Name: Scott Engel
Nickname: “The King”
Job title(s): managing director, RotoExperts.com
Full-time in fantasy? Yes, since 1996
Age: 44
Education: B.A. in journalism, Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus
Family status: Married to Victoria, 16-year old son, Sean.
Favorite fantasy sport to play: Football
Favorite sport to watch: NFL
Favorite team (any sport): New York Mets
All-time favorite athlete: Bernard King
Years playing fantasy: Since the early ’90s, but much earlier if you count games like Strat-o-Matic.

I got my start in the fantasy industry when: I was hired at CBS Sportsline in the winter of 1996 and joined their fantasy department to help in many areas.

Since then, my fantasy résumé includes: Eight years at CBS Sportsline: served as managing editor and senior writer. Four years at ESPN as a fantasy writer, analyst and associate editor. Joined RotoExperts.com in July of 2008. Original executive committee member of the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association and named 2006 Fantasy Football Writer of the Year. Inducted to Fantasy Sports Writers Association hall of fame in 2010 as part of the inaugural class. Host of the “RotoExperts” morning show on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio.

Three questions

1) How did the fantasy scene of 1996, when you were with CBS Sportsline, compare with that of today? What do you see as the pros and cons of each landscape?

It was so new and exciting then, and I was able to help heavily shape the future of a great company in one of its most important departments. Early on, though, fantasy sports was viewed as an afterthought that didn’t need much attention overall. That thinking changed in a major way over the years, and it was so exciting to be part of the rise from a tiny section on the site to a major component of a successful corporation. Today, I’m back as part of another fast-rising company, enjoying that thrilling growth spurt all over again. It was more challenging in recent years to crack the industry, obviously, but with the right model and people, you can still make a major dent, as RotoExperts has proved.

2) With so many people analyzing and writing about fantasy football and so much luck factoring into the game itself, what does it take to be a truly good fantasy football analyst?

You must not go by numbers alone and realize there are so many other factors that can contribute to performances — emotions, rivalries, and a lot more. Plus, you must be able to write well and have in-depth knowledge of individual sports. Many potential prospects in the industry do one or the other well, hopefully they learn to combine the two.

3) Why did you leave ESPN, and what drew you to RotoExperts?

Working at ESPN was, at the time, reaching the top of the mountain in my career. It was like running out of the tunnel in the NFL when I first arrived there. It was a thrilling, unforgettable period in my life. Yet I thirsted for more creativity and avenues to share my experience with a company that wanted to meet the challenges of trying to crack the industry. Nothing ever matched the thrill ride of being with CBS Sportsline from the beginning and being part of that growth process. With RotoExperts, I saw the same kind of visions and people who wanted to scale great heights and believed in themselves. It was great being with ESPN, which was like a rock legend playing stadiums. Yet RotoExperts was the band I saw in a local club and knew they would be famous, and I wanted to get in early on the ride to stardom.

In well less than three years, I’ve already seen the RotoExperts audience grow in major ways, and we are ready to rock the fantasy world for years to come. I am actually playing on bigger stages than I did at ESPN, and RotoExperts now draws large audiences as its own popular fantasy act. I grew up wanting to be in KISS, and RotoExperts is the fantasy equivalent: unique, groundbreaking and unmatched for excitement. Joining forces with RotoExperts CEO Louis M. Maione was like meeting and joining up with Gene Simmons, they both are history-making visionaries with incredible work ethics. We already have churned out big hits like our significant presence on Sirius XM’s fantasy sports channel and partnership with NFL.com as an exclusive fantasy content provider. We have more to come, including our totally groundbreaking Sports Grinder product and Upset Challenge game. Rock and roll!

You might have thought that Ray Lewis couldn’t get much more ridiculous than his spastic pregame dance and manic shouting (or maybe that was just me). You might have thought that Old Spice ads couldn’t get much sillier.

