Hey guys - thought this may be of interest. Nando Difino from the Journal has a nice little video piece on the NFBC. It was shot at Citifield and that's the league I was running. You'll see a little Cory Schwartz and Scott Newman and his daughter Alexa - who was money with the stickers and the clock during the draft. Check it out guys.
Wall Street Journal
WSJ - video on NFBC
WSJ - video on NFBC
Mastersball
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” - Albert Einstein
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” - Albert Einstein
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Glenneration X
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Who's that intelligent looking guy in the Mets jersey?
He looks like someone with a great shot to win.
Glenn
[ April 02, 2010, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Glenneration X ]
He looks like someone with a great shot to win.
Glenn
[ April 02, 2010, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Glenneration X ]
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NorCalAtlFan
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WSJ - video on NFBC
intelligent and Mutts don't belong in the same sentence
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Tom Kessenich
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Great video and thanks to Nando but there clearly needed to be more of the guy at the very beginning. He looked like he had complete control of everything going on in the room.
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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sportsbettingman
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Excellent job!
This is how to report on fantasy baseball.
Sure, fantasy football has a much wilder bunch, but they could chose to report it in similar fashion...with respect.
Well done.
This is how to report on fantasy baseball.
Sure, fantasy football has a much wilder bunch, but they could chose to report it in similar fashion...with respect.
Well done.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
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Greg Ambrosius
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Wow, what an article in the Wall Street Journal. You can't BUY this kind of coverage. Here's the story:
By NANDO DIFINO
My World Series is in late March. In fact, there are about 10 of them, all at once. The World Championship of Fantasy Baseball, the League of Alternate Baseball Reality and Tout Wars all draft or have their auctions in late March. Then there are the home leagues I join with friends and college buddies and the casual advisory roles I take for pals looking to have an extra set of eyes on their team. This year, I sat in on three drafts where I wasn't even playing.
[fantasy0403] Michele Monteleone for The Wall Street Journal
A participant in the New York wing of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship ponders his options.
People ask how many leagues I'm in. Last year it was 14, this year 12. Many involve some of fantasy's great minds. But 2010 was the first year I dared participate in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship.
The NFBC is where the best of the best come to play. It takes place in five cities — St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Atlantic City and Las Vegas — over the course of two weekends. There's no qualifying event one must win in order to partake. You just have to be willing to open your pocket. Most participants pay $1,250 to enter, with cash prizes awarded to the individual league winners and a six-figure grand prize to a winner among all 435 participants in what's called the Main Event.
I set up at the NFBC draft Saturday at Caesar's Club at the Mets' Citi Field. The club had seven sets of 15 teams, each drafting in the one room overlooking the stadium's parking lot. Sprinkled throughout were some of the nation's most well-known fantasy experts: Ron Shandler, Cory Schwartz, Mike Siano, Todd Zola, Lawr Michaels and J.P. Kastner among them. The competition here was tough, but I was only playing for charity. I feared more for my friends participating at the same time in Las Vegas.
About a week before the draft, all NFBC players are e-mailed a list of their competitors and their randomized draft order. In the process of pre-draft preparation, my friends had e-mailed anything and everything related to the big day to me — ranking lists, expert analysis, mock drafts, and strategy related to the NFBC's no-trades policy (to prevent collusion). Two weeks before they were about to depart for Vegas, I received a forwarded e-mail with the draft order and leaguemates for their entry, Team Gobots.
They were ecstatic. They hadn't pulled a recognizable fantasy expert in their league. But one name jumped out at me as scarier than any expert: Clark Olson. Dr. Olson is a Washington state-based computer scientist and professor by day, but a fantasy monster by night. He has won ESPN's Uber Challenge twice. In other words, he's twice survived a year-long death march that scores a user points in every fantasy game on ESPN.com. It's a marathon that requires knowledge of every sport and every nuance of the fantasy game. And Dr. Olson wasn't just lucky in those two years he won: He's finished in the top five for eight years in a row. He also won the grand prize as the top player in ESPN fantasy baseball in 2006. And Dr. Olson won a celebrity fantasy basketball league with his part-time partner, the rock star Meat Loaf.
