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  • Prize Leagues: WTF, ESPN?

    Matt 5:16 pm on 8/23/2010 | 5 Permalink Reply
    Tags: espn,

    I just noticed this prize leagues thing on ESPN’s fantasy football website. Apparently, you can pay $29.95 per team to join or start a league that is functionally exactly the same as a free league, but at the end of the season you might just maybe win some fabulous prizes, such as… Best Buy gift cards? (Three total will be awarded, for a grand total value of $5,000.) The real kicker is this part:

    100 Winners [sic] Circle points will be awarded to each Prize-Eligible League Champion for every league won… The approximate retail value (“ARV”) for each League prize is $15.00.

    So if you win the league that you paid $29.95 in real money to enter, you’ll win $15 in Winner’s Circle Points, which as I pointed out last season are basically equivalent to skee-ball tickets at the penny arcade.

    Tellingly, I had to create a league just to find out how much it costs – they don’t reveal the price until you get a few steps along in the process (reminds me of an online store that waits until the final checkout page to tell that you the shipping on your DVD will be $9.99).

    Who the hell does this?! Actually, come to think of it… if I pay my $29.95, am I more or less guaranteed to win the grand prize because I’ll be the only person on the planet who signs up?

     

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

    Matt 8:53 pm on 11/23/2009 | 4 Permalink Reply
    Tags: espn, , 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.

     

  • ESPN alerts straight to your mobile phone

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

    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 …)
     

  • Poll: Where do you play fantasy football?

    Matt 12:12 pm on 10/28/2008 | 11 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , espn, fox, ,

    Now that we’re halfway through the season, I’m curious as to what websites our readers are using to manage their fantasy football leagues. We generally offer player ownership statistics for Yahoo and ESPN leagues (as in, “Pierre Thomas is available in 72% of Yahoo and ESPN leagues”), but that’s not too helpful if the majority of our visitors are hosting their leagues elsewhere. 

    Only one way to find out! This is one of the few polls around that doesn’t have anything to do with the election that will mercifully be over with in one week. If you answer “other,” we’d appreciate it if you enlightened us as to what system you do use – the comment section is below.

    [poll id="3"]

     

  • More draft room previews

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

    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,

    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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