by rseysPosted on Posted in 2013 Preseason Kicker Cheatsheet

In my last post, I wrote about using the science of statistics, namely regression analysis, to find a correlation between the success of NFL kickers and some other easily tracked stat.  As an example, if a fantasy football team owner knew that the best kickers come from teams that are adept at running the ball, a kicker could simply be chosen from a team that racks up rushing yards.  That was not what I learned, however.  Surprisingly, even a kicker’s accuracy or range did not significantly reflect on his success.  The keys, I learned, was in the propensity of the kicker’s team to score points, and to a slightly lesser degree, his team’s ability to win.

Using this new-found knowledge as my premise, I decided to create a kicker cheatsheet.  But not only are offenses taken into account.  I also looked at defenses and the schedule each kicker will face.  Naturally, just as the best kickers come from offenses that have the ability to score points and win games, that success is offset by good defenses.  Further, the data is weighted.  There is an approximate 56-44 ratio between the r squared values for scoring points and winning games, and this cheatsheet takes that into account.

The bottom line is that a great deal of thought and gnashing of teeth went into this cheatsheet.  It is based entirely on hard numbers and inspired calculation.  Unlike other cheatsheets, individual hunches do not play a part.  Of course, there will always be outliers – kickers that end up having a great fantasy season against all logic – but a person can go crazy trying to identify those players.  When a system is sound, it’s best to leave gut feelings out of the equation.  (Ever seen the movie Moneyball?)  The chances of landing a top-5 kicker are much greater if you leave your supposed intuition at home.
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by rseysPosted on Posted in Using the Science of Statistics to Select a Fantasy Kicker
Regression analysis clearly shows a relationship between a team's scoring propensity and a fantasy kicker's success

Kickers are an enigma when it comes to fantasy football.  One kicker might be the most accurate in the league, have the ability to consistently nail field goals from 50+ yards out, yet rank near the bottom in fantasy kicker scoring.  Another kicker might lack the range, sport an erratic field goal percentage, but finish as one of the top-ten scorers in the league.  So how does a person make sense of kickers?  What can a team owner do to make sure their fantasy kicker is a solid one?  These are questions I asked myself, and to answer them, I turned to statistics.

You’re probably yawning right now.  If you’ve played fantasy football, even for a short time, you already know that statistics are everything.  As a fantasy team owner, who hasn’t pored over last year’s stats when planning the upcoming season?  But those aren’t the kind of statistics I’m referring to in this article.  I’m talking about the science of statistics.

Now I am by no means an expert on statistics, but I do know enough to make myself dangerous.  The key to answering the mystery that encircles kickers is to find a relationship between their scoring output and some other easily tracked stat.  For example, wouldn’t it be nice to know that the best fantasy kickers invariably come from teams with the best running game?  As you’ll soon learn, that’s not the case, but if it were, you could simply draft your kicker from a team that loves to grind out the yards on the ground.
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by rseysPosted on Posted in Game Review: GoLong!
GoLong! football die game, by Zobmondo

GoLong! football die game, by Zobmondo

We had yet to beat them.  In our first meeting we struck early and confidently led 10-0 at the half.  It all evaporated in the second half, and we fell 24-29.  Our second meeting was a bloodbath.  We were destroyed 21-51.  This would be our third meeting.  Despite our 0-2 record against this team, we were determined to right the ship and bring home a victory.  We were hungry for a win.

We won the coin toss and deferred to kickoff.  It became apparent right away that this game would be a battle.  After forcing a turnover on our opponent’s first drive, we drove downfield, but couldn’t punch it in.  We settled for a field goal and came away with an early 3-0 lead.  The score seesawed for the remainder of the half.  They found pay dirt making the score 7-3.  We responded with our own touchdown, and recaptured the lead 10-7.  Early in the second quarter, they scored again, going up 14-10.  Before the half ended we garnered another field goal.  In a hard fought contest, we trailed 13-14 at the half.

The start to the second half was a sweet one.  Our return man received the kickoff, headed up field, found a seam, and was gone.  Touchdown!  Now we had a decision to make.  A two-point conversion would tie the game, but we opted for the extra point kick since it was just the start of the second half.  There was plenty of time to add to our score.  The kick was good, and we were content to trail by one at 20-21.
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by rseysPosted on Posted in Cool Fantasy Football Rule 2

If you’ve played fantasy football long enough, you know that it’s virtually impossible to run the table on a season and finish undefeated.  To achieve such a feat in real football is difficult enough, but it’s even more unusual in fantasy football.  It’s simply inevitable that in at least one week over the course of a season, either your team will have a letdown, or some other pathetic franchise will explode on you for points.
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by rseysPosted on Posted in Football Sculpture Makes You Smile
"Hey Mary Lou!" makes you smile.

