Fantasy Experts? That's Plain Fantasy

By Wayne Davis

Are the Sportsline.com and Yahoo.com really experts or simply fans that offer their opinion? The truth is your opinion is as good, if not better, then theirs.

I'm an avid sports watcher but I also have a full-time gig and a family. Yet I can do the same research as the experts. The only difference is they get their information more quickly. The trick is how you process that information.

Don't believe me?

Here's some examples:

Dave Richard, senior fantasy writer, for Sportsline.com offered his expertise in an article about DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers. In the August 18th piece, Richard said Williams’ stock is rising after a good performance in a preseason game in which his #1 threat Jonathon Stewart did not play well. Where he did he get this from? Has he heard that Williams will start over Stewart from Coach John Fox or is he offering his opinion? In other words he is providing no expert information but just an opinion that the most novice of Fantasy GM’s could have figured out themselves. I didn’t have to read his article to understand his point: The fact that the Panthers drafted Stewart in the first round tells me that they want him to be the starter. Stewart should easily be higher on your list then Williams, especially in keeper leagues.

Take the RB mess in Cincinnati. As of last week Chris Perry is not mentioned in the preseason periodicals. I remember in 2004 Perry was drafted in the first round a year after Rudi Johnson took over as the starter from Corey Dillon. Perry was drafted to be the Bengals RB of the future but injuries in the next 3 years killed that. So here we are at 2008 and Johnson is struggling with nagging injuries and has definitely lost a step and yet the “experts” say there is a log jam to get carries for the remaining RB’s in Cincy. From Kenny Watson to De De Dorsey, everyone has been mentioned over Perry. But going on the assumption that he is more talented than his comopetition, I drafted him in one of my keeper leagues. Fast forward to today and now the Bengals are shopping Johnson and have all but named Perry the starter.

Good for me, bad for all the novice Fantasy GM’s out there that depend on the so called “experts” who are NO better then I am. It's not gospel just because it's in print.

Wayne Davis is a fantasy guru who wins just about every league he enters. This is his first piece for TDD.