11 episodes

A fantasy football podcast dedicated to high-level strategy in the abstract.

Fantasy Football, in Theory Adam Harstad

    • Sports
    • 4.8 • 18 Ratings

A fantasy football podcast dedicated to high-level strategy in the abstract.

    Episode 08 - This Is Not Amari Cooper, (and nor is it Luke Vosters)

    Episode 08 - This Is Not Amari Cooper, (and nor is it Luke Vosters)

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, your only podcast devoted to fantasy football strategy in the abstract.


    It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We are told that history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.


    But the past and the future are temporally distinct, and one is not the other. So how are lessons to be drawn? This is the paradox at the heart of any efforts to let our knowledge of the past shape our expectations for the future.

    The introduction to today's episode is adapted from an essay I wrote in 2017 titled This Is Not Amari Cooper. If you'd like to read the essay in its original form, complete with pictures that are not the things they represent (but which are similar in structure, which accounts for their usefulness), you can find it here: https://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadFiT8

    If you want to view Luke's projection system and perhaps incorporate it into your own personal process, it's freely available here: http://lukevosters.com/


    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.


    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.

    Thanks, as always, for listening!

    • 54 min
    Episode 07 - O, What Tangled Webs We Weave

    Episode 07 - O, What Tangled Webs We Weave

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, your only podcast devoted to fantasy football strategy in the abstract.


    What if everything we thought we knew about football was wrong? What if the all-time greats and the all-time goods and all-time okays were really just an indecipherable mess distinguished primarily by chance, a series of coins that could have just as easily landed on the other side (if they were even destined to be flipped at all)?


    What if the universe— to quote Fantasy Football, in Theory favorite J.B.S. Haldane— is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.


    Today I talk about how everything we see is a product of everything we don't see.


    If you want to read more about the history of the West Coast Offense and its roots in Cincinnati, I highly recommend this piece by Chris Wesseling of NFL.com: https://www.nfl.com/news/sidelines/the-ohio-river-offense


    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.


    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.

    Thanks, as always, for listening!

    • 33 min
    Episode 06 - The People's Podcast, featuring Bob Mozitis

    Episode 06 - The People's Podcast, featuring Bob Mozitis

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, your only podcast devoted to fantasy football strategy in the abstract.
     
    Who we choose to speak to shapes not only what we come to believe, but even the manner in which we think about things. Most fantasy football podcasts feature people within the fantasy football industry speaking with other industry insiders, which is a useful way to sharpen our thoughts and feelings about fantasy football.
     
    But what does this approach miss? Twitter-friend Bob Mozitis (@briks42) was kind enough to play guinea pig as I tried to find out.
     
    Content referenced during this episode includes:
    My historical fantasy value spreadsheets for
    QBs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NX1RHFYpgmAIojpczvNW2aK7dgLC30ISeKAKSERhHdM/edit?usp=sharing
    RBs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-c4JkLxBhGak6GxorS__wm34AOYhRNPH8ZX_u7vHT6M/edit?usp=sharing
    WRs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tReS4w10vlB2RAQsAq7PaGLK2iwrhQ1EzMujfyQiBCM/edit?usp=sharing
    TEs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O3q98uDGyhehlTkGtSsthLGtF6AOei1Alcq872jJWWk/edit?usp=sharing
    (If you scroll right on the main page, you'll find quick filters to sort by production though a specific age or year of experience, at a specific age or year of experience, or after a specific age or year of experience.)
     
    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.
     
    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.
     
    Thanks for listening!

    • 1 hr 31 min
    Episode 05 - Some Names Stymie Analysis, featuring Matt Harmon

    Episode 05 - Some Names Stymie Analysis, featuring Matt Harmon

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, your only podcast devoted to fantasy football strategy in the abstract.
     
    How do the labels we use affect how we see things, taste things, hear things, feel things, and interact with the world around us? And perhaps more importantly, what the heck does this have to do with football? Special guest Matt Harmon joins us to discuss.
     
