A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

fantasy sports

Freedom from fantasy football — life away from the game

I just realized something — if I were playing fantasy football, the season would be coming to an end soon.

With the NFL in Week 13, many fantasy leagues will be coming to a halt soon — at least the regular season. Playoffs will be happening soon in these fantasy leagues, with all the excitement building to who will win it all.

<Yawn!>

Based partially on finances and partially on the reality that fantasy football has lost its zest, I stepped away this year from a fantasy league that I was a co-commissioner in. It’s a league I wanted to do more than a decade ago. I wanted to experience an auction draft and see what it was like. Another person jumped in with me and the Beer is Beautiful League was created.

Over the course of the years, we only lost or added a few times. For the most part, the league remained the same group of people. The draft was usually interesting and there were patterns that were often followed.

  • The same owners would draft fast or slow
  • The same owners would get nasty toward others
  • The same owners thought their team was always the best
  • The same phrases were usually tossed out
  • I would always get Peyton Manning, and sometimes overpay

With Manning no longer on the Colts, this season seemed like the perfect time to step away. In all honestly, I had started to get bored with it a few years ago. The season dragged on. I hated making moves. Trades never seemed to work in my favor and I hated trying to beat people to free agents.

I had lost all interest.

And I just couldn’t stay away from Manning. Being he was my favorite player on my favorite team, it was hard to not overpay for him. Unfortunately, it often hampered my ability to make other moves because I’d spend so much on Manning.

Now, to be fair, the league was set up where quarterbacks could earn a ton of points. Still, you needed a good running back and receiver.

During the reign, I did win the league one time. I’m glad I experienced that because it would have stunk to not win it at least once.

That being said, I don’t miss it.

Not one bit.

I’ve been able to watch football this year in a different way. I’m not worrying about statistics or a called-back score or someone dropping a guaranteed touchdown. Missed field goals don’t bother me and a fumble won’t end my week.

I actually enjoy sitting down and watching a game again. And I’ve watched more college football this year, too, without worrying about what those kids might be like when they hit the pros.

The other good things is on any given Sunday, I might not watch a minute of football. And I don’t have to worry about checking statistics and such. I just see the scores of games and move one.

In that regard, it’s so nice.

Like many things in life, all good things come to an end. I had left the possibility that I’d return in a year or so, once I was employed and could afford to get back in it.

Nope.

This year has made me realize how much I enjoy not playing fantasy football.

I won’t say I’ll never play it again. Who knows. But I can say this — I don’t foresee me doing it again. I have no plans on playing this game again. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m over it now.

Still hearing people talk about where they are in fantasy leagues or the players who haven’t worked out and all the other little nuances makes me even happier about this choice.

It’s a funny thing when you take something out of your life that you thought was not replaceable — and then realize it is.

And it’s also nice knowing I won’t have to worry about ponying up a few extra bucks for free agents and stressing out about players million-dollar player performing so I can win a few extra measly dollars.

This choice was right for me, that’t for sure. I’ve definitely enjoyed life without fantasy football enough to know it was the correct decision.

The big picture also made me realize how right this was — my life right now is too real for me to worry about anything fantasy.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

A year without fantasy football

I’m a baseball guy.

I always have been and always will be. I can watch pretty much any baseball game and be happy. The same can’t be said about football.

Despite, at one point, being the beat writer at a newspaper for high school football, I’ve never been much of a football guy. I can enjoy a game and high school is fun to watch and cover. I learned a lot over the years being the football guy at the one paper I worked for. But, the intricate details still evade me.

I’m a Colts fan, so I pay attention to them. I don’t mind a couple of other teams, such as the Packers and Giants, so I’ll somewhat pay attention to what they do. Outside of that, I’m pretty oblivious to football at the pro level.

With colleges, it’s even worse. I like Notre Dame. I’ll watch them most of the time, but I can’t usually name you starters or anything like that. I just like Notre Dame. I don’t really watch much else when it comes to college football.

