Month: September 2018

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GOLF Uncategorized

Thankfully it’s a Ryder Cup year!

Day 1 is already a success!

So Day 1 is in the books and already this tournament is a success.  Why would I say that?  If you can think back to last year, and remember how  competitive the President’s Cup was?  What I should be saying is how competitive the President’s Cup wasn’t.  Then you will understand why I’m thrilled that this is a Ryder Cup year.  Even though the Americans entered this tournament as heavy favourites.  They find themselves two games back after Day 1.  Now that doesn’t mean that they still aren’t favourites to win, cause I believe that they still are.  What it simply illustrates is that on their continent, the Europeans remain difficult to beat.  Unless you are a fan or both the PGA tour, and Euro tour you wouldn’t necessarily understand.  The courses each tour frequents are generally quite different from one another.  The largely American PGA tour favours Parkland, Stadium, and long hitter tracks.  Whereas the European tour favours Links, Precision Ball striking, and Weather condition tracks.  One of the primary reasons so many PGA tour, and specifically American Players rise to the top of the World rankings is because it’s easier to adapt their game to shorter precision courses, than it is for the Euro tour Players to suddenly start bombing it off the tee.  The President’s Cup doesn’t share the same course advantages for the International players because depending on where you are from the style of golf you’re accustomed to playing might be similar to your opponents or wildly different from your own teammates.  So whether the event is held in the United States or somewhere else.  The advantage will always remain with the higher ranked team.

I told you so

At the beginning of the year Oliver and I briefly discussed (on the Cobe Life YouTube channel) what we felt Team Europe’s chances were.  Keep in mind that this was just a few months removed from the President’s Cup drubbing.  The majority of Golf analysts thought that the same dominance was going to be on display at the Ryder Cup.  We didn’t think that would be the case.  The Americans rarely beat the Europeans on their turf.  Even though this might be the strongest American team ever assembled.  They still have to beat a very skilled team made up of mostly young Ryder Cup rookies looking to establish themselves on the world stage in front of their fans.  Although many of them aren’t familiar names on the PGA tour, they are superstars in Europe.  Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen, and Alex Noren are sure to leave a lasting impression by the time it’s all done.

What to expect Days 2 & 3

Even though the Le Golf National course is set up to be as unfriendly to the Americans as possible.  The individual matches are sure to favour the Americans.  Which means the Europeans have to hope that Day 2 finishes a lot like Day 1.  The Americans are actually quite fortunate to be only down by 2 games.  If it wasn’t for an extremely lucky bounce for Tony Finau on the 16th, and some sloppy play by a couple of the European teams on the back nine they could have easily been up by another game.  In order for the Europeans to win I believe that they will need to be ahead by at least 3 points going into the final day.  If they enter Day 3 tied or trailing it’s as good as over.  It will be interesting to see how well they play tomorrow when they are no longer perceived as huge underdogs.  Should be another great day of golf.  Too bad I have to get up at 2:30am to watch it.

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GOLF Uncategorized

SWING CADDIE SC200 REVIEW – Beginner’s Guide to Golf

Swing Caddie SC200

By now most golfers are familiar with Launch Monitors.  The majority of golf equipment stores have a high end simulator bay for customers to test clubs, or take swing lessons.  The Launch Monitors those simulator bays use cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000.00

For most of us a simulator bay in the basement or den is far from realistic.  What if there was a product that could provide you with the same capabilities for a fraction of the cost, and is as portable as a cellular phone?  Every golfer would just have to have one right!  Well unfortunately there isn’t a product on the market that can do everything a high end launch monitor can.  The Swing Caddie SC200 is about as close as you can get, but is close good enough?

SC200 Capabilities

The Swing Caddie SC200 uses Doppler Radar to read your swing speed, ball speed, and approximate trajectory.  With these measurements it can provide you with your smash factor, and carry distance.  It also keeps track of the amount of time you were using it and the number of balls you’ve hit.  At first I wasn’t interested in how long I had used it or how many balls I had hit, but after a week of use those numbers began to take on an increased importance.  Is Smash factor important to me?  It never used to be.  Well that isn’t entirely true.  I’ve looked at what my smash factor was before when testing Drivers at Golf Town.  After my first week of using the Swing Caddie SC200 I now pay close attention to my smash factor when working on improving my club face contact point.  At first glance you might think that your Swing Speed, and Carry Distance are the only important measurements.  That’s what I thought, and it only took a week for me to realize that I was wrong.

