The beginning of August marks the beginning of the Fantasy football season as leagues start drafting for real and interest grows with each training camp revelation. Player selection, drafting aids and tools, including cheat sheets, player rankings , projections and salary cap become the talk of the fantasy world.

This year promises to be a terriffic fantasy football season with many key players changing teams and many of the established stars fading away. L. T. and Westbrook just to name two of the stars in apparent desendency. However, one of the fading fantasy stars may just have one more great year in him. The question is who?

Drafting leagues are the most popular leagues now, with CBS, ESPN and the NFL being the biggest. Several other free leagues are available. along with numerous premium leagues. Big bucks can be won for a small investment. On top of the commercial leagues, there are innumerable private leagues of all ilks.

My favorite drafting tool is The Live Cheat Sheat from Fantasy Sports Optimizer. You see its banner and ads everywhere now and it is truly unique, due to its interactive way of predictive drafting while being live as your draft takes place. What an advantage!!!!

Salary cap leagues such as H2H and the great Fanball leagues offer a game for the fantasy player who wants to win over many oppnents and not just one a week. Nothing wrong with one on one, but if you are new try one of the salary cap games. They are a lot of fun and require a combination of good player selection to start with and then constant monitoring and updating throughout the football season. Many tools are available to help you including the Optimizer from FSO and a weekly tool called Data Sense. These type of leagues are some of the earliest fantasy fooball games that were available and are still really challenging for the entire season. I remember a few years ago the first prize was won by a player who had one more rushing yard than the second place player. That was one yard out of 10,000. Can’t cut it any closer than that.

There are many of the snap type leagues available also. These are fun in that every week you can have a totally new team. Some have salary caps and some don’t. I play a few of these every week and it is amazing how many times the Monday night game decides your fate. Data Sense this year is my guiding tool and I am looking forward to a great year. Last year I did well, this year I am going to do super.

While there have been many changes some things seem to be a yearly event. The Farve Watch is on, Haynsworth is the most overpaid human being alive and every team thinks that if it all goes right, they have a chance. August is a great time for fans, fantasy and real because their team is the BEST.

Speaking of the best, who can deny that the Saints are being overlooked again this year. They are the Champs and all you hear about are the Pats, Jets, Vikings, Colts and Ravens. I say the Saints are equal to any of those teams and better by far than the Pats and the Jets. Here’s a salute to the world Champion New Orleans Saints and to the rest of the league, it up to you to dethrone the boys from the Bayou.

One team not talked about is my Chicago Bears. How they can be overlooked is without a doubt a serious slight from the gurus of football. Sid Luckman, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus, Red Grange and Walter Peyton are just some fo the all-time greats in football and all were Bears. So why can’t Peppers, Cutler and Forte join them this year? No reason I can think of……Go Bears!!!

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In the fantasy football world player selection is constantly asking the question—who is getting the touches? In mock drafts and then in the real draft, we base a lot of our selection on who is the primary player.

I believe that when it comes to many receivers that they benefit from being teamed with another good player. Why? It is because if you are doubled teamed all the time, it is very hard to get open often and make big plays.

It takes a good QB and offensive line to give the receivers time to get open. But thanks to the NFL’s do not touch after the line of scrimmage rule, it is easier today than a few years ago.

Let’s look at who will benefit this year from additional help. Let’s start with Derrick Mason of the Ravens. Who would you put your best defender on when playing the Ravens, most likely Anquan Boldin. Last year, the defenses thought of Mason first. Now Derrick is getting older and only so many passes will be thrown, but he will get his share and I predict that his average yards/reception will be better.

Another player who will eventually benefit will be B. Edwards when Holmes is allowed to play. Santanio will be the primary go to guy and Edwards, starting in week 5 will become a secondary receiver. But what an opportunity for him, if he can hold on to the ball, he has a chance to be a big time fantasy player, even more productive than early in the season when he is the number one guy on the pass playbook pages.

A primary receiver can also benefit when a good number two shows up. Take Chad Ochocinco, for example, now he has bad knee Bryant and the foot in mouth disease T. Owens to take pressure off of him. I think if either number two is healthy and motivated, Chad’s numbers will soar. Palmer must be on his game, but assuming the same as last year, more openings due to less coverage for Chad O.

