Later this week, after the hubbub of the Super Bowl has faded, is an opportune time to start mentally preparing for fantasy baseball. Pitchers and catchers begin reporting to their various Grapefruit and Cactus League locales in the middle to end of next week; therefore, let us begin the 2010 fan......

Often the most valuable players in fantasy basketball are forwards. They can score, rebound and block. They shoot well from the floor, if not from the line. They even create steals. Forwards draw the most attention from fantasy owners, leaving many quality guards up for grabs. Luke Ridnour n......

When Yao Ming came to the NBA back in 2002, the move generated headlines the world over. Despite the fact that he was neither born in the United States nor played college here, he was a household name. Eight years after the 7-foot-6 pioneer's foray into American hoops, the pool of internation......

Over the last few weeks, we have reviewed who the best players were in the 2009 fantasy football season at each position. Chances are that the owners who triumphed in fantasy leagues this fall had a handful of the top performers but distinguished themselves with excellent supplementary players....

As far as first-round picks go, Vernon Davis was running the risk of being one of the biggest busts in recent draft history. Chosen as the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft, Davis averaged 34 receptions, 377 yards and three touchdowns a year through his first three seasons. Consequently, o......

One of the more common verbal salvos launched during fantasy football drafts occurs immediately after Wes Welker is selected. During 2007 and 2008, Welker's ability to haul in an inordinate number of passes had increased his value in point-per-reception leagues but kept him merely above avera......

Figuring to be a year in which there would be a changing of the guard at the running back position, 2009 did not disappoint. Three of the elite running backs are in no more than their third year in the league; a fourth has only four years under his belt. Leading the way in this new corps of ......

Although 2009 may go down in the books as the Year of Chris Johnson should he surpass Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105 rushing yards in a season, the current campaign has been one in which the deepest talent has come under center. Therefore, the retrospective of the season will commence under......

Though it might be too late for some fantasy owners, those that commence the playoffs next week or that will advance in the fantasy postseason in spite of his Thursday night performance have to seriously consider the option of benching Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of t......

With the fantasy playoffs growing ever closer, owners need to prepare their teams for their entire postseason run. Although fantasy owners ought not overlook any of their preliminary playoff games, proactively preparing for late-round playoff games is imperative. Most fantasy football league......

In Week 12 of the football season, many fantasy football owners are starting to turn their attention toward the fantasy playoffs, which typically start in either Week 14 or Week 15. With little margin for error in the fantasy postseason, an injury can completely derail a team's hopes. Th......

A number of players are putting up good numbers this year, but the depth of above-average showings and the absence of record-breaking paces have led to very few enviable fantasy players and even fewer players who ensure fantasy victory on a weekly basis. The parity in performances causes many fan......

Halfway through 2009, the Houston Texans are in line for a wild-card playoff spot. The success in the standings had paralleled triumphs from the Texan players in fantasy football until the events of Week 8 threw the prospects of a number of Houston players up in the air. Steve Slaton has had......

The hottest commodity in fantasy football right now is a player that does not even start for his own team. Owners in nearly 60 percent of leagues acquired New York Jet Shonn Greene this past week in the aftermath of his 144-yard, two-score performance against the lowly Raiders. Greene was a ......

It seems not long ago that Kobe Bryant was winning his first Shaq-less title and that Phil Jackson was carving his name in the annals of coaching greatness as the Lakers defeated the Magic in the NBA Finals, yet the pro hoops season and fantasy basketball drafts are quickly approaching. Here......

In the early goings of the NFL season, the decisions that face fantasy owners often revolve around determining whether a play is good or bad. Roughly one-third of the way through the campaign, owners should have a relatively good idea of what players are prone to good performances and who is look......

Unlike its summertime counterpart, football rarely incorporates significant roster changes once the season begins. This week, however, two newsworthy personnel moves affected a trio of teams. Fantasy owners likewise need to re-evaluate the impact of the myriad players directly and indirectly conc......

Although it seems as if the NFL season just began, teams are already getting time off. The bye weeks in the NFL begin today with four teams getting a respite before a 13-week stretch to end the season. For this and each of the following six weeks, fantasy owners will be playing some of their benc......

