Each week the ladies of Her Fantasy Football will dive into the women and men behind some of the best fantasy football resources on the web. Fantasy Selfies will give you some insight into how each of these fantasy fanatics think (or don’t – ha!) This week we got to know a little bit more about one of our own, Ashley Williams of Her Fantasy Football. You may have heard of it…
1. In your own words, how did Her Fantasy Football get started? Why did you decide to take on this venture?
Last summer my older sister, Brandon, and I were talking while at work about how unfulfilling our jobs were. Brandon graduated with degrees in English and Theater and was working an executive assistant and I graduated with degrees in Art and Business. Neither of our day jobs satisfied any creative bone in our body so we thought, what can we do that would be fun and creative? Brandon then said, “We should do a fantasy football podcast.” I must admit that I had not listened to any podcasts so she sent me over some podcasts that she liked to listen to and asked me what I thought. My thoughts were (a) I love football, check (b) I love fantasy football…double check and (c) I get to vent and bitch in a basically unfiltered format…I’m sold! Football has always been a central part of our family and we had been playing fantasy football for a long time so it seemed like a brilliant idea. Naturally we didn’t want to leave out little sister out of the mix, but we knew that she already worked a double once a week and had two little ones at home to take care of so we weren’t sure if she would have time or would want to partake in starting up a business. We were meeting at my parent’s house that day for some reason or another so I said, “Hey, let’s go for a run.” Our run pretty much consisted of walking and me talking and asking Courtney if she would be interested. Luckily for us Court was in and was excited about doing something that wasn’t mommy focused. From there the craziness began.
2. What is it like working with your sisters?
It has been really rewarding and fun to work with my sisters. When you haven’t lived in the same house for over a decade, you kind of forget how different you all are and the different squabble strategies of each sister. No one knows you better than a sibling; they know your strengths, they know when something isn’t right, they know how to get something out of you and they know your hot buttons. As a kid you would purposely try to push their buttons but when you are an adult and working together it’s incredibly helpful to know those buttons and avoid them as best as you can. Starting a new venture is exciting but the fact that you can create something with your loved ones is incredible.
3. Who is your favorite real football team and how did you fall in love with them?
Always and Forever…The Denver Broncos. We are from Colorado and even when our family moved to Nebraska we still rooted for and watched the Broncos. We grew up on the Broncos since birth so I don’t think there was really a choice. It’s kind of like your blood type….you are born with it; you can’t switch from Type A to Type B+. I mean, we had one of the best quarterbacks of all time with John Elway, the Orange Crush, Tan-ahan as a coach for years and now we have a new fun regime. What is there to not like about the Broncos? Oh…and I LOVE Peyton Manning (even when he was a Colt). Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson are my boys. With that said, there are a lot of teams that I root for. That is what is so great about fantasy football….you end up following a lot of teams to watch your players so you end up really liking some of them.
4. How did you start playing fantasy football?
I started playing over a decade ago with some co-workers and my GM at the time when I worked as a server and bartender at the Dirty Bird (Red Robin). Not sure which character I would have been in the movie “Waiting” but that movie is dead on for restaurant life. Anyway, the league was mainly guys and a few girls with a $250.00 buy in. Trying to arrange a draft around a bunch of bartenders and servers schedules (especially when the people in the draft are managers, lead servers and lead bartenders) was very complicated. If we all took off for the whole day the restaurant would have fallen apart thus began the tradition of draft start times between 6:00am-7:00am. 10 years later and we are still drafting ass-early, boozing when we should still be sleeping and pot luck style breakfast. Next my family started up a league withe their significant others. I was the only non-married daughter so I got a plus one so my friend Tom wanted to play with us. I believe this year will be year 8 so even if I were to get married, I am pretty sure Tom would still be in the “family+” league and we’d add our significant others. lol. I also had a work fantasy league where you had to have a partner. If you haven’t been in a partner league I recommend it. Negotiating about who you each want to draft will make you feel like a GM. You have to have arguments to back up your choices. The best part of this league was that the team to the left of you while drafting got to name your team. My partner and I were the only all girl team so we got some REALLY interesting name: “Rugburn Hussies”and “Thank God for Kneepads” to name a few.
5. How do you prepare for your fantasy draft? How do you research? Do you go in with a set system or does it vary by league?
I am not a big mock draft person. From doing a mock draft you think you have a strategy of how you will draft based on your draft position; but then it comes time for the draft and no one drafts how you think they should or would and then you aren’t in the spot that you thought you would be in. I prefer to print out the rankings by position and the Top Players list combined and work my way off that. I highlight my players that I selected if it is a manual draft and cross out the players other people have taken. I write down who other people in my league have taken as well so that I can guess what their next move will be. If you are doing your draft online it is much easier to manage this. I also print out the injuries/suspensions list so that I know what I am working with on that front as well. I usually draft running backs first but I really will switch things up based on the draft and who has been taken before me. You can prepare and prepare and mock draft away, but a lot of it is a game time decision based on your gut, what you need and the best possible player still available.
