THE BLOG WISER HOT SEAT: WILL CARROLL

by Rupert and Stan, Ghosts of Wayne Fontes

Today we have a very special guest here at Epic Carnival for this week's edition of the Blog Wiser Hot Seat. If you play fantasy sports, it is absolutely imperative that you get to know Will Carroll. Will is the THE foremost authority on the injury report, graces the likes of just about every respectable sporting news outlet - including Sports Illustrated, Baseball Prospectus, Football Outsiders, Rotowire, and the WWL - and as you'll soon find out, is a brilliant writer to boot. You may also recognize him from his segment on the ESPN Fantasy Show last year. Give it up for William Carroll.

Thanks again for taking the time to chat. It's a pleasure to have you on the show, website, Word document, whatever. We're big fans of your work and routinely find it a great service to fantasy addicts like ourselves.

Ghosts: How long have you been writing about sports and is it all that it's cracked up to be? Your dream job?

I started writing in 2002. I'd taken time off work and thought I was going to write a novel, but ended up twenty or so pages in and did this little email to three friends. It was just a quick newsletter about the days injury and it looked surprisingly like what Under The Knife does today. I was really excited when it expanded and got all the way to 100 people, but then Peter Gammons and Rob Neyer mentioned it and it exploded. At the end of the year, Gary Huckabay approached me about joining BP and, well, I guess the rest is history. I started writing about football as a lark, trying to find some corporate synergy when we started Pro Football Prospectus and that's become nearly as big.

Will Carroll: All it's cracked up to be? Dream job? Absolutely. I watch sports for a living, which is a lot better than working in insurance. Hard work? Frustrating at times? Absolutely as well, but I do the best I can for my readers.

Ghosts: Between SI, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, Football Outsiders, and Rotowire (did I get em all?), how do you keep up? How did you develop such a steady workload?

Will Carroll: Umm, well, I do a lot of radio and some TV as well. I guess I'm both odd in that there's not many people in my niche, I'm not bad on radio or TV, and there's always injuries. I'm also really bad at saying no, which is how I got roped into this interview, right? Keeping up actually isn't a problem, yet, but I'm bumping up against the maximum I can do. I'll be taking on basketball this year, but we'll be handling that in a whole new way.

Ghosts: What is the single best moment in your life as a sports fan? Could be an actual live game, getting autograph, going to a specific ballpark, etc. yup, we know that is a tough call.

Will Carroll: Wow. I was at the Bartman game, but that's not exactly a "best moment." I did some things as a high school athlete, but I remember my coach telling me "don't let this be the best moment of your life." Big buzzkill for a 15 yr old, but very very true. I don't know - just going to the ballpark is pretty good. Having coffee with Peter King. Getting a compliment from Peter Gammons. Talking baseball with Joe Sheehan. There's a lot of really, really good ones.

Ghosts: If you were given the chance to hang out with just one athlete for the day who would it be and why? Keep in mind, this would be on a strictly plutonic level, no gay stuff and totally non-sexual if you pick a female.

Will Carroll: Barry Bonds. He's the most intriguing athlete of our time and no one really gets that chance to see the real him. I'd like to just shadow him for a day during the winter, see who he really is. Won't happen, but whoever ghost writes his eventual book is in for the best assignment a sportswriter could have since ... who was the guy that wrote Ty Cobb's book?

Ghosts: Is OJ guilty?

Will Carroll: I'm as interested in OJ as I am Paris Hilton's sex life.

Ghosts: What do you make of the top 3 Fantasy RB's (LT, Steven Jackson and LJ) struggling enormously out of the gates and who if any of them should bounce back to Top Tier form?

Will Carroll: LT's early - he played two of the best defenses, so if you have a panicking guy in your league, feel free to clean his clock.

Jackson - I think this is some on the team, some on him. 3 of the top 10 RBs struggle and we never know which ones.

LJ - Except for this one. Aaron Schatz and the PFP crew had this one nailed way ahead of everyone else.

Ghosts: Who holds more value Reggie Wayne or Marvin Harrison...for Fantasy purposes?

Will Carroll: Right now, they're equal. Manning will always look back to Harrison in those must have it zones, but Wayne's closer. In a keeper league, Wayne, just because I get the sense that Marvin's going to hang them up soon. He doesn't need football and he has his ring.

