Free Free Fantasy Sports

By Kenneth Schonmeier

Ever hear someone talking about their fantasy football or baseball team but didn’t know what they were talking about? Or maybe you have a general idea but not knowledgeable of the ins and outs of it? Welcome to Fantasy Sports 101.

What is Fantasy Sports?

Fantasy sports is where a group of people, usually family and friends will gather together and create their own football teams using real NFL players. They will draft players and fill up their rosters and bench players. Then each week, whatever the players do in real life, the teams who owns that player will get points. For instance a standard format is that Running Backs will get one point for ever ten yards they rush and six points for each touchdown. So if my team has Reggie Bush, and in one week he runs for 113 yards and two touchdowns, my team would receive 11 points for his rushing yardage and 12 points for his two touchdowns. A total of 23 points! At the end of a week, each team will add up all of the points their starting players got them and the team with the most points will get a win. This format is commonly known as Head to Head.

There is another format that is more common in Baseball. For the most part it is the same as the previous explanation but in this case two teams do not go head to head and there is not a team who gets a win or a loss each week. This format is based on categories. In Baseball, the standard set is called 5 x 5. Five offensive categories and five pitching categories. For instance offensively there will be RBI’s, Homeruns, Runs, Stolen Bases and Average. As the season continues, every run a starting player on your team scores, your team will get one point. If there are ten teams then the team with the most points will have a ranking of ten. The team with the least runs will have a ranking of one. Each team’s rankings from every category will be added up and the team with the most points will be the leader. Who ever ends the season with the most points, wins.

Do you have to know a lot about the sport to play fantasy sports?

Actually you can play fantasy sports and do well with only a very basic knowledge of that particular sport. Simple terms need to be learned, like what a touchdown is or what a homerun is and such. One also needs to know the difference between positions. What a quarterback is compared to a wide receiver and such. After that it is more about looking up statistics and news clippings about the players than anything else. This part is actually very easy too, for there are plenty of sites on-line that offer free help, advice and drafting lists. There are plenty of websites with articles about players and who to draft and who not to. Many sites will offer lists of their “Player rankings”. This list consists of approximately 200 players from all positions ranked from best to worst. One can actually draft their team using nothing but one of these lists and have a chance of doing well. The only problem with these lists is that they are usually one expert’s opinion on which players are better to have than others. You can look at the list from one site and compare it to another site and find some great differences.

In my experience of over ten years of fantasy sports, I have found ESPN.com as the most accurate and up to date. Unfortunately ESPN is now forcing people to purchase a certain membership call “Insiders” to get much of their information. Yahoo sports, Fox sports, and such, offer most or all of their information free. For the most part, most of the work is done for you and even free. The hardest part is deciding which expert has the right opinion of players. Now you could always compare several lists to get a consensus but this can be a lot of work. Yet there is even a site out there that does this for you.

Fantasy sports is a good way to be competitive and not have to be a know it all. Women who do not follow sports very close can join their husband’s leagues and if they find the right lists can laugh at their husband’s team when it loses to them. Believe me, I have seen many novice sports fans beat the experience owners.

Kenjas Fantasy Sports gathers the lists of several different experts and gets the average of each players ranking to find the consensus. They even go so far as to eliminate radical rankings from the equation in hopes of eliminating an expert’s biased opinion. For instance, if one expert thinks a particular player should be drafted at 67th while the others all pick that same player somewhere between 100 and 120th, the one experts rank will be eliminated. That way a players ranking won’t be twisted just because an expert personally likes or dislikes the player.

Kenjas Fantasy Football
Kenjas Fantasy Baseball
Kenjas Fantasy Player rankings

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenneth_Schonmeier

By Bob Bentz

Six to seven million people play fantasy baseball today, according to Gregg Rosenthall, fantasy sports editor of Rotoworld and NBCSports.com.

But, how did this fantasy baseball epidemic get started?

The passion for fantasy baseball today came from a group of men who grew up playing baseball board games, namely APBA (American Professional Baseball Association) and Strat-O-Matic. APBA, invented by Dick Seitz in 1951, was the first baseball board game to base its results on statistics of actual major league players. Strat-O-Matic, invented by Hal Richman, followed with its new game in 1963 and a new phenomenon was born. If you grew up in the 60’s or 70’s, you no doubt played one of these baseball board games. (I still have a set of Strat-O-Matic game cards from the first season my brothers began playing in 1966).