Another week of the NFL season, another week of surprises. Tom Brady passed for 216 yards with no touchdowns. Elite receivers Reggie Wayne and Randy Moss combined for seven receptions and a mere 61 yards. The embargo against Steve Slaton, Brandon Jacobs and Matt Forte toting a football across the......

In any particular week in the NFL season, a handful of players will have what will end up being their best game of the entire year. Week 1 is no different; however, stellar performances in the initial week of the campaign tend to carry more weight among fantasy owners.  Drew Brees and A......

With the NFL preseason now complete and the regular season about to get under way, the vast majority of fantasy football leagues have held their drafts. Even though the quality of players selected drops off significantly after the halfway point of the draft, a handful of late-round alternatives or u...

Normally, advice in fantasy columns comes in the form of what players to take and whom to avoid. Analysis of each of these players is meaningful because offensive players provide the majority of the scoring in fantasy football. The most effective evaluation of players revolves around margina......

The gold standard at tight end for the last decade has been and continues to be Tony Gonzalez. At age 33 and playing for someone other than the Chiefs for the first time in his career, Gonzalez is coming off one of his finest seasons. The lone bright spot of a dismal Kansas City squad, Gonzalez had ...

The running back position is always full of surprises. Because running backs are typically the best scoring options in fantasy football, being able to identify low-risk performers, to pinpoint breakthrough candidates and to insure injury risks are all keys to successful fantasy backfields. Adri......

As August starts, America turns its collective attention from its erstwhile pastime to its present obsession. Training camps for NFL teams are now underway, and fantasy (and not to mention real-life) football is on the horizon. Fantasy owners that have not started to mentally prepare for their ......

Over the course of a 162-game schedule, baseball players are prone to feeling the effects of the six-month grind, altering the makeup of late-season games compared to earlier games. Analyzing the trends in the second half of the season will help fantasy owners down the homestretch. One thing th......

Every couple of years a player makes it to the majors and enjoys unbridled success for a short period of time. Phillies fans will no doubt remember Ricky Jordan's rookie campaign of 1988, when he hit home runs in each of his first two games en route to finishing the season with 11 homers in......

Last year at this time, San Francisco Giant first baseman Pablo Sandoval was catching for the Double-A Connecticut Defenders of the Eastern League. Currently, the very same "Kung Fu Panda" is ripping National League pitching asunder with a .331 average and 14 home runs. Sandoval recen......

The rosters for next Tuesday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis will be announced today. Now, therefore, is an opportune time to review the fantasy all-stars of the first half of the year. These players may not necessarily have the best statistics at their respective positions, b...

Conventional wisdom says that the best way to succeed in fantasy baseball is to stay ahead of the curve - to pick up players before they have a breakthrough and to drop players before they start performing poorly. This approach is typically effective, yet it is often difficult to execute without the...

Two of the best players in fantasy baseball this year recently suffered from the same malady. Both Raul Ibanez and Roy Halladay found themselves on the disabled list this week with groin injuries. Neither of these players is completely replaceable, but short-term alternatives are available. One......

You have no doubt read about Stephen Strasburg, the supposed once-in-a-generation phenom out of San Diego State, whom the Nationals selected with the first overall pick of the June amateur draft Tuesday. Fantasy owners have eagerly joined the throng of followers, thinking that Strasburg embodie......

Randy Johnson made news this week when he claimed his 300th victory in a win over Washington. Wins are often the bottom-line determinant of success in baseball. Fantasy owners, especially in the first half of the year, tend to have a skewed view of the importance of wins for their fantasy pitching s...

It is not uncommon to read in this column about the unpredictability of relief pitchers. No other position has seen as many top-tier players have drastically disappointing results in 2009. Five pitchers in the top ten of numerous preseason closer rankings — Brad Lidge, Joakim Soria, Jose ......

On Sept. 25, 2007, Dontrelle Willis walked off the mound in Miami after eight innings pitched. Willis was a 4-2 winner that day over the Chicago Cubs. As it turns out, not only would that day mark Willis' last home start as a member of the Florida Marlins (he was traded to Detroit along with Mig...

