Preseason football is under full sail which can only mean one thing,
fantasy football has arrived. Once again it is time to feel the
stress of the draft, begin scouting the new talent, and checking
to see if the work horses have lost a step over the off-season.
The biggest thing is it is time to get yourself into a league and
get ready for the ups and downs of being a fantasy owner. Is there
any better way to enjoy way to enjoy the stress of a relaxing NFL
weekend than screaming at your television and praying for your guy
to get the ball and score?
The growth of fantasy sports, especially football, has been
tremendous
especially on the World Wide Web. Last year there
were tens of thousands of leagues on the "normal" sites
like ESPN, Sportsline, Yahoo and other dominant search engines
and sports sites. Despite what they would like you to believe,
they are not the only games in cyber space. I would even venture
to say they are not the most interesting or innovative sites out
there. If you join a league on one of these flagship sites you
do get to compete, but what do you win? Face it, if you are in
one of these mega sites you're literally competing against hundreds
of thousands of people for any real cash and most likely, if you
win your league, you are looking at the reward of a cap or a t-shirt
proclaiming you are a winner. Given the luck and injury factor
associated with the game, why not look outside the cyber giants
and their stale format to something which might be a little more
creative and where you could actually have a realistic shot at
winning something real
money.
Although there are over 148,000 sites that will be available
to you if you type in "fantasy football leagues" on
the web, I have spent some time researching some alternative sites
which have formats and prizes different from the giants. These
are in no particular order as I would not want to show favoritism,
instead I am providing alternatives which will provide both the
competition and stress we all love, but also provide owners with
a unique fantasy experience.
HeySportsFan is a
site where there is no draft, no salary cap and they offer unlimited
trades for free throughout the season. The philosophy is simple,
"Why should one person per league get to cheer for that "stud"
quarterback." They feel fantasy football should enhance your
enjoyment of the game, not be an exercise in higher math, complex
trade negotiations or inner-league personalities. It is fantasy
football with the emphasis on football.
In addition to offering a unique format, and all of the usual
bells and whistles like real time scoring and the like, HeySportsFans
offers three levels of action, Budget, Premium and High Stake.
The Budget League will you cost you $25.00 to enter ($5.00 extra
for real time stats option) with a 50 team league maximum. The
grand prize for the buy in is $150.00 for the champ, $75.00 for
second and gift certificates ranging from $50.00 to $10.00 for
up to 25th place. Entering a Premium League will cost you $100.00
and the real-time scoring is free. The number of teams in a league
is limited to 20 owners and the prizes for first to third place
are cash. $500.00 will go to the winner, $175.00 for second and
$75.00 for third. Fourth place is a $50.00 gift certificate. The
High Stakes League is just that, high stakes. $250.00 will get
you aboard a league with ten teams, but the rewards are worth
the price. First place pays out $1,150, second gets your money
back, third puts $175.00 back in your pocket and fourth will allow
you to rake in $125.00. Each of these leagues offer weekly prizes
of gift certificates ranging from $10.00 to $25.00. The difference
between HeySportsFan and the mega sites, you actually have a chance
to win real cash against a pool of players you may actually know,
or get to know during the season.
Ant Sports offers some
really unique qualities for online fantasy players. Instead of
the pressure packed minute and half owners in the mega sites get
to select a player; they offer an email draft and time to actually
consider options. If you're putting the time and the effort into
the selection, why should you be rushed into a possible mistake
or miss a turn because you had to leave the computer for a minute?
Owners can really take the time to weigh their options and make
intelligent decisions, not hurried selections. They offer, "
the
#1 fantasy football mock draft site with 5525 mock drafts,"
making them an excellent source for evaluating your draft strategies
for this season.
In addition to offering a variety of leagues, including keep
leagues, they also offer a league scoring format within the standard
"head-to-head" system. Much like the NHL, league standings
are kept with league points, not wins and losses. A win gets the
owner 2 points, a tie-one point and a loss-zero points. League
points are also awarded to high score for the week. With this
format, a one-week blow-out will not kill your chances for the
season and having a couple of losses will not doom your season.
"League rules and scoring are designed to take as muck luck
out of the game as possible, allowing the skilled fantasy owners
to succeed."
Ant Sports does offer a low cost Trophy League, but they really
promote their money leagues of $100.00, $250.00 and $500.00. In
the hundred dollar league there is a 75% cash back pay-out, 80%
in the $250.00 leagues and 85% cash back in their $500.00 leagues.
Cask prizes are awarded first to fourth place; there is a consolation
bowl, weekly prizes and week 17 "free-for-all." There
are other league options making this site a must to check out
when considering play this season.
US Fantasy
Sports offers a large variety of leagues, prices and could
be one of the most comprehensive information sites on the web
for their owners. $75.00 will get you into "Keeper Contract
League" but for the low price of $10.00 you can join a Trophy
League. You also have the option to purchase a team which is up
for sale for between $40.00 and $75.00 or join a Bug Cash League
for $25.00. They will also offer a US Fantasy Football Experts
League for the first time this season. There are weekly winners,
but their big claim is that there will be more fantasy information
this season than they have ever provided. They provide links to
other sites like Fantasy Football Mastermind who is in their 8th
season with the site. With keeper leagues becoming more and more
popular, this could be a great site to make that plunge with a
minimum investment.
Fantasy Sports "R"
Us offers the, "biggest pay out in fantasy sports!"