If that was the case, you were very wrong …

The tie-in here is that the spot takes a tongue-in-cheek shot at fantasy. Fortunately, the ad itself makes return fire thoroughly unnecessary.

Here’s hoping Lewis doesn’t actually show up to his day job in that bubble dress anytime soon.

FF Spin and Fantasy Football Crystal Ball kicked off its affiliation with USA Today by revealing Wednesday that Yahoo! led the way in its study of 2009 weekly player recommendations.

Yahoo! beat out a field of 10 fantasy sites to present the most accurate overall set of weekly position rankings, as measured by FF Spin and Fantasy Football Crystal Ball. Yahoo! took top honors for the season at wide receiver and team defense and reportedly edged KFFL for the overall prize. Fantasy Football Cafe, FF Today and FF Toolbox rounded out the top five.

“The overall winner was determined by a weighted average based on the cumulative results across all categories, a ’secret sauce’ of sorts,” FF Spin co-founder Scott Pashley wrote in the post on USA Today’s Fantasy Joe site. “Notably, two websites, FFToolbox.com and KFFL.com, actually outperformed the overall winner in one important category — top-five finishes by position. Each tallied five top-five finishes among the six categories tracked.”

JunkyardJake.com scored best at projecting quarterbacks, FF Today at running back and kicker, and FF Cafe with tight ends.

Throughout this season, the two “expert”-tracking outfits will be collaborating to present weekly grades at Fantasy Joe.

Eddie Royal isn’t the only NFL player using social media to gather a fantasy football league.

Eagles tight end Brent Celek — a rising fantasy commodity himself — has spent the summer recruiting 11 fans to compete against him in fantasy this season.

The initial post back on July 24 makes it appear the idea just kind of cropped up rather than being the product of any particular planning. It also, however, aimed to engage his followers on Facebook and Twitter right from the start.

“I’m thinking of having u all submit videos on here explaining why i should pick u to be in my league.. any other ideas?” Celek posted.

He did follow other ideas, adding his first leaguemate the same way Royal did — the simple method of “Who can respond to this message first?” Celek did start to have a bit more fun after that, though, offering the next spot to the first person to post a photo of the subject wearing Celek’s No. 87 jersey and standing by a stop sign. The winner managed to be selected just 8 minutes later … just in case we didn’t know that the public hangs on the words of athletes/celebrities (scoffs the guy writing an article about some football player filling a fantasy league).

Spot 3 was uninspiringly awarded to another fan who posted a photo of himself in an Eagles jersey (though he at least got a bit creative).

The next two apparently went to fans who successfully bored Celek to death with videos.

Position 6 called for commenters to describe why it will be the Eagles’ year, eliciting 336 comments. The winner (Rishi Sugla) posted three different times and appeared to finally win by presenting a quick Celek biography from Wikipedia info. (Tough to say he didn’t actually win for his name, though.)

Spot 7 went to a groom wearing an Eagles vest and singing the team’s fight song at his wedding.

The eighth guy somehow failed to annoy Celek enough with his fight-song rendition to be eliminated.

And that’s where Celek’s league stands, more than three weeks after his last selection. The tight end did promise Monday night, however, to fill the remaining three slots on Tuesday. Royal, of course, went to an eBay auction to raise $810 for charity in filling his final spot.

A similar method would seem an obvious choice for Celek, who already has his own foundation. Brent Celek’s Take Flight Foundation seeks to “provide seriously ill and physically challenged children throughout Greater Philadelphia with daily support and life changing experiences,” with an admirable goal of helping 2 million children by 2013.

Celek provides yet another example of the willingness of some athletes to engage fans directly via the still relatively new social-media channels now available. The fact that he chose fantasy also shows once again the prominence of our games at the highest level of the sports scene that drives them.

No matter how silly the resulting Facebook videos or how excruciatingly long the summarizing FSB.com posts, here’s hoping we see more examples of this kind of interaction. It can be fun and rewarding for all involved.