The Fourth in a Series Featuring Members of Zealots

Dave Conway, or "EaglemanDave" as most of our members know him, has been a stalwart figure in Zealots Field for several years. His dedication (and post padding) is unquestioned and his resolve to help maintain order in an ever-increasing membership is unmatched. Dave has been deeply involved in Zealots as a league-member, and has selflessly devoted his time to assisting with the leadership of Zealots as a Vice-Commissioner, Commissioner, and now as a Syndicate Czar, overseeing Grange Syndicate (leagues Z-1 through Z-12).

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Dave and get his take on the state of Zealots and to let us in on his personal life a bit.

So in this fourth edition of our "Meet a Zealot" series, I offer you Czar Dave Conway:

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When men find out how enthusiastic I am about football, it usually comes as a surprise. They see me sitting at a bar cheering wildly while donning my Nick Barnett jersey and assume I like him because he has a 'cute butt'. And, although him having a cute butt doesn't hurt, I make it a point to tell those jug heads that it's Barnett's stats and his six-year, $34.85 million contract extension that interest me most.

Unfortunately, spouting off stats here or there doesn't really matter to some guys. They will still quiz me to see if I'm a 'real fan'. The audacity! Like I don't know how long the football field is. Or what a Defensive Back is. Come on, give me something hard!

Convincing men that I am a 'real' football fan is nothing compared to playing in a fantasy league with them. I was so embarrassed about being female that when I began playing in Yahoo leagues I made a fake profile in which I was a male. I know, I know, I should have been proud to be a knowledgeable woman. But, if they would have known I was female, I would have faced the inevitable sexist, rude comments that I had endured so many times before.

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"Hey, want to join the Harvard of fantasy football?"

"I don't know, I'm already in a bunch of Yahoo leagues."

"Come on, we need a player. It's better than any other league you've ever been in. It's a dynasty league called Zealots."

That's how I first found out about Zealotsfield.com and Zealots Fantasy Football. A friend of mine, someone that was a part of some of the Yahoo leagues I was in, sent me an application for an opening in Z44. He told me it was a long application and a little tedious to fill, but it was worth it. So I filled out the multitude of questions, embellished the answers a little, and tried to give the reader a sense of how much a fantasy football fanatic I really was. Needless to say, I was successful because I was given a team in Z44 of the Blood Syndicate.

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One of the concepts that gets bounced around in Fantasy Football is the familiar “Third-Year WR Breakout” theory: The concept that wide receivers tend to go through a learning curve in the NFL and reach their fullest scoring potential in their third year, often with a huge jump in scoring. This idea has been quoted and debated on Fantasy Football discussion boards for years, and some fans continue cling to it as gospel truth, while others dismiss it as mere myth. But most fans probably put it somewhere in-between: It’s probably not always true, but it might still hold enough weight to sway their choice of receivers in a draft or a trade. After all, it sounds plausible, doesn’t it?

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The Third in a Series Featuring Members of Zealots

A vital key to of the success and growth of the Zealots Field fantasy football leagues has been the long hard work of dedicated volunteers, whose energy and effort have been instrumental in allowing Zealots to grow from a single league created by our founder Oscar Knight to a vast empire of well over 60 leagues.

One of the first leaders who stepped up to help Oscar in the early days was Larry Hargis, whose willingness to assist however needed helped keep Zealots running smoothly, even when Oscar was unavailable, and also enabled Zealots to grow and expand to the great FF experience it is now. Larry is involved in Zealots at virtually every level, from owner of multiple teams to Commissioner, and now as Vice-Lord. He is a well-known and highly respected member of our Zealots family, and we invite you to get to know him a little bit better.

So in this third edition of our "Meet a Zealot" series, we offer you Vice-Lord Larry Hargis

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Do Lineup Choices Affect Championships?

