Fantasy Football Librarian

In a few hours I'll be hanging with college buddies and sipping cocktails at a Northwestern alum event here in NYC, but until then I still have several more links for you, my loyal readers. First up, my weekly column with the Bruno Boys: Top 10 Receivers After Week 3 . This week I look at top receivers by yardage and receptions and the types of pass defenses they've faced so far - and then who they will meet in the next several weeks. The Lead Pipe Lock has something along the same vein - the easiest matchups for each skill position through Week 3 . He then also lists players that you'd want to target. Nice stuff! Want to play against a celebrity? Try Richard Petty this week in Best Buy's Weekly Football Challenge .  A few start and sit links for you: Fighting Chance Fantasy's Who to Start, Who to Sit - Week 4   WalterFootball.com's Start Em, Sit Em: Week 4 FantasySharks.com's Start/Bench List Week 4 FFToolbox's Week 4: Start 'Em Finall...

I feel like such a New York hipster - last night we hit up a music venue in the LES (Lower East Side neighborhood) with a friend from Boulder who is in town visiting...though the hipness started to fade as we headed home at 10 and noticed that the real hipsters were just arriving. Did my best, right? Next I'll just need to meander through Williamsburg with culottes (update: I've had a lot of questions about culottes - I'm thinking specifically of a blend between pleated shorts and MC Hammer type pants that seem to be all the rage in W'burg), dark glasses frames, and a look of ironic angst and I'll know I've arrived. Oh just joshin' ya, Williamsburgers. Moving on from fashion and music to football... A few links for IDPers: Wire Me This (IDP) from FantasyFootball.com Another waiver wire piece on IDPs from Numbers & Guts FFToolbox has some thoughts on early trends this season and a handful of dudes you might want to add to your lineup this wee...

I'm still on the lookout for an awesome sports bar in walking distance from my Brooklyn home, so last night we checked out a place in the DUMBO neighborhood (yup, neighborhood acronyms have gone too far) that offered up a basement with a few massive tv screens, loungey seating, large glittery pillars (we discussed at length whether or not they were load bearing), a disco ball, and a somewhat odd clientele. The real draw was the $2 Coors Light to be honest, and it certainly wasn't a bad place to watch the MNF game...but I think my quest continues. New Yorkers, I'm still taking suggestions. A reader recently asked me for my philosophy on playing his starting QB (Aaron Rodgers) against his starting D/ST (Minnesota) and I'm wondering what you all think about this. It depends a bit on your scoring system (and of course the quality of your other options) but personally, I'd play them both since they're each one of the best in their position and are likely to outplay...

Greetings and welcome to Week 4 prep. I hope you all enjoyed yesterday's games as much as I did. I think I'll go 6-3 in my 9 leagues this week - I'll take that! Best of all is another win in the Buffalo Wild Wings All-Star Blogger League . I'll be going 3-0 and am hoping to keep my claim to the #1 spot in the league...I'll be sure to brag about being one step closer to winning the league (and subsequent trip to Miami and party with Trey Wingo) on the BWW site once the win is official. Thank you, Aaron Rodgers, for returning to fantasy awesomeness; not sure I could have done it without you. Now to today's links... Speaking of fantasy awesomeness and lack thereof...oh, Laurent Robinson. I talked up your potential to friends and readers alike and now you've got an ankle injury (update - Robinson's injury more serious than originally thought, he might be out for the rest of the year ). So unfortunate. But really, truly unfortunate for the Rams. What a me...

Well I'm slowly learning my Wes Welker lesson. Just don't play the guy unless it's for sure. I boarded a flight back to New York around 11:30 this morning and was desperately checking my lineups on my iPhone when something in me decided to start Wes Welker in two of my leagues. I'd like to blame my momentary confusion that the Pats might actually be upfront about their injuries on the increasingly disgusting situation that was evolving 2 seats over from me: there was a woman hacking up what could only be all of the phlegm in her chest - and possibly one lung - with such vigor and grodiness that rows of people around us were staring at her trying to figure out what animal might be dying in our row. It was hideous. I was sitting there trying to concentrate on whether I should be playing Wes Welker or Justin Gage, but all I could think about was what kind of evil combination of swine flu and SARS this woman must have in order to force this violent throat...

