Fantasy Football - What is it and What Has it Done for the NFL?

Fantasy Football has been around for more than thirty years but only really hit it big with the general public about ten years ago when sites that host free competition started springing up all over the Internet. For those that are not familiar with the growing pastime, it gives the common man (and woman) a chance to experience something that had previously only been shared among the absurdly rich, a chance to own and coach an NFL football team.

So how can you get involved? For starters, visit nfl.com, or keyword AOL Fantasy Sports, or fanball.com or simply Google "Fantasy Football" and you will find more sites to get you on your way than you will know what to do with. There are also several magazine publications that are completely devoted to the subject with predictions, draft tips, and even cheat sheets to use in your draft if you are fairly new to the game. There are sites where you can pay for services but there are also a great number of sites where you can play for free with all the same tracking tools that the pay sites use.

Leagues are formed, generally with ten or twelve teams per league, and a draft time is designated. Each owner is then allowed to draft a team of the players they like or expect to do well in much the same way the NFL conducts its own annual draft. As long as a player that plays in the NFL has not already been drafted by another team in your league, he is considered a free agent and available to be drafted by your team.

There are many different styles of leagues; auction leagues, keeper leagues, standard leagues; and even a larger variety of ways to keep score. A veteran fantasy team owner will determine his draft strategy depending on their league's particular set of rules. Some leagues score heavier for touchdowns while others favor yardage amassed and/or touches of the ball during each game. A league that favors yardage, for example, will usually see running backs getting drafted in the first round of the draft, whereas a TD favored league might see the quarterbacks getting drafted early.

Points by the fantasy teams are earned based on the statistics of the players involved in the real NFL games during the regular season. For example, in a standard scoring league, if LaDanianian Tomlinson runs for 158 yards and scores two TD's, his fantasy owner would be awarded a total of 27 points, 6 points for each touchdown and 1 point for every 10 yards gained rushing. A quarterback is usually awarded 4 points for a passing TD and 1 point for each 20-25 yards in the air. Wide receivers and tight ends generally earn the same points as a running back. Kickers and team defenses are also usually drafted and the rules for how they score vary greatly from league to league.

Each fantasy team in a league usually drafts between 15-18 players and must select from them 8 or 9 starters each week, depending on the league rules. The starters are the only players to earn points each week for the team they were drafted on so part of the key to success is having a good idea who the true stars are on your team and knowing when they are going to shine. During the season, however, team owners are generally allowed to make trades with other owners, drop players, pick-up free agents, and some even have an injured reserve option in case one of your stars gets injured for a few weeks.

During the fantasy football regular season, fantasy owners play against each other in head-to-head matches according to a predetermined schedule amassing a record of wins and losses similar to the NFL teams. Usually the league will have some sort of play-off system in place near the end of the NFL regular season to determine a league champion. Some leagues have cash prizes or trophies, but for most the grand prize is merely bragging rights.

Fantasy Football has made great strides in increasing the overall interest in the NFL in general. In the old days before fantasy football, it was very easy to lose interest in the NFL season if your favorite team was having a poor season. It's hard to get very excited about a team headed for a 2-14 season. Even if your team goes 8-8, its chance of making the play-offs is slim and it's much easier to simply shift your attention to your favorite NBA team at that time of year. There's always next year, right?

But now there is fantasy football and your team has 15 players from 12 different teams. Now the average fan has a lot more reason to keep him following the weekly games all the way to the season's completion. While your Arizona Cardinals may be fumbling their way through their fifth straight losing season, you still need to keep a close eye on Vince Young, your fantasy quarterback from Tennessee, as well as Reggie Bush from New Orleans and the rookie Adrian Peterson in Minnesota as your two main fantasy running backs. On top of that, you need to keep tabs on Marvin Harrison from Indianapolis and Steve Smith from Carolina, your two wide receivers. And don't forget about your opponent. You'll need to take a peek at the players you are competing against each week, too. When the complete picture is laid out, just about every single game every single week has an impact on your fantasy team. Suddenly your home team, the one that may or may not make the play-offs, has taken a back seat to your fantasy team. You may live in Indianapolis and consider Peyton Manning one of your heroes, but if he happens to be your fantasy opponents starting QB that week, you might find yourself hoping your hero has a rare off day on the field.

Not only has fantasy football provided longer lasting enjoyment of the NFL season even when your home team is having a bad year, it has also brought a whole new crop of fans into the game. People who live in Montana or Maine or Wyoming, for example, where there isn't an NFL team to be loyal to can now create personal ties to the game through their own fantasy teams that they have drafted. In fact, fantasy football is a pastime that has spread throughout the entire world with the help of satellite TV and the Internet. One league that I played in last year had owners from Australia, Germany, and Japan, all playing just as competitively as those of us from the USA.

Fantasy Football is the result of avid NFL fans that wanted more out of each season than just what their local home team had to offer. Now, thirty years later, the NFL itself has benefitted greatly with a new wave of popularity coming not only from the residents of cities and states around the USA that aren't fortunate enough to be the home base for an NFL team, but also from new fans worldwide and it's only growing stronger each and every year.