What are fantasy sports?

Fantasy sports are simulation games played by individuals who act as “general managers” of a team of real-life players. Statistics are recorded, totaled and compared to the other members of your league to determine wins, losses and performance.

Why would I play fantasy sports?

People play fantasy sports for a lot of reasons, but the consensus seems to be pride more than anything else. Leagues can organize prize pools or a payout system, but at the end of the day, bragging rights are a bigger deal than a couple of bucks.

Of equal importance, fantasy sports are also a good way to follow along with real sports. A fantasy gamer becomes more aware of a player’s statistical strengths and finds a host of new players to root for each week.

I’m interested in playing a fantasy sport. Where do I begin?

If you’re reading this, you’re in the right place to get the information you need. Check out our most recent rankings, Tricks of the Trade hints section and sport-by-sport message boards to prepare yourself to play. When you are ready to sign up and begin, check out the most popular fantasy engines on Yahoo! Sports, ESPN Fantasy Games and CBS Sportsline.

Many leagues will let you choose who you play with (Public or Private leagues), the competition level, number of teams, scoring format and more. Each of these options is explained below.

How do I choose between a Public and a Private league?

When you’re signing up for a league, you will be asked to choose between a Public or Private league. If you’re looking for practice or to quickly find a low-maintenance league, check out a public league. If you and your buddies or co-workers are trying to get into a league together, create or join a private league exclusively for yourselves.

Public leagues are quick and easy to get into, many times allowing you to do an online draft at the date and time of your choice. You don’t have to worry about being able to find people to participate, as anyone may join the league and play against you. The downside is that you won’t know anyone else in the league, and it’s more likely that people in a public league quit or make bad decisions.

Private leagues take a little more work to form, but are worth it. Members are invited to join, and a password is required for entry. All of your league’s settings, namely how your rosters look and the details of your scoring system, are customizable. The downside of a private league is the coordination it takes to bring 10 people together and find a draft time suitable for as many members as possible.

What do I need in order to do a fantasy draft?

Drafts are done online or in person, and they are automated if you cannot make the draft time established by your league. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll assume you’re doing the draft online and will be present for it.

The first order of business is establishing a list of rankings to guide you through the draft process. Leagues will give you a list of “default” rankings and an option to edit them to your liking. We recommend importing our rankings and moving players around based off those. Going through this process is important to help you find players on draft day, but also as a safety net in case you can’t make the draft and picks are automatically being made from your rankings list.

Next, you must make sure that your computer is compatible with the program used to conduct your draft. Test these settings (there should be an option on your league’s home page) and be sure that you can actually run the draft.

And finally, where you pick in the draft will be revealed shortly before the scheduled start time. Since where you pick will greatly impact your early strategy and planning, we recommend getting this piece of information the moment it becomes available.

How Does a Draft Work?

An online draft is a simple, straightforward process where your computer and the application do all the work. Show up, find out the established order of selections and get started. Each player will have a designated amount of time to make their picks, usually 60 or 90 seconds, so when your pick comes, you are on the clock and must be ready to choose a player.

What Happens After the Draft?

The season officially begins when the draft ends. There’s usually a period of 1 or 2 days before you can add and drop players from your roster, but after that you can overhaul any weak parts of your roster, move guys in and out of your starting lineup and make trades.

What’s The Difference Between Waivers and Free Agency?

When a player is cut from a manager’s roster, he is placed into the pool of available players and is now fair game for anyone in the league to pick up. When attempting to add this player, his availability will be noted with either a “W” or “FA”, standing for “Waivers” or “Free Agent”.

The waiver period immediately follows both the end of the draft (see above) and when a player is first cut from a roster. This time frame is usually 2 days in length and gives every manager in the league a fair opportunity to obtain a player. When the waiver period is over, that’s when he becomes a “free agent” and is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

When the draft is completed, the order for “waiver priority” is determined. Whoever had the last selection of the in your draft gets compensated with the top priority and can use it at any point during the season. Once you do claim a player on waivers, you lose that priority and fall to last in line, so be careful how you use it.