Updates from January, 2010

  • Blogger League Update: 31% Chance to Make Playoffs

    Brandon 1:49 pm on 12/08/2009 | 4 Permalink Reply
    Tags: ,

    With the final week of the regular season approaching in The Hazean’s Blogger League and after a two game winning streak, FFGeekBlog.com is still in the running for a playoff spot…but it’s not looking all that good. If you look at the League homepage below you’ll notice that FleaFlicker gives us a 31% chance to make the playoffs (and a 0% chance to earn a first round bye. :-( ) This is a pretty cool feature and something that I haven’t seen any other site provide up to this point. How they calculate the odds is a small mystery to me though and is assuredly not based the players each team has in their line-up. In general I’ve been pretty impressed with FleaFlicker this year and while the UI still doesn’t have the flashy appeal of Yahoo! and other bigger sites, I hope that at least the Blogger League continues using the site in the future. Anyways, wish us luck as we try to clinch a spot and show the fantasy football blogging world that FFGeekBlog is the real deal!

    bloggerleague13

     

  • ESPN Fantasy Focus and Stephania Bell: My two favorite discoveries this season

    Matt 8:53 pm on 11/23/2009 | 4 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , , podcasts, stephania bell

    I’ve got to credit both of these finds to my iPhone – more specifically, the fantastic (and free) Stitcher Radio app, which has a fantasy football channel. This is how I first encountered the ESPN Fantasy Focus podcast, which has become a regular companion on my dog’s nightly after-dinner walk.

    focusFootball_v2_300Hosted by Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz, Fantasy Focus is great once you get past the obligatory five-minute warm-up, which generally consists of personal anecdotes you won’t care about and jokes you won’t laugh at (no matter how many times you repeat the line, “That is factually correct,” it still isn’t funny). Thankfully, Berry and Ravitz more than make up for it with their knowledge of and obvious love for fantasy football – I almost always learn something important that I didn’t know before, and their enthusiasm is contagious.

    A frequent guest on the show is Stephania Bell, an orthopedic clinical specialist and fantasy football geek whose blog is easily the most thorough resource for NFL player injury info. Definitely one to add to your feed reader.

     

  • Brandon 5:46 pm on 11/16/2009 | 0 Permalink Reply

    Remember to vote on the FFGeekBlog.com commenting system if you haven’t done so yet. Who knows if we’ll end up changing anything, but we just want to see how our readers feel about it!

     

  • Commenting on FFGeekBlog.com?

    Brandon 4:55 pm on 11/13/2009 | 12 Permalink Reply

    As The Fantasy Football Geek Blog continues to grow, Matt and I are noticing a lot more activity from our awesome readers. On certain posts, we’ve gotten upwards of 40-50 comments and with the current format we use, this means that all those comments show up on the main page (FFGeekBlog.com.) This may cause some readers a bit of frustration if they’re searching for a specific post that we’ve published. We’ve already mentioned the “Hide Threads” button, which allows you to collapse all comments on the page, as well as added a new sidebar section (“Latest Posts”) that allows you to view the five most recent posts, but maybe this isn’t enough. We’re interested to how our readers feel about our current commenting format and see if anyone had suggestions on how we could possibly improve it. We definitely don’t want to discourage anyone from commenting, so if you feel that hiding comments on the main page will prevent you from responding to our posts, please let us know. Please let us know what you think and thanks in advance for the input!


     

  • Matt 2:41 pm on 11/10/2009 | 1 Permalink Reply

    Many of our regular readers have probably already figured this out, but if you’re looking for a quicker way to browse this site, check out the “Hide threads” and “Keyboard shortcuts” buttons near the top of this section of the page. “Hide threads” allows you to collapse all the comments (which can take a lot of scrolling to get through on particularly active posts), and “Keyboard shortcuts” gives you a quick way to navigate through all the discussions.

     

  • Matt 2:37 pm on 9/27/2009 | 3 Permalink Reply
    Tags:

    This season’s version of the Yahoo StatTracker is terrible. It takes forever to load, the chat feature is more or less useless because it covers up your stats if you have it open, and it’s randomly stopped pulling in new info so many times that I can’t trust it any more, making it essentially useless to me. Hey Yahoo guys – bring back the old yellow StatTracker. Please. It wasn’t as pretty, but it worked.

