Issue #269: Jedi Mind Tricks

By Derrick Ernst

April 19, 2025

Don’t Think Just Do

You’re finding me writing most of this with Top Gun: Maverick playing in the background. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, what a phenomenal movie. Chilling actually. To say I’m distracted is an understatement. The inspiration for this section comes from Maverick himself, “Don’t think, just do.” There’s something to be said about this for fantasy too.

I’ve been doing a lot of continued thinking since sending out our last issue and I’ve realized I have more to say. Let’s explore a few of these thoughts today. Back to Maverick. The context of this statement stemmed from preparing his team for mission. He was saying the more prepared you are and the more you trust your abilities the less you’ll find yourself caught ill-equipped to handle the task at hand. Their task was a matter of life and death and our task is a matter of picking an indestructible fantasy roster, but there is always opportunity to spot a similarity. Like this one:

The more you know the less you will need to do.

I’ve always said, there’s a benefit to staying in the loop/know year-round. Incremental learning at it’s finest. Conventional fantasy is all about cramming as much info into your skull as possible 24, 48, 72 hours leading up to your draft. You guys know how faulty this tactic is. Going down this road means you probably fall victim to the pressures of fantasy drafts, forgetting all the things you just crash studied, just to fall back on what you’ve done in the past.

This is where things get interesting, your “what you’ve done in the past” can evolve over time, but only if you allow yourself to change your thinking. If what I’ve just describe sounds like you, perhaps you haven’t been a part of TDF long enough to act differently. Keep up with reading each issue and I guarantee your thinking will begin to evolve whether you realize it or not. That evolution is your knowledge bank growing which means when it comes to your draft, you can just “do” knowing that your actions are rooted in compounded learnings over the course of a year, not over a few days.

Here’s another one for you:

Fantasy isn’t about what happens to you, rather how you respond to it.

We have zero control over how our team(s) will perform on any given day. We can do everything we can to make sane decisions, but when things like injury, weather, game flow, etc. turn those decisions on their head, it’s a humbling reminder that fantasy doesn’t care about you, your team, and your decisions. You must be able to adapt to the things it throws at you. Those that do that better than others win.

This gets to the point too that you must be willing to evolve your strategy over time as more information becomes available. If it’s week ten and you’re still operating with your week one mindset, you’ve likely been lapped by those who have shifted. I’ve mentioned before that you should refrain from growing idol to players. You should also refrain from growing idol to your ideas too. Don’t get stuck in your own thoughts. Move on when market dynamics call for it.

My wife and I got on the topic of psychological thinking the other day and she said something worth noting:

“If I don’t remember it, it wasn’t worth remembering.”

There’s a lot that I throw at you. Being almost 300 issues in on a topic means some of the connections I make are a stretch. I can even admit that. The beauty of this is that what connects with you may not be what connects with the next person. And that’s ok. We all play fantasy, but we all have our own way of managing. Yes, I hope all of you are rooted in TDF thinking, but it’s impossible to adhere to everything I throw at you. Heck, I’m not even sure I do it myself. But, that’s what makes us unique. I’m fond of marketing the newsletter by saying something along the lines of, “Join the growing community of like-minded fantasy football enthusiasts.”

Aka. TDF is a different way of thinking, but it’s not a requirement to adhere to everything thrown at you. There might even be some of that in today’s issue. For however long you choose to be a subscriber, one of my goals for you at the end of your time is that you’ve developed a strategy that is your own and that you recognize that most of the things thrown at you is noise. Let your competition believe they’re getting ahead by listening to the same things as everyone else.

Be different. Develop your own strategy. Be your own manager. When you do that, you free yourself to “just do” as everyone else believes they’re getting ahead by spending their time being followers.

Football

Source: Penguin Random House

My guess is that some of you have thought to yourself, does this dude eat, drink, and breath football? Pretty much. I just finished up this book the other day. Despite the title, it wasn’t as hardcore football as you’d think. Reading this book was also me practicing what I just preached in that there wasn’t much that I took away from it worth keeping around in my noggin. I would describe it as a coming together of topics that spook to the sport’s rising popularity amongst Americans, a new pastime as I’ve also leaned into over the years. Again, you may have a different experience with it.

You might be wondering why the tone of a few prior issues has been a bit gloomy. Reading this book has probably been part of it. Arguably the book’s biggest theme is Chuck predicting the NFL’s demise and how it will come to be. I’ve even nudged into this idea and while it may not happen in some of our lifetimes, there will come a day when it comes. Most of you probably know by now my thinking of this comes from the absurdity these contracts are getting, exhibit A:

It’s one thing for a guys like Patrick Mahomes or Justin Jefferson to sign record-breaking contracts because they’re know by even the most marginal of NFL fans. It’s another when these contracts go to players most people respond with, “Who?” when they see the headline. Chuck’s thoughts on contract size isn’t explicitly stated, rather implied through the idea that there will be a breaking point with advertisers. Other things like younger generation’s waning interest in the sport, pushing for more international exposure makes the sport less American, and how viewing the NFL is better on TV than in-person (a less communal experience) are spoken to. Check it out if that interests you, but be warned, there is a lot of fluff added along the way that will have you wanting to give up on it. My personal opinion.