The day the cards arrived, usually about in February, was the biggest day of the year. While we all had our orders in, we would rush over to whomever was the luckiest to get the cards first. Then, we would help him separate the cards (they came in one big sheet with nine cards attached to each other as I recall) and place them on the proper teams.

With outcomes based on the roll of the dice, the game was statistically very accurate. There was, however, one major problem with APBA and Strat-O-Matic: do we replay last season or use last season’s stats to replay this season? Some guys (this is how I did it) would get the new cards and immediately make the trades that had happened over the Hot Stove League; others replayed the previous season.

The rudimentary game played with cards and dice is boring by today’s video standards. APBA and Strat-O-Matic moved to a computer-based game in the 1990’s, but it was still basically the card game played via a computerized dice roll. Stacked up against the graphics of MLB 2008, I couldn’t see today’s video generation getting into a baseball board game for very long.

No doubt, however, that it was a love for baseball statistics learned by many young men from playing APBA and Strat-O-Matic that made fantasy baseball such an instant hit. That, and a 1981 baseball strike that left the original managers, who were all journalists, scrambling for something to write about.

Daniel Okrent, of The New York Times, is credited with establishing the concept for fantasy baseball in 1980. There seems to be significant proof that Okrent invented the game as opposed to Abner Doubleday’s claims which are purely legend. Back then, it was called Rotisserie Baseball because the origins of the game began at La Francoise Rotisserie-a restaurant in New York City where the original fantasy baseball managers met.

A little known fact of fantasy baseball is that Okrent had pitched the idea of organizing the first ever league the week before to a group of friends at another restaurant called "The Pit." Okrent’s initial group wasn’t interested, however. It’s a good thing or we’d be playing PitBall today. Doesn’t sound as nice, does it?

Okrent was born in 1948 and was graduated from the University of Michigan. Okrent began the tradition of naming teams after the manager’s name. Okrent’s original team was the Okrent Fenokees. More recently, he managed the Dan Druffs.

Several other managers from the original Rotisserie League have gone on to become very famous journalists. Glenn Waggoner is publisher of ESPN The Magazine. Rob Fleder, then manager of the Fleder Mice, is executive editor of Sports Illustrated. Valerie Salerbien is vice president of Esquire magazine.

Statistics from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association indicate that 16 million people play fantasy sports in the United States. Fantasy football is the biggest part of the fantasy pie with an estimated 10 million players. Fantasy baseball managers spend, on average, three hours per week managing their teams. They invest $175 per year on fantasy sports for software, research, magazines, and league prize money. That makes fantasy sports a $1.5 billion industry.

Back in the days when the pastime was known as Rotisserie Baseball, it wasn’t quite as easy to run a league. Statistics were not as easy to come by and league standings had to be kept by hand. USA Today is credited with making it a lot easier to be a Rotisserie manager through its extensive and easy to read box scores and statistics.

Today, CBS Sportsline, Yahoo, and ESPN make running a fantasy baseball team and league a snap. The three entities pay Major League Baseball Advanced Media $2 million per year for the rights to use player statistics, photos, and logos on their sites. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which collects licensing payments on behalf of the MLB Players’ Association, now works with only seven licensees for fantasy baseball as opposed to 19 as recently as 2004.

Today, fantasy baseball is everywhere and shows no sign of declining. Heck, even if you watch the movie Knocked Up, you’ll see a reference to fantasy baseball.

"Hey, I got Matsui. I got Matsui."

Bob Bentz is editor of Fantasy Baseball Dugout which provides fantasy baseball tips to help managers win their fantasy baseball leagues. Bentz should know. He’s won 61% of the fantasy baseball leagues that he’s participated in.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Bentz

By Joe Radebaugh

Fantasy football has been extremely popular for years and the Internet has increased the popularity of fantasy sports in general to all time highs. One of the fastest growing fantasy sports is fantasy racing. The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series has exploded in popularity over the past two decades selling out all race events and grabbing huge chunks of the TV ratings. And that, in turn, has increased the popularity of fantasy racing leagues.

