories:
If a starter is out he goes in the OUT column and his replacement goes in the New Starters column. Players who miss practice go in the DNP (Did not practice) Column and beside their name is a W for Wed practice; Th for Thursday and Fr for the dreaded miss of Friday practice (never a good sign).

The watch category is position battles or injuries not yet reported or performance/disciplinary issues.

I also have a sheet where I track free agency deadlines each week and lineup decisions. So that I do not forget to do either in a league.

Got gift cards? Use them at Amazon and BN.com to uy Fantasy Sports books!

2011-12-27T17:12:00.002-05:00

These great holiday gift ideas are available at Amazon, BN and other online retailers as paperbacks and ebooks. Use your holiday gift vars to purchase them.

Fantasy Football Guidebook
Fantasy Football Tips
Fantasy Football Basics

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners

Fantasy Hockey

Fantasy Soccer

Fantasy Basketball Handbook (coming soon)

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

Fantasy football conundrum with Drew Brees

2011-12-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

I am in 3 Championships heading into Monday Night Football and the ATL-NO matchup.
Unfortunately I have Drew Brees in my local league and FACE Drew Brees in the two other leagues.
I also have Roddy White in the local and play him in one of the others.

So I have to root for and against him. ARG! That is what happens when you play in tons of FF leagues.

Good luck to all in the last NFL game that will matter for week 16 and most FF league Championships.
And heres hoping Brees and Roddy scors enough for me to win the local league but not enough for my opponents to beat me in the other leagues.

I do have Matt Bryant ATL K in one of the money leagues and John Kasay NO K in the other league so I can hope for a ton from them.

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

ESPN Outside the Lines program exposes World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) bankruptcy

2011-12-25T07:28:00.003-05:00

ESPN Outside the Lines program exposes World Championship of Fantasy Football bankruptcy.

Check it out at:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7357411

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Week 16 Implications or what is FFGuidebook.com playing for...

2011-12-24T07:42:00.003-05:00

Week 16 and I am in 4 of 11 Championships. Sure I am in few other Expert league contests but I am so far behind I do not count them. Here are the 4 I have a shot at winning. I lead in 3 of the 4.

1) NFFC Private Auction League (11-2, 1st H2H, 4 in TP) #1 seed in 3 week playoffs; Leading by 17.19 points in 3 week playoffs which end this week

2) National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellite League (9-3-1, 2nd H2H, 4th in TP) #2 seed in playoffs. Leading by 17.95 pts in 3 wk playoff that ends this week.

http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

3) Local League (11-2, 1st H2H, 1st in TP) #1 seed in playoffs (bye in week 14) League Championship game

4) Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 5th overall out of 84 teams, 37 points out of first) Last week.

http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Don't forget I already came in 2nd in the FFPC Main Event League and earned $3500.00 from that league. I received the check yesterday! What a great Christmas gift! Thank you FFPC for great customer service and the fastest payouts in high stakes fantasy football.

13 Saturday games tomorrow on Christmas Eve and I will not see any of them...

2011-12-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

How in the "wide world of sports" did I miss the fact that 13 NFL games will be played on Christmas Eve?
Tomorow 13 games will decide many playoff seeds and cause fantasy football owners worldwide to react on the day before Christmas. I have promised my wife that I will not watch any football on Saturday (she is Danish and the danes celebrate XMAS on the 24th). I guess it DVD recording time...

But I have negotiated some Internet and pregame show time to set my lineups. LOL

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Ask the Expert Question: Looking ahead, let's say you expected to be playing a meaningful game in Week 17. Who is one likely available player you'd try to pick up now to be ready for that contest?

2011-12-23T07:45:00.001-05:00

Looking ahead, let's say you expected to be playing a meaningful game in Week 17. Who is one likely available player you'd try to pick up now to be ready for that contest?

Most of these RBs should not be available simply because of their handcuff value yet a few are out there. Kendall Hunter tops the list as SF could easily rest Gore in week 17 against STL, but what a great matchup. Another candidate is Ben Tate who faces TEN @ HOU, assuming Arian Foster gets a rest before the playoffs. Of course, if these teams are fighting for a higher seed all bets are off. In the non contender category, Isaac Redman (@CLE) and Evan Royster (WAS RB@ PHI, now we are diving deep) are sneaky plays for week 17 too. Mark Sanchez and Kyle Orton at QB could surprise against tough defenses at MIA and DEN.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks remain in 2nd place out of 51 Experts in the 411Fantasy.com contest

2011-12-22T08:26:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Michael Pichan, aka the Fantasy Nomad, who captured his first weekly prize of the season in the 411Fantasy.com Expert’s Contest. Pichan, of Rotoinfo.com, is a Nomad in every sense of fantasy sports. His Blogtalkradio show, the Fantasy Nomad Show, features everything from the NFL to the NBA, to the Arizona Fall League to musicians. But he found a home at 411 in Week 15 when he topped all experts with a score of 18.

Leaderboard through Week 15:
(first numer is adjusted for dropping lowest weekly score; number in parenthesis is the weekly average):

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 16.85 (15.73)

2. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 16.0 (14.93)

3. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) 16.0 (14.87)

4. Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) 15.85 (15.33)

5. Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 15.85 (14.93)

6. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 15.85 (14.87)

7. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 15.77 (14.93)

8. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 15.54 (14.73)

t9. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink) 15.54 (14.67)

t9. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) 15.54 (14.67)

11. Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 15.31 (14.67)

12. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) 15.31 (14.47)

13. Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) 15.15 (14.87)

14. Ken Zalis (Fans FF) 15.08 (14.53)

15. Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) 15.0 (14.27)

16. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 14.92 (14.4)

17. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.69 (14.36)

18. Brandon Funston (Yahoo Sports) 14.62 (14.07)

19. Eric Dell (BabyBlueMonkey) 14.46 (14.0)

20. Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 14.38 (14.38)

21. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) 14.38 (13.73)

22. Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) 14.31 (14.0)
23. Robb Perkins (FF Trader) 14.31 (13.8)

24. Tommy Landry (RotoExperts) 14.31 (13.53)

25. Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus) 14.23 (13.67)

Week 11 article after placing first.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Time is running out for an easy gift mailed directly to you or recipient

2011-12-21T11:15:00.003-05:00

These great holiday gift ideas are available at Amazon, BN and other online retailers as paperbacks and ebooks. Order today to make sure you (or your gift recipient) can receive them before Christmas!!!

