The Book on Fantasy Football: Fantasy Football Strategy (Paperback)

by Ken Schimanski (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The key to winning fantasy football is strategy. Learn the game, drafting and management strategies, and what tools are available with this guide, by a leading competitor and based on hard facts. Get maximum value from every decision, and win.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Llumina Press; New title edition (September 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595262946
• ISBN-13: 978-1595262943
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,145,107 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, March 3, 2005

By	Mikey (Chicago) - See all my reviews

The book says: "strategy, not cheat sheets win championships". It is so true. You need to have STRATEGY for how you draft your team and how you manage it during the season and this book delivers on both.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty, but useless, August 20, 2006

By	Jeremy Crowhurst (North Vancouver, B.C.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very good looking book, well-written in the sense of being very readable, but there's really very little in it. It doesn't have enough basic stuff to be useful for beginners, and doesn't have anything advanced in it to separate it from the pack. All in all, there are two or three magazines published every year that offer all the same stuff and much, much more.

The chapters are all very, very short, some as short as a two pages. Some of his key theories are palpably absurd. My favorite: load up on rookie running backs, ANY rookie running backs, because "it may not pay off every season, but when it does the dividends can be astronomical." He then helpfully adds that this strategy is particularly good in a keeper league. (It's almost like that commercial that airs from time to time where the guy tells the rookie, "don't worry about top running backs, they'll be there later on, and don't be afraid to grab your kicker early.")

Another one of his grand theories is to "beware of free agent wide receivers". He gives a list of examples that didn't work out, while acknowledging two that did (Joe Horn, Jerry Rice in Oakland). One of his points in this chapter is on Andre Rison. He strongly suggests, without actually saying, that Rison's success in Atlanta was due to the run-and-shoot offence, and not because he was an elite talent. His conclusion is based on the fact that when he left Atlanta for Cleveland, he tanked.

More compelling in my view is the fact that despite seven different starting QB's, and two different head coaches, Rison had a five year stretch that is better than anybody in the Hall of Fame (with the possible exception of Lance Alworth). That, and his four consecutive all-pro selections suggests to me at least that maybe he WAS a pretty talented player.

When things like this are combined with his muddled chapters on draft stragety, it makes me think that Mr. Schimanski really doesn't know very much about either real football or fantasy football. At the same time, there are some ideas here worth exploring; he just grossly simplifies EVERYTHING. Even his caution of FA wideouts has some merit, if he were to just look at it in a bit more depth. Eg, there is a difference between someone cut because he's too old (Tim Brown), someone cut because of cap problems (Keenan McCardell), someone whose contract expires and goes somewhere where he's a better fit (Joe Horn), and someone whose contract expires and goes somewhere where he's a horrible fit (Alvin Harper, Az Hakim, and a cast of thousands).

But, until a book with that level of analysis gets written, stay away from this one and stick to the magazines.