Rotodojo

So in my grand search for Fantasy Football experts leagues, I have come up with only one.

a very lonely league of experts

And here’s the real heartbreaker: it’s only got a one year history - 2008. What gives? You’d think that Fantasy Football, by far the most popular Fantasy Sport in the U.S. (over 22 million playing every year!) would have at least a dozen high profile independent expert leagues.

When I say “independent” I mean leagues that are not a bunch of bloggers from one website having a draft and calling themselves an expert league.

Fantasy Baseball, by contrast, had about half as many people playing last year - 12.5 million team managers - and there are more than a handful of indy expert leagues, some with histories going back over 10 years!

So what’s the difference?Here are a few questions to get you thinking…please let me know what you think…

• Did Fantasy Baseball expertism grow out of the stat-happy Sabermetric revolution, which has had to battle for decades to be taken seriously by MLB? Given that there is no such Sabermetric culture for the NFL, maybe the promotion of expert leagues has not followed suit?
• Does baseball just lend itself more to the expert type? It is a 162 game slog, as opposed to 17 weekend on again, off again roller-coaster that is the football season. Maybe therefore fantasy baseball managers have culturally leaned towards a more “expert” proving ground in which to battle one another? If that is the case, then where do fantasy basketball and hockey fit in? They are somewhat closer to the long season slog of MLB, but there are no expert leagues for those genres either…
• Last but not least, and quite possibly most accurate, I think that maybe baseball fans, fantasy managers, and by extension those producers of magazines, player projections, and stat-books might just fit the profile the best of self-promoting, expert self-styling, and high-profile statistical laborotory creation. Just take, for example, the name of the first independent fantasy baseball expert league, the LABR, which stands for the League of Alternate Baseball Reality. What a mouthful. Surely that name was, at least in part, chosen to impart a sense of grandiosity?

Hopefully the Fanexfootball.com Expert Fantasy Football League will happen again in 2009, and more will spring up. That way, I’ll know who to draft come September, and why.

we'd rather keep it private so that you'll care more

So last week I was complaining to the site administrator of the XFL because it is a no access experts Fantasy Baseball league. I wanted access. He said no.

Why, pray tell?

“Because that’s where we like to try out new things,” he said. “Tinker with our teams. Mess around,” he continued. “We’d rather not have the glare of public scrutiny upon us while we are performing dangerous fantastical maneuvers, things that you amateurs should definitely not try at home.”

Okay, that’s not a direct quote, but that was the gist.

I asked him why, then, do they publish the annual results of the league?

“So we can keep the public informed about who is a better Fantevil Knievil,” he didn’t say, without an evil grin, in a not at all evil font.

Actually, he didn’t answer that question at all. Left it up to me to imagine what could their motive possibly be for publishing the results to a private league of Fantasy Baseball Legends. A league which you cannot watch play out over the course of the year.

So here’s what I think. I think that said expert daredevils:

1. Want their league to appear cooler due to exclusivity, and
2. Don’t want us to see all the zany, idiotic, often stupid, but sometimes genius moves and strategies they are making in their little XFL laboratory

Truly evil, either way. Open the doors, fellas, let the little people in.

The team I listed in my last post is for a league that is PPR (Points Per Reception) scoring. I believe that this is just a new-fangled way to throw a monkey wrench in the age old, tried and true, trend of valuing running backs higher than wide receivers. A sort of a “take back the night” if you will.

Not only that, but this league awards only 3 points to QB touchdowns and 0.5 points to RB receptions, while giving 6 points to both rushing and receiving TD’s and a full point for QB and WR receptions. So the QB is weakened via TD point discounting.

Brian Westbrook, SHAKE AND BAKE!

Still, in our draft, 9 of 10 of the first round picks were RB’s. Shouldn’t we have all been going for WR’s given the scoring scheme? It’s just a tough habit to break, this 1st round RB romp.

In my own defense, I chose Westbrook because he (when healthy) pulls a lot of receptions in addition to running his face off. And with a fired up Donovan McNabb and an upgraded Philly O line, I like BW’s chances of catching and running wild. My next 4 picks were either WR’s or Drew Brees, who should rack up plenty of points from receptions alone.

