Personally, the Superbowl week flew by for me. Game day came, and then went. The commercials and “crappy” halftime show gave us nothing to remember, and now we’re left with NOTHING!!! This is the one and only time I am ever jealous of the #NBA and its 4 ½ month playoff system (yes I’m exaggerating I know it’s actually 2 months long). The NFL gives us so much entertainment for half of the year and then boom…It’s gone, leaving us out in the pouring rain with no shelter… Abandoning us. But fear not America! As promised in my tweets from this week, I’m going to start helping you through these troubling times of #PFBD aka Post Football Disorder. Now I need you guys to think really hard about this. What did you used to do on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday’s before football? The first thing you can go to is whatever hobby you had prior to the season starting. Here are a few things you can do:
• VIDEO GAMES- I love playing Battlefield. The challenge of combing both skill and strategy is great. You could also try creating a dynasty in Madden, and spreading your season out for 17 weeks just like the NFL. By the time your Madden season is over real life football will be back on! Replacing that much time with video games probably isn’t your healthiest option so play 60 guys.
• GOLF- Whether you are a seasoned pro or terrible nothing beats a round of golf in nice weather…With some beer.
• HAVE A BABY- It worked for me! I timed mine like a genius and he was born two weeks before Superbowl 48. Any parent can tell you that you have no life at all the first year of your child’s life and man was that true. Football season felt like it came right away after having a kid!
• COACH YOUR KID’S SPRING SOCCER TEAM- This is another one that I am also doing and this year I am very excited because we get to draft our teams! My first non-fantasy draft! No more whiny kids. No more late parents who forgot their kid’s shin guards or cleats. I’m going to get to choose who is on my team this year and trust me if I can draft a fantasy football team, I can handle drafting 8 year olds.
If you couldn’t tell that was a pretty satirical way of looking at things and if I’ve still got your attention below I’m going to give you some real advice on what to do during your offseason, which will include getting to know some new sports.
WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR FANTASY GAME
Obviously if you won your league you aren’t going to make any changes to what you did last year. Unless you knowingly and admittedly got lucky, you proved that your game plan worked. If you’re serious about winning next year take the time to figure out why you didn’t win this year. Was it your drafting? Did you miss out on the waiver wires? Strength of schedule? Always get your lineup wrong? If you need some advice just send me a tweet @GRTommyFootball and I’ll try and help.
So you’ve pinpointed some key mistakes that sank your ship last year. Great! Focus on them. Here are some examples: Bye week troubles: You had a few weeks where too many of your key players were on their bye week. There are two ways to get around this while you’re drafting. The safe road is to draft your team using up every possible bye week. The risky road (and I watched it work against me this year) is to draft your entire fantasy team from the same 3 or 4 real NFL teams. This eliminates you having to spread your roster out on bye weeks, but it also guarantees that you’re going to lose one or two games when your team does hit those bye weeks. Weakness at a single position: One thing I’ve come to terms with personally is that I will never have the top running back every year. I don’t like drafting running backs. I’d rather spend more time trying to predict which mid-tier running back is going to break into the top 5-10 that year, so I can wait till the 5th-8th round to draft them. I’m also heavy on PPR leagues. I love them. I probably love them because they allow those mid-tier running backs to put up some major points every week from receptions (cough Ahmad Bradshaw). If you consistently have a weak position every year you can choose to role with it like me or change your mind set when drafting. Go back and look at mock drafts from the pros like @MatthewBerryTMR or when I start loading up some draft packages and mock drafts take a look at those.
IMPORTANT NFL DATES
It’s not the same as being able to watch games every weekend but there are a lot of important dates to keep your eyes on during the offseason like the beginning of the “league year” and the NFL Combine.
- FEBRUARY 16TH- First day teams can franchise tag players.
- FEBRUARY 17TH-23RD- NFL Combine
- MARCH 10TH- Beginning of the 2015 league year beginning at 4 P.M.
- APRIL 30TH-MAY 2ND- NFL Draft
- MAY 8TH-18TH- Teams hold their three day rookie mini-camp
- JUNE 21ST-27TH-Rookie Symposium
- JULY-Training Camp
The combine and the draft are great tools for looking for that rookie sleeper. They don’t always produce any fruit until the season starts, but at the very least it can put some names in your head.
WHAT TO DO THE REST OF THE TIME
Anybody that knows me can tell you that I love sports in general. There are only two sports that I will not watch: synchronized swimming, and men’s beach volleyball. It’s never a bad thing for people to learn new things. If you are a person who only watches the NFL, open up a bit and try watching some new sports. I spend practically the entire month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For anybody who hasn’t had the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis for the Indianapolis 500, I’ll be the first ones to tell you that it’s worth it. If any of my followers are coming to Indy for the race let me know and I might be able to show you around the place. Make sure if you do take the time to come here for the race, make it here by Thursday May 21st, Carb Day on the 22nd is an awesome experience.
NON NFL SPORTING EVENTS:
- FEBRUARY 15TH-NBA ALLSTAR GAME (BASKETBALL)
- FEBRUARY 22ND- 2015 DAYTONA 500 (NASCAR)
- MARCH 15TH- 2015 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)
- MARCH 17TH- BEGINNING OF NCAA MENS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT (BASKETBALL)
- MARCH 29TH- 2015 STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG (INDYCAR)
- APRIL 4TH-6TH- NCAA MENS BASKETBALL SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS (BASKETBALL)
- APRIL 5TH- OPENING DAY FOR MLB (BASEBALL)
- APRIL 9TH-12TH- 2015 MASTERS TOURNAMENT (GOLF)
- MAY 2ND- 2015 KENTUCKY DERBY (HORSE RACING)
- MAY 24TH- 99TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 MILE RACE
- JUNE 7TH- CANADIAN GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)
- JUNE 29TH- WIMBLEDON (TENNIS)
Well hopefully these awesome events keep you occupied for the next 6 months. I’m playing fantasy #NASCAR and have created a League on Nascar.com so the readers can get in on the action. The league name is Get Real Football and the password is GRF. Hurry now there are only 100 spots. Don’t miss out on your chance to play with the Get Real staff. If you guys have any questions or need some advice on different things to work on this fantasy offseason just follow me on twitter @GRTommyFootball. Commentary is always welcome!
