It’s time for the 1st ever Consumer Reports edition on BSD. I feel as though I owe a duty to the world to give actual information on some of the fantasy football websites that exist. I’m in multiple fantasy football leagues the last few seasons and have experienced a few different fantasy football websites, so I can at least share my experiences.
1) Yahoo
Yahoo is still the most reliable fantasy website. Period. The draft application is simple and I’ve yet to have it crash on me despite the fact that I’ve drafted three teams on their website each of the last three years. In addition, there really are no problems in terms of trying to add players or access your teams. The only downside is that you have to pay $10 if you want live scoring. Other than that, it’s a pleasurable experience with absolutely no negative feelings.
2) ESPN
ESPN has lots of bells and whistles all over its draft application. It shows you pictures of its players, it makes lots of crazy noises, it’s colorful, it’s easy on the eyes. There’s only one problem, in each of my experiences the last 3 seasons, something always goes wrong with the draft! ESPN does now provide a “draft-lite application” without most of the bells and whistles, but it still also crashes often! I’ve had drafts where at some point, the draft application freezes and players are unable to make their selections. The funniest problem I had was last season. Larry Johnson was ESPN’s #1, but I was set to take LT with the #1 pick. Granted, I should have pre-ranked players, but I forgot to. I get into the draft room and I’m chatting with friends and everything is working fine. It’s finally my turn to make the #1 pick… and everything freezes! Yadda yadda, I end up with LJ and end up losing to the guy who got LT in the semifinals of our league.
I had a friend who had a whole new problem this season. He tried clicking on Travis Henry to draft him and the application would not let him take Henry. Here’s the kicker though – no one in the league was able to draft Travis Henry! Henry ended up on the waiver wire after the draft and was acquired by some lucky person after the draft.
ESPN took new strides this year. Seeing as they are unable to combat the problems with their draft application, they actually provide an option now for the commissioner to re-start the draft at different picks. For example, our draft this year locked up and was inoperable for picks 71-76 and it ended up autopicking a bunch of strange players. Thankfully, the commissioner was able to pause the draft and re-start the application. Still, it’s hard to recommend such a website when their technical difficulties are so well-documented that they provide tools for you to fix them.
3) Fox Sports
I find this website to be the most frustrating. First off, this is only my 2nd year of experience on the website, and it’s been hell. To make matters worse this season, the draft application completely crashed multiple times during the draft. The first time it crashed, I was lucky as I had just gotten my pick in. The second time it crashed, I got really screwed. I had added some players to my “queue” to keep an eye on. I learned a lesson – never use the queue on a sketchy website! Unfortunately, I had 3 defenses that happened to be on the top of my list… and Fox drafted me all 3 defenses and failed to draft me a kicker! Last year, one of the problems was that it was a complete crapshoot for the first 4 weeks whether you could access the waiver wire. I tried accessing it from home, work, school, friends’ houses, safehouses, and government buildings, and it still was a complete toss-up whether the available players would load. The waiver wire also continued having problems for the first 3 weeks, so it was a slight improvement. This year, you could access the list of players to add, but the website placed almost my entire roster on the “list of elite players that you cannot waive.” Luckily for me, none of the defenses were on the “can’t waive list” so I was able to get a kicker after the draft!
Despite having waiver wire problems, this season actually hit rock bottom after week 1 was completed. Each time I signed in (or refreshed), a different random team from across the country was listed as mine. Of course, I still couldn’t find my own team. I then tried later on that Tuesday night and I found the following message:
“We are aware of the issues with the Week 1 Scoreboard, players locked for Week 2 (rosters, free agency and waivers), standings sorted incorrectly, and waiver order not reset (in leagues that reset weekly). We are working hard to correct these issues as soon as possible. Our apologies for the inconvenience.” It was sensational!
I hope someone can shed some light on NFL.com’s fantasy website…. Now, onto the games:
Manwich Matchup of the Week
New England @ Dallas- The NFC has the strangest new ritual. If you want to win the NFC, it appears you have to do the following things:
1) play on Monday Night against a much weaker opponent
2) have your QB produce at least 7 Turnovers
3) dramatically win the game by 1 point.
The Bears did it in 2006, and now the Cowboys this year!
Pick: New England
Upset of the Week
Philadelphia @ NY Jets – This is one of the stranger games of the week, as it involves 2 teams that have seasons that are going south in a hurry. I don’t know what to do with Coach Mangina’s team, but McNabb doesn’t look good at all so far (other than that aberration 56-point outburst against the Lions).
Pick: NY Jets
Cincy @ KC – A long, restful layoff should rejuvenate the Bengals.
Pick: Cincy
Houston @ Jacksonville – The Jaguars are finally back to playing excellent football and good run defense… I’d have to imagine the trend will continue. Hell, they even got Maurice Jones-Drew on track last week.
Pick: Jack-o
Miami @ Cleveland – With Trent Green getting yet another concussion, the Dolphins are forced to start Cleo “I’m not a fortune-teller” Lemon.
Pick: Brownies
Minnesota @ Chicago – It’s a shame the Vikings don’t have any QB skills… otherwise, I’d be tempted to pick them in this game.
Pick: da Bears
St. Louis @ Baltimore – Cobra Commander gets to beat up on a defenseless Gus Frerotte who still doesn’t have an offensive line or Steven Jackson. It’s just not fair. Cobra is so evil, and playing some ugly-ball this year. A 9-7 victory over the 49ers last week? That’s not so inspirational. If Destro was around, he’d really start to question Cobra Commander.
Pick: Baltimore
Tennessee @ Tampa Bay – Suddenly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went from trendy pick to win the division to hands-down favorite this past weekend in my mind – even with getting beat up by the backups on the Colts and losing another RB! The Falcons have QB issues, the Panthers are down to a David Carr with a bad back and the Saints still haven’t won a game and it’s the middle of October… Tampa may win the division by default, but I still don’t think they can handle the Titans.
Pick: Titans
Washington @ Green Bay – This could be a crucial NFC matchup if both teams continue to play well. When I don’t know what to do though, it’s easier to go with Green Bay, especially coming off of such a disappointing loss.
Pick: Green Bay
CAR @ Arizona – Nobody beats the Whiz at home! (seriously, the Cards are 2-0 thus far at home)
Pick: Cardinals
Oakland @ San Diego – It’s the most unexpected 1st-place divisional matchup! Raiders-Chargers! I’m actually really excited to see how this turns out. I realize the Chargers won by 38 last week, but something tells me the Raiders are actually tougher than the Broncos.
Pick: San Diego
New Orleans @ Seattle – I’ve picked the Saints every week. Finally, I’m done picking them. If they win this week I’ll be happy for them, but very annoyed.
Pick: Seattle
NY Giants @ Atlanta – I know MJ thinks the Giants stink, but their schedule has been very favorable thus far.
Pick: Giants
Last Week: 11-3
Season: 47-29
Manwich: 5-0 (The Steelers shutout the Seahawks and they didn’t even have Hines Ward or Santonio Holmes!)
Upset of the Week: 2-3 (Taking the Lions over the Redskins was not a smart decision).
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