Bill OBoyle: Fantasy Football time is here
Aug. 27—Fantasy Football leagues will be conducting their annual drafts this week, but the game has become much more than a bunch of friends sitting in a garage to see who is the "Oracle of Fake Football."
Legend has it that the first Fantasy Football leagues can be traced back to the early 1960s, when a man named Bill Winkenbach created the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators league while serving as a part-owner of the Oakland Raiders.
Really? Who knows?
Fantasy Football has grown to a near $10 billion annual business, with neighborhood and workplace leagues everywhere, but the real money is being bet and won and lost in national leagues.
But the heart and soul of Fantasy Football is in those small, neighborhood and workplace leagues where friends and foes gather to select their teams amid chicken wings, pizza and beer as insults fly by faster than an Indy race car.
Most leagues utilize 21st century technology — I think they are called computers. But some hardcore leagues rely on the old fashioned tools like pencils and papers and magazines and, well, football knowledge
One of the most difficult parts of selecting a Fantasy Football team is having the ability to set aside lifelong favorite team allegiances to select the "best player available." And then, to be able to endure watching and rooting for those best players to have success against your favorite teams!
Critics have said this is the worst part of Fantasy Football — that it erodes the essence of being a fan in favor of success in this fake football world. Purists will agree, but anybody who has finished first in his or her Fantasy Football League will tell you — "I'm Number 1!" You and only you are the team owner, General Manager, Coach, Coordinator.
So this week and next, friends and others gather in bar backrooms, garages, hotel suites, all armed with electronic devices and more ancient sources of information called magazines, along with printouts of rankings done by esteemed scholars of the Fantasy Football world.
And shortly after all lunch orders are taken and a beer or two are consumed, the madness begins.
Every year, Fantasy Football grows — millions of people play. And despite wearing their favorite team or player's jersey, these fantasy players could care less if their favorite NFL team is represented on their fantasy teams and even worse, they are not at all concerned if their favorite NFL teams win a game. It's all about their fantasy team and players.
Most league rosters consist of two quarterbacks, two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker, two defenses and substitutes. Each week team owners must submit a lineup and play against another team in the league.
That said, scoring systems vary league to league, so you must adjust your strategy accordingly.
Who will score the most TDs? What QBs will run scores in? What kickers have the highest percentage of success beyond 50 yards? Should you take more than one or two players from the same NFL team? What rookies will have an immediate impact?
And you never want to have to say:
What do you mean he retired? Or, Wait? What? He's out for the year?
If you choose right, you could have a great fantasy year. If you rely more on your heart than your brain, you will be in for an extremely long fantasy season.
As is usually the case, the team you draft will not look the same by Week 6. There will be injuries, flops, unexpected high-performing rookies or previously unknowns that will command attention.
And a lot has to do with your team's name. Well, not really.
One league I'm in meets weekly to make roster changes and bust chops. That's the fun of it. But win or lose, the fun week after week can not be overstated.
My advice is to prepare before you head to your draft. Knowledge really is everything.
One piece of advice — try to avoid multiple players who have the same bye week. That can be devastating.
Another bit of advice — please don't listen to those talking heads on TV — make that those mumbling, rambling, screaming, ranting so-called experts.
If you follow them at all, you will see that they are rarely correct about anything at all.
Those shows are more about theater than substance, offering very little in the way of actual information that you as a Fantasy Football franchise holder can use.
OK, here we go. A new Fantasy Football season is upon us.
Pick yourself a winner.
Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