A recent No. 1 overall selection in baseball's amateur draft started this season in the minor leagues even though he finished 2008 in the majors. Hailing from an SEC school in Tennessee, he earned a promotion back to the big leagues this week. Although this sounds like it could be future Ra......

In my preseason preview of fantasy catchers, I warned that drafting a catcher with consistent offensive prowess is not often an easy task. That seems to be true thus far in the 2009 baseball season with many top-tier catchers being unproductive. Fantasy owners have probably endured some level o......

Because of the World Baseball Classic, the 2009 baseball season started about a week later than in recent years. That still hasn't stopped players like Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Pena and Ian Kinsler from putting up gaudy numbers through the end of April. Other players, though, ......

Two weeks ago, the advice in this column was not to react too quickly because of a particularly hot or cold start. Now that three weeks of the baseball season are in the books, fantasy owners have more evidence on which to make decisions. A handful of early slumpers have yet to emerge from thei......

During fantasy drafts before the 2008 season, one of the hotter mid-round commodities was straight-from-the-Japanese-League Kosuke Fukudome of the Chicago Cubs. Unfortunately for those owners that drafted the 31-year-old rookie, last year was an unmitigated disaster for Fukudome. He batted .258 with...

The Major League Baseball season commences this evening, with the Phillies and the Braves squaring off. In the next couple of days, every other team will have also started playing. Despite all of the teams being in action, there are still a number of worthwhile fantasy players who are beginning the ...

At this point in the spring, many fantasy baseball owners have already partaken in their draft festivities. Upon reflecting of said draft, a rueful reaction by an owner toward a particular selection is not uncommon. Regardless of whether there is already dead weight on rosters, a handful of fantasy ...

The last two positions to analyze from a fantasy perspective are those positions that owners typically draft somewhat later in the draft. The talent in the catcher pool is relatively thin, and the reliability of many closers is suspect. Because of the physical toll that catching delivers, findi......

Some of the biggest offseason news included starting pitchers. The New York Yankees acquired two coveted free-agent moundsmen, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Jake Peavy was the subject of rumor after rumor of impending trade. Johan Santana made headlines when his status for Opening Day came under que...

The fantasy baseball outfielders bring quite a bit of uncertainty to the table, so the wisest owners will make sure that they draft reliable players ahead of some of the riskier ones. Manny Ramirez was torrid after a midseason trade to Los Angeles last year, and he recently re-signed with the D......

For the past three years, no second baseman has performed better than Philadelphia's Chase Utley. Yet when word of his November hip surgery spread, his superiority at the keystone sack was less important than his prognosis for the 2009 season. Utley has allayed those concerns, taking battin......

As we continue our journey through the infield, we arrive at shortstop, a position that can provide fantasy owners with stolen bases, home runs or batting average. In fact, the top player at shortstop will sustain owners in all three of those categories. Hanley Ramirez is quite possibly the thi......

For a number of years, third base has been a relatively thin position for fantasy production. Many third base rankings include players like Kevin Youkilis, Jorge Cantu, Aubrey Huff and Chris Davis, players who are not true third baseman and are unlikely to play there much this year. Of those who wil...

Fantasy baseball leagues are starting to form, draft dates are being established and spring training is approaching rapidly. For those fantasy owners who are beginning to direct their attention to the upcoming season, we will commence our draft preview at the premier power position, first base....

Today, of course, is the most grandiose day in the landscape of American sport. The Super Bowl, regardless of the competing teams, is the biggest moment on the sports calendar. Even relative passersby tune to watch the game. Unfortunately, because of the excitement of Super Sunday, the followin......

The halfway point of the NBA season is around the time that first-year players begin to become comfortable with play at the highest level. Some rookies, such as Chicago's Derrick Rose and Memphis' O.J. Mayo, have been performing at a relatively high level all year; others are just starting t...

As is often the case, many NBA stars are unable to perform to their full potential this year because of debilitating injuries. The extended loss of these players certainly hurts fantasy owners. Fortunately, the replacements for these players have played quite well when given the chance. A numbe......

