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11 Sep 2009

ESPN: Fantasy Matchups 2009, Week 1

The fantasy matchups column returns to ESPN for a second season.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 11 Sep 2009

18 comments, Last at 13 Sep 2009, 10:50am by dukesb1

Comments

1
by Skeletor (not verified) :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 7:00pm

On insider now? That's disappointing. I was really hoping the fantasy matchups would continue to be outside the wall.

2
by Will :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 7:06pm

Can you flag this as ESPN Insider? Would have saved me a couple clicks.

Will

3
by billsfan :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 7:22pm

Am I to assume that all content tagged with "ESPN:" should be understood to be "ESPN Insider"?

(I also like the Eagles)

4
by cesmfguru :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 7:44pm

From your FAQs I was certainly led to believe Barnwell's articles would be available without also being an ESPN Insider subscriber:

Our lineup of regular columns is split between those articles which appear first here on Football Outsiders, and those which appear as part of our partnership with ESPN.com.

Q: When does Football Outsiders publish new material?

A: In general, this is our schedule during the regular season (with ESPN columns in italics):

THURSDAY: Seventh Day Adventure, Walkthrough, ESPN Numbers Crunching, Bill Barnwell's Fantasy Matchups.

5
by Bill Barnwell :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 7:59pm

We published a story about this changing today. Please read the FO Column Schedule piece from earlier today.

All content tagged as ESPN will indeed be ESPN Insider content moving forward, yes.

6
by ncwoita :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 9:20pm

Sad to you see you guys sellout like this but if you're good at something I guess you shouldn't do it for free. Guess I'll just revisit for next year's Kubiak. Good luck with the endeavors.

7
by Bill Barnwell :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 9:33pm

Hi! Some brilliant individual thought that it would be novel and enterprising to cut and paste the entire article into the comments here. It has been summarily removed. I don't want to have to ban people, but if people really think that's the best way to go about our Insider policy, well, that's what I'll do.

As for the "sellout" comment, we're not a dirtpunk band. We're adults -- who, by the way, are still offering you 12 columns on the site for free. That's more than we've ever offered on the site before. If you don't want to subscribe to Insider, that's certainly your prerogative. Suggesting that we're guilty of some moral crime is silly.

8
by Anonguy :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 10:00pm

So, what's the DVOA for whiny self entitled internet jerks? (I say internet, because I don't want the numbers for TO.)

9
by anotherpatsfan :: Fri, 09/11/2009 - 11:06pm

Bill, hope you guys are having success with your various ventures.

I do have a gripe, but not about y'all making money: last year, the fantasy numbers article was generally more useful to me, since you would, in addition to highlighting the upsiders/downsiders (cute, Mr. Outsider), post a list of everyone over plus 5% DVOA and everyone worse than minus 5 percent, which presented numbers for a lot more players, and let you know everyone not mentioned was in that plus 5 to minus 5 band. There was specific info for at least 40-50 players IIRC.

This year, there is info about 6 WRs(3 worst, 3 best), 6 RBs, 6 QBs and 4TEs. There is no larger list of the > plus 5, < minus 5 players. I am in 3 leagues and only have one of the players mentioned this week (Mike Bell), so this was interesting but of more limited utility to me than last year's article format. Is this a word limit thing? If you could bring back the bigger list, it would be appreciated.

10
by Scott C :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 12:14am

Well, if ESPN doesn't want all that other info, the rest of the players NOT in the top/bottom in the Insider piece could be put in a little reference article here. Or made available on F.O. premium via shortcuts in the database or something.

11
by Bill Barnwell :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 12:21am

I didn't include that list of +/- 5% by choice this year -- I just felt like it got lost in the shuffle and didn't really add much to say that someone was -7%.

I can add it back into the column if people really want it...

12
by CWB3 :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 1:12am

Would love to see the list return.

13
by cbirkemeier :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 9:18am

That list was all I really looked at. I didn't read anything you wrote unless it was about one of my players.

17
by xLittleP :: Sun, 09/13/2009 - 9:18am

Same here. Unless you were talking about a player on my team or an opponent's team, or Calvin Johnson, I just used the list. The list was invaluable.

15
by KO (not verified) :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 1:24pm

Add me to the group that wants the longer list back!

I put more way value into the F.O. analysis than all other fantasy opinions out there. Used it quite a bit last year for making those tough lineup decisions.

14
by rnj1962 :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 12:03pm

I too would like to see the list of all players at +/- 5%. The other list is way too short on players.

Thanks,

16
by TFierst (not verified) :: Sat, 09/12/2009 - 11:37pm

Yes, loved the list. Need it to come back to help with some tough decisions!!!!!!!!! Any chance we can get it this week?

18
by dukesb1 :: Sun, 09/13/2009 - 10:50am

Same here. I was very disappointed to not see the full list. This is my first year using the outsiders website, and probably the main reason i am a member is because of that invaluable list that outsiders posted on espn last year. Any chance we can get this posted before today's games? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!