Post
by Tom Kessenich » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:26 am
It isn’t often a fantasy football owner can make an egregious mistake and still come out a winner that week. But for Korey Gardner, not only did he manage to avoid catastrophe in the NFFC last week he topped the entire event’s field in the process.
“I had no business winning the weekly pool this week as I committed the cardinal fantasy sin of sitting my first-round pick – Edgerrin James – and starting Vernand Morency,” Gardner said. “On paper, it looked like a wise decision but that was just stupid.”
Thanks to a huge week from the Philadelphia Eagles, though, Gardner’s mistake didn’t come back to hurt him.
Donovan McNabb (34.8 points), the Eagles defense (23) and Reggie Brown (17.9) all stepped up with big weeks to lead Gardner’s RotoPlay team in New York League 7 to the top spot in the NFFC last week with 158.70 points.
Greg Jennings (21.5) and Frank Gore (18.7) also delivered strong production.
McNabb has been a fantasy monster so far this season and Gardner has happily reaped the benefits. However, he said taking an elite quarterback was not one of his Draft Day priorities.
“My strategy going into the draft was to draft three running backs in the first three rounds, then wide receivers and a tight end with the next four picks,” said Gardner, who is married with three children and lives in Hershey, PA. “I was not planning on taking a quarterback until Round 8 or later.
“I did get three running backs with the first three picks – Edgerrin James, Kevin Jones and Frank Gore. Well, in Round 5 I was surprised to see Donovan McNabb coming up my way and I jumped at the chance to take him when he fell. I’m a huge Eagles fan and Andy Reid loves to throw the ball so I took him expecting him to have a bounce back season.
“I admit, however, that I never expected this type of production from him.”
Gardner has been a part of the fantasy industry for several years as the owner of RotoPlay.com. However, despite being an industry “expert,” he has a firm belief that fantasy football success derives from a less tangible aspect.
“I’m of the belief that fantasy football is much more luck than skill,” he said. “Most of the guys and girls in the NFFC know who all the players are so staying injury free and catching a break with a middle-round player – like Greg Jennings, who I got in Round 10, who outperforms their draft position goes a long way in doing well.
“I’m lucky McNabb is having a great year and I was lucky in that I was fully expecting to take LaMont Jordan with the ninth pick but he was drafted in front of me and I ended up with James, who has been the better player so far.”
For finishing first last week Gardner wins a Ryan Moats autographed photo courtesy of Upper Deck Authenticated.
Tom Kessenich
Manager of High Stakes Fantasy Games, SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @TomKessenich
