Maybe it has been all the rain over the last few days, or the oppressive heat this summer or just quite possibly it was being stuck on an un-air-conditioned subway car this morning for 45 minutes but I am feel quite in the contrarian mood. In this case it's a good thing because it is letting me look at Fantasy Football, and more broadly at Fantasy Sports, through a different lens. I've decided that this season, once a week, I am going to look at this game we love to play from the other side of the 'pond'. No, I'm not in London advocating for the NFL Europe to return but I will be trying to separate myself and opinions, at least here, from the masses of mainstream media that try to feed you Fantasy Football in a neat little package.
You know the 'package' – it's the 'uber' site that not only gives you stats (which are useful) but also gives you projections (ok, good debate fodder) but then goes on to try to turn you and your league in to auto-bots that go through life on auto pilot. You think I'm wrong? Ha! What the FUCK is auto pick then and why are you able to use it? I think, at least I hope, it was created as a 'fail safe' for online drafters in case they get bumped off line or get called out of their room by their 'Mommy'. Me, I hate online drafts --- loathe, loathe, loathe them. Put me on a plane and take me to my 'boys' or Vegas or wherever but I need to be in a room, shooting the shit; I mean isn't what this was all about in 1992 when I joined my first league?
Enough with the diatribe, I apologize. So throughout the season I will try and tackle the mainstream thought 'police' out there and see if we can't refocus the lens.
Today's example – Rankings based on the previous season for Running backs in particular. Every magazine you pick up and who's the #1 pick? Well OF COURSE its Chris Johnson; has to be CHRIS JOHNSON. Look at his totals last year, it's Chris Johnson. Ok, I get that, but then why wasn't Chris Johnson last year's #1 pick? Oh, he didn't have the stats to support it. You mean, the guy who led the previous year didn't again --- big shocker! Anybody remember the CONCENSUS #1 pick just one year ago? Yep – Adrian Petersen. Where did he finish? 5th in Rushing…in fact, in just the last 3 years of the 15 RB's who finished in the top 5 (in rushing) only Petersen (all 3 years) and Steven Jackson (2 of the 3) are repeaters on the list. So why is he the #1 pick this year? It's because of FEAR! The fear begins with the "experts" because of the 'herd mentality'. G-d forbid you step out of line and look elsewhere --- people will stop buying your magazine, subscribing to your website or mock you on the intertubes. Fear on the behalf of the millions of Owners out there who hold the #1 pick. You will agonize, debate internally and dissect ad nausea (that's BS because the second you learned you had the #1 you though Chris Johnson, but I'll give YOU the benefit of the doubt). And lastly fear of the unknown. We all know that CJ is the choice, it's the easy one to make, the 'right' one, the safe one, but based on statistics more than likely the WRONG one and guess what Mr. #1 Draft Pick Owner, you have a LONG wait until you make your next pick. Who else would you take? There's the real FEAR…
Every year there seems to be a more desirable spot in the draft. To me, this year it is at #4. Why is that? Well if #1 is a no brainer because CJ's stats last year, well, #4 is the next big no brainer and there is a huge drop off to #5 (in my mind). At #4 we can assume that CJ is gone and that any rotation of AP, Maurice Jones-Drew or Ray Rice will be left. Guess what, give me ANY of those three and I am ecstatic!
