Fantasy Football
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Fantasy Game
Fantasy Sport
Fantasy Football provider
Fantasy Football
League Types
Draft Formats
Salary Cap Leagues
New League Types
Starters
Scoring
Individual Defensive Players
Conclusion
Fantasy Game
Fantasy games are a way for individual fans to compete against each other to see who has the best managerial acumen in any given sport. Fantasy football is traditionally considered the most popular of all fantasy games. The first order of business in creating any fantasy league is collecting participants. As team owners, these individuals draft real-life, professional players to create a fantasy roster. The statistics these players generate in their real games are collected, and fantasy points are awarded based on these numbers — the better a player performs, the more fantasy points he accrues for a fantasy team. In fantasy football, these points determine a winner in weekly head-to-head games between your league’s teams. The team that accumulates the most victories over the course of the season — and prevails in the postseason — is declared the league winner.
Fantasy Sport
A fantasy sport (also known as rotisserie, roto, or fairy-tale sport; or owner simulation) is a game where fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by a manager that makes up a fantasy team. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a “league commissioner.” More complex variants use computer modeling of actual games based on statistical input generated by professional sports. In fantasy sports there is the ability to trade, cut, and sign players, like a real sports owner. Fantasy sports are also known as Fairy-Tale sports and Owner Simulation. Fantasy sports are also known as Fairy-Tale sports and Owner Simulation.
The popularity of fantasy games has grown tremendously in recent years. The Web’s ability to deliver instantaneous statistics takes interaction with the sporting world to a whole new level, increasing the enjoyment of fantasy games by providing a more personal experience for sports fans of all ages and intensities. In every facet of the game — engineering, design, technical support, price, content, customer interaction, and overall enjoyment — our goal at ESPN Fantasy Games is to provide members with the ultimate fantasy gaming experience.
Fantasy Football provider
The major fantasy football sport providers are CBS, ESPN, and Yahoo!. Other up-and-coming fantasy football providers include sites like Pay the Fan and RotoHog. There are also many mini games to go along with the major one. ESPN.com’s Fantasy Football allows to buying own professional franchise and becoming the team’s coach, owner, and president. All decisions are yours to make. Each team owner is supplied with all of the tools like multiple draft methods, live box scores, unlimited waivers, trades and free agency, custom team injury updates, a commissioner, league bulletin boards, sortable stats for all players, etc. which are needed to build the best possible team. Statistical reports, expert analysis, and up-to-date feature articles from ESPN.com editors are readily available to keep owners informed. During the final weeks of the NFL regular season, the top teams in each fantasy league play each other for the league championship, while the remaining teams compete in the consolation bracket. Other fantasy football sport providers like CBS and Yahoo allows the features like unlimited access to live scoring, Customizing league rules like add/drop, trades, roster limits etc, Customizable league scoring system, Dynasty (keeper) league capability and individual defensive players and Free access on the mobile phone.
Fantasy Football
A typical fantasy league will employ players from a single football league, such as the NFL or an NCAA division. Leagues can be arranged in which the winner is the team with the most total points at the end of the season, or in a head-to-head format (which mirrors the actual NFL) in which each team plays against a single opponent each week. At the end of the year, win-loss records determine league rankings or qualification into a playoff bracket. Most leagues set aside the last weeks of the regular season for their own playoffs.
The game originated in 1962 from an idea of Bill Winkenbach. With the rise of personal computers and the Internet in the late 1990’s, the participation in and popularity of fantasy football increased exponentially. The two main types of competition formats are 1) Head-to-head, with weekly games played against specific opponents (much like in the NFL), and 2) total points, in which cumulative points during the season determine winners (or playoff teams).
League Types
Leagues normally consist of 8-16 teams. There are three major types: redraft, keeper leagues, and dynasty leagues. In a redraft, each owner starts with no players at the beginning of each season and drafts an entire fantasy team. Each owner in a keeper league is allowed to retain a small number of players they owned during the previous season, eliminating these players from the draft, while each owner in a dynasty league is allowed to retain as many players as desired from the previous season, with the draft encompassing only rookies and other unowned or un-retained players.
Draft Formats
Players are drafted on a team in three main formats. One of these is the serpentine draft, in which the draft order from the first round is reversed in the second round, then reversed again in every round thereafter, thus creating a snakelike progression. Another is the “standard” draft system, in which draft order is maintained throughout. The last is an auction system, in which owners bid on players using a predetermined budget.
Salary Cap Leagues
The salary cap football league is a particular type of dynasty league which adds another factor of realism similar to the NFL, the salary cap. Just like in the NFL, this means each player has an associated salary and the total spent on all the players on a team has a maximum - the “salary cap.” This can have many levels of complexity, e.g. a player may be signed for multiple years, etc.
New League Types
A new style of fantasy football is modeled after the popular “survivor pool” or “knock out pool” style of weekly NFL wagering that allows each pool member to pick one NFL team to win each week, but he or she can only pick that team once all year.
Similarly, survivor fantasy leagues allow owners to draft a fresh team of seven players each week, with each player only available to each owner one week per year. This added level of strategy places an emphasis on weekly NFL match ups, while at the same time diminishing the negative consequences of injuries.
