Fantasy Football Drafting Season

The first NFL Preseason game is less than a week away, finally. Fantasy Football is upon us once again, finally. PhantasySteez is about to get more interesting, finally. Sometime this month, PhantasySteez turns two years old. To be honest I have ambivalent feelings about this two year anniversary if that's what you want to call it. While I have enjoyed writing about fantasy sports, the "business side" of running a blog is bananas with all that SEO marketing terminology and ranking. Also, I noticed that my enthusiasm for writing about fantasy sports fades a little during basketball season and almost completely during baseball season. I wrote about how fantasy football is the most popular of the three major sports last year around this time, and that is probably the most vague yet accurately true post that applies to me personally. I have seen an increase of material on the other two fantasy sports, especially from a Daily Fantasy point of view. However, personally I enjoy writing about fantasy football more than fantasy baseball and basketball, even though I like to play all three fantasy games.

With that said, I have already drafted two teams for this fantasy football season. I started out with a mock draft but that was the first and last mock draft I've done this season. I wrote a post about why I prefer to just draft a real team over doing mock drafts (this was actually the first post on this blog). This hasn't changed my in my views and as my friend Victor realized yesterday, real drafts are way more fun than mock drafts. When you do mock drafts, you know it's not real and it's like you're just waiting for it to be over with. With real drafts, it's more serious and there's a little more competitive banter. You know you're going to be jarring with 9 other guys for the next four months, so there's a little more conversation, trash talking, and competitive spirit in real drafts. It's even better in person, but we'll get to that later after I have my draft for Roughing the Picker.

Later on this week, I'm going to get into player rankings and all that other good stuff (we usually don't do that at PhantasySteez, but change is good). But before I get into all that does anyone even pay attention to preseason rankings? Of course they do, but how does preseason rankings dictate the way you're going to draft? Depending on what type of player you are, you're living by preseason rankings, you're drafting your favorite players, or you're going against the grain of what all these expert are saying and just drafting the players you want. After completing two drafts, and trust me I know that's not a lot, I would say all three of these drafting traits play a big role in the outcome of your draft. I'm sure it's this is not the case for everyone, but for a majority of people I'm sure an average draft strategy sounds something like this:

You spend a reasonable amount of time reading magazines and looking at websites where there are player rankings. The rankings from these various sources may slightly differ, but for the most part these lists are damn near identical. As you study these rankings you're looking to see where your favorite players or players who did well last season are ranked. Afterwards depending on what you see, you're like "these guys don't know what they're talking about," and you decide you're going to do the exact opposite of whatever those guys are suggesting. At the end of the day you pretty much have a mental picture of what you want your team to look like.

After you've daydreamed your ideal squad, the next thing you're usually worried about is the draft order. Most people, including myself, have nightmares about what position they will have in the draft. Naturally, you want to have the number one pick, but nine times out of ten you won't get that pick. It is widely believed that you want the first or last position because you with the first pick you can get the best player available and with both first and tenth picks you will have two consecutive picks which can be used to a major advantage. Some prefer the middle of the pack where your picks come a little quicker, but some such as myself hate this position. This year it's become more apparent that no matter which position I get, my team seems to look somewhat identical. This goes back to the me having a mental picture of what I want my team to look like. No matter where I drafted, be it 3rd or 6th respectively, I still managed to get either the players I wanted or someone close to that player. Of course some jerk took a few picks that I wanted, but when you compare my two teams, the core of my squads are very similar. No matter where you draft, you already have a preconceived thought of how you want to put together your team and there's a good chance you're not going to deviate from the strategy (unless you've had too much to drink during the draft).

Similar teams, but one squad has more players

In the end, it's important to make sure you regardless of whatever strategy you employ in the draft you get a team that you are satisfied with. It's also important that regardless of the outcome of your draft you own up to your picks and not try to blame your weak squad on someone else. It kind of ruins the game when you have those cry babies who want to blame their fantasy blunders on advice they took from fantasy experts. No one is holding a gun to your head and telling you to draft DeAngelo Williams or anyone else. It's your decision, and that's alone is what's going to make your fantasy football season your own unique experience. As always, send me a line on Twitter @donofalldons. 

Fantasy Baseball:

I want to start off by first congratulating my good friend +Stephanie Smallsen who won my NCAA bracket group. She had the audacity to pick Duke over Kentucky and it paid off. Who would've thought Kentucky wouldn't even make it to the championship round? Steph's friend Dayna did, and she came in second. I'm not buying into the whole Canadian girls dominated my group, but at the same time, congratulations. I'm going to come through on my part of the bet and hook up Lil' Smallsen... I might cop this weekend, if not, definitely by next weekend.

It comes in pink too...

Now, on to the PhantasySteez. Fantasy Baseball is in full effect and this year already has it's little intricacies that is making me feel some kind of way good and bad. First of all, is it me, or did fantasy basketball end the same day fantasy baseball started? I know I was in the last day of the fantasy basketball championship game on Sunday, I also was starting Jon Lester and Anthony Rizzo on the first night of fantasy baseball. How ironic, yet how convenient. Last year I remember the two seasons overlapping each other and and I really didn't pay too much attention to my fantasy baseball teams until after fantasy basketball was completely done. This year, the transition was almost seamless and I'm fully locked into fantasy baseball at the beginning. I had thought that the fantasy basketball playoffs started early, but this way I can turn all my attention to fantasy baseball, which is a good thing since I have a problem changing my lineup on a daily basis.

I joined four different leagues in which I participated in three of the drafts. The one draft I didn't participate in was due to the fact that the ESPN Fantasy Baseball App does not allow you to draft using the app. I'm a mobile device guy, so drafting through the app would've been super ideal for me, but because of this I decided to only have the one team that I had to auto pick on the ESPN format. The other three teams are on Yahoo where I was able to draft all my teams using the app. Towards the end of one draft, I had posted a message in the chat room with the web address for this blog and instantly someone replies, "omg, why do we care." Now, was I wrong for the shameless plug for my website? Better yet was I wrong for the response I gave? Either way, I can't wait until I play this guy so I can show him what's really good with that phantasy steez.

This season only one of my leagues is a stat category league. The other four, including the one ESPN league, are points leagues. This format intrigued me because it's the standard format used in fantasy football and I thought it would be a good way to get my boy Victor more involved in fantasy baseball. What is screwing up my whole little experiment and grinding my gears about this format, and really about the stat category format too, is offensive production. Even though I did look at the scoring system for these leagues, I didn't take into consideration how it was set up. Most of my leagues are set up similar with some differences, but it what's killing my offensive production are strikeouts. Naturally if you don't get hits you don't get any points, but in these leagues you get -1 point for a strike out. If a player goes 0/4 and has 2 strikeouts, that's -2 points. So far this early in the season, a good number of my guys are going 0/4 or 1/4 but are getting more strikeouts than hits.

On the flip side, the pitching situation is just as crazy because you get -1 point for every earned run. Luckily this hasn't really hit me because these leagues seem to favor pitching. For example, in one of my leagues you get 3 points for every inning pitched and 8 points for a save, but you don't get any points for at bats. In another league you get 10 points for wins and no hitters, but the only offensive category you get 10 points for is grand slams. Any team would have a better chance of scoring a win than scoring a grand slam. How does this balance out?

Nonetheless, I like the teams that I drafted. Most of my teams are balanced, but the team I'm sharing with Victor is deep offensively and has a sleeper pitching staff. It's going to interesting to see how this season plays out.