Fantasy Football Guidebook
Fantasy Football Tips
Fantasy Football Basics

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners

Fantasy Hockey

Fantasy Soccer

Fantasy Basketball Handbook (coming soon)

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks results from Week 15

2011-12-21T08:10:00.002-05:00

Week 15

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Championship Round 127 of 145

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellite League  (9-3-1, 2nd H2H, 4th in TP) #2 seed in playoffs                                         Leading by 17.95 pts in 3 wk playoff that ends this week.
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                         (11-2, 1st H2H, 4 in TP) #1 seed in 3 week playoffs; Leading by 17.19 points in 3 week playoffs which end this week

Local League                                                                                                    1sr round bye (11-2, 1st H2H, 1st in TP) #1 seed in playoffs (bye in week 14)                  WIN, now in Super Bowl

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" 18th of 20 in 5 week playoff
(6-5, 3rd H2H, 1st TP) Made playoffs as WC5 (top 10 scoring other teams from 5 league get in)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Win 8-3 (73-91-1), 9th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                  (4-10, 5th H2H, 9th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                           (7-7, 3rd H2H, 5th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Win (10-1 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 5th overall out of 84 teams, 37 points out of first)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Fantasy Football Tip #221: Never give up on a team.

2011-12-20T08:18:00.000-05:00

Fantasy Football Tip #221: Never give up on a team, even when it looks bleak, keep fighting on with lineup changes and add/drops to make your team have a chance.

I have a friend (yes one) who recently exclaimed that he no longer had to fight the "waiver wire worries" because he lost in the playoffs. He seemed almost relieved that his team no longer had to play. I can understand this feeling a little bit (we probably all can with all the injuries and suspensions that have hit us this year) since he had no starting RBs left heading into the playoffs. But it made me think about what others should or could do in the few weeks before the playoffs. I can honestly tell you that nothing beats the feeling of being almost mathematically eliminated but then somehow managing to make the playoffs. It is such a great high knowing that everyone dismissed you and then you showed them! But if you give up on your teams that look like they do not have a chance, you will NEVER experience that great feeling. The point of this tip is to always try and win every game, even if you are out of contention and cannot make the playoffs. Try your best! Set the best lineup you can. Give it your best shot and then no matter what, you can hold you head up high, proud in the knowledge that you did everything you could.

I am not suggesting you spend 14 hours a day searching for sleeper RBs and WRs in leagues where you are officially eliminated from the playoffs. That would be taking resources that could (and should) be used more productively in other leagues (where you are in or fighting for the playoffs). I am suggesting that you add players for "out for the season" players and bench players who are "out" or "questionable" for the game and replace them with players who can earn you points.

There is nothing worse than seeing your opponent who you need to lose to make the playoffs playing the last placed team who does not even bench his injured reserve (IR) players (these types of teams are called "dead money" teams because the owners have given up on them and their lost entry fee). You would never be able to come from 4 game behind to make the playoffs if most of the leagues losing teams did not put up a fight. Do not be like that.

And remember, in many leagues everyone starts the same in the playoffs at 0-0. So in these instances, as my father always said, "It does not matter how high you made it over the fence, just that you made it over the fence"

Note: some leagues do allow the average of the regular season points scored as a starting point-I like this
Note: Both the National Fantasy Football Championship NFFC) and FFPC (www.theFFPC.com) have a system in place for these "dead" teams.

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Fantasy Football Tip #220: Smart flex assignments could win a game for you

2011-12-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Fantasy Football Tip #220: Be smart about who you assign to the flex position, it could win you a game!

Many leagues today have a flex spot or position in addition to the standard 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR and 1 TE positions. So in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) you start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K and 1 DEF. In fact the FFPC (www.theFFPC.com) has two flex spots as they start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE and 2 flex positions in addition to the lowly kicker and defense. In most formats the flex can be either a RB, WR or TE. In the FFPC the TE earns 1.5 points for catches and thus are more valuable as a potential flex player, so in those leagues you can expect to see more TEs drafted and used a flex player.

But my tip today is a simple one yet rarely employed by fantasy owners. I suggest you always attempt to make the flex player the player with the latest game. If you can make this happen it gives you great freedom to replace them with some else if needed. For example, you have two TEs one will be the TE, the other the flex player. Put the TE with the latest game at flex. Now if the starting TE gets hurt in warm-ups you can put the flex player in at TE and move another player from RB or WR into the flex position. Another example, you are planning on starting 4 WRs (3 as WRs and one as a flex), put the WR with the latest game (say Monday night) in the flex spot. That way if something happens to another WR before game time, you can replace that hurt WR with the flex player and move another player into the flex position. If you had filled the flex position with a WR who started in the early games (1 PM EST) or a Thursday game then that flex spot is over and done and should you need to rearrange due to injuries, etc you no longer have the flexibility to change positions since the flex spot is taken up by the early game player.

Since the flex position can be either a RB, WR or TE it is best to keep that position available until the last possible moment, hence the put in a player with the later game. Big picture-you want to keep all your options open as long as possible and that is what making the flex player the later play does.

The best tip is to fill the flex with the latest playing player for the greatest flexibility. Who knows it just may win you a game one day.

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Week 15-Who is in and who is out?