Another type of league, in fantasy football is called Simulation Football. Simulation Football uses a computer to simulate the games with simulated players, instead of relying on the NFL for its players and stats. The most basic type is a GM league, where all the player has to do is put together a team and the computer does most of the work. A much more involved type of simulation football is called a Create-a-Player or CAP league. In a CAP league, top players vie for the chance to be a GM and put together a team using players that are created by other people. There are different types of scoring for determining who is a “top player” but the people are charged with making their player as good as possible using the league’s scoring system.
Starters
Each team owner must designate which players from the team roster will be starters each week - i.e. the only players who will “score” any points. The following example is similar to many common formats required for a starting lineup:
1 Quarterback (QB)
Quarterback (QB) is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the center, in the middle of the offensive line. Quarterbacks are the leaders of the offensive team, responsible for calling the play in the huddle. They initiate almost all plays by receiving the ball from the center, although occasionally teams will use a “direct snap” to another offensive player. Once the quarterback receives the snap, he can run with the ball, hand the ball to another player or attempt a forward pass. Quarterbacks are frequently chosen early in the NFL Draft and often receive much more lucrative contracts than other positions. As of 2008, players in this position have won more Super Bowl MVP awards (22 of 42) than players at any other position
2 Running Backs (RB)
A running back (RB) is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block. There are usually one or two running backs on the field for a given play, depending on the offensive formation. A running back may be a halfback or a fullback
3 Wide Receivers (WR)
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football. Only players in certain positions are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible receivers, as are all players in the backfield. Since these two receivers begin play as the offensive players nearest the sidelines, they are referred to as “wide” receivers. The wide receiver’s principal role is to catch passes from the quarterback. The wide receiver (WR) position in American and Canadian football is the pass-catching specialist
1 Tight End (TE)
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football on the offensive team. The tight end is the last man on the offensive line but has a slightly different build and in some cases a different role than other linemen. The role of tight ends can change depending on the philosophy of the head coach, but their main jobs are: block for the running back or quarterback who is carrying the ball, catch passes from the quarterback, and help create a stronger pocket by assisting fellow linemen in blocking during passing plays.
1 Kicker (K)
Placekicker or kicker is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points, and, in many cases, kickoffs.
1 Team Defense/Special Teams (DST)
Team Defense is the action of preventing an opponent from scoring. He is responsible to the tactics involved in defense, or a sub-team whose primary responsibility is defense. Similarly, a defense player is a player who is generally charged with preventing the other team’s forwards from being able to bear down directly on their own team’s goaltender.
Scoring
Players earn their team points based on their performance in their weekly games; for example, each touchdown counts as 6 points, a certain number of yards gained counts for points, and so on. In almost all cases, players earn points for passing, rushing, and receiving yards. Passing yards (sometimes touchdowns as well) typically earn about half as many points as rushing/receiving yards, since QBs normally get many more. Negative points are also usually given for turnovers, and kickers earn points for field goals and extra points (sometimes negative points for missed kicks). Bonuses can also be given for exceptionally good performances, like a QB throwing for over 300 yards, or a kicker making a long field goal. Team defenses earn points for things like sacks, turnovers, safeties, etc. Individual defensive players typically do not earn points for team-wide stats such as keeping the opponent under a certain score or yardage total, but rather for tackles or turnovers made.
A typical scoring format and variations used here are as follows:
1 point for 25 passing yards
1 point for 10 rushing and receiving yards
4 points for a passing touchdown
6 points for a rushing or receiving touchdown
-2 points for every interception thrown or fumble lost
1 point for each extra point made
3 points for each field goal made (additional points are sometimes awarded for long kicks, i.e. over 40 yards)
2 points per turnover gained by defense
1 points per sack by the defense
2 points for a safety by defense
6 points for each touchdown scored by defense
2 points for each blocked kick
Individual Defensive Players
Many leagues have now incorporated Individual Defensive Player (IDP) play into their scoring systems. IDP play typically has roster space for three groups of defensive players: defensive linemen (DL), linebackers (LB) and defensive backs (DB).
The possible scoring system are:
2 points per solo tackle
1 point per assist
6 points per defensive touchdown
2 points per safety
1 point per pass defended
2 points per half sack
2 points per fumble recovered
2 points per forced fumble
2 points per interception
Conclusion
Many Fantasy Football players passionate in their hobby and are always looking for ways to gain an advantage over their competition. Magazines, websites, books, and software are available to fantasy players which allows them with the information they need to make better decisions. Fantasy Football players avail showcasing of venues of live football games via satellite, has had significant effects on football viewing and rooting habits among participants.
Fantasy owners, rather than supporting a favorite team in any one game, some of the fantasy owners may instead support the players on their fantasy rosters. Players are mixed on the impact on the effects of fantasy football on fans’ habits and preferences. Fantasy football has had a net positive benefit in increased knowledge of players at all positions, not just the traditionally regarded “skill positions”. This has helped increase the popularity of the league, and given status to fantasy football fans who take the time to learn the sport.