Ask Your Fantasy Football Expert: Shane Hallam

"This is why you need to watch the games and KEEP changing evaluations. Don't make evaluations fit your preconceived notions!"

Find previous Ask Your Fantasy Expert interviews.

When I first started the interview process, I thought the only way you could get into the FSWA was to show your Steelers tattoo. I haven't interviewed a Steeler fan/fantasy guy in a month and I just pulled off two in a row. Sorry, or if you own a Terrible Towel, yinz having fun yet?

Shane P Hallam (for now, assume the P stands for Pittsburgh) is a draft guru. He writes for Draftcountdown.com, a site that literally counts down the seconds to next April's NFL draft. If there is a draft-eligible college player with a pulse, Shane has an opinion.

All fantasy writers name-dropped will get a link to their Twitter feed. We'll keep with the theme of my questions/comments in Titan blue and Shane's in non blue.

How did you decide to become an NFL draft guru?

Football was always a passion of mine, I’ve been watching it since I was 5 months old. The NFL Draft was always a mysterious conundrum to me. Studying prospects, projecting trades, seeing what teams wanted, I loved reading about it and really loved college football so I took up scouting, reading and talking to anyone with knowledge about the process to get where I am today. It led to writing about fantasy football and the NFL Draft for a few years, eventually ending up with Scott Wright at draftcountdown.com.

How did you get involved with draftcountdown.com? Tell me about the site updates as you ramp up for NFL draft 2012.

A fantasy football friend of mine suggested I check out the site and forum. I began posting in the forum in December of 2005. As I shared my opinions of views as well as writing and doing radio/podcasts elsewhere, Scott Wright took notice and invited me to run the forums and do a weekly "Hot List" article for the site. Now, we are co-hosting a Podcast and I am contributing to the blog. Hopefully the future will bear more contributions to keep growing the site.

How do armchair scouts such as myself watch games differently to get a feel for players?

Keep watching and listening. My first few years of learning how to scout, I sought out opinions I trusted and compared them to tape. I figured out how to see what these scouts were seeing and what small attributes were important for those to be successful in transitioning to the NFL. Find the position that you played or know the most about and start there. Though some say “true” scouts don’t read other reports, I disagree. Read as many scouting reports as you can, compare your notes to them, and ask questions to see why differences exist. I’d also suggest keeping notebooks or databases and take notes as you watch that you can go back to.

What's up with this new podcast you're going to do with the perpetually podcasting Jim Day?

It’s going to be exciting! My first real love was fantasy football and like to share that knowledge to help others as much as possible. Jim does such a tremendous job on blogtalkradio and came to me with the idea to do a Friday night show to help people fill their lineups and make decisions. Add in high profile experts, and I believe him and I have a winning recipe. We are pretty excited for it and hope people will check it out on Friday nights at 8:00 PM EST.

Tell me about your real-life NFL rooting interests.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I come from a family of Steeler fans including a father and two older brothers, so it was natural. I was watching games before I could walk or talk. The Steelers have been and will always be a rooting interest for me as a Pittsburgh resident. As a youngster, I liked the Miami Dolphins as well and my favorite player of all-time is still Dan Marino, a Pittsburgh native. [Zach note: Can't hate on the Marino love.]

Where do you live?

Pittsburgh, PA.

Tell me about your day job.

I’m a high school teacher at Keystone Oaks High School in Pittsburgh. I teach English and Social Studies to 9th and 12th graders as well as direct the middle school and high school musical there.

Do you have long-term goals with your writing?

I’d love to one day make a career of it since it is a true passion and there just are never enough hours in the day to watch all the tape I need to and write everything I see in a presentable manner. Hopefully one day I can have the time to do that and continue to perfect my craft.

How do you deal, as an in-demand fantasy expert, with all the league requests? Do you have a limit on leagues?

I don’t limit the number, but more WHERE the leagues are. I like to stick with myfantasyleague.com and Yahoo Sports for fantasy football. I have been roped into a few interesting ESPN leagues as well, but I’m hitting close to 20 this year.

The spouse question: Does your wife/gf/sig other have any issues with your obsession?

Not yet, haha. My girlfriend doesn’t know much of anything about football. Her and I watched the Falcons/Jaguars preseason game in Week 2 actually and I taught her the basics of the game. I’m not sure if that will help or not.

Football or sex: which do you think of more?

Haha man, as much as I’d hate to see it, football definitely occupies my time more.

Who's a player that you absolutely loved but didn't make it? What do you think happened?

Matt Leinart was a player I thought would excel in the NFL with his vast experience in big time college football. He had the poise and accuracy, but just could never make his way to the top. The attitude wasn’t there. I think this proved to me how much intangibles play a part in the NFL and specifically the quarterback position. It was definitely a learning experience.

Tell me about a player you loved from the start who made it big in the NFL.

Mike Wallace has been my success story in terms of scouting. He was a guy I identified after his junior season as to just not catching the break he needed at Ole Miss. Big, strong, fast, and he improved every season. He was better than a 3rd round pick to me and he has proved it.

Where are you on the usual football Sunday? Is there a man cave?

You would be correct, on the couch, watching redzone and any Steeler game that is on.

Tell me about a hobby/interest outside of football.

It may be a complete dichotomy, but I love musical theater and I am a bit of a connoisseur of musicals. I go to almost a dozen high school musicals a year and direct my own at K.O, as well as catch a number of shows in the Pittsburgh Cultural District.

Your public wants to know. What does the "P" of Shane P Hallam stand for?

It stands for many things! In high school, I went by the full name with the “P” and it became a nickname. My best friend actually refers to me as P. That being said, I am 95% Irish, so my middle name is Patrick.

Which fantasy writers are on your must-read list?

Jim Day, Evan Silva, Joe Everett, Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom, Chet Gresham, Mike Clay and Bryan Fontaine, Andy Miley and many more. So many great guys out there, I apologize to anyone I forgot!

Better fantasy experience: Long-term league with friends or fantasy "expert" league?

Fantasy expert league. Nothing like a good challenge, good trash talk, and I LOVE when experts talk about leagues I’m in on their podcasts. It feels pretty big time and the differing opinions are always tremendous.

Tell me about any plugs that you'd like. Podcasts, sites that you write for, expert leagues, anything.

Check out www.draftcountdown.com! We just relaunched for 2012 with a new mock draft, rankings, and I will have my weekly "Hot List" feature coming out every Tuesday or Wednesday. Likewise, Scott and I have the Draft Countdown Podcast every Tuesday night at 8 PM EST. If you need more fantasy football, myself and Jim Day have started the Goaheadscore WDIS Podcast at 8 PM EST on Friday nights.

Thanks to Shane for answering my questions. He'll answer your draft, be it NFL or fantasy, questions on his Twitter feed at Twitter.

Read previous Ask Your Fantasy Expert interviews.

Andy Miley

Jim "Taz" Day

Chet Gresham

Bryan Fontaine

Eric Yeomans

I Hate JJ Redick

Fantasy Douche

Eric from DL Football

Clint Chugg

Matt Waldman Part 1 and Part 2

Chris Wesseling

John Sarmento

Ryan Forbes

Alex Miglio

Cecil Lammey