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RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

OgreChow — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:17:58 GMT

ESPN draft is looking good, but my league uses some stat cats that are absent. I believe K/BB is not there, and I would love to see a site with doubles plus triples.

Thanks guys, even though I don't lurk on the boards much anymore I still love my TMR fix and will miss it terribly if it is absorbed into the ESPN monster.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

bstone — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:26:32 GMT

[quote][b]silver_robot (3/13/2007)[/b][hr]

So hopefully you're move to ESPN will help with the quality, but ESPN has been asking for my CC over the past month and I'm not giving it to them unless I see a drastic improvement - especially on hockey type news[/quote]

See Pete's TRUM from Sunday. I can't possibly envision this merger not improving the content drastically.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

silver_robot — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 08:00:15 GMT

I haven't had time to sift through the pages, but I paid to be an ESPN insider last year after getting annoyed at the free articles leading you nowhere

Although the magazines delivered to me every week were nice bathroom material, it was really the worst $70+ I spent - their fantasy content was god awful, and basically the reason I got it in the first place

So hopefully you're move to ESPN will help with the quality, but ESPN has been asking for my CC over the past month and I'm not giving it to them unless I see a drastic improvement - especially on hockey type news

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

aroquentin — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 11:46:17 GMT

ESPN ADP is apparently calculated poorly. Sounds like it should be an easy fix.

http://getuntracked.blogspot.com/2007/03/sandy-alomar-jr-brandon-webb.html

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Tbone — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 09:25:48 GMT

Their news and analysis stinks. To be honest, I think we do a much better job. Am I shamelessly self-promoting? Again, to be honest, yes. TMR did away with it here, so I'm merely suggesting that he do it again there. The other factor is that by doing the news analysis in-house you continue the theme of "personality driven" content. I believe it's one of the things that makes the site unique compared to the competition. Anybody can contract with Rotowire and post their drivel.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

C-Dub — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 06:58:55 GMT

What's wrong with Rotowire?

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Tbone — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:12:39 GMT

Now that I've had a chance to navigate around ESPN's fantasy games, I've figured out another recommendation that I'd like to offer. Do away with Rotowire.......again!

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

d-rot — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:37:12 GMT

Another question. Is there a way to have a minimum IP per week in H2H leagues? If not, that would be greatly appreciated. I convinced my league to move to ESPN, but without min IP they're talking about moving back to Yahoo. Not good. I haven't checked it out since I'm not the commish, but aparently it's not obvious if it exists.

Thanks.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

d-rot — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:56:41 GMT

thanks c-dub. will do.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

C-Dub — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:19:48 GMT

d-rot, download the ESPN tool bar, it will give you a short cu to all of your ESPN fantasy teams.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

d-rot — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:01:11 GMT

Put a link to your fantasy team and leagues on the ESPN homepage! At the top! I hate having to go into the fantasy baseball page to access my leagues.

Thanks,

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Bucknut — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:32:28 GMT

I've moved my league over to ESPN from Yahoo. So here are some observations:

1) Love the ability to add our keepers in pre-draft and that we have as many as we want. Don't change that.

2) The manner in which you accomplish #1 is not exactly user friendly. Also, a reason for keeping "rookies" from being added as keepers is lost on me. But since hopefully we only have to go through this process once, this may not be a high priority.

3) This is a BIG ONE. I would make sure that the leagues could actually enter their off-line draft results. I've read that ESPN is working on it, but IMO this should have been checked/fixed before now. I got my whole league to move over and join ESPN and now I can't finish our rosters b/c I can't place the "rookies" on the teams as keepers. Actually this one should really be "make sure everything is actually functional before you release it to the public". As big as ESPN is, this stuff shouldn't happen.

4) I think it would be cool for Insiders, or an additional TMR level like others have discussed, to have an additional ranking function using something like the TMRends or REPs that updated during the season. Basically more of a "forecaster" than a ranker based on the current season stats. This one would probably keep the computer guys busy for awhile.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

aroquentin — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:31:54 GMT

[quote][b]Galt (2/19/2007)[/b][hr]make it humanly possible to go on the site and manually cancel your insider account.

It's a horrible used car salesman tactic that makes it so if I want to cancel my insider account, there is way I can do it on the site, there is no phone number to call, there is nothing other than some nameless/faceless "support" email address that does nothing.