The way I used to see what was going on in football was through fantasy football. Having to prepare for a draft gave me the incentive to having a clue about football and who could or is a good player. The problem is, I often drafted with my heart more than my head.

During the year, I stuck with my team for the most part. Sure, I’d make a few moves on the free agent wire, but it would be very rare for me to actually make a trade. It wasn’t that I might not like another player, it was more about me thinking the guy I drafted would go crazy and become a fantasy stud if I traded him.

Oh the life of fantasy football owners.

This year, for the first time in more than a dozen years, I’m not in a fantasy football team.

For the most part, the decision was financially driven. The reality is, with my employment situation, paying $150 to play in a fantasy football league (one I co-founded, for the record) didn’t make any sense. I’ve had a partner the past few years, but he’s been needing to tighten the wallet a bit, too. We tried to find a third person to no avail, so I respectfully backed out of the league.

It wasn’t without great thought.

Another other offered to be a majority owner in my team. He basically said he would be a money backer and I would run the team as I saw fit and he’d not be involved (he really wouldn’t be able to be, considering he would have had money invested). In the end, he’d only cash in if I did anything to place.

It was a thoughtful and appreciated offer, but I turned it down.

See, truthfully, fantasy football has lost its luster in my eyes. I don’t pay attention enough. I don’t get into it like I used to and, honestly, it’s not as fun for me.

When we first started this league, the other commissioner did all the stats by hand and would send them to me. Then I’d turn them into a weekly story. I had fun with it. I’d poke at others and I’d make it entertaining — as much as I could. But as time wore on, we switched to CBS Sportsline, which took away the personal feel. Even a switch to Yahoo! (to save money) wasn’t going to bring back that personal feel.

So, without any regret, I stepped away.

This would have been the 10th year of that league. I would have liked to have been around for that year, but I’m just not into it. I won’t be upset knowing I don’t have to worry about lineups or trades or free agent deadlines or anything like that.

I don’t have to get any cold sweats wondering if I benched somebody or if there was a bye week or anything like that.

Instead, if I feel like watching a football game, I will.

And the beauty of it is I won’t worry about Peyton Manning or some other quarterback not having a great game. Or worry that my running back is barely getting any carries. Or that a wide receiver dropped two would-be touchdowns.

There’s no care that a certain defense allowed 24 points.

Or that a kicker sent two easy field goals wide right.

Nope, no worries.

I have to admit something, too. I’m happy about that. The past few years, I’ve lost interest in fantasy football — and, for the most part, fantasy sports in general. I don’t always pay attention and my entry fees become donations to winners. Sometimes the fees aren’t so bad, so you can somewhat deal with it. Or, the sports are such where if you catch it quick enough, you can right the ship.

Football isn’t either of those.

And so, I go this year without fantasy football. And I’m happy about it. The draft is usually decently fun, but it often drags. I didn’t have to sit through it. I also don’t have to worry about day-to-day or week-to-week operations of the team and the hope it will perform. And, I don’t have to worry about hoping to at least break even.

I know many people who are fanatical with this game. They do a lot — study the stats, watch everything etc. I’m not like that. The one year I won the league, I got on a great run and had a healthy team. That’s rare.

It’s safe to say my fantasy football days are behind me. When I originally decided to get out of it this year, I held it in the back of my mind that I would return next year. I have a feeling this is a more permanent thing for me. And I’m OK with that.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Notes from my Noodle: April 4 edition

As many of you know, I’ve been on Flickr for several years. I use it as a spot to share my photos and such. Flickr has this thing called “Explore.” Basically, it’s the top photos of the day as determined by Flickr’s secret algorithm. Nobody seems to know how it works. But there are some amazing photos on there, as well as many not-so-great ones.

One thing I’ve always notices is the people seem get out and comment a lot, driving traffic to their photos.

Though I try and search Flickr and comment as much as possible, it’s not a daily habit.

