There is a business theory that an industry hasn’t made it big until it gets its first television ad or receives its first lawsuit. If that’s the case, then the fantasy sports industry is BOOMING, having recently flooded the market with non-stop commercials on daily games while, in parallel, being attacked by politicians.

Currently, 56 Million Americans are playing fantasy sports, and on Sundays, during the fall, playing fantasy football with friends or competitively for prizes has become a rite of passage. As professional sports and fantasy sports converge into one holistic sports user experience, a new culture is rising.

In this post, the Resident Dudes dish on all things fantasy.

Season Leagues or Daily

JC: I am old school, so I still play in season leagues with my work and college friends where it serves as a great way to get together (draft day) and then stay connected throughout the season with trash talk and back and forth bantering. And of course, the bragging rights. I think Daily games are cool, but the fantasy experience is greatly enhanced with a social aspect.

SL: No argument from me here. A good season long league has history behind it that a daily game cannot compete with. My friends and I use WhatsApp to bring everyone together. At one point we had a people in Hong Kong, Nairobi, Budapest, London, and New York wide awake at all hours of the day for the league’s auction draft. The prospect of winning money does not do that, but a year of bragging rights will.

Game Day Ritual

JC: Here’s my blueprint for #winning. Early morning coffee with the NY Post sports section. Gym. Lucky Georgetown Hoyas vintage tee. Check last second player news, injuries and weather before putting in my P1CK contests and season lineups, and if I’m feeling it, a DraftKings contest. Watch the Giants game at home, while texting friends and flipping to the RedZone during commercial breaks. Go to SportsBar for late afternoon game. Late night Sunday HBO. Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

SL: I am up early. I check the Saturday night waiver from bed and then head out for a run followed by some me time in the gym. Eggs and French-pressed coffee straight from the Hawaiian Islands are my fuel for the day to come. At 11am I check the teams injury report and make the necessary adjustments before heading to our buildings game room where I take over multiple TVs, sit back, and watch the points accumulate.

Go-To NYC Sports Bar

JC: I’ve got 2  Sports Bars in my playbook.  Holland House is an amazing spot if you have a larger group and love beer. Great space and extremely large selection of drafts and bottles. With fewer people in your posse or just looking to mingle, Ainsworth Park is a great balance of upscale but sporty.

SL: This really depends on the people I am with. My personal favorite is Croxleys in Williamsburg. Their beer and wing specials are hard to beat and they have enough TVs to show every game on multiple screens. However, if football is just the medium to be able to drink on a Sunday, Bounce is basically a club with football on.

Sunday Style

JC:   On Draft Day, it is always some type of throwback jersey (Mitchell & Ness).

SL: Keep it simple. A black or gray v neck t shirt with some dark denim.

Sunday Snack

JC:   Wow, this is tough but you can’t go wrong with wings, nachos and sliders. If at home, I have perfected the matching of salsa and queso, heated for Tostitos dipping. Highly recommend.

SL: In a perfect world, Have’a Chips from Laguna Beach, California with some salsa from El Conejito in Lake Forest, California. Living in NY though sourcing the snack proves challenging, so I sub in some homemade Señor Lettuce guac.

Favorite New Game

JC:  Full disclosure, I’m a little biased here as I built a game — www.nfc1pick.com — but there is nothing in the industry like this.  Which is why, as a lifelong fantasy fan, I created it. One on One, based on the core skill in fantasy – the ability to predict a player’s range of fantasy points or position rank.

SL: I am a high risk individual, and Knockout, your other new game, plays right into this for me. Picking a different lineup of players every week, who can never be used again, low score is eliminated, the rest move on until there is only one man standing. What’s not to love?

Rock-Solid Resources

JC: If you want rankings, FantasyPro’s is the place to go. For real-time information, Twitter is also a must – I follow the major fantasy contributors at ESPN, down to the team beat writers for that little morsel of information that might give an edge.

SL: For data aggregation, my go-to is an app called Playerline. They make it easy to sift through all of the noise and discern relevant, real-time information. For rankings, there is only one, Sean Koerner at STATS. I mean the guy’s handle on Twitter is @The_Oddsmaker and he is basically the statistician equivalent of a Spartan being named Thor – they are both destined for greatness.

 

The Resident Dudes wish you a Thanksgiving weekend filled with football and food.

– Señor Lettuce & JC

NOTE: This post is not sponsored. All thoughts are unbiased and our own. As disclosed above, JC is the creator of Next Fantasy Champion.