What Would Rob Do...To be a Fantasy Football Champion?

Above is the podcast I did this week with my fantasy football organizer Mike Pesca. In case you're wondering, my fantasy team came in dead last in his league (I know, it's sad). In some other competitions, the worst player actually gets a prize, too. It's called "Shooting the Moon" like in the card game Hearts. Pesca had nothing for me, the only consolation prize I got was that he let me vent to him about how poorly I played.

"This pretty much sums up my fantasy football season."

Tom Hauck, Getty Images Sports

But just rehashing my dismal play to Pesca, while cathartic, wasn't necessarily going to make me a better player. I figured if I was really going to turn around my fantasy losses for next season, I'd have to talk to a real life expert. I turned to ESPN.com's Matthew Berry (known in the fantasy world as "The Talented Mr. Roto"). In case you're wondering, "Roto" stands for "Rotisserie League" another term for Fantasy Leagues.

Berry explained to me that my biggest problem was inattentiveness. I made some rookie mistakes like leaving in active players who were injured, or whose team was on a bye week. In my defense, I had thought this would be done automatically by the computer, (kind of like a fail-safe for slouchers).

My other big problem was that I played with my heart, not my head. According to Berry, if you want to win, you have to think of players as "statistical pieces of meat." For Berry, a die-hard Redskins fan, that means picking some Dallas Cowboys players. Whoa, that may be taking things a little too far.

But even though the fantasy football season is drawing to a close, there are other virtual ways I can show off my sports know-how. Matthew Berry told me about ESPN's Gridiron Challenge, which is a form of fantasy football for the playoffs, except you don't have to monitor your team every week. Now that's the kind of fantasy football this La-Z-Boy likes to play.

3:06 PM ET | 12-25-2008 | permalink

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