Fantasy Basketball Playoffs

The Fantasy Basketball Playoffs started last week and the reason why I'm just now getting to it is because all my teams had byes last week. One of my three teams didn't even make it to the playoffs. I was off two games from sixth place. I guess I'll play in the consolation bracket, but my other two teams are on fire. Even though these should be easy victories, anything can happen on that PhantasySteez.

The two teams I have that made the playoffs both came from leagues that I was invited to by friends. In my boy Big Mike's league, I finished the season in first and had a bye last week and in Stephanie's league I finished second with a bye last week. In Mike's league, a couple of months ago I traded him Kyrie Irvin and Kenneth Faried for James Harden and Jonas Valanciunas. Since the trade I moved up from fourth to first. I won Mike's fantasy football league, and I'm looking to win his basketball league after coming in second last year. Weird part about this league though, Mike has two teams, and they're both in the playoffs.

 In Steph's league, I've been stuck in 2nd since December and whoever it is that is in first has held on to the top spot since the season started. I find this interesting because of two things. First, there are only six teams in the league. When Steph created the league, she invited enough people to have ten teams, but not everyone accepted the invitation, probably because most people are only used to playing fantasy football. Secondly, of the six teams, I think only three players are actually participating. I know this because the transaction list is hella low, there's been no trades, and free agency is crazily stocked with key players who can get picked up at will. Regardless though, I can't catch this dude who is first place. Looks like I'm going to have to take him out eventually, if I can get past whoever I have to play this coming week. I don't have any master plan or anything, I'm just not going to get cute with it.

I wrote a post during the fantasy football playoffs about not getting cute with your lineups during the playoffs, and the same principle applies here. Trade deadlines should all be passed and by now all the sleepers have awaken and most likely are owned by other players in your league. I honestly feel like unless someone is coming back from injury, there really isn't much need to be looking for somebody to pick up from free agency (unless you're in a league like Stephanie's where there are key players available because the league is only six teams deep). The reason I think like this is because I've spent most of the season adjusting my team just as I'm sure most of you have also. At this point of the season I've been fortunate enough to have team that can produce in just about every stat category. Messing with that would be foolish. Even if someone gets injured, I have key players that can come off my bench. If you're in the playoffs, you should too.

March Madness

Unless you've been living under a rock, you all know that March Madness is in full effect and the brackets have been released. Aside from neglecting responsibilities such as work, school, and anything else you would normally occupy your day with to watch these intense college basketball games, many of you will be filling out your own brackets for various pools or groups or bets or whatever. Now, filling out brackets isn't necessarily considered a fantasy sport, but shouldn't it be? When you think about it, it's almost the same thing with the exception of you're picking teams instead of players. A lot of online platforms score your picks, just like you would get scored in a regular fantasy game. And in most cases, the winner is usually rewarded somehow and is talking major trash until next year. Sounds like a fantasy sport to me.

Brackets are interesting because they're so unpredictable, it's very difficult to predict a perfect bracket. The brackets are broken down into four tiers of 17 teams and the higher ranked teams play the lower ranked teams. The tournament is single elimination, so once you lose, you're out. There are always upsets and these games are the ones that can screw up anyone's bracket, including those experts who sometimes refer to themselves as bracketologists.  Most people usually put their marbles on the #5 vs. #12 game as that has been where the most upsets have occurred, but it can happen anywhere within the brackets. They usually call these underdog teams the "Cinderella Team," presumably because that team was invited to the "Big Dance," but wasn't expected to do anything.

This year most people including myself are running with Kentucky to take it all. The Wildcats are undefeated and victory should be certain, but for some reason it doesn't seem like it's guaranteed. I was watching SportsCenter this morning and my two dudes Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless were talking about how Kentucky should take it because there aren't any other teams who are on Kentucky's level. I agree, but keep in mind what I was talking about earlier with the whole upset situation. There aren't many teams who can pull off this kind of upset, and it won't really get interesting until the Final Four. Depending on how you pick your brackets, you probably have Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, Gonzaga, or maybe even Oklahoma going to the Final Four. All of these teams are very efficient on offense, but what separates Kentucky from this group is their immaculate defense. They have tall, athletic guys that has bought into the team concept of defend first. As we all know defense wins championships, but if anyone is going to take out Kentucky, it'll probably be one of these teams.

Even though I am a UCLA fan, I'm kind of confused how they got in. They did not have a great season but they got in as a #11 seed. They were on the bubble and in the Pac-12 tournament they lost to Arizona in the semifinals. For the first time ever, I did not pick UCLA to get out of the first round. With my luck, UCLA will be the one who scores the upset, but I doubt that. They're playing SMU and I have them going to Sweet Sixteen. Also, don't sleep on Northern Iowa. They have a #5 seed and even though that's considered a decent rank, should they win people are going to throw the Cinderella tag on them because they are not from a powerhouse conference. Interesting people got them going as far as the Final Four. I have them losing to Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you who to pick because as I said earlier, the brackets are so unpredictable. That's why they call it March Madness, anything can happen at any moment. John Calipari, coach of Kentucky, is already talking about how they could lose, but it's very unlikely. I do know one thing, my friend +Stephanie Smallsen picked Duke to win. Good pick but not good enough my friend. Stephanie and I have our brackets on ESPN.com and we would love if you joined our group. Click this to join: LA to BC Worldwide. The password is champions.

Absent Minded

Is this really the last week of the fantasy basketball regular season? I've been so absent minded as of recent it's been ridiculous. Not only did I neglect the fact that this is the last week of fantasy basketball, but I've also been forgetting to set my lineups until about 5:00 p.m. westcoast time (pacific time). I was tired. I spent all yesterday sleeping, watching college basketball and keeping up with the NFL free agency. So when I finally thought about looking at my teams, players I had on the bench were already playing. No bueno.

You know it's funny because those hardcore fantasy guys hates when players are absent minded on that Phantasysteez. I was in a fantasy basketball league where I was basically taking over a team that was deserted. When I inherited the team I went straight to work in free agency as half of the team was injured. After that I must've forgot about the team for like two days. I went in to find out that I was no longer managing that team. Now, what I ask is was it really necessary to drop me after two days of inactivity? Is fantasy sports really that serious? Or am I just absent minded?

If this is the last week of the fantasy basketball regular season, two of my three teams are good. The third team is in a must win situation. I'm in 7th place and I'm only one game behind the guy in 6th place. Right now I'm up in the stat categories 6-3 and the guy in 6th is 4-4 against his opponent. All of my bench players are injured; Tyreke Evans, Jamal Crawford and Paul George who I stashed. I got an outside chance to lock up that final playoff spot, but I should make a move, probably un-stash George. Kemba Walker is coming back today, he is available and I should consider picking him up, but who knows. I've been so absent minded lately, I might not get to it until Sunday.

Random Phantasy Thoughts

I heard Blake Griffin might be coming back this weekend and I'm wondering how that will affect the Clippers. They have been surprisingly good running behind CP3, DJ and Jamal Crawford. Unfortunately though, it looks like Spencer Hawes did not have the impact that many including myself had anticipated.

I'm part of this fantasy basketball group on Facebook and it's an okay group to be in, but at the same time it's kind of weird. I like it because it's a very active group, but most of the times the only thing the people are talking about is silly trade proposals. It makes me think, should a player really be that active when it comes to trading players? And I'm not talking like a handful of trades in a season, I'm talking about like 2-3 trades per week. In the fantasy basketball and  baseball, that's a lot of trades. I'll have to touch on this later...