In previous articles, we've looked at some of the traits of the forty-eight Zealots Champions from 2006. First we looked at the relationship between defensive scoring and winning percentage and found that while the champions tend to score more defensive points, they actually did it as a lower percentage of their overall score. In other words, defense did not win championships in Zealots:

http://www.zealotsfield.com/zf_press_article.php?article=20070426&author=fries

In a later article, we delved into the topic of consistency, looking to see if there was any link between weekly scoring consistency and a winning record, and we discovered that there was no connection at all between scoring consistently and championships:

http://www.zealotsfield.com/zf_press_article.php?article=20070511&author=fries

So far, the only thing that has shown any definite correlation to a winning record and championships is average weekly scoring. It's pretty basic: If your Zealots Fantasy Football team scores more points on average, you will win more games and be more likely to win a championship.

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Rookie Ramblings and Ruminations

This is one of the best times of the year to be a Zealot -- In every one of the 48 Zealots leagues, the 2007 rookie draft is either pending, in-progress, or recently completed. Our members have looked forward to this draft since the end of the season last December, and rookie-madness is sweeping through all the realms. Each one of the picks from the six round drafts is at its peak value, and in most leagues the trading has been active, with offers and counter-offers flying fast and furious as owners jockey for draft position.

Once all the 48 leagues have completed their rookie drafts, we will put together an article showing the overall average draft positions (ADP), and discuss some of the rookie trends and variations. But in this article, I'm going to step away a bit from my usual quantitative analysis, and throw out some qualitative commentary and gut-level thoughts-at-large on some of the rookies in the draft:

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How important are Consistent Scoring Results in Zealots?

In a recent article, we looked at what influence defensive scoring had on winning championships in Zealots fantasy football leagues. In it, we discovered that the champions actually tended to get a greater percentage of their scoring from their offense than losing teams - in other words, even though the champions scored more on defense than the losing teams, defense by itself definitely did not win championships in Zealots. We also found that the main thing that corresponded to winning seasons and championships was scoring, which isn't surprising. But there was a clear and significant relationship between winning records and higher team scoring, offensive scoring, and even defensive scoring.

Click here to review the Defense Wins Championships?" article.

If nothing else, this can give us Zealots some food for thought for next year's annual rules convention, in case we might seek to improve the importance of defensive scoring.

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The Second in a Series Featuring Members of Zealots

Shortly after Zealots Field was founded with that first league, it rapidly started growing -- Our founder Oscar Knight soon realized that there was much more involved in keeping the Empire running smoothly than even he could manage on his own. Luckily, Zealots Field has been extremely fortunate to have some very talented and dedicated people willing to jump in and help out our fantasy football kingdom whenever needed, and they have worked to build Zealots into one of the best fantasy-football experiences around.

Zealots Field owes a huge debt of gratitude to Oscar and those many Zealot volunteers whose dedicated service has allowed us to evolve into the vast empire we are now. All of these long-time champions of Zealots Field deserve recognition since they have each played a key part in the success and growth of Zealots. But one person who is near the top of everyone's list of tireless and talented Zealot volunteers worthy of recognition is Bill Auer.

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It's a common expression, used in many sports. Fans of basketball, baseball, and football all say it with a knowing nod:

"Defense Wins Championships!"

The image of a dominant defense being able to lead their team to victory by stifling and harassing their opponent is a familiar one, and fans can list many examples to help support this common sports saying.

In the NFL, think of Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens defense man-handling the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV to win the 2001 Lombardi Trophy and put the final punctuation point on their season of defensive intimidation.

Or of Buddy Ryan's "4-6" Chicago Bears defense featuring Mike Singletary and Richard Dent, destroying the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX to cap their historic 1985-1986 season. In that game, the Bears defense had seven sacks, two interceptions, scored a safety, and held the Patriots to 123 total yards, with only a dismal 7 rushing yards!

In these and other examples, the defense was so strong and controlling that it allowed an average-to-mediocre offense to be successful -- scoring just enough points to win each game on the road to the championship. So the familiar "Defense wins Championships" adage has sprung up suggesting that defense is what ultimately leads to victory.

