March 4, 2020 – A lot of work has been put into the website. I’ve added 500+ sports cards and continue to add daily. The chase for Zion was real this winter. He’s basically brought back the industry to the fore front. Panini Prizm is the hardest product to find anywhere. I searched high and low and bought what I could find. I managed 2 Panini Prizm rookie cards. I will probably have them graded at the spring sports card expo. When I couldn’t find Prizm, I bought what they had, Hoops, Hoops Winter, Donruss, Optic, I’ve posted all the hits. All prices are in Canadian funds and include shipping within Canada. American shipping will be charged at cost. I’m going to take a step back from fantasy this upcoming season and not do any personal rankings. I will instead focus on running leagues and pools, as well as writing weekly sports columns. The sports columns will include what’s going on in the world of sports and will obviously include fantasy football from time to time.
April 24, 2019 – The first round of the NHL playoffs was nothing close to a disaster. One of the worst stretches of hockey plays I have ever encountered. A power play goal here and there, and like most, the record is a lot better. The second series between the Blues & Stars might be some of the best defensive hockey we’ll see all playoffs.
It’s also the eve of the NFL draft. Easily one of my top 10 favourite sports days of the year. The props offered, the possibilities of endless trades, defiantly makes for one of the most exciting nights. Let’s not forget the endless mock drafts we’ve all read the last month and the 24 hour around the clock NFL.com and NFL Channel coverage. With so much information at my finger tips, I don’t have an issue laying the big juice prices on some of these. I was trying to shop around, (Bet365, mybookie, Sportsinteraction, Betway) looking for a Daniel Jones prop. Looks like he will be drafted before Locke. I can’t find any scenarios where all 4 quarterbacks won’t be drafted in round 1. Even if there a dozen trades, all 4 guys will go in Round 1 to one team or another.
April 15, 2019 – March came and went with a bang. After grinding out a full NCAA basketball regular season, the conference tournaments and march madness were very lucrative. Texas Tech was a huge get. Going with the better defensive team and staying away from the trendy Buffalo’s and Nevada’s. I went into most bracket games with the, anyone but Duke mindset. Duke was a such a heavy favorite and every ‘March fan’ knew of Zion Williams, they were going to be picked in 80% of pools for sure.
I tried to get my foot in hockey pools, a bracket and a points challenge. I did not get the participation I was hoping for. The group I have following seem to be much more into football. A lesson learned.
April is always a fun time of the year, NHL & NBA Play-offs kick off and the start of the baseball season. The beginning of the both have been a battle. The Lightning and Penguins both down 3-0, I don’t think many saw this. The early results of baseball have just proven that this sport might be the biggest grind of them all.
In preparing for the NFL draft in the next few weeks, I’ve started plotting my fantasy rankings. Top 150 Overall, Top 50 WR & RB and Top 25 QB & TE.
February 9, 2019 – Now that the Super Bowl is over and what always feels like the busiest time of the year, NFL Season, I’ve taken some time and try and redesign the site. Clean up the menus and make it easier to navigate. Again, learning as I go. I managed to move mot of my 2018 plays in one spot and make it much easier for 2019 plays. I hosted the play-off bracket challenge on the site and that seemed to go over well. I will be doing the same for both NHL playoff pools. I would love to see these get close to a $1000 pot. College basketball seems to be kicking my ass these last few week. After ripping off 6 straight winning days, I have given it all back and some. So many games, I’m not forcing anything. UFC / MMA I came flying out of the gates to start the year. Some big wins in both leagues. I’m actually going to sit back tonight and watch the AAF kick-off. Why? Because it’s football!!
September 15, 2018 – College Football has been running very well thus far. Fantasy football has taken off with a blast in week 1. Had only a few shares on McKinnon in full season leagues and only one of Fournette and no Mixon. It seems just escaping the week with an injury is a win in itself. The Draft app weekly pools have been my go to, the tournament style are hard to pass up on. The Yahoo survivor pool i’m hosting got up to $750Cdn so that was nice to see, but really want to get it over a grand next year. Many players were looking for multiple entries and yahoo wouldn’t allow it, so i’ll probably host it on this site next year. I hope everyone has been enjoying the weekly football picks, and the short little fantasy write ups here and there. I started a facebook page, so feel free to give me a like.
