Standing Up for Yourself Against Bullies
Warning- this article is for mature audiences only. Strong Language and some videos showing violence are used. Parental discretion is advised.
There’s an account on Twitter called Fantasy Receipts. Maybe you’ve heard of them? And then again, maybe you haven’t? They have a lot of fans. However, I’m not one of them. At one time I thought they had a useful purpose, but I was wrong. I think the guy who runs Fantasy Receipts is a guy named Mike. Call it a gut feeling. Note, we know it’s a guy because he did a show on YouTube. However, even if I’m wrong, both Fantasy Receipts and Mike acted like jerks. The guy who runs Fantasy Receipts claims their mission is to go after fantasy football analysts because they're not accountable with their takes and because they brag about their calls. His words, not mine. He also said he does it for entertainment. He cares about growing his followers. The problem is, he's full of it! And he came after me and went behind my back. That’s right. He didn’t even have the guts to let me know by tagging me on my bad call. I discovered it by accident. Unfortunately for him, I own my takes. And I don’t brag about them on Twitter. My fantasy predictions are listed on my website. And once the season starts, I leave them up, permanently. Yes, that includes prior seasons. So, his whole argument of being the guardian of fantasy analyst nonsense on Twitter is complete bs!
He also said that analysts shouldn't take themselves too seriously, which if anyone has ever read my articles, knows that I do not. I literally poke fun of myself in many of them. I mean, after all, it's fake football. How serious can it be? However, there's a line, it’s not even a fine one, between entertainment & being a bully. That line was crossed. This form of bullying doesn’t take place in a school yard. No, instead this happens over social media websites like Twitter, online forums, and over digital devices such as cell phones. It’s called cyberbullying. Maybe bullying isn’t the right word? Perhaps, I should have named the title of this article, Standing Up for Yourself Against Assholes? I don’t know, I guess bullying sounds classier, but you get the general idea. The main issue is when Fantasy Receipts tweets an analyst’s bad prediction on their account, they’re inferring that fantasy analysts, myself included, are awful at their job. This isn’t good natured ribbing from buddies. He’s serious. These are meant to be insults. Anyway, I took issue with that and after I called him out on his bs, he refused to admit that he acted inappropriately or even had the guts to apologize. He and his "team" seem to think that it's okay to insult others for their entertainment purposes. Note, I’m not sure if he even has a “team”, but if he does, they’re just as guilty as he is. I’ve got news for him, he’s not funny. And he’s not entertaining. He’s a gutless chicken. That's all he is. And that’s all he’ll ever be.
He insults people from behind a keyboard to make himself feel big and important because he lacks the confidence and self-esteem to put himself out there. He’d rather take the easy route and blurt out snarky insults, with the sole purpose being to humiliate folks after their predictions don’t pan out. And he does this for his own entertainment, repeatedly. Honestly, this is grade school shit. But he screwed up. This time he messed with the wrong guy.
Unlike this troll, I could care less how many followers I have. I don’t write for followers or to be popular. I write for me. I like creating something informative and interesting, while showing my personality in my articles. It’s important to note that while some fantasy analysts are paid well, I’m not one of them. In fact, I don’t get paid a dime. I lose money because the website I use charges an annual fee. That’s right, so unless my situation changes, this is strictly a hobby for me. And just like with any job, there is only so much bs people are willing to put up with. It’s a simple formula, the more you get paid, the more bs you’re willing to endure. And since I’m not getting paid anything, I’m not willing to put up with anything. I have a simple motto on my Twitter account which states….No trolls, be respectful or you’re gone. It’s not just a motto, but a code by which I live my life. I treat others with respect, unless they give me a reason not to. And I expect to be treated with respect in return.
I’ve known jerks like this my entire life. I went to school with plenty of them. I was bullied as a kid. But I’m not a frightened, one-hundred lbs. child anymore. I’m a man now, who just doesn’t care anymore. And the way to deal with bullies is simple, you stand up to them.
And before any of his fans come after me, riddle me this.... which one of us has put himself out there? Me with my takes, which are up on my website or him, hiding behind his Fantasy Receipts account, wearing a mask and having his voice disguised on a YouTube video like a frightened turtle? Yeah, that’s right. Your so called “hero” did that. And he said in the video, “We’re all adults here.” Really? You think so? Because I don’t know too many adults who troll people on Twitter and then are so frightened of their identity being revealed that they need to wear a mask and have their voice disguised on a YouTube video, haha!
Here’s another question for the class, which one of us has admitted to being wrong? Me on my bad call (even though I never boasted about it on Twitter, like some brash analysts) or him, for being a jackass? And like I mentioned earlier, once the season starts, I keep my fantasy predictions up on this website, permanently. You’ll notice that this guy never admits to being wrong, ever. And supposedly this troll has a team of three who handles that account. Who knows how many burner accounts they use to pile on analysts that they want to humiliate? And that doesn’t even consider the countless trolls who are attracted to his snarky Twitter profile like moths to a light. I have no team at my website. It’s just me here. And I don’t have any burner accounts on Twitter. However, I do have a platform here, and I’m damn well going to use it to stand up for myself. I mean if I don’t, who will? And to those who think that I’m soft, my response is, I’m not the one who started this. And I’m not the one who needs to insult others, on a Twitter account, to feel good about himself. He’s the soft one. I was minding my own business. That said, if someone starts something with me, then I’m going to finish it.
