Wanna Play Me?

Hey guys,

So, I've been using a site for the past few weeks and I've been having a great time with it. It's called FanDuel.

Basically, you go there, deposit a few bucks and play one-on-one matchups or enter 5-10 man leagues that last for that weekend of Football. You can enter free leagues, or wager anywhere from $1 to way way more.

You have a $60K bank and fill up positions based on who you think is going to kill it that particular week.

Enter your players, watch the games, they tabulate your score, and if you win the matchup, you win the bet and the money.

Anyways... If you follow this link http://www.fanduel.com/?invitedby=godhateslosers&cnl=da and deposit 10 dollars, then we should each get some free money and we can play against each other.

So, follow the link, log in, deposit, and search for me (my screenname is godhateslosers, obviously.) and challenge me to a game of one-on-one. (I will play a few money games, but I'm very poor, so we might have to play free. Sorry)

You got what it takes to beat me at my own game?

2011 Week 6: Revisiting Shuffling Defense Strategy (SDS)

It's a lovely boring Saturday, so what could possibly be better than pouring over fantasy football stats to share with you? Not a thing.

We are five weeks through the season, and it seems that we are finally able to see a bit of a picture showing up in consistency of NFL teams.

Before the season began, I introduced to you my Shuffing Defense Strategy.

Essentially, this strategy boils down to changing your defense out each week. Rather than picking a defense to roll with the entire year, you can earn a higher fantasy point total from your defense by strategically choosing your defense from the free agency based on the team that they are playing against.

Let's take a look at the highest scoring defenses so far in the NFL and compare them to a perfectly deployed SDS.

2011 Week 5 Advice Time

Hey everybody, it is time to get you last minute questions in.


I will be answering questions on the site until about 11. So it might be wise from about 10am (ET) to start posting your questions on Twitter so I can get to them

Simply follow @godhateslosers and post your question to use and I'll get you an answer before kickoff.

To recap... Answering questions on the website for about an hour and a half. Answering questions on Twitter til kickoff.

Week 5 Fantasy Football Showdown: Andrew vs. Jordan

Ali vs. Frazier. Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins. Batman vs. the Joker. Coke vs. Pepsi. Hamilton vs. Burr. And now… Andrew vs. Jordan.

For weeks, the world of sports has been counting down to this most epic rivalry. Who will emerge from the chaos as champion and who will pout for the remainder of the week?

The league: Iupati Like It’s Your Birthday. The opponents: Sweet Sweet Cundifflingus and Tootsie Sproles. The rules are simple: Standard, non-PPR league. 1 point per 25 passing yards, 10 receiving yards or 10 rushing yards. 6 points per touchdown, 4 per passing touchdown.

Jordan's Team (Sweet Sweet Cundifflingus)		Andrew's Team (Tootsie Sproles)
Record: 4-0 /// Total Points: 503		Record: 3-1 /// Total Points: 389
Cam Newton (NO)	QB	Philip Rivers (@DEN)
LeGarrette Blount (@SF)	RB	Arian Foster (OAK)
Isaac Redman (TEN)	RB	Beanie Wells (@MIN)
Jonathan Stewart (NO)	RB/WR	Steve Smith (NO)
Roddy White (GB)	WR	Hakeem Nicks (SEA)
Wes Welker (NYJ)	WR	A.J. Green (@JAX)
Rob Gronkowski (NYJ)	WR/TE	Nate Washington (@PIT)
Jimmy Graham (@CAR)	TE	Jared Cook (@PIT)
Jason Hanson (CHI)	K	David Akers (TB)
Tennessee Titans (@PIT)	DEF	Cincinnati Bengals (@JAX)

You tell us:

• Who will win the battle?
• Why will they prevail?
• What shall be the fate of the loser?

UPDATE: Andrew molested me. Bad. I knew he would, in truth, but I didn't know it would hurt this much. ~ Jordan

NFL Week 5 Pick'em Predictions and Survival Football

Quite the week lined up. Of the 13 games this week. I have 10 of them being won by the visiting team. I don't know how I feel about that, but let's see what happens.