August 29, 2018 – Fantasy Football and a break from Baseball
The last week and half has felt like the fantasy gauntlet, Draft after Draft, much of them live, the home league that I commish is in the middle of tradeamania it feels like. Well most of my focus has been on fantasy football, I thought I was picking great spots on the MLB board… Boy was I wrong. I need to take a break from the MLB. Wait until the play-offs start. Draft Kings, Draft App and Fan Duel have all been loaded and ready fro weekly pools and competitions. In the next few days, NFL teams will make their final cuts and there will be a surprise pick up or two by teams. Starting Monday, I will release my start’em piece, and continue to do so weekly. Here and there I will mix in waiver wire targets, DFS bargains and who to consider sitting. I hope everyone had great drafts and are ready for the NFL season.
July 27, 2018 – Site Updates
I have updated the site with the primary focus being fantasy football and the upcoming NFL season. Feel free to subscribe to the site to get the most up to date bets and fantasy articles. The lay out is still a work in progress but this site sure beats me old school excel sheets that I used to track all my teams and bets. I encourage all feedback and debate by email therealyateman@gmail.com or on twitter @TheRealYateman.
July 26, 2018 – Fantasy Football Season in Full Flight
Updated my fantasy rankings while trying to use wpDataTables. I’m sure there is a better way to import excel sheets but right now this is working for me. I complied my latest rankings rankings focusing on stats that I found very beneficial in the past focusing on. McCoy seems to be a giant question mark that I want no part of. I know he hasn’t been charged yet, but the way the NFL has been inconsistent with disciplining players I would rather stay away. Especially someone of his age and draft expense (2nd round on average). A started a new dynasty start up drat today. 12 team PPR on Data Force, hosted on myfantasyleague.com, I had 2nd pick and took Zeke (Gurley went 1st). I will post my picks on twitter as they happen.
June 20, 2018 – 9th Inning Moose and a Small Victory on the Pitch
The blue jays leave Happ in an inning too long and the Nationals score 2 in the 9th to go over the number. Just seems like one of those weeks. A couple of pushes on the pitch as most the heavy favourites were content with a 1-nil victory. A Parlay Win is always welcomed, i’ll be looking at the prop, Result and Both teams Score throughout the rest of the tournament. Tomorrow is a new day!!
June 19, 2008 Part 2 – The Blood Bath
Defiantly my worst day ever on the pitch. Seem to start from the 3rd minute of the first game with the Colombian red card, right until the second half disaster by Egypt. It seems very easy to chase the heavy favourites in MLB for a bounce back but I will stay disciplined. The Astros and Indians are much too high of a favourite, even for a degenerate parlay tonight. I will look for runs in the Rays/Astros game and then wait until tomorrow morning for Portugal to be triumphant against Morocco.
June 19, 2018 – The first nil-nil Game
This is really for tomorrow’s game between Poland and Senegal. I’m predicting a nil-nil draw. There hasn’t been one throughout the first match day for almost the entire tournament. Seems fitting the last game for group H gives us the first nil-nil score. At +550 it is defiantly worth a long look. I will be throwing a quarter at it myself.
June 18, 2018 – Back to Back Champ
Can there be a lesser known back to back champion in any sport other than Brooks Koepka? He takes his second US open championship in as many years. Tommy Fleetwood came out guns a blazin and shot a 63 to put the pressure on. I think during this event, I managed to find my new favourite bet – Henrik Stenson top Norwegian (or even top Swede when offered). His main competition is usually Alex Noren and can usually get this bet at plus odds. I’ll continue this bet on to probably the British Open
June 14, 2018 – What a Sports Day
The World Cup has officially started, as well as the first round of the US Open….. Such a fun day of sports. Russia surprised me with the offensive out burst. The Uruguay / Saudi Arabia Over – Under should be an interesting number. Henrik Stenson had a great first round, Hopefully he keeps it up.
June 11, 2018 – The Value of a Unit
The million dollar question always seems to be, How many units are you betting? How many units are up? The average posted bet is to win $50. So -110 bet $55, -120 bet $60…etc. I understand this doesn’t help if you bet $10, $100 or $2. So going forward all records will include unit balance. Starting with the World Cup. Baseball will start after the All-Star break.
June 4, 2018 – Sports cards and trip down memory lane
Looking to get rid of my 1000’s and 1000’s of sports cards, football, baseball, hockey and UFC. I’ll post them as I come across them. I used to use my organizer on the Beckett site so some list I can export. Take a look. Every offer (email therealyateman@gmail.com) will be responded to quickly. I will be posting memorabilia and DVDs throughout the summer.
June 3, 2018 – Dynasty Football Rankings
Completed my first every fantasy football PPR dynasty rankings. I will be making at the least monthly updates as the summer progresses. I am looking into how to format these better and make it easier to toggle through positions. The meat is there but there basically a work in progress.
May 29, 2018 – Are we really surprised?
