For many pigskin-loving Americans, the ability to control a professional football team is the ultimate dream. Fantasy football allows this dream to become a (virtual) reality. Players can compose a team of athletes to compete against both friends and strangers!
To succeed in fantasy football, you need the business sav vy of a general manager, the knowledge of a pro scout, and the strategy of a head coach. In this article, we’ll find out how fantasy football got its start, learn the fundamentals of the game and discover where you can play different types of fantasy football.
Fantasy Football History
At its most basic, fantasy football is a game in which football fans use their knowledge of the sport to compete against each other in formats that relate to the actual performance of professional football teams. The goal of the fantasy football player is to select which athletes or teams will have the most impressive performances during a given week. In order to be successful at fantasy football, a fantasy player must follow the weekly happenings of the NFL and make better choices than his opponent makes.
Modern fantasy football can be traced back to the late Wilfred “Bill” Winkenbach, an Oakland area businessman and a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders. In a New York hotel room during a 1962 Raiders eastern cross-country trip, Winkenbach, along with Raiders Public Relations man Bill Tunnel and Tribune reporter Scotty Starling, developed a system of organization and a rulebook, which would eventually be the basis of modern fantasy football.
Focusing on AFL offensive skill players, Winkenbach’s blueprint laid the groundwork for what would come to be known as the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Procrastinators League). Upon his return to Oakland, Winkenbach organized the inaugural eight teams, which consisted of individuals who met one of the following qualifications:
- An administrative affiliate of the AFL
- A journalist with direct relation to pro football
- Someone who has purchased or sold 10 season tickets for the Raiders’ 1963 season
As stated in the original rules, the purpose of the league was “to bring together some of Oakland’s finest Saturday morning gridiron forecasters to pit their respective brains (and cash) against each other” in the hope that it would lead to “closer coverage of daily happenings in professional football” [ref].
The original rulebook stated that there were to be two league officials: a secretary who would keep scores, verify rosters, maintain records, and handle all monies and a commissioner who would preside over all league meetings, appoint any necessary committees, and mediate any league disputes. As the owner of a small business, Winkenbach had all the necessary tools (phone lines, typewriters, a mimeograph machine) to become the first fantasy football league commissioner. Following the assembly of the original eight teams in 1963, Winkenbach invited all of the team owners to the basement of his home to participate in an inaugural GOPPPL “draft.”
Fantasy Football has grown rapidly in recent times and is now on of the most popular hobbies and pastimes in America and the world. Celebrities, NFL Players and even Politicians have their own Fantasy teams and there are many popular Fantasy events and leagues around the world.
Standard Fantasy Football
Full fantasy football is the granddaddy of all fantasy football games. In this game, fantasy players join a league of friends or strangers and act as virtual owners controlling numerous position players on offense, defense and special teams. Players can set up leagues with head-to-head competition between teams or base them on total cumulative fantasy points. As in salary cap games, points are awarded for each player’s game day performance.
Before the season begins, there is a virtual draft. All owners in a league draft players for each position from a trove of eligible athletes, who may only play for one team per league. League members can set the draft to last anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. All players that aren’t drafted are placed on waivers and are usually available on a first come, first served basis. There is usually a waiting period before a team owner can pick up a waived player, and sometimes leagues allow lower-placed teams first pick priority for players on waivers. Besides being able to waive and claim new players, an owner can also make trades with other owners in his league. In a keeper league, owners have the option of selecting a number of players to retain automatically for the following season.
Choosing a League
The first thing to consider is how much time you are willing to spend on a fantasy game, because playing fantasy football successfully can require hours of time each week. If you are a casual fan, a pick ‘em game is the least time consuming game, but the diehard fan will definitely be willing to spend the time required to manage a full fantasy football team.
If you do not have a League or a bunch of friends in another league your best best is to head to one of these sites to get started.
Here are a few popular full fantasy football sites:
- ESPN.com Fantasy Football
ESPN Fantasy is one the most popular Fantasy sites. With dedicated experts, news, reviews, rating, previews, podcasts, daily videos and more ESPN provide great information and they have a huge range of leagues to pick from. Great for advanced players and beginners.
- NFL.com Fantasy Football
The Fantasy leagues from the Official NFL.com site is free and great for beginners and is easy to use and get set e up. Although they don’t have the same detail as ESPN it is still one of the best and biggest Fantasy programs on the web.
- Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football
This site is free. Players have a 15-man roster (nine active players per game – one QB, three WRs, two RBs, one TE, one K, one team defense). There are 10 teams per league and players can choose from public or private, head-to-head or points leagues. There is a playoff at the end of each season.
You should also consider the pros and cons of joining a pay site. Pay sites can range from a few dollars a month to hundreds of dollars per week. To a casual fan, it may not be worth the cash, but pay sites generally offer a greater level of customization for fantasy leagues and also typically provide real-time updates, gossip, and fantasy tips for fantasy owners. Pay sites also reward prizes for the most successful and dedicated fantasy players in the form of cash payouts, trophies, and even tickets to actual NFL events. While there are quite a few incredible prizes to be won, don’t forget the greatest fantasy football prize of all — bragging rights!
Managing the Team
After drafting his team, the owner must select which players to start on a weekly basis and must submit this lineup before the weekly deadline. Some full fantasy games have players win by having the team with the most wins or the largest point total, while others have playoffs to crown the league champion.
You are able to get the latest injuries and hot players from the front page of various sites and there are also numerous weekly podcasts dedicated to keeping you up to date with the best players to start for each position.
Pick ‘Em Leagues
In pick ‘em, fantasy players pick who they believe will win between the two opposing teams in each of the NFL’s weekly regular season contests. While some games feature the same point value for every game, others have the player rate games with confidence points in which point values are assigned to games based on the fantasy player’s certainty of outcome. For example, in a confidence point game with point values of 1-15, a player might assign a 15 point value to a game if he feels sure of the outcome, but might assign a 1 point value to a game if he is unsure of the outcome. In other games, the player must pick whether or not the favored team will cover the point spread (win and score more points over their opponent than the number of the spread) or if the underdog team will beat the spread (either defeat the opposing team or lose within less points than the spread). Usually, the point spreads are provided by the Associated Press.
Here are some of the more popular pick ‘em sites:
Public leagues and groups are available for anyone to join, random leagues are available for anyone to join as players are grouped at random, and private leagues and groups are available to join only by password invitation.
- Yahoo Sports Pro Football
This site is free and offers basic one point pick ‘em, confidence points pick ‘em and spread system pick ‘em.
- ESPN Pigskin Pick ‘em
This site is also free and offers basic one point pick ‘em, confidence points pick ‘em and spread system pick ‘em.
- AOL Pro Football
This site is free and offers one point pick ‘em.
Salary Cap League
In a salary cap game, the fantasy player acts as a virtual owner with a virtual bank account to draft players whose weekly game performance translates into points. These points are awarded for categories such as touchdowns, rushing yards, field goals and sacks. Players’ salaries rise and fall according to their weekly performance, and the goal of the virtual GM is to build the strongest lineup possible without exhausting his payroll or going over the number of allowed trades during a weekly period. Since more attention must be paid to variables such as injury, bye weeks, and opposing coverage, a successful salary cap team requires more maintenance and research than a pick ‘em game.
Article by:
Hunt, Matt. “How Fantasy Football Works.” 12 December 2005. HowStuffWorks.com. 29 November 2009.
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