I think the Bills will continue to slide after the Bengals of all teams laid the blueprint of how to stop them. Eagles should be able to capitalize with their pass game.

Titans show no signs of slowing down as they take out the heartless Steelers.

Colts finally get a win under their belts at home against the Chiefs.

I think the loss of Andre Johnson is enough to throw the Texans off their game.

I struggled with the Lions and the Bears. The Lions have to be the worst looking 4-0 team ever, it was the pass rush against heavily-sacked Cutler that pushed me toward Detroit in this one.

If you've got any upset of your own or want to point out why you think one of us is out of our mind, go ahead and post it in the comments.

	Jordan	Andrew	MGLS
Record (LW) (Total):	(9-7)(38-26)	(9-7)(38-26)	(8-8)(32-32)
Eagles @ Bills	Bills	Eagles	Eagles
Bengals @ Jaguars	Bengals	Bengals	Bengals
Titans @ Steelers	Titans	Titans	Steelers
Chiefs @ Colts	Colts	Colts	Chiefs
Raiders @ Texans	Texans	Raiders	Raiders
Cardinals @ Vikings	Cardinals	Cardinals	Cardinals
Saints @ Panthers	Saints	Saints	Panthers
Seahawks @ Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants
Buccaneers @ 49ers	Bucs	Bucs	49ers
Chargers @ Broncos	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers
Jets @ Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots
Packers @ Falcons	Packers	Packers	Falcons
Bears @ Lions	Lions	Lions	Lions
Survival Pick	Eliminated	Giants	Eliminated

NFL Week 4 Fantasy Football Pick'em and Survival Picks

Hey GHL fans. Back with another week of pick'em.

I did a number on last week's messy results and came out on top at 11-5, tying with Jordan for the lead through three weeks. My Girlfriend's Little Sister kept her record split even.

In Nanny Nanny Boo-Boo news, Jordan is out of the Survival game after just three weeks. What did we learn... Betting against the Seahawks is usually a good move, but better on the Cardinals is a little iffy. For me Week 4 is with another team that should easily seal their victory. At about Week 5, when the majority of the competition is out, then we will start making our picks a little bolder. And it will be easier, because we will have a better sense for how the teams play. Ta-da!

A couple upsets on my list, for the most part, it seems pretty straight-forward though.

I see the Cowboys pulling through again at home against a solid Lions team. But the Lions haven't really faced anyone that good. They soundly beat the Kansas City High School Chiefs, struggled against Tampa, and had to go to overtime with the 0-3 Vikings.

I will also be taking Bucs losing to the Colts. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just feeling bold. I'm just not impressed by Tampa Bay this year. And it's about time for the Colts to do some work.

MGLS picks will be up shortly. If you've got an upset special that you like. Post it!

	Jordan	Andrew	MGLS
Record (LW) (Total):	(9-7)(29-19)	(11-5)(29-19)	(8-8)(24-24)
Bills @ Bengals	Bills	Bills	Bengals
Panthers @ Bears	Panthers	Bears	Panthers
Titans @ Browns	Browns	Browns	Browns
Lions @ Cowboys	Lions	Cowboys	Cowboys
Vikings @ Chiefs	Vikings	Vikings	Chiefs
Redskins @ Rams	Redskins	Rams	Redskins
Saints @ Jaguars	Saints	Saints	Jaguars
49ers @ Eagles	Eagles	Eagles	49ers
Steelers @ Texans	Steelers	Texans	Steelers
Falcons @ Seahawks	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons
Giants @ Cardinals	Giants	Giants	Giants
Broncos @ Packers	Packers	Packers	Broncos
Patriots @ Raiders	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots
Dolphins @ Chargers	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers
Jets @ Ravens	Jets	Ravens	Jets
Colts @ Buccaneers	Bucs	Colts	Bucs
Survival Pick	Eliminated	Saints	Eliminated

Humbling Losses: You and I Can Overcome This - Part 2

Piggy backing on my friend and lesser foe's post . I, unlike him, managed to win in all leagues this week, though not in stunning fashion. The wins are cute, as they have secured the #1 spot for me in all leagues, but they really don't matter. This is Week 3, for chrissake.