Again, sorry for the brevity - don't worry, I won't be traveling again for quite some time! - but here are the consensus picks for Week 3. For those that haven't seen the consensus picks before, I go through all of the start/sit links that I posted earlier this week and tally up those players that have the most votes as a start or sit player. These aren't necessarily my picks, just the players that the experts agree about the most! QB Start:  Eli Manning, Matt Schaub, Ben Roethlisberger, David Garrard, Trent Edwards Sit:  Matt Cassel, Brett Favre, Carson Palmer, Kerry Collins RB Start:  Willis McGahee, Tim Hightower, Felix Jones, Fred Jackson Sit:  Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson, Larry Johnson, Julius Jones, Willie Parker WR  Start:  Mario Manningham, Santana Moss, Greg Jennings, Vincent Jackson, Terrell Owens, Jerricho Cotchery Sit:  Brandon Marshall, T.J. Housmandzadeh, Justin Gage TE Start:  Kellen Winslow, Chris Cooley, Dustin...

Greetings and happy Friday! I'm using a friend's mac right now and feeling some serious mac envy...is there a mac in my future?! So since I'm traveling again, I'm mostly going to post start and sit links for you today with just a few additional links.  Start & sits: Bruno Boys -  Start em  and sit em still to come CBSSports . com's   Week 3 Start 'Em and Sit 'Em video Fantasy Football Nerd's Week 3 Where to Put 'Em GetSportsInfo's  Lineup Locks: Week 3  Mac Bros  Start/Sit Rankings by position FFToolbox's Week 3 Sit 'em and Start 'em Rapid Draft's  Week 3 Start 'em/Bench 'em Repor t FantasyFootballXtreme's  Start Bench Advice: Week 3 Fantasy Football Goat's Start 'em Sit 'em Sleepers Week 3   Ask the Commish's Start or Sit for Week 3 Fantasy Football First's Start/sit Other links: FantasySharks.com's What to Watch For: Week 3 FFToday's Inside the Matchup Fantasy ...

I'm heading to the airport soon so I have to be brief today - it might also mean my second week in a row of slow response in start/sit questions. If you've got some lineup questions that you really need answered, I recommend either calling in to the Rotoworld or Fantasy Gridiron Live shows on Sunday morning. My first blurb of the season is up on the NY Times' Fifth Down - Week 3 in Fantasy Football Matchups . Another great place to submit your start/sit questions this week.  ProFootballWeekly's Ten most intriguing players of Week 3 is a good read as always. With news coming out that Manningham is on the Giants' injury report , I am even more convinced that Manningham and Smith will be an interesting story that evolves over the next few weeks.    A couple of links for you IDPers: FFToday's IDP Notes Antonio D'Arcangelis from RotoExperts brings his IDP expertise to Yahoo! Sports in IDP: Week 3 matchups to watch. Start and sit advice for the week t...

I love days when I can do a double post. Not only do I have some spare time today, but I'm catching a flight tomorrow so I'm going to be tight on time tomorrow morning - I thought a double post today might appease you all in case I get only the briefest of posts up tomorrow. My article with the Bruno Boys is up: Top Ten RBs After Week 2 . I look at RBs in the top 10 whose yardage and number of carries don't quite match up - and what does that mean for their future matchups? I'm kind of digging this idea and am going to continue with it next week and look at WRs with Week 1-3 data. Advanced NFL Stats looks at Time of Possession to see if it matters . The Colts' tiny TOP (14:53) and big win over Miami obviously encouraged this post but take a look at the Raiders vs Chiefs game this past weekend (I know, who had the patience to watchup that matchup?) where the Raiders came away with a win despite a mere 21 minutes of possession. Not a record-breakingly...

One of the best things about being in New York City? I'm in the same city as my awesome sister and I can do things like meet her for lunch today. Sounds so simple but we've pretty much lived on opposite coasts since she left for college 14 years ago, so it's a treat to be so close to her now (wow, 14 years ago - you're old, Katie! Heh heh...). Moving on from making fun of my sister's age (hey, what are younger siblings for?), let's get to today's links: Looking for sleepers this week? Head to KFFL's Week 3 sleepers listed by position (this link goes to QBs). I'm starting Mark Sanchez (yes, seriously) so I'm pleased to see a little love for him here. Some waiver wire suggestions... FFGeekBlog's The Wire - Week 2: Plaxico Who? RotoExperts' The Pickup Artist Matthew Berry's Week 3 Pickups  - for those of you who listened to my guest appearance on Fantasy Football Tonight's podcast last night (if you missed it - I come in ar...

Once again I was taken down in the monster 96-team FFLibrarian league . Maybe Week 3 will be my week...the top 5 scorers across all 6 conferences in the monster league are as follows: Portlovers, 156.30 points Guinea Pigskins, 147.10 points MV Brewers, 144.35 points Reams Reamers, 143.65 points Skins North, 143.30 (Skins North was a top-5 scorer last week too) The league is set up as a head-to-head contest so there are of course plenty of teams that are now 2-0. I'll be sure to highlight those with winning records when we get a little bit further into the season. On the contest note, we've got a winner in the FFLibrarian & 365FantasySports.com weekly competition : bjc3877, congrats! The results for the top 20ish players are shown in the graphic below. Remember, this is a weekly league so you can opt in (or out) at any time, whatever works best with your schedule. There were 61 of us participating in the competition this past week and I'd love to have as many of...

I managed to stay up for the entirety of Monday Night Football last night and was rewarded with a pretty entertaining 4th quarter. Other than the over usage of The Sheriff nickname, last night's game was surprisingly good. Perhaps that's just because I enjoy seeing Peyton do his thing. For a Knoxville, TN native like my husband though, last night was a battle of QBs with Knoxville connections with Pennington from the area and Peyton a Tennessee grad. But enough looking back on last night...I've got a big day ahead. Wish me luck - I've got a job interview with an academic library here in NYC. I also am chatting with the Fantasy Football Tonight guys (Tuesday edition) at around 10:15 PM eastern, so tune in if you can. Now let's scope out today's links... Lots of injuries out there like Jason Campbell's sprained foot, Brett Favre's bent fingernail, and Frank Gore's sprained ankle - none of those seem like they'll cause any lineup issues for FF...

I might have a new fantasy crush here: Mario Manningham. I'm watching him make some great catches and I'm duly impressed...oh yeah, I've got SNF rolling right now. Basically 11 PM rolls around and I'm wiped out, ready to go to sleep. This whole living in a time zone now where football ends far after I'm normally asleep has been a bit of an adjustment. Last night though I remembered the beauty of DVR and recorded the last quarter or so of the Giants vs Cowboys game, which makes for a wonderful way to spend my morning. It's also giving me a chance to rejoice in the awesomeness of grabbing Mario Manningham off of waivers. After Manningham had a decent week against the Redskins, I plugged him into my lineup for this week remembering that UltimateNYG , my guest blogger last month (and Giants aficionado) was a fan. What a great call. There are plenty of other great waiver wire grabs out there, so let's get to today's links: First, if you missed any of the ...

Well better late than never! I got back from a fantastic trip to Colorado late last night and am trying to catch up on start/sit questions in my inbox - and of course the weekly consensus start & sit.  I went 5-4 in my 9 leagues last week so I'm also off to tweak my lineups a bit and aim for a 9-0 week. Now wouldn't that be something?! Just a reminder that the consensus list I'm posting below is based on all of the start/sit links that I post during the week - I note the players that have the most start or sit votes from all of those websites in no particular order: QB Start: Matt Hasselbeck, Jason Campbell, Joe Flacco, Trent Edwards, Brett Favre Sit: Jay Cutler, Chad Pennington, Mark Sanchez, Carson Palmer, Matt Schaub RB Start: Brandon Jacobs, Darren McFadden, Fred Jackson, Chris Johnson, Clinton Portis Sit: Matt Forte, Cedric Benson, Kevin Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joseph Addai, Steven Jackson WR - update: Forgot to update these from Week 1 at first! My...