Not that I'm trying to cancel my insider account, but in the past...[/quote]

Yep. Nothing like digging around the site for a customer support link, or a phone number, or something and realizing that it's hard to contact customer support by design.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

bstone — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:23:41 GMT

[quote][b]aroquentin (2/19/2007)[/b][hr]
2. End the autorenewal of Insider subscriptions. I think it's a BS tactic and always appreciated the fact that TMR didn't do it. Good luck getting that one by the suits.[/quote]

I'm pretty sure this is an OPTION at both TMR and ESPN--I actually prefer the autorenew so I don't have to worry about shit running out when I need it to be working. But that's just me.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Galt — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:38:24 GMT

make it humanly possible to go on the site and manually cancel your insider account.

It's a horrible used car salesman tactic that makes it so if I want to cancel my insider account, there is way I can do it on the site, there is no phone number to call, there is nothing other than some nameless/faceless "support" email address that does nothing.

Not that I'm trying to cancel my insider account, but in the past...

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

aroquentin — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:54:25 GMT

1. Make the site easier to navigate.

2. End the autorenewal of Insider subscriptions. I think it's a BS tactic and always appreciated the fact that TMR didn't do it. Good luck getting that one by the suits.

3. Duplicate TMR customer service. This'll be tricky with the new volume. In the amount of time it takes me to wade though ESPN and find an email address that *might* actually respond to me, I will usually have a response from someone at TMR.

4. Keep the boards here. Please?

5. Make Sportscenter watchable again. It used to be the best sports show on TV. Now it's catchphrase pap and talking (screaming) heads. I can't change the channel fast enough. Something to put on the checklist if you've really got a world domination via Bristol plan.

Good luck, get paid, and don't become one of them. The WWL makes sports worse, not better.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

C-Dub — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:04:23 GMT

You will love Rotopass cpomar, I was one of the first to buy it and it is well worth the investment.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

cpomar — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:57:03 GMT

OK, forget pigware! I'm signing on w/rotopass so I can get draft analyzer. Thanks for setting me straight, Cdub.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

radioheadok311 — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:02:28 GMT

If I ran ESPN Fantasy I would...

Implement Gladiator fights amongst staff

Sit on a thrown and have scantily-clad women fan me and feed me grapes.

That's all I got.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

cpomar — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:42:35 GMT

I think you have to try offer the best of both worlds, and I don't think it will be too difficult. Please don't just hand over the keys to all the TMR features, writers, chat and message boards for the ESPN Insider price. There [u]has[/u] to be a Fantasy Insider premium (let's call it FIP) that gets you to the current level of TMR goodness. I think this is the only way to continue to get the best of both worlds, which is what the current TMR premium membership is longing for and perhaps already prematurely mourning. I want a way to keep TMR and its content as it is currently even though it'll be owned and re-branded and re-named by BigBrother/Worldwide Leader. Use the TMR/FIP site to help generate more revenue for BB/WL; no one can argue the value in that. Use the ESPN Insider for access to 25% of the current content, but you have to pay a higher premium for the rest.

I think it's not too overly complicated; just convert your TMR premium members (in time) to FIP-membership, accessible from either a login on any ESPN page or logging in directly to TMR as is currently available. This means co-listing the TMR articles (no different than has been done for a few years on Sporting News - how I found you in the first place a few years ago - and last year on SI.com) and maybe some others on both ESPN and TMR/FIP - making it obvious at both sites which articles are available for the basic Insider level (no different than the current free articles on TMR.com now) and which are TMR/FIP. FIP would include access to the "rest of" the TMR stable of writers and would include access to message boards and chat. Those services shouldn't be easily accessible for every basic ESPN Insider. That's giving up too much of the farm, IMHO.

I think you'll end up getting more avg joe ESPN viewers to fork over $$ for the premium goodies currently available to TMR premium subscribers. Doing so definitely dumbs down the message boards in the end, but that's the price of success. Maybe premium members can be noted in the message boards by the date they first signed on to TMR/FIP so us old timers can recognize the veterans' posts more easily.

