How Fantasy Sports Actually Work

OK, I know this may be strange for many if not most of you, but some people don't know how fantasy sports work. I ran across a guy in my office just the other day, who is a huge sports fan, who was embarrassed when I asked him to join my fantasy football league because he didn't know how. If you can turn on a computer, you can play fantasy sports. The fist step is to get signed up with a site that provides fantasy sports, like Sportsline or ESPN. You go to one of these sites and go to the fantasy sports tab and pick a user name and a password, your ready to go. All sites with fantasy sports will have different categories which include different pay scales or free. Beginners should start out with free, it's less intimidating. You then join a league that suites your interest and follow the directions.

Now the fun begins, if you are a stats nut this is where you can really dig in and do some research on who you might want to pick in the draft. If your just playing for fun and know nothing about the sport you are playing just check out the research that is automatically given to you. There will be a draft, now you can enter a league with an auto draft or one with a live draft. The auto draft does it automatically, you don't even have to turn on your computer. The live draft requires you to actually enter a draft room and depending on the sport, go through several rounds actually picking players one at a time. The draft for most people is the funnest part, it's where your strategy for the season begins.

In the draft you have specific rules, which will be drawn out before the draft begins, and you follow the rules to pick certain positions and a specific number of starters and backup players. You pick players from all over the "real league" and those players from different teams make up your specific team. Take the NFL for example, you can draft Jay Cutler from the Broncos as your quarterback and Terrell Owens as your receiver from the Cowboys. It's a matter of taking the best players from different teams as soon in the draft as you can. The great thing about fantasy sports is there are thousands of different strategies to use.

So, for either the avid sports fan or the casual "I'll check the sports page once in a while" fantasy sports can be a fun way to get to know your favorite players better and get a little competition in your life. The number one thing to remember is don't be intimidated, there is always going to be that Internet tough guy who will talk trash to you, just think of him or her as a 40 year old dork who lives with his/her mother. Just have fun.