A few additional things you should know about the Swing Caddie SC200 that add to it’s appeal are the Voice capability, Remote Control, and battery life.  The Swing Caddie SC200 has a very good screen that I found easy to read in most lighting conditions.  There are times that reading the screen could be difficult.  Thankfully the Swing Caddie SC200 has an audible announcement after each swing that informs you of the distance hit.  You will still have to look at the screen if you are interested in knowing your Swing Speed or Smash Factor.  I found the distance announcement quite useful.  It takes a moment before it informs you so you have just long enough to make your own guess before the SC200 provides you with the answer.  This feature has helped me identify what perfect contact actually feels like and sounds like.  In some cases I’ve learned that louder isn’t necessarily better.  The included Remote is such a welcome addition.  It’s about as simple as can be.  There’s a button for each club, and it’s a breeze to switch between modes.  I like to switch from club to club when practicing at the Range.  Quite often I’ll play a mock Par 4.  I imagine a 350 yard Par 4 then tee off.  I then estimate the distance left, and choose the appropriate club.  The Swing Caddie SC200 removes the guess work, and is a snap to switch between clubs with the included remote.  The SC200 is powered by four AAA batteries.  For me that’s far better than an included rechargeable battery.  I have devices that require constant charging.  I’m thankful to not have another one.  According to the manual you should expect around 20 hours of use.  If your average Range session is around an hour that’s 20 times out!  More than enough in my opinion.

First Impressions

By the time you read this the Swing Caddie SC200 has been out for over a year.  Chances are you’ve already read other reviews, or seen unboxing videos of the product.  What you probably haven’t come across till now is a Golf Beginner’s opinion of the Swing Caddie SC200.  Unlike the majority of reviewers out there I’m not a professional golfer.  I’m not affiliated with a recognized Golf publication, or Association.  The Swing Caddie wasn’t supplied to me by the company for review purposes. I actually had to buy it!  So I guess the real question is; for a beginner golfer like me, is the Swing Caddie SC200 actually worth it?

For me that’s a resounding YES!  I’ve read some mixed reviews about the Swing Caddie SC200, from essential practice tool to novelty Range tech.  The reviews were so mixed that it took quite the sale price for me to even consider the purchase.  Having spent a considerable amount of time with the product the wide spectrum of conclusions I’ve come across make total sense.  The Swing Caddie SC200’s usefulness is directly related to the user’s golfing ability.  For a high handicapper like me, the Swing Caddie SC200 has already improved my game after one week of use.  Now if I was somebody with a single digit handicap the Swing Caddie SC200 would only confirm what I already know.  In fact it might even read some of my more intricate shots incorrectly because it’s configured for swings made with the club face in a neutral position.  This is definitely not a product for a wedge wizard like Phil Mickelson.  In fact the most lofted Wedge a Swing Caddie SC200 can read is a 59 degree.  My Lob Wedge is 60 degrees so when I use it with the SC200 I have to accept a little bit of distance discrepancy, and the occasional missed swing.  I mentioned earlier that the shot count feature became more important to me.  What I realized is that it takes about 15 swings for me to loosen up.  I also found out that I start to be affected by fatigue at around 85 swings.  The difference between my optimum swings made while warmed up or fatigued is 10 to 15 yards depending on the club.  This means that depending on how my Round of Golf is going I should be using a stronger club than I would expect towards the end of a Round.  I’ve also learned that I should use a stronger club for the first 3 or 4 holes in a Round if I’m unable to warm up first.  I also know that I only need 15 to 20 balls to hit before stepping up to the first tee.  I’m sure veteran golfers have figured these things out over time.  Well I’m in my third Season and I hadn’t figured it out until I practiced with the Swing Caddie SC200.  Do you know your approximate distance with each club?  You probably think you do.  I know that I did.  Well I was wrong about half the clubs in my bag.  Not way wrong mind you, but wrong enough that my low Green in Regulation percentage makes total sense now.  I’m certain that by the time the first set of batteries are dead in my Swing Caddie SC200;  I’ll have such a good understanding of my game that hoping to break 100 will become a thing of the past.  I should expect to break 100 every time out.  Now will continued use help me to consistently break 90?  Only time will tell.  When that time comes I’ll definitely let you know.

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FANTASY Uncategorized

Play the Percentages or Trust your Gut – Sports Fanatics Play Fantasy SF-47

Draft Capital

Every Fantasy Sports website, or Fantasy Football analyst prepares for each Season by making a list.  Some like myself make many lists, but they all have the same purpose.  The goal is to arrange each and every fantasy relevant Player from the most valuable to the least.  Then we presume to decipher where the optimum position to draft them is.  Now maybe you choose to rely on our analysis or you don’t.  Most likely you take what the most popular websites decide, and then make slight adjustments due to personal bias.  However you choose to make your draft board.  Each Player you end up selecting has a perceived value attached to the Round you selected them in.  So what happens when you are setting your line up for the week, and the Running Back you selected in the first Round is facing the Top Run Defense in the league?