For the ardent fantasy sports owner, the months of January and February can be a bit of a letdown. The fantasy football season has ended, yet fantasy baseball is still a couple months away. Some fantasy players have been participating in fantasy hockey or fantasy basketball leagues during the l......

With the completion of the NFL regular season, this will be our last glance back at 2008 from a fantasy perspective. The position to review today is tight end. Undoubtedly, the best tight end this past season was Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez. The 32-year-old veteran was one of the few bright......

Years from now, fantasy football owners will look at the 2008 season as the changing of the guard at running back. The best backs from the past few years — LaDainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson and Brian Westbrook — are decreasingly productive and will be 30 years old by the end of next sea...

As we continue our look back at the season that is nearly over, we will examine how quarterbacks have fared this year. The quarterbacking corps took a hit on opening day when Tom Brady tore up his knee against Kansas City. Brady is far from the only quarterback to suffer injury this year. Carso......

Oftentimes fantasy football analysis is a forward-looking conjecture, yet owners can learn quite a bit by viewing the season retrospectively. Owners who are not currently managing a team in the playoffs can use their free time to perform a valuable examination of the 2008 season as it winds down....

The biggest NFL news this past week, as you are well aware, is that of the accidental firearm-related injury Plaxico Burress imposed on his own thigh. Now that it appears doubtful that he will play for the remainder of the season, fantasy owners have an opportunity to make the best out of a bad situ...

As the fantasy football season wears on, owners must fight the temptation to become unnecessarily upset with star players. A perfect example is that of Randy Moss, who many fantasy owners drafted in the first round. Because Moss has failed to duplicate last year's lofty performance, he was ......

Many fantasy football leagues start the playoffs in the next two weeks, with the remaining leagues waiting until Week 15 to begin the fantasy postseason. Oftentimes, fantasy leagues put a moratorium on roster additions once the playoffs commence. Because an injury late in the season can derail ......

The position that racks up the most points in fantasy football is quarterback, and having a signal caller that consistently posts good totals is imperative down the stretch of the fantasy football season. On Thursday night, Matt Cassel torched the Jets for 400 yards and three touchdowns. Cassel......

Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, reportedly has been considering extending the regular season to 18 games and shortening the exhibition season to just two games. The loudest argument against such a move, and the one that has the biggest fantasy impact, is the number of injuries that will occu...

Week 9 marks the midpoint of the NFL season. For fantasy football it means that the playoff push is at hand, with about a month until the fantasy postseason begins. There are still a few good players who are either fantasy free agents or on many fantasy benches who will help owners down the hom......

As the season progresses, filling in the last spot or two in starting fantasy football lineups can be difficult. Some fantasy owners have had all their players come back from byes and face the dilemma of a surplus of qualified personnel. Other owners have had injuries ravage their rosters, requiring...

In the middle of October, many fantasy owners are focused on guiding their fantasy football teams. With the baseball playoffs also under way, the start of the NBA season can sneak up on many owners. The ball goes up in the air in just over a week, and many fantasy drafts will be held soon. The ......

For years, the common philosophy was to draft running backs in each of the first two rounds of the fantasy football draft. Because of the widespread success of quarterbacks and wide receivers last season, many fantasy owners changed their strategies this year and drafted running backs with less freq...

The nature of fantasy football is such that the focus of owners is mostly on the games that happen on Sunday and Monday. Therefore, fantasy owners often neglect to analyze players the weeks immediately before and after their byes. The Week 4 bye has helped the Seahawks get healthy, most noticea......

The dangerous part about the beginning of the fantasy football season is the degree to which one week affects a player's year-to-date statistics. Owners who can best distinguish between the anomalies and the harbingers in these stellar one-week performances will position themselves well for the rest...

Carson Palmer cannot be this bad. Or can he? Commonly drafted in the first three or four rounds, Palmer has been simply atrocious this year. Through two games, he has completed less than 50 percent of his passes. He has yet to throw a touchdown, but his passes have found the waiting hands of a ......

If fantasy owners learned anything in the initial week of the 2008 NFL regular season, it is that there is no such thing as a certainty. Willie Parker enters Week 2 with more rushing touchdowns in 2008 than he had in all of 2007. Matt Ryan showed no signs of nerves or confusion in starting his ......

