Mike Beacom knows that when the FSWA tried to get a hall of fame going previously, things weren’t quite done the right way.

It’s not that anyone was intentionally impeding the process. It’s just that such a project has so many different steps, so many possible methods and so many potential pitfalls that it takes a large amount of time, planning and patience.

The patience has been particularly important, as the whole thing hasn’t always stuck to the initial timeline.

“We took our time to do it right,” said Beacom, the president of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. “Nobody’s going to care a year from now if we’re two weeks or two months behind. They’ll care if we mess it up.”

Doing it right included involving members of the math department at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to craft the voting formula. Beacom said the FSWA set out with the idea that it could combine aspects of the election processes used by the Baseball Writers Association of American and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It seems to be working but might not have without the help of those professional mathematicians (as opposed to the amateur mathematicians that make up a fantasy sports non-profit).

“It was one more step that we took to ensure that we were doing things scientifically,” Beacom said. “We were trying to blend two processes that we thought could work together. They’ve proven that you can make this formula work.”

The pro football segment of the process comes in narrowing candidates down from a list of 40 nominees to the 14 finalists recently announced. Beacom told FSB.com that the first round of voting is designed to produce 15 finalists a year, despite a fluky five-way tie leading to this year’s number.

From there we move to the BBWAA component, in which the 20 Hall committee members can each fill a ballot with as many of the 15 finalists as they like. Anyone who appears on at least 70 percent of the ballots will gain induction.

The committee responsible for that final vote is a group of volunteers — led by chair Robert Burghardt of TG Fantasy Baseball — whose role Beacom spotlights.

“I can’t stress enough how important that committee is,” he said. “Robert has done an unbelievable job. They all admitted it was more work than they imagined.”

Those ballots will be turned in over the next week, with the class to be announced on Sept. 9, opening day of the NFL season.

The FSWA announced earlier this week the first-ever set of finalists for its new hall of fame. On Friday, the organization published some of the reasons that those 14 men were selected.

You can go to FSWA.org to read the full entry for each nominee, but here are most of the facts. FSB.com has also told the stories of many of these candidates in profiles. Other members of this class will no doubt follow.

The induction class is expected to be announced Sept. 9.

Greg Ambrosius
– Became editor of Fantasy Baseball Magazine in 1989
– ESPN.com’s first fantasy sports writer in 1996
– Founding member of what became the FSTA (president from 2002 to 2006)
– Creator of NFFC and NFBC, which are now owned by Fanball

Matthew Berry
– Started out as a RotoWorld columnist in 1999
– Created TalentedMrRoto.com in 2004, a site that not only propelled his rise but launched the careers of some other prominent fantasy analysts
– Joined ESPN in 2007 when it acquired TMR and now serves as basically the national face for fantasy sports

William Del Pilar
– Co-founded KFFL.com in 1997 and helped drive innovations in fantasy player news and content delivery
– Sold KFFL to Fantasy Sports Ventures in 2006

Scott Engel
– Started with Sportsline.com back in the 1990s, moving to CBS Sports when the two merged in 2000
– 2004 took him over to another little startup named ESPN
– 2008 brought the association with the launch of RotoExperts, for which he now serves as managing director

Dan and Kelly Grogan
– Together, they established the first football-dedicated fantasy mangazine, Fantasy Football Eval, in 1986, which later became Grogan’s Fantasy Football Analyst
– Played a large role in introducing fantasy sports magazines to retailers, who now carry myriad fantasy titles annually
– Sold Grogan Sports to Athlon in 2006, combining a trusted fantasy brand with a well-known brand for general sports info

Bob Harris
– Created the TFL Report in 1993, a newsletter that included fax updates
– A tireless writer and editor who has helped discover and promote various writers throughout the industry
– One of the driving forces behind (and out in front of) Football Diehards

Emil Kadlec
– Rolled out Fantasy Football Pro Forecast magazine in 1990
– Created Fantasy Sports Publications (FSP.net) in 1996
– Co-founded the World Championship of Fantasy Football in 2003
– Launched Football Dihards in 2004
– Co-founder and current vice president of the FSWA

Eric Karabell
– A name synonymous with ESPN fantasy coverage, Karabell has written since 1997

Greg Kellogg
– Kellogg’s Komments (which began in the mid-1990s) was at the forefront of incorporating statistical analysis into fantasy writing
– Helped build FoxSports.com’s fantasy section
– Can now be heard multiple times weekly on The Fantasy Sports Channel at BlogTalkRadio.com

James Quintong
– Formerly wrote for SportsIllustrated.com
– Joined ESPN.com’s staff during its most recent expansion
– Helped create avenues for other fantasy writers to get published on the well-known sites for which he worked
– Charter member of the FSWA board of directors

Brendan Roberts
– One of the creators of The Sporting News’ Fantasy Source
– Moved to ESPN in 2007, where he serves as an editor for Insider content

Peter Schoenke
– Co-founder of RotoNews in 1997, which introduced the now near-universal template for player updates
– Co-founder of Roto Sports Inc. (parent company of RotoWire.com, among other outlets) in 2001

Ron Shandler
– Created Baseball Forecaster in 1986, which was at the forefront of baseball’s advanced-stats revolution
– Created BaseballHQ.com in 1996 (which is now owned by Fantasy Sports Ventures)
– Co-founded Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prominent “experts” competition platforms

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

– What has Gary Busey been up to on the rare occasion he steps away from Twitter? He got a new name, a new law degree and is helping professional athletes collect on fees they haven’t been receiving from us fantasy owners … all in the name of selling Vitamin Water. Meet Norman Tugwater.

– The most recent Fantasy Sports Writers Association newsletter announced the plan for “launching a new website that focuses on fantasy football in a unique and innovative way.” In the words of FSWA president Mike Beacom, “This is not your typical fantasy football site but one that has potential to change the fantasy football landscape.” Interested writers with daily availability to produce content throughout the season can contact jsf1111@gmail.com (Josh).

– Pro Football Focus is looking for “stat-oriented” writers to add to its recently built-out fantasy section, especially those with the ability to cover individual defensive players. Writers will get access to PFF’s player stats and ratings data, which requires a subscription otherwise.

– World Fantasy Games is on the lookout for fantasy hockey and fantasy basketball folks looking to make their way into the industry. Contact some dude named Matt Schauf if you’re interested.

– Just as it has for the past couple of seasons in football, the FSWA will ask its membership this year to vote on the top fantasy performers in baseball. The ballot will be put together between now and the end of the season, with the winners to be announced during the World Series.

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

Does fantasy sports writing qualify as journalism? Do fantasy writers or outlets care about or even know many of the tenets of journalism? Do they think that readers care?

These are some of the questions that Ithaca College journalism professor Mead Loop has been seeking to answer with his research into the practices of fantasy writers and any rules they are either encouraged to follow or impose upon themselves.

“I’m studying what guides decision-making in fantasy sports writing, from written and unwritten codes of ethics to editors, audiences and attribution,” Look told FSB.com.

Results from the first round of surveying and studying done along with fellow professor Ryan Parkhurst centered on the attribution practices of fantasy writers and outlets, particularly focusing on Yahoo! and Sporting News.

The second series of survey questions was rolled out in the May Fantasy Sports Writers Association newsletter and remains live. Although this tends to be a particularly busy time of year for those of us who spend anywhere from too much to way too much time studying fantasy, I can attest to the survey taking no more than 15 minutes. Culling the results from studies such as this can only help to legitimize our pursuit — and/or show us what we might be able to do better.

Find the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSWA