HOW TO DO RESEARCH AND WHO/WHAT TO READ IN ORDER TO GROW YOUR FANTASY FOOTBALL DICK LONG ENOUGH TO START FUCKING SOME PEOPLE
Okay, first and foremost, you need to be watching football. Doesn't matter if it's live, or if it's on TV, or if it's just highlights after the fact, or if it's sweetened condensed replays on the NFL Network, or if it's NFL RedZone - the single greatest invention of all time. It doesn't matter if it's any of that, you just need to see the players perform with your own eyes. I cannot stress this enough. Fantasy football sucks if the stats don't mean anything but stats. Plus, you'll be able to make better decisions if you can say things like, "jesus, that guy is fast," or "christ, that dude is big and hits the hole hard." More advanced observations would be things like, "lord, that kid sucks picking up the blitz, and he's going to get his QB killed and the coach is going to bench is sorry ass," and "holy ghost, that guy works hard as shit in the red zone, I bet he starts earning targets down there." Don't just read stuff, watch it yourself and be a man and make your own decisions sometimes. I specifically recommend DVRing Football Night in America on NBC, and watching it Sunday night at your convenience (maybe during halftime of the Sunday night game.) So that's the first bit of weekly homework -- watching football. Goes without saying, but you'd be surprised with some of the numbnuts playing fantasy football these days. :eyeroll:
Now the second part of weekly homework -- review the stats. I start on Monday morning, with a thorough scouring of the box scores. Make sure the scores you use also list the stat "targets." Josh Gordon's 2-125-1 stat line means something totally different if it came on 10 targets as opposed to 2 targets, right? Anyway, seeing a dramatic uptick in targets is the best way to scoop your opponents when it comes to churning the waiver wire for the next WR flash in the pan. You understand these fine points, right? Do I need to overexplain these nuances to you? Just quit and go back to Madden.
After watching football and scouring the stats, I get into the third piece of weekly homework -- reading articles. I never read fantasy football articles for advice on what to do with my team. I read them in order to be entertained and to potentially hear some angle I hadn't otherwise considered or news I hadn't otherwise heard. ESPN's Matthew Berry is good for the entertainment and the angles. SI.com's Peter King is good for the news. I have a few other sources, and I just glop it all together with what I saw with my own eyes and in the box scores to form a mish-mash of knowledge, belief, and conviction. That's the magic potion that produces winning on the virtual gridiron. That witches' brew is what wins championships. In this game, knowledge is power... and well-rounded knowledge is key, not just hearing one single shrill shriek about which way the wind blows.
I'm damn good at fantasy football, and here's my weekly schedule:
I'm damn good at fantasy football, and here's my weekly schedule:
- Sunday: watch football
- Sunday night: watch Football Night in America
- Monday morning: scour box scores
- Monday night: watch football while reading Peter King's [extremely-long] MMQB article and ESPN's Weekend Wrap
- Tuesday: read add/drop advice pieces from ESPN's Matthew Berry and my favorite FF pay-site, The Huddle
- Wednesday morning: submit waiver claims
- Wednesday: talk smack on the message board, listen to FF podcasts
- Thursday: self-scout for that weekend and set my roster
- Friday: step away and try to avoid overpreparing, maybe do some work while I'm at work (but then again, it's Friday)
- Saturday: get drunk and watch UVA football, maybe throw in some parenting
- Sunday: win, rinse, and repeat
