Week 15
12/25/09
Every industry has experts; those sages that dispense wisdom
and truth from atop the mountain. In philosophy these learned men
wear long, flowing robes and an equally lengthy beard is required.
In fantasy football, a backwards ball cap, clipboard of notes, and
half empty bottle of Coors Light is more likely. But are these guys
truly experts? Do they know any better than the rest of us schmucks?
Each week Analyzing the Experts will take aim at one or more of
these so-called oracles and find out…
Week Fifteen is Analyzing the Expert’s championship round.
Only four teams were still standing before this week and all the
mediocre and (in the holiday spirit I’ll be nice here) less-than-average
teams had long ago been sent packing. CBS Sports and Rotoworld benefited
from a first round bye since they won their respective divisions.
Meanwhile Fox Sports eliminated FF Toolbox in the wildcard round
and FF Sharks, our playoff underdog, survived a match up with pay-site
Football Guys.
Our team for the week is PaulBusters, owned by (wait for it),
Paul in New Jersey. Somehow I managed to stumble across another
Philadelphia homer, which is very disheartening for this Pittsburgh
Pens fan. At least I can take some solace in the whooping the
Penguins have been putting on the Flyers recently.
- QB: Flacco, Freeman, Rivers
- RB: Charles, Forsett, Rice, P. Thomas, L. White
- WR: Britt, Chambers, D. Jackson, A. Johnson, C. Johnson, Sims-Walker
- TE: F. Davis, V. Davis
- K: Hartley, Longwell
- Def: Bengals, Saints
Paul obviously enjoys owning players with the same last name.
To be fair, he didn’t really have Freeman or LenWhale on
his team. I just threw them in to get his roster up to the necessary
twenty players. Paul has a serious dilemma at receiver and has
managed to cobble together a halfway-decent running back stable.
He ranked his team and scored a solid if unremarkable 82.
Championship Round Games
| Pick Color Codes |
|
| Correct |
|
| Missed by: 1 |
|
| Missed by: 2 |
|
| Missed by: 3 |
|
|
| |
F
l
a
c
c
o |
F
r
e
e
m
a
n |
R
i
v
e
r
s |
C
h
a
r
l
e
s |
F
o
r
s
e
t
t |
R
i
c
e |
P.
T
h
o
M
a
s
|
L.
W
h
i
t
e |
B
r
i
t
t |
C
h
a
m
b
e
r
s |
D.
J
a
c
k
s
o
n |
A.
J
o
h
n
s
o
n |
C.
J
o
h
n
s
o
n |
S
i
m
s
-
W
a
l
k
e
r |
F.
D
a
v
i
s |
V.
D
a
v
i
s |
H
a
r
t
l
e
y |
L
o
n
g
w
e
l
l |
B
e
n
g
a
l
s
|
S
a
i
n
t
s |
TPts |
| Correct |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
| CBS |
2 |
NR |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
NR |
4 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
NR |
1 |
80 |
| FF
Sharks |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
NR |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
90 |
|
FF Sharks manages another shocking upset, humbling our #1 seed.
This one wasn’t even close. Sharks was the only Expert to
get the quarterback and tight end positions correct and they were
pretty accurate across the board. They reached a bit on Kenny Britt
and Sims-Walker disappointed, but there were no other significant
issues. CBS chose the wrong week to falter as their ranking of Chambers
at worst WR (like everyone else other than Sharks) cost them a few
points. It was a similar story with Calvin Johnson. CBS only managed
four correct picks out of twenty. That’s not enough to play
in the big game next week.
| |
F
l
a
c
c
o |
F
r
e
e
m
a
n |
R
i
v
e
r
s |
C
h
a
r
l
e
s |
F
o
r
s
e
t
t |
R
i
c
e |
P.
T
h
o
M
a
s |
L.
W
h
i
t
e |
B
r
i
t
t |
C
h
a
m
b
e
r
s |
D.
J
a
c
k
s
o
n |
A.
J
o
h
n
s
o
n |
C.
J
o
h
n
s
o
n |
S
i
m
s
-
W
a
l
k
e
r |
F.
D
a
v
i
s |
V.
D
a
v
i
s |
H
a
r
t
l
e
y |
L
o
n
g
w
e
l
l |
B
e
n
g
a
l
s |
S
a
i
n
t
s |
TPts |
| Correct |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
| Rotoworld |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
80 |
| Fox |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
82 |
|
In what has to be considered another upset, although not quite as
surprising, Fox Sports squeaked past Rotoworld by a slim margin
due solely to their better receiver picks. These two Experts had
identical rankings with the exception of Britt and Sims-Walker being
reversed. Fox won that match up and the corresponding contest, but
they aren’t exactly heading into our title game on a hot streak.
Notice that our team owner managed to tie or beat three of the
four playoff Experts with his score of 82. Once again, the helpfulness
of fantasy football analysts has to be questioned. I’m sure
Paul consulted some of these gurus to come up with his own rankings,
but with the exception of Sharks, no one else rose to the challenge.
Playoff Standings
Our final game, in which we will crown someone King of the Experts,
will be between FF Sharks and Fox Sports. We’ll see if Sharks
can continue their run and represent indie sites across the Internet
or if Fox can continue the domination of evil corporations over
the world.