Ghosts: Who is in your Top 5 College Football rankings?

Will Carroll: USC and four other teams. One of the sacrifices I've made is that I stopped watching other sports than the ones I covered. College basketball survived the cut, but barely.

Ghosts: Are the Lions for real?

Will Carroll: I think so, if you use an NFL definition. I mean, with any team, you could say "They'll be 8-8" and be off by 1 or 2 with most. The league is built for parity with the schedule. I got roasted here in Indy for saying the Colts would finish 9-7, but saying that doesn't imply that they're not good and not a solid pick for the Super Bowl. The Lions are one of those teams that should finish around 8-8 and have enough offense to make a couple games go their way.

Ghosts: What are your impressions of Epic Carnival?

Will Carroll: Pure genius. If I were to add another writing assignment to my mix, I'd want it to be Epic Carnival. It'd look great on the business card plus it's my fave White Zombie album.

Ghosts: How many Fantasy Football teams do you have and do you have one sleeper and/or stud you feel is going to make or break your season?

Will Carroll: Just two. It was supposed to be three, but one league fell apart at the last second. I'm happiest about getting Sammy Morris in the late rounds of both, but the guy I thought was a "sleeper" was Dallas Clark. If he keeps catching TDs, he'll help. Biggest problem is that I'm 0-2 in both leagues right now, so don't listen to me.

Ghosts: You have become widely known as the authority on the weekly injury report. How on earth did you come to wield such an expertise on NFL injury reports and their fantasy impacts?

Will Carroll: No one else was doing it. The NFL is a massive media machine and they very seriously don't like that I do what I do. Part of it is their fear of gambling and people having advantages, but part of it is that they're used to cowing their media. I had a story killed last year because ESPN did a lot more business with the NFL than I did. I don't blame them for killing it - I couldn't get a source to go on record, even though I was right.

Ghosts: Speaking of, I just shit my pants when I heard about Andre Johnson. What's your take on the knee and how long is he out?

Will Carroll: That's what that smell is. It's not as bad as people think -- two weeks is my best guess. A lot depends on if it was hyperflexion or rotary and my sources are telling me rotary. He comes back in two weeks, but isn't "back" until a couple weeks after. Wait until he has that first bad game back then try and steal him.

Ghosts: Could you share a little insight about your experiences, positive or negative, on the Fantasy Show on ESPN2?

Will Carroll: It was a great experience. Danni Boatwright remains a close friend and working with Ron Jaworski and the rest of that crew? Awesome. How many people get to say they were on TV? I mean, I watched so much ESPN in college that just walking into the Bristol campus was like meeting the pope. I wish it'd lasted, but I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.

Ghosts: Alright, we've struck out with this question every interview, but somebody other than us must watch Lost. If you could hang out with anyone on the island, who would it be and why? You can pick one dame to take back to the hatch and one guy to just kick it with.

Will Carroll: Wow, good question. Kate's the too-obvious answer and Sun's pregnant, so that'd be a little creepy. No good answer on the girl here, but you'd definitely want to take Ben out for some beers and see if you could get some info out of him. He's too creepy to be a good wingman though. Oh wait -- the girl who used to be on "Las Vegas" who parachuted in last season. Does she count?

Ghosts: Growing up, what was your one or two of your guilty pleasure sitcoms/TV series that you may be proud or embarrassed to admit today? For us, we loved Small Wonder and Stan is/was a huge 90210 fan, owns the boxed set.

Will Carroll: Boxed set? That's brutal. My buddy Jenn Sterger would not be down with a guy owning the boxed set, I don't think. I still have a special place in my heart for Kelly Kapowski and I'm not ashamed to admit it, though I wouldn't watch that show now. "Charmed" was addicting though.

Ghosts: What is one "classic" album from the 80's that is a must have in every avid music fans collection.

Will Carroll: Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldn't Stand The Weather" really changed my view of music. What one guy could do with a guitar just stunned me and this was from a guy who nearly worshipped Van Halen. Eddie could make a guitar scream, but Stevie could make it cry.

You sound like our kind of guy. Two of the masters right there. Well, thanks again for joining us and good luck turning around those fantasy teams. It's been a pleasure and we look forward to following your endeavors in the near future. All the best.