Week 1: In Which We Are Fearless
I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving. Not my roommate. Not even my parents. I just…left.
I was still a kid, really – 19 years old – though I was absolutely certain (as most 19-year-olds are) that I knew everything I needed to know. And what I knew more than anything else at that point in my life was that I needed to get away.
That was my sophomore year of college: October 2004. The Red Sox had just won Game 4 of the ALCS against the Yankees, and shortly after midnight (right after that now-historic Red Sox game ended), I walked to my truck with my last load of clothes. I ran into a couple of my buddies, and they asked where I was going. “Just taking some stuff to my car. I’ll see you guys in a minute.”
I didn’t see them for nearly two months.
The plan? I was going to drive to Boston (about 24 hours away from Tulsa – where I was going to school at the time…or, it would be a 24-hour drive if my “truck” at the time had been something other than an old K-5 Blazer that refused to go faster than 55 miles per hour), and I was going to be completely alone. As an “aspiring author,” I had decided that I was surrounded by too many distractions (school, friends, girls, sports, fun, general rowdiness, etc.). I needed to go somewhere else – focus, dig in. Write.
I drove an hour in the wrong direction that night (this was before we all had GPS on our phones or in our cars; I had a road atlas folded open on the passenger seat, with my route highlighted in yellow), then I realized what I had done and turned around and headed north. By evening, I reached St. Louis, and I stopped in a motel so I could watch Game 5 and take a nap before hitting the road again.
By the time the Red Sox were playing Game 7, I had made it to a town on the border of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. I bought a cigar and drove around that little mining town and smoked the cigar in celebration when Game 7 ended.
The day after Game 7, my truck broke down in Kylertown, Pennsylvania (population: 340). I posted up in a little highway motel / restaurant / gas station while my truck was being fixed (and while the woman in the motel office told me each day that she didn’t trust the guys who were fixing my truck; well, thanks for the tip). I had been looking forward to reaching Boston by the time the World Series started, but it turned out that breaking down in Kylertown was not such a bad thing at all. It turned out that my week in Kylertown became one of the most important weeks of my life.
I have always been a fairly disciplined person. In high school, after returning home from school and football practice, I would sit in my room for at least a couple hours and work on writing. I would study writing. I would learn as much as I could.
During that first year-plus of college, however, I lost my way. I became a person who was too easily distracted. I started to realize that I was writing no more than once a week… once every two weeks …once a month. That was what drove my decision to get away – to eliminate distractions and put myself in a position where I could get back to what is, for me, the fundamental and most essential element of a rewarding life: writing. But during my second day in Kylertown, I realized that I had replaced my previous distractions with new ones. I was no longer around my friends and my social outlets and the constant activity of college life, but I had now started wasting my time with movies and with a Tiger Woods Golf video game on my computer. I don’t even like golf. I’ve only played golf once in my life. What the heck!
That night, I broke the Tiger Woods Golf disc. I put my movies away. During the rest of my time in Kylertown, I wrote from the time I woke up each day until the time the Red Sox game started. Then I watched the game. Then I went to bed. Then I started over again.
The day after the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years, I got a call from that “untrustworthy” mechanic. The old K-5 was ready to hit the road again (or…as ready as it could be), and I continued on my journey to Boston.
Although I grew up right outside of Boston, I did not tell any of my old friends or family members that I was in the area. I spent some time in the city; I spent some time in New Hampshire; I spent some time in Maine. No matter where I was, I wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
It wasn’t all fun, of course. In fact, many parts of that journey – that “pilgrimage,” as I privately (and, I guess, now publicly) refer to it – were hardly fun at all.
There was the day I had to call my parents and talk to them about the fact that I had left without telling anyone – without even dropping my classes or leaving any sort of explanation (I had even left with a cell phone that only worked in Tulsa; there was no way for anyone to reach me). I was sure to lose my scholarship. I was surely ruining my future. And – more importantly – I had pretty much slapped my parents in the face by skipping town without even bothering to tell them.
There were also the nights on which, for one reason or another, I slept in my truck. One night in particular still jumps back into my mind from time to time: a snowstorm had hit, and my truck was stuck in a parking lot. I slept in the backseat with a thin blanket over my head in an effort to stay warm. There were other nights when I slept in my truck in a parking garage in Cambridge in order to save money; I took the T into the city each day and wrote on the top floor of the Boston Public Library from the time it opened to the time it closed.
For pretty much the entire time I was away, I talked to no one. That wasn’t much fun, either.
There was also the night I had to prevent a group of meth addicts from stealing my computer at a rest stop in Pennsylvania (no, I’m not assuming they were meth addicts; they told me they were on their way to buy meth; they started discussing amongst themselves the merits of stealing my computer and using it to buy more meth).
And, of course, when I finally returned home (unannounced, a couple days before Thanksgiving), I had a lot of damage to repair.
Was it worth it?
