I wish that I could say I started this blog because I have all of the answers. I wish that I could tell you that I’ve won dozens of fantasy championships, made hundreds of winning bets on your favorite sports betting app, and that I am the undisputed king of all things online NFL football-related. I wish that I could tell you that apps like Yahoo, ESPN, and Underdog all turn to me to advertise their products due to my winning track record.
Sadly, these wishes are so far from reality that not even a genie could bring them to fruition.
I’ve sat here, year after year, thinking just like a Cowboys fan, “This is finally my year” to claim the fantasy championship. To reach that pinnacle where my friends and family look at me and say, “Wow, he knows ball.” But sadly, just like the Cowboys, I have no hope of winning if I keep managing with the same pedestrian tactics.
I can’t keep going with my favorites. I can’t keep listening to the same familiar advisors just because I like them. I can’t keep thinking, “This player is a slam dunk, so I can afford to not have this other obviously elite player on my team.” I can’t keep saying, “I can’t believe Vegas put out such an obvious moneyline.” I can’t keep adding legs to my parlay.
I have to stop believing that I’m smarter, more knowledgeable, and more capable than everyone else around me.
Because the results don’t show it.
This 2025–2026 NFL season, I made a vow not to place any bets during the 2026–2027 season unless I secured a championship in one of my competitive hometown fantasy leagues. I played in three leagues this year, so I thought I had a pretty good chance of coming out on top in at least one of them.
Here are my Yahoo results:
11th place out of 12 teams in a Half-PPR League (6 teams make the playoffs)
9th place out of 12 teams in a Full PPR QB-Flex League (6 teams make the playoffs)
The league commissioner for my hometown ESPN account hasn’t reactivated the league yet, so I can’t pull my results down. But you can pretty much guess how things went by looking at my draft results:
Did I mention I listened to many of the “expert” podcasts to make my draft, waiver wire, and trade decisions? Read the articles they published? Mock drafted for days?
And now I sit here. It’s May 12th, the real-life NFL Draft is behind me, and I’m still pissed off at how last season went.
I have to face reality: I’m bad at evaluating sports with my own eyes.
But then that begs the question: what am I good at? Like, really good at?
As an accountant, consultant, and systems specialist, I’ve developed a ton of skills in data analysis. If I could somehow get current and historical data for myself, would that help me make better decisions? What data points will I need? How do I weigh each metric? How do I know if the source is reliable? How deep can I go within the data? Can I really improve my fantasy potential with just data?
I don’t know. But let’s try it.
I do know this: it can’t get any worse than last year…right?
So this year, I’m taking a different approach. I’m turning off the podcasts. I’m closing Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (except for injury reports and relevant coaching changes). I’m going straight to the data sources to pull historical data and come up with my own draft criteria. I’m drowning out all of the noise from the talking heads.
This blog will document my journey from fantasy loser to, hopefully, someone in championship contention come December.
I hope you enjoy the ride.