2011-12-18T10:16:00.000-05:00

Week 15 Info
OUT FOR WEEK 14: Andre Johsnon WR HOU, Fred Davis (susp 4 games), Matt Forte, Mark Ingram NO RB, Darren McFadden OAK RB, Jacoby Ford, Scott Chandler BUF TE, Colt McCoy CLE QB, Javon Ringer TEN RB, Greg Jennings GB WR, Kevin Kolb QB AZ (not starting might be QB3), Deion Branch NE WR, Emanuel Sanders PIT WR and Shane Vereen NE RB

Not Expected to Play: Sam Bradford STL QB, Dallas Clark IND TE

Expected to Play: Vick, C Wells, A Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs, Adrian Peterson, Kevn Smith DET RB, Jimmy Graham NO TE, T.J Yates HOU QB, Christian Ponder MIN QB, Tarvaris Jackson SEA QB, Joe McKnight NYJ RB, Matt Hasselbeck TEN QB

Who Knows? Hasselbeck or Jake Locker TEN QB, Matt Moore MIA QB, Ben Rothelisberger PIT QB, Josh Cribbs, Devin Hester, Denarius Moore, Braylon Edwards Montario Hardesty

WATCH: Wes Welker NE WR listed as questionable, Frank Gore not 100% so maybe not a full load on MNF, Rothelisberger unknown and on MNF

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Fantasy Football Tip #219: Your free agent system should determine your roster for FF playoffs

2011-12-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

Fantasy Football Tip #219: Your free agent system should determine your roster for FF playoffs

What I mean by this is your ability to add new players (or lack thereof) will be the deciding factor on what allocation of positions you have for the playoff run. If, for example, there are NO adds, drops or trades allowed after the playoffs begin (a common system in many of the money leagues), then you need to be more conservative in which positions you carry into the playoffs. In this case, always have an extra QB, TE and K on your roster. Yes kicker . Why because in Nov and Dec weather and kicking outdoors becomes more of a factor. There is nothing worse than watching your playoff team lose by 5 points simply because your one and only kicker is hurt or playing in a snowstorm. Same goes for QB and TE. Both can be affected by game time weather and injuries. Look at all the Rothelisberger, Bradford and Hasselbeck owners who are sweating it out this week if they are there only QBs.

I am not advocating dropping a starting RB for these potential #2 QB, TE or K. Instead try and make room for them by dropping the WR#7 or RB#6 on your team that has yet to see your starting lineup since bye week 7. In other words be realistic, do not drop a player you could easily see starting the following week if needed. Instead look to slim down the fat at plentiful positions and stock up on a rainy day/insurance extra QB or K.

On the other hand, if your league allows adds or drops (trades are tougher in the playoffs because who wants to give you any help then), in the playoff it will be a matter of how the system works. If it is first come, first serve right up until the kickoff time of each game then you can ignore the above advice and DO NOT carry an extra QB, TE or K. Why not? Because you can add one from free agency if absolutely needed at the last second. Do not drop a potential RB or WR for the extra kicker in this case. If you find yourself without a kicker or one with a bad match up in a snow storm, simply add the best available before game time.

One last note of caution, be careful with not carrying an extra QB in leagues where QBs are more valuable (6 pts for passing TDs) or where rosters are so deep that most teams carry extras (or that have so many teams that few QBs are on the waiver wire). In these cases, you may not be able to find a starting QB. In these instances it is best to have a QB#2 going into the playoffs.

Notice also I do not advocate having an extra DEF for the playoffs. Team defenses do not become injured so the worst case scenario is bad weather and often that helps defensive scoring in fantasy leagues.

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Fantasy Football Guidebook and Fantasy Football Tips both make great holiday gifts!!!

2011-12-16T15:39:00.000-05:00

These great holiday gift ideas are available at Amazon, BN and other online retailers as paperbacks and ebooks:

Fantasy Football Guidebook
Fantasy Football Tips
Fantasy Football Basics

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners

Fantasy Hockey

Fantasy Soccer

Fantasy Basketball Handbook (coming soon)

Ask the Expert Question: You just suffered a heartbreaking playoff loss. What do you say to yourself to come to terms with it?

2011-12-16T08:07:00.004-05:00

You just suffered a heartbreaking playoff loss. What do you say to yourself to come to terms with it?

I put it all in perspective. I have my health, a loving wife and a devoted cat and in the big scheme of things that is not too bad. So a tough fantasy football loss really does not warrant too much worrying. Of course talk is cheap. Some losses will stay with you for life. I will never forget losing in the 2007 World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) League Championship Game when all I needed was one catch on Monday Night from Heath Miller (A University of Virginia alum no less). I watched PIT battle MIA in week 12 during a torrential rain storm. Heath had no yards and no catches during no targets. Really Heath….no catches. But I am not bitter.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks finish 9th out of 51 Experts in week 14.

2011-12-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) who made his move in Week 14 in a three-way tie for first place with 20 points and is now in a tie for third place overall (gross score***). The CBS Sportsline guru was joined by Steve Siniski of College and Pro Weekely and Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) who also had 20 points and it marked the third time this season there has been a three-way tie for the top score in a single week.

I placed 9th this week (I have had 4 Top 5 finishes this year) and remain in second place behind Paul Greco. Paul also scored 17 points and tied me for 9th, so I did not gain any ground on him.

Leaderboard through Week 14:

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 16.21

2. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 15.36

t3. Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) and Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) 15.14

5. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 15.07

t6. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) and Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) 15.0

8. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) 14.93

9. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 14.86

10. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 14.71

t11. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink), Ken Zalis (Fans FF) and Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 14.64

14. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.54

t15. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts) and Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 14.5

17. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 14.43

t18. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) and Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) 14.29

20. Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) 14.14

21 Brandon Funston (Yahoo Sports) 14.07

t22. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) and Eric Dell (BabyBlueMonkey) 14,0

23. Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus) 13,93

24. Joe Everett (Fantasy Exchange) 13.92

Week 11 article after placing first.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Books on Fantasy Sports make great Holiday gifts!!