Just because fantasy football drafts have been completed and the NFL season is officially under way, a fantasy owner's work is not done. There will be many free-agent acquisitions to make in the early portion of the 2008 football season. Below are players, undrafted in a majority of leagues, tha...

Kicker and defense are not necessarily the two least important positions in fantasy football; they are merely the two most unpredictable. That is the reason that draft picks related to these positions should occur close to the end of a fantasy draft. Some fantasy owners will elect to select two......

Antonio Gates has fantasy owners running for the hills because of a turf-toe injury he suffered last season. On the surface, Gates' injury last year did not slow him down much. After all, he scored nine touchdowns and put up better numbers in 2007 than he did in 2006. In fact, his yardage total ...

Entering the 2007 fantasy football draft, many owners decided to look the other way went it came to a certain wide receiver. A receiver coming off a year with only three touchdowns. A receiver who had averaged a mundane 775 yards per season over the previous three years. Owners willing to take ......

Every year, one player makes a fantasy football team nearly unbeatable. In 2005, it was Shaun Alexander. The following year, it was LaDainian Tomlinson. Most recently, it was Tom Brady, who had arguably the greatest statistical season under center of any man in the history of professional football....

Oftentimes, having the No. 1 selection in a fantasy football draft is a boon; this year, it will be relatively more burdensome. There are two players, LaDainian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, that are worthy of being selected first, but both come with risks. Because both players are running backs, t...

At the end of July every year, major league teams in contention for the playoffs attempt to fill voids in their roster. As the final one-third of the fantasy baseball season beckons, fantasy owners should also explore opportunities to satisfy openings in their rosters. Whereas teams in the majo......

Josh Hamilton's display at the Home Run Derby on Monday stood out as one of the more memorable moments of the season. Viewers of the Derby not only saw a great performance but also noticed that Hamilton had a few Rangers teammates on hand. Milton Bradley, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young all deser......

Over the course of the next two and a half weeks, major-league teams will determine if they have a chance to make a run for the playoffs. Teams in contention will try to bolster their rosters before the July 31 trade deadline. Other squads will look to the future. Aside from keeper leagues, fan......

Voting for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended at the end of the day Wednesday, and the rosters will be announced at 2 p.m. today for next week's game. A number of players have earned spots on a hypothetical Fantasy All-Star team, comprised of those who have played substantially above......

The Colorado Rockies made an improbable run to the World Series last year, helped in large part by rookie Troy Tulowitzki. Colorado has struggled mightily in 2008, and that malady has not escaped its young shortstop. Many fantasy owners mistakenly used Tulowitzki's one altitude-enriched season ......

Remember J.J. Hardy? Last year at this time, the Milwaukee shortstop was hitting .285 with 17 home runs and 49 RBIs. Hurt by a subsequent 36-game stretch with one homer and 14 RBIs, Hardy finished the season with a .277 average, 26 homers and 80 ribbies. That was a career year for Hardy, who is......

In the past two weeks, the Detroit Tigers have lost two starting pitchers. The blessing in disguise, for both the Tigers and fantasy owners, is that their best pitcher will now be in the starting rotation on a full-time basis. Jeremy Bonderman is done for the year after suffering from a blood c......

Fantasy owners who drafted Chipper Jones to play third base are more than content with their production at the position. Elsewhere in the majors, disappointments have been common at the hot corner. Throughout the year, Hank Blalock, then Chone Figgins and, most recently, Ryan Zimmerman have all......

On May 25, 2007, the Milwaukee Brewers promoted Ryan Braun from Triple-A Nashville to the majors. Braun went on to win the National League Rookie of the Year. Almost a year to the day later, May 27, 2008, the Cincinnati Reds sent for their heralded minor-leaguer, Jay Bruce. Bruce hit .364 ......

Nobody expected the Florida Marlins to be leading the National League East in late May. A little over a quarter of the way through the season, the Marlins could be a mirage, yet they recently swept a three-game series from the Arizona Diamondbacks, beating both Brandon Webb and Dan Haren. ......

