Fantasy Information Overload: Is More Really Better?

For many fantasy enthusiasts, information overload has hindered their effectiveness. We are constantly overwhelmed with information that it becomes increasingly difficult to draw conclusions and make tough decisions. But before we address how to relieve ourselves from the noise surrounding us, we must have a clear understanding of what information overload is, and isn’t.

Wikipedia defines Information Overload as "Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur."

Information overload is … 
- Radio Talk Show personalities pontificating about recent events that do not correlate to success on the football field. 
- Sports Television analysts citing cherry picked statistics that suit their narrative. 
- Your friends, family, and co-workers who misquote the radio and TV personalities. 
- Everyone on Social Media who regurgitates what they read and hear and then argues with each other about it. 
- Reports of off the field issues and contract disputes

Information overload isn’t … 
- Blogs with well-supported stances who aim to be unbiased
- Player profile updates
- Historical Stats and Splits
- Depth Chart and Roster Changes

- Injury Reports

Why is information overload an issue for fantasy owners? Mainly because the human mind has a small capacity for memorizing stats, projections, ADP's etc. Ironically, we throw ourselves into every sports debate, devour every contract dispute, ingest every projection and roll our eyes at every holdout. Now all of those things are more so entertainment than research. At the end of the day, you will not be able to recall 90 percent of the who, what, when, where and why.

So, if we can't remember it, why spend so much time, consuming information that is not crucial to fantasy football success? If gathering information that renders you unable to remember any of it then how will you ever become a maven of fantasy sports? Or a better question is how does one become a maven?

The solution to all this is two-prong. The first being that they are in fact knowledgeable and for the most part accurate. Secondly, they use the same skill-set to evaluate all talent and their opportunities. For example, a scout can see a great talent in Randy Moss, Terell Owens or Antonio Brown by focusing on their hands, speed off the line and lateral quickness. This method of appraisal never goes out of style.

Scouts don't get caught up in the things that don't matter much such as: what shoe company an athlete signs with, nonsensical NFL fines or what place they finished on Dancing With The Stars. Any information that does not have a direct correlation with production on the football field is immediately dismissed. The best fantasy owners have a myopic focus on what matters most and ignore nearly everything else.

If you are looking to jump start your success on the virtual gridiron you need to be very picky with what information you allow to manifest in your mind. Allow target percentage to trump the twitter-sphere drama.

There seems to be a great deal of cognitive dissonance when it comes to fantasy related information. Owners believe that the more information you have at your disposal, the better it will serve you. Inversely, too much information forces the important nuances of the game to be lost among the sea of noise.

"Unless you have the mindset, skill set does not matter" - Tim Grover