Had an awesome day yesterday - basically hung out in my old library, catching up with friends and talking to coworkers about a few ongoing papers and projects. I've only been gone for about 7 weeks but it's amazing how many little things have changed since then. Ahh, the ever-changing world of libraries. But I know you all aren't here to listen to my library rants so let's get down to business here... There are quite a few more start/sit links - remember that I'll be pulling together a consensus start/sit from all of the different sites I link to this week. I'll try to get that up by tomorrow, but Sunday morning at the latest. Bruno Boys - Start em and Sit em (sit em still to come) CBSSports . com's Week 2 Start 'Em and Sit 'Em video The Hazean's Start & Sit FFGeekBlog's Hits & Misses - Week 2: Vikings ready to pillage GetSportsInfo's Lineup Locks: Week 2 Mac Bros Start/Sit Rankings by position Rapid Draft's W...

Well I'm back in Boulder for a short vacation and it feels like I've hardly been gone. The flatirons are gorgeous, the downright cold morning temps are refreshing, and the vast amount of nature that I can see at any given time is appealing. But - and I'm surprised to admit this - a part of me misses New York already. Can you believe it?! I've been gone 24 hours and I already feel a twinge, missing the new hometown. That's either a testament to how quickly NYC sucks you in - or that I am a quick adapter that just loves my home wherever it may be. Sports Data Hub is a spectacular site - check it out if you haven't already (keep in mind that there's sound that starts immediately upon opening that link; always good to know before you blast your office, right?). Anyway, they've got their Week 2 projections up today. Don't miss 'em! This going to be a Sports Data Hub lovefest today since you're going to want to scope out the article in Wall Stre...

So the FFLibrarian monster 96-team league is moving right along. While I was defeated soundly this week, there were a few impressive performances. I thought I'd note our top 5 scorers across all 6 conferences: 1. BIG DUKE, 166.60 points 2. Skins North, 145.85 3. Pumpkin King, 140.86 4. HTown, 132.30 5. Big Red Dogs, 126.55 Congrats guys! And the winner of this week's FFLibrarian weekly contest with 365FantasySports.com is: wavkek9. You can see wavkek9's lineup and the other leaders in the graphic below. If you missed the chance to participate last week, no problem. The beauty of this weekly league is that you can jump in or out of each week's competition. If you'd like to participate this week, the password is 2book. You'll need to register to play if you haven't already - and then just look in the contest lobby for the FFLibrarian.com Freeroll game. We had 55 participants last week and I'd love to see even more of you participate this week! ...

Super cheesy blog post title right? Well tonight my husband and I will be flying back to Colorado for a weekend visit - my husband has a conference up in the mountains (tough draw, eh?) so I thought I'd tag along and spend some quality time with friends back in Boulder. While living in New York City has been a lot of fun so far, long-time readers probably know how much I adored living in Boulder. Since this is our first visit back, I'm preparing myself to feel a bit out of place and nostalgic this weekend. I should be able to get my normal posts up - though the consensus start/sit might have to wait until Sunday morning - just don't be surprised to hear me wax on about the beauty of the foothills. Moving on to today's links: We've got a few more waiver wire articles up: CBSSports.com's Waiver Wire: Pass catchers worth your time For those in leagues with lots of owners or deep rosters, see FFToolbox's Week 2: Deep League Pickups . Week 2 Waiver Wire Pic...

Apparently I am in 9 fantasy football leagues, not 8. My commish checked in yesterday afternoon to see if I knew that the draft we had done was for real and not a mock...so yeah, I'm that owner that forgot to set a lineup and handed my opponent a big W this weekend. I'm that bonehead. In my defense, I can no longer remember if I thought the league was for real or not since there were so many mocks in my life this summer. But most of all, the draft happened while we moved from Colorado to New York (I have lovely memories of desperately trying to send draft picks via the iPhone in the middle of Nebraska) and it ended over a month ago. I conveniently filed it away as part of The Move and never looked back. Oh well! Looking ahead now to Week 2 games - lots to think about between injuries and possible waiver wire moves. So let's jump in... NFL.com's RBs Bell, Williams will be hot names on the fantasy waiver wire has a couple of great suggestions. I gotta say I'm lean...