2011-12-14T15:15:00.001-05:00

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks playoff results

2011-12-14T08:09:00.000-05:00

Week 15

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Championship Round 114 of 145

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellite League  (9-3-1, 2nd H2H, 4th in TP) #2 seed in playoffs
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                         (11-2, 1st H2H, 4 in TP) #1 seed in 3 week playoffs

Local League                                                                                                    1sr round bye (11-2, 1st H2H, 1st in TP) #1 seed in playoffs (bye in week 14)

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" 17th of 20 in 5 week playoff
(6-5, 3rd H2H, 1st TP) Made playoffs as WC5 (top 10 scoring other teams from 5 league get in)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Win 9-2 (65-88-1), 10th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                   Loss (4-10, 5th H2H, 9th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                            Win (7-7, 3rd H2H, 5th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Win (10-1 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 6th overall out of 84 teams)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Fantasy Football Guidebook and Fantasy Football Tips make great gifts for Christmas!

2011-12-13T13:17:00.000-05:00

All of the books at Extra Point Press are available at amazon.com and BN.com. They all make great Christmas gifts and are in paperback and ebook formats. Pick up more than one and you get free shipping!!!!!!

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-tips-sam-hendricks/1017000616

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-baseball-for-beginners-sam-hendricks/1028503683

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-sam-hendricks/1100639984

Fantasy Football Guidebook(2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-guidebook-sam-hendricks/1008633837

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

Sam Hendricks finishes 6th for week 13 and moves into 2nd place overall (out of 51) in the 411Fantasy.com Experts Contest.

2011-12-13T07:33:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Matt Schauf (the IDP Guru for Draft Sharks) for winning week 13 with a 24 point effort and coasting to a Week 13 victory.

I placed 6th this week (I have had 4 Top 5 finishes this year)

From 411Fantasy.com

"Tied for 10th last week, Schauf vaulted into third place overall and finds himself an even point out of first.

Schauf may have cruised to victory, but the field did well overall. The average score in Week 13 was 16.41, the second highest this season.

Tied for second last week was Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) and Tommy Landry (RotoExperts) with 21 points apiece. Sarney’s entry wasn’t looking good early on, but he rallied by sweeping the multiple choice section.

In fourth with 20 points was Adam Conn (411Fantasy) and Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus). This was Conn’s fourth 20-spot this season, Miglio’s first and yet they are separated by only .77 points overall….

The following were tied for 6th place last week with 19 points: Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) (who moved up to second place overall), Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts), Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline), Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports), Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) and Michael Pichan (RotoInfo)."

Your leaderboard through Week 13.

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 16.15

2. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 15.23

3. Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 15.15

4. Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) 15.08

5. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 14.92

6. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) 14.85

t7. Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline) and Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 14.77

9. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.58

t10. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink), Ken Zalis (Fans FF), Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) and Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 14.54

14. Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 14.5

t15. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) and Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 14.46

17. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) 13.38

18. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts) 14.27

t19. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) and Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) 14.15

21. Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus) 14.08

t22. Eric Dell (BabyBlueMonkey), Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts), Robb Perkins (FF Trader), Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) and Joe Everett (Fantasy Exchange) 13.92

Week 11 article after placing first.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Week 14-Who is in and who is out?

2011-12-11T11:52:00.000-05:00

Week 14 Info
OUT FOR WEEK 14: Kevin Smith DET RB, Andre Johsnon WR HOU, Adrian Peterson MIN RB, Fred Davis (susp 4 games), Matt Forte, James Starks GB RB, Mark Ingram NO RB, Darren McFadden OAK RB, Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore OAK WRs, Scott Chandler BUF TE, Rian Lindell BUF K

Not Expected to Play: Sam Bradford STL QB

Expected to Play: Vick, C Wells, A Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs

Playing: Jeremy Maclin PHI WR, Christina Ponder MIN QB but looked bad in warmups
New Starters: Ryan Grant, Toby Gerhart (again),

Who Knows?

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks versus the best of the best in Fantasy Football 2006-2011

2011-12-10T11:23:00.001-05:00

A reader recently wrote me an email and asked how I measure myself in the world of fantasy football? I replied "By height" I stand at 6 feet 1 inch tall so that puts me pretty high (ouch sorry) in the standings.
My compliments to Chevy Chase and Caddyshack for that comeback.

Seriously..How have I done in the six years of playing competitively in the high stakes fantasy football arena?
Well my record speaks for itself.

2006 World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) 8-3 regular season (#2 seed, winner of $1500)

2007 WCOFF 8-3 Lost in League Championship Game (winner of $2500)

2008 Fantasy Football Players Championship (http://www.theffpc.com/) Neptune League #13 6-5, #2 seed with 2nd most total points (winner of $1500); Overall 7th place of 180

2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (http://www.theffpc.com/) Joe Montana League #10 8-3, Regular season champion-#1 seed (#1 H2H and #1 Total Points)(winner of $1500); Overall 16th of 228

2010 Fantasy Football Players Championship (http://www.theffpc.com/) Clark W. Griswold League 8-3, missed playoffs by 3 points (yes a FG); 5th in Toilet Bowl

2011 Fantasy Football Players Championship (http://www.theffpc.com/) League #58 10-1, Regular season champion-#1 seed (winner of $3500); Lost in League Championship Game; Overall ?? of 720

So in the past 6 years of 12-team high stake fantasy football leagues, playing against the best of the best in the world (if you pay over $1400 to play in these contests, you better be good), I have a combined regular season record of 48-18 (WCOFF 16-6 and FFPC 32-12) or a .750 win/loss record. Some may be better over the last six years but I will stack that up against anyone. One year of missed playoffs in six years of playing competitive high stakes (HSL) fantasy football. Now if I could just grow an inch or two I'd really have the competition....

Ask the Expert Question: The playoffs start in most leagues, this week or next. Which one player do you believe will be the key to a lot of fantasy championships over the next three or four weeks, and why?

2011-12-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

The playoffs start in most leagues, this week or next. Which one player do you believe will be the key to a lot of fantasy championships over the next three or four weeks, and why?

