2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
- Tom Kessenich
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
From dorky dad to national champion. Terry Haney enjoyed quite a ride in 2007.
Haney began the baseball season hoping for some measure of success in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC). Competing against 374 of the best fantasy baseball owners in the country, Haney embarked upon a journey he hoped would pay big dividends at the end of the season.
When the season came to an end, he found himself sitting atop the pack, $100,000 richer as the fourth grand champion in the NFBC’s history.
“Usually, I hate the last day of the season because it means going cold turkey to my fantasy addiction,” the 55-year-old said. “But last year I was really glad to see the season come to an end. I guess for 100,000 reasons.
“It’s my hope that winning the NFBC gets me a little respect in the household. I think my family thinks I’m kind of weird because I spend so much time with this fantasy game.
“My wife frequently refers to it as ‘your baseball thingy’ and my daughter refers to the annual draft as a Dork Dad Convention. She always asks me when I return from the draft – ‘Did you have a good time at the Dork Dad’s Convention?’”
A dork perhaps in the Haney household, but Terry soon became the envy of the other participants who vied for the title in the NFBC last year. Haney’s season set him apart from the pack and cemented his standing as one of the premier fantasy baseball players in the country.
How many dorky dads can say that?
The NFBC title came in Haney’s seventh year as a fantasy baseball player. He joined his first league in 2001 after reading on a message board that a league was being formed.
“As a lifelong baseball fan who particularly enjoyed the game statistics, I quickly signed up,” said Haney, who spent 25 years in the livestock industry before working in swing trading the last five years.
“I never dreamed it could be so much fun. It wasn’t long before I was following my fantasy team more closely than my favorite MLB team. Not only was my team doing better, but I had total control of the starting lineup and I had no salary concerns regarding roster moves.”
The local league was fun, but like the rest of his NFBC brethren he longed for something bigger and better. When the NFBC was formed, he quickly sensed this was the type of competition he was searching for. But he admitted he had some initial trepidations.
“The entry fee and the differences in rules gave me reason for concern,” he recalled. “Unable to find what I considered a better situation, I called Greg Ambrosius, founder of the NFBC, to discuss the event. I liked his passion and enthusiasm and he quickly eased my concerns and sold me on the idea.
“I not only entered the main event, but also entered an auction league that first year. In subsequent years, I’ve joined as many as four leagues and am considering even more this year.”
He’ll bring a little something extra to the draft table this year. He plans on being even more thorough in his Draft Day preparation this year than he was in 2007. And he was plenty thorough heading into his draft in Chicago.
“Preparing for the season starts with player, team and position analysis, followed by developing a draft strategy,” he said. “Having participated in the NFBC the previous three years with mixed results, I tried to draw from my experiences to develop my plan. I also closely examined the draft of Welcome to Stevieland, the first-place finisher of the 2006 league I was in.
“I practiced several different strategies on Mock Draft Central. I really like the mock draft site as it allows you the opportunity to get a feel of a draft, construct a team and get an idea of position trends. I had a simple plan – draft by position scarcity as opposed to best player available – and to draft players with major league experience and to avoid rookies.”
Haney has played this game long enough to realize that no matter how much you prepare, every draft is different and success on Draft Day is as much about your ability to adapt as it is the amount of time you spent preparing. That was definitely true in his draft in Chicago when, picking seventh in the first round, he found himself staring at Alex Rodriguez, who was still on the board.
“I knew immediately I was going to pick A-Rod, but I took the full allowed time to make my selection as I wanted to think about how taking a third baseman would affect my plan,” he said. “For the most part I stayed with my plan – the only exception being in the 10th round. Right after I made my ninth-round pick, I started thinking catcher, with Russell Martin being my preferred choice.
“Martin was still available but a run on outfielders caused me concern and I picked Pat Burrell. I was immediately sorry and I thought about asking if I could change my pick.”
Haney stuck to his guns and finished the draft, but admits now he didn’t leave the Windy City believing his team had the stuff to win the $100,000 grand prize.
“Upon evaluating my team after the draft, I felt that it was weak in Batting Average, Stolen Bases and Saves,” he said. “Truth is, I was very fortunate to win with this team. I tried, unsuccessfully, all season to pick up a closer. I was lucky that (Takashi) Saito and (Joe) Borowski not only stayed healthy but both kept their closer jobs all season.
“The top four stolen base producers on my team were (Jimmy) Rollins, A-Rod, (Nick) Markakis and (Curtis) Granderson and they all produced 10-15 more stolen bases than I expected. Victor Martinez also performed better than I expected.
“But the real strength of my team was the starting pitching and the fact that (Jake) Peavy, (Josh) Beckett, (James) Shields, (Daisuke) Matsuzaka and (John) Maine all had good seasons meant that I didn’t have to chase pitching throughout the season and thus was able to use my FAAB on batting the second half of the season.”
Despite some reservations, Haney’s team got off to a strong start. He was in first place in his league nearly from the outset of the season and spent much of the first half of the season in the Top 3 of the overall competition.
He hit a lull in Weeks 14-16 as his offense fell victim to an untimely slump and his pitching went south as well. He dropped from first place to 10th in the overall competition and fell out of first place in his league.
“It was during this time that I gave up any thoughts of winning the grand prize even though I never believed that I had a good enough team to do so,” he said. “My focus became just winning my league.”
But things soon changed. Despite some less-than-stellar production, Haney’s team gradually began to rise up in the overall standings and through Week 19 he was in fourth place.
And that’s when Haney began to think that maybe – just maybe – the $100,000 grand prize wasn’t just a pipe dream.
“I looked at the rosters of the teams ahead of me and two of them were having their own issues and I expected that they would come back to me (in the standings),” he said.
His offense began to pick things up, making up valuable ground in the Batting Average category. And by Week 22, he was back in first place, finding himself locked in a fierce battle with Thomas Greenwald’s second-place team.
As the season drew to a close, Haney’s nerves were on edge as the $100,000 prize grew more and more realistic.
“Normally during the season I like to watch games where players on my team are performing, but those last two weeks I couldn’t watch if I had a pitcher in the game,” he said. “If I was watching and the pitcher would give up a couple of hits I found myself hoping that the manager would take him out of the game.”
The nervousness soon ended when the regular season drew to a close and Haney – who normally dreads the end of a baseball season – was elated to find 26 weeks had come and gone and he was the fourth champion in the NFBC’s history.
As a lifetime member of the NFBC, Haney’s title was a rewarding one. It also justified in his mind that he made the right decision to join the event in its inaugural season.
“I can’t imagine being involved with another league or event,” he said. “Last year I was quite fortunate and was the grand champion. I think it takes an understanding of the fantasy game, a love of baseball, a solid draft and more good luck than bad, in order to be successful.
“Many in the event like to say that those that enter make up the best fantasy baseball players in the world. I don’t know if that’s true, but I don’t think it’s likely you’ll find a better group. I know that I’ve found the competitive league I was looking for.”
[ January 04, 2008, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]
Haney began the baseball season hoping for some measure of success in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC). Competing against 374 of the best fantasy baseball owners in the country, Haney embarked upon a journey he hoped would pay big dividends at the end of the season.
When the season came to an end, he found himself sitting atop the pack, $100,000 richer as the fourth grand champion in the NFBC’s history.
