Live Chat With Greg & Tom: Friday at 2 p.m. EST

[Greg Ambrosius]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but what about an overall live standings? I know the response to this in years past was it would be too taxing on the system. Still true with Stats on board?

Emmett

You must be reading my mind. I just asked IT about overall live standings and got a positive answer. I can't say exactly what we can do, but stay tuned. This could be the crack cocaine you guys all need late in the season and something that would REALLY make the national contests something special. Stay tuned.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg- What is the relationship between NFBC/NFFC and Stats? Specifically is NFBC/NFFC a stand alone business owned by whoever and contracts with Stats for the software, scoring, IT and such? or does Stats own everything? I'm asking for no other reason than to just understand it, espeically with the Failure of some high profile Fantasy companies/services the past 2 years.

thanks

Mike

This is NOT a stand alone business. This is part of the STATS and News Corp family and we're VERY proud to be part of that family. It should show everyone that we not only have the huge technological backing of a national company, but the financial backing to grow this business.

Last year when I was able to buy back the NFBC and NFFC in an Asset Acquisition from Liberty Sports Interactive, I wanted NO PART of being solely owned. I know that may sound odd, but my first call had to be to a technology company anyway and why not go beyond hiring someone and just partner with them on everything. So we found the perfect setup for Tom & I, and STATS. And I couldn't be prouder of the way this first year has gone.

The sale was official on Feb. 16, 2011 from LSI and two days later I joined STATS. Tom officially came on board a week later. So our one year anniversary is coming up and we couldn't be happier with the last year and the future of these contests/events.

[Quahogs]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but what about an overall live standings? I know the response to this in years past was it would be too taxing on the system. Still true with Stats on board?

Emmett

Excellent question - I was just going to post on this !

This is out there in other backends. There would have been nothing more exciting to see the back and forth between KJ and Lindy last season. As exciting as the last day in baseball was to the baseball fan it could have been all that and MORE if live scoring was showing how those games were affecting the overall between them.

Greg, I've never seen so many new players ponying up. They're coming from their local leagues and CBS sportsline and are live standings junkies. Many are hitting the slow drafts and will be watching intently as the overall slow draft contest plays out. I'd hate for these new players to walk away disappointed in that aspect of STATS.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg - Is it possible to improve the waiver wire (FAAB)?

1. Rather than click on conditional bids (players) to move them up one at a time. Could it be setup so that all you have to do is click and drag a player up and down on the bid list? This would make the FAAB process much faster

2. Also for Football it seemed like during peak FAAB hour the site slowed down considerably. To the point where you couldn't access FAAB quickly or if you made changes to bids or added players to a bid group it took a while to load. Can anything be done so there is not that much of a delay?

3. Any chance that lineup deadlines could be set for the time of that specific player's game? Example: Players that play at 7 EST on Monday would lock at that time, but if you have players that play at 10 EST they would not lock until 5 min before their actual game. (Sack pretty much beat to it)

4. Live scoring was definitely slower than other sites. It's strange, but CBS updated much faster. I like all of Doughboys ideas/questions

Thanks

1. I know that RT Sports had this feature for baseball last year, but we do not have it in our schedule to add this. Sorry.

2. This is the first I've heard of that. I'll forward to STATS to look into, but again I didn't hear of this in the NFFC.

3. I hope and think it can be done.

4. Again, the data is GENERATED by STATS and shouldn't be going to any other fantasy site faster than NFBC's. It's being pushed to all providers equally. When the season starts, we'll replicate anything you're seeing and find a solution. We agree to make the speed as fast for you on here as it is anywhere else in the industry. It's OUR Live Scoring dammit.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but what about an overall live standings? I know the response to this in years past was it would be too taxing on the system. Still true with Stats on board?

Emmett

Excellent question - I was just going to post on this !

This is out there in other backends. There would have been nothing more exciting to see the back and forth between KJ and Lindy last season. As exciting as the last day in baseball was to the baseball fan it could have been all that and MORE if live scoring was showing how those games were affecting the overall between them.

Greg, I've never seen so many new players ponying up. They're coming from their local leagues and CBS sportsline and are live standings junkies. Many are hitting the slow drafts and will be watching intently as the overall slow draft contest plays out. I'd hate for these new players to walk away disappointed in that aspect of STATS.

