Fantasy Football Goes Public
Oakland restaurateur and GOPPL team coach Andy Mousalimas opened the first public fantasy football league to his patrons at the Kings X Sports Bar in 1969. By veering slightly from the original GOPPL formula, Mousalimas was responsible for the push towards the current practice of performance scoring, which rewards points to players who score touchdowns. Mousalimas has since retired from the restaurant business, but the Kings X remains the ground zero of fantasy football. Today, the Kings X continues to maintain six different real world fantasy divisions, including the Queens division -- a division especially reserved for the female patrons of the Kings X.
With the advent of the Internet, fantasy football has blossomed from a game played by an elite group of all-male sports enthusiasts in bars to a million-dollar industry reaching 30 million online players (including 6.5 million women) in America. On average, players spend $110 a year on their online fantasy franchises.
Online Help
Photo courtesy The Sporting News
The Sporting News' fantasy football help site.
With all of the available players, variables, weather conditions, and statistics, it takes a lot of work to be a successful fantasy football player. What about the people who enjoy playing, but just don't have the time to scour every game each week? Or the new guy or gal who find themselves in last place in their league? Have no fear! There are a vast number of Web sites dedicated to all the rumors, stat-compiling, rookie speculation, good picks, draft helpers, and injury reports. Here are a few:
The Sporting News
Dr. Stats
Rotowire
Fantasy Football Toolbox
Early proponents of fantasy football struggled to get information about the condition of their competing players and relied heavily on such publications as Street and Smith's sports annuals to make draft day decisions. Today, Internet-savvy football fans can get a wealth of information online on any player currently in the NFL. They can easily compare and contrast both whole teams and individual players. "Virtual drafts" enable team owners to build teams from the comfort of their living rooms, and fans can create leagues with friends who live half a world away or test their skills against a group of total strangers. It is no wonder that "virtual" fantasy football has taken center stage, while public, non-digital fantasy football now find themselves fading into obscurity.
With so many different types of fantasy football games and fantasy sites to choose from, there is a game for any degree of football fan. So which game is right for you?
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.
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!
In the next few sections, we'll take a look at the various types of fantasy football games that exist today.
With the advent of the Internet, fantasy football has blossomed from a game played by an elite group of all-male sports enthusiasts in bars to a million-dollar industry reaching 30 million online players (including 6.5 million women) in America. On average, players spend $110 a year on their online fantasy franchises.
Online Help
Photo courtesy The Sporting News
The Sporting News' fantasy football help site.
With all of the available players, variables, weather conditions, and statistics, it takes a lot of work to be a successful fantasy football player. What about the people who enjoy playing, but just don't have the time to scour every game each week? Or the new guy or gal who find themselves in last place in their league? Have no fear! There are a vast number of Web sites dedicated to all the rumors, stat-compiling, rookie speculation, good picks, draft helpers, and injury reports. Here are a few:
The Sporting News
Dr. Stats
Rotowire
Fantasy Football Toolbox
Early proponents of fantasy football struggled to get information about the condition of their competing players and relied heavily on such publications as Street and Smith's sports annuals to make draft day decisions. Today, Internet-savvy football fans can get a wealth of information online on any player currently in the NFL. They can easily compare and contrast both whole teams and individual players. "Virtual drafts" enable team owners to build teams from the comfort of their living rooms, and fans can create leagues with friends who live half a world away or test their skills against a group of total strangers. It is no wonder that "virtual" fantasy football has taken center stage, while public, non-digital fantasy football now find themselves fading into obscurity.
With so many different types of fantasy football games and fantasy sites to choose from, there is a game for any degree of football fan. So which game is right for you?
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.
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!
In the next few sections, we'll take a look at the various types of fantasy football games that exist today.
posted by Learn Me Please at 9:17 PM
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