That Gut Feeling

How often should we trust our Gut when it comes to Fantasy Football?  To arrive at a suitable answer I’ll use both a top level Running Back from last season, and a top level Wide Receiver.

Todd Gurley – Last Season Todd Gurley finished as the Top Player in Fantasy football.  In the PPR league I run he finished the Season with a little over 400 fantasy points.  He averaged a little over 25 fantasy points per game.  Of course that’s what he averaged.  There was that game against the Seattle Seahawks Legion of Boom defense where he only gained 50 yards, lost a fumble, and didn’t score a touchdown.  He finished that game with 6 points.

So obviously you need to pay close attention to what your Gut tells you right?  I’ll get back to that question in a moment.  First lets take a look at the Wide Receiver from last year.

Julio Jones – For the past few Seasons Julio Jones has continually been drafted as a top 3 Wide Receiver.  Last season was a bit of a down year for him but he still averaged a little over 16 points per game.  Of course there was that game against the Minnesota Vikings where he had top cornerback Xavier Rhodes shut him down to the tune of 2 catches for 24 yards and no touchdowns.  4.4 measly Fantasy points for the game.  So once again your Gut might have been right. So obviously you should listen to your gut right!

Actually you shouldn’t

What I left out of my analysis of both Players is when they went on to have huge Fantasy games against top defenses.  Sure on occasion your best Players that cost you early Round picks will have bad games.  The reason you picked them so early is because more often than not they have good games.  Even when they are faced off against top defenses.  It helps to understand floor and ceiling probabilities as well.  A top tier Wide Receiver is always going to get targeted with a few passes, and have a reasonable opportunity to receive a touchdown.  The third Wide Receiver on the depth chart can play an entire game and not even get one ball thrown their way.  I don’t care who is covering each receiver.  The opportunity is still greater with the top tier pick.

There are exceptions

I actually had Julio Jones on my Fantasy team for a portion of last season.  If you are wondering if there were any games that I chose to sit him.  Well the answer would be yes.  Sounds like I’m going against my own advice right.  Well before you label me as a hypocrite.  You need to know a little bit about my roster.  I was fortunate enough to have 3 excellent Wide Receivers on my roster.  In order of their value from first to last they were Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and Jarvis Landry.  I started Antonio Brown for every game.  My league requires two Wide Receivers to start so sometimes I would sit Julio Jones to start Jarvis Landry I drafted 2 Rounds after him.  The starting lineup also has a flex position so sometimes I started all three.  The point I’m trying to make is if you have another option that’s almost as good as your primary choice in a far more favourable match up?  Then choosing to follow your Gut makes total sense.  Your second option will have a far safer floor, with only a slightly lower ceiling.

Good Luck in Week 1

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FANTASY Uncategorized

The Truth about Fantasy Football Drafts – Sports Fanatics Play Fantasy SF-46

The 50/50 Rule

If you have been playing Fantasy Football for a few years you’ve probably heard of the 50/50 rule.  Basically half the Players you draft won’t be on your roster by season’s end.  This isn’t necessarily a fact but you can bet that your final roster will look different if you plan on remaining competitive.  As an example I won my Fantasy Football league last year with three key Players on my Roster I didn’t draft.  I picked up Alvin Kamara, Jerick McKinnon, and Alex Collins during the Season.  On most teams in a 12 team league that Running Back trio would have been amazing.  Did I mention that I had drafted Leonard Fournette in the first Round last year as well!  Now you should also know that this is in a PPR Keeper League and my Keepers were Antonio Brown and Julio Jones.  How could I lose?  Well I did trade Julio Jones away midseason.  It would be impossible to draft a team that strong.  I just made the right trades and waiver wire picks when the opportunity arose.

This year’s draft has already been completed. You can see the condensed online draft with all of my selections on the Cobe Life YouTube channel.

Already my roster has gone through some significant changes.  I felt pretty good about landing Jerick McKinnon with my only pick in the first two Rounds.  That was until he went down with a torn ACL during San Francisco’s last practice of the preseason!  I took a flyer on Martavis Bryant because Oakland gave up a third Round pick to acquire him.  Well I guess Oakland is in the habit of giving away third Round picks because they cut him on final cut day.  In case you haven’t already figured it out, so did I.  I also drafted Dez Bryant, planning on stashing him on my Bench for up to 4 weeks with the hopes a decent team would sign him.  Unfortunately with the injury to McKinnon and my best Running Back on the bench being Mark Ingram (In case you weren’t aware Ingram begins the season on a four game suspension) I was forced to abandon my plan and drop Dez so I could pick up McKinnon’s potential back up Matt Brieda.  With my initial draft strategy in shambles I also decided to hedge my bets at Quarterback by replacing Martavis Bryant with Alex Smith.