In a purely quantifiable sense: No. What I ended up with from all that writing was a pretty crappy novel that no one wanted to publish (and that I myself have not so much as glanced at for nearly ten years).
But is that really all I ended up with?
Absolutely not.
As you can probably guess, that month and a half was one of the most important stretches of my entire life. I learned a lot about myself during that time (some good, some bad). I grew a lot. And more than anything: I wrote.
Today, I write for a living. I get to work from home and write articles about sports; I get to work from Thailand (where my wife and I are, at present, on a six-week trip), being paid good money to write for businesses and marketing companies. I get to write fiction – which is what I love to do. I even wrote a novel that was published a couple years back, and that won some awards and was translated into Italian (and that you have not read, because no one reads books published by small presses – and frankly, I don’t blame people for that being the case! – but that doesn’t matter, honestly, because what matters is that the positive press from that novel will open more doors for me in the publishing world when my second novel is finished; so, yeah – looking on the bright side, right?).
Would I be where I am today if not for that “pilgrimage”? Maybe.
But maybe not.
Maybe the growth from that small span of time – the half-decade of maturing I was stretched into during those six weeks – made all the difference in the world for my future. Maybe the discipline I was forced to rediscover during that trip is what has helped me reach the place where I am today. And maybe that same growth and discipline are what lead me to never fully be satisfied with myself, or with where I am, or with how I handle life – maybe that growth and discipline are what lead me to work as hard as I can to always keep improving.
Did I handle things incorrectly in the way I left? Absolutely.
Are there things I would handle differently if I could do them again? Sure.
But when it comes down to it – when we really drill down to the core of what that trip was all about for me, and what that trip accomplished – I would not go back and undo those decisions. I would still take that trip.
That’s easy to say now, more than ten years later. That’s easy to say when I can see the growth I gained through that trip. But let me tell you: at the time, it was not an easy step to take. The only way I was able to take it – to be entirely honest – was by not thinking one bit about the potential negatives or drawbacks or consequences. The only way I was able to hit the road like that without looking back was by being completely fearless.
Guess what? That’s what I want to talk to you about today.
In daily fantasy sports, “fear” is often the primary component that prevents us from reaching the level of success we are equipped to reach. In daily fantasy sports, “fear” is often the greatest roadblock between ourselves and our goals.
“Fear of being wrong.” “Fear of the unknown.” “Fear of being the only person rostering a particular player and looking stupid as a result.” “Fear of missing out on a big game from a guy you don’t like – a guy who will be highly-owned, but whom you believe is not actually in for a big game at all.”
Fear.
The longer I play daily fantasy sports, the more I aim to identify fear.
The more I identify fear, the harder I work to embrace my fear. Play into my fear. Be absolutely fearless.
Each week, in this article, I will be providing you with picks – with some of my favorite plays at each position. Each week, the exact approach may differ from previous weeks.
This week, I want to focus on the players we may be “too afraid” to use. These are guys who may be able to win you tournaments. These are guys who might be a bit scary to roster.
These are guys who may make all the difference in the world for you.
Maybe I’m wrong on some of these guys. Maybe I’m wrong on all of them. But I’m not scared. I’m not afraid.
Are you?
Embrace it! Embrace that fear – and let’s see what happens.
QUARTERBACKS
Sam Bradford at Falcons: I’m seeing a lot of Bradford ranked as the eighth or ninth or tenth (or 11th or 12th) best QB play on the week. Can I tell you a secret? I don’t see it. Let’s throw away the Thursday night game, okay? Let’s talk the full slate – the Sunday/Monday slate. Taking that slate alone, I will be surprised if Bradford is not one of the four highest-scoring QBs on the weekend. Is there a reason for fear? Sure! We’ve seen him throw, what? – ten passes with the Eagles? He’s played, what? – one game in the last five years? His knees are constructed of, what? – duct tape and glass? But in a game that may see as many total plays as any game all season, against a poor defense, Bradford may have a seriously special game. I really, really like both quarterbacks in this game (heck, I even like Matt Ryan a little bit more), but Bradford is the “unknown” here and is, therefore, the guy likeliest to inspire fear. Don’t be afraid! Embrace the fear.
Ryan Tannehill at Redskins: If you read my NFL Edge this week, you know I see Tannehill as a very sneaky tournament option. Even after typing that, though, I’m still afraid to use him, as using him requires us to rely on assumptions about his “growth” and “development” as a quarterback. But honestly, that’s absolutely fine. Honestly, the “fear” others will have over Tannehill will lead to lower ownership. And in a game against an atrocious secondary, in which his team will want to pass plenty, the “fear” that leads to low ownership may be exactly what we need to soar past the field.
Carson Palmer v Saints: Jairus Byrd and Keenan Lewis are both out this week for the Saints. Andre Ellington, Chris Johnson, and David Johnson are the running backs for the Cardinals (“What’s an inside run? We haven’t heard of that! Can we do that with these tiny guys, or do we need to mostly stick to edge runs and passes?”) Also: Saints. They’ll score points no matter how good Arizona is on defense, and that means the Cardinals are going to have to pass. No one is thinking of Carson Palmer. No one likes to roster Carson Palmer. “It’s way too scary!” You know what that means, right? Let’s embrace the fear.
