How I Grew to Love (and Dominate) Fantasy Sports)

I had been familiar with the concept of Fantasy Sports for a long time, usually Fantasy Football, that's always the most popular one. But I had a long aversion to it, and it was mainly due to my self-confidence--or lack thereof--regarding Fantasy Sports as a whole. For years, I had thought it was difficult, despite not really knowing the full concept. Then in January 2018, at the recommendation of a very dear friend, I entered a Fantasy Sports related contest that centered on the NFL Playoffs. A lot of you know what it is: the Fantasy Playoff Challenge.

All I did was select a roster: quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, a flex player, a kicker, and a team defense. And I would get points for whatever they did. At this point, I realized I was actually doing Fantasy Football, and I basically went, "That's it?!"; I couldn't believe how simple it was. I loved it so much that I actually joined a Fantasy Football League for the 2018 season. It was a true learning experience, and despite the fact that it was my first time, I actually finished in 2nd place--losing the championship. Not bad for a beginner!

By that time, I thought, "Football can't be it; there has to be other sports doing fantasy." I was right; basketball, baseball, and most importantly, hockey! So I did hockey next because I knew I'd do well; hockey's pretty much my jam. Baseball was next in 2019, and it was this current year that I actually did join Fantasy Basketball leagues. My confidence regarding this forum reached the point where I am doing several leagues in one sport--three, four, even as many as seven at one point. I have been winning them as well; won in hockey three times, football twice, and baseball once.

Another thing I learned is that there are different scoring types in Fantasy Sports. Head-to-Head is based solely on stats, usually picking out a certain number of stat categories (usually 10, though some have done 12) and scoring on how many out of that total that said player is winning in. I do like that format, but I also like Head-to-Head - Points, where a player gets points for whatever the corresponding player does in the game. That's my preferred format for Fantasy Football, especially since quarterbacks are the highest scoring on a fantasy team. Fantasy scoring for QBs is as follows: one point for every 25 passing yards, four points (in some leagues, it's six) for passing touchdowns, six points for running touchdowns, but interceptions are usually a two point deduction.

Head-to-Head - One Win is the same as the usual H2H format, except that instead of being credited with the number of categories won, the player who wins the most categories is credited with a win in the standings. The most popular, I've been told, is the Rotisserie (or Roto) league, and I read that it's very popular for Fantasy Baseball. Roto leagues are the only leagues that don't have playoffs; it's full regular season, and the scoring is as follows: in a 10-team league, for example, if you're first in one category, that's 10 points for said category. Second place is 9, third place is 8, all the way down to 1 point for last place. In a tie situation, the number of corresponding points are added up and divided by the number of tied players; for example, a first place tie between two teams in a category would give each player 9.5 points in a 10-team league (10 + 9 = 19; 19/2 = 9.5).

What I would do is teach these exact rules and formats to budding and newfound Fantasy Sports owners, but I would also give tips/suggestions as well. One suggestion I often follow is, "Don't play favorites." By that, I mean don't draft so many players on your favorite team just for that reason. A big reason is because you want to follow different players on different teams, not just a whole bunch from one team. Just select the best and the players who you believe would increase your chances of winning. I myself didn't think I'd have it in me to do Fantasy Sports, now I'm not only participating, but I've been excelling!