Knowing what team the players in your league are fans of...

[williesd]

This is a good strategy to know... Find this out and you might be able to predict who they will make a run at..

For example....I'm a Padre fan, so i'm definitely going to want Jake Peavy on my team....Doesn't this sound logical

Last year I joined a league and I only knew 1 other player.
When I got to the draft I started talking to everyone to find out what team they were fans of...I found that I knew who some of them were going to draft a few times..

[CubsFan7724]

Won't work against anyone mildly serious or unbiased. Yes, I may lean towards picking a Cubs player if its a tossup, but thats because I follow the Cubs more than the other teams. Just natural.

[Pablo975]

I agree. The 2nd place guy in my keeper (my brother in law) is a huge Mets fan, so I can always count on him to make a bad pick or two in favor of Mets players...

He might have beaten me last year, but he got nailed by Reyes, Matsui, AND Floyd. Course, he did grab David Wright the second he became available. Lucky shift working bastich.

Serious owners discount team loyalties in FB.

Also, some owners end up having a soft spot for a player they had in previous years who helped them when the player is long past being a viable pick in that given round.

[cordscords]

i never let an astro tempt me. except i kept ensberg on my bench up until the all star break and lived w/ the fact he wasnt going to bust loose.

[AKhomebrewer]

This is a very pertinent thread, and a factor I use each draft now that I know the owners in my league (5 years).

Most of them play it straight up, but there are three - a Yankee, a Brave, and a Mariners fan who overvalue their guys every year (the Braves guy took Smoltz and Chipper 1-2 -- in 2003!).

Burned me last year, though, when I grabbed Boone late in the second round because the Mariner fan was lurking behind with two picks at the turn. I should have passed and let the dude have him .

p.s. - Hey, Cubsfan7724: we also have a die-hard Cubbie in our midst, and every year he seems to target ... Red Sox players!

[Fool42]

It can't hurt but you'll also find people that stray from thier favorite team on purpose because they try to keep emotions out of drafting. For me anytime I consider taking a Dodger player I second guess myself just so that I'm sure I didn't reach or am making a bad pick. The other way it will help (maybe more so) is knowing who they won't pick. A Dodger fan won't pick a Giants player unless he falls way past where he should go and even then there are many that still wouldn't pick one. I'm sure the opposite is true also. Other Examples:

Yanks - Redsox
Cubs - Cardinals

ect...

[Pedantic]

Since I live in the great Pacific Northwest, I like to pretend I'm an M's fan, despite the fact I despise them. Really throws folks off my real favorite, although I never let homer-ish feelings get in the way of winning.

[mikegp]

My favorite team is the blue jays and I just stay away from all of them

[BGbootha]

yeah a few years ago, i could go back and probaly count 5+ mariners on my team. Last season in my two money leagues, i only had 3 total, (ichiro, Pineiro and Garcia) and of course i dropped piniero.

But it is hard to get over the initial homeristic view. But i agree the more seasoned you are at FB the less you let this play into your picks.

[Tavish]

My experience was always that knowing the other owner's biases could be useful in making trade offers. Other than that it was only good as a base for trash talking.