The harder thing to do (and no doubt the appealing thing about it to both you and the suits at ESPN who hired you) will be to make ESPN Fantasy the "worldwider leader" in all of Fantasy. During baseball season, my Firefox browser has a file for several sites that I have saved as tabs and that I try to check everytime I open my browser. They are:
TMR, duh
TQ Stats: a league-manager site where my "money league" resides; it's OK, has live box scores, gets updated once in the middle of the night, lacks some info I can get sooner elsewhere and avg to low avg fantasy columns from RotoTimes & CDM; they recently consolidated w/Fanball, which makes me even more skeptical of their content.
Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: which manages my office league. I like the live scoring, which I pay a premium for above the free access for the rest of our league.
ESPN Baseball: player news, scoreboard, fantasy spin content, et al. Not overly impressed w/their writers, but every now and then they have some decent insight; Their verbosity (is there a minimum-word requirement they try to observe) is often over-the-top and dings their credibility.
Sporting News Fantasy Baseball: another site for which I pay a premium; I like their player news features - it's one thing I wish Stat Rat included, a brief current events blurb (and an archive of those notes) for each player. Some of their columnists are better than others.
SI.com Baseball: For me, the least interesting except for the articles that were cross-listed from TMR columnists.
I've never read CBS Sportsline, mostly b/c from what I know it's the most-referred to site for my money league mates, and I wanted to have different knowledge than they did. I also felt already overloaded w/sites to read and didn't want to add one more.

Gee, looking at all of that now, I guess I would have been/am a good candidate for Rotopass (which can also survive or evolve into Super-FIP). I never signed up b/c of what I was already used to and fear of setting myself up w/too much to read. But that's part of the issue; people are creatures of habit and crave consistency. What did Emerson say - "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." The world is full of little-minded people, but there's also lots of business opportunity in selling product (in this case, fantasy knowledge and the perception of exclusivity) to those little minds. Hell, I am one!

And there's the challenge: how to take the best of all of those and make them available on/through ESPN so more people have more clicks on sites owned by ESPN more often. I have some more ideas about that, but I've already written WAY to much on this topic and need to go act like I have a life outside of fantasy-dom.

Congrats again and good luck!

P.S. Save pigware! Love me the pigware!!

P.P.S. I will reiterate other thoughts here about keeping the TV personalities (Salisbury, et al) OUT of the fantasy content!!

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Agame — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 06:12:13 GMT

Thanks for the update Pete, I'll put the lotion back in the basket now!

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Christopher Bangs — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:48:35 GMT

Pete,

You rule!

Bangs

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

CoachZuck@aol.com — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:11:56 GMT

Pete

Thanks for the update and the info on when the kit will be out. Dont know if you saw my post under another topic. But the essence of it was after TMR mentioning the Kit would be out on 2-15 in a TRUM, someone should have TRUMed or posted somwhere that it wsa being delayed. Sorry if it seems like I'm bashing you (or the site) over the head. Its just that I am aware of Matt's dedication to the highest level of customer service. Plus as you know I go back to the painful birth of not only TMR.com but of the yahoo group.

Anyway I look forward to THE BEST Draft Kit Money can buy - in part because it is so well prepared and regularly updated!

Seth Zuckerman

aka Coach Zuck

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

TJ4 — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:36:57 GMT

Thanks Pete. That's the kind of personal interaction that keeps us coming back for more.

Good luck to you and Janet and your family as you move to Bristol.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

becker — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 15:26:26 GMT

[quote][b]TJ (2/16/2007)[/b][hr]Let me spin this a bit...probably a rehash of what you have seen/heard lately...

If I sold TMR to ESPN, I would make sure that my LOYAL readers/community were given a nice "separation" present like actually getting to see OUR draft kit before the ESPN readers. Imagine my dismay when I was asked to PAY to see the TMR draft kit (partial?) when it's not on the site that I paid for??

I've been reading for almost 2 yrs, subscribing for 1 and planning on extending that...BUT I HAVE to be taken care of. Matt, you are all about business (pimpin this, that and yourself) and that's cool. We all do what we to do to succeed. Whatever your decisions are, please take care of us.

Thanks, Tim J.[/quote]

Yeah, that's on me. Matthew wanted the kit launched by Friday, but I didn't make the deadline... I've putting finishing touches on just about everything, and I refuse to launch an incomplete kit... mostly because then Janet get 200 customer service complaints whining that this or that isn't there yet, blah, blah, blah.

