Inside the Cave – First the “Zen” part. Clear your mind, then focus, do a little research, focus, keep focusing (on visualizing a great NFL Fantasy Football team line-up for the upcoming week!) It really is relaxing, fun, and takes your mind off of the more taxing/stressful things to deal with in life, and makes the games more fun to watch as you’ve got your team members in it! Remember, Confucius says: “Good NFL Fantasy Team day is like post turkey dinner “tryptophan” high!”
Probably ten years or so ago I’d heard enough about this increasingly popular game enough to want to seriously look into it. What I found next was PERFECT.
An on-line game called Head2Head. You pay a small fee to enter a league, but you can create your own team each week! No being saddled with injured or burnt out players all season, bye week hassles, etc. You just have to manage a budget each week, each player has a value, and your team has to stay within a total allotted amount of money. You can pick any player you want as long as you do not exceed the maximum total budget limit.
Year 1, I won the League. FIRST PLACE out of 32 league members! “Go FarSiders!”
I got hooked and have been doing this ever since, and also semi competing with my good friend Chris Cochran. It is fun, and it IS relaxing. You do have to pre-plan and strategize which again takes your mind off other issues, and (remember the “focus, focus, research, focus…..) The next part is enjoying watching the games and seeing how your “focusing” paid off (or not…..) Over the last couple of years, two of my kids caught the bug (Jessi and John) and exposed me to a newer, FREE, and far simpler Fantasy Football system, actually run by the NFL!
NFL Fantasy Football-
It’s all online, and they make it outrageously simple, you can even manage your team via your cell phone! You agree to enter (at no charge) and can go through the original “draft your team” live on-line; or the NFL will assign you a team based on the best player available when it’s your turn in the draft! Easy to manage and a blast.
FanDuel-
The excitement of the basic Fantasy Football concept has now reached a new level (in my opinion) with the creation of the on-line “FanDuel” concept which my brother Matt turned me onto to.
You can play once week (as many entrees as you want), stop for a week or more and then enter again; and any week enter any player combination for a team as you want! Like Head2Head, you do have to manage a budget based on player values, with a “do not exceed” limit. You can enter a 100 person league for $ 1, $ 5, or higher. If your team point total winds up being # 1 through # 50; you win! (FanDuel keeps 10% for their services.) If you wind up 51 through 100, you lose and have paid the winners. I love it! This concept is catching on like wild fire and I know a number of people now who play this weekly. They make it extremely simple. (FanDuel also has leagues for higher monetary amounts, but I like to keep this a “zen-like” hobby not a full time job..)
As stated I also play just about weekly against my brother, but decorum here keeps me from bragging about what our total score is against each other……
(I guess the Zen part is working!)
To learn more:
(P.S. Head2Head and FanDuel both have NBA Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, NASCAR, and more Fantasy Leagues to choose from!)
Way to go Pal!! I am sure you are Kiking A……..s this year again in Fantasy Football.
Wow, so many choices….sooooo little time!
Have fun and racke the winnings!! Love you guys. Tania