FanPost

Stats & Fantasy Football...They're Coming!

Guy Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Hello again everyone. Long time, no write! It's almost time to fix that.

With all the changes going on at the blog, I've gotten (and seen) a couple question about whether I'll still be around once the season starts. The answer is a resounding yes, you'll see pretty much the same articles from me that you've gotten over the last several years, as I just can't give it up just yet. For those of you that are new, or just plain forgot, here's what you're going to get:

  • Stats Preview Thursday morning before each game. Here's an example from the Patriots Playoff game.
  • Winning Stats Predictor Picks on Friday. My stats predict games (quite well last year too), going 134-116-6 against the spread. Our goal is to beat that this year. I'll have everything you need by Friday.
  • Inside the Numbers on Tuesday morning, which shows how the Colts did statistically compared to everyone else in the NFL.
  • In addition to the weekly articles I'll be keeping a couple pages that'll be updated each week, including Power Rankings and Playoff Percentages. Because those don't change a whole lot once we get into the meat of the season, I'll just link to them on Tuesday mornings. Late in the season the Playoff Percentages one will be a weekly article.

One other thing that isn't changing is Fantasy Football. I'll be having a sign-up thread in about two weeks, so be on the lookout for that. If you're interested, wait for that thread. I won't be looking at this one when it's time to sign up. I think we had 13 leagues last year. It's a blast.

My absence from Stampede Blue hasn't been voluntary, but necessary. I have one of the coolest jobs possible, working in Timing and Scoring for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Want to know one of my many duties on race weekends? When we do standing starts (here's the one from a few weeks ago in Houston, in the rain), I get to "throw the switch" on the lights. Basically I wrote the software to run them, so I get to run them. We have two races this weekend, including a standing start on Saturday (shameless plug), if you want to check it out. Unfortunately, because I'm working 10-12 hour days, traveling quite often, and want to crash after eating dinner each night, I don't have a lot of time, especially the time needed to write informatively, so I have to go on sabbatical. The good news is our season ends Labor Day Weekend, just in time for football season. Nice timing, huh?

I'll be doing some other things behind the scenes with the new writers and keeping the site nice and clean of trolls, as I've been doing throughout the summer. I'm looking forward to jumping back into NFL mode here very soon, starting with Fantasy Football preparation. I may also do some division previews (depending on my time constraints), so if you want to make some of those season win total bets I'll hopefully be able to give you another set of data to look at.

This will be my seventh season writing about the Colts here on Stampede Blue, and while this place will look a bit different than previous seasons, we're all in very good hands with Josh leading the way. Brad gave me a year "apprenticeship" back in February of 2008, and somehow I managed to convince him to let me continue to have numbers do my talking for five more years. He got me to think a little outside the box, an anomaly for an engineer, but it helped me become a better writer. He was always encouraging, promoted the hell out of my work no matter if he agreed with it or he thought I was batshit insane, and is someone I consider a friend. I'm glad he'll get to enjoy his Sunday afternoons now in the Pacific Northwest, fighting off local Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll lovers.

I'm very much looking forward to football season: No traveling, being with my family on the weekends, and spending time with the fine folks at Stampede Blue. Go Colts!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.