I'm down to the nitty-gritty... laying out the profiles with projections and 2005/2006 stats for 800+ players. (Expect slow load times the first time, but once it's cached, you'll be flying.) Finished three dollar value cheat sheets and an improved REP interface with three dollar values AND custom points translator this morning, am keeping everything up-to-date while going (Foulke retirement, Tree signing) etc, etc, and giving advice to some early drafters who wrote in to Support.

So, trust me, guys, we're taking care of you. If I don't hit the switch to make the kit go Live tonight, then it'll be tomorrow morning. After which I'll write the TRUM and address the Forsberg trade in my hockey column. Not complaining... I have the best job in the world, but I've only one set of hands, and I refuse to do anything half-assed.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

telestar — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:44:32 GMT

I just want to add my congratulations to Matt, Pete and Janet. They have done a great job and earned this opportunity. I, for one, believe that they know what made TMR great. They had an excellent sense of the TMR site, and they won't suddenly lose this ability in working with ESPN. In effect, I trust these guys to make the right choices, to work with people, to provide customer service, to keep the humor, and to ensure that the message boards are kept at a high level. Matt just wouldn't do it any other way. Look, just reaching out to all of us in this way is quite typical of his approach. If he was going over as a columnist, that would be one thing, but Matt will be able to affect the fantasy content and offerings in his new position. There are things that need fixing at ESPN, but if they want to #1 in fantasy, and I think they do, they'll listen and improve. I'm betting on Matt and Pete to make it happen.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

gromi60 — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:20:04 GMT

[quote][b]Vyse (2/17/2007)[/b][hr]I mean, his life would be so much easier right now if he just did the whole "ESPN owns this site now, talk to them thing" thing than make sure his former customers get Insider, a draft kit, the TRUM etc. Speaking for myself, if I could get someone to buy my business, I would be glad to dump the headaches on someone else. [/quote]

Excellent points C-dub.

[quote][b]Dave Hunter (2/17/2007)[/b][hr]Don't worry, Guys. Our special, close knit group here will remain intact on ESPN. It will be my main priority, and I'm sure C-Dub's as well, to keep our group together and all the riff-raff(trolls, cussing, name calling, posts off topic, etc. etc. etc.) out.

Whether its on the main boards, or a seperate board altogether...our community feel will remain.[/quote]

Thanks Dave, that's exactly what I needed to hear to put my mind at ease.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Dave Hunter — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:11:28 GMT

Don't worry, Guys. Our special, close knit group here will remain intact on ESPN. It will be my main priority, and I'm sure C-Dub's as well, to keep our group together and all the riff-raff(trolls, name calling, posts off topic, etc. etc. etc.) out.

Whether its on the main boards, or a seperate board altogether...our community feel will remain.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

TJ4 — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:43:56 GMT

C-Dub: I understand your view. I would have no problems with Matt doing whatever Matt chose to do. It's his business, not mine. That said, I guess that I am just frustrated at the image of it all. As Matt knows, image is huge.

I suppose that I saw red when I the ESPN page popped up for $9.99 to see parts of "my" (our) draft kit. I am patiently waiting for the kit to appear and will be renewing this month. If anything, aside from the selfish fact that I have to share great info with more of my competitors, I think that we will have access to more info than ever.

I know that at least one of my toughest competitors (baseball,hockey) has already become aware of TMR in the last week. Oh well. I guess that it's gotta suck when someone is running a business and all they hear is "I will never tell anyone about this, it's so good". So much for word of mouth!

Thanks, TJ.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

bill@pottsmarketing.com — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:17:37 GMT

now the obvious question, matt, does this site have to close down? i don't mean to be elitist but tmr.com and the tmr community has made me so. (i'm not bad, just drawn that way) bill

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

C-Dub — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 07:13:10 GMT

TJ,

THe draft kit you get from this site will not be the same as the ESPN one, it will be bigger, provide TRMends and I would dare to say be better. TMR has always gone out of his way top provide excellent customer service and will continue to do so. I mean, his life would be so much easier right now if he just did the whole "ESPN owns this site now, talk to them thing" thing than make sure his former customers get Insider, a draft kit, the TRUM etc. Speaking for myself, if I could get someone to buy my business, I would be glad to dump the headaches on someone else.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Tbone — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:13:00 GMT

After reading the suggestions, and looking over ESPN's current message board (and the writing of some of their community) there is no question that what we have here on TMR is quite different and special compared to ESPN. Somehow, the intelligent and thoughtful questions and responses on the TMR message boards has to stay or become an exclusive part of ESPN. So much of what I see over there now isn't nearly up to the standards that have been set here. In alot of ways it's not going to be about what TMR does that makes ESPN better. It's going to be what we as a community do. If we all "go over" together as a group and stay together on the message boards we'll literally "take over". I don't imagine it will be all that hard to seek each other out on the boards, but perhaps there's a way for TMR to create our own little "corner" somewhere on the many pages of ESPN's content. Starting our own leagues on ESPN and populating them with TMR people is another way. All of us have leagues already, but what's one more if it keeps us together. (It is free, after all).

