If you’re like me, you probably wait until a week or two before your league’s draft date to start seriously cramming for the new season. This means catching up on offseason player moves, speed reading through “expert” opinions on sleepers, and trying out a few recommended draft strategies at mock draft sites.

But you’re obviously not like me. I mean, you’re reading a fantasy football article in early July so you aren’t exactly the type that needs to cram. Unless you’re in a whacky league that drafts in July, you’ve got two full months to get yourself mentally and physically prepared for the upcoming season.

Here are the top 5 things I’d do in those two months if I were you…and yes, one involves the pretty lady…

5. Take a vacation. First of all, fantasy football is stressful. You need a little break to get your batteries fully charged for the season ahead. Secondly, have you ever taken a vacation during the season? I went on a Caribbean cruise in week 13 last year and internet access fees ended up costing more than my drinks (and I’m a drinker). Of course I told my wife that I was “working” which was half true since I was working hard to make sure I was keeping up with injuries and scores. Luckily our trade deadline had passed…otherwise I would have had a fat cell phone bill too. Don’t go on vacation during the fantasy football season. Go before. Go now!

4. Do something nice for the boss at work and the boss at home. Let’s face it. For any of us to have a legit chance at winning our leagues (I’m talking about leagues where Kickers are not getting drafted in the 8th round), we need to make fantasy football a priority. You know someone in your league is sacrificing their productivity at work and their family time at home to get an edge over YOU. And you know you have to keep up or else you’ll hear this person’s annoying voice talking trash all season long. Get your brownie points with the company boss now so you can coast later. And for your significant other? Hmm, how about killing two birds with one stone by doing #5.

3. Watch some fantasy TV. Yeah, NFL Network and ESPN are on the list of must see TV. Not so much to learn anything brilliant for your draft, but it’s a damn good way to know what EVERYBODY else knows (and thinks). This and ADP (Average Draft Position) data are the key “I know what you’re thinking before you even know what you’re thinking” advantage that you absolutely need to have during the draft. I’d also recommend watching a few fun shows that remind us of how crazy we are about this thing called fantasy sports…and how crazy it makes us. You can watch this funny documentary called Fantasyland for free online. It’s about fantasy baseball, but it’s a riot. You can also watch last season’s episodes of FX’s The League online. Yes, there is a TV series about fantasy football. And if you’re wondering who the hottie in the photo is, she’s the producer of the show. Maybe we’re not so crazy after all.

2. Play some golf or go to church or do both. Sundays are about to get pretty busy, so get as much golf and church in over the next couple months as you can. Or, find a church that has an early morning or night service so you can do both during the season. Trust me, God is watching NFL Ticket too…he’ll forgive you for making a few changes to accommodate fantasy football. Besides, if you’re like me, you’re praying super hard during the games anyway. I even prayed for a missed extra point from my opponent’s kicker one time, and God answered my prayers!

1. Streamline your fantasy research by using FantasyPros.com. If you’ve done all of the above, you probably don’t have much time left to get ready for your draft. Sorry about that. Don’t worry though, as an experienced fantasy research crammer, I thought hard about what would make my cramming a lot easier this year. The products we’re launching in just a few short weeks are all meant to save you a ton of time (and money) in your pursuit of this year’s championship. Here are three of the ways we can help…once we launch!

• Before you read (or buy) fantasy magazines and online draft kits, narrow your sources down to only the best experts. We’ll be announcing who the most accurate fantasy experts are. We’re doing this for FREE and will be providing a lot of additional analysis that you’ll either find helpful or interesting or hopefully both.

• Before you put together a fat folder or spreadsheet of cheatsheets, take a look at our expert consensus rankings. We’re pulling in the draft rankings of the major fantasy experts, and you can even customize the list of experts you want to include in the consensus ranking calculations (based on accuracy ratings or just based on who you personally trust). This is FREE too.

• Before you make that final call between players (you know, the decision that could make or break your season), make sure you check out our side-by-side player comparisons. We instantly show you which player each expert recommends, the expert consensus opinion, the player’s strength-of-schedule (SOS), and any relevant news, articles, and discussions. We call this tool FAST (Fantasy Advice Search Tool) and yup, it’s FREE.

Good luck with your fantasy research this season.  Hopefully you’ll check back in with us once you’re back from vacation. Or, just register now and we’ll ping you when we launch.

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