     

  • Yahoo! fantasy football apps launching on September 8

    Matt 11:11 am on 8/28/2009 | 8 Permalink Reply
    Tags: blackberry, ,

    A tweet from YahooFootball just now:

    Yahoo on iPhone and Blackberry

    Holla indeed. Great news for Yahoo! users with iPhones and Crackberries. I hadn’t heard the news and tried to figure out why Yahoo! thinks we might already know. All I could dig up was this press release from August 12 which mentions the mobile apps:

    This year, Yahoo! fantasy football enthusiasts will be able to track their favorite team’s success right in the palm of their hands. On September 8th, Yahoo! Fantasy Football goes mobile, launching three different ways to stay on top of their game. Included in the Yahoo! Mobile offering will be an iPhone app, a BlackBerry app, and a version for the mobile web. With mobile fantasy football you can get real-time scores and player stats, the ability to bench and start different players, and even the ability to trade with others in your league – all through your mobile device.

    If there’s one thing I’m a bigger dork about than fantasy football, it’s my iPhone, and all my leagues are on Yahoo!, so this is pretty much the perfect storm of awesome. I’ll get a review up here as soon as I get my grimy mitts on it.

     

  • Having trouble picking a draft date for your league?

    Matt 9:50 am on 8/03/2009 | 8 Permalink Reply
    Tags: google docs

    Click for full-size screenshot.

    We were getting frustrated finding a date that worked for everyone, so I set up a quick spreadsheet of all the remaining weekend dates before opening day so that people in my league could indicate in one central place the dates that didn’t work for them. I only used weekend dates, since drafting on a weeknight kind of sucks. Here’s a template if you’d like to do the same.

    I used Google Docs so that everyone in the league could just edit it right online. Definitely easier than e-mailing an Excel file around. Just copy my stuff into a new spreadsheet, and then use the “Share” button in the top-right corner to give everyone in your league editing privileges.

    Click the thumbnail at right for a full-size preview.

     

  • Spiffy new popups in Yahoo! fantasy sports

    Matt 10:42 pm on 3/11/2009 | 0 Permalink Reply
    Tags: javascript,

    Yahoo! is taking a page out of ESPN’s book by applying even more Javascript goodness to their player info popups. Whereas you used to just get player updates, you now get a glimpse at their schedule and a few other little details, all neatly packaged into a window that you can drag around the screen, which you will of course only do once, because there’s really no point.

    Here’s a preview from my fantasy NBA league. Yes, I play fantasy NBA. I know. I know.

    [vimeo 3587858 nolink]

     

  • T.J. Houshmandzadeh: Best-case scenarios

    Matt 3:06 pm on 2/25/2009 | 9 Permalink Reply
    Tags: 2009 draft,

    At this point, it’s really anybody’s guess as to where soon-to-be free agent Houshmanzilly will be playing next season, so it’s nearly impossible to say how much we’re going to like him going into this year’s draft. If he lands in a situation with sky’s-the-limit potential, don’t be surprised to see him become the trendy #2 WR taken in drafts (after Fitzgerald, who probably has a lock on the top WR pick). Nobody wants to pass on this year’s version of Randy Moss circa 2007, and all of the other options for #2 WR taken have question marks:

    • Brandon Marshall might have a higher ceiling than any receiver in the league, but he’s maddeningly inconsistent at times.
    • Andre Johnson is great… when… he’s… healthy.
    • I’m keeping Randy Moss at arm’s length until I know for sure what’s up with Brady’s knee – which means I’m probably not drafting him until 2010.