“Usually, I hate the last day of the season because it means going cold turkey to my fantasy addiction,” the 55-year-old said. “But last year I was really glad to see the season come to an end. I guess for 100,000 reasons.
“It’s my hope that winning the NFBC gets me a little respect in the household. I think my family thinks I’m kind of weird because I spend so much time with this fantasy game.
“My wife frequently refers to it as ‘your baseball thingy’ and my daughter refers to the annual draft as a Dork Dad Convention. She always asks me when I return from the draft – ‘Did you have a good time at the Dork Dad’s Convention?’”
A dork perhaps in the Haney household, but Terry soon became the envy of the other participants who vied for the title in the NFBC last year. Haney’s season set him apart from the pack and cemented his standing as one of the premier fantasy baseball players in the country.
How many dorky dads can say that?
The NFBC title came in Haney’s seventh year as a fantasy baseball player. He joined his first league in 2001 after reading on a message board that a league was being formed.
“As a lifelong baseball fan who particularly enjoyed the game statistics, I quickly signed up,” said Haney, who spent 25 years in the livestock industry before working in swing trading the last five years.
“I never dreamed it could be so much fun. It wasn’t long before I was following my fantasy team more closely than my favorite MLB team. Not only was my team doing better, but I had total control of the starting lineup and I had no salary concerns regarding roster moves.”
The local league was fun, but like the rest of his NFBC brethren he longed for something bigger and better. When the NFBC was formed, he quickly sensed this was the type of competition he was searching for. But he admitted he had some initial trepidations.
“The entry fee and the differences in rules gave me reason for concern,” he recalled. “Unable to find what I considered a better situation, I called Greg Ambrosius, founder of the NFBC, to discuss the event. I liked his passion and enthusiasm and he quickly eased my concerns and sold me on the idea.
“I not only entered the main event, but also entered an auction league that first year. In subsequent years, I’ve joined as many as four leagues and am considering even more this year.”
He’ll bring a little something extra to the draft table this year. He plans on being even more thorough in his Draft Day preparation this year than he was in 2007. And he was plenty thorough heading into his draft in Chicago.
“Preparing for the season starts with player, team and position analysis, followed by developing a draft strategy,” he said. “Having participated in the NFBC the previous three years with mixed results, I tried to draw from my experiences to develop my plan. I also closely examined the draft of Welcome to Stevieland, the first-place finisher of the 2006 league I was in.
“I practiced several different strategies on Mock Draft Central. I really like the mock draft site as it allows you the opportunity to get a feel of a draft, construct a team and get an idea of position trends. I had a simple plan – draft by position scarcity as opposed to best player available – and to draft players with major league experience and to avoid rookies.”
Haney has played this game long enough to realize that no matter how much you prepare, every draft is different and success on Draft Day is as much about your ability to adapt as it is the amount of time you spent preparing. That was definitely true in his draft in Chicago when, picking seventh in the first round, he found himself staring at Alex Rodriguez, who was still on the board.
“I knew immediately I was going to pick A-Rod, but I took the full allowed time to make my selection as I wanted to think about how taking a third baseman would affect my plan,” he said. “For the most part I stayed with my plan – the only exception being in the 10th round. Right after I made my ninth-round pick, I started thinking catcher, with Russell Martin being my preferred choice.
“Martin was still available but a run on outfielders caused me concern and I picked Pat Burrell. I was immediately sorry and I thought about asking if I could change my pick.”
Haney stuck to his guns and finished the draft, but admits now he didn’t leave the Windy City believing his team had the stuff to win the $100,000 grand prize.
“Upon evaluating my team after the draft, I felt that it was weak in Batting Average, Stolen Bases and Saves,” he said. “Truth is, I was very fortunate to win with this team. I tried, unsuccessfully, all season to pick up a closer. I was lucky that (Takashi) Saito and (Joe) Borowski not only stayed healthy but both kept their closer jobs all season.
“The top four stolen base producers on my team were (Jimmy) Rollins, A-Rod, (Nick) Markakis and (Curtis) Granderson and they all produced 10-15 more stolen bases than I expected. Victor Martinez also performed better than I expected.
“But the real strength of my team was the starting pitching and the fact that (Jake) Peavy, (Josh) Beckett, (James) Shields, (Daisuke) Matsuzaka and (John) Maine all had good seasons meant that I didn’t have to chase pitching throughout the season and thus was able to use my FAAB on batting the second half of the season.”
Despite some reservations, Haney’s team got off to a strong start. He was in first place in his league nearly from the outset of the season and spent much of the first half of the season in the Top 3 of the overall competition.
He hit a lull in Weeks 14-16 as his offense fell victim to an untimely slump and his pitching went south as well. He dropped from first place to 10th in the overall competition and fell out of first place in his league.
“It was during this time that I gave up any thoughts of winning the grand prize even though I never believed that I had a good enough team to do so,” he said. “My focus became just winning my league.”
But things soon changed. Despite some less-than-stellar production, Haney’s team gradually began to rise up in the overall standings and through Week 19 he was in fourth place.
And that’s when Haney began to think that maybe – just maybe – the $100,000 grand prize wasn’t just a pipe dream.
“I looked at the rosters of the teams ahead of me and two of them were having their own issues and I expected that they would come back to me (in the standings),” he said.
His offense began to pick things up, making up valuable ground in the Batting Average category. And by Week 22, he was back in first place, finding himself locked in a fierce battle with Thomas Greenwald’s second-place team.
As the season drew to a close, Haney’s nerves were on edge as the $100,000 prize grew more and more realistic.
“Normally during the season I like to watch games where players on my team are performing, but those last two weeks I couldn’t watch if I had a pitcher in the game,” he said. “If I was watching and the pitcher would give up a couple of hits I found myself hoping that the manager would take him out of the game.”
The nervousness soon ended when the regular season drew to a close and Haney – who normally dreads the end of a baseball season – was elated to find 26 weeks had come and gone and he was the fourth champion in the NFBC’s history.
As a lifetime member of the NFBC, Haney’s title was a rewarding one. It also justified in his mind that he made the right decision to join the event in its inaugural season.
“I can’t imagine being involved with another league or event,” he said. “Last year I was quite fortunate and was the grand champion. I think it takes an understanding of the fantasy game, a love of baseball, a solid draft and more good luck than bad, in order to be successful.
“Many in the event like to say that those that enter make up the best fantasy baseball players in the world. I don’t know if that’s true, but I don’t think it’s likely you’ll find a better group. I know that I’ve found the competitive league I was looking for.”
[ January 04, 2008, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]
Tom Kessenich
Manager of High Stakes Fantasy Games, SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @TomKessenich
Manager of High Stakes Fantasy Games, SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @TomKessenich
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Terry - I know we butted heads at the end of last year, but I wanted to take this chance to say GREAT JOB in 2007! If I remember correctly you set an NFBC record for most % points accrued. Simply awesome!
- Joe Sambito
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Well Done, Terry!
I am the one examing your draft this year. See you in Vegas!
I am the one examing your draft this year. See you in Vegas!
"Everyone is born right-handed, only the greatest overcome it."
2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Nice read and great job Terry. You will always have this great honor on top of your fantasy baseball resume. Will this still be considered a Dad's Dork Convention? Hmmm, you have 100,000 reasons to have your daughter reconsider.
Looking forward to doing battle again in Las Vegas this March.
[ January 02, 2008, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Sack ]