The Chicago Bulls are looking like their headed towards a downward spiral. First the lose Rose, who lasted longer this season than he has in the previous two or three, and now Jimmy Butler is out for about six weeks. Who do you think you're picking up for in replacement. I'm not sure myself, I don't have either one of them on any of my squads. This week, I haven't done a lot of pick ups. But if I run into something, I'll expand on it later.

Lastly, just to touch back on the whole trading situation and weekly pickups, I do think that it's absurd to completely change the dynamics of your team with multiple trades every week. I also am very bad with weekly pickups in fantasy basketball and fantasy baseball because I like to ride with my players. I like to think I draft well so I just rotate my players. If someone is injured or is consistently inconsistent, then I'll look for a pick up or a trade, but for the most part, I roll with my picks. Am I wrong for this?

Fantasy Stud or Flavor of the Month?

One day Hassan Whiteside decided to he wanted to improve his NBA2K ratings and he had a monster game getting a triple-double with 12 blocks. Ever since he has been buzzing in the fantasy basketball community. I've heard mixed reviews and different impressions from players and experts, and for the most part the verdict on Whiteside is split down the middle with some believing he's this year's fantasy player of the year and others saying he's just the flavor of the month.



Surprisingly, this is Whiteside's third season in the NBA, but only his first with the Heat. He spent his previous two seasons with the Sacramento Kings where he was virtually irrelevant. This season he probably would've been irrelevant also, but when Chris Bosh got injured, Whiteside got more minutes. When Bosh came back a few weeks later, Erik Spoelstra did not reduce Whiteside's minutes and he has benefited from the time. He played 14 games from the time Bosh got injured up to but not including the triple-double game and during that span he averaged 6.8 rebounds per game and 2.4 blocks per games. The next four games from the triple-double game to now he's averaged 15.5 RPG and 4 BPG. With all 18 games together that puts he's averaging 8.7 RPG and 2.7 BPG since Bosh got injured. He's also averaged 20 minutes per game since Bosh first got injured. I don't take Whiteside as much of a scorer, but if needed he can also drop some close range buckets. Now keep in mind that these stats do not include the games before Bosh's injury where Whiteside was getting garbage minutes.


Numbers don't lie and by looking at these stats he's not about to blossom into Anthony
Davis no time soon. However, despite what some fantasy players and analysts are saying, I believe that Whiteside has some incredible upside from a PhantasySteez point of view. He may not be a top scorer but he isn't going to take many shots either, not to mention that the shots he do take will be high percentage shots. He only seems to be getting better with more game time and it shouldn't be long until he's averaging double digit rebounds. Especially in stat category leagues where it's essential to keep a balance team in all applicable categories, Whiteside could be that piece you need to improve some of your rankings.

Who You Should've Picked Up This Week

Even though injuries occur often in the NBA, some of these injuries can be for a few games, some for a few weeks, some for the rest of the season. There were a few significant season-ending injuries that occurred over the last week, and even though it's Thursday, here are some players who got injured and who you should've picked up or handcuffed to replace them.

The most notorious injury has to be the torn rotator cuff (shoulder) of Kobe Bryant. As we all know, Kobe has stayed injured since late 2013 when he tore his Achilles. He tried to come back last season only to play six games. This season it looked like he was going to survive the whole season with him sitting out multiple games in a row in a preservation effort. This still didn't work because he's out for the season. When I found out about this injury, I immediately went hunting for Nick Young, who was available. Swaggy P currently is injured with a sprained ankle, and most people will probably take his recent benching as a red flag. I think you should ignore these two factors because Young will definitely benefit with Kobe being out. Young will be the #1 option offensively and being that he usually comes off the bench and is the second leading scorer on the Lakers, with him starting he should be a must start in all leagues.

Obviously the Lakers will miss Kobe Bryant, almost as much as the Charlotte Hornets will miss Kemba Walker. They're saying that he'll be out 6-8 weeks, but if you do the math that puts him back in the game late March or early to mid April. I was having a discussion with a fantasy basketball group on Facebook and while some people are just going to stash him, many are looking for a good trade. Just like the Lakers, the Hornets are near the bottom of the standings, and just like Kobe, Kemba is the team's leading scorer. The only difference is that unlike the Lakers, the Hornets do have reliable scoring options other than Kemba. Brian Roberts is replacing Kemba and his production should increase, but I expect for either Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Lance Stephenson to pick up the slack and take advantage of Kemba's absence.

Crazy part of these injuries is these guys are all the leading scorers of their respective teams, including this last guy, Brandon Jennings. Yes, Brandon Jennings is the leading scorer on the Detroit Pistons, who is also near the bottom of the standings. Jennings is out for the season with a torn Achilles and it looks like D.J. Augustin is replacing him. This has the potential to be the sleeper pick up of the season if this is the same D.J. Augustin that we saw last year when he played for the Chicago Bulls. If you recall, Augustin replaced Derrick Rose last year when he got hurt for the season. He excelled as Rose's replacement and could've won the sixth man award. The Pistons also have Jodie Meeks who could see an increase in minutes and production, but if Augustin can provided a spark like he did for the Bulls last season, then he should be the player who benefits the most and the player who should be added to your roster.

Championship Week: Try Not To Get Cute

For most of us, this week is Championship Week for fantasy football players. In my opinion, this year championship week is a bit different than previously because there seems to be a lot of injuries and players getting benched that have come with last week's results. This may cause fantasy players to try to get "cute" with their lineups by picking players off of waivers based upon last week's performance and these unfortunate injuries and benchings. As my man Matt Berry said at the beginning of the playoffs, this is not the time to get cute. At the same point though depending on the situation you may have to look at alternative options to fill out your roster if you're playing in a championship matchup this week, or even if you're trying to place well overall. I'm going to discuss just a few interesting scenarios that you may have come across due to injuries or players getting benched.

Of course I have to start off with my boy Cam Newton. There's a good chance that if you have Newton you're not playing in the championships unless the rest of your squad is full of studs, like my squad in Coast2Coast Ballers. Because of the way the positions are in this league, I had been starting 3 quarterbacks, one at starting quarterback and the other two at the "offensive player" position. Anyway, as of writing this, it's still unclear if Newton is going to play or not. He did throw the ball in practice on Wednesday and the Panthers' camp are saying that the situation is similar to when he missed week 1 and came back week 2. However, if he doesn't come back, Derek Anderson has actually been a reliable replacement for Newton this season. I used him last week and he didn't put up super numbers, but he got me about average fantasy points, and he got the victory for the Panthers.

Sticking with the quarterback position, on Wednesday the Chicago Bears decided to bench Jay Cutler for Jimmy Clausen. This is exactly what Matt Berry and I are talking about with don't get cute. If you have Jay Cutler you already know he wasn't putting up stellar numbers, and putting in Clausen is not going to make a difference at all. Personally, I didn't know Clausen was still in the NFL, but apparently he is and he's getting the start. I don't intentionally give advice on who to start or who to sit, but in this case I implore you not to start Clausen. Even if he does have a decent game, I'm steering away from Clausen at all cause. Do you remember when he was the starter at Carolina before Cam Newton got there? He didn't do anything, and most will say he didn't have any talent around him. I'm not buying that excuse at all because he had Steve Smith Sr. Also if that was the case he would be starting right?