So how did it feel? Awesome, right? A full day of football is a beautiful thing even when you're team (real or fantasy) doesn't come out on top. But this Broncos fan is grateful for last minute miracle plays. And hey, my Northwestern Wildcats had a great game-winning field goal in the last few seconds of their game on Saturday - basically I'm big on teams that like to leave you in the lurch until the end. I'm playing against Tom Brady in a handful of leagues tonight, but against both Brady and Moss in one league - so you can imagine I'm hoping that the Pats don't exactly light it up in the air tonight (though I'll take some Brady-Welker action). Meanwhile if I end up watching the game with my Brady-loving sister, she's going to be annoyingly unsympathetic to my situation. I've got family in town until tomorrow and then I fly to Boulder on Wednesday night for a long weekend - busy week coming up, but I'll do my best to answer start/sit questio...

For those who are new to the FFLibrarian this year, every Friday or Saturday I'll be posting what I call the consensus start/sit picks of the week. They're not my thoughts on who to start or sit, but I read through each of the start/sit sites that I link to throughout the week and tally up which players got the most votes as a start or sit. So it's basically a consensus from the experts on the guys with the most start or sit love that week. But first I've got a few more start/sit links for you...then we'll get to the consensus! NFL.com's Start 'em & Sit 'em   Ask the Commish's Start or Sit for Week 1 Bruno Boys - Start em and Sit em (two separate columns) FantasyFootballManiax's Week 1 Start Sit Fantasy Tailgate's Starters and Slackers In no particular order, the Consensus Start/Sit picks for week 1: QB Start: Matt Hasselbeck, Carson Palmer, Joe Flacco, Matt Schaub, Kurt Warner Sit: Matt Cassel, David Garrard, Jake Delhomme, E...

Anyone up for the monster FFLibrarian league ? It's a bit of a crazy scene with 96 teams and a commish (me!) who really is still figuring all the settings out, but I need a new owner. You'd be taking over the Silentninja team , which is full of QBs and Kickers - can we say trade? Might be a bit of an uphill battle but I know someone out there can do it. So the first person to send me an e-mail and respond back ASAP can be the new Silentninja. Update: Spot is taken - thanks to all who e-mailed!

I'd say last night's game certainly lived up to the first game of the season hype - an overtime defensive battle with missed kicks, fumbles, and some impressive grabs ( bummer for Polamalu though ). Good stuff all around and it only makes me more excited about this weekend's games. On a different note, it's a bit odd to be in New York City on a September 11th anniversary. I was living in Washington, D.C., back in 2001, having just graduated from college a few months earlier and was out at a job interview on 9/11/01 - so I'm no stranger to the feeling of panic on that day. But there's something different about NYC. Living in the city now gives me even more respect (if possible) for what New Yorkers experienced that day. But back to football - don't forget to check out the start/sit links that I posted earlier in the week. And if you have a start/sit question about your own roster, I recommend posting it in the comments section. That way if I can't get...

My left arm is about to become famous. Or at least famous with Millionaire watchers. My left arm and I really enjoyed ourselves at the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire taping I went to yesterday. The whole process took far longer than I expected and I had to roll out of there to make it to the Battle of the Sexes fantasy football draft before I had a chance to take the test to be a future contestant...but that's okay, I was really just there to accompany a friend. And in the end, I think I might have had the best seat in the house. As my friend and I filed in to the studio, the guide seating us asked me to be the person sitting next to the "honor companion" (that would be the spouse/friend/parent of the contestant in the hot seat) - all of this means that my left arm and clapping hands will be visible on a few episodes in early October. I know, it's extremely impressive right? It will be my left arm's debut on national television; must come up with a way to celebrate...

