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Texan’s Steve Slaton Spoils Fantasy Football Playoffs

December 2nd, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NFL

… Steve Slaton tormented our fantasy playoffs last night.

… unless you were me - who rode his 45 yard touchdown run with 2:07 left in an-already-won football game to playoff victory.

Steve Slaton’s touchdown was reminiscent of both Chris Duhon’s infamous half-court shot to torment gamblers in the Final Four and Oklahoma’s 40 yard touchdown with less than a minute to go last week - trying for BCS Style Points.

For the game, Steve Slaton had:

- 30 fantasy points
- 21 rushes for 130 yards
- 2 receptions for 52 yards
- two touchdowns and 6″ from a third

The game made Slaton the 3rd highest scoring fantasy player of NFL Week 13, behind Brian Westbrook and DeAngelo Williams… shotputting him into the top 20 for all NFL Fantasy Football players.

Most importantly, it defeated Yardbarker’s Andrew Machado who had already prepped next week’s lineup and planned his taunts. He was leading by 26 going into the night and ended up losing on Slaton’s very last run. Great stuff.

Andrew Machado, in equally bad times, is shown here:

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NFL’s Fantasy Football Awards

December 2nd, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

Here are InGameNow’s Fantasy Football Awards

Week 13 marks the end of the regular season for most Fantasy Football leagues. What better time to pass out this season’s Fantasy Football awards. We will hand out ROY, Sleeper of the Year, Bust of the Year, the best player at each position, and finally MVP.

Rookie Of the Year

Matt Forte, RB, Chicago Bears. Fantasy Football fans knew Forte was for real week 1, when he busted onto the NFL scene with 123 rushing yards and 1 td. Forte rushed for 1,012 yards in the first 13 weeks of the NFL season. Just as important, Forte has all ready seen the end zone 10 times. Chicago fans, and Fantasy Football GM’s involved in a keeper league, couldn’t be happier and this rookie’s performance.

Sleeper of the Year

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers. InGameNow would like to publicly apologize for calling Aaron “Erin” this preseason, our minds were made up that he would fail in trying to replace Hall of Famer Brett Favre. We couldn’t have been more bearish on Rodgers, and he has proven to be the 3rd best QB in the league this season. In fact, Aaron’s 212 fantasy points are only 14 behind Drew Brees, the top scorer in all of Fantasy Football. What helps IGN rest peacefully at night, Rodgers was the 25th QB drafted this season in Yahoo leagues. Rodgers was taken behind players such as Carson Palmer, Brodie Croyle, Tarvaris Jackson, and JaMarcus Russell. While Green Bay fans can’t be satisfied with the Packers poor performance, (and Brett Favre winning with the New York Jets), Fantasy Football GM’s are giddy with there late round pick up.

Bust of the Year

Chad Johnson Ocho Cinco, WR, Cincinnati Bengals. First of all, I am not including injured players in this category. The New England PatriotsTom Brady would obviously be the worst case example, but players who missed significant playing time, such as Joseph Addai, Marques Colston, and Laurence Maroney would be included in the hunt. I want a player who flat out sucked, and Ocho Cinco is the perfect example. Maybe I am bitter that Johnson is on my team (I did drink the “he changed his name, he is going to have a HUGE SEASON” Cool Aid) but this guy was horrible this year. Johnson was the 13th WR drafted this season, putting him as the 33rd player taken over all. He scored 61 fantasy points, ranking him 48th in scoring. Both Roddy White and Calvin Johnson have more than doubled Ocho Cinco’s output. For the year, Johnson has 428 yards and 4 td’s. Last year, Johnson had 442 yards and 3 td’s after THREE WEEKS. This guy needs to spend less time at Best Buy buying his coach Christmas presents, and more time in the gym.

Positional Awards:

Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints. Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino’s record of 5,084 yards in a season. With a game left against the very porous Detroit Lions, Brees just might do it. This year, Brees has four 3 td games and one 4 td game. Considering he has done this with Marques Colston and Reggie Bush missing extended playing time, Brees is a lock to win this award. It should be pointed out that IGN recognizes the QB position is watered down this year, with Tom Brady being on IR, and Peyton Manning having a bad wheel.

Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta Falcons. In week 1, when Michael Turner rushed for 220 yards and 2 td’s, the only people more frustrated than San Diego Chargers fans, were Fantasy Football GM’s who passed on drafting Turner. Taken as the 17th running back, and 47th overall pick, Turner has truly come out of LaDanian Tomlinson’s shadow. With 1208 yards, 13 td’s, and 6 100 yard plus games, Turner has helped the Atlanta Falcons forget about Michael Vick.

Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals. Anquan Boldin edges out Larry Fitzgerald, Greg Jennings, Calvin Johnson, and Roddy White in a very tight race to be the top WR in the NFL. Boldin gets the nod for havnig the most points as a WR, despite the fact that he missed games due to a severe head injury suffered week 4. This season, Boldin has 942 receiving yards and 11 td’s in just 11 games. If Anquan had been healthy all season, he would have a realistic shot at being league MVP.

Tony Gonzalez, TE, Kansas City Chiefs. In what might be this season’s least sexy category, Gonzalez proves he is not over the hill at 32. Playing for a very weak Kansas City Chiefs team, Gonzalez has 73 receptions for 806 yards and 6 td’s.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Defense. Playing in the high scoring NFC South, Tampa Bay has scored the most points this fantasy season. What makes this impressive, is that the Bucs have the Carolina Panthers (9-3 this season) Michael Turner’s Atlanta Falcons (8-4 record) and Drew Brees’s New Orleans Saints (4th most points scored in the NFL this year).

Kicker- InGameNow does not see a difference between the top 8 kickers. They have scored between 116 and 110 points. In fact, the 14th best kicker has scored 100 points. This position is not important enough to earn an award!

Most Valuable Player

Kurt Warner, QB, Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner has lead the Arizona Cardinals to be the 2nd highest scoring offense in the NFL. Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the two best WR’s in the game. Warner is having an MVP caliber season, with 3741 yards, 24 td’s, and only 11 ints. Being drafted the 20th QB, and 113th player overall, Warner has beaten all expectations. Arizona’s only losses this season have been against powerhouses: the Washington Redskins, the New York Jets, the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Expect Warner to lead his team into to a playoff win this season, something that does not happen for the Arizona Cardinals.

Fantasy Football Fans: Vote Auction or Snake Draft

October 20th, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

Every year, there is a huge debate between starting a fantasy football league with an auction or a snake draft. InGameNow has challenged The Ted Lilly Fan Club to a debate on what form is best.

Auctions Rule (via InGameNow)

InGameNow is a huge supporter of free markets. In Fantasy Football (yes, we need to capitalize it, its important) the only way to practice free markets is to run an auction. Some Communists such as our “friends” at the Ted Lily Fan club will argue a snake draft is the way to go. This is simply put, ignorant and foolish. Anyone who tries an Auction is hooked, and here is why:

1. A fantasy draft is not fair. In ESPN’s Fantasy Football Auction values, the 1st and 20th picks had a combined value of 88 (LT @ 62 and Braylon Edwards @ 26). The 10th and 11th pics had a total value of 65 (Marion Barber @34 and Larry Johnson @ 31). In a 10 team draft, the first pick has a significant edge over the 10th pick. Picking a draft order out of a hat should not be what dictates a Fantasy Football season.

2. In the auction gm’s are rewarded for being smart, not lucky. To be successful in auctions, gm’s must find value, not get caught up in emotion, and be able to adapt their initial plan as circumstances call for it. Nothing is more rewarding than watching rival gm’s bid up a players price way past fair value. The Ted Lily Fan Club fears this, their ancestors were partly responsible for the 17th century Tulip Bulb bubble. If going to a draft means loosing the 2 dumbest members of your league, don’t worry about it. They are replaceable.

3. Auctions are continuous fun. Any gm can purchase any player, at any point. If you have the first pick in a 10 team draft, you make your first pick, then can leave the room for ten minutes, and not miss anything. In an Auction, if you purchase LT first, you will have the ability to bid on the very next player called. GM’s are rewarded for focusing on every pick, and purchasing as many players cheap as possible.

Long story short, the NFL is an American game and auctions are the American way to run a Fantasy Football league. Do not follow our Communist blogers. Stop participating in the snake draft. Enjoy free markets. Run the auction. USA! USA! USA!

