The Five Best Internet Sites to Play Fantasy Football in 2009

1) Fanball.com - Fanball is hands down the best site to play fantasy football for money or for free. The site is easy to use and easy to navigate. There are plenty of options to appease even the most hard core fantasy football fan. 2009's season brings even more options. There are several game types with Draft and Play being the most popular. Within the Draft and Play game type there are 8 different pricing ranges, from free to one thousand dollars.

Also within the Fanball site there is a link to the Fanball operated Fantasy Football Open Championship game. It cost a lot more to play in this prestigious game but the winnings can't be beat with the best team taking home a million dollar prize. The odds are long but the payoff is big.

As if those two reasons weren't enough there is also a loyalty program call Fan Points that you can accumulate and convert to Fan Bucks spendable at the Fanball site. There is also excellent information available for all sports on the front page, listing the news based on players. If you have an iPhone you might want to download the news app for free.

2) Yahoo.com - Yahoo Sports was my first foray into the world of fantasy sports. A fine site with several options and bonus games throughout the year. Not much to win here but then again it is free to play. This site is excellent for the office pools and friendly fantasy football 2009 leagues you have. They also have an iPhone app that allows you to adjust your teams. The leagues tend to be flexible because the commissioner decides the rules and point system.

3) ESPN.com - The mother of all sports sites also has their own fantasy section. The research here is top notch and they list projected points for players for the following week. The leagues are pretty straightforward. However the pricing is around thirty dollars and apparently all that money goes towards the grand prize. If you win you league you get a bobblehead or a T-shirt. That's it.

I recommend using this site as a reference and playing the free games for practice. If you are feeling extra special lucky then pluck down some dough and win your league then it's all about point percentage after that.

4) NFL.com - A great site with decent information on players. No frills here, however they seem to have some good sponsors because you can win prizes on their mini games. A fun site to keep a league in, a better site for the mini games. Last year this league had exceptionally high drop-out rates so if you like to finish the season with as many people playing as started then maybe skip this site.

5) CBSsports.com - The money you pay is for 12 team leagues and the payouts are almost a joke, $40 to enter at minimum and then the champ is awarded $200. My question is: Where does the other $280 go? It's almost like you are paying them for the privilege of being able to use their site. The free games are not bad but I suggest if you are paying then visit fanball where your odds are better.

Those are the five best Fantasy Football sites for 2009. Research is also important; BabyBlueMonkey.com is opening its website in July and promises to do the research for you. They will be providing picks based on their laborious research efforts.