I could not help but pass along this piece of practical, but not so obvious fantasy insight from Michael Whooley in his article, Fantasy Football: 5 Things I Learned in June. Number three on his list:
Never make a fantasy football trade at a wedding with an open bar.
More importantly, what trade was he making in June? It must have been a keeper league.
This might be a little bit of a tangent here, but what does Apple plan to do with a patent that allows a network of sensors to report real-time data directly to an iPhone. In Apple’s patent on “Personal items network, and associated methods,” Apple says the patent is for finding a lost iPhone, but it then proceeds to give numerous sports examples in the patent.
For sports, the applications are endless. By putting tiny accelerometers inside equipment like bats, gloves, balls, race cars, padding, etc, we (the sports world) would be exposed to a whole new type of data that would also have tremendous fantasy impacts. Just think about the data that could be garnered for fantasy purposes. It would be invaluable. Which running backs run as fast in the fourth quarter as they do in the first? Which ones slow down tremendously? Which quarterback scans the field the most? Whose bat speed is slowing down? Knowing this kind of data can help you determine who might be on the decline, and who might be ready to break out. That kind of speed and location data available to fantasy players would be unparalleled.
Of course, any sort of real implementation of this patent is probably years away, and might be expensive to implement, but we can dream, can we not?
On a side note, do you think Apple just has people sitting around in a room doing nothing but thinking up ideas?
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I love minor league baseball. Aside from the fact that the players are always fan-friendly, tickets are still pretty cheap, and you can always get a good seat, minor league baseball is always a source of great marketing an ingenuity. Back in January, the Brooklyn Cyclones announced that just for one night, they would be the Baracklyn Cyclones, in honor of President Barack Obama. If you are supporter or a hater, I am sure this news made you smile or groan. Either way, the Cyclones have your attention, and that is the point of marketing.
Well, tonight is the night. The Cyclones will be giving out Obama bobbleheads (pictured above) and providing free admission to anyone named Barack or plumbers named Joe, in addition to wearing alternate home jerseys (again, pictured above). Minor league baseball competes with places like movie theaters for customers, and it has to be creative to be successful. There is something to be said about a little shock value and a little humor to get people into the seat.
By the way, the Cyclones are reserving four seats right behind home plate for the first family. Just in case they decide to show up.
Did you have to think about why for too long? It is a pretty simple answer. The reason why Beat the Steak is a great fantasy (baseball) game, is because it is easy to play. Not only that, the instructions for the game are summed up in the title of the game. How many other fantasy baseball games (or just fantasy games) are presented and explained to consumers so elegantly? With baseball being such a global sport, this is a game that all baseball fans can easily play.
There is a lesson out here for everyone–Keep it Simple. It takes less than five minutes to play, or one minute if you already know who you want to use. This game is so simply designed that fantasy baseball players from eight to eighty can play the game. Simplicity is the very same reason why fantasy football is vastly more popular than fantasy baseball–football is just easier to play. For Beat the Streak, you do not even need to know too many baseball players. You can simply get away with knowing the big names and local heroes to play the game.
Further , I love the fact that MLB Advanced Media has resisted the temptation to complicate the game with private leagues, or game variations. Instead, it is focusing its efforts on making Beat the Streak more accessible, such as the new ability to play Beat the Streak froma smart phone. MLBAM has also made Beat the Streak better by increasing the top prize $10,000 every day, with the prize now sitting at a very seductive $1.23 Million. While these actions may not be appropriate for all fantasy games, this game is designed to be simple, and MLBAM seems adamant on keeping it that way.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then MLB has hit this game right on the nose. Within the last year, ESPN has launched and is heavily promoting its own similarly-styled game, “Streak for the Cash.” Another similar game is CentSports, where you start with a play-money dime, and for each correct prediction you make, you double your bank account. Once you get to $20, they will send you a check for $20.
Tonight, I am working on a new streak, so I will be hoping that Joe Mauer slaps a single for me and gets me up to a magical 1-game hitting streak.