“Hey Mary Lou!” makes you smile.

Serendipity.  That’s the word that popped into my mind when I first saw the Hey Mary Lou! sculpture at this season’s “Walking Sculpture Tour” in my home town.  Commingled with 33 other sculptures is an energetic image of a pair of young football players.  It tells an amusing tale with a glance.  How perfect for my football blog!  Hey Mary Lou! makes you smile.

A microsecond before the runner's glory is taken away.

It’s going to be a hard hit!

The sculpture depicts a 7th or 8th grade football player that has broken into open field along the sidelines running for an apparent touchdown.  With a big, goofy smile on his face, he is waving to the cheerleaders as his spindly legs gallop toward the end zone.  Unbeknownst to him, one of the defenders is about to violently transport the runner back to reality with a savage hit.  I’m thinking fumble.

Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby of Bad River Artworks in Aberdeen, SD created the bronze statue.  Their works are known for detail.  This is apparent when you look at Hey Mary Lou!.  The leather helmets are authentic right down to the stitching.  You can see the weave in the players’ web trouser belts, and the leather lacing on the shoes and helmet look genuine.  The sculpture reeks of realism right down to uniform patches and holey football spikes.  It is lifelike and era-accurate.
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by rseysPosted on Posted in Make Your Own Football Memorabilia
The completed work on display.

Are you looking for football memorabilia to dress up your office or commemorate a special player that’s led your team to your fantasy league’s championship?  Don’t spend your hard-earned money buying memorabilia.  Make your own.  It’s not difficult, and it’s fun.  In this post, I’ll show you how to make a black & white contrasting pencil drawing using the grid technique.

I used this 30-year-old paper for my project, but recommend Strathmore 400 series.

I used this 30-year-old paper for my project, but recommend using Strathmore 400 series.

The first thing you’ll need is some drawing paper.  Do not use ordinary printer or copier paper.  Plain paper does not have enough texture for the graphite to properly stick.  Instead, invest in some inexpensive drawing paper from your local art store.  I recommend using Strathmore 400 Series.  You should be able to pick up a 50-100 sheet pad for under $10 bucks.  If you’re going to create something that you intend to last for the ages, this paper may not be the best choice.  Over time it will yellow and become brittle. Serious artists use it only for practice.  For our purposes, however, Strathmore 400 Series is just fine.  I have some 30+ year old Strathmore drawing paper from my college days and the paper is still very good.

Be careful with your drawing paper.  Handle it only on the edges, and wash your hands often.  Try not to touch where you’ll be drawing.  Because of oils in your skin, the graphite will not adhere consistently wherever you’ve touched the paper.  You may scoff at this concern, but it is simple advice worth observing.  It truly is important.  Handle your paper carefully.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in Cool Fantasy Football Rule 1

55-Pt_PotThis is my first post regarding cool fantasy football rules, and as such, you may expect that this rule will be one of my favorites.  You are absolutely right.  It ranks right up there at the top.  But the beauty of this rule is that, unlike so many others, it will add a lot of enjoyment to your league with little work.  It’s a simple rule that’s easy to administrate.

The 55-Point Pot Rule

The 55-Point Pot rule rewards a team that scores exceptionally high on a given week.  This is how it’s set up in my league:

Prior to the first game in week one, each team chips in 25-cents.  There are 12 franchises in our league, so the pot will total $3.00 for week one.  If a team scores 55-points or more, that team wins the $3.00 pot.  If no team scores 55+ points, then each team kicks in another 25-cents and the pot grows to $6.00 for week two.  The pot keeps growing by $3.00 each week until someone wins it.  Once a pot has been won, it starts over again at $3.00 for the subsequent week.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in One Page 2013 NFL Schedule

I find it’s important to have a one page NFL schedule at my fingertips.  I keep a copy pinned to my cubicle wall at work, another stuck with magnets on the refrigerator in my kitchen, and yet another in my home office.  When, for some inexplicable reason, I need to know whom the Bears (or whomever) are playing this weekend, I’m able to quickly take a peek at my schedule and see.  If it’s important to you too, then you’re in luck.  I’ve packed the complete 2013 NFL regular season schedule on one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, in PDF format, ready to print.  I’ve even created a copy for each U.S. time zone (below).  Enjoy!