Now that I'm living in NYC and am jobless (unless you count updating this blog a job, which frankly, would be fairly accurate), I have the opportunity to just pick up and do odd things in the middle of the day. Somewhat awesome, no? So when a friend asked me to join her for a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire taping this afternoon, how could I say no? I mean, ask the the audience, baby, and I'd be the audience! In the meantime I'm frantically gathering rankings from our favorite fantasy football experts so that I can include them in my annual accuracy challenge. I'm getting as many rankings as I possibly can and if you have suggestions for sites to include (especially free sites), please let me know in the comments section below. So, it's 09/09/09 and football season starts tomorrow! It's incredibly exciting. This of course means that start & sit suggestions are cropping up so let's get to the week 1 advice: First up, start/sit suggestions: I can always cou...

Well my plans for the Buffalo Wild Wings draft have changed - unfortunately I won't be at the Brooklyn BWW tonight since it's Wing Tuesdays and due to the wings madness, there's no guarantee that I could snag a table. Since that could cause significant drafting problems, as in there would be no drafting on my part, I'll be switching things up and drafting from home. I have no idea if any local readers were actually planning on coming, but if so, my apologies. Perhaps I can pull together a FFLibrarian Happy Hour somewhere here in NYC to make up for the last minute change of plans. Maybe a Monday Night Football game watch/happy hour in a few weeks? Would any of you be up for that? Now to give you a little something for afternoon entertainment - more links! FantasyPros 911 have their Week 1 rankings and projected fantasy points up - QB , RB , WR , TE , kicker , D/ST , even IDPs ( DL , LB , DB ). I'm not sure what scoring system they're using (ppr, non-ppr?) but ...

I've got a full day today, my FF friends. I'm meeting with some library folks here in NYC this morning and I've got my Buffalo Wild Wings All-Star Blogger League draft tonight around 7:30. I'm almost positive that I'll be drafting live from the local Brooklyn BWW so if you're in the area, feel free to swing by if you can. I might be intensely deep into draft mode, but I'd love the support. Plus who doesn't want to start the week with a tasty brew? I'll keep you all posted later this afternoon if plans change. A few quick links for you since I'm running out the door - I'll try to post more later today. For those already looking for waiver wire advice, take a look at Hatty Waiver Wire Guru's video waiver tips . First of the season. Those FFLibrarian old timers know that I heart offensive lines (if you need a reminder of how great o-lines are, take a look at what John Tuvey from The Huddle pulled together ) - so it warms my heart to see ...

More Labor Day greetings and welcome to a new way to compete with your fellow readers here at FFLibrarian ! Some of you are part of the 96-team FFLibrarian monster league for the 2009 season but if you're looking for something a little bit shorter term, or just a new and different way to compete, then join me in a new venture with 365 fantasysports .com . We'll be doing weekly competitions in a private FFLibrarian community group. In order to play you'll need to register with 365 fantasysports via this link and click on the big green "play now" button to register for free. Once you've registered you can search for my league in the contest lobby and use the password book1 to join my league. This first week we're going to do a pretty traditional style competition (pick 2 of each offensive skill position) but in future weeks we'll do fun stuff like an all-RB contest, or just QBs and WRs , or just night NFL games, you get it - unique sorts of contest...

Happy Labor Day! Hopefully you all are doing something fun today, enjoying a day off. Personally I just slept in later than I have in months, possibly years, and it was awesome. Is there something in the air here? Seriously I sleep in so much later in NYC than in Boulder...though I think that might be related to the later nights, here too. So speaking of Boulder, who watched the CU vs CSU game last night? I got a little nostalgic looking at the beautiful flatiron/foothills shots - made me miss my old hometown! Tough times for the Buffs last night - not a good way to start the season. But who started the season well? Northwestern! My alma mater beat Towson pretty thoroughly this weekend; let's hope that keeps up. All that said, there is no day off when it comes to fantasy football so read up on the latest links and reads in FF land. Find out who Ultimate FF Strategy thinks will be the Top 10 WRs Based on historical Trends - interesting stuff here as usual. If they're right ...