Ian Allan

I like our “Experts Poll” competition, in which various fantasy analysts submit their top 20 players at each position and then are graded based on how those players perform. It’s been around since 1991.

But the oldest and most respected of the leagues featuring expert v. expert competition is hosted by the Fanex consortium. It was the brainchild, I believe, of Terry Cannon and Greg Kellogg, and they started that competition in 1996. It features 24 analysts competing in two separate head-to-head leagues. Plus they’ve got a separate 12-team league (chosen mostly from the same field of 24) with competition in a best-ball, total points format (with no roster moves allowed).

These leagues are fun, and they offer a glimpse of how the various expert-type guys view the players. The Fanex Analysis Draft – or “FAD” competition – is usually held in late May or early June, so it’s the first draft that many fantasy leaguers see as they start to get ready for their own drafts. And the 24-team league is fun to participate in as well.

I just got an e-mail from the guys at Fanex. After totaling votes from the participants, they’re making an interesting change to their format.

In the past (for their head-to-head league), they’ve had two separate 12-team leagues. One would hold a live draft lasting about three hours, the other would have an “online” draft, with each owner given 6 hours to pick (with the whole deal lasting about three weeks). Teams would play 14-game schedules, then the top four teams in each conference would make the playoffs. The championship game would then be played in week 17 (which can be problematic, with some of the top-level players getting held out that week).

Now, however, Fanex is going to two entirely separate leagues. The top 12 teams will compete in a “Super League”, and the other 12 will compete in a slightly lesser league. And each year, the top four teams in the second league will be promoted into in the top league – like what they do with the soccer leagues in Europe.

The overall Fanex champion will be the winner of the “first division” type league. The top four teams will make the playoffs in that league, and the playoff games will be held in weeks 15-16. The other teams in that league, of course, will have to work hard to avoid finishing in the bottom four (those teams will be relegated into the second tier).

I like these changes. I think they will pump some added energy and interest into this competion. (I’m also a little nervous about the shift in format; I don’t want to finish in bottom four in this competition, because that would result in having to sit out at least one year of the top-level league before getting back in).

The initial league placements, of course, were problematic – how to decide on which guys get to start in the Super League, and which have to start in the second group. Eventually, a BCS-style system was approved, with each owner getting credit for all-time wins, career winning percentage and order of finish in 2008. So it’s a balance of how well each guy has performed, with extra credit given for longevity. There really is no true fair way to set up this kind of thing, but it will sort itself out over the next few years.

FANEX 2009 LEAGUE ASSIGNMENTS
(with BCS points shown -- rank in three different categories)

Fanex Super League
13  Ian Allan
20  Duane Cahill
25  Mark Nulty
26  Jim Butler
26  Brady Tinker
29  Tony Holm
31  Greg Kellogg
32  Craig Davis
34  Carlos Panizo
35  Jerome Hickerson
35  Mike Perlow
35  Chris Rito

Fanex Standard League
38  John Georgopoulos
38  Scott McClory
41  Phil Gentles
43  Terry Cannon
43  Mike Harmon
44  Brian Hulett
44  Matt Pitzer
46  Chris Dolfi
46  Shannon O’Leary
53  Scott Engel
63  Jeff Christianson
65  Paul Charchian

I’m not exactly sure how they’ll divide these teams up into four-team divisions. I believe they’ll go with a 1-6-7-12, 2-5-8-11, 3-4-9-10 arrangement, meaning I’ll likely be in a four-team group with Tony Holm, Greg Kellogg and Chris Rito. Holm is the lead writer for the www.fantasysharks.com website (not “www.draftsharks.com”, which is the Lenny Pappano site – there are two different shark-based sites). Kellogg has done some work for the fantasy section of the Sports Illustrated site. Rito has worked for various sites, including Fantasy Football Mastermind and Footballguys.com. That would be a pretty tough division. But I'm just guessing what the divisions might be. Rito, for example, finished with the same points totals as Mike Perlow and Jerome Hickerson, so it's possible he'll be in the No. 10 or 11 spot -- and I'm not even sure they'll seed the divisions anyway.

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