If you have played enough Madden Football, you probably have wondered if there is any correlation between the output of the game’s simulations, and fantasy football? You haven’t? Well, at least I know I am not the only one, because Eddie Martin has an interesting column at Bleacher Report on “How Madden Football Can Help You Achieve Fantasy Glory.” Martin breaks down how you can use Madden to find some sleepers in your fantasy football league.
According to Martin, by simulating a full season on Madden, the system will yield a couple of sleepers per position. Last year, his simulation told him that Matt Forte, Roddy White, and Michael Turner would all turn out to be fantasy studs. Not bad for a computer simulation.
I am intrigued by the possibilities of this. Madden is known for its remarkable attention to detail, so this is definitely a believable outcome. Of course, Martin could have gotten lucky two years in a row. The engineer in me would want to run a 100 simulations, and see what sleepers bubble to the top, and what duds appear. Anyone up for running a test?
A friend recently asked me if fantasy sports were safe for her son to play. Simply, the answer is yes, but the answer is definitely not that cut and dry, as there are some benefits and issues that parents should know about before letting their children play fantasy football or any other fantasy sport.
First of all, there are a number of benefits. Fantasy sports is all about numbers. As kids become active in fantasy sports, they quickly learn how to translate raw stats into meaningful fantasy statistics. This can range from determining Johan Santana’s earned run average for the day to figuring out how many fantasy points LaDainian Tomlinson’s monster day generated. In fact, there are even a series of math textbooks that play on the strong connection between fantasy sports and mathematics. Second, playing and winning fantasy football and other fantasy sports involves a serious amount of strategy, negotiation, and compromise. In other words, kids are going to have to think about how to win. Developing critical thinking skills in a fun way is another definite plus.
Now, there are issues with children playing fantasy sports online. Of course, there is always an online safety and privacy concern, so hopefully if your kids play online, they are supervised. Also, if kids are playing in public leagues or even leagues amongst their friends, expect some of the team names to be tasteless and trash talking to occur on league message boards. If your son is in a league with other nine-year olds, then the messages are probably going to be fairly benign. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled.
There are some fantasy sports leagues specifically designed for children and families. Currently, there are two fantasy football games and only one company that tailors themselves specifically to kids and families. Launched in 2008, and now in its second season of offering family-friendly fantasy football game, Family Fantasy Sports is still the only site that is creating fantasy sports games specifically for kids and their parents. Family Fantasy Sports has developed a game that the whole family can play together. Plus, players can win part of a $40,000 prize pool towards college. Another option is SIKids.com Fantasy Football, which is a simple salary cap game that kids can play with their friends or against the rest of the world.
Like anything, fantasy football for kids has some issues, but nothing that a little supervision and playing at the right places cannot solve.
Over the last few years, the idea of live fantasy sports has gain significant traction as market pioneers such as Live Hive Systems‘ Nanogaming and YOUbeQB’s fantasy football game have emerged with major media companies (ESPN, CBS to name a few) have signed on for various incarnations of these live fantasy sports games to be played for a computer. While those games provide a wealth of information from a web browser, Event Day Games simplifies the idea of live fantasy sports and makes it mobile friendly.
Likening itself to things such as Super Bowl box pools and March Madness brackets, Event Day Games focuses on creating free games for singular events such as the NFL Draft and NASCAR races. During the events, registered players receive text messages with questions, and the players text back with their predictions. If you are correct, you score points. If you are wrong, everyone of your friends that entered the contest along with you, has a chance to rag on you. It is really a win-win situation.
While still refining its game play, I love the fact that Event Day Games is targeting NASCAR. The first big benefit is that NASCAR has very loyal and dedicated fans, which enables Event Day Games to develop a loyal fan base. Second, there is a race every week which enables them to continue developing the game and sign-up new members. Third, by focusing on groups of friends, Event Day Games is focusing on making a large game seem small.
