A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– This view of fantasy sports in India is pretty superficial, but it’s still interesting to read about the status our games carry in other countries and what matters to foreign consumers. For instance, NFL football is mentioned among the available fantasy sports, but only after cricket, soccer and Formula One racing.

– Just click here to learn about the Fantasy Farming Beef League. Yeah, seriously.

– Before the Texans beat up Jacksonville in their first Monday Night Football appearance, the Houston Chronicle took a look at the way ESPN now makes Monday Night last pretty much all day.

– The Fantasy Sports Forum blog rounds up and rates some of the stupidest actions among current NFL players.

Fantasy Trophies founder Dave Mitri seems to be making a good business decision by giving one of his handmade products away for free. According to the Washington Times, Mitri is shipping “The Throwback” — the company’s best selling model — to Washington tight end Chris Cooley to be awarded to the winner of Cooley’s fantasy league.

“It’s pretty cool. We’re excited to get it,” Cooley told the Times. “And I will also be excited to award it to myself when I win the league.”

Cooley has distinguished himself among professional as one of those most supportive of and interested in the fantasy game. He gained notoriety when a video of the draft for his league — which also includes several of his teammates as well as Cooley’s wife and the girlfriend of Washington quarterback Jason Campbell — became a YouTube hit earlier this year.

Mitri has been building his fantasy trophies for nearly 16 years and says he has played fantasy sports since 1991. According to the Times article, he has recently grown his business and is now generating publicity at merely the price of one statue ($329). He told the Times that he was drawn to Cooley’s league by the draft video.

“What was cool about his video is that anyone who watched it wouldn’t necessarily know he was a professional athlete,” Mitri was quoted as saying. “He’s totally the kind of guy I could see in my league. I think he’d really get the humor in this, and I’m totally sure that when they get it, they will be blown away.”

In case you haven’t seen the video referenced above, you can check it out below. A few of the highlights for fantasy folks include Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer apparently going fifth overall, the Hallmark moments of Cooley and Campbell drafting each other and these guys being much worse than you are at trying to pick players who have already been drafted. I’d say that Cooley could be the average participant in one of my leagues, but I’d never voluntarily include a guy who subscribes to the slightly askew style of wearing a ballcap.

Sam Hendricks’ Fantasy Football Guidebook earned a nomination as a finalist for a National Best Books 2008 award.Guidebook was one of four final candidates in the “Sports: General” category, in which the prize went to Bob Skura’s How Great Golfers Think: Perfecting Your Mental Game. The honors, presented by USA Book News magazine for the sixth time this year, included more than 500 finalists in more than 150 categories.

Hendricks is a veteran of 18 fantasy football seasons and has also authored the Fantasy Football Almanac. His analysis can be found in preview magazines from Fantasy Index, Fantasy Football Draftbook and Football Diehards and in the weekly “Ask the Expert” colum on fantasyindex.com.