Expert Breakdown
Over the last four months both my wife and I have spent gobs
of time perusing all of the Experts’ websites, reviewing
their picks, and generally getting to know them pretty well. A
number of readers have been asking for recommendations on who
they should use to rank their teams and I figured I could share
my experiences with each of our competitors so everyone can make
up their own minds. At the same time, I thought I would give an
appropriate Christmas gift to each Expert, exemplifying their
fantasy prowess.
AOL: I used to write for AOL Fanhouse,
making me more familiar with their inner workings than I would
like to be. Most everything they do is in a blog format. In theory
this has the advantage of being timely and encouraging reader
comments and interaction. However, AOL was clearly one of the
least up-to-date rankings I had the misfortune to examine and
these picks were often posted at the last minute when there were
early games. As far as reader comments – do you really care
what some idiot from San Francisco thinks about Mark Sanchez?
Christmas Gift – used socks.
CBS Sports: CBS actually has two
Experts who provide side-by-side rankings. I chose Jamey completely
randomly at the beginning of the season and, according to him,
the other guy is just as good. Their rankings are clear, concise,
and easy to find. Most importantly, all of the data we’ve
accumulated shows that Jamey was the most consistent Expert of
our group, placing in the top spots most every week. Christmas
Gift – tickets to the Knicks.
ESPN: This Expert is actually a
composite of four analysts. That can be either good or bad depending
on your point of view. Taking an average means readers will seldom
get the perfect line up as everyone’s views are mashed together.
On the other hand, it also means that this site seldom delivers
a horrible week of rankings. I guess I could have grabbed one
of their Experts at random and used him to represent ESPN and
I might do so next year if they are with us again. Christmas Gift
– half-eaten box of chocolates.
Fantasy Football Cafe: I really
don’t have tons to say good or bad about FF Cafe. I’m
annoyed that Microsoft Word keeps trying to put an accent over
the ‘e’ in Cafe, but that is the most memorable thing
about this Expert. Clearly middle of the pack. I didn’t
realize that the rankings Expert at FF Cafe also does some of
the blogging at AOL, so we got a little bit of unintentional duplication
going on. Christmas Gift – ugly tie.
Fantasy Football Today: These guys
pay me, so I may be a bit biased. On the other hand, they are
great sports about the crap I regularly give them. As Mike (who
does the FF Today rankings) said, “Accountability is a word
we cherish around here…” They ended up with a middling
record but are still the place I go to when I want an independent
voice. They always have their own opinion. Sometimes it is even
right. Christmas Gift – a week with no few insults tossed
their way.
Fantasy Football Sharks: Hey –
they are in the title game, so obviously there are some skills
involved here. They slid into the postseason after a regular season
spent under the radar, but have done well enough over the last
couple weeks. I wish their rankings were formatted a bit nicer,
but I can’t complain too much considering the mess some
rankings are in. Christmas Gift - $25 Wal-Mart gift card.
Fantasy Football Toolbox: These
guys were my favorite to win it all halfway through the season.
But a couple rough weeks and some bad luck left them on the outside
looking in. I love their site – simple and easy to navigate.
My wife hates it for one reason: each position is ranked over
multiple pages, making it impossible to search through without
going to multiple web pages. This would probably never occur to
most people, but those who are savvy enough might find this peculiarity
annoying. Christmas Gift – bottle of excellent but cheap
wine.
Football Guys: My relationship
with our pay sites was rocky at best. They have a very strong
aversion to being examined, rated, or critiqued. FB Guys was the
better of the two pay contestants by far, but still not worth
paying for. To their credit, there is tons of information available
on their site. Good luck finding what you are looking for though.
Christmas Gift – an invoice for the $28 I wasted.
Fox Sports: Here is our other title
contender. I wish I could say that I love the site, but I really
can’t. Fox Sports is a morass of pictures, videos, and links
to everything from their fantasy manager site to breaking NCAA
Men’s Basketball updates. Roger’s picks have been
solid, but finding them can often be a challenge. Christmas Gift
– dirty coffee mug.
KFFL: Every league needs someone
to laugh at, and KFFL was nice enough to help us out this season.
They were truly horrible from start to finish and I can’t
recommend anything about their site to anyone I like. I’d
love to see these clowns back next year though to see if they
can right the ship or if it will continue taking on water. Christmas
Gift – coal. Lots of coal.
NFL Fantasy: I expected better
from the NFL’s own website. Their rankings were often shallow
and copycat, seldom providing anything interesting or helpful.
They managed to salvage a few shreds of dignity at the end of
the season with some solid efforts. By then I really didn’t
care. Christmas Gift – re-gifted fruitcake from Christmas,
1991.
Rotoworld: Our King of the Experts
from Season One, Rotoworld was a contender from start to (almost)
finish. I don’t know how often they go out on a ledge with
a pick, but they will always put you in a position to win. I use
these guys more for their news updates than rankings, but it’s
a nice site overall. Christmas Gift – six-pack of Sam Adams.
Yahoo!: This is another site that
throws so much multimedia at you that finding anything is problematic.
Combine that with slow posting of rankings and an average outing
by their stable of Experts and I’d rather use someone else
for my consensus rankings. Christmas Gift – t-shirt that
says “Worst Present Ever”.
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