Ask the Experts
Posted Dec. 10 at 09:15 PM
ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them:
Do you prefer leagues with head-to-head playoffs, or where champions are determined strictly by win-loss records or total points over a 16- or 17-week season?
JEFFREY KAMYS
This is very difficult to do, but the best style of fantasy football is a redraft for the playoffs. Barring that, I think the best way to go is win loss records over the entire year with head to head and then points as a tiebreaker. Playoffs in week 16 and 17 are exposed to potential playoff teams resting players, and the luck of the matchup draw. Hope our guys are playing Cincy in week 16 or 17.
Kamys is president of Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports. His company, via the web, offers player news, injury reports, cheat sheets, projections, weekly matchups, statistics, and a customized team tracker. Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports also e-mails preseason newsletters and reports throughout the season. For more info visit www.docstats.com or send email to webmaster@docstats.com.
CHRIS LISS
You need a little of both. High points should automatically get a playoff berth, but without any element of week-to-week play, the game loses some excitement.
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LOUIS TRANQUILLI
Tough question since I've won a number of leagues in both formats. It's a tough pill to swallow when you have a quality FF team that decides to take a week off, costing you a chance at the big money in your league. With that said the H2H is my personal favorite, assuming you have a team that is good enough to make the league playoffs. Competing in the weekly matchups really makes the hobby a lot of fun. Total point leagues are just not as exciting overall in my opinion.
Louis Tranquilli is the founder and the primary "brains" (if you stretch it) of BFDFANTASYfootball.com. BFD is about giving advice to players from a player. Lou's been a highly successful owner in many high stakes contests. BFD is giving away 50 fantasy football teams in 2008.
MIKE NAZAREK
I prefer head-to-head playoffs, just like head-to-head during the season. And I definitely prefer a 16-week schedule since many playoff teams rest their studs in week 17 when nothing is on the line. As for the head-to-head choice, it's the thrill of beating one competitor straight on. If you beat the best teams in the playoffs, you've earned your championship!
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers an online rookie draft kit, preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, fantasy auction & regular drafting programs, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He is the reigning four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached at 702-568-7118 or miken@ffmastermind.com.
SAM HENDRICKS
I prefer a little of both. I like the excitement of head to head playoffs because nothing tops beating a live opponent in a head to head match up. But I like the idea of starting with your regular season average points. This way a team that has really excelled gets a little bit of a bonus due to their exceptional scoring. So if there are 4 teams in the playoffs-subtract the lowest scoring teams average from all the others and that is the team bonus for the entire playoffs. Kind of like a golf handicap based on your regular season scoring. For example, the lowest team has an average of 110 points and you have an average of 120 points; when you play them in the playoffs you get a 10 point head start. So it is H2H but with a little nod to what they did to get there. The seeding based on W/L record can be misleading due to luck of bye weeks, etc., but total points are a good indication of performance.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook and the recently released Fantasy Football Almanac 2008 which are both available at his website, www.ffguidebook.com, at all major bookstores, and at www.amazon.com. He is an 18-year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) and will participate this year in the inaugural season of the Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC).
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
It's a simple rule: head-to-head is more fun, total points is more fair. I'm a total-points guy, and I also like using Week 17; sure, it's a little tricky to figure out, but every week in the NFL offers its own unique challenges.
Pianowski is a fantasy expert for Yahoo! Sports. His work regularly appears on Yahoo's Roto Arcade Blog (rotoarcade.com), and you can also email him at pianowski31@yahoo.com.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I prefer the playoff system, but with a caveat or two. I'm in a couple of leagues with eight-team playoffs where the top seed plays the eighth seed in week 14. If two-thirds of the teams make the playoffs and the eighth-best team during the season has the same chance to win as the top seed, what's the point of the regular season? To weed out the four hopeless teams? Crazy. Four-team playoffs, or six-team playoffs with the top two teams getting a bye. I need a playoff system, but I want the regular season to mean something, too.
Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for the past seven years. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections, as well as various site features. He has run the magazine's annual draft and auction leagues since their inception. His A DAY OF FOOTBALL wrap-up column appears Mondays during the NFL season. For more information go to www.fantasyindex.com.
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Posted by Dave (MOJO) Smith | Dec. 11 at 12:00 AM
"I prefer the playoff system, but with a caveat or two. I'm in a couple of leagues with eight-team playoffs where the top seed plays the eighth seed in week 14." Eight teams are okay, but the top four play for 1st place, the next four play among themselves for 5th place.
Posted by Scott Anderson | Dec. 11 at 01:33 AM
We have a 12-team H2H league; 3 4-team divisions. Division winners + 1 Wild card make the playoffs for the Big Money. Other 8 teams play a 3-week "Losers Bracket" (March-Madness style; 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc.) for a consolation prize.
Posted by KING PURSER | Dec. 11 at 01:45 AM
I love the hybrid system we've been using for 10 years. 70% of the payout goes to Total Points, and 30% goes to a separate Head-to-Head playoff. Everybody's happy.
Posted by JOHN MACHO | Dec. 11 at 08:55 AM
For 20 years in multiple leagues, we play 2 half seasons where it's record and points as a tiebreaker. We used to redraft between halves. Top 4 or 5 (depending on number of teams) pays out. For the REAL NFL playoffs, we can keep one player from our regular season roster, then the top seeds (regular season total record) play the bottom each week, and you can carry over one player each week. It's a fun option. I mean, why have so much come down to a week 14-17 game, and waste part of a very short season for most owners??
Posted by SID KONICEK | Dec. 11 at 09:58 AM
we did something different, no h2h, but instead, each week, the top half high scorers got a win, while the bottom half got a loss.you still get won-lost records but based on high scores.