There are a wide variety of fantasy racing leagues to choose from. Just like football, you can find a local office pool where you choose a driver or two each week to more sophisticated leagues that involve multi-million dollar salary caps and point systems. Some fantasy racing leagues are free and others charge a fee to participate. Contestants battle it out for bragging rights to thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

Some consider fantasy sports games of chance but if you ask those that participate and win and finish near the top of their league(s) consistently, you will learn that fantasy sports are Games of Skill. You need to study and stay up to date on all aspects of the sport your fantasy league is based on.

For fantasy racing leagues based on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, you need to study and chart how each driver and his team perform at each track. NASCAR is a team sport, a driver alone cannot win a race. If a driver changed teams during the off season, this may impact his performance. There are 36 races on 23 different race tracks and over 50 drivers to choose from so your notes can get quite extensive.

Wallbanger Fantasy Racing offers a helpful cheat sheet that you can individually chart drivers with. I suggest you print one and then make copies or you can come up with your own system. If you want to dominate your league, you will need 23 pages (one page for each track) for each driver you chart. You will also need a folder or binder to stay organized.

You may be asking where do I start?!? Here are some of the things that may factor in to which driver you choose at a certain race track:

Some Driver Factors you need to keep records of include:

• How does this driver perform on short tracks like Martinsville and Loudon?
• How does this driver perform on flat ovals like Indy and Phoenix?
• How does this driver perform on super speedways such as Atlanta and Charlotte?
• How does this driver performance on restrictor plate tracks? (Daytona and Talladega)
• How does this driver perform on a Road Course?
• Does this driver have recent multiple wins at a specific track?
• Has the driver ever raced at this track? (Busch or Nextel Cup Series)
• Did the driver participate in Saturday’s race?
• What is the drivers average finish at this track?
• What is the drivers average finish this season?
• Does your driver have teammates? How many? Do they work well together?
• How well do the Driver and Crew Chief communicate?
• How well does the Pit Crew perform?
• Is the driver happy with his team?
• Does this driver get good fuel mileage?
• Does this driver occasionally make a mental mistake?
• Does this driver usually hit something or get caught up in a wreck?
• Is the driver aggressive?
• Where is your driver in the standings? Close to a bubble spot?

Some Race Day Factors include:

• The drivers starting position
• The drivers location on Pit Road
• The drivers health status (sick or injured)
• Happy Hour speed
• Happy Hour or Practice crash
• Day or Night Race
• Pre race engine change

Some Track Factors include:

• Surface (Concrete or Asphalt)
• Banking (Flat, Average, High Banked)
• Track Configuration: Oval, Road Course, Other
• Restrictor plate required?
• Has a certain make of vehicle dominated this track?
• Is gas mileage usually a factor here?

Please remember that this is racing. "Rubbing is Racing" and accidents WILL happen. Your driver may get collected in "The Big One" or may simply blow a tire going into turn 3, that will happen but not as often to those that study and make smart choices on race day. The bottom line is that if you take notes and study the sport and its participants, you will finish more consistently near the top of your fantasy league standings week after week. This will ultimately land you a championship and a chance at winning some big and sometimes profitable prizes. Find more information on fantasy racing at http://www.race4cash.com This article may be reproduced and redistributed in its entirety free of charge. This article may not be altered in any way.

Joe Radebaugh has been participating in fantasy racing leagues for 16 years. He also owns and manages Wallbanger Fantasy Racing which has been around for 14 years, online since 1999. He also owns All Seasons Fantasy Sports - http://www.fantasy-leagues.net/ - a fantasy sports directory.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Radebaugh

By Mark Barnes

Here’s fantasy football information that fantasy football nuts should print or write down immediately. Don’t worry about the Vikings suffering on offense, due to the loss of Randy Moss. In fact, you can outfox your opponents, because of the Moss trade. You see, most fantasy football people will still value Moss to the point of spending a high pick on him, which may or may not work out, with Moss being a Raider. What most fantasy football owners will also do, which will be a deadly error, is de-value other Vikings, because of the loss of Moss.

So, the fantasy football information that most of the fantasy football books will likely overlook is to place a very high rating on Nate Burleson and Marcus Robinson. Watch the running back situation, too, because head coach Mike Tice says the Vikings will emphasize the run next season. Of course, Daunte Culpepper will continue to be a fantasy football stud.

