Fantasy Football Librarian

This upcoming mother's day weekend is kind of a special one for me. Turns out, my fine FF friends, that my husband and I have a baby boy due at the end of September, so as a mom-to-be, this is kind of a fun time. Our son should be making his appearance in the world right around Week 3 of the NFL season, which interestingly enough is when my Broncos play my husband's Colts. Now never fear, the blog will carry on as usual this fall...or close to normal. I'll likely be blogging at odd times of the day/night (probably with some sleep deprived ramblings) and may make a few tweaks or get some additional help on the blog, but you can count on FFLibrarian as a go-to spot this fall! September though is several months off, plenty of fantasy football to discuss now: Matt Schauf, who many of you know is one of my favorite IDP writers, has finally pulled together his analysis of IDPers drafted in the NFL Draft's second round in Draft reaction: Second round holds IDP potential . ...

This weekend it felt like summer had arrived in NYC as temperatures soared to near record degrees - my husband and I haven't yet installed our A/C unit for the summer so last night as I got in bed, and the temp in our apartment was over 80 degrees, all I could think of was, please please let football season's cool autumnal weather get here faster. Of course I might always feel that way about the start of the NFL season; often at say Week 7 of the season I suddenly long for it to start all over again, rather than just being of the moment and enjoying the season. So let's be of the moment here and enjoy a bunch up injury news (though seems like bad karma to enjoy injury news...) and updates from across the league. Not a ton of fantasy analysis going on right now, but don't worry, I have it on good authority that a lot of my favorite experts are working on some really good material for their summer draft mags and websites. Let's just start with what feels...

My in-laws are coming to visit tomorrow for a few days so I might be a bit quiet as the week wraps up: I'll be busy being a tourist with them. Having family visit is always a great excuse to jump on an uber-touristy bus, boat, or Empire State Building queue for the sake of showing your fam a good time...in reality though, who doesn't love a boat ride around Manhattan on a beautiful day? Plus I have an odd desire to ride one of those double-decker tourist buses. I'm convinced it's going to be really fun...don't tell me if it's not! Ugh...the Broncos need everything to go just right what with the pressure of the Tebow draft pick and the loss of all our major offensive playmakers...and Ryan Clady's knee surgery (courtesy of a basketball game injury) isn't what we need. FFToolbox has adjusted their 2010 Strength of Schedule - love tools like this. While not the final word on any draft choices of course, it's a nice addition to all that other player r...

The 2010 draft is complete...as is my trip to Boston. So thanks for being patient with my blog silence over the weekend - hope you found some other awesome resources to answer all your fantasy football needs. There are of course a ton of links to get to today so I'm just going to fly through them: I'm seeing a ton of rookie rankings and analysis of course - here are some top reads on that front: Razzball's NFL Draft Fantasy Fallout FFXtreme's 2010 Fantasy Football Rookie Rankings FantasyFanPlay's 2010 Impact Rookies Though before you get too gung ho about any of these guys, swing by a great read by CBSSports.com's Dave Richard (ooh, I love an article that includes a scatter plot) that looks at historically how valuable rookies are in fantasyland: The impact of rookies in fantasy . IDP leagues seem to be growing in popularity each year so I can only imagine how many of you are going to be psyched to read RapidDraft's Draft reaction: First-round IDPs , w...

I'm hopping on a bus (promise, it's better than it sounds) to Boston this afternoon for an art librarian conference so there's a good chance you won't be hearing from me again until early next week as I library it up all weekend long. There will be lots to take in with all the draft picks flying off the board over the weekend so I definitely recommend you swing by somewhere like Rotoworld , which will give you the news as well as some fantasy analysis. Also, Twitter was blowing up last night with all of the picks coming in - I'm guessing it will probably be a bit quieter tonight but scope out your favorite tweeters or #NFLdraft for all the news. So let's check out some highlights from today's fantasyland: Fantasy Depth Chart has already updated their Single Season Rankings/Projections to reflect the picks from the first round of the NFL draft.  Rotoworld takes a visual look at each of the 32 picks from last night with thoughts on what that pick might m...

