Let's Get Started

Today we will begin our series on how to get started in Fantasy Football. Over the next couple of weeks we will provide you with all the basics needed to get set up, followed by an evaluation of many of the games available (along with some occasional unashamed self-promoting).

The first question many of you have had is "How do I actually get a team?" Good question. For the novice this can be really confusing. It leads to numerous other questions like "What if I want to play but I don't know anyone else who does?", "Which game should I play?", and "What type of leagues are there and which one should I get into?". Let's start with the basics.

Game Providers:

A game provider is the person or organization that is responsible for setting up the structure of and access to the game. By structure of, I mean both the rules and the scoring system. (By the way, we'll talk about both of these over the next few days)

Game providers can range from the giants (ESPN, NFL.com, CBSSportsline.com, FOX/Sporting News, and AOL to name a few) to the guy next door. It's important to stop here and note that you don't have to go to one of the big guys' web sites to play the game. If you have a group of 8, 10, or 12 friends, you can set up your own rules and scoring system and go from there. The drawback to this is that you will have to find someone to chug the numbers as you won't have the automatic stat calculations and fancy options available on the web sites.

If you opt to go through a web site, you will find a wide variety of choices available. Some sites offer free games, some make you pay. Some offer prizes, some don't. Some providers offer multiple games, some, only one. Generally, the "bells and whistles" (player information, stat calculations, real-time scoring, etc.)and/or prizes available to you increase as cost goes up. It's up to you to decide how much you want to spend and at exactly what level you want to participate.

For the beginner, we recommend two games, Yahoo! Fantasy Football and Best Buy's Fantasy Football Challenge. Why? Well, for one thing, both leagues are free. If you try them and decide you don't like the game, you haven't lost anything.

In the Yahoo! game you can join a public league or be part of a private league. (We'll look at those tomorrow). The calculation to determine point standings are provided for you as are a certain amount of analysis and support information. Extra features such as real-time scoring are available for an additional fee. No prizes are awarded with the first place winner securing only bragging rights. (Note: I actually played in a Yahoo! league my first year and found it to be a tremendous amount of fun).

As for Best Buy's game, it is structured in a completely different manner. Unlike Yahoo!, this is a salary cap game (to be discussed tomorrow). The goal is win one of numerous really cool weekly prizes by picking the best lineup (different every week). There are no actual leagues, it's all about trying to be one of the top 200 or so (55 during the playoffs) out of the thousands that play the game each week.

As I already noted both games are free. You can play one, the other, or both (or technically neither if you're dull and/or boring).

Tomorrow we will continue this series with a look at the types of leagues and games that exist as well as providing a few hints on the signup process.