Somehow, DeMarco Murray broke his hand last week against the Philadelphia Eagles and had surgery on Monday. Amazingly he was back on the practice field on Wednesday, but it is still uncertain if he'll start. Should he not start, the next best option probably would be Joseph Randle, who took first-team snaps at practice on Wednesday. My boy Victor like Lance Dunbar, but to me Dunbar hasn't done enough for me to consider him. You can say that starting Dunbar is another example of getting cute. I know that Dallas has an impressive offensive line that has allowed Murray to go crazy, but out of the two back ups, Randle will be the more reliable of the two.

In San Diego, Keenan Allen is out all of a sudden, I'm not quite sure what the injury is as he's been dealing with a groin and a hamstring for most of the season, but he's out. I think the biggest beneficiary from Allen's injury will be Eddie Royal. Even though Phillip Rivers will most likely be looking for Antonio Gates, don't sleep on Royal. He has been a sneaky play all year. If it doesn't go to Gates or Allen, 9 times out of 10 it's going to Royal. He has a few touchdowns this season and should see more targets with Allen out. There's a similar situation going on in Indianapolis with TY Hilton. He should be out this week but I'm not sure who is going to step up. They still have Reggie Wayne, but it gets interesting when it comes to Hakeem Nicks and Donte Moncrief. Nicks and Moncrief have been competing for snaps over the last month. Nicks has had the upside over the last two weeks, but with Hilton out Moncrief should see some additional snaps. I have Moncrief on the team I have playing in the championship this week, but I'm not sure about starting him, I'm trying not to get cute.

I could say something about Johnny Manziel and RGIII, in which both players are starting this week for players who have been benched. However, we all know what RGIII has done this season, and we definitely know what Manziel did last week. Bernie Kosar ripped the Browns' coaching staff and front office this week, pretty much saying that the coaches and front office personnel have failed to do their jobs thus setting up Manziel for failure. He also mentioned that previous quarterbacks from Tim Couch to Brady Quinn had this same problem while they were quarterbacks for Cleveland. I believe this to be true and I also believe that RGIII is dealing with the same situation in Washington. Manziel and RGIII both are athletic guys with the potential to be deadly at the quarterback position, but things just hasn't gone as planned for either. Some fantasy players may have gotten cute last week and started Manziel which resulted in those players crying with their tail between their legs. The question is, do you risk being cute again this week starting Manziel or RGIII?

And Now, Starting At Quarterback...

Cam Newton's truck protects him better than his offensive line

I've been pretty critical of Cam Newton for most of the season. He has not only disappointed me on that PhantasySteez, but also in the actual game. I'm not a Carolina Panthers' fan, but I am a Cam Newton fan and have been since he won the championship at Auburn (I'm not an Auburn fan either). I've had to stick with Newton throughout the fantasy season in which most of the season his performance has been horrendous, but I've managed to grind it out with him. In the two leagues I have him in, one going to the playoffs the other fighting not to come in last place, I've started him all season. Now during a crucial moment in the fantasy football season, it looks like he's going to sit out this week because of that weird accident that happened on Tuesday. So now I'm trying to figure out who am I going to start this week to keep my interesting playoff journey interesting.

The obvious answer of course is Derek Anderson. Anderson did start for Newton in week 1 and actually played quite well. He had 230 yards and two touchdowns with a fantasy score of 13.6 in standard leagues. Anderson has experience and shouldn't have a problem against the Tampa Bay defense. The problem is that he's available in one of the leagues I need him in, but in the other league, Roughing the Picker where the other players stalk the free agency like vultures waiting to feast, he's not available. Unfortunately, the options are very slim after Anderson.

Looking at the free agency in Roughing the Picker, there are only three, maybe four viable options that I would consider to replace Cam Newton; Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Geno Smith. This isn't a sexy list to choose from, but times like these you gotta work with what you got. I got a thing against Derek Carr because he plays for Oakland, I don't trust his receivers, and he's burned me once this season already. Carr was on my boy Victor's team and Victor is in the playoffs, but when I had him he put up some unacceptable numbers and I don't think I really want him on the team. Bortles has been interesting to me all season because Jacksonville seems to start off slow then play come from behind. The only thing is like most I haven't watched a Jacksonville game, so I really don't know what I'm getting myself into if I pick Bortles. I like Bridgewater and in my opinion he's been getting better every week, but he plays against the Detroit Lions this week and they have a good defense. Lastly, Smith is an interesting pick, but the Jets offense is horrible. I know he had a good game last week, but once again the Jets offense is horrible.

I also have Ryan Fitzpatrick and Colt McCoy already on my team. In this league you start two quarterbacks and Fitzpatrick is most likely going to get one of the starts, but I don't know about Colt McCoy. I think he got benched or injured last week so I don't know if he or RG3 is going to get the start (RG3 is not available). So I have about five options that I need to pick from. Who would you start? Hit me up on twitter @donofalldons, google+ +Marcus Nickerson.

The Difference Between Making and Not Making the Playoffs

I have asthma, and depending on who you ask it's really bad asthma or it's not that bad but when it hits it's devastating. Last weekend my asthma kicked in and I was forced to go to the hospital. I watched most of the Saints/Steelers game before I left, but that was the only game I was able to see. I spent the rest of my Sunday and most of my Monday in the emergency room where I was placed on 24 hour observation. Yeah, my asthma gets that bad. Anyway, being stuck in a room with nothing to do gave me a lot of time to think about a lot of things. I was thinking about my overall success this fantasy football season and prior to being in the hospital I had pretty much written this season off as not a very good one. I only did five teams this year and I had teams not going to the playoffs, and it bothered me a little bit. I was thinking about my teams that didn't make the playoffs and I noticed that these two teams had one thing in common. The two teams that I did not make the playoffs with, I did not draft these teams.





8th place in the consolation bracket in Roughing the Picker

When I first started this blog, my first two posts were specifically about drafting. In the first post, The Draft, I mentioned that if you draft well your team can pretty much manage itself. This season, I think I've proven that theory with the two teams that I didn't draft myself. I missed two drafts this season both due to technical difficulty, if that's what you want to call it. The first draft I missed was in my most competitive league, Roughing the Picker. In this league we have a live in person draft, which if you haven't been in one of these leagues you should find one to join. It's makes fantasy football way better than online drafts where you don't get to meet your opponents. Anyway, the draft was held in California, but I was stuck in Alabama and I wasn't able to attend. My boy Victor committed to drafting my team for me, and even though I appreciate the effort, I was not excited when I saw the team drafted for me. We actually got into a friendly argument about the quarterback he drafted for me, Cam Newton. I didn't like the make up of this team all season long and because of it I know I made some bad moves trying to improve the team. Overall, right now I'm in eighth place and I missed the playoffs. I'm in the consolation bracket right now fighting not to come in last place which has a consequence of paying the third place winner.

The other league I missed the draft in was in Victor's friend's league. Victor had asked me if I had wanted to join the league and I had accepted. About a week later, after I had accepted the invite, Victor informs me that there was a $50 buy-in which I wasn't willing to pay. So I had told Victor to get me out of the league, and he decided he wasn't going to participate either. The next week I get a phone call from Victor saying he hadn't talked to his friend about dropping us from the league and that we had drafted teams. The cold part about it is he actually participated in the draft while I was thinking I was dropped. So now I had this team that I didn't fully commit to and it was a pretty good team for an auto drafted team, but I just was not interested in properly managing it. I started out strong, but after Nick Foles got hurt/benched my team hit a downward spiral. I'm currently in seventh place missing the playoffs and competing in the consolation bracket.