Aaron Rodgers is so amazing at QB that I cannot imagine having anyone else for a playoff run. MJD has shown a glimpse of the old top 5 RB in the past few weeks. He could be a difference maker. So if I could pick a dream team: Rodgers, Arian Foster, MJD, Wes Welker, Calvin Johnson, Greg Jennings and Rob Gronkowski.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

What next? Fantasy Football player losses...

2011-12-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

REALLY. I mean really. Now Mat Forte is out for the FF season and Fred Davis is suspended for 4 games---the rest of my season. Add this to AP taking time off and Peyton Hillis returning for the toughest 4 games of the Browns schedule and you can understand why FF basketball could look good right about now.
Andre Johnson hurt his other hammy. Come on man!

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks results from week 13

2011-12-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

Week 13 (End of regular season in 14-team leagues, 2nd week of playoffs in 12-team leagues)
Big news is loss in Championship game Fantasy Football Players Championship. I cannot complain there as I won $2000 for finishing first in regular season and as loser of Championship game I win another $1500 so $3500 for season plus I advance to 3 week Championship round playing for $200,000 grand prize.

11 leagues this year. In my defense 5 of the 11 are Expert leagues and the remaining 6 are money leagues.
Some are over and some I am in the playoffs. From now on I will list the active leagues first. One is the high stakes Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com). Lets see how I did last week. Follow along by using the links to each league.

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Main Event League #58 "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid"                                                                          Loss in Championship game;
(10-1 regular season finish , 1st in H2H, 2nd in total points; #1 Seed entering playoffs in week 12) http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=v2w2li9480bh23b65x5k5l1wtir1m1t&LN=102561&U=908283&EID1=27587&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.07.10b                  NA Loss out of playoffs; playing in Championship round but not H2H anymore
(6-5, 4th H2H, 2nd TP) (#2 seed in playoffs)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=eaz8jz779lupe4w49551ep5x285949j&LN=92918&USER=908283&EID1=27472&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.06.10j                    NA now in group toilet bowl
(2-9, 12th H2H, 12th in TP) Eliminated from playoffs playing for pride and the toilet bowl
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=wch618nn98f0rb011b782q922f3662r&LN=102417&USER=908283&EID1=26940&OPER=1770

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellite League  Win (9-3-1, 2nd H2H, 4th in TP)
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                        Win (11-2, 1st H2H, 4 in TP)

Local League                                                                                                    Loss (11-2, 1st H2H, 1st in TP)

Money League Outcomes 2-2 (For the reg season 46-19-1 (.725+ win %) (4-5 in playoffs)

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" NA 18th of 20 in 5 week playoff
(6-5, 3rd H2H, 1st TP) Made playoffs as WC5 (top 10 scoring other teams from 5 league get in)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Win 9-2 (57-85-1), 10th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                   Loss (4-9, 5th H2H, 11th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                            Win (6-7, 4th H2H, 5th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Loss (5-6 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 5th overall out of 84 teams)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Note the Draft Masters leagues are draft and forget with no trades/adds or drops. The computer optimizes your lineup each week. So it is essentially a draft and forget league with no options to correct for injuries or status changes.

Experts League Outcomes 2-2

Overall out of 11 leagues 4-4 (overall reg season 71-49-1) (playoffs 8-9)

Ask the Expert Question: Holdouts and/or contract situations have seemingly impacted the seasons of several big-name players. Do you believe fantasy coaches should try to avoid such players in the future?

2011-12-02T07:33:00.002-05:00

f.;/

Holdouts and/or contract situations have seemingly impacted the seasons of several big-name players. Do you believe fantasy coaches should try to avoid such players in the future?

Avoid...never; downgrade in your rankings...by all means. I never dismiss a player out of hand simply because of a holdout or contract dispute. I do expect them to have issues getting back to speed. I do expect them to have a greater chance of injury depending on their own workouts and duration of the holdout. But I adjust my rankings/projections to account for this fact. Then if they are a value play due to the position I can draft them, I may draft them. But I never cross anyone off my draft rankings before draft day unless they are out for the season. I have never met a player I would not draft in the right spot.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks results from Week 12

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Week 12 (1 game left in 14-team leagues, first week of playoffs in 12-team leagues)
Big news is winning in playoffs of Fantasy Football Players Championship and advance to Championsip Game.

11 leagues this year. In my defense 5 of the 11 are Expert leagues and the remaining 6 are money leagues. One is the high stakes Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com). Lets see how I did last week. Follow along by using the links to each league.

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Main Event League #58 "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid"                                                                          Win in playoffs and advanced to Championship game; I need Brandon Jacobs to score 13 or less for my opponent on MNF. Thank you Brandon for just the one TD and 46 yards rushing,
(10-1 regular season fnish , 1st in H2H, 2nd in total points; #1 Seed entering playoffs in week 12) http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=v2w2li9480bh23b65x5k5l1wtir1m1t&LN=102561&U=908283&EID1=27587&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.07.10b                  Loss out of playoffs
(6-5, 4th H2H, 2nd TP) (#2 seed in playoffs)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=eaz8jz779lupe4w49551ep5x285949j&LN=92918&USER=908283&EID1=27472&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.06.10j                    NA now in group toilet bowl
(2-9, 12th H2H, 12th in TP) Eliminated from playoffs playing for pride and the toilet bowl
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=wch618nn98f0rb011b782q922f3662r&LN=102417&USER=908283&EID1=26940&OPER=1770

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellitte League  Loss (8-3-1, 2nd H2H, 4th in TP)
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                        Loss (10-2, 2nd H2H, 2nd in TP)

Local League                                                                                                    Win (11-1, 1st H2H, 1st in TP)

Money League Outcomes 2-3 (including a Win in the $200,000 FFPC Playoffs) (For the season 48-22-1 (.700+ win %)

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" NA 11th of 20 in 5 week playoff
(6-5, 3rd H2H, 1st TP) Make playffs as WC5 (top 10 scoring other teams from 5 league get in)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Win 7-3-1 (48-83-1), 10th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                   Loss (4-8, 5th H2H, 11th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                            Loss (5-7, 4th H2H, 4th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Win (6-5 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 3rd overall out of 84 teams)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Note the Draft Masters leagues are draft and forget with no trades/adds or drops. The computer optimizes your lineup each week. So it is essentially a draft and forget league with no options to correct for injuries or status changes.