So color me shocked when I got a comment on one of my recent images from someone saying they had viewed the image on Explore. Score! I have wanted to get on Explore for a long time — and thought I had photos that would make it there before — but it was this one that did.

Waffle House!

It got to No. 358. But later when I checked, it had dropped off. Flickr giveth and Flickr taketh away. No biggie. I got to Explore. So that’s cool enough.

On a side note, I did tweet that I got on it and gave the ol’ @ to the Waffle House and the Waffle House twitter guy/gal re-tweeted me, so I have that going for me. Which is nice.

The algorithm on Flickr is pretty silly, anyway. But I got Explored. Can’t take it away, buddy!

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I’ve received a postcard through Postcrossing a while back. I just noticed it on the desk and that I hadn’t registered it.

I should probably do that, eh?

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This two blog thing is tough!

I love this blog, I really do. And I’ll never give it up. But it’s been tough to come up with ideas when I’ve been pushing myself to make sure the other blog (Rattling Chains) is really up and running.

We have several people now writing with us, including 2009 World Champion Avery Jenkins and two others with journalism backgrounds. We’re taking it seriously over there in hopes of making a daily destination for disc golfers.

We’ve worked to make it a really sweet site with great content and a solid look. I’m trying to get it on the Internet news sources, too, in hopes of driving some traffic.

If you’re a disc golfer — or are interested in the game — peek at it over there and see what you think!

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The fantasy baseball league I am in is drafting tonight.

An auction draft, online.

This should prove to be interesting. A lot of interesting names were left off keeper lists, so I imagine it should be pretty wild to see where people go with their teams.

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Baseball season opens tonight. Well, it kind of already did with the Mariners and Athletics playing a pair in Japan a week or so ago.

But tonight is the official opening night.

Marlins (blech) vs. Cardinals (double blech).

The Phils open tomorrow. That’s when I’ll get pumped. The good news is — baseball is back!

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — even a small amount — you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted scarf. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

 

What fantasy sports do to my mind

This lonely softball is how I feel whenever I do fantasy sports. Alone with no chance at winning my league championships!

I say every year that this is my final year in fantasy sports.

Seriously.

Each year, I donate my money (note that I didn’t say pay my fee) to the league pool and get swamped. In the end, with free agent fees and all that, I watch some bucks fly out the window.

Thankfully, I have a partner in the fantasy football league. Alas, we’ve not had any luck.

I’ve read reports that say millions of people play fantasy football each year. Which means throughout the season, people scour statistics, argue over players, sometimes cheat and do anything else to get ahead and win.

(Seriously on the cheating. I was once in a league where the people who ran the league changed rules mid-season, which, of course, benefited them in winning. That’s not just cheating, it’s stealing as people paid into these leagues to have a fair shot to win).

In my two main leagues this year, baseball and football, things aren’t great.

In baseball, I thought I had an excellent team. I really did. But early injuries hammered me and I never recovered. Then, there was a two-week stretch in the summer where I just ignored the team. That never helps. So, I finished last. I then lost in the first round of the John Maine Toilet Bowl Championship bracket.

Before, I continue, the John Maine Toilet Bowl Championship is a fantastic part of our league. Let me give that story.

For the first couple years of our league, Rod had drafted John Maine each year. As anyone now knows, he was an awful, awful fantasy pitcher. A lot of promise, nothing to show for it. Anyway, when Maine went on one of his awful slides, Rod would try and pawn him off on anyone he could for whatever he could (nobody would take the bait). Then it became a situation where Rod started proposing crazy trades (which made it funnier). You know, trades like Maine for a Ryan Howard or something. It became a long-standing joke in our league.

Flash forward to last year, Rod and I were at a baseball card show. We found a John Maine autographed baseball card for cheap (shocker!) and got it. The plan is to get it in a holder with an old, beat-up ball and give that to the winner of our annual Toilet Bowl Championship (the bottom four teams).

Anyway…

Let’s just say that I got absolutely hammered this year — in the season and in the one playoff matchup I had.

My week-by-week schedule and results. Click for larger look.