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

kenomikes — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:18:48 GMT

[quote][b]tmr (2/16/2007)[/b][hr]I read all of these, fyi.

Not sure about ESPN but I will say that the url www.matthewjberry.com

will lead you to this site as well, so that may be able to fool the work monitors...

TMR[/quote]

Yes, Matt, that link is fine to get in front door, but then you click once more and you're in GAMES section or Yahoo Games or ESPN Games or Rotoworld Games etc. or ROTOPASS ETC. then you are out....

GAMES/BOARDS/ MESSAGE BOARDS/FANTASY no good

ALL THESE WILL BOOT PLAYERS

kenomikes

Mike Hogan

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

TJ4 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:16:13 GMT

Let me spin this a bit...probably a rehash of what you have seen/heard lately.

Thanks, Tim J.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

mvaneps — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:52:43 GMT

Kold Kuts, in my opinion, Rotowire might be a little slower than some other player notes but they are very reliable and the advice is sound. I have the complete opposite view that if you dump Rotowire from ESPN that would hurt the site. Keep listening to Rotow**ld and see where that gets you. I do have some issues with the NBA rankings at Rotowire though, just not the player notes.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

tmr — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:19:27 GMT

I read all of these, fyi.

Not sure about ESPN but I will say that the url www.matthewjberry.com

will lead you to this site as well, so that may be able to fool the work monitors...

TMR

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

gromi60 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:40:30 GMT

[quote][b]The Other Manning (2/15/2007)[/b][hr]The cautious congratulatory should be expected.As a screenwriter you should see the classic tale of the guy who makes it big and everyone's worried he'll forget his small town friends (regardless of his assurances to the contrary). Seriously though, the fact that I can write this and believe that you and/or Pete/Janet will read it speaks volumes. We're just worried The Man is gonna bring you down. Luckily (for them and us) they made you the boss so just keep doin what you're doin.[/quote]

I'm not worried about Matt changing, just the TMR website and community. Reality says that a community the size of TMR (basically a small town) will be swallowed by a much larger community (a metropolis), unless drastic measures are taken.

I fear, the dedicated user base of TMR (few hundred? few thousand?) is going to be diluted by the espn hoardes. If Matt can figure out a way to keep the TMR community feel at ESPN, I'll be extremely impressed. I definitely trust him to do his best, but am skeptical.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

Kold Kuts — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:43:51 GMT

Another suggestion - dump Rotowire from ESPN as the main source of player news. Continue to utilize the members' player notes. Rotowire provides the obvious - TMR Player notes provides the obscure, more important information.

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

forbesjl7623 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:26:05 GMT

Need a backdoor! Love reading TMR in the AM at work!

RE: IF I RAN ESPN FANTASY, I WOULD...

kenomikes — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:28:02 GMT

I would do this, others have mentioned it, but to be most specific, if you want more players on ESPN Fantasy, do this.

I can access Yahoo at work including Yahoo Mail, Sports, weather etc. everything at Yahoo except Yahoo Fantasy ( I play MLB, NFL, NHL) There's no updating your lineups or adding/dropping players. You can't get into the site. Fix that, and you are GOD. In other words, yahoo folks will flock to ESPN for the work access. I think this is huge. Get Fantasy/Message Boards out of the links.
Same thing with ESPN. I get all the ESPN articles, stats, but no Fantasy Games/Message Boards.
I haven't done much with the message boards here because of no access during day hours. Message Boards are blocked.
Can't access Rotopass during day for same reasons, when you are asked for password, it blocks all those nice sites.

Access is huge, get a web player involved to solve this if it's fixable!!

5. Pete and Matt-Don't become Yankee fans in CT. The infection is terrible.

Mike Hogan