ESPN and Sirius Radio Host Tony Cincotta (#11) Interview
ESPN and Sirius Raido Host Tony Cincotta (#11) Interview
Tony Cincotta has been involved in Fantasy Sports as long as I have been alive. He’s even coined the term “I’m all fired up!” How many people do you know who have a coined term they can add to their resume’? Well, I guess it helps if you are a professional Fantasy Personality and Host for some of the best in the business. Mr. Cincotta hosts Sports Bash for ESPN Radio, FantasyPros911 for Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio, and with FantasySports911 he regularly contributes articles to USA Today. Prior to joining Sirius XM, FantasySports911.com had many of the highest rated podcasts on iTunes and blogtalkradio and he even has an iPhone App. Tony led the fantasy podcast community in downloads for 5 years, and is downloaded more than 20,000 times per week! In addition to being involved in over 30 leagues a year and being the 2009 FantasyWorld.com Fantasy Football National Champion, Tony is now a top-ranked RotoGrinder! TonyCincotta joined RotoGrinders at the end of September and is currently ranked #11. Tony clearly has a busy schedule, but he was nice enough to make time for an interview with RotoGrinders.
Interview With Tony Cincotta
Tony, “I am all fired up” for this interview; thanks for your time! You have been involved in Fantasy Sports for over 25 years now. How did you initially get involved in Fantasy Sports?
I started playing fantasy sports as a teenager. I just love to compete and this was another form of competition. Yet fantasy games are great for any sports lover, all men get a little older and can no longer run out ground balls like BJ Upton. I was one of those guys that would be waiting for his stats in the mail every Monday. It all started with Fantasy Baseball, then football, then hockey, then NBA. Then sprinkle in the occasional golf, Nascar and fishing leagues. I am truly down with the sickness that is fantasy sports.
Fantasy Sports is a great alternative to gambling. You follow players instead of teams and point spreads. You become the general manager and hang on your players every move. Who hasn’t thought that they could do a better job running a ball club than Omar Minaya? This gives us a little bit of that experience and intensifies our love for the games. You can’t fire your boss or demand a raise, but you can challenge his manliness by destroying him in fantasy football.
How has the Fantasy Gaming industry changed and grown during that time?
The industry has changed dramatically. The positive is everyone can find a league to play in. If you want to play for fun and free there are games for you. If you want to play a one day event for $ 500.00 you can find that as well. There are plenty of leagues and you can even get your friends to play with you. Is it possible for a fantasy nerd to actually have 12 friends that will play for free in a fantasy league? That is an aspect of the positives; I have so many “Fantasy” friends. That is what my wife refers to all the people that I only know via the internet. The funny thing is that I feel like I have known these people all my life. My wife doesn’t get it, my fantasy friends are some of her girlfriends hanging out at the pool. Let’s just keep that secret here and what she don’t know won’t kill her. The negative is there is no better thing in life than a live fantasy draft. If you have 12-15 people in one room that is pressure. You cannot simulate that feeling over the internet, which is a dying art. Live drafts are actually the second best thing in life, second only to being Megan Fox’s endurance coach.
The most recent evolution in fantasy has been the creation of Daily and Weekly Fantasy Sports Games across the Internet. How and when were you made aware of these offerings and what is your take on Daily and Weekly Fantasy Sports?
I was first made aware of daily events from the various ads on the sports oriented websites across Al Gore’s playground. I think daily fantasy games are the next big thing. This is perfect for a guy with a busy schedule. In a year-long Fantasy season it becomes a pain in the ass when life happens. I mean how insane is this situation, your wife’s having a baby and you have to leave the delivery room to get in your free agent bids? Say you didn’t put in your free agent bids that week and you lost 100,000.00 by a point. I think that child will not be treated as nice as his brothers and sisters for the rest of his life. The dad goes through life resenting the child or his wife for not being tough enough to wait until the all-star break. It is my job to promote a positive family environment…SAVE THE CHILDREN, PLAY DAILY FANTASY SPORTS!!!
Good point, we should be playing daily fantasy for the children. It seems that your two main sports are Baseball and Football. Do you approach these two seasons differently and how so?