I woke this morning to a gorgeous day here in New York City - the birds were chirping (yes, we have birds other than pigeons here) and the sun was streaming in the windows. Happy Earth Day indeed - and it seems the Earth is quite happy to be celebrating NFL Draft Day. Just a few quick links for you today: One of the primary things you can do today/tonight is seek out great live blogging during the draft as well as seek out pre-draft chats. One spot to stop this afternoon? Matthew Berry's chat on all things fantasy at 3 PM eastern - this will of course not just focus on the NFL but Berry's got some great thoughts and well worth the chat time.   Or chat, blog it up, etc with Fantasyfootball.com - take a look here for the details but they'll be starting up their chat just before the draft starts tonight. Similarly, there are some great tweets being cranked out today - see what Rotoworld's Evan Silva and Gregg Rosenthal have to say, as well as Scott Engel of RotoEx...

Such a big NFL week! First the 2010 schedule was released last night and now we're just a day away from the NFL Draft...it's like an extended birthday celebration where the fun never seems to end with treats around every corner. Love it. Now if you missed the big NFL schedule party last night, have no fear, I did too (I had book club; I know, I know, I'm still only partially excited about participating each month...it's really just an excuse to hang out with my sister) but I caught up with some of the major schedule news with many thanks to the entertaining Fifth Down post - Live Blogging the N.F.L. Schedule Show with Football Outsiders' Mike Tanier. The NFL has made their Big Ben decision: Roethlisberger is to be suspended for 6 games . Scope out some of the language in Goodell's letter to Roethlisberger as quoted in that link from CBSSports.com - pretty strong words there. Not only will this cost Big Ben nearly $3 million but also some serious ...

Well my favorite Bronco is no longer a Bronco. Goodbye, Tony Scheffler, you'll be missed. Now if I want to watch you I'll have to watch the Lions...my friend Sam back in Boulder (a Lions fan...perhaps the only one in Colorado?) is probably chuckling over that one. But Scheff went to college at Western Michigan and grew up in the great mitten state, so perhaps this is a bit of a homecoming for Scheff. Let's start off today's links with some Scheffler thoughts: Anyone paying attention to how poorly McDaniels and Scheffler got along towards the end of the 2009 season is not surprised to see that Scheffler is gone. It's just crazy to think that Scheff, Cutler, and Marshall have all left Colorado now...so what to think about the impact of Scheffler and Ernie Sims heading to new pastures? Turn to Rotoworld's Trade Fallout: Scheffler is a Lion for the fantasy details. For some other highlights on news around the league and of course Peter King commentary, take a ...

Well it has been a great (albeit chilly) weekend here in Brooklyn - lots of time relaxing, the highlight being a brunch date with friends including our buddy Bart, a NY Post journalist who broke the Santonio Holmes news last weekend. Gotta love having friends in the biz. And this weekend's relaxation was particularly nice since I'll either be traveling or have visitors in town for 7 of the next 9 weekends...starting with a library conference in Boston during next weekend's NFL Draft. I know, I know, what am I doing focusing on anything other than football next weekend?! I'll be watching the Thursday prime time activity but will likely have to catch up on everything else via the ol' iPhone. Since this is how most sane people take in the draft (or do they just wait until the week after for a brief update?), I think it will be a refreshing approach to the weekend...yes, I'm desperately seeking the silver lining here. To take my mind off the fact that I'll be...

Greetings fantasy football fans. Happy tax-day-is-behind-us-for-another-364-days. I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the future - finances, our apartment situation, our jobs, family stuff...and of course fantasy football! There's no better time than NFL Draft season for thinking about future, be it how your favorite team is prepping for the long term or how you can prep for the 2010 fantasy season. But brace yourselves - this post is heavy on draft prep and other real world NFL issues. That of course translates to fantasy football, but the number of straight up fantasy analysis articles here are few and far between. That's just the way the cookie crumbles during NFL Draft time... So let's get to the linkage on this cloudy Friday in NYC: If you're drafting it up in prime time next Thursday night but are hoping to get a little extra commentary as the draft picks tick by, take a look at the various places you'll find the Football Outsiders ch...