Now, I love baseball. By far, it’s my favorite sport. But fantasy baseball is tough. You have daily lineups to play with. Different moves to make. And the season is really, really long. We are a keeper league, too, so it makes the draft that much more interesting because there are fewer players out there.

But once your team starts a large slide, it’s hard to keep up with it. Next thing you know, you’re at the bottom of the league and there’s nothing that can be done.

We are a 7X7 league (seven offensive categories, seven defensive) in a head-to-head league. Though there’s a matchup set between me and the lone other person not playing for anything, it doesn’t really count. So, in all honesty, my team finished a whopping 85-237-14 this year.

You saw that right.

In head-to-head matchups, I went 2-22. That is correct. Of 24 weeks in the season, I won twice. That’s not enough to make me want to stay. I tried to have fun with it. I changed my team name to “Crying Seamus.” I did a lot of leprechaun-style posts. But it got to the point where it was silly.

I had a solid team. They just never seemed to do anything when the others did. I still can’t figure out, either, how I have so many good starters and none of them ever seemed to pitch twice a week. But teams I faced, it always seemed like their pitchers did. I also had a ton of closers and never seemed to do much in the save category.

Do you see why I am considering giving this crap up??

Football is worse. I’ve actually won my league before. So I know it can be done. The problem is, this sport is way more frustrating than baseball because I am not so much a major football fan as baseball. In baseball, I know most people. In football, not so much. See, I’m a Colts fan. That’s the way I think. Outside of them, I know major people. Some of the smaller people, not really.

So the draft is usually interesting.

The past two years, I’ve taken the line that many have done to win our league. Get a major quarterback, running back and wide receiver and run them to the title. I did it last year. Nothing.

I did it this year and it started out very bad. See, my quarterback — every year — is Peyton Manning. We’re an auction league, so I can outbid and overpay for him every year.

This year was no different. Though my gut said he might not play this year with his injuries (the gut is starting to look good), I went beyond the price I had in mind for him and paid $27 for him (we have a $105 salary cap).

I followed my heart and my hopes.

Yeah, that worked out well. My other two biggies weren’t bad in Adrian Peterson and Greg Jennings. And my backup QB is someone I took with the last pick of the draft for $1 — Cam Newton. Not bad. He’s helped a ton and won me the first week as well as should have helped win me the second week. THAT leads to my final point about fantasy football.

Setting your lineup is a crap shoot.

When you don’t have game breakers, your situation is usually something where you take a guess based on matchups or gut feelings. Yep. I did that in week two.

I put Cincinnati’s Jerome Simpson in my lineup. (If you are a football fan, you might see where this is going).

Then I took him out.

For Devin Hester. Seriously.

I figured maybe, at least, Hester could bust a return or something. He scored me one (1) point.

Simpson had 18 fantasy points.

I lost the week, 128-119. Do the math.

This week, I did the same (though it didn’t matter), just in running backs. I sat Cedric Benson (6 points) for BenJarvus Green-Ellis (1 point). Yeah, that was a great move, eh? It didn’t matter as I got beat, 108-72 (neither team has anyone playing tonight). The season is still long, so I am not out of it. But this is frustrating already!

So goes my life in fantasy sports. I hate it. It’s frustrating. It’s annoying. And it’s not worth doing. Really.

That’s it folks.

This is my last year in fantasy sports.

Seriously.

Oh, and when does the keeper list have to be in for baseball?

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Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding a contests this week. It runs from Sept. 25- to 12:01 a.m. Oct. 2. You can see all the details on the contest post. Enter for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Playing the game of supply and demand

For those of you who participate in fantasy sports leagues, I’m sure you’ll understand where this post is coming from.

Especially if your league has two key components — an auction/salary cap and keepers.

Our baseball league is set up this way. For the draft, it’s auction style and each team has a cap of $260. However, each team is allowed to keep up to 10 players (and in the years we’ve done this draft, everybody has always kept 10 players). The way we do it is that you take the player’s salary from the year before and add on a certain amount. So if you have a player who made $4 or more last season, you add $3 to the salary. If he made $3 or less, you add $1.