No need to hammer it home. We agree. And we can get it done. For football, there is NO QUESTION it has to be done this year. And I'm being told it's possible for baseball at some point. Agreed, this is great stuff and if the system can handle multiple national contests following regularly updated live standings NOTHING would be better. You guys would overdose on this new drug. I know all of you, and I KNOW YOU WOULD OD ON IT!! I hope to have an update soon, so no need to sell it. I'm a player too; I get it.

[CC's Desperados]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but what about an overall live standings? I know the response to this in years past was it would be too taxing on the system. Still true with Stats on board?

Emmett

This needs to be done. It's been done by another company and the BIG Dog needs to step up and have this in place for this season for Baseball and Football. It's like we are using dial up internet for the overall standings. We are behind the times.

[Money]

It looks like the natives are restless wanting to talk about the software. I'll throw you a baseball question. Winston brought up earlier calculating the impact of injuries. I was impressed he took the time to list so many. I'll throw out three.

Josh Johnson
Tommy Hanson
Adam Wainwright

Johnson and Hanson are currently being taken ahead of Wainwright. I've gotten to the point where I hate shoulder injuries and am more willing to take a risk on the Tommy John guy. In this case it's Wainwright. How about your opinion on all three?

Thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

It looks like the natives are restless wanting to talk about the software. I'll throw you a baseball question. Winston brought up earlier calculating the impact of injuries. I was impressed he took the time to list so many. I'll throw out three.

Josh Johnson
Tommy Hanson
Adam Wainwright

Johnson and Hanson are currently being taken ahead of Wainwright. I've gotten to the point where I hate shoulder injuries and am more willing to take a risk on the Tommy John guy. In this case it's Wainwright. How about your opinion on all three?

Thanks.

Wainwright is still being taken slightly ahead of Johnson in a lot of drafts I'm watching. Their ADPs are 87 (Wainwright) and 92 (Johnson), with Hanson at 123. I haven't seen Hanson go ahead of Wainwright much in NFBC Slow Drafts, if any.

I think you're feeling the same way that many veteran NFBC guys are feeling. Johnson didn't have any surgery, just rest and rehab. That's scary. To be shut down that long and not have anything looked at inside is scary for me and I think it's scary for other owners. We'd rather have seen inside that arm and fixed whatever shut him down. But it's rest and rehab and by spring everyone is on board that he's good to go. He might be, but it's tough for me to buy on that stock.

The reports yesterday were that Hanson has tightened his delivery and the Braves were excited about his mechanics. I like him and I think he's going too low now. People have a reason to be concerned about last year's injury, but he's less of a concern and should be fine. What he's doing with his delivery should prolong his career and make him the ace we know he can become in 2012.

All reports on Wainwright are great and it will be fun to watch him pitch this spring. Again, his ADP last year before the injury was like 61; now it's two rounds later. If healthy -- and we've seen several pitchers bounce back nicely from TJS -- then he could be a bargain if he remains late in the 6th round.

Of the three, Wainwright will put up the best numbers and Hanson will be the best value.

[The Franchise]

Greg or Tom:

Lineups lock every Monday at 6:55pm (EST). Yet, when we have a special game such at the Patriots
Day game in Boston the ONLY players that lock on that Monday are the two teams that are playing in the game. If
you can do it here????????

Would it be possible to extend that lock on Monday nights to the West Coast teams and allow final
decisions on those players when we can look at the lineups for those particular teams? Same extends to the
Friday period. If you have the technology for Patriots Day, wouldn't it make the NFBC a better product in helping the player make
important lineup decisions at the latest available time without giving anybody a decided edge over the competition for the other 52 deadlines? Thanks.


I compare this to the NFFC and the NFL. We don't have to make a decisions on players that start at 4pm, Sunday or Monday night when they kick off at 1pm. Why in baseball, must me limit ourselves to the East Coast starts? The same limitations for football will apply. If you have a player that is starting at 7pm on a Monday HIS decision must be in place
at 6:55pm. (est)

This is something we looked at as well. I don't think this is hard for us to do. I'll ask again, but yes this is something I think we can do on Mondays for the later starting teams. And if a team didn't play at all, those players would be part of that last lineup setting among West Coast teams. I mean, they have to be locked at some point and that last Monday lineup change would be it.

I'll ask again, but we did review this one.

Greg - Can this also be done for Friday lineups too?

