The 2012 NFL fantasy football season is officially underway– let the games begin.
Fantasy football, which began this past weekend, is available online at espn.go.com and several other sites. Certain fantasy football leagues carry over from year to year, while others dish out cash prizes for champions.
For the innocent few foreign to fantasy football, the system is simple. Once a year, friends and coworkers alike gather to draft teams, round by round, from a pool of every professional football players. Then, over the course of the season, teams are matched up head-to-head as players receive fantasy points corresponding to their real-life statistics for that week.
At the end of every weekend, points are totaled up for every team and owners accumulate wins and losses. Eventually, as the season draws to a close, the teams with the most wins match up against one another in the playoffs, where a single champion eventually emerges victorious.
Now, while the NFL regular season only began in early-September, fantasy football oftentimes starts several weeks and even months before a single game is even played.
Kenny Gerowitz, senior, follows that trend, drafting his team well before September. “I usually start looking into players and sleepers when the league is made in the beginning of August,” said Gerowitz. “We drafted our teams about a week into August, so I had to do a lot of research the few days before it.”
Drafting, however, is only the first step in a season-long commitment to both one’s team and one’s league. According to Gerowitz, true fantasy players constantly update their rosters and pay attention to their players.
“If you love watching football, then it isn’t hard to keep track of everything. It’s just important to follow through with your team, even if you’re not winning,” said Gerowitz.
Daniel Floyd, senior and two-time fantasy football veteran, explained that he has learned the key to fantasy success lies in the matchups. Said Floyd, “The most important thing is playing the right players every week. You never know who is going to have a big game, which makes it exciting, but you have to try and predict it.”
Some of the more hardcore football junkies even take the game to a new level: money.
“My friends wanted to play for money, but we never got it sorted out,” said Floyd. “Hopefully we’ll be able to next year; I just think the whole thing takes on more meaning when you’ve got money on the line.”
Whether it be for free or for money, for rookies still learning and for veterans returning, fantasy football ultimately is a great way to have fun.
Said Gerowitz, “Beating your friends is awesome, but just playing with the guys and talking smack to each other– it’s a lot of fun.”
I bet Brendan has Tebow on his fantasy team…