The three teams that did make the playoffs, I drafted myself. They were all online drafts which agreed with my schedule. I had made it a point to attend these drafts because I wanted to guarantee a good season in these leagues, which were all managed by fellow classmates from Dillard University. In one league, Coast2Coast Ballers, I dominated the draft getting just about every player I wanted. That was due largely to the fact that maybe only 4-6 players actually participated in the draft. Everyone else auto drafted, so when it was my turn, I had many options every pick. When you auto draft, your basically going off of a list that is pre-determined by some "fantasy expert." However when you draft yourself, you do your homework and you pick the players you feel comfortable with. I'm currently second in Coast2Coast Ballers, and even though the playoffs doesn't start until week 14, I'm pretty sure I'll remain playoff bound.



This is the original team I drafted in Coast2Coast Ballers

The last two leagues, who are managed by my boy Mike, are interesting leagues. The first league which was reopened from last season, only has four players in it which meant everyone was automatically headed for the playoffs. All four of us participated in the draft and every team is ridiculously good, not to mention the free agency is unbelievable. However, the team I drafted finished the regular season in first place, and I'm pretty confident I can beat the other three teams to win the league. The other league has fourteen teams in it, which is very difficult to manage. I participated in the draft, but it was challenging as I was arguing with my then girlfriend now ex at the time. However, my squad turned out to be pretty decent. Even though I finished the regular season in fifth place, that team which I drafted is playoff bound, unlike the two teams that I didn't draft.
The draft is probably the most important aspect of your fantasy football teams. Now I see why my boy Michael Smith from ESPN is so adamant when it come to drafting teams. When you auto draft, you're not really taking control of your team. You don't know what you're going to get. When you draft your team, not only are you more comfortable with your team, but you have a better chance at success. As always, you can leave comments on this blog, or you can hit me up on google+ at +Marcus Nickerson , twitter = @donofalldons. Oh, and you google+ users, don't forget to +1 my posts.

One More Week Until Fantasy Playoffs

In most leagues, there's one more week left before the start of the fantasy football playoffs. At this point in the season, there are many very interesting scenarios playing out in the NFL that could have a definite impact on your fantasy team. By now your team probably looks completely different than the team you drafted, or maybe it looks the same just with some minor tweaks. Maybe you're sitting on top of the league or maybe you're fighting for that last playoff spot. This week is crucial and there are some things you definitely should look out for this week...

...Such as that opponent you're facing who is fighting for that last playoff spot. Depending on the make up of your league, this is the guy who started off bad but through good managing and pick ups from free agency, this guy is on multi-game winning streak and could possibly end up winning the league. This happened in my league this year and it's somewhat happening again this season, and it's my fault. I traded Tom Brady after week 4 to the guy who is in currently first place for Ben Roethlisberger. At the time of the trade I was in 8th place and he was in 9th. It worked out fine until two weeks later when the real Tom Brady stood up and has been on fire ever since. I did this with the guy in 4th place too. I wasn't patient with Roethlisberger and I traded him away before the real Big Ben stood up and started throwing mad touchdowns like he was playing Madden. Had I been more patient, I probably wouldn't be fighting not to come in last place (actually, I was patient but with the wrong quarterback, should've traded Cam Newton instead).

There isn't anyone available in my league to help anyone trying to make a playoff push. Everyone in my league are sluts (picking up players they don't necessarily need). My boy Victor picked up Ray Rice yesterday who did get reinstated, but is not on a team and probably won't be on a team this season. However, in many regular leagues there still might be some players available who can help your team out during this oddly stressful time. Some of these guys might not and should not be available in your league, but these guys are definitely worth mentioning because they were not in the picture in the beginning of the season, but they now play a key role in their respective team's success.

If C.J. Anderson is available in your league, you should grab him real quick. I had never heard of this guy until about two weeks ago, but he has a major advantage because he plays with Peyton Manning. Over the last three weeks he has scored an average of 19.76 points in standard leagues, including 25.5 points last week when he rushed for 167 yards. Most running backs can excel in a Peyton Manning offense and Anderson is definitely taking major advantage of this opportunity.

Even though Odell Beckham Jr. plays for the Giants (I'm not a Giants fan), I can't sleep on him on that PhantasySteez. He was injured for the beginning of the season but since then he's been pretty productive, especially since Victor Cruz went out for the season. He's probably not available in your league and by now everyone has seen the catch that has gotten the attention of almost everyone. That was no fluke, the catch was real and Beckham Jr. is definitely one to watch out for as the playoffs is just around the corner and he will definitely have an impact for some lucky players who start him.

Another guy who has came up all of a sudden is Mark Sanchez. I personally didn't think he would do good in Chip Kelly's offense, especially after what happened to him with the Jets. However, Sanchez has used that Jest situation as fuel and has mounted a major comeback, probably the comeback of the season. He's been at the helm for the past three weeks and has put up good numbers. It helps when you got Shady McCoy in the backfield, just like when he had LaDamian Tomlinson back there with the Jets. On Thanksgiving Sanchez had 21.48 points which was well over the 17.47 points that were projected. I know he already played this week, but watch out for teams who has him starting at quarterback.

If I'm going to put Mark Sanchez on this list, I have to also put his favorite target Jordan Matthews on it too. Matthews is a second round pick and since Sanchez has been at quarterback, Matthews' stock has noticeably risen. Even though he plays behind Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper, Matthews has proven that he can also be relied on. You'll probably catch him as a WR3 on most squads, but his fantasy point production has major potential.

I think I'm only making the playoffs in one league, but I'm still playing spoiler in the leagues I'm not. Watch out for Mike Evans who has been one of the top receivers over the last month. I also go LeGarette Blount on the squad who had a good game last week back in a Patriots' jersey, but we all know you can't rely too heavily on Patriots' running backs. If you got some sleepers on your radar we should all be looking out for, let me know. Feel free to leave a comment, hit me up on twitter @donofalldons, google+ +Marcus Nickerson, instagram @donspook.

Going into Week 12...

Fantasy Football Playoffs is right around the corner and right now you're either trying to maintain position, trying to build momentum to get into playoffs, or you're tanking. Every move is crucial at this point and even the sexiest lineup can be unpredictable. There are a few names going around this week and while some may be a clear bet to have a good week, others are not what they appear to be.

Jonas Gray had a Patriots' career day last week against the Colts and he is one of the top pick ups for most people in most leagues. I considered dropping Montee Ball who should be out for the next 2-3 weeks for Gray but I decided not too because of two reasons. First, as a Patriots fan I know that a running back can have a career game one week and have a vanishing act game the next week. Secondly, I know that the Patriots will change up their game plan next week. It is well noted that when the Patriots play the Colts, the Patriots pound the ball and expose the Colts weak run defense. It has worked over the past two seasons, but going against the Lions who have a top rated run defense, I expect Gray to not get as many touches and for Tom Brady to take over as he usually does. By the way, LeGarette Blount signed with the Patriots on Thursday, so now Gray has to come behind Shane Vereen and Blount. It's not looking too good for the kid.

Speaking of quarterbacks, one person I wanted to add this week and who I should've added two weeks ago is Josh McCown. I've never been a huge fan of his as I've always thought his success in Chicago last season was a fluke. While his stat line hasn't been off the charts, he's been consistent and has been one of the better fantasy football quarterbacks recently. He has one of the best fantasy football wide receivers to throw it to in Mike Evans. Evans has dominated over the last month and I was lucky to pick him up through free agency. Also, McCown still has Vincent Jackson to throw it to on the other side, but the real advantage is Evans. McCown may not light the board up with yards and completions, but with Jackson and Evans he should get at least two touchdowns a week.

