LOOK OUT FOR OUR NEW MULTIMEDIA WEB SITE! IN THE MEANTIME, ENJOY OUR WATERCOOLER CHATS: FANTASY FOOTBALL TIPS
On NBC’s Today show Sunday morning, I talk about How to Be a Great Fan!
Watch our own Betsy Berns on NBC’s Today Show, “Football Widow’s Getting into the Game.”
One of the ways to get into the Game is to play fantasy football.
Here is a guide to get you started and some tips on having fun and surviving the season.
HOW TO GET STARTED
1) Decide what kind of League
Some Leagues have complicated scoring systems and some are more user friendly. Decide how intense you want this to be
2) Decide what kind of Draft you’re most comfortable with.
Standard draft:Â Draft order is determined and each round you pick your favorite available players (similar to a real NFL draft).
Auction: Owners bid on players using a pre-determined fixed budget.
3) Plan to spend a lot of time at the draft (most are live and even if you don’t plan on dedicating your life to fantasy football for 5 months, at least dedicate a good portion of one night to pick the best team available).
4) Search Magazines, books, websites for information on the best players and strategies for draft day (ie, many writers will suggest picking the best running backs early in the draft and/or picking great QB/WR combos).
5) Print out Mock Drafts from your favorite writers and print out cheat sheets of the top ranked Players at each position (not really cheating just getting as much info as you can).
TIPS ON HAVING FUN AND SURVIVING THE SEASON
1) Pay attention to Bye weeks…. forgetting to put in replacement players is the most frustrating reason not to score points.
2) Make sure to check your lineup prior to the deadline in case one of your Players is on injured reserve.
3) Pay attention to the Gossip (if you’re reading that your star QB is out with Paris Hilton the night before a big game, play it safe and play your backup).
4) Pick at least one Player from your favorite home team (you’ll have a miserable season if you are constantly rooting against your favorite team).
5) Try not to pick many Players from teams you hate. You’ll be forced to root for these Players to score points for your team but will end up hating yourself if that team has a winning season.