This morning as I emerged from the subway (and cursed beautiful Central Park for driving my allergies absolutely bananas) my phone absolutely blew up over the big Brandon Marshall news : my husband texted me the details and I had 3 e-mails waiting for me with the juicy news that my Broncos have (unofficially) traded away Marshall to the Dolphins for a second round pick this year and likely a second rounder in 2011 as well. As a Broncos fan I have mixed feelings on all of the wheeling and dealing since McDaniels arrived, but in the end I think what it comes down to is that we had incredible talent in guys like BMarsh and Cutler, but we certainly weren't going very far with it. So kudos to the boy genius (or so I hope) for grabbing some great picks and here's hoping we up the ante in Denver. In case you're looking for some of the fantasy fallout from all of this, have no fear, that analysis will soon be up all over the place. Read on for Marshall thoughts and m...

What a start to the week - had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw the headlines about Santonio Holmes being traded to the Jets. I knew he was on a short leash but I guess I just did not see this move to the Jets for a 5th round pick coming at all...and there are of course fantasy implications galore. So read on, my friends. Last night I was at the Knicks game and far, far below me, sitting courtside were Mark Sanchez and Dustin Keller. Think they knew of the trade in the works? The Sanchize must be pleased to have a little extra talent to toss to - while Keller is likely wondering what this will mean for his targets. Rotoworld has done a great job of summarizing the change on the fantasy scene in Trade fallout: Santonio Holmes is Jet . Meanwhile now ex-teammate Ben Roethlisberger has troubles of his own - scope out the details in Despite DA's decision, Roethlisberger may not escape punishment . MMQB takes a good look at the Holmes move and other rumors on the NFL scen...

This weekend we're heading to a Knicks game - they'll be playing the Heat (one of the few professional sports team names that does not end in S...now you're wondering about the rest right? Make that a fun diversion for a Friday afternoon!) and somehow it took us basically the entire NBA season to make it to a game. Better late than never! I'm sure I'll have football on my mind this weekend though, I mean the draft is now less than 2 weeks away. So onto today's links... FantasyFootball.com has a spectacular 2010 NFL Draft info page - they have all sorts of rumors and notes but also links out to mock drafts and rankings, scouting reports, team needs, and even a handful of interviews. Lots of good stuff here. Also on the draft front, Rotoworld's Evan Silva (one of my favorite draft dudes) reviews some of the big names on the defensive side in Draft 2010: On the Defensive - he notes that Maycock sees roughly 20 of the top 32 picks going to defenders, makin...

This is probably going to get lost in the shuffle of the other links I post below so I'm just going to pull it out and give it a little spotlight here: Brett Favre is a grandfather . He's merely a decade older than I am (he's 40) but I'm just working on baby numero uno. Favre's 21-year-old daughter meanwhile just welcomed a little boy to the world. Gotta say I'm impressed. Middle name? Brett. Moving onto things that are far more relevant to the world of fantasy football... Read Nudge ? If not, I recommend it - and if you need another reason beyond a librarian's endorsement, then check out what one of the authors wrote about the NFL draft in the NY Times: When a First Choice May Not Be the Best Choice . The article includes a link to more insight if you're feeling academic - see the abstract for The Loser's Curse: Overconfidence vs. Market Efficiency in the NFL Draft . When The Hazean's Monday Morning Rehab starts to include some real injury ...

Well the weekend was full of March Madness as I'm sure most of yours were, too, but also a little dose of fantasy baseball. Oh that's right, fantasy baseball ...the elusive fantasy sport that I will probably never learn to embrace. But on Saturday night my husband and I joined some great fantasy sports writers (yup, I'm talking about you, Scott Engel , Andy Behrens and Nick Minnix ) at the screening of Fantasyland , a movie that's spun off of the premise of the book by the same name, Fantasyland, by Wall Street Journal writer Sam Walker. The movie follows a regular dude, Jed, as he joins the illustrious Tout Wars fantasy baseball league - though to call this guy regular would be an understatement. Jed truly might be insane - he literally is making trade deals from the hospital as his wife is gearing up to delivery twins; he travels to meet Tigers and Royals players in person and let them know he's counting on them for the good of his fantasy team; he drives nearly ...