There are a lot of interesting things going on in Cleveland this week. Josh Gordon is expected to come back from his suspension. Doesn't it seem like Gordon is always suspended to start the season? Usually he comes back and scores a lot of fantasy points for us. With the Browns doing so good and Brian Hoyer performing better than usual, he shouldn't have a problem producing on that PhantasySteez right? This could be, but I have to be a little pessimistic because the Browns let go of Ben Tate this week. Tate is now with the Vikings and this could be a good thing for Teddy Bridgewater, but what's going to happen with the Gordon and the Browns' backfield? With Tate's departure it'll be between Isaiah Crowell and Terrence West. I haven't seen either of them play, but if one of these guys don't step up it could be a rough return for Gordon. Well, then again the Browns' running game has always been kind of jacked up and that hasn't stopped Gordon in the past.



Last but not least, RGIII is starting his third game since coming back from injury. He's been in the sports news lately for trying to throw his teammates under the bus, but coach Jay Gruden defended and his players and let it be known that RGIII is the one who needs to get his rep up. I wonder if RGIII will rise to the occasion. Since his return he has had below average production on that PhantasySteez, and it mostly comes from sacks and turnovers. I believe that he has all the weapons he need with DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon (who has fallen off), Jordan Reed and Alfred Morris. However, last week he stunk it up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and this week they play the 49ers who are looking better now that Aldon Smith is back in the lineup. I don't want to start RGIII this week, but unfortunately in a league where free agency is beyond slim, I have no choice.

How Many?

How many of you started Branden Oliver? He was one of the flavors of the week last week and he came through for those who picked him up. Oliver had 26 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown.  He also had 23 receiving yards. The other flavor of the week didn't do as good. How many of you started Andre Williams? I did and I lost in the two leagues I own him in. Williams had 16 carries for 58 yards and no touchdowns. I might keep Williams though because even though he didn't produce like everyone thought he would,  he's not the main problem to me losing in those two leagues.

Once again I made a benching error.  How many of you benched Larry Fitzgerald? I woke up Sunday morning and felt like I needed to get Fitzgerald out of there ASAP. Sounds familiar right? But I had a valid reason. Fitzgerald was scoring low for my team and it had seemed as if the Cardinals were not going to throw the ball to him just because his name is Larry Fitzgerald. Something happened though, Carson Palmer came back from injury and Palmer knows who his #1 receiver is. Fitzgerald had 6 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown, and I had him on the bench. Worst part is I replaced him for Kendall Wright who didn't do anything against Jacksonville.  I lost by just a few points and starting Fitzgerald definitely would've made up some of the difference.

On the other hand though, it looks like Cam Newton is starting to get back to his old self. I was considering trading Cam and I had been reading everywhere that he should be benched until he started running the football again. How many of you benched Cam Newton? I don't think many of you did, but I know one person in Big Mike's league did and missed out on 284 passing yards, two touchdowns, 107 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. It's what everyone who drafted Cam had been waiting for. When Cam runs the ball, he's a top 5 quarterback. When he doesn't,  he's like in the late teens to early 20s. Hopefully we can get more of the running Cam for now on.

Response and Reactions

Week 5 in the NFL was a pretty interesting week indeed. I made some teerible mistakes this week and I realized that I needed to get back on the grind. If I continue on like this I'll end up in last place. Last place is no bueno, the last place has to pay the third place's prize money. So after months of being away, PhantasySteez is back! I have been playing fantasy sports all along. Both of my baseball teams came in 3rd place. Right now though, in between my 5 leagues (one of those leagues I won't talk about much) my teams are either doing extremely well or extremely poor. I jotted down some notes about how exactly I ended up in this situation.

Starting off with the biggest and dumbest mistake of the day, for some odd reason I benched Matt Forte in Noe's league, Show Me Ur TDs. Noe is this guy that works with Victor and invited us. Back to the matter, I woke up on Sunday morning and felt like I should bench Forte for Giovanni Bernard. Why did I come to such a dumb ass decision? I figured that Bernard would have a field day against the Patriots' disoriented defense.  Bernard did produce but Forte dominated scoring 23 points, 12 more than Bernard. I only lost by 4 points. Had I started Forte, I would've had more than enough to continue my winning streak and move on to 4-1. I'm still in second, but the lesson of the day is DON'T BENCH FORTE.

The rest of the mistakes all comes from the ever so competitive Roughing the Picker. This year is unique for me because I was not able to attend the draft and Victor basically drafted my team for me. I'm in 9th place today and not necessarily because of the draft but because of once again, bad decisions... and good managing by my opponent Mark. This guy has been trying to get Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger  from me but I want Nick Foles and he's not willing to go for it. I've been hinting that it needs to be Newton for Foles because in a two quarterback league, Mark did not have a reliable second quarterback, which is why

he was pressing me for Newton in the first place. In the midst of checking scores and stats I noticed this guy had Austin Davis in the game. He picked him up last Wednesday and decided to put him in. Why all of a sudden Davis wants to have a breakout game? He got Mark 45 points like his last name is Manning. This league is PPC (pass per completion) or 1/2 PPC, or something like that. Meanwhile Roethlisberger was below average from a phantasy point of view and Cam still isn't running. I got Bridgewater, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on all three of them.



It wasn't just Davis that killed me. Thanks to Victor, Mark also has Julio Jones and Eddie Lacy to go along with Antonio Brown. He is, or he WAS weak at quarterback but he has good productive "role players" once again thanks to Victor. My squad however, I have decent receivers but my running backs suck.

I got stuck with C.J. Spiller and Maurice Jones-Drew as my starting running backs. I dropped Jones-Drew for Chris Ivory and I've been running with them. This combination has me so uncomfortable every week. With Spiller you don't know whats going to happen between him and Fred Jackson. With Ivory he gets touches but from a phantasy point of view he's mediocre at best.

I feel the same way about one of my receivers so I low key been trying to trade Percy Harvin for a running back. It's not been as easy I thought it would be because either the other players are trying to send me someone of lesser value, or they see the same thing I do in Harvin. He's a top 10 receiver and he can be productive, but you have to consider how Seattle uses him. He goes out on little screen passes and runs reverses. In Seattle's system he's a decoy with big play potential, not the consistent main threat that you want in your phantasy receiver. Like I said I got a decent group of receivers, so I'm willing to trade Harvin for a productive running back to try to balance out my team.

On a more positive note, things are going smoothly in Coast2Coast Ballers, the league with my Dillard University classmates. I'm in first place and I can honestly say its because my draft was immaculate. In this league there's one quarterback but two Offensive Player positions. Yes, you can put quarterbacks there potentially having three quarterbacks. I've adopted this strategy from my phantasy arch nemesis Mr. Hindsman. He'a won three championships using this strategy and after being kindly reminded that he's beaten me in a championship I felt no shame in using the tactic. Funny thing this year is Mr. Hindsman is in 9th place right now. He's been quiet these last few weeks, but winning in this league is nothing unless I see Mr. Hindsman in the playoffs.

What makes matters worse is Mr. Hindsman, Victor and myself are in another league my boy Mike invited us to... AND MR. HINDSMAN IS IN 11th PLACE. He says he's trying to adjust to the Yahoo! format, and while I didn't agree with his excuse this league is a little different.  There are 14 players and the draft was crazy long. By the time it was your turn to pick everyone you had on your radar were gone. Free agency is very slim so you literally have to work with what you got. Mike is in 1st but to my pleasant surprise I'm in 6th and Victor is in 2nd place. He drafted really well, but I have a lot of make or break players that I need to work on. Somehow I need to figure out what to do with Larry Fitzgerald and Roddy White. The Cardinals are not feeding the ball to Fitzgerald and White is living in Julio Jones' shadow.