There are other examples, such as Dez Bryant, the greatest receiver to never play a pro game, teaming up with Austin Miles. I am sure that the Cowboys are dreaming of single coverage on either guy and letting Romo toss it to the open man. Of course, Dez must live up to his own hype, but the idea is good.

Finally, when a good receiver leaves it opens up opportunities for their replacements. Steve Breaston of the Cardinals is an example. The only difference is that Warner had retired and now Leinart will be the QB, that could be a problem, but let’s see how Matt looks when he is the man.

Player selection tools will help spot the hidden gems, but self searching helps. Use Data Sense to help you, but remember you are the GM of your team and its your call.

Have a good week, do some mock drafts, get your salary caps teams ready. Training camp is almost upon us and the real fun is less than seven weeks away.

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This is an unabashed promo for the best tool available for those in drafting leagues. We do mock drafts in fantasy football for fun and learning. What could be better than to do them with the Live Cheat Sheet from FSO?

Fantasy Sports Optimizer’s unique tool can be used time and time again. Now is the time to purchase it and see what a difference it can make. This is a great time to practice using it and be super sharp when you are drafting for real.

We know that the NFFC has several high stakes games that are lots of fun, win or lose. However, wouldn’t it be better to win? Well, the first step would to be using Live Cheat Sheet, combined with Data Sense for player selection. These two tools will get you off to a fast start and give you the advantage you need in leagues of this caliber.

Live Cheat Sheet assist you in positional selection and which player(s) at that position are best to be selected. Selecting the position is so important due to the variance in league rules and scoring and The Live Cheat Sheet is adjustable for all leagues. Additionally, The Live Cheat Sheet sets up the drafting aid depending on your draft position. Drafting ninth is far different than being first.

Plus as you get use to using The Live Cheat Sheet, your confidence will increase and you can start to feel the thrill of victory.

I would say to those in private leagues…..this is the tool for you!!! It totally adjusts to your rules and can be used in any format or scoring system that is at all rational. I know, some aren’t there, but most are….especially the one that you are in.

Go for it in a big way this year and don’t start with an OK draft, when you can have a great one. FSO’s system isn’t perfect, but it is the best available and combined with your personal knowledge, you are destined for greatness.

Speaking of greatness, my Bears are undefeated so far this year!!!! Go Bears!!!!

Sweetness Uncategorized Sweetness

Every year as we approach training camp there are numerous open questions. This year, however, we have a list of different questions involving some very big names.

Let’s start with the coaches dream boy. Mr. C. Johnson of the Tennessee Titans. Yes, the leagues number one rusher is making noises like HOLDOUT! It is very interesting to hear someone say I need $30,000,000 guarenteed or I can’t play. If I were the Titans, I would say that I was going to offer $29,000,000 guarenteed, but withdrew my tentative offer because I didn’t want to show disrespect. CJ also said he wants to rejoin his teammates as quickly as he can once this is resolved. The offensive line should tell him that he will be donating big to them this year or he can do it himself. I always liked CJ, but really guy “don’t look so self centered.”

The next guy who can’t believe that he isn’t being swooned over is the mouth himself. T.O. is having a problem comprehending that as his skills have waned, his reputation has not. And that rep is bad,bad,bad. Too bad, T.O., nobody wants your mouth. I know you were well behaved in Buffalo last year, but only because no one asked or cared. Good teams want winners, not locker room disrupters. Let’s hope he signs some where he can contribute in all ways. Just act like an adult!!

The next stop is in San Diego for Mr. Jackson, wide receiver star of the Chargers. Things are not going well, rumors of suspensions, angry statements about team mates and the club itself. What is with this guy? This is a team that has been on the edge of greatness and yet always manages to lose in January.

One year it was a defensive back who”had to make a play.” All he had to do was fall down with the ball or knock down the pass. However, he decided to be a hero and ran the interception back, fumbled and lost the game and the season. Sure, New England had to score, but why give them the chance. What happened to let’s be a champion?

There are other examples, but let’s close this on a positive note. There are numerous, wonderful team players in the NFL who play to win as a team. It is a shame that most of the press goes the other way.

Have fun this week, do a few mock drafts, test out your a few of your salary cap ideas and visit FSO’s home page.