    Content referenced during this episode includes:
    Fighting through negativity bias and a wide receiver's drop issues: http://www.thebackyardbanter.com/fighting-through-negativity-bias-and-a-wide-receivers-drops.html
    What You See is Not All There Is: http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadDiT29
    The Crayola-fication of the World, parts 1 and 2: http://www.empiricalzeal.com/2012/06/05/the-crayola-fication-of-the-world-how-we-gave-colors-names-and-it-messed-with-our-brains-part-i/
    http://www.empiricalzeal.com/2012/06/11/the-crayola-fication-of-the-world-how-we-gave-colors-names-and-it-messed-with-our-brains-part-ii/
    What Quarterback Rate Stats Stay Most Consistant When a Quarterback Change Teams?: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/index76ed.html?p=4152
    What Quarterback Rate Stats Stay Most Consistent When a Team Changes Quarterbacks?: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/index3801.html?p=4395
    Thoughts on Running Back Yards per Carry: http://www.footballperspective.com/thoughts-on-running-back-yards-per-carry/
    When Do Yards and Touchdowns Per Carry Stabilize?: http://intentionalrounding.com/when-do-yards-and-touchdowns-per-carry-stabilize/
    Career Leaders in Yards Per Carry, (Era-Adjusted): http://www.footballperspective.com/career-leaders-in-yards-per-carry-era-adjusted/
     
    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.
     
    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.
     
    Thanks for listening!

    • 1 hr 13 min
    ... For No Good Reason

    ... For No Good Reason

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, a fantasy football podcast dedicated to high-level fantasy strategy in the abstract.
     
    In today's episode: Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant podcast about it from the comfort of their living rooms. 
     
     
    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.
     
    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.
     
    Thanks for listening!

    • 9 min
    Episode 04 - Being Right

    Episode 04 - Being Right

    Welcome to Fantasy Football, in Theory, a brand new fantasy football podcast dedicated to high-level fantasy strategy in the abstract.
     
    What do you do when one of your cornerstone beliefs is suddenly called into question? In the quest to be right, what does it mean to be wrong?
    In our quest to answer that question, we'll discuss stupid bar bets, obtuse statistical biases, overconfident basketball researchers, the history of the philosophy of science, (not to be confused with the history of science or the philosophy of science), and go over a long list of stupid things that I have believed.
    Here is a link to Believing We're Right isn't Being Right, the essay that inspired the episode: https://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2015/07/believing-were-right-is-not-being-right.html
    And, as promised, here's a list of things I've written about being wrong:
    Musings on Confirmation Bias - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadDiT1
    A Thought Experiment to Ruin Your Day - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadDiT35
    Harvin Runs a Jet Sweep - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadDiP7
    The Wrong Way to Build a Dynasty - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadWrongWay15
    We're Probably Thinking about Age the Wrong Way - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadMortalityTables
     
    Also, a piece on the tendency of analytics to sometimes overconfidently assert that because they failed to find evidence of something, it must not exist - http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=HarstadDiT25
     
    If you enjoy my work, you can find it exclusively at www.footballguys.com. An archive of links to past articles of mine is also available at my blog, http://dynastytheory.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-link-to-all-my-writings.html.
     
    If you have any other questions or comments, or you'd like to submit a topic for a future show, I can be reached via email at FantasyInTheory@Gmail.com, or on Twitter at @AdamHarstad.
     
    Thanks for listening!

    • 33 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
18 Ratings

18 Ratings

GoVikings84 ,

Evergreen, Intelligent Episodes

While there are only a handful of episodes out there, this podcast is truly an enjoyable listen. I always learn something from Adam, and it usually is only tangentially related to fantasy football. Quite frankly, I’d listen to a podcast on any esoteric topic from Adam.

Tq12yh ,

More Mozitis

I loved his perspective. I wish you would have dug deeper into your 2 vastly different approaches. He was a fresh new voice to the echo chamber.

@jarliek ,

A breath of fresh air

What we don't need is another podcast with player takes, news, and banter. What we do need is Adam.

Smart, progressive, and thought-driven, this podcast is a breath of fresh air. It makes you think and re-think your biases and assumptions about fantasy football. I love it, and I can't wait for new episodes.

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