Warriors and the Cavailers both come back down 3-2 to advance to yet another NBA Finals. Once Chris Paul went down it seemed inevitable for the Warriors. With the Cavs, I wasn’t really sure. You figured they would win at home but game 7 seemed like a coin toss. Now we wait for some super large lines for a Finals. Game 1 is openings 11 and the Warriors are as high as -1000 to win the series. The fantasy football rankings are coming. Every time I go to post, I find myself making another subtle change. These will be posted this week.
May 25, 2018 – Fantasy Football Rankings
Over the last few weeks i have been compiling my first PPR Dynasty football rankings. My plan is to rank the top 200 players as if i was drafting a dynasty start up right now. Then break it down to sub list of Top 70 Running Backs, Top 80 Wide Receivers, Top 30 Tight Ends, and Top 30 Quarterbacks. Sorry no kickers or defensive special teams will be included in any of these rankings. I draft with the mindset that i will always be streaming these 2 positions. I’m hoping to have these posted by the end of the weekend.
May 24, 2018 – The Stanley Cup
Ovechkin slayed his second dragon last night, first being beating Crosby in the play-offs, the next winning the Eastern Conference Final. Right now they sit +120 to win the Stanley Cup against Vegas. Crazy, I know, An Expansion team is favourite to win the Cup. I see so many similarities with this Capitals team with that of the Indianapolis Colts and their run to Super Bowl XLI. Manning finally beat Brady in the play-offs and won the AFC at the same time. Vegas has been a great story all year. The city has even sold out team practices. But being someone who has always liked Ovechkin over Sid (similar to Manning over Brady), I would enjoy watching his face be handed the cup in early June. What I can’t understand is why game 1 isn’t until Monday. Could you imagine a weekend Stanley Cup play-off game on a weekend in Las Vegas would be like? It’s the NHL doing NHL things, resulting in head scratching. I haven’t been able to find any MVP Props yet. But I wouldn’t mind seeing what Ovi or Holtby are paying. Even if Kuznetsov finishes a top the scoring list, I would still expect Ovi to win the Conn Smythe (that is if Washington wins).
May 23, 2018 – How the Picks are Made
All the lines posted here come from Bet365. Analysis consists of head to head historical data between teams, recent trends and streaks, line up changes that are out of the norm, and lastly the line. I’m a strong believer in betting with a streak than against it. The ride is often more profitable than hoping it ends. It’s hard to bet -200 and higher games and expect to turn a profit. With those lines, every loss equals 4 to 6 wins, that’s a hell of a price in the long run. I usually try to provide a couple of reasons why I’m making the pick. In-Plays are made in real time and posted on twitter. These props and lines change in seconds, no time for an explanation. These bets are usually made when a favourite falls behind early or a pitching dual is going on and the flow of the game has me leaning a certain way. In-Play seems to be the most beneficial during international sports (FIFA, IIHF, FIBA).
May 22, 2018 – Background on TheRealYateman
A 37 year old male from the greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. I learned what gambling was at a young age. Growing up in Ontario it was relatively easy to play proline under age, 25 years ago. A retailer asking for ID wasn’t even thought about. I can remember as young as 14 years old filing out proline forms with my uncle on a full NHL Saturday night schedule. $2 a ticket was a night of excitement. My first part time job at 15 (1996) was in a warehouse with predominately men, this is where the ‘Office Pool’ and spread was introduced. Every Friday afternoon 14 picks against the spread were made. At 19 (2000) my first online account was opened at bowmans.com, which later dissolved and became Bet365. Way before the days of online bank deposits, uncomfortable trips to Western Union were made to deposit, It was 2000 and 2001 when the online fantasy sport boom seem to happen for me. Commissioning several leagues within the warehouse, the need for sports grew at an alarming pace. Over the next few years it seemed mandatory to be in a football, hockey and baseball fantasy league. Sundays now consisted of teasers, parlays and multiple proline tickets. As the internet age approached and smart phones, Sports seemed to be everywhere. A couple of accounts on sportsinteraction, betway, betDSI, and a few others were opened and lines/odds/props compared, but at last Bet365 (Bowmans) was were 99% of bets were placed. Then there’s Twitter. The twitter account was first opened to get up to minute sports information, a source to share picks, see what other people were betting. Now it is solely used to post picks and in-play bets. The purpose of this site is more of A place to track all sports bets, fantasy teams and just to write about sports. The years of reading and reading about sports, stats, trends, the history, I figured it’s time to write my own. Daily sports picks, Fantasy rankings, World Cup previews, etc will all be written on the site. I have no computer science or software background so at times this site will be as archaic as them come. As the knowledge grows, so will the site.