    So where would Housh have to land in order to warrant a higher pick than any of those guys? A few intriguing scenarios that are at least somewhat plausible: (More …)

     

  • ESPN alerts straight to your mobile phone

    Brandon 9:27 pm on 12/17/2008 | 2 Permalink Reply
    Tags: ,

    Earlier this year, Matt blogged about the different services that companies offered for your mobile phone regarding fantasy football. However, there’s an additional service that he did not mention, which is ESPN’s alert service to provide “breaking news” on fantasy football, as well as all other sports, straight to your phone via text message. Up until now, I didn’t think that I needed additional updates on my cell phone, but today I decided that I’d give it a shot (during the Championship week…go figure!) and see what all the fuss was about. I signed up for the fantasy football alerts, as well as an update on all score changes during Patriots games (let’s hope for lots of spam this Sunday against the Cardinals!) this morning and so far this is what I’ve received today:

    • “Bills QB Trent Edwards practiced Wed; likely to play Sun. after missing 2 games (groin injury)” (More …)
     

  • NFL Weather Report on Weather.com

    Brandon 3:26 pm on 12/12/2008 | 5 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , , weather

    How many times have you started a quarterback against a team with an atrocious secondary, only to see him put up minimal fantasy numbers because a snow storm came to town? While it’s probably not the only site out there that does it, Weather.com provides a game day weather forecast that can be pretty useful when considering which players to start and bench for a given week and hopefully can help prevent this situation from happening. (More …)

     

  • Week 7 Weekend Wrap-up: Running backs gone wild!

    Brandon 1:25 pm on 10/20/2008 | 2 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , koren robinson, , , , , , , , ,

    After staying up late to watch my favorite baseball team lose to the Tampa Bay Rays (!) last night, I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle staying up for what will most likely be a disaster of a game tonight when the Fantasy Football Librarian’s boys from Denver come into Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots…but I’ll give it a shot. The good news is that even though the Sox are done and the Pats chances tonight are not all that promising, the fantasy football gods seemed to shine down on me this week and I should pull off some solid victories in most of my leagues (although the fact that Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall having huge games against New England would help many of my teams causes quite the personal conflict!), including a potential victory in which I idiotically started Larry Fitzgerald on a bye. Anyways, enough of my rambling about New England sports and my fantasy teams, let’s get to the action from the weekend that caused my good fortunes, including a few running backs gone wild!

    • Tennessee 34, Kansas City 10: I was pretty pumped about this game for one reason…the Chiefs helped me break the FFGeekBlog Hits/Misses cover curse! Kansas City came into this game allowing 180+ yards per game on the ground and what do you know…the Titans nearly doubled that average with 330+ yards. Hopefully you took my advice and started LenDale White (149 yards, 3 TD) and Chris Johnson (168 yards, TD), as you were rewarded heavily. (More …)
     

  • An interview with Matt Maroon, co-founder of Draftmix.com

    Matt 2:32 pm on 8/30/2008 | 0 Permalink Reply
    Tags: AOL, draftmix, , ,

    DraftmixDraftmix is a website that offers a novel approach to fantasy sports. A Draftmix “league” is a very short-term commitment – it lasts only a week. You participate in a normal fantasy football-style draft on a Wednesday, drafting players who you think will put up the best numbers in just that given week. The following Tuesday, payouts are awarded and that’s it – league over. Draftmix is aimed at those people who like playing fantasy football for money but are looking for some short-term gambling gratification.

    Brandon and I first heard about Draftmix last year when we were invited to join the Draftmix Blogger Challenge (and thanks to big games from Joseph Addai and Hines Ward, we won). I’ve been keeping an eye on Draftmix ever since. I think it’s a fun concept that’s implemented very well. They’re still flying a bit under the radar at the moment, but they were just getting started in ‘07 and I think they could really catch on in a big way this year.

    This afternoon, I had a chat with Matt Maroon, part of the three-man Draftmix team (and a former professional poker player). (More …)

     

  • Get fantasy football info on your cell phone or mobile device

    Matt 11:30 am on 8/27/2008 | 5 Permalink Reply
    Tags: cell phone,

    As the mobile Web continues to mature, the fantasy football world is slowly finding ways to migrate from your PC to your pocket. Most of the major fantasy football providers now offer mobile access in some (usually limited, but improving) fashion. If you like the idea of on-the-go access to your fantasy teams as well as important player updates and other news, here are some resources to help you stay connected to fantasy football wherever you are. (More …)

     

  • How I build my cheat sheets

    Matt 7:00 pm on 8/24/2008 | 9 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , cheat sheet war room, , , excel

    For most fantasy football players, a cheat sheet isn’t something you build, it’s something you find in a fantasy football magazine or on the Web somewhere and bring with you to the draft. While this approach certainly saves a lot of time, it puts you at a serious disadvantage to anyone in your league who took the time to put together their own sheets. A custom-built cheat sheet can take into account the specific rules of your league, such as QB touchdown scoring (4 points each or 6?) and whether your league awards a point for each reception (in which case you’d increase the value of the WR position and target running backs who catch the ball often). Most importantly, as you put your sheet together, you’ll be constantly learning about the players you’re ranking, and you’ll show up on draft day with a true understanding of the decisions you’re making. Really, how much satisfaction do you get at the end of a draft when you look at your team and realize that every player you own is there because someone else told you to pick them?