6. How many leagues do you play in and what are their formats? Standard, PPR, daily, etc.
I am currently in two leagues and both are a standard scoring format. There is always a chance I will be in more leagues this year if we can put something together for some of you to play in a league with us! The hard part about playing in multiple leagues is that you have to decide which leagues really, really matter because you end up playing against yourself with the different players you have each week.
7. During the season, when you need to decide between two players to start, what attribute/stat/news item will normally tip you one way or the other?
Obviously you have must starts on your team that you virtually never switch out unless it is a bye week or there is some insane match-up (and it better be an insane match-up. Stick with your husbands). But for the players that are a game time decision each week, the first thing I do is look to see who is projected for more. That is how I initially decide which players are even in the running. From there I will look to see how they have done the past few weeks and then I look to see how other players in their position have done against that opposing team. Next I will look to see how that specific player has historically done against that team. I will go with whoever looks the best at that point as long as there isn’t another issue to factor in like and injury to their starting quarterback and the back-up will be playing, or maybe the player I am thinking about starting missed some of practice that week and only practiced at half speed on Friday. Weather man Joe said that an epic snow storm is moving in or 70 mile an hour gusts (ALWAYS check the weather). Stuff like that will also deter me from starting someone and perhaps favoring someone else. Overall, those are the factors I consider when trying to decide between players.
8. Please name five players you think have a major chance at stud-dom and three players that scare the crap out of you this year. Eek!
Aaron Rodgers will be back and in full force, expect him to be great. Same goes for Peyton Manning. Don’t expect 2013 numbers but he will still be solid. Now that we have two obvious ones out of the way, I love me some Nick Foles as well. That offense was crazy good last year and Foles somehow flew under the radar for the most part. Dougy Doug Martin will have a comeback year and the Bucs will have a top notch offense. Big things are going to come out of Tampa Bay this year. I also think that Jordan Cameron will blow up this year. He has Hoyer back and Hoyer loves him some Cameron. If Hoyer plays all year…Cameron will put up big numbers for you. Keep in mind we are talking tight end big numbers, excluding Jimmy Graham from the equation.
Arian Foster makes me a little nervous for the fact that he has been a bit injury prone and the Texans have a new offense and will probably heavily rely on Foster in the beginning. Could be great if you are Foster owner but be prepared for possible work overload. I am nervous about DeSean Jackson and how his chemistry with RG3 and the team will develop. I think he will be fine but I definitely will need to see some pre-season action from him before I could commit. Lastly, Percy Harvin. Yes, he is talented, but he has always been talented. That has never been the question, the question has been can he stay healthy enough and be worth it enough to occupy a spot on your roster all season to possibly only play 6 to 8 games. I am just not sure he is worth it to me. Especially for where you will get him in the draft. If you get him in a late round, then hells yes he is worth the wait. If you get him anywhere in the top 6 rounds…I think it was a wasted pick.
9. What are you drinking, booze or otherwise?
I am currently drinking Leopold Brothers New York Apple whiskey with Diet 7-Up. I also drink tequila with a blood orange Italian soda or wine. Or anything that is in front of me, really.
10. What’s your favorite book / tv show / movie? It can’t be all football all the time, right?
Right now I am really, really into Game of Thrones. I am trying to get caught up but it is hands down the best show on TV. Coming in at second would be Downton Abbey. Complete opposites, I know, but that really sums me up pretty well.
Favorite movie would completely depend on the genre. Plus, there are very well done movies and then there are movies that you can watch over and over and over again, and I do! In that case I rotate between Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones Diary, Moneyball, When Harry Met Sally and The Bourne Series to go to bed to every night. There are too many good movies to pick a favorite. Movies are my thing.
I am one big contradiction! As for my favorite book, I am not much of a reader. I blame this on the fact that my elementary school made us read biographies to learn to read. Do you know what was not interesting as a very young child…Dolly Madison. Just saying. I guess if I had to pick a book it would be Pride and Prejudice, It’s a classic plus I am a total romantic. Mr. Darcy…where are you???? I’m waiting!!!!
Bonus Round: Pimp your wares! Tell us where we can find you, follow you, read you, etc.
You can listen to my in game rants by following me on twitter @AshleyHerFFB. Check out our website www.herfantasyfootball.com for all of our podcasts, show notes, starts and sits, rankings, recipes for game day, interviews and all that good stuff. You can also listen to our podcast on itunes by searching for Her Fantasy Football and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/herfantasyfootballpodcast. For the more fun pictures, rants and anything absurd hop on over to facebook( facebook.com/HerFantasyFootball) Pinterest (pinterest.com/herfantasyfb) and Instagram (Instagram.com/herfantasyfb). You will get to know us rather quickly this way, trust me.