If you're winning your leagues at this point-- good. Well done. Great. Whoopty doo. You're still probably one or two devestating injuries away from taking advantage of the waiver wire like it was Lorraine McFly. Or your hot pocket players could start stinking like, well, hot pockets.

Humbling Losses: You and I Can Overcome This

I will come out and say it. This week I suffered the biggest loss of my fantasy football career. But let this post be a lesson to you. That you can rise from an abysmal week. One loss, no matter the margin, is no reason to find your season as a total loss. It is still early in this game. Just like the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 or the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1, every team, even fantasy, has an off week.

I went into Week 3 in my league projected by ESPN to win by 10 points. I was solid with my starters and thought that I would breeze through another week. Let’s take a look at how things turned out:

QB: Philip Rivers, 6 fantasy points
RB: DeAngelo Williams, 2 fantasy points
RB: Montario Hardesty, 7 fantasy points
RB/WR: Steve Smith, 1 fantasy point
WR: Hakeem Nicks, 2 fantasy points
WR: AJ Green, 2 fantasy points
WR/TE: Kenny Britt, -1 fantasy point
TE: Evan Moore, 1 fantasy point
 DEF: Tennessee Titans, 8 fantasy points
K: Mason Crosby, 9 fantasy points

Injury Roulette or: How I Stole Miles Austin and Marques Colston

The injury bug is a bitch. A toothy, machete (to capitalize on a phrase by Mr. Austin) wielding bitch. To quote Andre 3000’s take on injuries: Bitch, stupid ass bitch / Old punk ass bitch, old dumb ass bitch / A bitch is a bitch, just a bitch. That’s what injuries are. Just ask Jamaal Charles, the Kansas City Chiefs, all of KC’s fans, and all those jokers that grabbed Charles in the first round.

But a bitch can be a sweet lay too. Sometimes, it’s so good, you just have to suck it up and deal with it.

And that’s where you come in. You deal with the bitch because the sex is so damn good. And nothing, nothing, NOTHING is closer to sex in fantasy football than stealing a great player.

Fantasy Football Strategy: How to Select Your Kicker

Nobody is perfect. But, I mean, let’s face it, I’m pretty goddamn close. However a few comments have found a flaw from last week and that would be my Kicker rankings. In fact, for nearly every single fantasy football blog or advice site you go to, you will see that this is the weak point. I don’t want to say that it is impossible, but really, there is so much inconsistency that luck plays about 90% of the role.

Why is it so damn hard to predict? In 2010, nine kickers averaged 8+ fantasy points per game. Only one player on that list also had 8+ points in 2009, David Akers. Also the difference between the fifth highest scoring kicker from 2010 and the fifteenth highest scorer was a mere 1 fantasy point per game. Just one.

But, this is an advice site. So I will advise. Though there has never been, and likely never will be an accurate system for picking kicker performance, I’ve been trying to find any sort of formula to accurately predict kickers. Below are a few strategies that might be worth your while. Best of luck to you.

2011 Fantasy Football Week 1 Wrap-Up

So, it probably goes without saying that I am heartbroken. Devastating loss for my Cowboys. Which is another positive about fantasy football, because I successfully wrapped up all of my game this week. And by some stroke of luck I am currently the highest scorer in the Expert League by over 70 points, thanks largely in part to Drew Brees, Mike Tolbert, Kenny Britt and Steve Smith.
Fantasy Weekly Wrap-Ups are going to be our version of Monday Morning Quarterbacking looking at fantasy implications of some of the top performers, spouting off random things that amused us our made us think. If you’ve got something you want to share, add it to the comments. Advice time and rankings will be coming up mid-week, so please hold off on those, we’ve got plenty of time.

NFL Week 1 Pick'em Predictions and Surival Football

Alright, welcome to our Week 1 Pick'em Predictions.

This year we are going to have a new addition to this post. We will also be predicting Survival winners. The rules for us are the same. We can only pick each NFL team one time.

For those of you that are new to GodHatesLosers, you will notice that Jordan and I are both making predictions. MGLS stands for My Girlfriend's Little Sister. She is 11. She enjoys drawing, being in the 6th grade, and dancing to "Michael Jackson: The Experience" video game on the Wii. Her picks are much like a coin toss, except more adorable.

