Thursday, September 30, 2010

Fantasy Index Magazine "Ask the Expert" Question: Which fast-starting fantasy performer will stumble the rest of the way, and why?

Which fast-starting fantasy performer will stumble the rest of the way, and why?

Easy answer Jahvid Best and Darren McFadden. Best is hurt and turf toe tends to be a lingering injury. McFadden faces Michael Bush returning and stealing carries. However, I will go one step further and nominate Thomas Jones. Jamaal Charles appears to be the better runner in KC and when the Chiefs lose a game his 7.0 YPC will trump TJ’s 4.1. Old man time will catch Thomas Jones by the latter third of the season.

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 2010, 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 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $7.39 33% off) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95, now 10% off at $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Week 3 Results for FFGuidebook.com

Seven major fantasy football leagues for me this year:

Three are Expert leagues. Two of those Expert leagues are associated with my rankings, projections and mock drafts in Fantasy Football Index magazine and Fantasy Football Pro Forecast magazine. The other is the now annual FFPC Pro's vs Joes Challenge. The Fantasy Index Expert Auction and FFPC Pro's vs Joes are also Draft Masters format so draft and forget.

Of the four remaining money leagues, one is the Fantasy Football Players Championship Main Event, two are FootballGuys Players Championship teams and the last is my local league.

Week 3 Results:
Fantasy Index Expert Auction-Draft Masters: Loss 0-11 terrible day ( we play every team each week), dropped to 8th place overall

FFPC Pros vs. Joes League #7 - Charles Jefferson's Z-28's: Loss 8th of 12 in total points this week, dropped to 6th overall in TP standings for year

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Expert League-Win, 2-1 for year and 1st place in points

FFPC Main Event "Clark W. Griswold" Saturday Online League #21: Win, 2-1 8th in Points

FPC Satellitte Sunday 09.05.7: Loss 1-2 for year, 5th place in points

FPC Satellite Tuesday 09.07.10h: Win 3-0, 11th place in TP (not good)

Local League: Loss 2-1, 6th place in TP

Overall 3-4 (3-2 in H2H leagues). Lost in one league when Devin Hester ran back the punt for a TD.

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $7.39 33% off) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95, now 10% off at $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Trouble on the horizion for Fantasy Sports industry? Gambling issues.

Call me naive, fanatical, crazy or both but I love Fantasy Sports (Football especially) and I do not want to see anything ruin this excellent obsession of mine. So when I read Oskar Garcia's Associated Press article "Daily fantasy sports become a gambling reality" yesterday I cringed (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jElxdNKNquIets1aE3)izojKIyx1AD9IEH90O0.

The lead sentence is..."Sports fans are betting online each night on athlete's performances -- and its all legal". Talk about throwing somebody under a bus. That loud oooooofffffffff sound was the fantasy sports world being sucker punched.

Then I thought, "maybe nobody read it". A quick google search revealed 1.5 milion hits and the top page were references to sites that posted the article (NBC Sports, Yahoo, some Las Vegas TV stations, a Taiwan newspaper etc). It is safe to say the cat is out of the bag.

Why am I so upset? Because it is a big problem when you associate gambling and fantasy sports. I have to force my fingers to use them in the same sentence even if it is just to point out that they should not be there and it is a issue to do so. It is a slippery slope that divides gambing and fant... well you know what.

The 2006 Anti Gambling carve out language specificially for fantasy sports, in my opinion, was for season long fantasy sports operations, not daily operations (which were not in existence at that time). I hope the websites and gamers who have moved into this daily fantasy sports arena have not endangered all of fantasy sports.

I consider daily playing and winning to NOT be fantasy sports. In fact, after reading some examples in the article it sounds more like day trading than fantasy sports. Fantasy sports is a season long endeavour to win. Daily wagering and winning seems to me to be more gambling than fantasy sports. There I said it. If you want my opinion playing for a single event seems like betting. Anyone who has played fantasy football for any length of time knows that on any given sunday a team or player can have inconsistent performances. But the true test is evaluating and drafting players for a season long contest.

I will admit I have not thought this whole thing out and I love player props just as much as the next guy. But when I play a prop it is at Veags not through some "fantasy sports" site. I play fantasy sports at the FFPC, WCOFF and NFFC and these are season long contests. I would hate to see real fantasy contests such as these suffer because others are taking advantage of the fantasy sports industry to "bend the rules" whether that be the spirit or letter of the law.

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $7.39 33% off) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95, now 10% off at $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Fantasy Football for Beginners on sale at Amazon.com for 33% off!

How to play, enjoy and win Fantasy Football.

Finally, an easy and straightforward way to learn how to play fantasy football. Learn the easy way. Everything you need to play.

A book every beginner will enjoy!

Answers these questions:
• Why play fantasy football?
• Where do I start?
• How do I pick the right league?
• How do I score points?
• Who do I start each week?