Team Gobots struggled with the weight of this challenge.
"Oh," was all my friends could dejectedly muster. "Has he played NFBC, though?"
"He's won it twice." I said. "But at least you avoided the pig farmer."
"Who?"
Lindy Hinkleman, an Idaho hog farmer, won $241,300 last year after tearing through the NFBC. It couldn't have come at a better time for Mr. Hinkleman, whose farm was hemorrhaging money thanks to the swine flu epidemic sweeping the nation at the time.
"People were scared to eat pork," says Mr. Hinkleman, noting that he didn't have to kill any hogs, but lost sales due to the perception that eating pork would transmit swine flu.
The closest Mr. Hinkleman had come during a stretch of five failed tries at NFBC was a 52nd-place finish in 2007. Mr. Hinkleman says that he found success last year after reading a Q&A session on the NFBC boards with four-time winner Shawn Childs.
This is the guy who stops traffic among NFBC participants when he enters the room. Shawn Childs doesn't have a job on TV offering advice. As far as I know, he doesn't even have a Twitter account where people can ask him which two outfielders he would rather have in a group of four. He simply wins. In the last six years, Mr. Childs has won four NFBC league titles, finished third three times and fifth once in the overall Main Event standings. He has career NFBC earnings of over $100,000. The advice he gave in that message board chat that Mr. Hinkleman heeded for his big win? Make sure your top three players combine for 75 steals and 75 home runs. There were no advanced sabermetrics involved. Mr. Childs wins partly because of an approach as simple as drafting guys who are fast and/or hit home runs.
He's also in the Gobots' league. Randomly, my friends were stuck in a league with the master of every game ESPN has ever put out, plus the master of the NFBC. At least, they reasoned, they would have a few days in Vegas to sip champagne at the Wet Republic nightclub, which became a makeshift command central for last-second draft prep.
Players like Dr. Olson, Mr. Childs and Mr. Hinkleman go largely unnoticed by the majority of the fantasy-playing universe. Outside of a certain Bat Out of Hell and the nominating committee of the NFBC Hall of Fame they remain largely unknown. But they will beat you to a ruthless pulp in the high-stakes leagues of NFBC and WCOFB. And they will take your wallet.
Six months from now, a new Main Event winner will be crowned, feted and feared. For now, after a long and arduous draft season, all we drafters can do it sit, wait and revel in the fun of actually getting to play our game in a major league park.
Write to Nando DiFino at [email protected]
Sidebar:
Average Draft Position gives fantasy owners more than just an idea of where players are being selected in drafts. It can also help identify the most-buzzed about players and indicate changes in roles on teams. A big leap in ADP could mean anything from being named a closer to getting the starting first-base job. Those taking huge losses most likely were hurt, cut from the team, or lost a starting role. Here are the biggest movers on MockDraftCentral.com over the last two weeks:
TOP DECLINERS
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Joe Nathan RP MIN 214.37 -25.1%
Ryan Garko 1B SEA 256.43 -17%
Francisco Rodriguez RP NYM 46.4 -14.8%
Ryan Sweeney OF OAK 248.16 -14.1%
Brandon League RP SEA 247.13 -13.6%
Ty Wigginton 1B BAL 249.19 -13.2%
Francisco Cordero RP CIN 59.52 -12.9%
Huston Street RP COL 84.32 -10.8%
Luis Valbuena 2B CLE 229.55 -9.7%
Matt Guerrier RP MIN 233.68 -9.7%
TOP RISERS
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Victor Martinez C BOS 8.7 9.7%
Jonny Gomes OF CIN 210.8 9.4%
Kosuke Fukudome OF CHC 153.36 9.1%
Ian Kennedy SP ARI 201.2 9%
Hanley Ramirez SS FLA 2 8.5%
Prince Fielder 1B MIL 5.76 8.5%
Scott Hairston OF SD 159.16 8.4%
Ben Francisco OF PHI 146.92 7.4%
Miguel Cabrera 1B DET 3.17 7.3%
Chris Perez RP CLE 181.27 7%
NEW PLAYERS ON THE BOARD
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Gaby Sanchez 1B FLA 207.16 NA
Matt Diaz OF ATL 207.68 NA
Colby Lewis SP TEX 262.64 NA
By NANDO DIFINO
My World Series is in late March. In fact, there are about 10 of them, all at once. The World Championship of Fantasy Baseball, the League of Alternate Baseball Reality and Tout Wars all draft or have their auctions in late March. Then there are the home leagues I join with friends and college buddies and the casual advisory roles I take for pals looking to have an extra set of eyes on their team. This year, I sat in on three drafts where I wasn't even playing.