    This is the process I use for building my cheat sheets. It doesn’t have to take an extraordinary amount of time – you can really invest as little or as much energy as you want into it. This is simply a framework to help you get started; where you go with it from here is up to you. (More …)

     

  • Madden 09: Is it just me?

    Brandon 11:26 pm on 8/18/2008 | 13 Permalink Reply
    Tags: chargers, , madden 09

    So this doesn’t really have anything to do with fantasy football, but I figured that a high percentage of our readers are probably also avid Madden football players. So, my question to you is this…is it just me or is it super hard to run the ball in this new edition of Madden?! I’ve been playing the series for years and I’ve always liked to pick a team with a decent running back, because while I generally lead the league in interceptions thrown, I also usually have one of the top ranked running backs in the league at the end of the season. After getting the game this past weekend for my birthday, I started a season with the San Diego Chargers (even though I’m really a Patriots fan, I don’t like to play with them because I think it’s lame to play with a team that’s rated 99 or whatever they are) and tonight I finished my second game, losing to the Broncos 13-10, with my only touchdown coming on a fumble recovery. I finished the game with -5 rushing yards from LaDainian Tomlinson (!!!), which seems a bit ridiculous to me. I know the game is supposed to adjust to your skill level, but it better speed up the learning process or I’m going to be hard-pressed to win more than a game or two in the entire season. I’d be grateful to anyone who could offer me tips!

    In other Madden news, I imported my fantasy team from the EA Sports league that I signed up for earlier, but haven’t had a chance to play with it yet. All I know is that it should be fun to throw the ball to Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall with Tom Brady, while MJD runs the ball for me.

     

  • Facebook and famous card-counter enter the fantasy football league market

    Brandon 9:38 pm on 8/11/2008 | 2 Permalink Reply
    Tags: card counter, , league, sports illustrated

    Watch out Yahoo and ESPN (and even FleaFlicker!), there’s another fantasy football league website in town, this one having the unique concept of being built into Facebook. Jeff Ma, one of the MIT card counters that inspired the book Bringing Down the House (which is a great book by the way) and the movie “21″, along with business partner Mike Kerns, have created the company Citizen Sports, Inc., and convinced Sports Illustrated to put its name on the product. The fact that it is a downloadable application on the new Facebook means it will automatically have a potential audience of millions, so there is a big chance that this could succeed…but we’ll have to wait and see if it really challenges the big boys any time soon. (More, including a couple screenshots, after the jump…) (More …)

     

  • More draft room previews

    Brandon 12:05 pm on 8/01/2008 | 2 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , ea sports, ,

    Earlier this month I wrote about the Yahoo! draft room and thought it was pretty solid. After participating in a few other drafts and mock drafts, I’ve now seen a few other draft rooms that I thought would be good to share with everyone as they get ready to draft…

    (More …)

     

  • ESPN Fantasy Football: A few features I like

    Matt 12:31 pm on 7/24/2008 | 4 Permalink Reply
    Tags: ,

    ESPN appears to have revamped its fantasy football website significantly, and I like what I see. I’m moving my keeper league over from Fox Sports, a hassle I’m only undertaking because I’m so impressed. The layout is simple and easy on the eyes; the only comparably clean site out there is Yahoo’s, which I refuse to use because of the inflexibility of its waiver wire system.

    ESPN has clearly put a good deal of thought into how fantasy football players use their site. The best websites work so well that you don’t have to think about them – the next thing you’re looking to do is always right there waiting for you. This is the feeling I get on ESPN.com. While I liked Fox Sports because it offered all the features I need, moving from that cluttered, clunky interface to ESPN is like taking a breath of fresh air. (More …)

     

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