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Who Cares about Fantasy Football?
Playing Fantasy Football
Types of Leagues
Links
Fantasy sports have come to prominence in the mainstream sports world within the past decade. And they are here to stay.
Millions of fans, both hardcore and casual, have taken the dive into playing and enjoying fantasy sports, and one could argue that as a result the sports world has never been healthier. As the fantasy sports world continues to grow and impose its strong following on even the most casual fan’s consciousness, a multi-billion-dollar industry is thriving. What’s all the fuss about?
At its basics, fantasy sports speak to the competitive nature in all who enjoy sports. Everyone who has enjoyed participating in and watching team sports gets a charge when their team wins. And many of us love to second guess those that are actually in those positions to make roster and strategy decisions for our favorite teams. The wide proliferation of sports talk radio across the country speaks to this, and of course, for generations fans have been gathering in their homes and their favorite bars across the country cheering on their beloved home teams, and offering their opinions of what they would do if they were the owner or general manager.
Fantasy sports takes those “water-cooler” discussions and gives it structure, allows people to put actions behind their opinions, and “live-out” this fantasy that they are in control of their favorite sports franchise. Now, you are in control for all roster decisions. You have the power to sign and cut players at will, the power to determine the starting lineups.
With fantasy sports, the common fan can build their own superstar team and, even better, pit them against their best friend’s team for bragging rights supremacy. This is fun for one and all!
It is everywhere! And not just on every TV or magazine. The NFL and Sprint have a five-year, $600 million deal which allows subscribers to see fantasy sports alerts, real-time statistics, scores, injury and other updates on their cell phones. What is next? Sunglasses with a ticker scroll along the bottom of the lenses? Yeah, where can we get some of those?!
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Playing Fantasy Football
In its simplest form, playing fantasy football means you will be managing a team of pro football players over the course of an entire pro football season. As the players on your team score real touchdowns, and run, throw and catch for real yardage, your players are awarded points. These points are added up on a weekly basis, giving your team a score. This score can then be compared against another fantasy player’s team, and you can determine a simple “win” or “loss” for your team.
There are many different possible rules and league set-ups. Therefore, each league is slightly different, but there are some basics which are true of most.
Fantasy Football is played with a group of people, called owners, who each select, or draft, players to populate a roster of real-life professional football players.
Each week, the owner must select a starting lineup to pit against another owner’s team and they will participate in a head-to-head contest with points being awarded based on the actual results of professional football games played that weekend. A weekly game score will be tabulated, and one team will be declared the winner, on the basis of outscoring the opposition.
The following week, owners will be allowed to adjust their lineup, cut players, sign new players, make trades with other teams and do just about anything that a real professional team would be allowed to do.
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Types of Leagues
Leagues are divided by the type of scoring system that they choose to employ. A couple common league types are “Basic” and “Yardage.” A “Basic” scoring league is one where scoring primarily only occurs when actual scoring plays occur in real professional games. Such as 6 points for a touchdown, one or two points for a conversion, and 3 points for a field goal, etc. Minimal other scoring will occur such as a bonus for a running back rushing for 100 yards or a quarterback passing for 300 yards.
A “Yardage” league will add fantasy scoring whereby a player can receive bonuses for yardage gained. These bonuses will commonly account for 50% or more of the fantasy team’s score. For example, a typical yardage league may allow 1 point for every 10 yards a running back gains, either via rushing or receiving. This would be in addition to basic scoring such as 6-points for a TD.
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Links
If you want to learn more about Fantasy Football, check out our book. Meanwhile, you may want to check out any of the below excellent websites:
http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy
http://www.sportsline.com/fantasy
http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage
http://www.nfl.com/fantasy
Once you have even a basic awareness of fantasy football, you will start to see it and its impact everywhere. On your TV, in your daily newspaper, your favorite magazine, web surfing, your cell phone, maybe even in your sunglasses in a few years!
And, again, for TONS more information about fantasy football, including how to win, check out our book!
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