Lenovo Names Fantasy Coach of the Year; Fan to Help Select 2014 Pro Bowl Teams, Be Given Tribute along with AP NFL Coach of the Year at 3rd Annual NFL Honors Redskins Alfred Morris to Tour with Winner During Super Bowl XLVIII Week; NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice to Award Lenovo Fantasy Coach of the Year Before the Pro Bowl
In fantasy football, you not only have to be a master of the draft, you have to be quick on the waiver wire, use the technology at your fingertips to be able to evaluate new talent, and make bold choices. In October, 22-year-old Norwalk, Ohio native Dalton Gauman executed the fantasy move of the year, benching Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers and starting Eagles rookie Nick Foles, scoring 33 points in his first week. Foles would go on to throw seven touchdowns in a single game, tying a league record, carrying Gauman’s team to a fantasy championship – and helping Gauman beat millions of other players on NFL.com and win Lenovo’s Fantasy Coach of the Year contest.
On Wednesday, Gauman had the chance to draft Foles in real life. For winning Lenovo’s Fantasy Coach of the Year contest, Gauman – a fan of the Tennessee Titans and Peyton Manning – joined 2014 Pro Bowl alumni captains Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders, helping to select one of the two teams playing in the game.
Later this week, Gauman will see his team and the players he helped select in action during the 2014 Pro Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 26, watching the first quarter from the sideline after being officially honored by Rice before the game.
The following week, Lenovo’s Fantasy Coach of the Year will be given a video tribute at the 3rd Annual NFL Honors show in New York City on Saturday, Feb. 1, the night before Super Bowl XLVIII – where Lenovo will be the presenting sponsor of the AP Coach of the Year award. Gauman’s experience concludes with two tickets to Super Bowl XLVIII and a media tour before The Big Game with Washington Redskins running back Alfred Morris, one of the stars of “Tough Season,” a series of fantasy football videos Lenovo launched this year. The videos were produced by The Onion, and star Morris, Andrew Luck, Larry Fitzgerald, Matt Forte, Antonio Brown and Mason Crosby. Five of the six went on to make the 2014 Pro Bowl.
Lenovo is the world’s No. 1 personal computer maker and is in its second year as the official laptop, desktop and workstation sponsor of the NFL.
“To win his league, Dalton had to be insightful, diligent and most importantly, flexible: making lineup changes on the go, knowing in real-time when to substitute a player, and respond to trades – sometimes within minutes,” said Kevin Berman, Lenovo’s director of North American advertising and marketing services. “At Lenovo we believe that this adaptability helped him take home the title. It’s a quality I personally believe in, both in work and at home, a feature that can help you get the job done no matter the space or situation.” Berman – a nearly two-decade fantasy football coach himself – noted that he used the Lenovo Yoga convertible laptop this season to build and manage his teams, with technology that provides four modes (Laptop, Tent, Stand and Slate) for the ultimate in flexibility.
All fantasy players on NFL.com were entered to win Lenovo’s Fantasy Coach of the Year award. Points were determined using a unique algorithm combining win-loss percentages, league championships, a difficulty-of-league index and a “quality moves” indicator – taking into account sit/start point differential.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$34 billion personal technology company – the largest PC maker in the world and an emerging PC Plus leader – serving customers in more than 160 countries.
Dedicated to exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the Company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.
