Rick Hart Is Week 10 Classic Winner

[Tom Kessenich]

It’s not often during the season that a fantasy team with Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne is going to be nervous heading into a game. But Rick Hart and Gerard Sambola admittedly were a bit apprehensive last week even though they had the Colts’ stars on their NFFC Classic team.

A showdown with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots can test the mettle of even the most experienced fantasy player.

“We were expecting Belichick to perform his usual magic against Manning and Wayne,” Hart said.

The magic Belichick provided, however, proved to be a huge asset for Hart’s team.

Thanks to Belichick’s inexplicable decision to attempt a fourth-down play deep in New England territory in the final two minutes, Hart and Sambola were able to cash in with another Manning to Wayne hookup. That play proved pivotal as their Pink Floyd team in Las Vegas League 5 topped the Classic competition last week with 192.75 points.
Manning finished with 38.35 points while Wayne had 34.6. A big week from Chris Johnson (39.7) and a fine finish on Monday night from the Baltimore defense (26) also proved pivotal in the big week.

“Our week went much better than expected,” Hart said. “Chris Johnson has been on fire the last few weeks since their quarterback switch and the Baltimore D was due.

“I joked on the NFFC message boards that we could win the week if the Baltimore D could give us 35 points on Cleveland and I was glad we didn’t need the extra nine.

“The only key lineup change we made was putting in Robert Meachem for Todd Heap at the flex spot since Lance Moore is still out.”

Johnson has been providing huge dividends and he’s a player Hart and Sambola never expected to even be available to them since they had the 12th pick in their NFFC draft.

“We were looking at Steve Slaton with the 12th pick and when the team in front of us took Slaton and left us Chris Johnson, we were pretty ecstatic,” Hart said. “We targeted a receiver in the second round and got our guy, Reggie Wayne, and then held our breath in hopes of getting Manning in the third to complete the connection with Wayne.”

They had a quality draft day but adding Mike Sims-Walker as a free agent has paid big dividends as well. Their team has been one of the best in the Classic the entire season, landing in the Top 10 overall for much of the first five weeks before a slump dropped them to 100th after Week 7. They have since rallied and are currently 13th overall with the playoffs set to begin in just three weeks.

“As our Big 3 go, so goes our chances for the top prize (of $100,000),” Hart said.

Hart and Sambola have been in the NFFC since its inception in 2004. They first met in a fantasy football league in 1991 and have been good friends and partners ever since.

The 54-year-old Hart is married and is a business manager for a construction company in Florida. Sambola, 38, is married and is a business owner in product distribution. They both live in New Orleans. While both enjoy fantasy football to the fullet, Hart said the NFFC experience has been one he and Sambola cherish greatly.

“The friendships we’ve made at the live drafts, on the message boards and in satellite leagues in the NFFC with Greg (Ambrosius) and Tom (Kessenich) and our fellow fantasy football players are friendships we hope to keep for a long, long time,” he said.