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After the close of the season, Zealots enter into the new year attempting to identify the best possible players available for our respective teams. For the experienced and sometimes even the novice, identifying the best offensive players is pretty simple since these players receive the most exposure. But when it comes to defense, only the more recognizable names are remembered by most people; names such as Jason Taylor, Ray Lewis, Jonathon Vilma, Ed Reed, Adrian Wilson and others riding the same highway. It is my goal to give you a basic introduction to how I identify defensive players.

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It's tough being the new guy. Whether you're the new kid in school, arriving for the first day on your new job, or standing at the stadium trough for the first time; being the new guy can be challenging. Although not as intimidating as the "trough", joining a Zealot Field for the first time can be scary.

Most folks who join Zealot Field Leagues are experienced fantasy football players looking for a new challenge. They're certainly going to find it as a Zealots Field owner. Whether you are joining an existing league or a new league, the challenges are great. I should know: It's my first year in a Zealots Field and I'm having a hard time staying at .500.

To help you newbies out there get your bearings, here are some tips to help you succeed in a Zealot Field league:

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A vital key to the success of any fantasy football league and community is the blend of the personalities involved. It takes the involvement and commitment of quality people all working together to ensure that any fantasy football activity lasts beyond the excitement of the initial startup. Regrettably, almost every fantasy football player has had a painful experience where what seemed like a fun league or fantasy football community at the beginning instead turned out to be a frustrating clash of egos, a quagmire of jerky behavior, or a ghost town of uninvolved people.

So from the beginning, Zealots has striven to avoid this by focusing on getting only the very best people to become members. We've tried very hard to select not only the sharpest players to provide the elite competition desired, but also the highest quality of personalities, so that each Zealots league will be fun and active for everyone for a long time to come.

So far, we think we've been pretty successful in bringing together a fabulous mix of people worldwide who each help make the Zealots leagues some of the best fantasy football leagues available today. So while the Zealots leagues have a great mix of rules, league management tools, and websites, the true strength of the Zealot leagues are the Zealots themselves.

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One of the most eagerly anticipated events in the Zealots Fantasy Football leagues is the annual rookie draft, held in each league shortly after the NFL draft takes place.  Since Zealots are dynasty leagues, this gives team owners a chance to take part in a draft each year, and it is often the best opportunity for them to build their team for the future.

So beginning well before the NFL draft in April, Zealot members start to follow the projected rookie rankings, combine and pro-day workouts, mock drafts, and other draft-related news.  Owners pour over every tidbit of rookie information and analysis they can find, hoping to separate the true studs from the hype, and to scout those prized late round sleepers that can make a great draft.

But wise FF owners also know that a drafted rookie is an investment in the long-term.  There aren’t that many first-year players who can step in and instantly start in the NFL, let alone as a starter on a FF roster, so it usually takes several years to find out how well a given draft has really worked out.

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Last year’s fantasy football season is over and most leagues are stored away in mothballs until next summer. But for us in the Zealots dynasty leagues, fantasy football is a year-long hobby. Here we’re already working towards next year, and are taking advantage of our “off-season” to tweak our rosters. Auctions are currently underway during our formal Free Agency period, and then next up is the all-important rookie draft in early May.

As Zealots work on their off-season rosters, some lucky dynasty team owners are enjoying the luxury of having of the top fantasy names -- prized studs who led the leagues in scoring at their position last year. These workhorses either helped lead teams to a playoff run or form the solid nucleus of a rebuilding effort. Owners fortunate enough to have these elite players see them as flashes of gold that they can’t help but feel smug about.

But should they?

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Here we’ll be uploading weekly articles written from a uniquely Zealots perspective. We will be featuring fantasy football writings from our dedicated staff of writers, and also from many Zealots guest writers, too.

A new Zealots article will be posted each and every Tuesday, but you will always be able to go back and read any past articles that you may have missed. Visit here weekly and you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of fantasy football articles, each written with a Zealots twist. We will feature in-depth fantasy football analysis, reports from the field as to what being Zealot is all about, Zealots league reviews, draft discussions, interviews with Zealots from leadership down to first-year owners, and many, many other topics, from the serious to the tongue-in-cheek.

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