I was thinking that in order to bring Defense up from the Kicker back-door-of-the-draft doldrums, akin to giving PPR, we could assign extra points for something like incompletions. Call it PPI. Every time T.O. drops a pass, my defense scores a point. Give those defenses with heralded pass coverage the props that the front line QB sack hounds get.

The best Team D’s could then be a point producer in line with some of the other, more prestigious FF positions.

And oh, the Kicker, still stuck down there in the 15th round. What to do?

So I just got back from four days in the midwest. Was in Chicago for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association summer conference. WOOHOO! Talk about some fired up Fantasy Sports industry peeps. Good times.

And get this! I was invited to take part in their EXPERTS Fantasy Football League. YEAH, you heard right. NOW I’M AN EXPERT! That was easy.

Well, to be fair, they actually had 3 leagues drafting, two with 12 teams and mine came up short with just 10, so I’ve kinda come to look at it as DIII, or Single A, or whatever sport you choose to say third most expertest, that’s the table I was at.

The other two tables did have some bona fida Fantasy experts. Glenn Colton and Jeff Erickson, both Tout Wars AL veterans, to name a couple.

So at least I was in the same draft room as those studs. And how’d my draft turn out? No idea. You be the judge:

Round and Player:

1. Brian Westbrook, RB
2. Calvin Johnson, WR
3. Drew Brees, QB
4. Wes Welker, WR
5. DeSean Jackson, WR
6. Knowshon Moreno, RB
7. Vincent Jackson, WR
8. Devin Hester, WR
9. Felix Jones, RB
10. Dustin Keller, TE
11. Trent Edwards, QB
12. Baltimore, Def
13. Jeremy Maclin, WR
14. Jamaal Charles, WR
15. Nick Folk, K

So a few things that I’ll be breaking down in coming days:

1. Westbrook, broken or golden?
2. PPR leagues…can there be too many WR’s?
3. Drew Brees, awesome, or TOTALLY awesome?
4. Jamaal Charles….who the F is that? And why didn’t I take LeSean McCoy instead?
5. Nick Folk, because here’s the kicker, you gotta have a Kicker.

stay tuned…….

I'll trade you a Shandler Tout NL Hitting....

...for a Pliml Tout Mixed Pitching...

...and a Dennis LABR AL Hitting.

Thinking about creating a new league. Call it Fantasy Experts Squared. The Fantasy Baseball Expert is the athlete (stathlete) and also the drafter/team owner.

Yes, Shandler, finally, you can draft YOURSELF, and be the points pulling stud you always knew you were. Gonos may own Gonos. Berry, put yourself where your mouth is. Pliml, do you believe? Take yourself first over-all. You may not score many “improvement” points, but the monthly standings finish points could be fantastic if you stick at the top of Tout Mixed.

Hell, a guy like Perry Van Holt or Lawr Michaels could draft an assortment of himself from any of the various leagues he is playing in. Talk about “inside knowledge.” They’d know when to trade or drop themselves because they’ll know exactly what moves they plan on making down the stretch!

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart! Finally self-delusion (we all have it for our teams!) can be taken to the next level, becoming self-collusion.

Here’s how it works:

You draft a team of your colleagues who are playing in one of our expert approved leagues (Tout, LABR, XFL, FSTA, or FP911). You draft either their Hitting or Pitching squads. You get positive or negative points depending on their H or P squad’s upward or downward movement, day by day.

To spice it up a bit, and to reward sticking with your studs, at certain intervals, like at the end of each month, each team is awarded points for their players positions in the standings. Best Offense in a 12 team Tout? 12 points. Booyah!

Draft yourself, drop yourself, add yourself, trade yourself, and don’t forget to smack talk your arch-nemesis for being foolish enough to draft YOU!

Talk about a GIGANTOR leaderboard!

How many teams is too many for one fantasy league?

Most leagues are either 10 or 12 teams.

