A roundup of items recently posted on the FSB News page.

– As he points out, Rob Neyer was hired 15 years ago by Starwave to edit fantasy content for the initial iteration of ESPN.com. On Monday, he produced his final piece for ESPN.

– Sprint ID devices earlier this month launched the ESPN Pack, which enables fantasy-team management on the go, among other things.

– To anyone familiar with his fantasy prowess, it should come as no surprise that Meat Loaf knocked off Jerry Cantrell to win the ESPN-publicized Alice In Chains & Friends Fantasy Football Charity League.

– Tony Windis and his girlfriend will be finishing their 2010 football season in Dallas this weekend at the Super Bowl, thanks to Windis’ victory in the World Championship of Fantasy Football. Oh yeah, he’ll have $300,000 to kick around as well.

– The Fantasy Fishing game from FLW Outdoors gained immediate attention by handing out $1 million grand prizes in each of its first two seasons before dipping to a $50,000 top amount last year. The 2011 season opened recently and will close with a $100,000 lead prize.

– Even if ice fishing ain’t necessarily your bag (baby), this guy has the right idea with creating a fantasy-type scoring system for other activities in your life. After all, that’s how all these fantasy sports got their start anyway.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to matt.schauf@worldfantasygames.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).

Back home from the latest Fantasy Sports Trade Association winter conference, we’ll have material over the next few days covering some of the stuff learned.

At the end of a Wednesday gobbled up by travel and family time, though, we’ll pass along the winners of the most recent set of FSTA awards (in bold):

MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Grid Iron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft Fantasy Football Weekly app
RotoWorld — Draftmaster software; Season Pass; Online Fantasy Draft Guides
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
Head2Head Sports — Injury/Bye Protection
RotoExperts.com — Fantasy Grinder
RotoWire.com — Fantasy Football Draft Kit (mobile)
FantasyPros
LeagueSafe
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010

MOST INNOVATIVE CONTEST
RotoExperts.com — Upset Challenge
World Fantasy Games — RapidDraft
Athlon — Pro+College Fantasy Football
NFL.com — Fantasy Playoff Challenge

MOST OUTSTANDING AD
NFL.com — TV spot
MyFantasyLeague.com — print ad
RapidDraft.com (World Fantasy Games) — Week 17 Twitter mock draft
ESPN — campaigns for fantasy baseball, Tournament Challenge and fantasy football
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion

MOST OUTSTANDING CONTEST
NFL.com
FanDuel
CBSSports.com — Free Fantasy Football
World Fantasy Games
Fanball.com — Diamond Challenge Fantasy Baseball
WCOFF

MOST UNIQUE/OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT or CONTEST
Baseball HQ — First Pitch Forums
WCOFF
NFL.com — Fantasy Live webcast
Head2Head — The Draft 2010
FanDuel — Fantasy Football Championship
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — RapidDraft Weekly

UNIQUE AD
NFL.com — “Dots” TV spot
FootballDiehards.com — print-Web promotion
RapidDraft.com (WFG) — Twitter mock draft

MOST VALUABLE CONTENT
Fantasy Sherpa
CBSSports.com
RotoWorld
ESPN
RotoExperts
Baseball HQ
RotoWire
The Huddle
XML Team
RapidDraft News (WFG)
NFL.com
FFSpin.com
FFToolbox.com
GodfatherofFantasySports.com (Charlie Wiegert’s blog)

MOST VALUABLE TOOL
RotoLab
NFL.com — Bloomberg Decision Maker; NFL.com Fantasy Tour
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis — scoutPRO
Fantasy Football Crystal Ball
RotoExperts.com
RapidDraft.com — Fantasy Football Weekly app
CBSSports.com — Fantasy Football Commissioner
RTSports.com — online draft room
Fantistics — Fantasy Draft Assistance Tool: Baseball; Football
RotoWorld — DraftMaster
MyFantasyLeague.com
Advanced Sports Media — Draft Analyzer

ROOKIE of the YEAR
FFSpin.com
FaGames
NFL.com — Fantasy Football 2010
FantasyPros
Competitive Sports Analysis
Gridiron Fantasy Sports — VuFantasyFootball.com
Joe Namath (World Fantasy Games)

Whatever the story of the winning owner in your fantasy football league or contest, there’s a good chance Nathan Harrington has it beat.

The Salem, Mass., man had no permanent home during football season. He had no consistent computer access. He had no ability to work because of a car accident. What he did have, though, was a dream fantasy season.

“It was a ton of bad luck and good luck all rolled into one,” Harrington told the The Salem News, after winning ESPN’s fantasy football grand prize.

In fall 2009, he was in a car accident that, according to The Salem News, “left Harrington with nerve damage and unable to work.” A year later, the apartment building in which the 33-year-old lived with his fiancee and their 3-year-old son was deemed unlivable because of rat infestation, and they had to leave. Harrington and his family had to move into a motel and leave his computer in storage.

Because his team sat among ESPN’s top 50 early in the season, though, he stuck with it.

“My fantasy football was the one thing that kind of seemed to be going right at the time,” Harrington told the paper. “There was a lot to be upset about, but the one thing that was steady and heading in a positive direction was the fantasy football. So I thought I might as well stick with it and ride it out. Thank God I did.”

Well, thank God and some tremendous roster decisions. Knocking on strangers’ doors at the motel, jumping online at the nursing home in which his father lives, using his mother’s computer and making stops at the public library, Harrington managed 26 transactions during the season and carried many key 2010 players.

Arian Foster? Drafted.

Dwayne Bowe? Acquired early in trade, as was Adrian Peterson.

Brandon Lloyd? Claimed off waivers.

His final 0.8-point margin of victory, though, came thanks to starting Tim Tebow — of all people — in an improbable three-touchdown performance (two passing, one rushing) in Week 17 against the Chargers.

Of course, this isn’t a story of big fantasy money saving the Harrington family. His prize was a $3,500 Best Buy gift card, which he’s reportedly selling to his mom for $2,500. (One might wonder: If Mom can go for that deal, why wasn’t she helping previously?) Harrington did say he plans to use that money to move into a new apartment.

He also won’t have to worry about his wife-to-be getting on his case about fantasy football.

“[My fiancee] laughs about it now, but there were times when she was really mad at me,” Harrington told The Salem News. “[She] says she’s never going to say a word about fantasy football when I’m on the computer again.”

(Cop out: We choose not to judge whether her beef might have been legit, as it’s tough to know what Harrington’s other options were during that time.)

You might think that the few lucky folks who make their livings as fantasy sports writers and analysts simply spend all their time talking, thinking and writing about this stuff.

That’s not always the case, but it certainly is this week for the ESPN fantasy staff, which is preparing its 2011 baseball rankings. For the first time, they also plan to give the public a glimpse into the process and a virtual seat at the table via Cover It Live.

Per ESPN’s James Quintong …

Fans talk about how fantasy writers have the greatest job in the world, because all they do is sit around and look up stats and spout off their opinions. Most of the time, we take issue with that and emphasize how much hard work goes into everything.

But not this time.

On Wednesday, Jan. 19, and Thursday, Jan. 20, the ESPN fantasy team is holding its annual fantasy baseball rankings summit. For two days, we gather to debate the merits and warts of hundreds of players, lob insults at each other and generally have a good ol’ time. At the end of it, we come out of the room with the framework of the rankings and projections we will be sharing with you in early February.

The proceedings got underway at 9:15 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday and will carry on through most of the day and Thursday.