RUNNING BACKS
Chris Ivory v Browns: Running back is one of the best places on any given week to “embrace fear” and gain a high floor/ceiling combo for a cheap price, and Chris Ivory is one of the best places to do that this week. Ivory is the unquestioned starter on a team that wants to rely on the run, and he is facing a team that was among the worst in football last year at stopping the run. Ivory’s low price, usage history, and injury history cause him to stand out in our minds as an “iffy play,” but the truth is, we should be able to bank on at least 20 carries, including goal line work, against a poor run defense. It might not feel good to lock him onto your roster… but it may feel very good when the weekend ends.
Doug Martin v Titans: His offensive line is not very good. His offense as a whole is not very good. And he has not been very good himself for two full seasons now. Why should we believe that he has truly returned to his 2012 form? Why should we trust a guy who has let us down in back-to-back seasons? Why? Because he’s facing a poor Titans defense in a game in which his team is projected to have the lead, and there is a very good chance he will have 25 touches and will be able to more than pay off his very cheap price. That’s why. As for “why not?” Well…the only real “why not” I see is “fear.”
Andre Ellington v Saints: Especially on PPR sites, Ellington has a chance to be a tournament-winning play, as he will have low ownership, and his ceiling is extremely high. The “fear” here creeps in from Ellington’s disappointing season last year, but if you recall, he was hampered by injury all year. Reports at present are that Ellington is fully healthy and has recaptured the burst that made him so special two years back. There is certainly risk involved here, as Ellington is unlikely to do a whole lot between the tackles – but risk is not always a bad thing, especially in tournaments! With the potential for plenty of usage this week (and plenty of payoff from this usage), Ellington should be fixed on your radar in Week 1.
WIDE RECEIVERS
The “Unknowns”: Brandin Cooks and Jordan Matthews are each entering this season with new roles. Each guy is expected to be “the man” on his team. Each guy is pretty much priced as such. Is it a bit scary to pay such a high price on the assumption these guys are going to succeed in their new roles? Absolutely. Is there a lot of upside to be gained from each guy? You bet! Ultimately, each guy has a solid shot at being a top-10 play this weekend, and that means you ought to give strong consideration to each guy, regardless of where they are priced.
The Rookies: Amari Cooper and Nelson Agholor are each stepping into premium spots right away. I would not rely on either guy in cash games, but in tournaments, each provides you with an opportunity to capture massive upside at what may very well be low ownership. If you are able to “be greedy” with these guys while others are “being fearful,” you may end up being well rewarded.
The “Possession Receivers”: Jarvis Landry and Allen Robinson may both be viewed as “explosive guys who are mostly used underneath,” but the truth is, each guy is the number one target on their team heading into Week 1. Each guy will get looks in the red zone. Each guy is capable of putting up a really big day. Oh, and guess what? Each guy is priced very affordably. Don’t be afraid to use either of them on your rosters this weekend.
TIGHT ENDS
Owen Daniels v Ravens: You think Owen Daniels wants to score against his old team? You think Peyton Manning wants to help him in this area? You think Manning likes throwing to his tight end in the red zone? You think it’s annoying that I have asked so many questions in this article? Because Owen Daniels is not a freak athlete, and is on a new team, and is never a particularly exciting guy to roster, it’s easy to be afraid of the idea of using him, but this week, he has as much TE upside as anyone. Let go of that fear, and give him a look for your rosters!
Tyler Eifert at Raiders: Eifert has been a “disappointment” so far in his career, but it’s time to set that aside. Eifert has ascended to number two in the pecking order for targets in this Bengals offense, and that could be enough for a very solid points-per-dollar game. Tight end is often the position at which it is easiest to pick up high points per dollar, so trust the place Eifert has in this offense and enjoy the points he sends your way.
TE in the FLEX: If you play on a site that has a FLEX spot, give serious thought to using a tight end in that spot in cash games! As I just said: tight end is often the position at which it is easiest to gain a high points-per-dollar floor, as tight ends are generally priced much cheaper than they should be. It’s always a bit scary to use a tight end in your FLEX, as the assumption is they do not provide as much upside. Because these guys will raise your team’s floor while enabling you to raise your team’s ceiling elsewhere, however, this can be a great way to lock yourself into profits in cash games.
What do you guys think? Is there anyone I’m missing? Is there anyone you are fearful of using, but that you think will actually be a very strong play? Unlike the other questions I (annoyingly) asked throughout this article, these are not rhetorical; chime in with your thoughts in the comments, and we’ll all “embrace the fear” together!
I’ll stop asking questions now. Let’s make make a date to meet up at the top of the leaderboards when Week 1 is all said and done, and we’ll talk about just how rewarding our “fearless weekend” was.