The Universal Fantasy of Football

Fantasy Football has seen a drastic increase in popularity in recent years and has left some outsiders wondering, “Where is the ‘Fantasy,’ anyway?” The answer is that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Casual players see Fantasy Football as a fun hobby that creates friendly competition among friends or co-workers and makes games in which your favorite team is not playing a little more interesting. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Fantasy Football enthusiasts dedicate hours upon hours of their time making sure that they have the best available line up locked in every week. But why would anyone do that?

Well, as one of these Fantasy Football enthusiasts (although addict may be more accurate in my case), I will admit that boredom, or the state of the economy as I like to say, was about half of the reason that I started playing Fantasy Football; the other half was that I am a Redskins fan and I really needed those little victories that my team never could seem to deliver on the field. There are a million reasons to play and enjoy playing Fantasy Football no matter how well versed you are in the NFL, but first you must understand how it works.

Fantasy leagues are made up of a certain number of teams (usually 8-12) depending on the number of people in your league. Each individual participant is considered the “owner” of their team and they are responsible for managing it as they see fit. This includes picking the players that will make up their team and deciding which of these players will be on their starting rosters each week. Although there are many variations depending on the individual league, a typical starting roster would require 1 quarterback, 3 wide receivers, 2 running backs, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, and 1 team defense from any of the 32 NFL teams, with 5 additional spots for players “on the bench”. As with the roster settings, the scoring settings can be different for each individual league, but there is a certain point value assigned to each of the relevant statistical categories for measuring a player’s performance (e.g. rushing yards, receiving yards, passing yards, touchdowns, field goals, etc.)

The goal is to fill each of the spots on your starting roster with the player who will generate the most “Fantasy points” in that position based on their performance on the field that week, and the team that collectively scores the most “Fantasy points” wins. Simple, right?

This is where it gets fun. There are few things as unpredictable as the NFL from week-to-week and contributing to that is the inconsistency of individual player performances throughout the season. There are countless factors that influence an individual player’s performance in any given week. The most obvious of these are: injuries , how the teams match up offensively/defensively, home vs. away, etc, but even these may not be reliable predictors of how a player will perform. Obviously, paying attention to games and player status doesn’t hurt you (last season Michael Vick owners were rewarded many times over for their effort), but Fantasy is really a game of misfortunes, whether they happen to your team or to that of your opponent.