As the baseball season progresses, fantasy owners can follow fewer and fewer avenues toward consistently good free agents. When the free-agent pool appears shallow, owners can get a boost by using players only during certain conditions. The easiest manner in which a fantasy owner can manipulate......

Joey Votto hit three home runs Wednesday for the Cincinnati Reds against the visiting Chicago Cubs. After a game like this, many fantasy owners start double-guessing themselves for roster moves. For instance, ESPN.com's featured online comment o......

A month into the baseball season, many teams have looked to the minors for reinforcements. Either beset by injuries or simply eyeing the future, major-league teams will continue to promote their better minor leaguers as the season progresses. Fantasy owners need to keep tabs on the players that get ...

Entering the season, many believed that the Oakland Athletics would be one of the weaker teams in the American League. Yet, after taking two out of three games from the Minnesota Twins, the A's entered their weekend series with Seattle tied for first in the AL West with the Los Angeles Angels. ......

Fantasy owners who drafted Ben Sheets could not be happier with his statistical output so far this season. Sheets got the win on Friday night to bump his record to 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA. Unfortunately, he left the start after five innings with tightness in his triceps. Sheets has not yet gone on ......

In a 162-game season, one week is not enough time to make definite conclusions. Additionally, at this early part of the year, very little that transpires should be shocking. Despite those realities, the first series of the 2008 baseball season provided some surprises and key opportunities for fantas...

Every season a number of players emerge from relative obscurity and flourish at the major-league level. Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki battled it out for the NL Rookie of the Year in 2007, but neither was necessarily a surprise. The third-place finisher in the Rookie of the Year voting was Hunter Pe...

With the Major League Baseball season officially starting Tuesday in Japan, many fantasy baseball leagues have either held their draft or will be holding it in the next few days. The fact that catchers and relief pitchers have yet to appear in one of these columns (even though the start of the seaso...

Just as there are three outfield positions, threefold are the trends of players available in the outfield for fantasy baseball owners. Correctly valuing players who have consistently performed well, those on the verge of superstardom and others on the wrong side of their peak will aid fantasy owners...

First base is the premier power position in all of Major League Baseball. At least a dozen eligible first basemen have had seasons of 30 or more home runs during their careers. Because of the widespread clout at first base, successful fantasy owners will look for first basemen who have either an ove...

The second baseman can fulfill any number of needs on your fantasy baseball team. He may be one of your best all-around players if you draft him early, he might be someone to produce a good batting average, or he could be an adroit base stealer. No matter when you choose your second baseman,......

According to Carlos Beltran, the addition of Johan Santana to the New York Mets makes them the team to beat in the National League East. Those fantasy teams that have Santana anchoring their pitching rotations will also sit in good position to finish high in the standings. Santana enters his ma......

At third base, there should be little debate over who tops the list. Alex Rodriguez is not only the primary choice at third base, but he is the first choice in the entire fantasy baseball player pool. For those who need some convincing, consider the following. From the time he was 22 years old,......

With the Super Bowl behind us, the baseball season is but a few weeks away as pitchers and catchers report to spring training later this week. The onset of spring training also indicates the need to prepare for fantasy baseball drafts, which occur throughout March. In order to analyze as many p......

Fantasy sports enthusiasts often refer to themselves as owners. Such a description is fitting as long as the fantasy team is the object of that ownership. Personally, I try to avoid describing anyone as an owner of a certain player. The very idea conjures thoughts of a peculiar institution from......

Kevin Durant has been far and away the best rookie of this basketball season, and he will be on profile during the NBA All-Star Weekend next month. Assuming Durant does not garner a reserve spot on the Western Conference All-Star team, all eyes will be on him in the Rookie-Sophomore Game. Fanta......

The New York Knicks are something else. In the home locker room at Madison Square Garden you will find, among other things, a recalcitrant former superstar; a delusional, self-aggrandizing head coach; and a diminutive reserve point guard. The first two people in the above list, Stephon Marbury ......