Not to get all political on you guys but I was watching Sports Center tonight with coverage on the changes to overtime in the NFL and I was struck by some serious similarities to the health care legislation coverage. There was Mort, reporting from the NFL owners meeting, talking about how many folks weren't 100% sure that the OT rule changes were exactly the right ones to make, but that everyone agreed changes needed to be made, and this was a move in the right direction. Now substitute "OT rule changes" for "health care reform" and basically you have the same commentary that I swear I read from politicos yesterday morning. Just another example that basically all of life is mimicking football in one way or another...heh. But if you want the details on the OT rule changes, head on over to the Fifth Down's coverage, New Rule for Settling Overtime , or see what Peter King has to say in this week's MMQB, Modifying OT seems like longshot . If you're u...

It's almost a shame that this beautiful spring weather had to come to NYC right at tourney time - but then I just think of my buds in Boulder, Colorado, who were socked with a big snowstorm this weekend and I feel supremely grateful that I was able to spend plenty of time outside this weekend in between big games. So yeah, plenty of basketball watching here this weekend - a few things I've learned: I'm on the Cornell bandwagon (gotta love smarties doing so well), I'm amazed at how gigantic the Purdue shorts seem to be, the final shot in the Michigan State win over Maryland was money, and years of being a Northwestern fan have turned me into a big fan of the underdog (though it helps that much of my bracket is decimated...thanks, Kansas). But I'll move on from basketball now - I know you're all really here for the football talk: I know I've waxed on in the past about how much I enjoy local beat reporters as a source for team info to help inform your draf...

My mom and dad lived in New York City back in the late 60s, early 70s and they have both talked about how glorious spring in New York can be. And my friends, I can now concur. I don't want to get my hopes up since I realize it's the funkiest of all weather months (you know I love it), but take the near 70 degree temps we've had here lately and combine them with daylight stretching later into the evening...and you've got one happy librarian. I don't work on Fridays, so I'm trying to figure out where I can take my laptop to spend some time outside while still watching tomorrow's big tourney games. Man, life is good! So speaking of the tourney, I hope you all are enjoying this year's March Madness. I've been wiping away my Northwestern-lost-in-the-NIT-again tears...meanwhile, tonight is big for my husband and in-laws who are all big Tennessee fans. I've committed to eating only orange food for dinner tonight in support of the Vols but I'm pret...

Well I think we can all agree I've been a bit of a slacker with the blog posts for the past week or two. My apologies - the offseason + friends in town + tournament hype = a slow librarian. But that doesn't mean the offseason has slowed down along with me...if you need to catch up on any free agency news, head on over to Rotoworld's NFL Headlines or the FantasyFootball.com's Off-Season Player Tracker . Before getting to today's links, let's talk March Madness for a bit. I recently fooled RapidDraft into thinking I know what I'm talking about when it comes to basketball, so they invited me to be one of their pro drafters in their Hoops Madness game . Come on by and set up a team to combine the fantasy fun of drafting with tourney time! One final comment on basketball before turning to football: my Northwestern Wildcats take on the University of Rhode Island on Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT...go Cats! Now finally, linkage time... This wee...

For a few years after college I lived in DC, which is when I met my husband and also made a bunch of awesome friends. One of those friends is here visiting us for a few days and it's funny how hanging out with him takes me back immediately to the good times of the early 2000s. We've talked football, I've scoped out photos of the Steelers kegerator he built, and we've all stuffed ourselves full of food from his favorite restaurant in Brooklyn. Love having him here and since he's a big FFLibrarian reader he's of course supportive of me taking some blog time now...so let's get to the linkage: Free agency rolls on so we'll start things off with some info from that frontier: Football Jabber's NFL Free Agency Forces Mock Draft Changes looks at the implications of this past week's free agency moves and how it could impact draft choices in April. Another good read full of free agency details (including some nice 2009 vs 2010 comparisons) comes in MM...