[fantasy0403] Michele Monteleone for The Wall Street Journal
A participant in the New York wing of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship ponders his options.
People ask how many leagues I'm in. Last year it was 14, this year 12. Many involve some of fantasy's great minds. But 2010 was the first year I dared participate in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship.
The NFBC is where the best of the best come to play. It takes place in five cities — St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Atlantic City and Las Vegas — over the course of two weekends. There's no qualifying event one must win in order to partake. You just have to be willing to open your pocket. Most participants pay $1,250 to enter, with cash prizes awarded to the individual league winners and a six-figure grand prize to a winner among all 435 participants in what's called the Main Event.
I set up at the NFBC draft Saturday at Caesar's Club at the Mets' Citi Field. The club had seven sets of 15 teams, each drafting in the one room overlooking the stadium's parking lot. Sprinkled throughout were some of the nation's most well-known fantasy experts: Ron Shandler, Cory Schwartz, Mike Siano, Todd Zola, Lawr Michaels and J.P. Kastner among them. The competition here was tough, but I was only playing for charity. I feared more for my friends participating at the same time in Las Vegas.
About a week before the draft, all NFBC players are e-mailed a list of their competitors and their randomized draft order. In the process of pre-draft preparation, my friends had e-mailed anything and everything related to the big day to me — ranking lists, expert analysis, mock drafts, and strategy related to the NFBC's no-trades policy (to prevent collusion). Two weeks before they were about to depart for Vegas, I received a forwarded e-mail with the draft order and leaguemates for their entry, Team Gobots.
They were ecstatic. They hadn't pulled a recognizable fantasy expert in their league. But one name jumped out at me as scarier than any expert: Clark Olson. Dr. Olson is a Washington state-based computer scientist and professor by day, but a fantasy monster by night. He has won ESPN's Uber Challenge twice. In other words, he's twice survived a year-long death march that scores a user points in every fantasy game on ESPN.com. It's a marathon that requires knowledge of every sport and every nuance of the fantasy game. And Dr. Olson wasn't just lucky in those two years he won: He's finished in the top five for eight years in a row. He also won the grand prize as the top player in ESPN fantasy baseball in 2006. And Dr. Olson won a celebrity fantasy basketball league with his part-time partner, the rock star Meat Loaf.
Team Gobots struggled with the weight of this challenge.
"Oh," was all my friends could dejectedly muster. "Has he played NFBC, though?"
"He's won it twice." I said. "But at least you avoided the pig farmer."
"Who?"
Lindy Hinkleman, an Idaho hog farmer, won $241,300 last year after tearing through the NFBC. It couldn't have come at a better time for Mr. Hinkleman, whose farm was hemorrhaging money thanks to the swine flu epidemic sweeping the nation at the time.
"People were scared to eat pork," says Mr. Hinkleman, noting that he didn't have to kill any hogs, but lost sales due to the perception that eating pork would transmit swine flu.
