grcc - cat 11 - sports column - tom mcaleese

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Fantasy football has become a billiondollar industry and with 18 million peopleplaying worldwide, chances are you play, orknow someone who does.

With the fantasy football season halfover a lot of you are looking towards theplayoffs, while others are giving up afterbeing riddled with injuries, or just flat outlosing interest.

For those of you who are still lookingto claim a championship, I put together alittle guide to help you for the rest of thisseason and beyond.

If you have dealt with injuries butyou’re still alive, and you’re looking tomake some trades, or your team is healthyand you just want to tighten up roster a bitthis article is for you.

The most frustrating and unpredictablepart of fantasy football is the injuries. Thisis why when building your roster you needto have safety valves in place, and preparefor the inevitable. This could be as simpleas having the back up to one of your starplayers, or drafting several middle tierplayers as opposed to one top-flight player.Depth is important. Youcan’t prevent injuries,but you can preventlosing your whole season

because of them.Injuries can

also present a hugeopportunity for forward-thinking owners. Injuriesultimately lead tosomeone else ascendingthe depth chart, knowing which playersthese are and adding them to your rostercan win champions. For example, if youpicked up Terrance Williams when MilesAustin got hurt this season, you’ve reapedthe benefits. Always know who benefitswhen, unfortunately, a player gets hurt.It is always a good practice to ‘handcuff’your running backs as well. For example,if you have Demarco Murray, it is extremelyadvantageous to have Joseph Randle aswell, given Murray’s injury history.

If you’ve lost a couple players but still

have valuable assets on your team, maybeit’s time to start looking for trades.Trading is essential to building a

championship team. Never look at yourroster post-draft as the roster you’re goingto finish the season with. You shouldalways be looking to upgrade. Never make atrade unless you are upgrading a particular

position, and don’t be afraid of tradingaway your top players in favor of depth.Sometimes depth is an upgrade.

Selling high is great way to work thetrade channels. What that means is if youhave a player that is not quite establishedas a top tier player yet, but has just had abig game, it may be a good idea to sell thatplayer while his stock is high to addressother needs on your team.

A perfect example of this is EddieRoyal. Royal started off the season scoringfive touchdowns in the first two games.There was no way he could keep up thosekind of numbers throughout the course ofthe season, so selling Royal at that pointwould have been the smart move, as his

stock was never going tobe higher, and he was notgoing to finish the seasonas a top ten wide receiver.

The basic rulewith selling a playerhigh applies to playersthat are young or havenever really shown anyconsistency over thecourse of their career, or

have a small chance of continued success.Other players that have been great sell

high candidates this year have been AlshonJeffery, and Rueben Randle. A personalexample of this is trading Eddie Royal forKnowshon Moreno after week two and thathas worked out very well.

Buying low is the flip side of sellinghigh, obviously. Buying low on a playerusually pertains to well established playersthat have been underachieving that youcan acquire for pennies on the dollar, orat a much lower price than they may have

been previously valued. When buying lowon a player, you need to make sure there isa chance that player can rebound and getback to their high scoring consistent ways.

When looking for a trade, look atwhat other teams need when sending themoffers. If someone has just lost their topquarterback to injury and is flushed with

wide receivers, and you happen to have twogood quarterbacks but need another widereceiver, that is someone you need to targetto make a trade with. Take advantage ofwhat people need to improve your team.This may be looked at as bad form, but if ithelps you win, that’s all that matters.

After your team is set, and you’ve madeall the trades you can make at the moment,it’s time to look at defenses. Team defenseand special teams is the most overlooked

roster spot in fantasy football. There arevery few defenses you can plug in everyweek and get consistent performances from.

This year, Seattle and Kansas City fallinto that group. If you don’t own one of thetop tier defenses because, if you’re like me,you didn’t want to waste an early draft pickon one, then the best way to maximize yourscoring is by cycling in defenses that havegood match-ups. By finding out whichteams give up the most fantasy points toopposing defenses, you will know who toplay.

This won’t work every week, but it’s asound strategy and one I have used for manyyears and won many championships. Thisyear the teams giving up the most pointsto opposing defenses are the JacksonvilleJaguars, Houston Texans, and New YorkGiants. Playing those teams opposing

defenses will yield you some good points.For daily information on who to sit andstart, what players are poised for breakoutgames, and all the latest breaking newsrelated to fantasy football, follow me onTwitter @FauxFootball1.

16October 24, 2013

thecollegiatelive.comCThe

ollegiate

SportsGrand Rapids Community College

Coach Chip Will earns career win no. 200 - page 15

Faculty members compete in fitness challenge - page 15 16

What late round fantasy football draft pick on your team are you most excited about? 

 Derek CornishAge 22Lowell

“Rob Gronkowski”

Doug DesmaraisAge 32

Wyoming

“Giovani Bernard”

Trevor ScheidelAge 21

Comstock Park

“Danny Woodhead”

Maddy Jones Age 18

Grand Rapids

“Knowshon Moreno”

George KhnoufAge 20

 Grand Rapids

“Jordan Cameron”

BY TOM MCALEESE

The Collegiate guide to fantasy football

By Travis DevlinCollegiate Staff 

“You can’t prevent

injuries, but you canprevent losing yourwhole season because of

them.”

Fall golf 

seasonwraps upHow to navigateinjuries and workthe trade channels

By Tom McAleeseCollegiate Staff 

The Grand Rapids CommunityCollege Golf team took second place witha total score of 651 out of 15 teams at theKoehler Collegiate Classic in Koehler, Wis.at Whistling Straits Golf Course, whereaccording to Coach Bruce Vandenbeldt “wewere in heaven.”

Despite the second place finish, GRCCwas very proud with how they ended theseason. “Overall it was a solid fall season, wewon twice and came in second three times,”Anthony Conaway said. Vandenbeldtseemed to agree. “We had a riot, it was anamazing tournament and it was one of thebest fall seasons we’ve had,” he said.

Sophomore, Jared Multer led theRaiders with scores of 76 and 73 over twodays with a total of 149. Fellow sophomore,David Thompson finished with scores of 78and 73 and the freshman, Zach Bialik scored75 and 74. Vandenbeldt has taken note ofthese scores over the season, and had somestrong words for his players. “Jared Multerhas taken his game to a whole new level.David Thompson has played so well, andZach Bialik has fit right in,” he said.

“We just can’t wait for the spring.Our goal is always to win the NationalChampionship,” Vandenbeldt said.

The GRCC Golf fall season has come toa close, but they are looking forward to theupcoming challenges in the spring. “We’re

looking forward to the big tournamentsin the spring,” Multer said. With manypromising finishes over this season, theRaiders have shown that they can competewith top teams.

“This team is capable of winning anational championship and that was ourgoal at the beginning of the season and itstill is,” Conaway said.

Jared Multer pitching from one of themany bunkers at Whistling Straits

Courtesy of MCT Campus

Top Waiver Wire Adds Week 8

1. Mike James (RB Tampa Bay)

2. Jarrett Boykin (WR Green Bay)

3. Jordan Reed (TE Washington)

4. Darrius Heyward-Bey (WR Indianapolis)

5. Roy Helu Jr. (RB Washington)