So before the season has even begun I’ve already changed 3 of my players from a total of 15 on the roster.  What are the odds that I end up switching four more players over the course of the season?  Pretty damn good.

Safe floor vs High ceiling

There are many Fantasy Football pundits that will talk about the importance of choosing Players with a High ceiling.  Now there are a number of Players with exceptionally high ceilings that are guaranteed to score you a fair amount of points every week.  The more of those Players on your team the merrier.  But what about the Players with High ceilings and seriously low floors?    It’s great when your Flex Player gets you 15 points, but it isn’t much of a picnic when they get you 1.3 points.  This is where Safe Floor Players come in.  In order to understand what your mix of Players should be in your league you need to understand how many points are required to win on average each week.  In my PPR Keeper League it usually takes about 125 points to have a decent chance to win each week.  Your starting roster requirements are 1 Quarterback, 2 Running Backs, 2 Wide Receivers, 1 Tight End, 1 Flex (RB, WR, TE) 1 Kicker, and 1 Defence.  Breaking it down by position the average amount of points you are looking for are QB-20pts, RB-15pts, WR-15pts, TE-10pts, K-7pts, DEF-8pts.  So a totally average week would net you 120pts. So somebody on your roster needs to exceed their weekly average to help guarantee your victory.  Of course some of your players could under perform as well.  So what is the best way to prepare for the inevitable?  The answer is having two thirds of your starting roster as Safe Floor Players.  I would rather a Running Back or Wide Receiver that gets me 10 to 12 guaranteed points every week as my number 2 or Flex than a Player that gets me over 20 points once every four weeks, and less than 10 points the others.  Just cause they have a high ceiling doesn’t mean they are Fantasy gold.  The rest of your roster should be filled with High Ceiling hopefully Safe Floor Players.  A great example of a Safe Floor Player is the Number two Slot Receiver on any team with a decent offense in a PPR league.  They might not catch many touchdowns but they generally catch around 5 passes minimum every week for over 50 yards.  A good High ceiling Player to target is the deep threat Wide Receiver or Bell cow back on a High scoring team.

Don’t Stream just Target

People preach streaming Defenses, Kickers, and even Quarterbacks.  I won’t knock their choice because I’ve done it myself.  It can work provided you find yourself in the right situation to do it.  First of all you won’t have success streaming a particular position if two or more other Managers are streaming that position as well.  You don’t want to find yourself fighting to claim Ryan Tannehill off of waivers because he happens to be playing the New York Jets.  Secondly you need to temper your expectations.  Just because somebody is playing in a favourable match up doesn’t necessarily mean they will finish with a favourable result.  Especially if they aren’t a Top tier talent.  Thirdly it’s sometimes a lot more work thsn it’s worth.  While you are trying to decide which Defense to stream that week your opponent noticed that Carlos Hyde pulled a Hamstring during practice and quickly snatched Nick Chubb as a free agent.  There’s enough to think about during a Fantasy Football season.  Why give yourself more?

Some positions don’t matter

This is one of the most idiotic beliefs in Fantasy Football.  Don’t worry about which Kicker you draft because you can always pick one up in Free Agency.  That’s total horse shit!  Wait until you lose because your kicker on that high scoring offense finds himself in a heavy snowfall in November and finishes with 1 point, while your opponent was laughing his way into the winners column with New Orleans Kicker playing at home inside the Superdome.   Just wait on a Defense because they are too unpredictable from year to year.  Another totally daft statement.  You want to talk unpredictable?  Lets talk about starting Running Backs!  I won my league last year because a number of Top Running Backs got injured.  The Dalvin Cook injury made Jerick McKinnon a marquee starter. Mark Ingram wasn’t at 100% so Alvin Kamara progressed faster than anticipated.  The Top Team in my league on paper lost their considerable advantage when David Johnson injured his wrist in the first game of the season.  You would think that might be enough to scrap the entire season for that team.  Well she still made the Playoffs and won her division.  You know how she did it?  She did it by dominating on Defense.  That’s right!  Not only did she spend a mid Round pick on the Jacksonville Jaguars.  She also picked up the Minnesota Vikings when another Manager dropped them because he was streaming Defenses.  For the rest of tbe season she switched back and forth between the two Defenses depending on which one had the better match up and averaged WR2 numbers!  When did you draft your WR2?  I doubt if it was in the 10th Round!  While everyone else in the league was getting 6 to 10 points per week from their Defense, she was getting 11 to 15.  She drafted Carlos Hyde as her third Running Back because he was undoubtedly the number 1 in San Francisco (safe floor) and he was a serviceable replacement for David Johnson.  So what did that all add up to?  Fantasy Football victories!

Don’t listen to the “Experts”, just use common sense and you’ll do fine.