Technologically, Event Day Games systems has kept the system so simple that people play it while away from their computers, something that differentiates itself from the other live fantasy sports solutions. No mounds of data, just a simple text interface. While I am a fan of the data-rich solutions, it is nice to have an on-the-go solution that does not require me to sit on every pitch or every down.
Congratulations to Event Day Games with its launch, and good luck as it enters the live fantasy sports market.
I love my Blackberry. It helps me keep up on my email, pull information from the web when I need it, and is a pretty good phone, too. What has always driven me crazy is how cumbersome it is for me to get scores and stat lines. All of the “mobile-friendly” score sites require countless clicks, and just never a clean interface. Enter Score Mobile Blackberry Edition. Just load the application, and then you have scores. It is that simple. Why did it take some so long to create such an easy to use score application?
After pulling up the scores, another click displays a traditional, easy to ready boxscore. Are you curious how Albert Pujols is doing? Bam! He is currently three for four and has two homers in today’s game. I just found that tidbit in just under four seconds. Currently Score Mobile provides scores, boxscores, and betting lines for MLB, NHL, NBA, and PGA, with plans to add additional leagues this summer. Come fantasy fantasy football season, this will be a handy little tool to have on Sundays.
Did I mention that the application is free? Courtesy of our friends at Budweiser, whose little logo appears at the top of the application.
Of course, for iPhone users, there is the Score Mobile iPhone edition. With that application having over 500,000 downloads, clearly, Blackberry users are finally getting in on a good thing.
Alright, I am going to go check this out. I promise I’ll stop drooling. Eventually.
For those of that are looking for a way to make Wimbledon just a tad bit more interesting, Grand Slam Fantasy Tennis is bringing a new look to the nascent world of fantasy tennis. While many sites have tried to create a successful fantasy tennis game, no one has really succeeded and captured that market. Even the ATP Tour who tried launching a fantasy tennis game a couple of years ago seems to have abandoned it this year (correction: the ATP does have a fantasy tennis game, its Draw Challenge, but it is now just relegated to a section of the fanzone.)
Grand Slam Fantasy Tennis’ game play is very straight forward. At the start of a tournament, men’s, women’s, or both, pick the 8 players that you think will go the furtherest in the tournament, and you score points according to how well they do. Then, starting in the round of 16, pick the winner of each match, and score some more points. The game is free to play, and currently the prizes for each tournament are $25, $15, $10 for first, second, and third, with Wimbledon is considered officially the third beta test of the site.
Grand Slam Fantasy Tennis’ game format is creative. It allows for the early rounds to matter, but ensures that fantasy players will be engaged in the later rounds. Continuous engagement is the battle that most fantasy games fight (and often lose).
In addition, the fact that this fantasy tennis game is focusing on the Grand Slam events is probably a good idea. While hardcore tennis fans may watch week-to-week action, the casual fan really only pays attention when a major trophy is on the line. By focusing on just these four events, and treating them as individual fantasy seasons, Grand Slam Fantasy Tennis is able to promote each game individually.
I congratulate Grand Slam Fantasy Tennis on its launch and wish it good luck as its enters the world of fantasy tennis.
Additional Information:
While we all know the recession is hitting everyone hard, and businesses are seeing advertising dollars disappear, most people might not realize the impact that the economy might be having on little league. CNN recently got me thinking about this with its article, League sponsors shrink from $45K to $3K, baseball plays on. Little league is where our very first baseball fantasies were formed and cultivated, and local leagues are hurting. It was only when we were older and realized that those fantasies were never going to become a reality did we find new ones to pursue in fantasy baseball.
Who among us has not had that fantasy of hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth or making a diving catch to save the game? As a matter of fact, during my softball game tonight, I will probably daydream about making a diving stop in the hole at some point. Little league is where many of us got that itch to achieve sports greatness.
My point? If you have a small (fantasy) business or can just afford to help out your local little league, you might want to look into it. You might be just cultivating a future round of customers.
