Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s talk about Fantasy Football for a moment. If I were to ask you to name the top three events you look most forward to each season, I am willing to bet most if not all of you will mention one of the following three in your personal top three list; the league draft, winning money or prizes and the league championship.
Of course in most traditional leagues those are one-time annual events. You draft one time, you play a championship one time and generally money is distributed, you guessed it, one time.
Related: 2013 Fantasy Football: Draft LB James Laurinaitis Early In IDP Leagues
Now, my friends of fantasy, what if I was to tell you that there is a virtual world where you can experience all three above-mentioned events on a weekly basis? You redraft your team each week, each week is essentially the championship and you are paid on Monday if your team is the winner.
I know, sounds like a Fantasy Football utopia that cannot possibly be real, right? Well – it is real. It is real, and it is changing the face of fantasy sports forever. One could be so bold as to predict it is the future of the game we all enjoy so much.
First, here’s how it works. You find one of the popular daily sites such as Draft Street, Fan Duel, Draft Day or Star Street to name a few. Create your account and deposit funds if you wish to play for the almighty buck (there are free leagues also available). You are then allocated a specific salary cap ($100,000 for example), draft your team within said cap, sit back and enjoy.
Well, as much enjoyment as you can manage knowing your fate will be decided that day. Not to mention, the days of enjoying Sunday football games went out the window the day I learned about Fantasy Football. But that is a whole different rant I will save for another day.
You get your choice of position depending on which site you subscribe. Some are traditional with the usual QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, K and Def. while others require variations such as two quarterbacks and flex positions. Scoring also varies between sites as some are standard scoring leagues, others are PPR.
Scores update in real time allowing you to see if you are winning a head-to-head match up or where you rank within the league. Leagues generally begin on Sunday (some allow for Thursday night games) and end with the final gun Monday night.
Of course, if it were easy to win, everyone would do it. It requires the time to research prior to weekly drafts, an extensive knowledge of the NFL, an ability to identify value picks (players who will outplay their identified cap price) and of course that little thing all fantasy owners hope for week in and week out – luck.
Basically, this is not your standard “Ma and Pop” Fantasy Football league. These take guts, nerves of steel and fantasy expertise greater than the average Joe. That said, self-proclaimed fantasy experts and gurus surround us all. Weekly leagues simply give us and those like us the opportunity to finally ‘put our money where our mouths are.’
And for the record this article is simply intended as a prelude to the upcoming Fantasy Football season, a teaser you may say. But this is not the last you will hear me discuss weekly leagues. Towards the latter part of each week during the NFL season and through the playoffs I will offer weekly advice on which players are undervalued and which players won’t live up to cap prices.
This is the next level for fantasy gurus such as you. It’s your opportunity to truly find out, “Am I really that good, or do I just draft against a serious group of boneheads every year?”
The truth is out there my friends; do you have what it takes to find it?
Jim Heath is a Fantasy Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_heath, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