In addition to offering cash pay-outs, they also offer a plague
for the winner two to three weeks after the season. "It's
hard to finish in 1st place in a rotisserie or head-to-head league
and you deserve a symbol of that victory." (A $75.00 value)
Although they acknowledge cash is the primary prize, it only provides
short term gratification; a plague is something you can keep forever.
They too offer a variety of leagues, including draft and keeper
styles it was their scoring format and 18 man rosters that drew
me to the site. Most leagues offer a 17 player roster and the
18th man could make difference allowing owners to take yet more
chance at some of the new or borderline talents available. Each
league will have 12 teams with a $149.00 buy in for a single team,
they offer discounts for multiple team owners.
The cash payouts are worth taking note. The Super Bowl winner
gets a $500.00 prize with second getting $250.00. Third place
gets a free team for next season, fourth place gets $50.00, but
what makes this format unique is that there is a "Toilet
Bowl" payout of $25.00. Statistically, 42% of the participants
in the league are in for some sort of prize. Another unique aspect
in the play-off format is that five teams enter, with the first
place team getting the bye week.
Fantasy Sports "R" Us plays a head-to-head scoring system,
"the way fantasy football should be." Owners get points
for passing, rushing, receiving, kicking and defense. The system
is unique as they offer not the usual six points for a touchdown,
they offer seven points for a score of 30-49 yards and eight points
for any score 50 yards or longer. The same "bonus" format
applies to passing with one point for every thirty yards, 4 extra
points for games with 300-349 yards and eight points for a game
with over 350 yards. There are bonus points available for receiving
and rushing, but the unique factor is the kicking points. It is
the usual one point for a PAT, five points for a filed goal under
forty yards, seven points for anything up to 50 yards and a whopping
ten points for any field goal from over 50 yards. The format makes
the kicker a real player and not just an after thought in the
draft process. They strive to make their site the most exciting
football experience on the net, their efforts should not be ignored
y the serious fantasy player.
One of the more unique sites I found actually features a "live"
commissioner for their leagues. Fantasy
Commissioner has real fantasy experts who are commissioners
owners can really talk with. This is a far cry from the mega sites
and the "phantom" commissioner who will occasionally
reply to questions when they get the time. I wrote Commissioner
Todd Farino and had a response in minutes, to say the least it
was refreshing. There are descriptions of various commissioner
available, each one is a fantasy expert dedicated to making the
owner's experience as pleasurable as possible. "End bitter
fights with rival managers with an unbiased commissioner deciding
trades and more."
In addition to having real people in charge, they offer a "customizing"
system for leagues. You can have your league set up the way you
would like it and you don't have to bend to someone's concept
of a fair scoring system. They also offer live scoring, an interactive
web site, chat rooms, email and forums. "All league types
are available." They offer a guarantee of play until September
9; if you are not satisfied they will refund 100% of your money.
It is hard to go wrong with an offer like that. League prices,
with a live commissioner begin at $119.99 with regular online
leagues going for $74.99. After my own frustrations dealing with
the "phantom" commissioners, there is nothing like dealing
with a real person who will actually listen to you and respond.
None of the "big" guys can make that offer.
Fantasy Headquarters
offers the opportunity to, "participate in one of our fantasy
leagues for a chance to win cold, hard cash." Although they
offer a variety of leagues, they also offer the chance to customize
a private league to suit your fantasy needs. Fantasy Headquarters
offers leagues ranging from the "A" League for a $49.00
buy in to the $399.00 Pro Leagues. In between they have the "AAA"
Leagues for $199.00 and "AA" Leagues for $99.00. League
sizes range from twelve to ten teams with payouts ranging from
$1,750 for first place in a "Pro" league to $125.00
for first place in an "A" League. Each league offer
payouts from first to fourth place with the bottom payout being
$25.00. They offer one other aspect which is unique, if you wish
to play on a national level you can pay an additional $49.99 membership
fee, with two trade options, and have a shot at $10,000. There
are prizes here for first to sixth place and they are all healthy
payouts. If that is not your pleasure, for $9.99 you can play
at the national level and compete for a $5,000 payday. This is
not money to sneeze at and a lot more than the "sports"
leaders are offering with a better chance of winning it all. After
all, isn't winning it all the real fantasy of fantasy sports?
Although some of these leagues are part of corporations, they
are not part of the mega corporations of Disney, ABC and ESPN,
Viacom and CBS, or AOL and CNN/SI. Fine corporations they may
be for their share holders, but their fingers are every where
and fantasy sports are just another one of their divisions. Each
of these sites, and there are more out there, are dedicated to
providing the best fantasy sports experience for the participants
and not their stockholders. I am not saying ESPN is a Mickey Mouse
outfit, they were one of the pioneers in fantasy sports and still
one of the best providers of sports information anywhere, but
they don't cater to the fantasy player as an individual, they
cater to the corporate community as a whole
players are just
a part of the community. There is no way I could cover over 1090,000
fantasy sports sites in a single article, but I can point out
there are alternatives to the corporate giants who seem to worry
more about corporate profits than their fantasy players. You owe
it to yourself to look beyond the giants while providing yourself
with a more personalized fantasy experience. There are a lot of
trees in the fantasy forest making variety part of the fantasy
of life. Explore, enjoy and make the whole experience meaningful
to you, not profit for them.
|