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by rseysPosted on Posted in Best Football Song of All-Time

I’ve been thinking recently about music as it relates to football.  There are classics such as those from Sam Spence and NFL Films.  Round Up, The Magnificent Eleven, and Up She Rises are all great examples of Spence’s timeless football masterpieces.  On the other end of the spectrum we have the hard-partying, good ol’ boy track Are You Ready for Some Football? by Hank Williams, Jr.  “Fight songs” of each college and NFL team gives common fans a unifying rally cry.  Even songs that are unrelated to football have become synonymous with the game: We Will Rock You (We Are the Champions) by Queen, or I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas are played at almost every game a person attends.  These are all great football songs, and anything that involves football I love, but for me one song stands head and shoulders above the rest: All Kinds of Time by Fountains of Wayne.

I don’t understand why this song has not gained more popularity.  Every time I hear it, chills run down my spine.  It reaches a place at the core of my being.  The song is about a young quarterback that’s under duress in a ball game, but then suddenly and inexplicably, gets it.  Things start to make sense.  Everything slows down.  He’s able to calmly survey the field, look to his right and left, and find his open man for the victory.  The song is a celebration of pure triumph in the face of stress and pressure.  What a great analogy of life!  If you keep trying, keep persevering, good things will happen.

I would have loved to embed the entire song for you here, but because of legalities, the best I can do is give you an old NFL Network promo that uses a portion of the song.  It’s cool though.  It shows vintage NFL clips that tie in beautifully with the song.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in DeAndre Hopkins

Fantasy football players, take note: DeAndre Hopkins is going to be a beast.

I was at the gym several weeks ago getting ready for some dumbbell flyes and glanced at one of the gym televisions.  ESPN was showing highlights of a receiver from Clemson.  I almost dropped the dumbbells on my toes.  I was instantly enamored with the player they were featuring.  The sound was off on the TV set, but my eyes saw nothing but football poetry.  It was pure eye comfit.  Who was this guy?

I probably had heard DeAndre “Nuk” Hopkins’ name bantered around before.  After all, he tallied twelve 100+ yard receiving games in his three years at Clemson, and established a new ACC mark with 18 touchdowns last season, but that day at the gym was my first true introduction to the guy.  I have since read a lot of scouting reports that gush about his talents.  I didn’t need those reports.  Those highlight reels told me everything.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in Best Names of the 2013 NFL Player Draft

As I’ve been sifting through the players selected in the 2013 NFL Player’s Draft, I’m enjoying the unique names of some of the players.  Many names are new to me.  As much as I love football, I sheepishly have to admit that I don’t watch college ball as much as I should.  If I had more time in my day, I know I could get into it in a big way.  There are so many things about college football that I love.  Maybe this coming season I’ll draw my line in the sand and tune in to more games.

I thought I’d highlight a few of the player names that I found unique.  Sometimes you have to wonder what their mommas were thinking when they chose the name for their little bundle of joy.  Other times you wish you knew their parents so you could tip your hat in their honor and buy them a beer.  There are some names that were made for a footballer.

Barkevious Mingo (DE from LSU drafted by the Browns in the 1st round)
This name rocks!  Mingo is a very highly touted, explosive defensive end from LSU.  Most people call him Keke.  The name Barkevious conjures up images of a devious junkyard dog.  The last name of Mingo adds to the charm.  It all just rolls off the tongue.  Keke’s mom liked the name Kevious, but wanted to incorporate her name – Barbara – as well.  Bold move, mom, but I love it!

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by rseysPosted on Posted in List of All Team Names in NFL History
The Duluth Eskimos were the first NFL team to put team logos on the sides of their helmets.

I’m going back to my team name penchant for this post.  I’m not sure why, but team names (and their history) are a bit of a fascination for me.  There are 80 separate and distinct franchises that are recognized as having played in, and been part of, the NFL.  Of those franchises, 76 different team names have been used.  This post includes an alphabetical list of every one of them.  (See below.)

