Fantasy Football Tonight Blog Introduction
Words cannot describe how excited I am to be finally launching the Fantasy Football Tonight blog! When Todd "The True Guru" Farino and I agreed to merge our sites back in January, I could never have imagined how much fun nor how smoothly this transition was going to be.
First I suppose that I should let all of you know a little bit about me. My name is Jeff Mans, I am 32 years old and from Chicago, Illinois. I've been playing fantasy football for 19 years, since the days of notebooks and newspaper boxscores. I guess you could say that I began my career back in 1992 when I began one of the first fantasy football bulletin board using the Prodigy Internet Service. The BB quickly became immensely popular and before long I not only had dozens of long distance calls flooding my parents house but guys actually finding out where I lived and knocking on the door to see if I wanted to go out for a beer. Of course, I was only 15 years old at that time and couldn't even drive a car let alone pass for legal drinking age. You guys don't know embarrassment until your Mother tells a couple of middle aged men that not only can Jeffery not go to the Half-Time Sports Bar with you but he has homework to do tonight too! Good times.
But it was through the Prodigy bulletin board that I developed so many lifelong friendships that I carry to this very day. It is crazy to think about how many of us geeks back then would wind up working in the fantasy sports industry today.
I went on to be a sports reporter for my college newspaper and then my local hometown paper before quitting journalism to pursue a career in information technology. Through it all though I was always writing, talking and playing fantasy sports. In my late teens and early twenties I was a regular caller to the Harry & Spike fantasy football radio show which was broadcast between midnight-3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights. I would actually cut out of my buddies card games or at parties just so I could get home in time to call the show and talk a little fantasy football. When the show was eventually cancelled I got my fantasy fix by writing on fantasy message boards and constantly ranting to my friends about third year WR's or bad weather kickers.
Finally, in 2005 I decided it was time to put all of my passion for fantasy football to use and that is when I started Scout Fantasy Football. The site was originally just going to be an outlet for me and a few of my friends to write about draft strategies, up and coming players and stuff like that. By 2007, the site had far outgrown what I had ever thought possible. I was being asked to participate in expert fantasy leagues, big money leagues, write guest articles for other sites, interview for a fantasy newspaper column and do guest spots on various podcasts. It was at this time that I did a couple of guest spots on KGME-AM 910 in Phoenix, AZ. Right around this time I began doing a weekly waiver pickup segment on The Fantasy Football Guru's Show with Todd Farino, Mike Bowser and AJ Pelletier. The chemistry in these segments were so good I became good friends with these guys both on and off the air. I can honestly say that out of all the people I have met in this industry and sports in general, Todd and AJ are among the nicest, most good natured, true people around.
This is why then after last season, Todd and I talked about working together. We decided to recruit not only the best writers and fantasy sports analysts but also the best people we could find. Now with Ryan Hallam on board and AJ Pelletier, RC Rizza, Evan Dickens and Mike Bowser I couldn't be happier then to work with such a great group of guys.
Todd has given me the green light to go ahead and make this new Fantasy Football Tonight Blog my own. I will be posting entries every single day starting around July 1st. Until then I will be updating it at least a couple of time per week or when the news or events strike a chord with me. You can expect me to break some stories this year as I am very militant about calling and texting people I know who work the beat for certain NFL teams. This blog will have plenty of news, opinion pieces, quotes, embarrassing stories about me, injury updates and just about everything you need to know about the world of fantasy football.
I want to make this blog and all of Fantasy Football Search as interactive as possible. So, please feel free to email me at anytime at thefantasyscout@gmail.com with any questions or comments you may have. You cold also leave your comments below too. I will be giving out a number that I can be reached by text at also in the coming weeks. If you like this blog or what we are doing here please go ahead and tell a friend about us. If you think I suck, let me know! I want to hear from all of you out there so let's keep in touch and have ourselves a fun and prosperous season!
First I suppose that I should let all of you know a little bit about me. My name is Jeff Mans, I am 32 years old and from Chicago, Illinois. I've been playing fantasy football for 19 years, since the days of notebooks and newspaper boxscores. I guess you could say that I began my career back in 1992 when I began one of the first fantasy football bulletin board using the Prodigy Internet Service. The BB quickly became immensely popular and before long I not only had dozens of long distance calls flooding my parents house but guys actually finding out where I lived and knocking on the door to see if I wanted to go out for a beer. Of course, I was only 15 years old at that time and couldn't even drive a car let alone pass for legal drinking age. You guys don't know embarrassment until your Mother tells a couple of middle aged men that not only can Jeffery not go to the Half-Time Sports Bar with you but he has homework to do tonight too! Good times.
But it was through the Prodigy bulletin board that I developed so many lifelong friendships that I carry to this very day. It is crazy to think about how many of us geeks back then would wind up working in the fantasy sports industry today.
I went on to be a sports reporter for my college newspaper and then my local hometown paper before quitting journalism to pursue a career in information technology. Through it all though I was always writing, talking and playing fantasy sports. In my late teens and early twenties I was a regular caller to the Harry & Spike fantasy football radio show which was broadcast between midnight-3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights. I would actually cut out of my buddies card games or at parties just so I could get home in time to call the show and talk a little fantasy football. When the show was eventually cancelled I got my fantasy fix by writing on fantasy message boards and constantly ranting to my friends about third year WR's or bad weather kickers.
Finally, in 2005 I decided it was time to put all of my passion for fantasy football to use and that is when I started Scout Fantasy Football. The site was originally just going to be an outlet for me and a few of my friends to write about draft strategies, up and coming players and stuff like that. By 2007, the site had far outgrown what I had ever thought possible. I was being asked to participate in expert fantasy leagues, big money leagues, write guest articles for other sites, interview for a fantasy newspaper column and do guest spots on various podcasts. It was at this time that I did a couple of guest spots on KGME-AM 910 in Phoenix, AZ. Right around this time I began doing a weekly waiver pickup segment on The Fantasy Football Guru's Show with Todd Farino, Mike Bowser and AJ Pelletier. The chemistry in these segments were so good I became good friends with these guys both on and off the air. I can honestly say that out of all the people I have met in this industry and sports in general, Todd and AJ are among the nicest, most good natured, true people around.
This is why then after last season, Todd and I talked about working together. We decided to recruit not only the best writers and fantasy sports analysts but also the best people we could find. Now with Ryan Hallam on board and AJ Pelletier, RC Rizza, Evan Dickens and Mike Bowser I couldn't be happier then to work with such a great group of guys.
Todd has given me the green light to go ahead and make this new Fantasy Football Tonight Blog my own. I will be posting entries every single day starting around July 1st. Until then I will be updating it at least a couple of time per week or when the news or events strike a chord with me. You can expect me to break some stories this year as I am very militant about calling and texting people I know who work the beat for certain NFL teams. This blog will have plenty of news, opinion pieces, quotes, embarrassing stories about me, injury updates and just about everything you need to know about the world of fantasy football.
I want to make this blog and all of Fantasy Football Search as interactive as possible. So, please feel free to email me at anytime at thefantasyscout@gmail.com with any questions or comments you may have. You cold also leave your comments below too. I will be giving out a number that I can be reached by text at also in the coming weeks. If you like this blog or what we are doing here please go ahead and tell a friend about us. If you think I suck, let me know! I want to hear from all of you out there so let's keep in touch and have ourselves a fun and prosperous season!
posted by Jeff Mans at
9:50 PM
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