My First Experience with Fantasy Football

It’s predicted that over 30 million people per year participate in some form of fantasy sports, be it football, baseball, NASCAR, hockey, or death row inmates.

Being a novice at the whole fantasy sports thing, this year I thought I’d give football a try. Now, I’ve always been a football fan, but usually only when it concerns my hometown team, the Denver Broncos. My favorite sport is and has always been baseball, and my inner jock can wax intellectual for hours about how WHIP (Walks plus Hits divided by Innings Pitched) is a more useful statistic than ERA (Earned Run Average), and why Barry Bonds doesn’t deserve the title of “Home Run King.”

But I decided this would be the year I’d finally try fantasy football.

Like a kid waiting for that last bell at the end of a school day, I waited for our draft day to come. I was amazed by the resources available at my fingertips. Statistics, pre-draft rankings, projected stats for the season, it’s like I was a real general manager about to field a team for the first time.

So, 15 rounds of the draft flew by, and I was left with…nothing. Except “America’s Sweetheart,” Terrell Owens. But somehow, I managed to win my first game, and another, and another, until miraculously I stood alone in first place with a 4-0 record.

Now, for those unfamiliar with how fantasy football is played, let me lay it out for you. You have your quarterback, two wide receivers, two running backs, a tight end, a kicker, and a defense. In some leagues you might have a special teams unit (for kick and punt returns), but the guys in my league decided against it.

A points system is devised to award points for the performance of your players, usually based on yards gained, touchdowns scored, etc, while points are taken away for turnovers and lost yardage. So it’s not uncommon for scores to look like those of basketball games (the high scorer last week won 125-91).

The object is to put the top performers out every week, and hope for the best.