2012 Fantasy Football Fest Recap: The ComicCon of Fantasy Football

The Fantasy Football Fest held in Atlantic City over the weekend of August the 18th can be summed up in one concise sentence, you've never seen more fantasy nerds in one place in your life".

This was fantasy football heaven for all of the devout players, writers and merchants of the quick rising industry. The weekend was a multifaceted convention/festival that had many intricate layers. From the drafts constantly taking place in one corner, the star players being shuffled in and out (Vick and Shady McCoy), the seasoned veterans walking around aimlessly (Tony Siragusa among others) and the most eye catching of all, the Lingerie League Football girls.

Have you ever seen scantily clothed girls throwing spirals and making diving catches into the end zone? Oh, and then chest bumping when they make catches that you couldn't have even made in your athletic prime of your sophomore year of college. Yeah we didn't think so. The fans flocked to the field set up in the back of the fest, who wouldn't?

For those actually interested in that thing called fantasy football, what the entire jig was about, there were endless panels going on throughout the day. Giving fans the opportunity to pick the minds of the upper echelon of the fantasy football industry and learn more about the strategies they employ.

The Fix had an opportunity to catch up with a few former players and discuss their own fantasy football experiences.

Tony "Goose" Siragusa explained that he's an avid fantasy football player. "I play a lot of fantasy football, I play with some friends, former teammates and players in the league, and of course the guys I work with over at FOX sports."

The Goose made it rather clear that not all of those separate entities offer up the same level of competition, "In the leagues with the former teammates they just pick guys from their former teams and guys they like."

But the Goose himself didn't sound like he could hold his own against all of the fantasy "experts" he found himself in a room with. This isn't speculation either there's substantial evidence for that claim. Obviously we had to ask Goose what he thought about a couple of his former teammates (Peyton) and most specifically the anomaly that is Andrew Luck.

In regards to Luck's fantasy prospects the Goose said, "He's going to be a great player, I probably wouldn't take him before the first 15 picks or so, probably early 2nd round, there's a lot of good quarterbacks out there."

Man, who wouldn't want to play in a league with a guy taking Andrew luck in the early second.

But he did offer some valuable insight on the Peyton Manning situation in Denver. "Peyton is a genius and now he's got a great head coach in John Fox." And in regards to the weapons that the Broncos have put together for Peyton Goose proclaims, "Peyton is going to make stars out of those guys (Decker, Thomas)".

One thing is clear, although the man may know his football he certainly doesn't know how on field play translates to fantasy value.

The Fix also had the opportunity to pick the brain of former Linebacker with the New York Giants and Super Bowl Winner Byron Hunt. Byron unlike the Goose didn't even pretend to know anything about fantasy football, "Now you know I don't know anything about fantasy football except that we're having a convention about it right?, never played in my life"

But Byron did admit that he'll stick around these conventions for other reasons, "I want to be involved if these type of women walking around here are going to be involved". Byron did a great job of summing up a lot of what was running through everyone's heads.

The ever Fantasy Football Fest appeared to be a success even if the almighty Joe Montana ended up canceling at the last minute. Thousands showed up anyways, because how can you go wrong with former NFL players, a beer garden and lingerie wearing women under the same roof?

Written by Mike Naclerio exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Follow Mike on twitter @MikeNaclerio.


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