[Captain Hook]

I think Greg took a few more items over to IT and they slapped him down and tied him up.......

[Greg Ambrosius]

I will ask.

[rockitsauce]

this is such a good question I want to give Gregor a chance to sleep on it while sugarplums dance

there has been talk of OAK & SEA batting 2 Judys in the 3 hole if both teams actually did this, how would it affect Ichiro & Coco's ADP?

Both guys are far from true Judys in that you can reasonably expect at least 6 or 8 hr's in a normal yr. If they were to bat 3rd I'd think both are capable of even more, perhaps 10 or dare I say in Ichiro's case at age 38 - half his age would be sweeeeet....and a dream, but thats what Feb is for

Maybe this wasn't a great question. Seems most guys are more interested in IT stuff, fair enough..but these chats can be all quiet on the western front many times, so I do my best to get some dialogue going. This is not the 1st time I've been ignored. I'm sure the claim will be "oh, musta missed that one"........whatever

[Greg Ambrosius]

this is such a good question I want to give Gregor a chance to sleep on it while sugarplums dance

there has been talk of OAK & SEA batting 2 Judys in the 3 hole if both teams actually did this, how would it affect Ichiro & Coco's ADP?

Both guys are far from true Judys in that you can reasonably expect at least 6 or 8 hr's in a normal yr. If they were to bat 3rd I'd think both are capable of even more, perhaps 10 or dare I say in Ichiro's case at age 38 - half his age would be sweeeeet....and a dream, but thats what Feb is for

Maybe this wasn't a great question. Seems most guys are more interested in IT stuff, fair enough..but these chats can be all quiet on the western front many times, so I do my best to get some dialogue going. This is not the 1st time I've been ignored. I'm sure the claim will be "oh, musta missed that one"........whatever

Missed what?? The chat starts at 2 p.m. EST!!! I'm here to answer all questions now, but the IT questions got answered first. I had to save the good ones for the LIVE CHAT David. That's how good this question was!!

Man, this group has some thin skin sometimes and no patience. I answered the previous question in 8 minutes and Perry thought I was in the principal's office. Can't a guy go get a Subway sandwich during lunch before answering a question? These Slow Drafts sure have everyone in a hurry, don't you think?

Okay, when it comes to Ichiro I don't care where he bats in the order anymore. His value isn't going to be any better than it is now, which is the lowest in his MLB career. His ADP is 116 and even that might be high for someone who is 38, hit a career low .272 last year and whose OBP (.310) was lower than his batting average every year except 2011 and 2005. Hes played like 2,500+ games in his career and is no longer able to out-run every ground ball to the left side of the infield. And even if he hits 3rd, who is on base ahead of him?? Maybe he gets a few more RBIs and a few less SBs; either way it's not going to improve his fantasy value.

[Greg Ambrosius]

As for Coco Crisp, hey, people are drafting him in the Top 150 because of his AL-leading 49 stolen bases last year. They could care less how many runs he knocks in. STEAL BASES COCO!!! RUN COCO RUN!!! His ADP is 155, but you better hope for 40+ SBs and a batting average no lower than last year's .264 for that price. But he did hit .312 from the 3rd spot last year and he did drive in 54 runs, so it's very possible that he moves around in the top third of the order. Either way, he needs to GENERATE runs for this team and running is his best asset. Draft him as a leadoff guy and for the stolen bases, not a dozen more RBIs.

[Greg Ambrosius]

C'mon, are you telling me there aren't more IT questions or baseball questions out there? This is it??

[DOUGHBOYS]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

[King Ken]

Has there been any thought to a slow draft with a 'time to draft' of maybe four hours instead of eight hours? What I noticed in the draft I just finished (League #11) is that most teams either make their pick within one hour, or the clock completely runs out. If the clock is going to run out, then it really shouldn't matter whether we have four hours or eight hours. I just think four hours is more than enough time for all aspects of research, night time, etc., and would keep things moving along a little better. Thanks.

[rockitsauce]

this is such a good question I want to give Gregor a chance to sleep on it while sugarplums dance

there has been talk of OAK & SEA batting 2 Judys in the 3 hole if both teams actually did this, how would it affect Ichiro & Coco's ADP?

