Not Bad for a Rookie

Who's the rookie I'm talking about? Myself. This is my first season to play fantasy sports. I started last September with ESPN Fantasy Football when a group at my church formed a league. I decided to join and became quickly addicted, this this blog.

After football was NBA basketball, then NHL hockey (which I knew virtually nothing about to begin) and then in the Spring fantasy baseball. I drafted three teams on MLB.com and this week is the championship. Two of my three teams made it to the championship week and my third team second in its division but missed the wildcard slot of the playoffs by a few points (I had a better record than the #4 team but fewer points for).

So now I wait and see if I finish first or second in two out of three fantasy leagues. I'm not really sure why MLB.com concludes its fantasy season so early but it does.

I also have 3 teams on CBSSports and another on Yahoo. Two of my three CBS teams are contending for first place (the other is in third but way behind the leader). I messed up in my Yahoo draft by not paying close enough attention to the scoring rules. I drafted great starting pitching only to discover the league is weighted to hitting and relief pitching. I'm in the middle in that league but learned my lesson - I now read the scoring rules and roster requirements very carefully of the leagues I join.

In one NFL draft that attention seems to have produced fruit. The league rewards Return Yards (10 yards per point; 25 points at 50 yards; 50 points at 100 yards; 100 points at 150 yards). During the draft a couple of other team managers were making fun of me and talking about me being a rookie as I drafted players such as Jerious Norwood, Tedd Ginn, Jr, Nate Burleson and Devin Hester. They didn't pay attention to the scoring format. Tedd Ginn Jr suddenly becomes one of the most valuable WRS while he sits undrafted in most leagues. The same for WR Nate Burleson, RB Leon Washington, Jerious Norwood. RB Maurice Jones-Drew had value anyway but becomes much more valuable in such a format. Since return yards are also included in DST, a team such as Cleveland suddenly jumps ahead of other defenses since Cribbs is such a great returner and returns both kicks and punts. In fact, Cribbs is fore casted to be a top WR in this league solely due to his return yards.

So pay attention to those scoring rules. Learn from my rookie mistake!