Here we go:

	Jordan	Andrew	MGLS
Record:	(0-0)	(0-0)	(0-0)
Saints @ Packers	Saints	Saints	Packers
Steelers @ Ravens	Steelers	Ravens	Ravens
Bengals @ Browns	Browns	Browns	Browns
Colts @ Texans	Texans	Texans	Texans
Titans @ Jaguars	Titans	Titans	Titans
Falcons @ Bears	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons
Bills @ Chiefs	Chiefs	Chiefs	Chiefs
Eagles @ Rams	Eagles	Eagles	Rams
Lions @ Buccaneers	Lions	Lions	Lions
Seahawks @ 49ers	49ers	49ers	Seahawks
Giants @ Redskins	Redskins	Giants	Redskins
Vikings @ Chargers	Chargers	Chargers	Vikings
Panthers @ Cardinals	Cardinals	Cardinals	Panthers
Cowboys @ Jets	Cowboys	Cowboys	Cowboys
Patriots @ Dolphins	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots
Raiders @ Broncos	Broncos	Broncos	Raiders
Survival Pick	Patriots	Patriots	Seahawks

Survival League Strategy: Winning These Fantasy Football Pools

Survival football is a style of fantasy (or gambling, if you will) similar to pick’em. It’s a simple premise: You pick the winner of one game per week. The catch is that once you select a team, you cannot select them for the rest of the season.* If you choose incorrectly, you are eliminated. At the end of the year, the person in the pool who made it the furthest into the season wins.

*In some survival leagues, if your team wins, you are allowed to play them the next week as well. But for this site, we are going to stick to the first set of rules

My first few years playing this, I had no strategy at all. “How hard could this be?” I foolishly asked myself. Pretty damn hard is the answer. Anyone else get eliminated last year during Week 1 because you picked the Chargers? That’s right, about half of you.

There seem to be two strategies that are used in Survival Leagues:

1)      Save the easy picks for later. A majority of the people in your pool are probably going to save the simple guys the middle of the season (assuming they make it that far). Their strategy is to not vote for the Eagles, Patriots, Packers, Saints, Steelers, etc. in the beginning of the season, thinking that if they make it out of the first 4-5 weeks, then they can coast to the finish line on their sure-things.

2)      Pick the best. Each week. No matter what. This strategy is simple. Look at the teams, and find which one appears the most obvious. If you gamble in Week 1, you have less of a chance of making it out of Week 1. If you so with a sure-thing, then you have a better chance to progress further.

I am against the first strategy. It makes little sense to me, personally. The entire point of the game is to make it to the next week. So, if you don’t make the smart pick in Week 1, the chances of you getting past that week are greatly decreased. I would much rather pick the Patriots beating the Dolphins in Week 1, then going out on a limb and picking, say, the 49ers over the Seahawks.

This game is all about endurance. If every member of your pool goes with the first strategy, they will drop like flies before even seeing Week 5. Meaning that if you employ the second strategy and play it safe in the early rounds, you win.

So go with the obvious ones early. Stay in as long as you can. When there are fewer competitors in the pool, then you can start taking your gambles. It’s a lot easier to gamble on a team in the middle weeks when you have been able to watch them all season and can predict the outcomes more easily.

Now, how do you go about picking a sure-thing? There are a couple factors here. First is pretty basic, you look at their record. This is where you are going to find the teams that do well every year. By seeing who they play well against and how often they win games, you can be pretty confident when they go up against a ‘less than perfect’ team.

Second is home-field advantage. It definitely matters. The Kansas City Chiefs are by no means one of the obvious teams to pick, but their record in 2010 was 7-1 at home. I’d be much more confident picking them in a home game in the middle of the year, knowing that they perform better there, than picking them at the beginning of the year so I could save the bigger names for later down the road.

Number three, look at the loser. It’s an awkward fact, but I feel that it is way easier to pick which team will definitely lose the game than it is to pick the team that will definitely win. I’m sure there is a psychological term for it or something. But think about it, there seem to be fewer loopholes and it is a lot easier to be confident saying the Redskins will definitely lose to the Giants, than saying the Giants will definitely beat the Redskins. So make a point to analyze the other team, if you can confidently say that they are going to lose, then pull the trigger.