Burleson, though, will be the true steal of your draft. Burleson is entering his third season, when many wide receivers begin to figure out NFL defenses. He went from 29 catches his rookie year to 68 in 2004. His yardage more than doubled from 455 to 1006. Best of all, especially if you’re in a basic scoring fantasy football league, Burleson found the end zone 10 times, while playing second fiddle to Moss and Robinson for most of the season.

Consider that Burleson didn’t become the number one receiver until about week ten, and his value increases even more, as it is clear that he’ll be the new number one, with the departure of Moss. Fantasy football players can expect 80-plus catches, 1,200-plus yards and 10-14 touchdowns. Note, the fact that Burleson returns punts increases his chance to reach pay dirt.

Nate Burleson is a true fantasy football thoroughbred. Most fantasy football owners will under value this fine young receiver, assuming he’ll be available in rounds three or four or even later in smaller leagues. Armed with this powerful fantasy football information, you now know not to wait too long on Burleson. Grab him early, let others scoff at your selection, then sit back and ride his performance all the way to the Fantasy Bowl.

Check out more great information now at Expert Commentary

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Barnes

By Ella Wilson

There is different charm altogether of cricket world cup, after all this event happens after every four years. Being part of cricket world cup is most flourished desire of a cricket fan. What a wonderful thing it would be to a fan if this comes true. Fantasy cricket world cup is such a fantastic medium to fulfill dream of playing cricket by own will. For playing fantasy cricket world cup, you don’t need to go to any ground. You just require an internet-enabled computer and the desire to participate and play. Fantasy cricket world cup fills fans with the enthusiasm, action and emotion of a real world cup.

The websites providing fantasy cricket world cup are innumerable. You need to hunt those websites giving chance to play fantasy cricket world cup. After searching that website, you get yourself registered to become a member to play the game. Each websites has its own rules for fantasy cricket world cup. That attracts even non-cricket lover to play the game as the rules are easy and simple to follow.

There are certain rules followed for selection of players to take part and play fantasy cricket world cup. Points are allotted to players depending on their performances on the field. The points allocated to a player are determined by the contribution of performances in team. The points in the game are scored from actual performance of player in world cup. Fantasy cricket world cup is based on similar format on which the world cup takes place.

There are as many countries in fantasy cricket world cup as those participating in world cup. Each team will have 11 members comprising 5 batsman, 4 bowlers, one all rounder and a wicket keeper. The selection of players must be with the aim of balancing and maintaining the whole team. You have to select 11 cricketers from international cricket squads taking part in the world cup. Fantasy points are scored according to how the players in your team perform in real life.

The team, which accumulates the highest points, will be declared winner. The actual performance on the field will determine the fate of fantasy cricket world cup. There are good chances of wining massive prizes in game. You need to be cautious to select players. You should not be swayed by big names of cricketing world. That can prove a burden in your victory. You must concentrate choosing players of current form.

It can be a good experience for those fans who dream of selecting their own players to play on the field. They have full authority of selecting players from all the teams of the world. They can view it with full enthusiasm and see how their favorite stars are performing on the field. Fantasy cricket world cup takes fans on a ride of thrills and excitement. Being a part of fantasy cricket world cup will be a unique experience for fans. So fans must makes sure that they play the game at least one to get a feel of the real thing.

Ella Wilson is a cricket fanatic. She simply loves the game and tries to catch live action no matter where she is. At Stickiewicket she works on Online cricket score, live cricket score, fantasy cricket world cup and Cricket News among other things. You can see her works at http://www.stickiewicket.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ella_Wilson

By Joseph Kenny

There are numerous ways to get involved with fantasy baseball and one of the most popular is ESPN fantasy baseball. Before you get started; however, there are several tips you should keep in mind in order to make your experience even better.

First, it is important to understand how ESPN fantasy baseball works. Really, it’s no different than any other type of fantasy baseball. The main idea behind it is for you as a team owner to draft professional players for your team. As the season goes on you will collect the real statistics generated by those players and receive fantasy points based on those numbers. In other words, when a real live player performs well in the real live world you gain more fantasy points. The more fantasy points you accumulate, the better chance you stand to become the winner among the rest of the teams. As the season unwinds, the team that manages to accumulate the most points will become the league winner.