As Philadelphia 76ers fans have doubtless noticed, rookie Thaddeus Young is contributing more and more to his NBA team. Fantasy owners will be wise to perceive the similar impact Young can make to fantasy teams. Entering Friday's game against the Bulls, Young saw over 20 minutes of action i......

When it came time to draft a third or fourth guard for your fantasy team, you might have been looking for a player that provided a good number of assists, made a high percentage of free throws and scored in double figures. Averaging 11.3 points and 6.1 assists per game as well as shooting 84.7 ......

Just about one-third of the way through the NBA season, fantasy owners should have a relatively good idea of the players that perform consistently and those that are erratic. We have learned the truth about Warriors forward Kelenna Azubuike. After averaging nearly 15 points and 5.5 rebounds thr......

As another calendar year comes to a close, and with it another fantasy football season, many fantasy players will soon be looking for another conquest. Fortunately, the beginning of a new year brings additional opportunities to play fantasy sports. I know New Year's is still a week away, and ve......

With each passing week of the NFL season, fewer and fewer fantasy owners have meaningful games. As owners are eliminated from the playoffs, they would be wise to examine the results of their leagues in order to prepare for next year. For those owners that missed the playoffs entirely or made a ......

In many fantasy football leagues, the playoffs either started this week or will start next week. Whereas the regular season allowed fantasy owners some leeway and some time in determining whom to start on a weekly basis, the playoffs offer no such margin of error. In the playoffs, a loss ends y......

I find the frequency that fantasy owners' perceptions of a player's performance determine whether or not that player starts or sits on a given week amazing. Though a difficult task, successful owners will separate raw data from expectations. I personally know two owners who lost close games las......

Typically, I find it bad form for a columnist to discuss his own fantasy team; however, the situation on the horizon for my team may mirror that of many other owners. Of the two fantasy leagues I'm in, I own Tom Brady in one and Randy Moss in the other. In large part because of these two N......

Ten weeks into the NFL season, few and far between are the opportunities to acquire a player that will radically improve your fantasy squad. Even so, you might have worthwhile players sitting on your bench. Green Bay's Ryan Grant has tallied two 100-yard games in his last three outings, includi......

The biggest news in fantasy circles this week is the supposed re-emergence of Priest Holmes as a factor in fantasy football. If you were able to acquire Holmes this past week, good for you. If you are planning on starting him this week, that's where the kudos end. Holmes has overcome his doubte......

At the halfway point of the season, it is always interesting to look at the overlooked players who are thriving this year. Likewise, there are a bevy of players that went off the board in the early rounds only to be major frustrations for their owners thus far. Without further ado, let's look a......

The San Diego Chargers had a bye last week, so today's game against the Texans is the first chance to see new acquisition Chris Chambers wearing a lightning bolt. As you might suspect, this trade will have fantasy ramifications for the rest of the season. The biggest beneficiary of this trade i......

This is the time of year when NFL teams take advantage of a bye, one week to recover before the second half of the football season. Just like those teams, this column is taking a bye from football this week. In the place of pigskin talk come fantasy basketball rankings with the start of the NBA......

If your fantasy football leagues are anything like mine, you have noticed that the scores seem to be slightly higher than last year. As it turns out, scoring in the NFL is higher this season. Through four weeks, the average NFL game is nearly three points higher than the first four weeks of 2006....

Today begins the fourth week of the NFL season, and fantasy owners enter the part of the year that requires the most analysis. Because Week 4 is the first week that teams have a bye and because injuries around the league have started to mount, fantasy bench players will find themselves in the s......

A common saying goes something like this: "One is random, and two is a coincidence, but three is a trend." In fantasy football, discovering trends is paramount to success. If you follow the above adage, Week 3 showcases some of the more important games in the NFL season. Today is your first cha......

You see it every year in fantasy football: the knee-jerk reactions after the first week of the NFL season. Owners offer trades left and right. They drop good players that had disappointing openings to the season and pick up unproven commodities that had a great first week. In only the rare......

Ladell Betts and Marques Colston. If either of these players was on your radar at this time last year, you were either crazy or a prophet. Of course, Betts and Colston went on to have outstanding seasons for the Redskins and Saints, respectively. The fantasy owners that were first to nab them f......