Doh!… And we’re back

Hey all,

We’re having a few issues with the application right now and we’re working furiously to fix them. Sorry for the delay and we’ll do everything we can to have the app back in working order as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience and we’ll have an update for you shortly.

- Citizen Sports

UPDATE: We’re back up and running smoothly. We’re really sorry for the downtime. Drafts that were in progress will have the remaining picks auto-drafted, but if you would like to re-draft at a new time you can shoot an email to ffsupport =at= citizensportsinc.com. Drafts that were slated to start during the brief outage were pushed back to 1:30pm PST. If you have any questions or concerns, please post them here.

Citizen Sports employees vs PROTRADE users

On Friday we held the draft for the annual Citizen Sports Staff vs PROTRADE; users fantasy league.  You can check out the draft results here.

Here’s a look at my amazing team (PT Staff Infection), a sure fire lock to win the league:

1.	(3)	Brian Westbrook	RB	PHI
2.	(22)	Andre Johnson	WR	HOU
3.	(27)	Brandon Jacobs	RB	NYG
4.	(46)	Calvin Johnson	WR	DET
5.	(51)	Roy Williams	WR	DET
6.	(70)	Kevin Smith	RB	DET
7.	(75)	Jonathan Stewart	RB	CAR
8.	(94)	Patrick Crayton	WR	DAL
9.	(99)	Eli Manning	QB	NYG
10.	(118)	Todd Heap	TE	BAL
11.	(123)	Brett Favre	QB	NYJ
12.	(142)	Pittsburgh Steelers	DEF	PIT
13.	(147)	D.J. Hackett	WR	CAR
14.	(166)	Phil Dawson	K	CLE

Here are some comments on few things that have been pointed out to me numerous times…

- On drafting three Detroit Lions players in a row: Yes, the Lions suck, but you have to go into each pick willing to take the best value on the board.  I’m a huge Calvin Johnson fan this year and didn’t think he would get back to me in the 5th, so I pulled the trigger on him with the 46th pick.  When Roy Williams was available on my next pick, I had him ranked significantly higher than the next best WR on the board, so I took him even though having two recievers from the same crummy offense isn’t ideal.  Kevin Smith in the 6th was also solid value as he is slated to be the starter in Motown and makes a wonderful third running back at the 70th pick.  So I guess I’m a Lions fan this season, which sucks, but I think my fantasy team will better with these fools.

- On having the New York QB duo of Eli and Favre:  I’m not sold on either of these guys, but as 9th and 11th round picks I’m OK with playing the match-ups.   The strategy was to make sure I had solid players at both running back positions and all three wide out slots, and I think it paid off.  I guess time will tell.

What do you guys think were my best/worst picks?

We got some nice press from the Washington Post about the Fantasy Football 2008 application, which you can read about here.   Over the weekend we passed 20,000 leagues created, which is also cool.

Good luck in your drafts!

-meadball from Citizen Sports

Live Drafts… Booya

Disclaimer: This blog and specifically this post do not reflect the opinions, views or classiness of Citizen Sports Network, unless I write something quasi-official sounding. These words are solely those of one rouge employee named Brian Clyde Rockefeller 2000 Mead III, aka meadball, and have not been approved, edited or proof-read by anyone. Thanks.

Yesterday we had our first live drafts which all ran fairly smoothly if you ignore Citizen Lucas’ wide receiver corps of Marshall, Chambers, and A. Gonz in one league. Expect more live drafts in the coming days.

I can’t wait for my first draft where I spend six hours on an elaborate draft strategy which then gets throw out the window when one of my man-crush receivers falls to me in the late second (Andre 1000 (Johnson), B-Eazy (Edwards) or Chad-Dog (Johnson)). Are those guys on everyone’s favorite players lists?

I was reading some article about draft strategy the other day – I think on footballguys.com which is a great site that we have zero affiliation to – and it explained that you can’t have “favorites” or “my guys” when you’re drafting since you won’t get them at their true value. OK, I understand this if you’re in a money league with $10,000 on the line (we don’t encourage or condone gambling of any kind (outside of Vegas)), but what’s the fun in passing up a guy you love rooting for just to get better value out of some chump like LenWhale?

No one is reading this anyway so I won

I’m curious where Billy Beane will stand on this issue in our Celebrity League as someone who makes a living out of going by the facts and not the feelings. He can do it on the big stage for the Moneyball A’s, but can he keep a level head with Brooklyn Decker picking right after him? We’ll see…

That’s all for now.

-meadball from Citizen Sports

Monday Update (8/18) – Live Draft, Peyton, Chad-Dog and more…

Alright, we’re now linking to this blog from our site so expect regular updates.  We’re excited about our live draft feature which we will roll out this week on Fantasy Football 2008 on Facebook.  Let us know if you have any feedback on the draft or the application in general.

Around the NFL…

It looks like Peyton Manning might begin practicing next week, so expect another season of greatness.  Everyone has Brady ahead of Manning this year, but personally I don’t think there will be much difference between the two.  Remember when Manning threw for 49 touchdowns and everyone had him in the first round the following year?  I see a similar situation with golden boy Brady, but that’s just me.

Kevin Smith seems to be the favorite for the starting RB job for the Lions.  He’s been going in the 5th round or later in most drafts but I think that’s too late.  Bump him up your draft boards if you agree that Tatum Bell isn’t the answer in Motown.

Chad-Dog Johnson vowes he will be ready for the season opener for Cincy.  He’s been going two rounds after TJ Houshmanzesomthing, but I would rate them as fairly equal unless your in a PPR (points-per-reception) league, especially after the departure of Chris Henry.  That being said, Chad’s one of my favorite players so I’m probably overrating him a bit.  What do you guys think?

We can’t wait for the season to start.  After finishing second in the Citizen Sports office league last season, I expect to take the crown in 2008.  Have fun and good luck in your drafts.

-meadball from Citizen Sports

Citizen Sports fantasy football blog is active

Woo hoo!  Now let’s start blogging about Fantasy Football on Facebook!