Here’s another interesting observation, how come Fantasy Receipts doesn’t post receipts of Matthew Berry? I mean, Matthew is the biggest rock star in the industry. I’m barely a speck on the fantasy football map. I’ll admit that I don’t check Fantasy Receipts’ account regularly, but I don’t remember seeing any of Matthew’s fantasy predictions that didn’t pan out ever being tweeted by Fantasy Receipts. I mean, shouldn’t we have seen something by now? Fantasy Receipts’ account has been up on Twitter for several years. Matthew has been an analyst long before me. He’s been on television for ESPN and NBC, and has millions of followers. He’s gotten paid millions of dollars, and rightfully so, I might add. He’s a very good analyst and an incredibly talented writer, in my opinion. And just for the record, I don’t think Matthew should be trolled either. I’m just making a point. When I said Fantasy Receipts is a phony, I got trolled by them. However, when people at Matthew’s company, Fantasy Life, said Fantasy Receipts is childish and they don’t want any part of it, Fantasy Receipts said on the podcast show (and I’m paraphrasing here), “That’s fine, to each their own.” Of course, don’t take my word for it, see the video below around the 33:53 mark of the show, from Fantasy Receipts himself. Notice how Fantasy Receipts doesn’t insult the folks at Fantasy Life or Matthew. Honestly, it sounds like he asked for their permission to tweet their misses and they refused. Funny, nobody asked for my permission. They just went and trolled me. Why did Fantasy Receipts ask for permission from Matthew’s team? The reason is simple, Matthew won’t stand for this crap. He’d crush them like a bug on the air. And he’d be right to do so.
Fantasy Receipts also doesn’t go after fantasy analysts who cover IDP predictions. His words, not mine (go to 5:40 of the video below). Why is that? Hmnn…pretty much whoever he doesn’t like, or whoever he’s not afraid of, is who he goes after. That’s your hero. That’s not exactly the harbinger of truth and justice. Nah, instead that’s called being biased, This is someone who launches personal attacks, folks. That’s exactly what’s happening. Fantasy Receipts is completely full of it. He has no credibility as the so called “moral compass” of the fantasy industry. He’s a con artist and he’s taking you for a ride.
In addition, it’s my belief that this piece of manure went at me twice for the same bad call I had. First, he highlighted my bad take on Fantasy Receipts, without even tagging me on it. Yeah, that’s another thing he said Fantasy Receipts was about. He wanted to know what analysts were thinking at the time they made their call. Well, how are you going to know what I was thinking if you don’t tag me on your tweet or ask me about it? Yeah, he lied about that one too. Are you sensing a pattern here? He lies, a lot! And then, Mike used his personal Twitter account to make a sarcastic remark under that same thread. Are you serious? I don’t see anything noble about that. Also note, that this jerk is middle aged. He's not even young and immature. There is no excuse, whatsoever for this behavior.
He's not entertaining. He's not cool. And he's sure as hell not tough. You want tough? My dad was tough. My dad went toe-to-toe with terminal pancreatic cancer and didn’t flinch. He never cried when he had every right too. He didn’t wallow about his prognosis or feel sorry for himself. He faced death with stoic bravery, pride, and courage. My dad fought cancer until his last breath and didn't cry about it like some tool who bullies folks behind an anonymous Twitter account. My dad was entertaining. He had a great sense of humor, and he never belittled anyone at their expense for a laugh. My dad was my hero and a great person. He made the world a better place. The person who runs Fantasy Receipts is coward and a jerk. He adds nothing to the world or to our fantasy community.
And if any of his fans, including the ones in the fantasy football industry, don't like what I’ve said about your precious “hero”, you can get bent too! Nate, who is co-owner of another fantasy football website, not only defended Mike, but talked down to me after I reached out to him. Nate also said, “He knows who is running the Fantasy Receipts account and that I was way off with my accusation.” Of course, he wouldn’t reveal who he is. First question, how would Nate know who he is? Second question, why is Nate protecting the troll behind the Fantasy Receipts account? Maybe Nate is involved with the Fantasy Receipts account too? And then again, maybe he isn’t? At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter. Nate has been permanently blocked from my Twitter account. Nate is part of the problem. And the rest of the fantasy community that protects and worships this Fantasy Receipts jerk is part of the problem too! I don’t want phonies like Nate as one of my followers. And I sure as hell don’t need them! I only want true friends and respectful, decent people in my life. No phonies allowed. The fantasy football community needs to stop enabling jerks like him. You’re rewarding his toxic behavior. And that’s what it is, toxic. He thinks he has a license to be an asshole without suffering any consequences. I’ve got news for you, he doesn’t! All the fantasy community is doing right now is feeding his ego. There’s nothing noble about belittling and humiliating someone for your entertainment. When the community allows this behavior to happen, it sets a bad precedent. When one person treats you poorly, then others think they can do the same. People only treat you poorly if you allow it to happen. I don’t allow it to happen, and I don’t think others should allow it either. You need to stop worshipping this tool and see him for who he really is. He’s an asshole and a coward, nothing more.