The closest Mr. Hinkleman had come during a stretch of five failed tries at NFBC was a 52nd-place finish in 2007. Mr. Hinkleman says that he found success last year after reading a Q&A session on the NFBC boards with four-time winner Shawn Childs.
This is the guy who stops traffic among NFBC participants when he enters the room. Shawn Childs doesn't have a job on TV offering advice. As far as I know, he doesn't even have a Twitter account where people can ask him which two outfielders he would rather have in a group of four. He simply wins. In the last six years, Mr. Childs has won four NFBC league titles, finished third three times and fifth once in the overall Main Event standings. He has career NFBC earnings of over $100,000. The advice he gave in that message board chat that Mr. Hinkleman heeded for his big win? Make sure your top three players combine for 75 steals and 75 home runs. There were no advanced sabermetrics involved. Mr. Childs wins partly because of an approach as simple as drafting guys who are fast and/or hit home runs.
He's also in the Gobots' league. Randomly, my friends were stuck in a league with the master of every game ESPN has ever put out, plus the master of the NFBC. At least, they reasoned, they would have a few days in Vegas to sip champagne at the Wet Republic nightclub, which became a makeshift command central for last-second draft prep.
Players like Dr. Olson, Mr. Childs and Mr. Hinkleman go largely unnoticed by the majority of the fantasy-playing universe. Outside of a certain Bat Out of Hell and the nominating committee of the NFBC Hall of Fame they remain largely unknown. But they will beat you to a ruthless pulp in the high-stakes leagues of NFBC and WCOFB. And they will take your wallet.
Six months from now, a new Main Event winner will be crowned, feted and feared. For now, after a long and arduous draft season, all we drafters can do it sit, wait and revel in the fun of actually getting to play our game in a major league park.
Write to Nando DiFino at [email protected]
Sidebar:
Average Draft Position gives fantasy owners more than just an idea of where players are being selected in drafts. It can also help identify the most-buzzed about players and indicate changes in roles on teams. A big leap in ADP could mean anything from being named a closer to getting the starting first-base job. Those taking huge losses most likely were hurt, cut from the team, or lost a starting role. Here are the biggest movers on MockDraftCentral.com over the last two weeks:
TOP DECLINERS
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Joe Nathan RP MIN 214.37 -25.1%
Ryan Garko 1B SEA 256.43 -17%
Francisco Rodriguez RP NYM 46.4 -14.8%
Ryan Sweeney OF OAK 248.16 -14.1%
Brandon League RP SEA 247.13 -13.6%
Ty Wigginton 1B BAL 249.19 -13.2%
Francisco Cordero RP CIN 59.52 -12.9%
Huston Street RP COL 84.32 -10.8%
Luis Valbuena 2B CLE 229.55 -9.7%
Matt Guerrier RP MIN 233.68 -9.7%
TOP RISERS
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Victor Martinez C BOS 8.7 9.7%
Jonny Gomes OF CIN 210.8 9.4%
Kosuke Fukudome OF CHC 153.36 9.1%
Ian Kennedy SP ARI 201.2 9%
Hanley Ramirez SS FLA 2 8.5%
Prince Fielder 1B MIL 5.76 8.5%
Scott Hairston OF SD 159.16 8.4%
Ben Francisco OF PHI 146.92 7.4%
Miguel Cabrera 1B DET 3.17 7.3%
Chris Perez RP CLE 181.27 7%
NEW PLAYERS ON THE BOARD
Player Pos Team ADP Change
Gaby Sanchez 1B FLA 207.16 NA
Matt Diaz OF ATL 207.68 NA
Colby Lewis SP TEX 262.64 NA
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
WSJ - video on NFBC
Nicely done video and article! Shawn's gonna be famous yet.
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Greg Ambrosius
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- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:00 pm
- Contact:
WSJ - video on NFBC
Damn, that was a very nice video piece by Nando. Nando my friend, you're the best. Great, great stuff. This video, along with the internal video we are producing now, is REALLY going to help the NFBC in the future. Now folks can SEE what the NFBC looks like.