Experts League Outcomes 2-2

Overall out of 11 leagues 4-5 (overall 75-54-1)

What do we know for Week 12? Who is in and who is out.

2011-11-27T11:16:00.000-05:00

Week 12 Info
OUT FOR SEASON: Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel, D. Jones BUF WR, Fred Jackson, Matt Schaub, Michael Clayton NYG WR, Jahvid Best

OUT FOR WEEK 12: Dan Carpenter MIA K, Miles Austin, Rian Lindell BUF K, N. Roosevelt, Darren McFadden, Jacoby Ford, Adrian Peterson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Ocho

Not Expected to Play: Kevin Kolb, LaDamian Tomlinson, Malcom Floyd, Michael Vick, Taiwan Jones, Jeremy Maclin

GTD: Peyton Hillis ( note he was ruled out earlier...go figure)

Questionable: Mario Manningham, L. Naanee, J Addai, Felix Jones?

Expected to Play: Montario Hardesty CLE RB, Andre Johnson, Jake Ballard, Matt Hasselback, DeSean Jackson, Santana Moss, Jeremy Shockey

Playing: Andre johnson, Santana Moss, AJ Green
New Starters: John Skelton AZ QB (again), Michael Bush, Shayne Graham MIA K, Caleb Hanie CHI QN, Tyler Palko KC QB, Matt Leinart HOU QB, C.J Spiller BUF RB, Curtis Painter IND QB, Kevin Smith DET RB

Who Knows? Julio Jones, Denarius Moore

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks beat 50+ Experts in Week 11 of the 411Fantasy.com Expert of the Year contest. Moves into 3rd overall for season!

2011-11-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

I will just let my predictions this year do my talking...

From 411Fantasy.com

"In fact Hendricks, of Fantasy Football Guidebook, wrote a book, I think, with this contest in mind (work with me Sam). Fantasy Football Tips: 201 ways to win through player rankings, cheat sheets and better drafting was probably the driving force last week for Hendricks, who scored 23 points in Week 11 of the 411Fantasy Football Expert’s Contest to take down the field of 51 experts polled.

Hendricks scored five points at QB (Rodgers, Stafford, Newton and Romo +1), one for MJD at running back, another five at TE (Gronkowski +1, Witten +1 and Gates) and five more for kickers (Gostkowski+1, Bailey +1, Akers), plus three for D/ST (Patriots+1 and the 49ers). Hendricks then scored four points for answering two questions (Ogbonnaya and Seattle), one of a few to pick the Browns running back – that takes gumption!

Quietly posting respectable scores most of the season, including four weeks with top 5 scores, Hendricks has earned himself a spot in the top 3 overall as his average score rose from 14.5 to 15.27 points.

Our overall leader Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) held tightly to his lead last week with yet another second place finish. His 22-point effort brought his average score back to over 17 points a week (17.09), a remarkable run so far.

Alone in third place was Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) with 21 points, his season high to date.

Tied for fourth place with 20 points were Ken Zalis (Fans FF), Adam Conn (411) and Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports). Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) followed with 19 points while Joe Everett (Fantasy Exchange) and Ross Mandel (NFL Draft Bible) each had 18.

A six-way tie 10th place included Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan), Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks), Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline), Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires), Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts) and Patrick Welsh (Fantasy Pros 911), who all had 17 points. They were followed by John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink), Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) and Christopher Harris (ESPN), who had 16 apiece.

Adam Helbling (411), Jared Smola (Draft Sharks), Matthew Berry (ESPN), Tim Heaney (KFFL), Jim Day (GoAheadScore.com), Andy Behrens (Yahoo) and Michael Pichan (RotoInfo) rounded out the top half last week with 15 points each.

http://411fantasy.com/2011/11/24/hendricks-writes-the-book-on-rankings/

Leaderboard after 11 weeks:

1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 17.09

2. Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) 15.36

3. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 15.27

4. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 15.18

5. Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 15.0

t6. Ken Zalis (Fans FF), John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink) 14.91

8. Eric Dell (BabyBlueMonkey) 14.82

9. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts) 14.78

10. Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) 14.64

t11. Adam Conn (411Fantasy), Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline), and Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 14.55

t14. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) 14.45

15. Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 14.36

16. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms) 14.27

17. Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.2

t18. Tristan Cockroft (ESPN), Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) 14.09

20. Robb Perkins (FF Trader) 14.0

t21. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports), Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts) 13.91

23. Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus), 13.82

24. Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) 13.64

25. Matthew Berry (ESPN) 13.6

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Ask the Expert Question: Another week, another slew of quarterbacks lost to injury. Which new or likely new quarterback starter will have the most fantasy value the rest of the way?

2011-11-25T08:15:00.001-05:00

Another week, another slew of quarterbacks lost to injury. Which new or likely new quarterback starter will have the most fantasy value the rest of the way?

Matt Leinart, HOU, who is not a rookie, just a top draft pick who lost his way and gets a second chance.

He has the best RB in the NFL in Arian Foster (possibly two with Ben Tate). Andre Johnson should make his return from injury this week to join forces with TE Owen Daniels and did I mention a great defense and favorable schedule (well other than ATL and CIN, so 4 of 6 games). Look for 200 yards passing, 1 TD pass and one INT on average.

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Latest Fantasy Football News for Thanksgiving Day games!

2011-11-24T11:32:00.002-05:00

Hope you all are enjoy your Thanksgiving day feasts and Ann Curry (I think she is great!) announcing the Macy Thanksgiving day parade! As far as fantasy football information goes you are on your own today as just about everyone spends the day with family. I thought I would pass along my info for you to help you before the games start. First of all GB is @ DET in the first game at 12:30 ET. Next MIA travels to Dallas and finally SF faces BAL in the battle of the Harbaugh brothers in the night cap.