Both guys are far from true Judys in that you can reasonably expect at least 6 or 8 hr's in a normal yr. If they were to bat 3rd I'd think both are capable of even more, perhaps 10 or dare I say in Ichiro's case at age 38 - half his age would be sweeeeet....and a dream, but thats what Feb is for

Maybe this wasn't a great question. Seems most guys are more interested in IT stuff, fair enough..but these chats can be all quiet on the western front many times, so I do my best to get some dialogue going. This is not the 1st time I've been ignored. I'm sure the claim will be "oh, musta missed that one"........whatever

Missed what?? The chat starts at 2 p.m. EST!!! I'm here to answer all questions now, but the IT questions got answered first. I had to save the good ones for the LIVE CHAT David. That's how good this question was!!

Man, this group has some thin skin sometimes and no patience. I answered the previous question in 8 minutes and Perry thought I was in the principal's office. Can't a guy go get a Subway sandwich during lunch before answering a question? These Slow Drafts sure have everyone in a hurry, don't you think?

Touche Gregor, good one maybe Dan is rt and the wussification of America is making too many of us thinned skinned. I apologize, it sure seemed as if every post was responded to, other than mine and I actually did have an unanswered question from last time (something stupid about regression drafting, I was really reaching to come up w/ something)...so just wanted to be sure the Principle wasn't mad at me

ok, how bout this one? Do the Yankees finally put Cano in the 3 hole this yr?

[Greg Ambrosius]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

I'm game for anyone who volunteers. I'm not sure Lindy can type fast enough to keep up with all of the questions that start like this "What can I do to win the $100,000 like you've done twice?" KJ is still bitter about finishing 2nd, but I'll ask him for a Chat!!

How about you?? You have your own Forum. Want to do a Live Chat?

[Greg Ambrosius]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

By the way, I saw Jason Grey in Las Vegas as he came to present Nate Ravitz in the FSWA's Hall of Fame. He looked great and he was sporting a Tampa Rays attache case. He's now a fulltime scout for Tampa and he's VERY happy about it. Good for him. I'm definitely going to watch their drafts going forward. The fantasy sports industry will miss him, but MLB got a winner. He was always very thorough in everything he did.

[swampass]

there is a real lovefest going on with elvis andrus right now. it seems as though his draft price is extremely high for guy that hits for a good avg, steals over 30 bags, but has never scored 100 runs. nevermind he has no power and his rbi are lacking because of where he hits in the lineup.

what am i missing? why is he going so high? according to the ADP there is a SS out there going 70 picks later that gives you virtually the same stats.

SS is no doubt a weak position but some of these young hitters i keep seeing going in rounds 2-3 seem like they are going too early.

[rockitsauce]

I think to spice things up during this lovely Friday chat you should announce the Draft Order for the Flow draft on 2/19 (see how I did that, Fast & Slow = FLOW

in honor of Gekko & the Mouth u should do it Michael Buffer Style

since we're gonna hafta pick in like 10 sec's we should at least have as much advance notice to plan as possible, no?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Has there been any thought to a slow draft with a 'time to draft' of maybe four hours instead of eight hours? What I noticed in the draft I just finished (League #11) is that most teams either make their pick within one hour, or the clock completely runs out. If the clock is going to run out, then it really shouldn't matter whether we have four hours or eight hours. I just think four hours is more than enough time for all aspects of research, night time, etc., and would keep things moving along a little better. Thanks.

Let me first say that I have OVERJOYED and ECSTATIC and SURPRISED by the Slow Draft phenomenon. KJ Duke is the first one who brought this idea to my attention and right away I knew it could be good for football. I never imagined anyone would do this for 35 or 40 rounds. Then when Shawn got it going with 45 rounds, I almost laughed at the thought that people wanted to do this over 2 weeks. Then they wanted 5 more rounds and suddenly 50 rounds over 21+ days was cool. I told STATS that if we had the software done right, we really could take the lead role in this Slow Draft concept.

Well, it's taken off beyond my dreams and I believe football will just be insane. It will be great to grow this grand prize and maybe one day see someone win a $10,000 grand prize from a $150 entry fee.

That being said, I'm also surprised by the variations people want to do of this concept because they don't have the patience to do Slow Drafts. I'm all for it if you can find like-minded people, but I'm not going to change the rules for them. People should be allowed to sleep for 8 hours inbetween picks. What really needs to happen is people need to set their One Round Que when they are 3 or 4 picks away and continue on with their lives. Every pick is emailed to you and you know who is at the top of your draft sheet, just like on Draft Day. So put 3 or 4 of those guys in your que when you're close and select One Round Que. You'll get your top guy everytime.