Looking forward to doing battle again in Las Vegas this March.
[ January 02, 2008, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Sack ]
2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
From one dork to another, good job Terry.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Congratulations again Terry
2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Very Nice write up Tom and Congrats to the DORK
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:
“My wife frequently refers to it as ‘your baseball thingy’ and my daughter refers to the annual draft as a Dork Dad Convention. She always asks me when I return from the draft – ‘Did you have a good time at the Dork Dad’s Convention?’” Dork Dads -- an alltime classic.
Congrats again to Terry and great job as always by Tom to put a human touch on yet another dork.
“My wife frequently refers to it as ‘your baseball thingy’ and my daughter refers to the annual draft as a Dork Dad Convention. She always asks me when I return from the draft – ‘Did you have a good time at the Dork Dad’s Convention?’” Dork Dads -- an alltime classic.
Congrats again to Terry and great job as always by Tom to put a human touch on yet another dork.

2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
funny story.. back in the 80's a college pal was a big met fan and wore this DR K t-shirt constantly. After the umpteenth time just sitting around and after the umpteenth beverage being consumed it occurred to the rest of us (about 5 or 6) that why don't we hold him down and with a marker circe an "O" between the D and R. Not that there was much space but the arrow thing would have worked fine too. Unbelievably he held us off and we did not succeed. He was a dork actually but boy did he have game that night ! All we could do was just call him dork. eh, maybe not THAT funny a story.
Once again nice work Mr Haney.