Week 12 Info
OUT FOR SEASON: Jay Cutler (OFS), Matt Cassel (OFS), D. Jones (OFS), Fred Jackson (OFS), Matt Schaub,

OUT FOR WEEK 12: Peyton Hillis, Dan Carpenter MIA K, Miles Austin, Jahvid Best

Not Expected to Play: Kevin Kolb, Adrian Peterson (if practices Friday could play), Ahmad Bradshaw, LaDamian Tomlinson, Darren McFadden (until 100%), Malcom Floyd

Expected to Play: Montario Hardesty CLE RB, Andre Johnson, Jake Ballard, Matt Hasselback, DeSean Jackson, Santana Moss, Greg Jennings, James Starks

New Starters: John Skelton AZ QB (again), Michael Bush, Shayne Graham MIA K, Caleb Hanie CHI QN, Tyler Palko KC QB, Matt Leinart HOU QB, C.J Spiller BUF RB, Curtis Painter IND QB, Kevin Smith DET RB

Who Knows? Jeremy Maclin, Julio Jones, Denarius Moore, Mike Vick

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

Kyle Orton claimed by KC Chiefs off waivers, will face old team DEN in week 17

2011-11-23T16:17:00.000-05:00

That week 17 game could have playoff implications and a great QB rivalry with Tebow verus Orton.
Wow!

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks results from Week 11

2011-11-22T16:34:00.000-05:00

Week 11 (End of Regular Season in 12-team leagues and 2 games left in 14-team leagues

11 leagues this year. In my defense 5 of the 11 are Expert leagues and the remaining 6 are money leagues. One is the high stakes Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com). Lets see how I did last week. Follow along by using the links to each league.

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Main Event League #58 "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid"                                                                          Win (10-1) (1st in H2H, improved to 2nd in total points; #1 Seed entering playoffs in week 12) http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=v2w2li9480bh23b65x5k5l1wtir1m1t&LN=102561&U=908283&EID1=27587&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.07.10b                  Win (6-5, 4th H2H, 2nd TP) (#2 seed in playoffs)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=eaz8jz779lupe4w49551ep5x285949j&LN=92918&USER=908283&EID1=27472&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.06.10j                    Loss (2-9, 12th H2H, 12th in TP) Eliminated from playoffs playing for pride and the toilet bowl
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=wch618nn98f0rb011b782q922f3662r&LN=102417&USER=908283&EID1=26940&OPER=1770

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellitte League  Win (8-2-1, 2nd H2H, 1st in TP)
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                        Win (10-1, 1st H2H, up to 1st in TP)

Local League                                                                                                    Win (10-1, 1st H2H, 1st in TP)

Money League Outcomes 5-1 (including a Win in the $200,000 FFPC) (For the season 46-19-1 (.712 win %)

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" Win (6-5, 3rd H2H, 1st TP) Make playffs as WC5 (top 10 scoring other teams from 5 league get in)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Loss 3-8 (41-80), 11th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                   Loss (4-7, 5th H2H, 10th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                            Loss (5-6, 2nd H2H, 3rd TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Loss (3-8 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 2nd overall out of 84 teams)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Note the Draft Masters leagues are draft and forget with no trades/adds or drops. The computer optimizes your lineup each week. So it is essentially a draft and forget league with no options to correct for injuries or status changes.

Experts League Outcomes 1-4 UG! Paying too much attention to the money leagues...

Overall out of 11 leagues 6-5 (overall 71-49-1)

Who is in and who is out week 11?

2011-11-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

Game Time Decisions: Lee "Questionable" Evans, Montario Hardesty, Tashard Choice?,

OUT: Mike Goodson CAR RB (OFS), Peyton "I have the Madden Curse" Hills, Matt Cassel, S. Moss, Malcolm Floyd, Ahmad Bradshaw, Darren Mcfadden, AJ Green, M Austin, Jacoby Ford, Rian Lndell, Dan Carpenter, Jeremy Shockey, Jeremy Maclin, Mike Vick,

The outs are a who's who in most of my fantasy teams

NEW STARTERS: Jon Skelton, Vince Young, Kapka KC QB, Riley Cooper PHI WR, Vincent Brown SD WR, Andre Caldwell CIN WR, Shayne Graham MIA K, Kendall Hunter if Gore does not start

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Sam Hendricks and FFGuidebook.com finish 12th out of 50 Experts in Week 10 of the 411Fantasy.com Competition

2011-11-19T08:48:00.002-05:00

Following up previous good finishes (2nd place in week 2, 4th place week 5, 5th in week 7, and 2nd place in week 9 out of 50 Experts in the 411Fantasy.com contest) I finished tied for 12th this week with 14 points.

I improved to 8th overall with an average of 14.50
Here are the top 25 of 50 Experts in the contest thru week 10:

Here are the top overall experts through Week 10:
1. Paul Greco (Fantasy Pros 911) 16.6
2. Jake Ciely (RotoExperts) 15.5
t3. Jody Smith (Gridiron Experts), Jeff Thitoff (97.1 The Fan) and Adam Helbling (411Fantasy) 15.0
6. Eric Dell (BabyBlueMonkey) 14.9
7. John Paulsen (Fantasy Shrink) 14.8
8. Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) 14.5
9. Ken Zalis (Fans FF) 14.4
t10. Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sportsline), Tristan Cockroft (ESPN) and Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks) 14.3
t13. Dave Richard (CBS Sportsline) and Eric Karabell (ESPN) 14.2
t15. Jason Sarney (Fantasy Phenoms), Robb Perkins (FF Trader), and Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Sports Empires) 14.1
18. Adam Conn (411Fantasy) 14.0
19. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports) 13.9
t20. Andrew Feingold (RotoExperts) and Alessandro Miglio (Pro Football Focus), 13.8
22. Mike Gilbert (RotoExperts) 13.6
t23. Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports) and Jared Smola (Draft Sharks) 13.5
25. Matthew Berry (ESPN) 13.44
t26. Brandon Funston (Yahoo Sports) and Robert Shaw (Bloomberg Sports) 13.4

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Ask the Expert Question: Any value in teams who play musical RB (WAS, NE, etc)?