And as hard as it may be for some folks to believe, I’ve actually gotten some fantasy calls right, too (as well as other analysts). Is Fantasy Receipts going to post those? Of course not. He forgot to highlight those predictions. Did Fantasy Receipts mention my Jameson Williams sleeper pick last summer? Jameson had a Fantasy Pros Consensus Ranking (Half-Point PPR) at WR 45 back in August 2024 when many fantasy analysts wrote him off as a bust. I ranked him at WR 21. He finished at WR 19. How about my Isiah Pacheco sleeper call his rookie year? Nah, he didn’t mention that one either. Pacheco was a seventh-round pick, who many analysts didn’t even think would make the team. They thought I was nuts when I ranked him as a Top 30 RB, especially since Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the starting RB in Kansas City at the time. Pacheco was ranked at RB 113 in the FantasyPros Consensus Rankings (Half-Point PPR) when I published my sleepers article back on July 7, 2022. He finished at RB 35. All of my fantasy predictions from prior years are listed and time stamped on my website under Archived Fantasy Football Articles. Just click the tab on which article you want to see. It’s not that difficult. Of course, Fantasy Receipts doesn’t want to do that and the reason for that is simple. Fantasy Receipts sole purpose is to insult and embarrass people. He wants to make analysts look bad, period. He's Captain Hindsight and The Pied Piper of Internet Trolls. This way, in his warped mind, he’s always right, without ever having to put himself out there. Unfortunately, I don’t possess his Captain Hindsight superpowers. Some of us actually have to make our fantasy calls before week one, not in week seven. And lest we forget, this isn’t your average Twitter troll. I mean internet trolls come with the territory. That’s a given. However, I believe this is someone from within our industry! He of all people should know better. I’ve hung out with some of the biggest names in the fantasy industry: Pat Fitzmaurice, Evan Silva, Andy Behrens, Scott Fish, Adam Rank, and the late Mike Tagliere. All of them were encouraging, supportive, and friendly. None of them treated me like this tool did. And they’re all a hell of a lot bigger in the fantasy football industry than this cockroach.
And to my readers, I never said that my picks were guaranteed locks. I also never boast about them on Twitter. However, I will give my opinion on what I’m thinking and why I’m thinking it, both here and on other websites. If you expect me to be perfect, then I’ve got some bad news for you. That’s not happening. My fantasy predictions and my Twitter account are not for you. Of course, that doesn’t matter to Fantasy Receipts. He expects perfection. The reason I was called out on Fantasy Receipts wasn’t because I bragged about my prediction ahead of time. It was because I was wrong. Well, now I’m calling them out. And for you FSWA (Fantasy Sports Writing Association) judges reading this, you might be thinking, this is a good article, but we can’t consider it because it called out a specific Twitter account in the fantasy community. That would embarrass them. And my retort to that is, why not? That’s exactly what Fantasy Receipts does every day. And that’s what Mike did to me. I say give them a taste of their own medicine. Let’s see how they like being embarrassed and humiliated in front of the entire fantasy community. There’s no middle ground here folks. You’re either on the side of an asshole, who insults people for fun, or you’re on my side, which addresses this issue by condemning bullying and troll behavior throughout the industry.
After I lost my dad, in case you can’t tell, it made me bolder. I honestly don't care what people think. I started writing to help cope with my dad's death. I'll be damned if some jerk & his army of trolls bully me off of Twitter, which is what Mike suggested I do by the way, leave Twitter. Yes, he actually wrote that in one of his responses to me. And remember, he is the one who started this. I had never even heard of him prior to when he insulted me on Twitter. Apparently, he thinks I shouldn’t be upset after he piled on and tried to highlight my bad draft bust prediction on Fantasy Receipts, with his sarcastic insult, in week seven mind you. Nah, this is about telling jerks like him to get bent and standing up for myself because the moment I let a tool like this bully me, I’m already dead.
However, if you're cool and respectful, then you're more than welcome to read my articles. I hope they help you win some fantasy titles, have a few laughs, and hopefully make your day a little better. Life is tough enough without dealing with jerks like this. You never know what someone is going through: losing a loved one, financial stress, working for a lousy boss, dating issues, etc. However, everyone is usually going through something. Fantasy football is an escape from life’s problems. It should be fun. If one of my articles enables someone to forget their problems and makes them laugh or smile, even if it’s just for a brief moment, then I've done my job. My dad used to say to me after I had a bad day, “Son, don’t let the turkeys get you down.” Thanks Dad! I won’t.
-Mark Ringo