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The Associated Press is reporting that Yahoo! settled the suit it filed against the NFL Players Association over licensing fees for player stats for fantasy football purposes last month.

A previous licensing agreement had expired in March of this year, and the NFLPA has argued in the past that such information is proprietary–but a similar suit brought last year was decided in favor of CBS  Interactive, although the NFLPA is appealing that decision.

In the mean time, Yahoo! apparently has decided that the licensing fees would cost less than the legal fees–and the NFLPA apparently has decided that they should take what they can get now, rather than possibly miss out on it all down the road.

Every fantasy league seems to have one–the owner that doesn’t prepare, drafts his team (or maybe let’s the computer do it), and then checks out as soon as the team hits the loss column in week 1.  Injuries pile up, bye weeks come and go, and their lineup never changes.  It’s all fine and good when you face him, but when a couple teams get the advantage of playing the dead team twice–maybe once with a playoff spot on the line late in the season–that’s when it really sucks.  I mean REALLY sucks.

That’s where Mission Competition comes in.

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BALTIMORE (Zoneblitz) – I’m in Baltimore at a conference for my day job for the next few days. During a short jaunt for lunch I wandered into one of the large bookstore chains and came across the first football annual magazines.

I rarely buy Athlon anymore. It used to be one of my “must buy” publications, mostly because it came out first. The magazine still has some good content, but it comes out just a little bit too early for my tastes. It feels a little bit like they sacrifice quality and current information for being the first major publication out after the NFL draft. Nonetheless, if you are hungering for information on the season ahead, they as always are among the first ones out.

One I do buy every year is Lindy’s Pro Football. I like the way they analyze every single player on every team’s roster and I love the several pages of draft coverage that typically include best picks and biggest leaps for each team.

The pro version isn’t due out for a few days yet but the college preview is on the rack.

I ended up making two purchases.The first was the jointly published annual by Yahoo! Sports and Pro Football Weekly, which teamed up to produce a solid preview of the real football season coupled with a sizable section of fantasy information. They’ve got a nice ranking of players by position as well as analysis by so-called fantasy football experts from each publication.

Sporting News Fantasy Football ‘09 is also on the rack. My second purchase includes a mock, 12-team draft conducted by various Sporting News contributors and staff.

My initial reaction to at least the first round of the mock draft is lukewarm. I liked the top four picks, but after that I think there are some reaches. What do you think?

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Matt Forte
3. Michael Turner
4. Maurice Jones-Drew
5. Steven Jackson
6. Brandon Jacobs
7. DeAngelo Williams
8. Brian Westbrook
9. Frank Gore
10. LaDainian Tomlinson
11. Larry Fitzgerald
12. Drew Brees

Anyway, we’ll have more analysis and thoughts on some of the publications as they come out en masse. In the meantime, who would you put in your top 10 or 12 fantasy picks for the 09 season? Do you agree with the experts from above? Or do you have different thoughts?

Yahoo Inc. has filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the NFL Players Association has no right to charge for player pictures, biographies and statistics used to drive its fantasy football games.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the NFLPA has argued in the past that such information is proprietary.

This isn’t the first time the issue has arisen. CBS Interactive and NFL Players have been fighting over the issue in court since September 2008. CBS filed suit in Minnesota while NFL Players filed a countersuit in Miami a week later.

Richard Berthelsen, acting chairman of the NFLPA at the time, said in a September 2008 press release announcing the lawsuit that “It is just wrong for companies to use the rights of NFL players to generate revenues for their own benefit without any compensation to the players. NFL PLAYERS will take all steps necessary to protect its rights, and the rights of NFL players generally.”

Last year CBSSports.com announced that it would proceed with a college fantasy football offering after Major League Baseball Advanced Media lost a suit in which it claimed ownership of statistics generated by baseball players.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June refused to hear its appeal.

Former Patriots fullback Heath Evans calls Laurence Maroney one of the best natural running backs he’s ever seen. He hopes the oft-injured halfback stays healthy in the years ahead so he can prove it to fans, media and teammates.

Maroney disclosed this week that while he was being criticized in the press and on fan sites for not hitting holes hard and for not playing through pain he was actually fighting a broken bone in his shoulder.

That explains the poor play last season and the appearance on injured reserve after playing in just three games during what was supposed to be his breakout season. But it doesn’t explain his career-long propensity for getting hurt.

During the first two years of his career, Maroney played in 13 and 14 games. His rookie year he shared time with Corey Dillon. In December he missed two games after tearing rib cartilage. He missed three games in 2007 with a groin injury – and was really the second best running back on the team that year to Sammy Morris, even though Dillon was released in the offseason.

I really like Maroney. He teamed with Marion Barber III at the University of Minnesota to provide one of the most entertaining running back tandems in my alma mater’s history. I’d like to see him succeed in the NFL as well.

But while in lieu of his broken shoulder revelation he may deserve a bit of a reprieve on the accusations of being soft, he still has to prove himself in terms of being durable enough to A) make it through an entire season and B) be the main guy in the Patriots’ or some other team’s running attack.

He sounds driven to prove he can be “the man.” But until he plays 16 games and puts up numbers resembling those of a number one back, fans and fantasy players should count on Maroney for nothing more than time-sharing.