That can start to add up, but it can also make for some very valuable keepers and steals.

It also makes the draft a very interesting place to be.

We held our draft Sunday morning. This year, we made it so all keepers had to be e-mailed in before the draft, so we skipped right past that part, which was very nice. That’s when the fun begins.

See, depending on who you keep, you know what positions you need. But say you need a catcher and six of the eight teams already kept their catcher. The odds are, you can do well with things. But, if just three teams kept their catchers and those players are the top three catchers available, things start to get interesting. Depending on the position, people can pay over-market value for players in a hurry.

Lets use me as an example.

I needed a shortstop. With two teams keeping shortstops (Derek Jeter and Troy Tulowitzki were the lone players kept that that position). That meant, of those in the eight-team league, six of us were in the running for the top shortstops.

The FIRST person of the draft nominated was Jimmy Rollins.

Being a Phillies fan, I had wanted to see if I could get Rollins. Though he had a tough season last year, he’s in a contract year and he appears to be healthy. Rollins could have a strong year and being he’s quite key to the Phillies, I thought he might be worth the risk. Though he’s always been one of the top defensive shortstops in baseball, our league doesn’t measure that — it’s based on hitting and pitching. So for me to get value out of Rollins, Jimmy has to hit.

So what’s market value? According to the cbs.sportsline website (which we use for our league), Rollins should be about $26 in a mixed (NL and AL) league with a $260 cap.

I ended up paying $17.

Is that good or bad? Who can tell. But being he was the first player thrown out, there were still some stellar shortstops remaining, so I think I got a fair price for Rollins. Later in the draft, I was looking for an outfielder and bid on Tampa Bay’s Ben Zobrist, who I’ve long been a fan of. I ended up paying $17 for him, too, which I think is over market value. But being he came out late, I had to overpay to get him as the top players were becoming harder and harder to come by.

That’s where the supply and demand comes into play.

Consider this — if you bid on several players and lost out on them. You have far more pressing needs than some others. AND, you likely have more money remaining for your cap. But, with players disappearing, the supply is not going to meet the demand.

Hence your economic lesson with fantasy baseball.

Let’s take a look at a few.

Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana is solid. He’s one of the best young backstops in the game. And, he was projected to cost about $16 or so.

He went for $26 in ours because it was late in the draft and several people still had pressing needs for a starting catcher.

Players like Atlanta’s Jayson Heyward ($25), San Francisco’s Mat Latos ($16), and Michael Young ($16) were some players who went over their market value during the draft. Young closers like Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel ($10) and Matt Thornton ($17) of the White Sox went way over-market because people needed closers at the end, so they went all-in with the hopes of getting something special with these guys.

That being said, if you wait in the wings, you can get some steals when people fill their spots. Players such as Rickie Weeks, who is listed to be worth about $20 in a league set up like ours went for $1.

We also have a snake-draft at the end of the auction, where each team drafts 10 more players in a traditional setup. For keeper purposes, each player is awarded a salary of $3, but that doesn’t count against the initial $260 cap.

This is where there can be some interesting picks and steals. Sometimes people think about the long-term and draft someone who might be on the disabled list with the idea of stashing him and using him later or as a keeper.

For example, I had the No. 1 pick in the snake-draft this year. That was because I finished last in the league last season. So I took a flier on Stephen Strasburg, the young phenom pitcher of the Washington Nationals who is out the majority of this season following Tommy John surgery. However, with all the hype surrounding this kid and how well he performed last year before getting hurt, I figure he might be worth snagging and keeping for the future.

In the end, who knows how it will work out.

The players in the snake-draft could be awesome and someone you selected for $40 could end up getting hurt in the first game and being out for the season. It’s always a game of chance with fantasy baseball, but it’s interesting to see unfold. Only time will tell how it all pans out.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.