Fantasy Football

This is my fourth year playing fantasy football. The first couple years I did the best I could, but only managed a few wins. Still, every year I get a little better and my team wins a few more games. Last year, with the addition of my girlfriend to management, we just missed the play-offs. This year we're 4-1 and hope to win our matchup this weekend, putting us firmly in first-place in our division.

I first experienced fantasy sports back in the mid-90s. At the time I was in a league with a friend and some people from the local paper and network TV stations. They were sportswriters and newscasters and I was just someone who loved baseball. I soon learned that there was more to managing a fantasy team then just picking your favorite players. Over a few years I was in a variety of baseball leagues, including draft and auction style. There are merits to both, but I think the auction-style is more fun, even if it takes longer. I don't remember how I fared in those early years, but I guess I didn't win or I'd remember.

It's changed a lot in the last several years, too. Today you have web-management, official scores and a plethera of sites that provide updates, information and advice. Back in the 90s we read USA Today, calculated our own scoring and faxed our score-sheets to the commissioner. For any transactions you had to call the commissioner and for research you basically had newspaper or magazines.

For our league (Colorado Beer League) we have a website that allows you to run reports, gives you up-t0-date news, allows you to track scoring real-time and handles all types of transactions, from waivers to IR to trades. There's even a message board and chat window. This year the software we use has even added a java-based program that will let you track not only your matchups, but the matchups of the rest of your league. Another great thing is it lets you view the scoring of each NFL game, so you can keep tabs of all players, not just those owned by a manager in your league. This is great for determining pickups as the season progresses.

Why do any fantasy sports? Well, 4 years ago when I started fantasy football, I wasn't that big of a football fan. I used to like football when I was a kid, but over the last 10 years or so, I've been more interested in watching my baseball Cardinals or cheering for the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. However, 4 years ago when I started playing fantasy football, I found that I learned a lot more about the game. I learned the teams, I learned the players and almost every matchup had meaning for me. Every year since I've become more interested in football. Now, on almost every Sunday, I am glued to the TV. We watch our team, cheer for our players and I eagerly await the results of each game. THAT is the reason to get into fantasy football (or any other sport) - because you will enjoy the sport that much more. Try it!