Tout Mixed is 17 teams this year! Sure, it’s a mixed league, but come on. Soon there will be as many teams in Tout Mixed as there are in MLB. And then what? Tout Minors, filled with Double and Triple A ballers? Would you lose a player when they are called up to the majors? When can you sign a prospect….is junior high school too early?

I think it’s time Tout Mixed was capped at 12 and maybe there are AAA, Double A, and A Mixed. Make the tryouts tiered, and the grand poobas eventually get a shot at AL and NL only (call that “the show”)…..but only after they’ve paid their real deal expert dues. And not by some “invite” which shows us nothing about past caliber performance. Every higher spot should be earned by victory merit.

I’m just saying…

Larry Legend, in full game face

The Tout Wars Mixed League might as well be renamed the Larry Schechter Show.

No, he’s not taking over for Jay Leno, or in line to take over for Conan O’Brian who is taking over for Leno.

No, Larry is just the guy nobody could beat for the first three years of Tout Mixed competition. Tout Mixed was added to the AL and NL only formats in 2005 and to a certain degree it seems like it’s the proving ground, upon which new Touts must do well in order to get the invite to the bigs (AL and NL). Larry won Mixed that year by 22.5 points over the #2 team. He won the next year by 13. And the following by 6.5.

Finally, last year, David Gonos took down the mixed master. They are both back this year, battling away at the middle of the pack, and chasing the upstart Jason Pliml of Mock Draft Central, who is a rookie Tout and has been dominating from the outset.

While I am definitely rooting for Kastner to rise to the top for my beloved CREATiVESPORTS team, I also must say I’d like to see Gonos and Schechter make another run. Especially if Pliml ends up winning it, you gotta want to see him beat the best, down the stretch!

Mike owns you in the NL

Why is this guy so damn good?

Seriously. He is in the process of totally Schectering the expert competition in the Tout Wars NL. He’s won the last two, and three of the last four years. Prior to 2005, only two of the seven NL Tout champs had scored over 100 points. Since 2005, EVERY one of them has, and Lombardo set the record for both total points (110) and highest margin of victory (16.5 points) in 2008. That is just loco moco. He has really raised the bar.

On to 2009. Should his league-mates be relieved that our sitting champ is middle of the pack right now? Probably not. “Record Breaker Lombardo” surged for 6.5 points yesterday to come within 18 of the leader. And while I have no statistical proof that he’s a strong finisher, how could he not be with the imposing record he has put together in the last 4 years?

On that note, you can add to my Fantasy Features Wish List the capability to see, over the course of the season, how a team rose and fell in the league standings. I think it would be fascinating, for instance, to see a line graph of my team’s progress with links at certain intervals marking pick-ups, drops, trades, injuries, etc…so GET TO WORK! Make it happen, roto people.

But wait, you ask, what the hell is Schectering? Good question. Tune in next week for my definition of Schechterization, and other dreamy insights.

Even His Head Shot is Humble!

So you remember Doug Dennis? I posted about him nary on 5 days ago. He wrote a piece on ToutWars.com about how his Tout Mixed team is flirting with the basement…and he, having received a last minute, fill-somebody-else’s-spot-invitation, seemed to a certain degree just happy to be there. Seems he isn’t exactly shooting for first place, but is more so trying to avoid coming in last and getting bumped from the league for next year.

Ye bespeaketh too humbly, kind sir!

What Doug didn’t mention is that he’s beating his fellow colleagues over at the AL only LABR expert league. And not just beating them, but spanking them handily.

He’s got 48 out of a possible 60 points in pitchers categories. Sure, that’s fine. You could win with 48/48, completely possible. But what he’s doing on offense is just NASTY!

He’s got 56/60 from the batters side, and he’s fielding a roster that looks more like his very own “who you wanted last year” break-outs of 2009 section on the 2010 BasballHQ.com, where he’s an analyst.

