In case there is anyone out there that is unsure of what fantasy football is I thought I would help explain it.

I had heard about it for some time, but I was not 100% sure how it worked, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and found some very interesting facts.

To Quote Wikipedia:
“Fantasy football is an interactive, virtual competition in which people manage professional football players versus one another. Fantasy football allows people to act as general managers of a pseudo-football team. The players that an individual is able to manage are professional American Football players in the National Football League. The different actions people are able to make are: drafting, trading, adding/dropping players, and changing rosters. Due to the growth of Internet, fantasy football has become far more popular in America today than ever before.”

How it all began:

In 1962 Wilfred Winkenbach, Bil Tunnell and Scotty Starling came up with the rules that became fantasy football. The inaugural league was called the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL). The league was made up of eight members, the members were wither pro football journalists, administrative affiliates or anyone that had purchased or sold 10 tickets to the Raiders 1663 season.

In the GOPPPL each roster had the following: two fullbacks, two quarterback, two kick/punt returners, two field goal kickers, two defensive backs/linebacker, two defensive linemen , four offensive ends and four halfbacks.

The first ever number one fantasy football selection was George Blanda.

The two different types of leagues:

The two different types of leagues are head-to head and total point leagues. In head-to head leagues a team matched up versus a different team each week. The team that reached the most points wins for that week. The points are scored by either the standard set by the website or custom set by the commissioner. The most important statistic in a head-to head league is the win-loss record. If the two teams have the same win-loss record then a tie is broken by the total points scored by each team throughout the entire season.

In a total point league the winner is determined by the teams total points throughout a season not on a teams win-loss record. In this league teams accumulate points throughout the whole season.

Then there are the salary cap Leagues:

This type of league is referred to as a dynasty league. This league adds another layer to the game, the salary cap. In this league, just like in the NFL each player has an associated salary, and the total spent on all players on a team has a maximum. This league can have many levels, each commissioner or website will have their set rules on this type of play.

New League Types

There are also several new league types that are popping up all the time, “survivor pool” or knock out Pool” these leagues let you pick a new team each week, but you can only pick that team once a year.

Survivor fantasy league allows owners to draft a new team of players each week. There is also Simulation Football, this allows you to play all year round, since it does not follow the NFL season.

Now we get to the Draft:

Each year fantasy football leagues have a draft. There are two types of drafts. The most common draft is the “serpentine” draft. In this draft the owners take turns drafting players in a “snake” like method. Owners that picked first in the odd rounds pick last in the even, and so on and so on to keep everything as fair as possible. The other type of draft is referred to as an auction draft. In an auction draft each owner has an imaginary budget and he must use that budget to purchase all of his players. The owners take turns nominating players for open bid, and the owner that bids the highest for a player gets that player on their team.

Free agents and trades

In order to maintain a competitive roster free agents and trades become a very important part of fantasy football. Free agents exist in leagues that do not allow multiple teams to have any professional athletes.

At the beginning of the week after Monday night football team owners can claim free agents. If more than one team wants the same free agent, a teams waiver with position determines who gets the free agent. If you are wondering what a waiver wire position is, I will explain that. A teams waiver wire ranking is based on the teams record and how many free agents they have already received.

Different leagues have different rules designed for this, so you would need to check the rules set forth by the league you are in.

Fantasy trade referees

Yes, there are referees for fantasy football league. If an issue comes up that is considered unfair by many members of the league the dispute can be settled by a third party site. The third party site is made up of experienced fantasy football players who are very knowledgeable on all the rules and can offer an objective third party opinionon.

This is just a brief description of what Fantasy football Leagues are about.  If you have any information you would like to add or any sites you know of please post.