Fantasy Interview: FantasyRundown.com

This summer, I’ve come to e-know Garrett from FantasyRundown.com and I’ve admired the work he puts in each day, to make sure Fantasy Baseball and Fantasy Football owners get links to the best content on the web each day. This isn’t a straight RSS feed – he literally combs through articles to pull out the gems, and he updates it several times a day. So I sent him a handful of interview questions to learn a little more about Garrett, the Goose and FantasyRundown.com – Enjoy!

David Gonos: What’s your fantasy background? How long have you been playing, etc.?

FantasyRundown.com: Compared to most in the industry, I am a relative newcomer to Fantasy sports.  My first draft was in 1999 when a few of my college buddies and I had an Fantasy Baseball auction draft one Saturday afternoon.  It was such a good time we threw out our rosters and did it again the following week.  Needless to say, when I stole Carlos Febles for $1, I was hooked.

I must admit I am a baseball fan first. I didn’t join my first Fantasy Football league until 2005 when those same college buddies forced me to join just so they could maintain contact with me. I won the league that season with Jake Plummer as my starting quarterback (I think I may be the only person to have ever said that aloud) and they wouldn’t let me quit. 7+ years later, here we are.

DG: When and why did you start your site?

FantasyRundown.com: For years I had always been searching for a site like FantasyRundown.com.  A site that would compile rankings, projections, cheat sheets, and analysis, but also keep the content updated. You don’t know how many times I would find compiled fantasy baseball rankings that were 3-4 years old.  I decided to start the site in November 2008, after fruitlessly searching for offseason baseball content at work. That night I went out to dinner with my wife and told her of the concept.  It was by no means original, but I knew I would differentiate the site by updating it multiple times a day. She was tired of hearing all of the great ideas that I would never follow through on, so to spite her, I started the site the next day.  Since that night, I have updated the site every single day, minus two due to the birth of my daughter, Ryan. She owes me.

DG: You’re not just an RSS Feed. You actually check out the pieces and make sure they are worthy for your readers. What are some of the things you look for in an article?

FantasyRundown.com: RSS feeds are extremely useful tools, but there is no filter whatsoever. I try to ensure the articles I post are insightful, accurate, and entertaining. Essentially, something that I would want to read.

DG: You don’t usually like to post links to mock drafts. Why is that, and what else do you avoid?

FantasyRundown.com: I was a math major in college (insert joke here) and I can’t help but preach the importance of sample-size. Mock drafts are one sample, which tells you nothing. What if there is a run on TE in the mock draft? Someone could misconstrue the value of that position. Utilize ADP data, not single mock drafts.

I also avoid mailbag articles. I find them a bit lazy, but mainly I don’t like when they are filled with questions asking for a breakdown of a 9-player trade in some random person’s fantasy league. In what way does answering those questions help the masses?

DG: Are there any topics/articles you can remember in recent weeks that stood out above the rest?

FantasyRundown.com:  This is an interesting time in fantasy. When I started in fantasy football, it was crazy to draft anything but RB-RB in the first two rounds.  With all the changes in the NFL and fantasy football, I find the new drafting strategies extremely interesting. You can’t be a dinosaur in this game, you have to stay on top of the latest trends.

On a side note, I think a major change is on the horizon in fantasy baseball. Standard 5×5 rotisserie leagues were designed when statistics and standings had to be hand calculated from newspaper box scores. That is not the case anymore with the Internet and I think a shift to points leagues is coming soon.  In what world is a stolen base the equal of a home run? Why should a pitcher be more valuable if they strike someone out as opposed to getting a weak pop out? When would you trade your entire starting rotation for closers in September? Makes no sense.

DG: Have you thought about adding an “All-Pro” section of your site for great articles that people should check out throughout the course of the preseason?

FantasyRundown.com: Interesting thought, but I would like to think that my entire site is “All-Pro.” But in all seriousness, I will take that into consideration. Great idea.

DG: How many different sites are linked to off your Fantasy Football rankings page? How long have you been doing this?

FantasyRundown.com: Right now I have compiled the rankings, projections, auction values, cheat sheets, etc. from 40 of the top, FREE, websites on the Internet. It sounds overwhelming, but I think the layout makes scrolling through the material easy.

DG: Are there topics/angles you can think of that sites haven’t been tackling this summer?

FantasyRundown.com: When you post from over 100 sites, you see it all.

DG: How much time does it take on your end to sort through all the feeds, and how often do you post new links to your pages during a normal day?

FantasyRundown.com: I have everything streamlined at this point. My most time consuming update is in the morning, which usually takes me about an hour. Unfortunately, I do have a “real” job but I am in front of my computer basically all day so when I need a break, I update.  On average I update 10-15 times daily, a little less on the weekends. Don’t just visit the site once a day, check back often to see the latest content.

DG: What’s the best way for an up-and-coming site to get some FantasyRundown love?

FantasyRundown.com: Email me with a link to your site. It is that simple. It doesn’t need to be fancy, look at FantasyRundown.com. Content is king.  If your content is good, I will post your material.

I remember what it was like when I started FantasyRundown.com. Even now I still am frustrated by the supposed “haves and have nots” in this industry. Now that FantasyRundown.com has started to have some success, I will do whatever I can to help others get their start.