With ESPN fantasy baseball you can have as many teams as you want. The glitch is that you’ll need to pay for each additional team. The first team is about $30; however, if you want to have multiple teams you can sign up for a multi-pack. If you at all think that you may want to sign up for more than one team, go ahead and do it all at once because there is a big savings advantage. For example, a five-pack costs only $69.96 as opposed to the $150 it would cost if you signed up for them separately.

Be aware that while this is fantasy football, ESPN takes the naming of the teams very seriously. This means that you cannot name your team something that would be considered objectionable. In other words, keep it clean; both the name of the team and the location. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to post on your personal profile. Here you can put text as well as images; however, the same rules apply. If you place something that is considered to be inappropriate here you place yourself in the situation of having it censored and in the worst case scenario you might even have your team taken away.

Be aware there are various types of leagues and teams so make sure you understand the difference before joining. With ESPN there are public leagues as well as private leagues. Unlike other fantasy baseball groups, with ESPN fantasy baseball you don’t necessarily need an invitation to join a private league but you do need the league name and password. Public leagues, of course, are open to pretty much everyone.

You should also know that when you first create your team it will be defaulted as an independent team. You can choose to keep your team as independent or not; the choice is up to you. If you stay independent; however, you won’t get to specify your draft day.

By understanding more about the inner workings of ESPN fantasy baseball you’ll be better prepared to get your team in line for the season victory.

Joe Kenny is a fan of many sports but soccer is the main love of his life, he writes for the UK soccer forum site, FootballTalk.org. Join the football forum for free today and have your say!
Visit today: http://footballtalk.org/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Kenny

By Karen Larsen

For those of us who enjoy a good football game and know something about the players, the term fantasy football is intriguing. But what is it? How do you play? And, where do you go to sign up?

A search on fantasy football brings back thousands of sites such as, http://footballpdq.com/, most of which are offering to allow you to become a commissioner or sign up to create a team, all at low cost or no cost. Intrigued? Here’s the lowdown.

First, there’s a fantasy football commissioner, who’s in charge of the league, much the same as in real-life. The commissioner puts in the most amount of money to be the biggest cheese. This person is the final arbiter of disputes, makes decisions and, in general, gets to have the most leeway - and the most headaches - in the league.

Then there are the team owners. These individuals pay a lesser fee than the fantasy football commissioner, and manage their own teams. The owners choose who will be on the teams, what players will start, and so on.

So, the owners need teams. The next step is to pool all the real-world pro football players, rank them and then have a draft. Each team owner takes turns picking players for his or her team - hence the name fantasy football. Depending on how the draft goes, your team could be a true fantasy. Of course, some leagues have salary caps just as in real life, which prohibits one team from having all the best players. Trades are usually allowed, though depending on the league, they may be limited.

So once the fantasy football commissioner has a full roster of teams and the teams have a full roster of players… what happens? This is where things get interesting.

Team owner Alpha has players X, Y and Z on the team. In real life, player X is on one team, player Y on another and player Z on yet another. Before the game, Alpha has to decide who is starting, who isn’t, and what’s going on. Alpha then gives this information (by whatever means the fantasy football league has) to the commissioner. This information must be set in stone prior to the actual Sunday and Monday football games that NFL teams such as the Patriots and the Raiders play.

The real AFC & NFC teams play. Let’s say player X is on the Eagles in real life and is a quarterback. This Sunday, he throws three touchdown passes and the Eagles win. Fantasy football team owner Alpha has X on the team and, very smartly, started X for the football fantasy league games.

How this translates in fantasy football depends on the league.

The usual standard is that for every possible situation, a team can earn points. For example, the real life touchdowns of player X may earn fantasy football owner Alpha four hundred points each. Alpha may come out of the weekend as the biggest point earner, thanks to player X, which then sets Alpha up for contention as the fantasy football league winner.

Of course, this assumes that player X wasn’t benched at the last minute, depriving Alpha of earning any points and ending last in the fantasy football league.

The ultimate prize at the season’s end may be a statue or possibly money, depending on which fantasy football league you join. Or it may just be the prestige of knowing that you outwitted all the other team owners and came out as top dog.

While this fantasy may come with a price tag for participation, if you enjoy the game and avidly watch the players anyway, fantasy football can be a harmless way to spend some time.

Karen Larsen is a writer and contributor to http://www.finefootball.com and http://www.footballhwy.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Larsen