Hope this strategy clears some things up for all of those playing in Survival Leagues. If you are not already signed up for one, they are a fun little game that will take about two minutes of your life, so go on your favorite fantasy football host and sign up!

And of course, you can expect to hear from GHL. When we post our Pick’em predictions, we will also add our guarantee of the week that we’ll be using in our own Survival Pool Picks.

Week 1 Fantasy Football Position Rankings

Here we are. The long awaited Player Rankings for Week 1. This is a weekly post where we will look at every matchup in the league and list the players how we think they will perform.

A few little notes for you:

• This isn't exactly standard and isn't exactly PPR. Consider it almost a .5 PPR ranking. 
• Just because these are my rankings, they may not reflect the advice that I give you one-on-one. Sometimes the gut has to outweigh the statistics.
• Kicker is borderline impossible to predict. My picks are based a lot on strength of offense. Its all about how many times a team will make the red zone.
• The Defense rankings you see here are what I will be using for Shuffling Defense Strategy. There are a handful of teams in the top 10 that are likely available in your waivers. Snatch them up unless the team you already own is higher.
• If I happened to skip any player that seems he should obviously be on the list, please bring it to my attention. I likely just forgot him.
• Feel free to use this post as an Advice post. If you have any roster questions, fire away.
• IDP rankings are very similar week in and week out. Basically, if the guy is performing well, play him. If he is not, drop him. I'm not in the game of predicting tackles.

Enjoy!

“Iupati like it’s Your Birthday” League Fantasy Football Draft Results

UPDATED! I accidentally got Jordan's team entirely wrong. Phew. I fixed it though. Its much more embarrasing for him now.

Finished this draft about a week ago and wanted to let everyone know how it turned out. If you’ve been reading through the posts, this is the draft where Jordan drunkenly drafted three… THREE… tight ends. You would think that he take the advice of his own fantasy website, but no.

Below are the results for my team, Jordan’s team, and Gurgs’s team. I personally think that Gurgs had the best draft in the league. Let me know what you think in the comments.

My Team- Tootsie Sproles (Second overall pick)

QB- Philip Rivers

RB- DeAngelo Williams

RB- Beanie Wells

RB/WR- Kenny Britt

WR- Hakeem Nicks

WR- Mike Williams

WR/TE- Malcolm Floyd

TE- Jared Cook

DEF- Atlanta

K- Mason Crosby

Bench spots- Arian Foster, AJ Green, Zach Miller, Steve Smith (CAR), Antonio Brown, DeMarco Murray, Steve Breaston

Jordan’s Team-Sweet, Sweet Cundifflingus (10th overall pick)

QB- Tony Romo
RB- LaGarrette Blount
RB- Tim Hightower
RB/WR- Wes Welker
WR- Andre Johnson
WR- Roddy White
WR/TE- Jimmy Graham
TE- Jason Witten
DEF- New England
K- David Akers

Bench spots- Jonathan Stewart, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon Jacobs, Lance Moore, Hines Ward, I. Redman, Marion Barber

 

Gurgs’s Team- Orton Hears a Who (4th overall pick)

QB- Matthew Stafford

RB- Ray Rice

RB- Frank Gore

WR/RB- Jahvid Best

WR- Vincent Jackson

WR- Miles Austin

WR/TE- Austin Collie

TE- Jermichael Finley

DEF- San Diego

K- Sebastian Janikowski

Bench spots- Mark Ingram, Mike Tolbert, Mike Thomas, Michael Bush, Jerome Harrison, Jerome Simpson, Chris Cooley

So, those are the teams. The draft was before Foster’s injury and before CJ ended his holdout, so I’m left without my first pick for week 1. As I said, I believe that Gurgs had the best draft in the league, but her team is one of the most fragile fantasy teams I’ve ever seen put together in my life. Stafford, Gore, Best, Jackson, Collie, Finley all missed time last year and Austin is nursing a hamstring right now.