2011-11-18T09:08:00.008-05:00

Several teams (Washington, New England, perhaps some others) are playing musical running backs of late. Is there value to be drawn from any one player in the NFL's most uncertain backfields, or should fantasy coaches just avoid those situations entirely?

I Think of it this way..."Beggars can't be choosers". If you are hurting at RB due to injuries or this last bye week (Mendy, AF, Sproles and Thomas owners); you may have to turn to whomever you have stashed on your roster (by the way the 4th bye week team is IND, another team that currently plays this RB shuffle). If you can avoid it, stay away from these situations as it can seriously ruin your outlook on life (and force you to doubt your FF wisdom). Take it from someone who started Torrain when Helu went big and vice-versa .

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 Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

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

FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks keep moving to the top in the 411Fantasy.com Expert Rankings contest with a 2nd place out of 50 Experts finish in week 9!

2011-11-17T18:07:00.001-05:00

Following up previous good finishes (2nd place in week 2, 4th place week 5, and 5th in week 7 out of 50 Experts in the 411Fantasy.com contest) I finished tied for 2nd this week with 17 points.

"A quick congrats to Ken Zalis of Fans FF, who scored 19 for a commanding Week 9 win. Only other two experts to come close to Zalis were Sam Hendricks (FF Guidebook) and Ginny Loveless (GoAheadandScore) with 17 each." From 411Fantasy.com

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070

Week 10 Results for FFGuidebook.com and Sam Hendricks

2011-11-17T08:26:00.037-05:00

Week 10 (1 week left in 12-team leagues and 3 games left in 14-team leagues

11 leagues this year. In my defense 5 of the 11 are Expert leagues and the remaining 6 are money leagues. One is the high stakes Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com). Lets see how I did last week. Follow along by using the links to each league.

Money Leagues first ("Show me the money")

Fantasy Football Players Championship (www.theFFPC.com) Main Event League #58 "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid"                                                                          Win (9-1) (1st in H2H, improved to 2nd in total points) http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=v2w2li9480bh23b65x5k5l1wtir1m1t&LN=102561&U=908283&EID1=27587&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.07.10b                  Loss (5-5, 6th H2H, 3rd TP) ( I need win this last week of the regular season to have any shot of the playoffs as Total Points)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=eaz8jz779lupe4w49551ep5x285949j&LN=92918&USER=908283&EID1=27472&OPER=1770

FootballGuys Players Championship (FPC) League 09.06.10j                    Loss (2-8, 12th H2H, 12th in TP) Playing for pride!
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=wch618nn98f0rb011b782q922f3662r&LN=102417&USER=908283&EID1=26940&OPER=1770

National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) $125 Satellitte League  Win (7-2-1, 2nd H2H, 1st in TP)
http://nffc.stats.com/football/reports/league_home.asp

NFFC Private Auction League                                                                        Win (9-1, 1st H2H, up to 1st in TP)

Local League                                                                                                    Win (9-1, 1st H2H, 1st in TP)

Money League Outcomes 4-2 (including a Win in the $200,000 FFPC) (For the season 41-18-1 (.700 win %)

Expert Leagues

Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) League/Division 3 "Jay Clemons" Loss (5-5, 4th H2H, 1st TP)
http://blue.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=55559&UID=0zp23f3k07b2f7rn0o3n8qzxxu29r94&TN=4764594&X=1316889097900

Fantasy Football Index Magazine Expert Auction League (Draft Masters but play every team each week)                                                                                                              Loss 4-7 (38-73), 11th place
http://goalline.rtsports.com/cgi-bin/display_standings?LN=100828&UID=94m1czr95356fbq3406bidw7k8mhu34&TN=4854786&X=1316889246868

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert League                                   Loss (4-6, 5th H2H, 10th TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/32210#0

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Magazine Expert PPR League                            Loss (5-5, 2nd H2H, 3rd TP)
http://www23.myfantasyleague.com/2011/home/60587#0

Pros vs Joes FFPC League 2 "Caspers Ghost Hunters" (Draft Masters) Win (11-0 this week) 1st place overall in my league (based on points) (and 1st overall out of 84 teams)
http://leagues.myffpc.com/cgi-bin/welcome_page?UID=q7ko74ga3116fg3wq991ak2egp3p15l&LN=93779&USER=908283&EID1=19316&OPER=1770

Note the Draft Masters leagues are draft and forget with no trades/adds or drops. The computer optimizes your lineup each week. So it is essentially a draft and forget league with no options to correct for injuries or status changes.

Experts League Outcomes 1-4 UG! Paying too much attention to the money leagues...

Overall out of 11 leagues 5-6 (overall 65-44-1)

Conclusion: I have said it throughout my FF career. I play better in leagues where luck is less and more skill is utilized. I play better in leagues with PPR, flex players (2 better than 1) and where active management is required (i.e add/drops allowed and the owner has to set a lineup-as opposed to DraftMaster leagues where no lineup is submitted. Historically I do better where my skills can be used to add better players and I think I do a better job at start/sit decisions than most.

Week 10 Injury Information

2011-11-16T15:56:00.000-05:00

Quickly here are the ins and outs for this weeks games

First this is the last bye week so kiss NO, PIT, HOU and IND players good bye for week 11.
Also THUR game is NYJ @ DEN (short turn around time for NYJ after SNF to TNF)

Game Time Decision: AJ Green,

NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY: Mike Vick, J. Maclin, Rian Lindell K BUF

OUT: Matt Schaub HOU QB (OFS). Knowshon Moreno (may be OFS), LT, Shawn Nelson, Jeremy Kerley, Mike Goodson RB CAR (OFS), Peyton Hillis, LT

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/0982428669http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

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 Soccer: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635070