Draft (TLFC’s position)
Once the Ted Lilly Fan Club received the official throw down challenge from In Game Now to debate the merits of draft vs. auction format in fantasy football, we immediately went down to the TLFC Nerdery and Fantasy Sports Data Analysis Lab (TNAFSDAL) which doubles as our post-apocalyptic fallout shelter (complete with endless amounts of creamed corn, D batteries and, ummm, Sears bra catalogs).

First thing we did was to feed reams of fantasy sports data into the Ted Lilly Fan Club Super Computer to determine if the draft format makes more sense then auction format. The results? 60% of the time it works, every time. Not only is the draft format fairer (TLFC actively endorses NAFTA), it also lets each member recall fond memories of learning numbers with the Count on Sesame Street. “Pick One—Adrian Peterson. Pick Two-Ladainian Tomlison. Pick Three—Tom Brady. AH AH AH AH”.

Second thing we did was to pick up the phone and seek advice from recent media superstar and friend of the blog, Joe the Plumber. As educated Ted Heads know, Joe the Plumber, aka Joe Wurzelbacher, is an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business which went against Barack Obama’s notion of wealth distribution.

TLFC: Hey Joe! It’s the TLFC…Just checking in. Saw you last week on Fox News, Dancing with the Stars and TMZ—that bald head is pretty badass. Looks like you’re from the future.

JTP: Oh—thanks. Appreciate the continued support and please send my thanks to TLFC House Mom Brenda for sending down those “Redistribution of Wealth Brownies”. What’s up?

TLFC: Well—we’re sitting here in the middle of a debate on the merits of drafts versus auctions in fantasy football and..

JTP: GO BROWNS! WOOT WOOT! GO BROWNS!

TLFC: Oh, well, okay…like we said, in this debate, we thought that you’d have an interesting perspective. To us, it seems like the draft format is the patriotic format and the auction format resembles the very reason why we’re in this financial mess. Thoughts?

JTP: Absolutely. This is a classic case of Main Street vs. Wall Street. Main Street loves the draft, loves apple pie and supports our troops. The Wall St. fat cats love the auction format, love big-guying the little guy and creating stochastic calculus models that assign a relative value for each player.

Joe’s hit the nail on the head. Auctions require more of a thought process, while drafts require the very minimal amount of Brain Power. The auction format is fun for people who like models, Sudoku puzzles, and statistics. Drafts are for people who drink too much because of relationship problems or deep seeded issues from showering in gym class (”Ummm, thanks, Coach Buckhalter, I’m good…and please stop staring at me”).

Case-in-point, Steve Smith. An astute auctioneer that calculated the value of the Carolina receiver minus the suspension games and tried to scope Smith “on the cheap.” On the other hand, a drafter might see Smith available in the second round and take him as well, but that’s because he’s too cheap to get a draft mag. Boiled down, the defining question of this debate is whether you prefer to admire someone for their careful thought or make fun of their lack of preparation? We at TLFC prefer the later. Drafts are better, no question unless you hate America.

********editors note, Interview with Joe The Plumber is fictitious*****

My husband’s affair with “Fantasy” Football ~musings from a wife scorned

October 15th, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in NFL

They say hindsight is 20/20.

Yes, I’ll admit that looking back now, I can see all of the warning signs clear as day. I don’t know what caused me to overlook them, to ignore them. Maybe I was in denial or maybe I was just blinded by love.

Ryan and I met through, and connected over, sports. We were both working in sports at the time, when a game between our teams brought us together. We discovered that we had a passion for baseball and hockey and that we also shared a love for playing golf. At the time, it seemed like we owed our whole relationship to sports, so I was thrilled when our first real date involved watching the MLB All-Star Game together. I even took it as a sign of fate when our colleges played each other in the Outback Bowl.

While we dated, it was cute when we trash-talked the other’s teams and it was good, clean, competitive fun when we tried to kick the other’s butt whenever we played golf together.

Then somewhere along the line things, or rather, perhaps my opinion of them, changed. Something happened. Football happened.

I don’t think there was one aha! moment, but instead, there were several telling instances that have led me to conclude that from the end of August to the first week in February, the only fantasy that’s on his mind is football.

There was that Saturday night out on the town when, around 10:45p, Ryan suddenly realized he’d forgotten to submit his picks for his league. Faster than you can say “Check, please”, we’d chugged our beers and were in a cab racing to our apartment so he could hop on the Internet and get them in before the Midnight deadline.