Fantasy Football Week 1 Advice Time

I am very excited to announce the first ever Advice Time of the 2011 NFL Season.

If you've got questions about lineups or trades, or still even have a few draft questions to get to, now is the time to post them.

And remember, make sure that you add us on Twitter. One hour before kickoff, every Sunday, I will be answering questions LIVE on Twitter. Make sure you add @godhateslosers and direct any questions to us.

Draft Time: Fantasy Site Battle

So I’m doing this awesome thing this year in the hopes of proving just how awesome I really am. I’m getting together with some fellow fantasy football gurus and playing in a 12 man league. These are all guys who work on radio shows, or write other blogs and somehow contribute to the fantasy football community. And I’m going to do everything in my power to prove the GHL is the greatest fantasy site on the internet.

The rules are a little funky, but for sanity’s sake, let’s just say that it is basically a PPR league.

We just finished the first round of the draft, so let’s take a look at the picks and break them down a bit. Feel free to analyze the picks yourself in the comments below and let me know what you think was a good move and what could be considered tragic.

My Draft is In!

Hey guys. Had my first draft today. Wanted to share it with you. The league is a little funky so I'll explain it first and then list my picks!

League info:
1) 10-team league, 24 man roster, snake draft, PPR and IDP
2) QBs get 6 points for TDs instead of the usual 4. Extra points for games with over 300 yards and TDs of more than 50 yards
3) RBs get extra points for longer TD runs
4) WRs get extra points for longer TD receptions
5) Individual Defensive Players get 1 point for assisted tackle, 2 points for solo tackle, 2 points for sacks or interceptions, 6 points for defensive TD

We also had a certain number of positions with maximum players. You had to have the following roster:
2 quarterbacks (1 starting)
4 running backs (2 starting)
4 wide receivers (2 starting)
2 tight ends (1 starting)
2 kickers (1 starting)
2 defensive linemen (1 starting)
4 linebackers (2 starting)
4 defensive backs (2 starting)

Definitely a crazy league. Tons of extra research for it. This is the team that I got.
I was the first overall pick. Team name: So Fly Like Hakeem Nicks

QB Tony Romo (Taken in round 2. Four QBs went in round 1, four more taken ahead of me in round 2, so I had to pull the trigger)
RB Adrian Peterson (First overall pick)
RB Matt Forte (Round 4)
WR Calvin Johnson (Round 3, happy he fell to me)
WR Brandon Lloyd (Round 6, best on the board)
TE Jimmy Graham (Round 10, I think)
LB Paul Posluszny (I'm very happy about all of my IDP picks, starting and bench)
LB Desmond Bishop
DL Charles Johnson
DB Donte Whitner
DB T.J. Ward
K Matt Bryant
BE Peyton Manning (Fell to me in Round 5. I DO NOT recommend taking 2 QBs in the first 5 picks of the draft unless Peyton falls this far to you)
BE Mario Manningham
BE Bernard Pollard (DB)
BE Tim Hightower
BE Bradie James (LB)
BE Greg Olsen
BE Santana Moss
BE Joseph Addai
BE Robert Mathis (DL)
BE David Hawthorne (LB, huge sleeper. He had a great 2009 and now that Tatupu is gone, he will be the man)
BE Dawan Landry (DB)
BE Alex Henery

Thats it! Tell me what you think! I think I've got this league on lock

Adrian Peterson vs. Arian Foster: Who is Really Number One?

You've got the first pick in your fantasy football draft. So who will it be? Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson or Houston Texans' Arian Foster?

There are two backs at the top of everyone’s draft chart. It’s borderline unanimous. Adrian Peterson, a top fantasy football running back since his rookie season, versus Arian Foster, a monster who broke onto the scene in 2010. There is a clear argument to be made for draft either one of these stars. But which one will be better? We’ll look at five different categories to find out exactly which of these running backs you should be taking with the first overall pick.

2011 Fantasy Football Position Rankings - Preseason Week 2

As promised here are the 2011 fantasy football rankings for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, kicker and defense. I know that a lot of guys have drafts today or tomorrow, so print it out, study up and dominate. Good luck, everyone.