Once again nice work Mr Haney.
2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Now that your Big time Terry, Don't ever forget where you came from.. Remember the time you got laid at the Santee Drive In..
When you come back to San Diego, let's get together and see a Padree game or have dinner.
GREAT JOB IN 2007
When you come back to San Diego, let's get together and see a Padree game or have dinner.
GREAT JOB IN 2007
Jim Ferrari
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2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Good Show Champ! 

2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
I remember talking to Terry after that first season. We competed in the auction, and I recall him saying he was lucky to have beaten me. Then he was hanging around the top 10 overall for a couple of seasons, and he told he how lucky he was to have made it there - really, he was just trying to stay competitive with all the good players. Then I heard the same last season.
I was happy to see Terry win the title last season, because he is a good guy and a very, very good competitor, no matter how much he plays down his competitiveness. Don't be fooled if he's in your league next season and he tries to convince you he isn't the favorite to win your league. He is!
Nice job Big T.

I was happy to see Terry win the title last season, because he is a good guy and a very, very good competitor, no matter how much he plays down his competitiveness. Don't be fooled if he's in your league next season and he tries to convince you he isn't the favorite to win your league. He is!

Nice job Big T.
2007 NFBC Grand Champion Profile - Terry Haney
Terry, I sure hope you got all those tax issues figured out!! I enjoyed our chats in Arizona, even though you burst my bubble and said your team was named after your pal Terry Forster and not me
Good luck defending your well-earned title.

Good luck defending your well-earned title.
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