Name: Tom Merrick

Home: Philadelphia, PA

Credentials:
1. Fantasy Football junkie since 1991.
2. Have won almost every year in all of my leagues.
3. Sat with Dan Rooney at his niece's wedding last winter.
4. Have studied more football stats than engineering at Drexel.

Keys to FF Success:
1. Prepare for your draft with Value Based Drafting!
2. Stick with your best lineup throughout the season, don't try to make too many changes with your weekly lineup.
3. Get Marshall Faulk, he's good.
4. Of course, get advice from Footballguys.com.

Quote: "Me winning isn't, you do." - Ty Webb, Caddyshack

Pre-game Ritual: Check the internet for any last minute player updates on Footballguys.com. Flip between all of the NFL pregame shows while listening to the FAN's Mike Francesa's NFL Now radio show.


Favorite Players/Team:

Eagles/Steelers - Tie - What do you expect? I'm from Philly and I'm a close personal friend of Dan Rooney - well, not really.

Jerry Rice - Epitomizes class, work ethic, being a role model, just loves playing the game.

Marshall Faulk - I've been riding him to championships since his 2000 total yard season in Indy. Gotta love his acceleration and moves.

Donovan McNabb - More attached weapons than any quarterback in the game (Kurt Warner's weapons are his teammates).

Jeff George - In the right system, with that arm, awesome.

If I were Paul Tagliabue I would:
1. Allow the players to celebrate again.
2. Make the Eagles spend some of their money.
3. Take away two preseason games and add two regular season games.

Dream Jobs: Writing for Footballguys.

Best Call of 2001: They were all good calls for me last year. But if I had to pick, it would be a tie between not playing the Steelers D late in the season last year (would not have made the championship game last year because of their bad performance in week 16 against the Bungles) and picked up Marcus Pollard early in the season.

Redraft or Keeper? Keeper. I love building a team and watching it grow, year after year. It makes rookies that much more valuable each year. Oh yeah, I have built my keeper league team of Marshall Faulk, Terrell Owens, Daunte Culpepper, Marvin Harrison, Isaac Bruce, Jimmy Smith and Corey Dillon through the draft, so I'm partial.

Ginger or MaryAnn? MaryAnn, easy choice.