Okay, so I've been MIA for months and I come back 5 weeks in like nothing happened.  However PhantasySteez is improving everyday with interesting fantasy tidbits and what nots from a player's point of view. Got something to say? Leave a comment. Tweet me @donofalldons Google+ +MarcusNickerson Instagram @donspook :-)

Partners in Phantasy

Back in 2007, I recall being in an epic fantasy football league with some of my colleagues who attended Dillard University with me. Each week critical moves had to be made. I got into the playoffs and eventually won the league. During this campagin, I often talked to my boy Victor about the league, especially when it came to available players.  It was very interesting because I would pick someone up that morning and we'd talk about the same player later that evening.  The next season he played his first fantasy league and he would call me about new players before I would even begin looking for them.  Even though he hasn't won a league yet, he's usually in the top three and the reason being is he has an uncanny talent of finding good fantasy players in free agency.  It doesn't even matter if its football or baseball, he can find you a low key player who's going to produce for your team. He's not so good in basketball but between the two fantasy baseball teams I have, one of which I co-manage with Victor, he has found most of these surprise pick ups that has benefited both of my teams.

It's an interesting thought when you manage a team with another, you go check out your lineup and there's a couple of new guys on your team that your partner picked up without you knowing. Usually it's either "who the eff us this dude?" or "Why did he drop that player for this player? I logged onto the team one day I saw Lonnie Chisenhall on the squad and it was the first thought that came to mind. I knew Victor was big on batting average and at the time Chisenhall was batting around .351. As usual, I didn't refute the pick up and to my pleasant surprise Chisenhall is now batting .393 with 32 RBIs. Even though he only has 7 homers, that batting average and those RBIs have come through for my squad in a major way. I had to scoop him up in my other league because he usually gets hits on a consistent basis which helps the squad tremendously. A few days ago he went 5 for 5 with 9 RBIs and 3 homers.

This past weekend I was setting up the lineup and I noticed we had a guy named Dallas Keuchel on the bench and that he was starting. I didn't know who this dude was, but we definitely needed a W in the wins stat category, so I put him in. He wasn't sexy to me at all, but when I looked him up I realized that he only had one loss in May, which also was his last start. He got us a win and naturally I was excited then I noticed something very interesting. Keuchel and my ace Max Scherzer both have 8 wins. Scherzer has more strikeouts, but Keuchel has a better ERA, which usually kills the team when it comes to stat categories, so I can definitely appreciate him as a great pick up. Even though he plays for the Astros, he gets wins.

We got this guy named Kolten Wong who is probably one of my favorite pick ups. A couple of weeks ago I saw him on SportsCenter and about an hour later I get text from Victor saying, "I just saw Kolten Wong steal second..." Of course I was like who the eff is Kolten Wong? He replies "Kolten Wong of the Cardinals got 2 steals."  A couple of days later I went to check the lineup and Wong was on the squad. He now has 8 steals, even though he was out for a few games last week. Another stat category that has been killing us is steals, and now Wong has the second most steals on the team. Other than the steals he's not too sexy, but I think he'll get a lot better as the season progresses.

These three guys were probably available in most leagues this past weekend, but they're probably not available now because players like Victor has already scooped them up.

Football Dominates

It's the beginning of June... Well, its early-mid June... And while some of us are still deep in battle with fantasy baseball, it's almost hard not to notice that fantasy football is right around the corner. I couldn't help but to notice that Matt Berry and the crew from ESPN has already come out with fantasy football rankings and has even aired a fantasy football special. This was the last week in May and it made me think about how much love fantasy football gets while fantasy basketball and baseball are kind of left on the back burners.

I first noticed it when the fantasy football season was over and I started playing fantasy basketball. Due to my own negligence, I had drafted two fantasy basketball teams but I didn't really pay them too much attention to them until after the fantasy football season was over. Once I did turn my full attention to fantasy basketball, I noticed how there wasn't a flood of information on things like who to pick up, who's hot, and projections. If there was something about fantasy basketball, it consisted mostly of game recaps. Most of my strategy for fantasy basketball was based on stats, game results and keeping an eye on injuries. I ended up coming in second in one league and winning the other league.

Fantasy baseball wasn't too much different, but it did get a little more attention than fantasy basketball. There was a little more talk online about fantasy baseball than fantasy basketball, but not as much as fantasy football. My strategy in fantasy baseball has been similar to my strategy in fantasy basketball as far as just keeping up with stats and trends.

Even though baseball pioneered fantasy sports, football gets the most fantasy attention. I believe it has to do with the frequencies of the game. In football you have one game a week which allows fantasy experts more time to do more research and come up with projections and predictions. In baseball and basketball, they game is played everyday. There isn't much time for projections and predictions when the next game is tomorrow. This also affects the fantasy player. In football you have all week to set your lineup up. If there is something you don't like, someone gets injured, or you find out someone is not playing you have ample time to make an adjustment. If this happens in fantasy basketball or baseball, you have a minimum amount of time to tweak your lineup. In fantasy baseball and basketball, you have to be on it, consistently monitoring your team for last minute updates. You have to set your lineup everyday as opposed to every week like in fantasy football. You can't skip a day of not checking on your team without it having an impact on your team. I did myself just today by not benching Yasiel Puig. This discourages people from playing fantasy basketball and baseball because they may feel like it's too much maintenence, even though I know most of these players over manage their fantasy football teams. What I mean is they check their team about four times a day. Therefore, with less people playing fantasy basketball and baseball, there isn't a need of an influx of resources for these games.

Over the next few weeks, fantasy football is going to get bigger and bigger. They'll talk about it on social media, there will be draft parties, you'll get advertisements in your e-mail inbox, they'll even talk about it on SportsCenter. Even though fantasy baseball is still in season, you'll notice how much more attention fantasy football gets over fantasy baseball. When it all boils down to it, it's easier to watch 17 football games than it is to watch 82 basketball games or 162 baseball games.

Blue Monday

It's Monday, and I spent most of my weekend hiding in my apartment. Reality has been interesting, so interesting that I've been distracted a tad bit from that PhantasySteez. I felt good this morning though, and I thought I would just point out some things I've noticed from this weekend when it comes to fantasy football, and I'm even going to throw in some fantasy basketball.

Yeah that's right. Fantasy basketball. I had been reluctant on writing about my fantasy basketball squad because I wasn't really into fantasy basketball and I didn't know if I was going to start a whole new blog for it or just continue it in this  blog. Well, I guess since I'm writing about it here that answers that question right? Yeah, so my boy from Dillard University Mike DeBose invited me to his fantasy basketball league, and I accepted. I'm also in Mike's fantasy football league, but I'm in 7th place. Weird part about that is it's an eight man league, which means free agency is not as crucial as my other leagues, but for some reason the Ws have not coming in that league.

Going back to fantasy basketball, I was undefeated until now. I lost to Alexis. Now, I should know most of the people in this league, as most of them are Dillard alumni. Of course I don't know everybody. I may remember some names, but beyond that I doubt they even remember who I am. They might remember my face, but for the most part I don't know any of these cats. But now I'm 3-1 because I lost to Alexis, whoever that is. One thing about fantasy basketball, you have to be on top of your lineup. I lost this week because I wasn't on top of my injuries. I thought Deron Williams was playing through his injuries. Instead he was being scratched at game time, so now I'm getting no production from him. Being somewhat new to fantasy basketball, I'm not sure if I should drop him or bench him. Luckily, this is just fun to me, and we'll have to wait to see how this come out.

Back to football though, I'm pretty sure I'm out of the playoffs in Roughing the Picker. My recent losing streak has been fierce effecting my two important teams and benefiting my 12 other random leagues. It looks like I'm going to make the playoffs in about 9 other leagues, but the league that has money on the line, I pretty much blew it. This week, I made a major mistake. I benched Danny Woodhead. Over the last couple of weeks, he had been mediocre, even below average. I benched him for the Bob Rainey. That was a horrible mistake. Horrible!! Being that this is a PPR league, for some reason Woodhead and the Chargers decided they wanted to beat the Chiefs, and on the bench, Woodhead had like 35 points yesterday, ON MY BENCH!

Meanwhile, my opponent had Julian Edelman. I laughed Sunday morning when I looked at the matchup and say my opponent had started Edelman, but Sunday evening was bittersweet as the Patriots, my team, beat the Broncos, and Edelman  scored twice. What made Edelman decided to show up? Why Brady didn't look for Gronk? I believe it's because Brady had been looking for Gronk the past two weeks and the results have been losses. So now, I got Alfred Morris playing tonight and he has to make up a 38 point deficit, which is very unlikely against San Francisco's defense.

I don't really have much to say about Coast2Coast Ballers. I've been on a four game losing streak, pretty much since I started that shit talking against Mr. Hindsman and Savel. This week, I have a 46 point lead against Ron. I'm done, and he has Vernon Davis left to play tonight. I should win, but then again, you never know. I did notice one thing about my losing streak though. I had Case Keenum in the lineup those weeks. That's all I have to say about that.

Lastly, I have two leagues right where I started Colin Kaepernick. I was reluctant about starting Kaepernick, but for some reason I had Matthew Berry in the back of my head saying, "Stop being cute, you're starting Kaepernick." So I did and in one league, I lost, not because of Kaepernick, but the rest of the team didn't show up. But in the other league,  I'm down by 19 points. So in essence, I need Kaepernick to embrace Monday night. I need him to demolish the Redskin's defense. I'm going estimate... 2 touchdowns, 250 yards passing, 100 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown... yeah, that should do it. We'll see if my inner Matthew Berry is correct.

Lastly, for real this time, aside from all the other BS going on, I was reluctant to post because I read an article about using other people's pictures on blogs, which I have been doing. Yeah, I'm not trying to be sued, so until I figure something else out, PhantasySteez is going pictureless.

A Case of the Mondays

It's Monday morning and I'm a little tired for a couple of reasons. I usually wake up at 4 a.m. Why? I don't know. But this morning I was going over the scores from yesterday's action and I was seeing how my fantasy teams did when I noticed two things. First thing, which is somewhat off topic but still on that PhantasySteez, both of my two fantasy basketball teams are in first place. A couple of reasons why I have written about my fantasy basketball teams, mainly time and inconvenience. Second, I was about to lose in my two most important leagues again, and almost in the same fashion as it been the last few weeks. It would appear that I'm having a reoccurring case of the Mondays.

The Mondays can ruin any fantasy football player's weekend. You know what I'm talking about right? I'm talking about when by Sunday evening you're team is up but come Monday night you've lost the game because your opponent has one or two more players for Monday Night Football. For some reason those one or two players have a monster career game and by the end you're feeling like dirt. It's one of the worst ways to lose in fantasy football.

This week once again I'm on the verge of losing in my two main leagues. The one I want to talk about in particular is the potential loss which is causing me to have this terrible case of the Mondays. Right now in Roughing the Picker, I have a 45 point lead against my opponent The Tea Party Express, or Aaron for short. I'm hoping that will be enough to cover the spread as I don't have any more players remaining for tonight. I know he has Ryan Tannehill playing tonight and this morning at 4:20 a.m. I was hoping he would put up his usual statistics of about 200 yards and a touchdown and about two turnovers. Plus, let's not forget that the Dolphins offensive line is all discombobulated now considering the whole Incognito situation, so I was feeling quite comfortable with my 45 point lead.

Something happened though while I was at 7-11 sipping on my 100% Colombian, waiting for the bus to come. I sent Victor a text about how Tannehill needed to score 45 points and he pointed out that Aaron also has Vincent Jackson playing tonight. How could I have overlooked such a important factor in this equation? Jackson really hasn't missed a beat on that PhantasySteez, even with a changing of quarterbacks. Miami's defense is not bad, but they aren't too good either. I could easily see Mike Glennon going for at least two touchdowns, with at least one of those going to Jackson, thus easily assisting Tannehill cover the 45 point deficit.

At this point a loss in this league could be crucial. Currently I'm in fourth place behind Aaron who is in third. So I victory could propel me to third place with the playoffs only a few weeks ahead. A loss however could drop me down to sixth or even seventh, and once again with the playoffs lurking, it could make the situation that much harder. For the rest of the day this situation will probably cause a serious lack of enthusiasm. It's Monday and I'm already tired.

It's not how you start, it's how you finish...?

Last night around 7:30 p.m. I was pretty exhausted when Victor called me. He kindly reminded me that I haven't posted in over a week. This is very true and I went in to him scout ask the other stuff I'm doing. Victor's response basically was I should have at least two posts a week. Then we talked about what I could write about. I could easily write about how Andre Johnson smashed me last week; How I traded him in Coast2Coast Ballers and the week he decided to have a monster game I played the guy I traded him to... I could write about how the Packers receivers are in trouble until Aaron Rodgers come back. But being that it's Thursday, I have a couple of things to talk about.

First thing is it's amazing how my boy Victor in Roughing the Picker and my nemesis Mr. Hindsman in Coast2Coast Ballers both have an 8-1 record. Both of these guys managed to survive last week without Peyton Rocket Laser Arm Manning (which I did want to write about him having a bye week). Both of them have a knack of coming back and winning on Monday nights. What really irks me is both of them has beaten me. In two of my most important leagues, I see I'm going to have to step it up. The road to the championships lead to defeating Victor and Mr. Hindsman once and for all.

Speaking of Coast2Coast Ballers, I've been on a losing streak ever since I started beef with Savel and Mr. Hindsman. It's only two games and I'm still in second place but these defeats are kind of grinding my gears. The loss to Savel I sort of accept because I probably didn't manage my team properly. The loss to Cephus however really stung because I gave him Andre Johnson and the week I play Cephus, Johnson decided to blow up. If I lose another game it'll probably drop me down to third or fourth. I'm not trying to have that. I must dominate so I can get my revenge on Mr. Hindsman in the playoffs.

Lastly, speaking of playoffs, it's week 10 and we all should be concentrated on the playoffs. It'll be here before you know it and you don't want to get caught slipping and miss the playoffs. Out of all my teams, the average record is 5-4 (I have one team sitting at 5-2-2). In most leagues, this is about middle of the pack.

Most of the time, I don't want to lose any more than four games in a season because it can cause problems as far as playoff seeding. In most league, the top four teams are put in the championship bracket while everyone else plays in the consolation bracket. I can manage with getting into the championship bracket with four losses, but with five losses like I have with some teams, it's easier said than done. I would pretty much need to run the table for my teams that have five losses already. The task can be daunting, but not impossible. This week is the first week of rematches, and it's not about how you start, its about how you finish... I think.