Includes:
• Explanation of NFL and fantasy football rules
• Draft tips
• Vital resources to help
• Foreword by Emil Kadlec, Co-Founder of the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) and owner of Fantasy Sports Publications
• And much more!

And now for a limited time Fantasy Football for Beginners is on sale at Amazon for just $7.39.
A great gift for anyone you wish to become interested in one of the greatest hobbies of all time.

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $7.39 33% off) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95, now 10% off at $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Moreno out, tons of QB changes-Week 3 News

Important update: Knowshn Moreno is out for Denver in week 3. This means Correll Buckhalter and Laurence Maroney are now the RBs for Dever this week. Andre Brown ( a deep sleeper of mine before week 1) was signed off the practice squad too so keep an eye on him as well.

Other news (may be old to some)
Vick is the QB in PHI from now on
Ryan Fitzpatrick replaces T Edwards at QB in BUF
Jimmy Clausen starts in place of Matt Moore in CAR
Brad Gradkowski starts over Jason Campbell in OAK
Byrn Leftwhich starts over Charlie Batch for supspended Ben R. in PIT
Vince Young should start for TEN

RB
Knowshon Moreno is out for week 3...watch this closely as they traded for Maroney and Moreno had injury issues in preseason
Jerome Harrison is looking doubtful for CLE-look for Peyton Hillis and James Davis
Reggie Bush is out for 4-6 weeks at NO-Chris Ivory is the backup there to Pierre Thomas (Ladell Betts recently signed too)
Michael Bush RB OAK practiced Thurs and Fri and is probable
Ryan Mathews is out for week 3-Mike Tolbert and D Sproles fill in at SD
Larry Johnson was released from WAS (so much for another deep sleeper)
Marshawn Lynch is set to get more carries than CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson again this week-show casing him before the Oct trade deadline?

WR
Andre Johnson is lised as doubtful but I suspect he will play
A Gonzalez is out 4-6 weeks
Nate Burleson could be out 3 weeks with the dreaded High Ankle Sprain (HAL)
TE
Jason Witten should play vs HOU
KW2 is not practicing but should play (just like last week)
Kevin Boss practiced this week and should play

K
Buehler K DAL is missing a lot of FGs in practice but Cowboys seem Ok to let him grow at K.

D Revis is out 1-2 games=Brandon Marshall owners can breath now.



Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $7.39 33% off) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95, now 10% off at $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Friday, September 24, 2010

Which player who's struggled through the first two weeks will turn things around the rest of the way?

Ask the Expert Question for the week: Which player who's struggled through the first two weeks will turn things around the rest of the way?

This could be the turning point for DeAngelo Williams’s season. At home and with a new QB, now is the time for the Panthers to establish a dominant running game and let their star shine. In the past two losses he has shown some of his old flash but not been given the carries he deserves (only 16.5 per game). With Jonathan Stewart apparently in the dog house (why I do not know), I expect Williams to turn his season around this week against a CIN defense that have been a little too generous on YPC.




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 2010, 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 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $9.85 10% off) 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 Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Week 2 Fantasy Football results

Seven major fantasy football leagues for me this year:
Three are Expert leagues. Two of those Expert leagues are associated with my rankings, projections and mock drafts in Fantasy Football Index magazine and Fantasy Football Pro Forecast magazine. The other is the now annual FFPC Pro's vs Joes Challenge. The Fantasy Index Expert Auction and FFPC Pro's vs Joes are also Draft Masters format so draft and forget.
Of the four remaining money leagues, one is the Fantasy Football Players Championship Main Event, two are FootballGuys Players Championship teams and the last is my local league.

Week 2 Results:
Fantasy Index Expert Auction-Draft Masters: 11-0 scored the most points ( we play every team each week), 2nd place overall

FFPC Pros vs. Joes League #7 - Charles Jefferson's Z-28's: 4th out of 12 in total points this week, 5th overall in TP standings for year

Fantasy Football Pro Forecast Expert League-Win, 1-1 for year and 1st place in points

FFPC Main Event "Clark W. Griswold" Saturday Online League #21: Win, 1-1 7th in Points

FPC Satellitte Sunday 09.05.7: Win 1-1 for year, 5th place in points

FPC Satellite Tuesday 09.07.10h: Win 2-0, 11th place in TP (not good)

Local League: Win 2-0, 2nd place in TP

Overall 7-0 (5-0 in H2H leagues). First time I have ever won in every league in one week!



Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95 on sale 10% off for $9.85) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95, now just $9.85 10% off) 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 Football Almanac 2010: Your Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide. Order at amazon.com ($10.95 but now 20% off at $8.76) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428618

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners ($10.95 Pre Order at 32% off for $7.38 only at BN http://tinyurl.com/32ogh9t)