Fantasy Football: A Guide to Winning for the Ignorant

Dec 7, 2009 Posted in Life, Technology | 0 comments

Fantasy Football: A Guide to Winning for the Ignorant

My lack of sports knowledge is sometimes embarrassing. Many times I’ve felt left out from water cooler discussions. (I just nod my head and smile) Despite my ignorance, I occasionally participate in fantasy sports and somehow at the end of the season I end up doing okay. I thought I’d write a short guide on how to win at fantasy sports for those you, like me, who don’t know much about sports.

Step 1 – Find a friend who’s a sports guru

Find your closest friend who is a walking sports almanac, he may be another owner of another team in your league. (if so even better) Ask him to explain the basics of drafting. The most important part is choosing players, so it couldn’t hurt having him on the phone when you are doing the live draft. All the big name players get taken early, so having someone helping you who knows every detail about those third string players is key.

Step 2 – Forget about your favorite team

Dare I say it, but my favorite team is the KC Chiefs (even though they are atrocious). You need to focus on players that perform, if that is your favorite team, then good for you. Don’t draft players because you like their name, the team mascot or their cheerleaders. Focus on drafting a balanced team.

Step 3 – Save your money, play for free

ince you’re not a huge sports buff, there’s no need to spend money on playing fantasy sports. Fantasy football is free on just about every website. There are some sites that you can pay for upgrades or some leagues may put money in a pool but you don’t need any of these upgrades and there are tons of free leagues to join.

Step 4 – Do some light reading

A little reading on ESPN.com can go a long way. I don’t mean paging through game stats, I mean reading short sports stories. This year I’m 8-5 and I’ve done that mainly by reading ESPN’s suggestions each week. If all else fails do a Google search for fantasy football cheat sheets.

Step 5 – Leave it alone

Most people have a tendency to over complicate their team by changing players too much throughout a season. My first time playing fantasy sports, I set it and forgot that I even had a team. (My friends just needed an extra player) I ended up getting 4th place overall! My theory, don’t change a player unless their injured or on a bye week.

With any luck you’ll do alright. If not, oh well… hopefully you had some fun anyway.