64 | SEPTEMBER 14 • 2023 

SPORTS

J

ason Brown got some 
advice from an expert 
before his fantasy 
football league draft.
That expert was none other 
than Adam Schefter, ESPN’s 
senior NFL insider.
The connection between 
the two men was made at the 
32nd annual Hank Greenberg 
Memorial Golf, Tennis and 
Pickleball Invitational, held 

in June at Franklin Hills 
Country Club in Farmington 
Hills.
Schefter, a 1989 University 
of Michigan graduate, was 
at the invitational to receive 
the Dick Schaap Memorial 
Award for Media Excellence. 
The invitational is a 
fundraiser for the Lawrence 
& Idell Weisberg Cancer 
Treatment Center at the 

Karmanos Cancer Institute. 
Schefter donated a Zoom call 
with fantasy football team 
owners as a live auction item.
Brown, the founder and 
owner of PublicCity PR in 
Royal Oak, was the winning 
bidder for the Zoom call at 
$750.
“I would bid on that again. 
The call was great, and the 
money went to a very good 
cause,” said Brown, a board 
member of the Michigan 
Jewish Sports Foundation, 
which presents the Greenberg 
Invitational.
Brown and four friends 
from his fantasy football 
league participated in a 
45-minute Zoom call with 
Schefter on Aug. 3.
“Adam was in his home 
office for the call,” Brown 
said. “He was very gracious 
and very helpful. He 
answered all of our questions. 
And he wasn’t on his phone 
once.”
Brown’s last comment 
was a reference to Schefter’s 
well-earned reputation for 
being on the phone with NFL 
sources 24-7. 
He normally has two 
phones nearby while he 
works, and he sometimes 
breaks stories on-air while 
talking on the phone.
“We asked Adam during 
our call about players we 
should and should not 
consider drafting, and we 
talked a lot about the Lions,” 
Brown said.
That also was Schefter’s 
recollection about his 
conversation with Brown and 
his friends.
“They asked a lot of 

questions about the Lions,” 
Schefter said. “I told them 
I’m optimistic about the 
Lions, but now is the time 
for them to live up to 
expectations.”
Brown had a question 
for Schefter specific to his 
fantasy football team. 
In Brown’s league, team 
owners can keep one player 
from the previous year’s 
team. 
At the time of the Zoom 
call with Schefter, Brown 
was trying to decide between 
keeping Dallas Cowboys 
quarterback Dak Prescott or 
Lions running back David 
Montgomery.
“I advised him to keep 
Prescott,” Schefter said. 
“That was no slam against 
Montgomery, who I think 
will have a good season for 
the Lions. I just thought 
Prescott was the better choice 
as a keeper.”
Brown kept Prescott. 
He said Schefter’s advice 
solidified his decision.
This wasn’t the first time 
Schefter, who has been with 
ESPN since 2009, has done a 
Zoom call to impart fantasy 
football advice.
“I’m often asked to donate 
time or money to help a 
charity,” he said. “During the 
pandemic, I came up with the 
idea to do fantasy football 
Zoom calls. They’ve worked 
out well. I can share my NFL 
knowledge, hopefully help 
someone become a fantasy 
football champion and 
benefit a charity.
“I do a dozen or so fantasy 
football calls each summer, 
starting at the end of July. I’m 

Royal Oak business owner wins 
fantasy football advice from ESPN 
NFL expert Adam Schefter.

Tips from 
the Top

continued on page 66

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOS BY JASON BROWN

LEFT: Jason Brown has been 
competing in the same fantasy 
football league since the early 
1990s.