I play any fantasy sport that is possible. On the daily leagues I have not played Hockey and NBA as much because of my late start into the daily sports hemisphere. I am busting my ass on hockey right now and taking out people in smaller dollar games. I find that I make a lot of money in fantasy football. You have many novices playing and they don’t play the other sports. They think it is to their advantage to do one sport and concentrate, I don’t… Try becoming a Poker Player, that only plays 7–card stud. Baseball is my favorite and I did really well this year. So Baseball would be my answer, the truth is whatever is making me money.
You cracked the Top 10 in the RotoGrinders Rankings last week after compiling a great run of scores on Fantasy Factor. What strategies do you employ specifically to Daily Fantasy Games as compared to Season-Long leagues?
In baseball it is all about Pitching, Pitching, Pitching and matchups. You have to look at righty and lefty matchups, as well as the ballparks. In a season long fantasy game, it is way more predictable. In one game, every detail you analyze every day for hours. There is no better feeling than when you’re opponent’s lineup is unveiled at 7:05 and you know you outworked him.
In football you look at the matchups of offense and defenses. Which teams are letting up the most passing yards and who can’t stop the run!!! There is so much fantasy football information around the internet, even the lazy players can succeed. That is why I love baseball, more work. I always outwork my opponent in any endeavor that I participate in.
What strategies do you employ specifically when compiling rosters for Fantasy Factor’s game format?
You have to nail your factor points. In football, I always play my QB as my fantasy factor X3. Then a RB as X2 and my # 1 WR as the second X2. In baseball I will never make a “contact” hitter my fantasy factor, to win big, you need to play big. There are no negative points for strike outs at FantasyFactor so find the guy with the best chances of going deep. This will shoot you 18 pts on one swing of the bat.
Your RotoGrinders profile has you registered for a couple other sites in Daily Fantasy Sports. What do you like and dislike in the current site offerings across the Daily Fantasy Sports industry?
I mainly play at Fanduel and FantasyFactor. There are other sites that I dabble at as well. My website FantasyPros911 is actually partnering with Fanduel to offer our subscribers a chance to play these games on our site where they go to get the latest and greatest fantasy information. I am not a fan of the sites that give you grouping of players to choose from.
How do you foresee the future of Daily/Weekly Fantasy Sports Games evolving?
We are a generation of people that like it fast and easy. Daily sports will take off like blogs. We as Americans have millions of people walking around with A.D.D.. We love Twitter, Facebook, and blogs because they are short and to the point. Daily Sports Leagues are the twitter and Facebook of fantasy sports. You can get involved now or your kids will let you know about it. I am all about the instant gratification!!! I mean really, do you guys stick around for a woman that waits six months to reward you ONCE for a season’s worth of work? Call me selfish I want my reward daily, and waiting six months won’t happen even if she looked like Britney Spears with Hillary Clinton’s intelligence.
What Changes would you like to see implemented?
In Baseball Leagues, players need to submit backups for when their player does not get an official at-bat. If I am playing a daily league for the first time and Albert Pujlos is in my lineup and does not play I might never play again if I lose by a couple points. Protect the player and offer backups, easy fix.
You have been involved with many successful podcasts, ESPN Radio, and more recently you’ve been on channel 147 of Sirius XM Radio! What’s it been like working on so many different projects with so many different people?
It has been an awesome ride. I started out recording podcasts on free programs and posting it on ITUNES. I couldn’t believe people were actually listening! I got involved in talking fantasy sports because at the time the podcasts were so poor in the market. They were so boring and dull and made us fantasy players look like argyle sweater-wearing pansies. So I wanted to bring the best information in fantasy sports with an edgy style. We always work to get better, but mission accomplished.
Who’s your favorite person you’ve interviewed during that time?
My Favorite interview of all time was Howard Cossell. We talked about the Super Bowl and Extenze ads.
What’s your funniest On-Air story you can share with our readers?
I was on the air at MLB.com and drunk in HOOTERS during Spring Training. So I am chatting it up with the bartender who happens to actually be on the HOOTERS calendar. So I cut my interview short and have Pete McCarthy of MLB.com interview her. Live radio at its finest.
Finally, what are your favorite sports teams in real life?
I am from Boston originally so I am a huge Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots fan. I root hard for those guys and will travel to see my home town teams play.
*Tony Cincotta, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s hear some questions in the comments section!