As for the proposed 4 hour twist, start a thread on the boards and if you 15 guys to do it that way you have a new league. But I won't change the timer. You'll just have all the guys who are thinking the same way and get this done in 10-12 days instead of 20-24. I approve.

[Outlaw]

Thanks Greg and it seems you and Tom made the right calls from the start and continue to do so with everything. As an FYI- you might want expand on what STATS/News corp is somewhere on the Web site, so newcomers can understand it more and who is behind the business. The web and fantasy is filled with a lot bogus business's and fantasy web sites and citing your strengths and such will make newcomers more comfortable. Sort of like a "Who we are" link or "about us" link.

Mike

Greg Ambrosius » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:07 am

Outlaw wrote:
Greg- What is the relationship between NFBC/NFFC and Stats? Specifically is NFBC/NFFC a stand alone business owned by whoever and contracts with Stats for the software, scoring, IT and such? or does Stats own everything? I'm asking for no other reason than to just understand it, espeically with the Failure of some high profile Fantasy companies/services the past 2 years.

thanks

Mike

This is NOT a stand alone business. This is part of the STATS and News Corp family and we're VERY proud to be part of that family. It should show everyone that we not only have the huge technological backing of a national company, but the financial backing to grow this business.

Last year when I was able to buy back the NFBC and NFFC in an Asset Acquisition from Liberty Sports Interactive, I wanted NO PART of being solely owned. I know that may sound odd, but my first call had to be to a technology company anyway and why not go beyond hiring someone and just partner with them on everything. So we found the perfect setup for Tom & I, and STATS. And I couldn't be prouder of the way this first year has gone.

The sale was official on Feb. 16, 2011 from LSI and two days later I joined STATS. Tom officially came on board a week later. So our one year anniversary is coming up and we couldn't be happier with the last year and the future of these contests/events.

[Greg Ambrosius]

this is such a good question I want to give Gregor a chance to sleep on it while sugarplums dance

there has been talk of OAK & SEA batting 2 Judys in the 3 hole if both teams actually did this, how would it affect Ichiro & Coco's ADP?

Both guys are far from true Judys in that you can reasonably expect at least 6 or 8 hr's in a normal yr. If they were to bat 3rd I'd think both are capable of even more, perhaps 10 or dare I say in Ichiro's case at age 38 - half his age would be sweeeeet....and a dream, but thats what Feb is for

Maybe this wasn't a great question. Seems most guys are more interested in IT stuff, fair enough..but these chats can be all quiet on the western front many times, so I do my best to get some dialogue going. This is not the 1st time I've been ignored. I'm sure the claim will be "oh, musta missed that one"........whatever

Missed what?? The chat starts at 2 p.m. EST!!! I'm here to answer all questions now, but the IT questions got answered first. I had to save the good ones for the LIVE CHAT David. That's how good this question was!!

Man, this group has some thin skin sometimes and no patience. I answered the previous question in 8 minutes and Perry thought I was in the principal's office. Can't a guy go get a Subway sandwich during lunch before answering a question? These Slow Drafts sure have everyone in a hurry, don't you think?

Touche Gregor, good one maybe Dan is rt and the wussification of America is making too many of us thinned skinned. I apologize, it sure seemed as if every post was responded to, other than mine and I actually did have an unanswered question from last time (something stupid about regression drafting, I was really reaching to come up w/ something)...so just wanted to be sure the Principle wasn't mad at me

ok, how bout this one? Do the Yankees finally put Cano in the 3 hole this yr?

I didn't skip your question. It deserved more time and attention than the easy IT questions and thus I waited to give it a proper response at 2 p.m. EST. You're a gentle giant with thin skin my friend.

Cano certainly has the perfect makeup for a No. 3 hitter, but who can argue with him at No. 5 behind Teixeira and Granderson? As long as he's hitting 3, 4 or 5, he's going to put up great numbers. He has really become a total hitter and kudos to him. After his 2008 regression, I really didn't think he would progress this way. He's just fun to watch and his swing is pure magic. He's in a great lineup and he's also a great hitter. I have no worries about him for 2012.