The awesome logo of the NFL Brooklyn Tigers (1944-1945)

The awesome logo of the NFL Brooklyn Tigers (1944-1945)

The name that’s been the most popular in the NFL, and used more often than any other, is the Tigers.  Five franchises have used this name.  The Chicago Tigers were among the first.  The Chicago franchise played in only the 1920 season before folding.  The Cleveland Tigers also played in 1920, changed their name to the Indians in 1921, only to go “belly-up” prior to the ’22 season.  The Detroit Tigers joined the NFL in 1921 – their one and only season.  A Columbus franchise used the moniker during the 1923-1926 seasons.  Lastly, the Brooklyn Dodgers changed their name to the Tigers in 1944, merged with the Boston Yanks for the 1945 season, and then folded before the 1946 season began.

A few team names caught my eye.  The Louisville Brecks are one, probably because I didn’t know what the heck a ‘Breck’ was.  After some research, I learned that it’s short for Breckenridges, and the team was officially known as the Louisville Breckenridge Club.  The name Breckenridge is taken from former United States Vice President from Kentucky, John C. Breckinridge.  (I’m not sure why the two are spelled slightly differently.  It’s very odd.  You’ll even find both spellings on a map of Louisville.  For example, Breckinridge Inn is located on Breckenridge Lane.  It’s enough to bring a blog poster to drink!)

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by rseysPosted on Posted in The Best Football Novels

We’re in the middle of a football drought this time of year.  Football season is months away.  To make it worse, spring is having a late start this year (at least where I live in Minnesnowta), so there’s not even nice weather to enjoy outside.  That makes it a perfect time to kick back with a great football novel.  But that begs the question: Which fictional football novels are the best?

A couple of years ago, I found myself on an apocalyptic book kick.  Apocalyptic books are great.  The Twilight Zone is one of my favorite TV series of all time, and when you find a great apocalyptic book, it’s like enjoying a marathon episode of The Twilight Zone that lasts for weeks.  (Yeah, I’m a slow reader.)  When I first became turned on to apocalyptic books, I decided that if I were going to read them, I wanted to make sure that I read the best books the sub-genre had to offer.  To accomplish this goal, I did some ‘Google searches’ for the best apocalyptic books of all time and began to compile a list.

The first thing I noticed in my endeavor was a lack of a consensus regarding which books were the best.  There was a lot of individual bias.  Sometimes there were books listed that I’d never heard of.  To get the gist of a book, I would hop on Amazon.com to read the book description.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in Make a Fantasy Football Team Name Generator
Figure 1 - The Fantasy Football Team Name Generator interface

Figure 1 – The Fantasy Football Team Name Generator interface

Making your own fantasy football team name generator is easy to do, and it’s entertaining to see the names that the program comes up with.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I would not recommend using a name generator to select a name for your team – using your creativity is still your best bet – yet the program may give you some ideas.  But more than that, it’s mesmerizing simply to watch the multitude of combinations that the program constructs.  Some names are clearly deficient, but every now and then it will generate a name that squarely hits the cool mark between the eyes.

(If you would prefer to simply use our team name generator rather than making your own, select ‘Team Name Generator’ from menu above, or click HERE.)

The name generator that I’ll show you how to make will randomly create a unique fantasy football team name from 10,000 possibilities with each push of a button.  The only tools you’ll need are your computer and a typical spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or Apache OpenOffice Calc.  In this post, I’ll show you how to make a fantasy football team name generator in both spreadsheets.

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by rseysPosted on Posted in Where Did the NFL Teams Get Their Names?
FDR's New Deal NRA poster was the inspiration for naming the Philadelphia franchise

Where did the NFL teams get their names?  In my previous post, I offered strategies and ideas for coming up with a cool name for your fantasy football team.  One of my suggestions was to take a tip from the pros.  Nearly all of the NFL team names have a tie with the city from which they hail, and my advice was to follow suit and have your fantasy team name have a connection with you.  That got me to thinking: How exactly did each of the NFL team names originate?  I did some digging, and this is what I found out:

Arizona Cardinals
The team now known as the Arizona Cardinals began as an amateur athletic club that was founded in 1898.  The team was later moved to Normal Park, located on Racine Avenue, in Chicago, and given the name the Racine Normals.  In 1901, team founder, Chris O’Brien, purchased used maroon jerseys for his team from the University of Chicago, but the colors had faded.  O’Brien declared, “That’s not maroon, it’s cardinal red!”  From that point on, the team was known as the Cardinals.

Atlanta Falcons
The name for the Falcons was chosen in a team naming contest.  Julia Elliott, a high school teacher from Georgia, was the contest winner.  Some of the many suggested names were the Bombers, Crackers, Fireballs, Firebirds, Knights, Rebels, Thrashers, and Thunderbirds.
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