RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – January 21, 2015: Millions of NFL.com fantasy players have now come down to the top two, uber-fans for Lenovo’s second-annual Fantasy Coach of the Year contest. Finalists, living less than 200 miles away from each other are Federico Martinez, a 19-year-old college student and New England Patriots fan from Beacon Falls, Connecticut – and Scott Jordan, a 48-year-old former Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder from Nazareth, Pennsylvania and 24 year fantasy football veteran.
Finalists in Lenovo’s second-annual Fantasy Coach of the Year, Martinez and Jordan are in Arizona to help NFL alumni captains pick the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl squads tonight at 8 p.m. ET, live on NFL Network. Fans watching will witness Lenovo’s Fantasy Coach of the Year finalists in action while they consult with Pro Bowl team captains and Hall of Famers Michael Irvin (Martinez) and Cris Carter (Jordan) in the greenroom. They both will then participate in their team’s first meeting following the draft Wednesday night and will attend practices on Saturday.
On gameday, Lenovo Fantasy Coach of the Year Finalists will submit their nine-player fantasy squad. Using NFL.com scoring, the Pro Bowl fantasy game winner will take home the Fantasy Coach of the Year trophy and be Lenovo’s special guest at Super Bowl XLIX.
To help them select their fantasy squad, Martinez and Jordan will utilize a Lenovo Yoga convertible laptop. Providing crisp, clear high-definition highlight videos and quick uploading stats for research, Lenovo’s Yoga convertible laptop, with 2-in-1 technology provides four modes (Laptop, Tent, Stand and Slate) is the ultimate in flexibility. Jordan used a Lenovo ThinkPad during the 2014 NFL season. “Its speed helped me toggle between different screens quickly,” said Jordan. “It was especially needed during my home fantasy draft.”
Kevin Berman, Lenovo’s director of advertising and marketing services explained the twist on last year’s contest: “We love the spirit of competition the Pro Bowl brings out,” he said. “After the NFL alumni captain’s choice to go for two to win the game last year, it inspired us to up the stakes ourselves this season. We look forward to crowning a champion; good luck to Federico and Scott this week.”
This is Martinez’s second year playing fantasy football. He played football in high school and currently goes to Naugatuck Valley Community College. He has five New England Patriots players on his fantasy squad and Chicago Bears running back and Lenovo spokesperson, Matt Forte. Jordan, a former Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder, promised to lobby his NFL alumni captain to pick either of the two Philadelphia players available.
Fantasy coaches on NFL.com can compete in the Lenovo Fantasy Coach of the Year contest. Finalists are determined using a unique algorithm combining win-loss percentages, league championships, a strength-of-league index and a “quality moves” indicator – taking into account sit/start point differential. Fantasy coaches making the biggest leaps in the overall standings each week were awarded prizes such as autographed gear and personalized messages from NFL players and Lenovo spokespersons Mason Crosby, A.J. Green, Matt Forte, Andrew Luck and Alfred Morris.
Lenovo is the world’s No. 1 personal computer maker and is in its third year as the official laptop, notebook, desktop and workstation of the NFL.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $39 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at www.lenovo.com.