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What are some fantasy Football drafting tools? Well, there are numerous rankings of players available on several different sites. Remember, however, that if the site has a fantasy football game, the rankings may be made with this in mind. Check out the difference between ESPN’s player rankings and CBS’s player selection tool and rankings. The difference is huge and the reason is that their respective leagues are very different in how many of each positions are played at one time. We have noted this in previous blogs and are not being redundant, I hope, by pointing out what a player ranking system means to you. If you play in their leagues, the rankings are worthwhile, but DO NOT switch them.

That then brings up what do you do in your league? Well you can see how similar your private or public league is to one of the public leagues that offers free drafting tools. One thing this does is take out some of the bias in other’s drafting tools and helps move you closer to your league. Does it help. sure, but make sure that you understand the difference in scoring and number of players at the various positions.

What else can you do? Well, one good player I know, does relative rankings based on last year’s results and how he thinks it is going to be this year. For example, he views Joe Flacco more favorably this year than last due to the improvement in his receiving corps. Now does he add 10% or 24% or 37% to Joe’s score from last year? He isn’t telling me, but it may make Baltimore Joe an earlier pick than normally. You can do the same, just don’t get carried away. Baltimore Joe is not going to pass for 5400 yards and score 439 points, new help or not.

Something else some fantasy’s gurus do is pick players in later rounds that are going to have their BREAKOUT years. Year three is the magic year for receivers or so they say. Sometimes adding a Farve is even better. So look around and see who is in a much better position this year than last and draft accordingly.

Does your league have mock drafts? Probably not, but it might be fun. Think of the goofing off you can do and the beer you can drink. Party mock drafts should be started everywhere just for the fun of it.

My favorite drafting tool is The LIVE Cheat Sheet from none other than Fantasy Sports Optimizer. FSO’s drafting aid is the only true interactive, on line, real time drafting tool available any where. It also allows you to enter your leagues parameters into the system before the draft and then it is poised to spring forward when the clock starts. Just think, your draft is unique and proceeds along its own path. LIVE Cheat Sheet goes right along with it, constantly adjusting to the changing conditions and give you the positions to pick and recommended players. WOW!!!!

Check it out on the FSO website and then buy it. It is very affordable and will make a big difference in your drafting this year.

By the way, the Fantasy Football Open Championship website is inactive this year. Too bad. However, Fanball’s National Fantasy Football Championship is alive with more high stakes games than ever. Lots of fun and lots of dollars. Look em up at Fanball.com

Now a word about my Bears. They are poised for greatness this year. Mad Mike and the Jaybird are still talking to one another, the defense is sacking the local markets and the offensive line promises to block forward this year. Its too much to ask for, but Lovey does anyway. What a team…look out Pack and Vike fans, the Chiville team is number one in the Black and Blue division this year.

Go Bears!!

Sweetness Uncategorized Sweetness

We do mock drafts for fun, practice and learning. We spend time ranking our players, using aids and tools and seeking the magic ingredient for a fantasy football championship.

When the real draft occurs, we need the type of Cheat Sheet that helps us in OUR league with its scoring and its rules (private or public), helps picks the best overall team for the highest score and adjusts as the draft proceeds with the its own unique quirks.

In drafting for real, however,many times we seem to lack one very important aspect and that is “HELP the sucker in front of me just drafted my player”….what do I do? I’ve only got 52 more seconds!!!!

The answer to that question is not to look on your printout to see who is next, but to look at your computer and see what FSO’s Live Cheat Sheet says is the best position to choose and gives you several choices of equivalent players to fill the slot. No doubt, a system which is dynamic and helps you pick the best position and the best player at that position, depending on what is happening in your draft is so much better!!!!

This LIVE, on the spot tool is essential, if you are to top the league in January. A cheat sheet down loaded from a general source just does not meet the standards of excellence that you deserve and need. How can it? It isn’t dynamic, it isn’t set for your rules and it certainly isn’t going to adjust to the ins and outs of a live draft. That is why the Live Cheat Sheet from Fantasy Sports Optimizer is best, it does all those things.

I know the others are free and cost nothing….why because they are worth next to nothing. I give them their due in that they give you a general idea what to do, but you need specifics…..very many specifics in the right order and on a on-line and in real time basis.

FSO will deliver the goods, so visit the website and then sign up. Victory is yours in less that seven months from now. Have a great week and do some mock drafts for fun or fill out a salary cap team off the top of your head just to see what it might be, before you do your due dilligence.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

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