Lazy fall Sundays in bed gave way to Ryan’s cell ringing at 9a. It’d be his cohort Mike and they’d spend 15 to 20 minutes discussing what to do about their QB in the wake of a breaking injury report while I lay there with sexy bed-head in my barely-there negligee. Maybe if I looked less like Jessica Simpson and more like Tony Romo, I’d have gotten a better response from him.

At one time, it was fun to host Monday Night Football parties when our team was playing. I’ll even admit, I was known to watch a game when my team was playing, or at least check-in on the score each Sunday. But our-team-is playing on-Monday Night Football turned into Every-Monday Night Football and then Thursday Night Football and all-day Sunday Football.

Then there’s Chicago . Ryan and I were with some of our friends in Chicago on a glorious, crisp September Saturday. Did we take in a show? See the museums? Visit Navy Pier? No. We didn’t even go to a Cubs game. We spent an ENTIRE Saturday in some hole-in-the-wall bar watching College Football games from morning until night. That’s the same College Football which is often on Tuesday through Saturday of most weeks. FAU vs. FIU? CSU vs. CU? I’ll see you in front of the TV because it’s football, so it must be watched! I was so bored that when I ran out of flavored-vodka/cranberry combinations to order, I started asking the bartender to mix the vodkas straight-up. Stoli Razz and Stoli Vanilla do make Stoli Razz-Vanilla and it ain’t half-bad!

And then we became engaged. I wanted to get married in September. That plan was quickly squashed, given that it was the opening weekend of College Football or something like that. Apparently, according to Ryan, none of the groomsmen would want to attend because you see, while none of them are either, A. in college anymore and/or, B. playing football themselves (or in any shape to for that matter!), they’d be too busy watching it and would thus not be able to stand up in one of their best friend’s/fraternity brother’s wedding. I guess my priorities are out of whack. Silly fiancée!

Somehow we made it through the wedding planning and yet another season, though and now we’re married… for richer, for poorer, through wins and losses, in good seasons and in bad.

I just don’t get football, especially Fantasy Football. Something odd about grown men picking other more-athletic grown men to be on their “teams” each week or whatever it is they do. And maybe I’m just a little bit jealous that my husband can remember to submit his picks each week and then work out complex spreadsheets for his league, but when it comes to flushing the toilet or balancing our checkbook, he’s at a loss.

But you know what? I’m a trooper at heart. I’m a pretty hip chick. Like I said, I like baseball and hockey. I’ll attend games and watch ‘em on TV. And when it comes to playing golf, I can hold my own on the course. Heck, in my circle of friends, I am the Schwab to be stumped when it comes to sports.

I just don’t get what the deal is with football. But that’s not important. Ryan has every right to have his own interests; heavens knows I don’t expect him to enjoy Yoga or to join my chick-lit book club. I just have to accept that when the seasons change, his focus shifts from my erogenous zones to the field’s end zone.

Will The Real LT Please Stand Up?!?!

September 23rd, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

Last night, the San Diego Charger’s LaDanian Tomlinson finally made his fantasy owners happy, getting into the end zone twice.  He was 0-fer in the previous two weeks.

In looking at LT’s stats this year, I say he is a total bust as the overall #1 pick. 

week 1: 10 fantasy points  (97 yards rushing, 15 yards receiving)

week 2: 3 fantasy points (26 yards rushing, 14 yards receiving)

week 3: 20 points (67 yards rushing, 20 yards receiving, 2 rushing td’s)

DUMP LT NOW!!!!!!!!

LT breaks another 4 yard gain

In 3 games, his longest rush is 14 yards, and his longest reception is 16 yards.  Take advantage of last nights scores, and punt on this fantasy bust!

Top 10 Week 2 Fantasy Football Players: Plaxico Burress & Adrian Peterson

September 13th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NFL

Notice a trend among these ten players?
The defenses they are playing stink: Rams, Lions, Brown, Bengals and Broncos.

1. Plaxico Burress, NYG WR @StL
2. Adrian Peterson, Min RB Ind
3. Matt Forte, Chi RB @Car
4. Tony Romo, Dal QB Phi
5. Ryan Grant, GB RB @Det
6. Steven Jackson, StL RB NYG
7. Willie Parker, Pit RB @Cle
8. Reggie Bush, NO RB @Was
9. Chris Johnson, Ten RB @Cin
10 LaDainian Tomlinson, SD RB @Den