Suiting up for the fantasy grid game

For those of you looking to join the twenty million or so fantasy football team owners/managers for the first time this year, a warning needs to be posted – WARNING: Playing fantasy football may drastically alter your NFL viewing and lifestyle. On the surface, the game may have previously seemed about as appealing as a Cheeto – orange and wrinkled with absolutely zero nutritional value – until that first munch is taken. Next thing you know, an empty bag is all that’s left clutched in fingers stained nearly florescent bright orange.

If that hasn’t scared you off, the addiction can now begin. First, you need to join a league. Perhaps the best way to wade in is to find a league that is already established with one or more team owners in your workplace, at your gym, on your softball team, in your golf foursome, card group, service club, quilting clutch…you get the idea. Ask around, after all, there are about twenty million players out there, so you certainly aren’t alone. Many established leagues turn over a team or two each year, or would love to expand with new, rookie blood.

Private leagues usually provide the best experience for most fantasy team owners whether in your hometown, or on-line. If inquiries about league affiliations or openings among acquaintances aren’t fruitful, then you have several options.

One would be to start a league from scratch by recruiting friends or co-workers who might want to ‘get it on’, so to speak. This may be akin to treading on thin ice, though, because it might be assumed that you are volunteering to serve as commissioner. With on-line league management and stat services available for a fee, the role of “commish” isn’t nearly as time consuming or daunting as it was at one time. In some, the whole process, aside from recruiting team owners, collecting league fees, and distributing winnings, is fairly automatic. The biggest decisions, aside from picking a league management service on-line, is to establish rules and think-up a meaningful or distinctive league name other than simply Fantasy Football League that is used by a plethora of others. Just enter “fantasy football league management ” in Google or Yahoo (or whatever search engine you use) to research what each has to offer and at what price.

If you don’t have a circle of acquaintances eager to establish a league, it’s possible to go on-line and join a private association that has openings. These are often advertised on league management services sites.

Although there may be a temptation to become involved in a “play for free league” in the beginning, many people find the experience unchallenging as the season progresses. Without a vested interest that only a ‘meaningful’ entry fee can generate, unsuccessful team owners tend to lose interest and neglect to play the game, or even submit lineups, which can dramatically affect standings by favoring opponents who play teams that have thrown-in the towel later in the season.

For this same reason, you should establish or join a league that offers incentives on a weekly basis so team owners are inclined to attempt to field the most competitive lineup possible for each game.

Once you’ve found or founded a league, know its rules (there is a wide variation of scoring templates) and understand which positions included to make up rosters tend to generate the most points. Virtually every scoring system intrinsically favors a position – often running back.

As you delve into the mind-game of fantasy football, remember to lick your fingers. If you think drafting or team management help is a must (even the most experienced owners seek out draft, lineup and transaction information on-line), then an informative site like

Fantasy Football NFL Cheat Sheets, Rankings and Projections