And the statement that "The NFBC is where the best of the best come to play" is going on the NFBC home page and attributed to the Wall Street Journal. It doesn't get any better than that!!
It's been one helluva week for the NFBC. Heck, one helluva month. Let's keep it going. Thanks all and enjoy this great article and video.
Oh, and Glenn, I thought you were younger than you look!!
And the statement that "The NFBC is where the best of the best come to play" is going on the NFBC home page and attributed to the Wall Street Journal. It doesn't get any better than that!!
It's been one helluva week for the NFBC. Heck, one helluva month. Let's keep it going. Thanks all and enjoy this great article and video.
Oh, and Glenn, I thought you were younger than you look!!
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
WSJ - video on NFBC
That 75/75 has left its mark. This will leave a bigger mark. Go for it! Look for 100/100 for your first 4 players. It gives you mor combinations.
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Glenneration X
- Posts: 3730
- Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:00 pm
- Location: Long Island, NY
WSJ - video on NFBC
Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
Oh, and Glenn, I thought you were younger than you look!! Shhhhhh!! I told the girl who was interviewing us that I was 25.
Glenn
Oh, and Glenn, I thought you were younger than you look!!
Shhhhhh!! I told the girl who was interviewing us that I was 25. Glenn
WSJ - video on NFBC
Nando is aces!!!
He has sure come a long way since he drew the short straw and had to follow me around for a couple of days in Vegas researching Fantasyland.
He has sure come a long way since he drew the short straw and had to follow me around for a couple of days in Vegas researching Fantasyland.
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5 of the past 6 NFBC champions subscribe to Mastersball
over 1300 projections and 500 player profiles
Standings and Roster Tracker perfect for DC and cutline leagues
Subscribe HERE
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Schwartzstops
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:00 pm
WSJ - video on NFBC
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking!
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The Mighty Men
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Originally posted by Schwartzstops:
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! No you don't. You were fine. I always like seeing faces to names.
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! No you don't. You were fine. I always like seeing faces to names.
Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” Isaiah 63:1
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Greg Ambrosius
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Originally posted by Schwartzstops:
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! Cory, you were perfect. That was a GREAT way to start the video. Spot on and what you said is what 400 other NFBC owners were thinking as well.
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! Cory, you were perfect. That was a GREAT way to start the video. Spot on and what you said is what 400 other NFBC owners were thinking as well.
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
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Crazy Like a Fox
- Posts: 1077
- Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:00 pm
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WSJ - video on NFBC
Originally posted by LONG GONE:
That 75/75 has left its mark. This will leave a bigger mark. Go for it! Look for 100/100 for your first 4 players. It gives you mor combinations. That's like taking the 8 minute ab idea and trying to start a 7 minute ab program. Just not the same
That 75/75 has left its mark. This will leave a bigger mark. Go for it! Look for 100/100 for your first 4 players. It gives you mor combinations. That's like taking the 8 minute ab idea and trying to start a 7 minute ab program. Just not the same
"Hit a home run - put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is more - a lot more important than the name on the back."
Ryne Sandberg (my favorite player of all-time)
Ryne Sandberg (my favorite player of all-time)
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Glenneration X
- Posts: 3730
- Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:00 pm
- Location: Long Island, NY
WSJ - video on NFBC
Originally posted by Schwartzstops:
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! I thought you were great and vocalized exactly what everyone else was saying.
Of course you weren't nearly as eloquent as that guy in the Mets jersey, but he obviously has special TV star qualities....
Good luck this year,
Glenn
Oh man do I come off like a jackass in that video. I do better in the b-roll when I'm not talking! I thought you were great and vocalized exactly what everyone else was saying.
Of course you weren't nearly as eloquent as that guy in the Mets jersey, but he obviously has special TV star qualities....
Good luck this year,
Glenn