• M. Napoli (up and mashing when he plays - C)
• V. Martinez (back and mashing - C)
• R. Cano (finally fulfilling some potential - 2b)
• J. Bartlett (just getting better - SS)
• M. Young (completely surging 3b, like we all thought but kinda gave up that he could/would/might/now is)
• A. Lind, D. Span, V. Wells (heading up his OF)

Doesn’t this squad look more like a Mixed League battery? Well, they do in the stats they’re putting up, but they don’t in that they are all most likely steals on draft day, at least this year. Next year they’ll cost a lot more than Dougy Fresh got them for in ‘09.

So my question to DD: why not mention this runaway first two months in LABR?

Since our expert under the scope isn’t here to answer that questions, allow me:

1. I wasn’t writing about LABR for the Tout site. That would be uncouth.
2. It’s early, so 1st place doesn’t mean anything.
3. See #2, however, while 16th place shouldn’t mean anything, it feels a whole lot further from “middle of the pack” than 1st place, so should be explained.
4. If I remain humble, don’t even mention that I’m in 1st place, maybe the Fantasy Gods won’t notice, and won’t strike me down before June 15th.

For the sake of Double D’s own personal flair I am going to go with #4 as his official “somebody else answered for me” answer. Humble Pie it is.

I understand completely. This was the tack I used all last year while leading my fantasy team to victory, wire to wire. Some days I didn’t even want to see the standings. Most trade proposals I shrugged off as if they were HAHA laughers, sent to distract me from my unbelievable momentum. When a fellow leaguemate would (usually with scorn and disbelief) tell me “your team’s doing great! Think you can pull it out?” I would respond either “long way to go,” “anything can happen,” or “man, I’m just getting so lucky, I’m sure I’ll hit a rough patch soon here.”

But I didn’t. Sure, I only won by half a point, and many minor things could have happened, each of which would have landed me points back in the standings. But they didn’t. I ascended the throne for a happy off-season of VERY minor (in my mind) bragging. And somewhere in the back of my superstitious cranial reflex I believe that the Humble Pie I ate most of the year was what carried the day.

So you go right on ahead, Douggernaut, and fly under that DOMINATING YOU IN LABR radar. Hopefully it helps, maybe with a trade, or at least so that you can ride off into the sunset with a victory in LABR to offset the dungeon dwelling and 2010 elimination your Tout team might achieve.

But I hope at least a part of you is inwardly fist-pumping. For while Humble Pie is best served cold, man, right now, your AL LABR offense is HOT HOT HOT!

We have a VERY exciting potentiality brewing in the Tout Wars standings this year. It looks like the CREATiVESPORTS.com team has a chance to take the Tout triple crown. This would be a previously unseen trifecta, almost unthinkable, in the world of Fantasy Sports. Even having three Experts from your site playing in the three Tout leagues is impressive, but if they were all to win? The ramifications are staggering, to say the least.

Meet the Stathletes involved:

Lawr "power chord" Michaels

Lawr Michaels is leading the AL Tout War, a league which he last won in 2001. His squad this year is very balanced between batting (39.5 points) and pitching (42.5), and he’s doing it on the backs of some players who will only give more and better #’s. He just got ARod back, who is blasting away, having hit 7 of 10 basehits over the fence thus far. Also Petite and Sabathia should only get better this year, so Lawr is positioned well to go the distance.

Brian Loves Trophies!

Brian Walton is in second place in the NL Tout War, just 2.5 points back of the leader. He has a dominant offense (58 points) where he is top 5 in every category, top 3 in most. His pitching (33 points) leaves something to be desired, but with Tommy Hanson waiting for his chance in reserve, who knows?

JP's daughter loves it when he's winning!

JP Kastner rounds out the pack, tied for 3rd place in Tout Mixed. JP’s team is maybe the most worrisome of the three, with his pitching (66 points) doing most of the work, including overachievers like Bush, Weaver and Billingsley.

In a way, the CREATiVESPORTS guys are like my “home” team. Lawr Michaels lives in Berkeley. I grew up in Berkeley and now live in Oakland.  Sure, both Walton and Kastner live in the midwest….whatever, I’m ignoring that fact…I’m pretty sure Lawr makes all their decisions for them anyways, and let’s face it, his picture sure does ROCK a lot more than theirs, so GO HOME TEAM!