You can smell it in the air. You can see it in the streets and on campus. It's football season. You know what that means. Gathering around with a bunch of your friends to ... hold your league's fantasy draft and pick your team. Running backs go first, than quarterbacks, then wide receivers, tight ends (Kellen Winslow anyone?), defenses, and even kickers.
Then you vigorously watch as much football as possible so you can ... scout players, make trades, and improve your team so you score the most points in your league and have the best record.
Eventually, toward season's end, playoff fever starts. No, it doesn't mean that the best teams in the NFL will be jockeying to see who wins which division and who gets each wild card spot. Playoff season has a whole new meaning. It's when the best fantasy teams will square off in head-to-head battles for bragging rights over who is the better football fan and who will win The League Title.
Sacking the Tufts campus like a hit from Willie McGinest, fantasy football is everywhere. Everyone has a team. Most people have more than one (I have two). I was on my way to Dewick on September 20th when I saw someone in a McNabb jersey. Finally, I thought, a fellow Eagles fan. Actually, the kid was just showing his support for his fantasy quarterback, who had a big game that evening against the Vikings (he was huge, throwing for 245 yards and 2 TDs while rushing for another. Go you Birds!).
Another sophomore, who shall remain anonymous, compared fantasy football to a certain addictive powdery illegal drug.
Indeed, fantasy football has taken hold of the nation with such force that it can no longer be ignored as simply a hobby. A poll conducted by Harris Interactive found that an estimated 29.6 million people play fantasy sports. An Ipsos-Reid Group study followed and showed that 93 percent of people playing fantasy sports play fantasy football.
Ipsos-Reid also found that on average, a fantasy football player is a 37-year-old man with an ever-increasing income and an undergrad degree who manages 2.4 teams and spends $154 a year to feed his habit.
That's chump change compared to the 672 competitors in the World Championship of Fantasy Football, who forked over a $1,450 entry fee and traveled to Las Vegas for the draft. A $200,000 pot awaits the winner of the league.
Most people may not spend as much time and money on fantasy football as these diehards, but on average fantasy players still devote six hours a week to their fantasy football teams.
The hobby has become an industry, with an estimated 1.3 million people playing at NFL.com's pay site, according to Nielsen Media Research. Yahoo! estimates that 8.5 million visit its fantasy site every month and ESPN's most profitable division has become its fantasy football pay sites.
The Sporting News offers cell phone updates, Best Buy has its own league, and millions are spent by magazines and websites to break down who will be the fantasy sleeper and the big bust of the season (my guess is Matt Hasselbeck, with an incredibly weak first two games).
Feeling left out because you don't already have an online franchise? Don't worry. It's easier than ever to become a fantasy guru like the rest of the population.
Step 1: Simply get a few friends together and go to one of the many websites that offer fantasy sports and form a league. Yahoo! generally has the best site. You may have to register with Yahoo if you are a new user, but it's free and easy.
Step 2: Pick a team name. It can be anything. Examples include Brady/Branch_in_2004, DamnitfeelsgoodtobeaJumbo, or the ever popular Undefeated. Since fantasy football is about trash talking and bragging rights, use your team name to irk your friends. GoYankees! would be a surefire way to piss off any New Englander.
Step 3: Scout out your team. Look at the many, many Web sites and magazines for fantasy rankings and injury reports. ESPN The Magazine often has great fantasy numbers, as does The Sporting News. (Hint: use LexisNexis through the Tisch Library server to see most of these for free)
Step 4: The Draft. Be sure to take your running backs early, something I learned the hard way. Tyrone Wheatley will not make up for not getting Priest Holmes, Jamal Lewis, or Clinton Portis early. Also, use the draft to trump up your football prowess over that of your league rivals ("Keyshawn Johnson? Why would anyway take a washed up Dallas receiver who's taking passes from Vinny Testaverde. He's almost as old as Bill Parcells").
Step 5: Watch the games. Watch your team. Try not to fall behind. You'll learn very soon which players are keepers, sleepers, and busts. Make deals and improve your team. Look for bargain trades and big free agents.
Step 6: Watch the injury wire. You don't want to be that guy who looks at his team Sunday morning and sees that your starting tight end is out this week with turf toe (thanks Jeremy Shockey).
Step 7: Bash your friends throughout the season for lousy trades, bad pickups and poor managing and try to withstand their jabs.
Step 8: Hope that the football gods help you enough each week for you to come out on top and win the league.
Welcome to the new NFL, the new football season. Give up playing a pickup game of tackle football in the icy wind after a Patriots victory and embrace the glow of your laptop as you calculate how many points you are going to score this weekend. Fantasy football is here to stay.
