Viva Murillo!
Between now and July 30, every NFL team will open its 2007 training camp. Fantasy owners starved for concrete data about important players will be happy to absorb every nugget of information gleaned from the two-a-days and skill position battles that lead up to the pretend football schedule known as the preseason. While I’m sure you’ll stay up-to-date regarding every worthwhile (and trivial) even that occurs, I encourage you to buy a few pounds of salt and take a grain every time you hear something about the home team.
No matter where you live -- from Minnesota to Dallas to Oakland -- optimism will be in the air. Or, more specifically, on the airwaves ... and the newspapers, and talk radio and the Internet. No matter how bad a team is expected to be, you’ll start to see a lot of positive coverage: Rookies are adapting well to the professional game (even though they haven’t played any yet), free agents are happy to have a new home (and fat signing bonus) and injured players are feeling great (especially since the real games are still about six weeks away). Training camp is a great way to find feel-good, positive spin about the local franchise, and you’ll have no trouble finding it from a variety of sources.
You see, the local reporters are simply doing their job. You might think that their job is to objectively report about what they see, but that’s not true. Their job is to maintain access to the team’s players, coaches and executives throughout the season. When the real stories develop and the real questions need answering, they want to have important people willing to answer them. They want exclusive interviews, inside sources and late-breaking information. That’s how they maintain readership, listeners or viewers, and sell their advertising accordingly. Everyone makes money and the fans get the information they want.
Except nobody gets what they want if the media outlet doesn’t have a good relationship with the team. They can’t only focus on the negatives, because then the team will limit access to its voices. They’ll release the bare minimum of information and nothing else. Since the media outlets have to (and want to) cover the juicy details during the regular season, the off-season is a good time to build some goodwill with the team. As a result, you’ll see a positive spin on almost everything.
I’m not really saying this is good or bad. Many fans are excited about their team’s prospects and want to justify some of that natural optimism. That’s fine. But when you’re preparing for the upcoming fantasy season, you have to stop thinking like a fan. You have to do what the media in your city can’t afford to do -- be objective. And that job is harder when you’re bombarded with biased coverage all the time, starting with training camp.
Basically, there are three things you can do. First, you have to make a conscious effort to not get caught up in the off-season hype. Expect positive, fluff pieces from the media and ignore the conclusions they draw regarding the upcoming season. Enjoy a personal look at your favorite players, but stop yourself from applying that information to your rankings. You need to be critical while they’re being complimentary.
Second, use outside sources to scout your favorite team for fantasy prospects. The media in Oakland doesn’t care about having a good relationship with the Lions. They also don’t have any reason to downplay their prospects, since they’re not in the same division or conference. It’s healthy to look at your team from an outsider’s view anyway, and since you’re supposed to be ranking your players objectively this will allow you to see the team as others do. It might not make you happy as a fan, since they won’t be unnecessarily-positive stories, but it will make your rankings stronger when it’s time for your draft or auction.
Finally, you should downgrade all the players on your favorite team on your final rankings (if you’re a Chargers fan, please keep Tomlinson at the top spot). That’s because it’s fair to assume that even if you do all of the above, some influence will still seep in. It’s natural. You like the team, you hear great things for a couple of months, and their names start to rise on lists. Just drop everyone a couple of notches, or put them at the bottom of a tier of similar players. That way you’ll fight the bias you don’t even know you have.
That last part is hard to do, but it’s important because the other owners in your local leagues won’t fight their biases; they’ll indulge them. They’ll draft good players where they should be taking great ones, and grab risky fliers when solid prospects are still on the board. If you stay objective, you’ll be amazed at who falls to you. They won’t be wearing your favorite jersey, but you’ll cheer for them just the same.
I’m not even sure why people like to draft players from their favorite team so much, anyway. I mean, you’re already going to root for those guys, right? If they play poorly, you’re already going to be frustrated. Why add eggs to that basket? All you’re really doing is adding an emotional element to your fantasy team that can only do it harm. Instead, downgrade the home team’s players and give your fantasy team a chance to succeed.
Michael Murillo thinks Joey Galloway could have a big year, but someone else in his Tampa league will probably get him. You can reach him at vivamurillo@hotmail.com.
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