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Does your paper write about Fantasy Football?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by North61, Aug 14, 2006.

  1. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    i disagree. in fact, i don't think it's on the same plane as picks. there are probably hundreds of online fantasy columns out there. maybe thousands if you count blogs. i would guess that if you could rank the readership of all these, you'd find that the top ones are read by millions of people. so if the paper has an insightful column that gives good advice, people will read it whether it comes out on tuesday or sunday. as far as i know most leagues have a sunday deadline (or earlier if there's an early week game) for lineups so who cares when it comes out?
     
  2. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    Most - but not all- Fantasy Football tip sites/columns/etc. are paid sites. Is the average Fantasy Football player going to drop $40-$50 for a subscription to a paid site or combine his own knowledge of the game and with what he reads in his/her newspaper's Fantasy column?
     
  3. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Actually, there are plenty of free fantasy sports sites. Just be careful with some like Rotoworld.com. Big-time problems with pop-up ads. They do a lousy job fending of hackers.

    Also, if you're in a league, chances are it's on a website that also offers free columns and rankings.

    That said, I don't mind this in a paper. I've worked places that they tried it. It's another way to talk about the games. Like anything else, if the writer states the obvious and the presentation sucks, it's worthless. If it is well done, a fantasy sports column can be useful and entertaining.
     
  4. Lollygaggers

    Lollygaggers Member

    There would be a huge fuss from some of the old guard in our section if fantasy sports even came close to getting in, but I think some kind of inclusion would be a good idea. At larger papers where we already put out extra sections every week for football, the space is not a real issue. Plus, if a writer or columnist already has a strong following and people value their opinion, I'm sure readers would love to know whether that person thinks Brian Westbrook or Cadillac Williams should sit or start the upcoming week, probably a lot more than they would want to know what some guy from SI.com thinks, whom they've only been reading for one year anyway. Sports sections could really take advantage of their "relationship" with their readership to provide quality fantasy input, but it should never be on a scale of actual football coverage.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    I'd say publish a fantasy "primer" or draft guide right about now, trying to catch readers who buy preseason magazines. Maybe a midseason report too, outlining the booms and busts and who to watch for the second half. But the weekly columns really are pointless IMO.
     
  6. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Last year, we ended up running fantasy football on Fridays. I don't agree with it, but I understand. Could have used better than AP's McFarland. He had his funny moments, but didn't impress me.
     
  7. Just for the record, fantasy football articles in newspapers, for the most part, are terrible, and they ussually don't give much insight that a fantasy owner doesn't already know. You need to go online to get good fantasy info, and that works better anyway, since you're already going to be online managing your team.
     
  8. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Lest we forget, Mr. dot-com, fantasy football DID exist before the Internet...
     
  9. Yes, but it's so hard to manage writing players names down on paper, submitting your lineups to your comish, and keeping stats. 90% (or more) of fantasy owners play online.
     
  10. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    A spreadsheet and a weekly fantasy meeting/drinking night would make it easy enough. That's why I don't do fantasy anymore...doing everything online just ruins it. I'd like to see my fellow fantasy geeks over a card game or a six-pack every week to talk football and trash-talk. And I don't really want to play against guys who read up on this crap for 50 hours a week.
     
  11. Lt. Drebin

    Lt. Drebin New Member

    thoe are definately good times playthrough. But just because the process has been streamlined doesn't mean you have to ditch such a time-wasting, unproductive, beautiful addiction.

    Might I suggest the group draft that is later entered onto an online host site. Your weekly transaction and lineup process is much easier once the season starts. And you can still gather with the buds and suds on Sundays to talk trades and talk smack.
     
  12. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    yeah, hey fuck, why would you want to do anything to entertain readers?

    you wanna be bored? read a paper. wanna be entertained? fire up the computer.

    fucking defeatest attitudes kill me.
     
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