Fantasy Football - The Key By David Bellman

A University of Mississippi report show there are around 15-18 million people playing fantasy sports - with many of them with a bachelors degree and a member of the "professional" work force.

Given the astounding stat, one would imagine much thought has been placed in winning fantasy football. Surprisingly I find people don't really understand the numbers. Most people and most sites, such as Yahoo, talk about players points in terms of averages. The first definition of average according to Webster dictionary is:
1 a : a single value (as a mean, mode, or median) that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values
Interesting to note are the words in parenthesis - mean,mode,or median.

What you will find the most common and most likely form of discussion of average is the arithmetic mean version. When people say average, they really mean the arithmetic mean. Example of this is sample of 2,15,20,60,60 the arithmetic mean is (2+15+20+60+60)/5=31.4. The mode is the most common occurring number in this case it would be 60. And finally, the median is the absolute middle of the sample string of numbers ordered from high to low in this case 20. The median is a little hard to explain so another example of median lets say the sample was only 4 numbers 2,15,20,60 - in this case the median is 17.5 - its exactly between 15 and 20.

Now that you understand the various "averages" - lets answer why the median makes more sense than the average (arithmetic mean) for Fantasy Football. Typically, fantasy football is about winning a single head to head game - meaning your players points combined versus another persons players points combined. After the real football games are done, points are tallied up and whoever has the most points win. You then get a win or loss. The next week you play again typically with someone else and you get a win or loss again. Eventually you have a whole season of wins and losses. Once you understand that you should understand it doesn't matter how many points you score each week as long as you beat your opponent. Yes, it does matter to break ties but as long as you win every week, you won't have that problem. Therefore, the key is to get players who are consistent. It really does no good to get a player who is hot one week and then not the other week unless you can predict that which is unlikely. These players will typically have a very good average. Alternatively, if you look at the MEDIAN you can spot a more consistent player over a streaky player.

To conclude, the examination of the median may give you the edge over the other fantasy football players.

David Bellman has worked extensively with numbers his entire career. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineer from the University of Texas at Austin. His latest endeavour he is combining his number skill and one of his favorite past time/hobbies (sports) - to see more visit http://www.ihavetheedge.com or [http://www.statoracle.com].

What is Fantasy Football? By Robert Grazian Platinum Quality Author

It is almost that time of year again, football season. Football is the most popular sport in the United States and every year generates a ton of interest and creates a lot of excitement. Over the past several years it has even spawned a very popular game, fantasy football. Perhaps you have heard of fantasy football, but do not really understand what it is. You may think that it is everyone's fantasy to play football and that it is some sort of daydreaming thing that people waste their time with. However, this is false. Fantasy football is a complete game that is available to be played by hard core football fanatics as well as casual fans. Below is a brief introduction to fantasy football so that you can become a little more familiar with it.

Basic Structure

In fantasy football, the players are called owners. These owners "own" a team. The owners do not own a specific football team (such as the Tennessee Titans), but instead have the opportunity to put players from all different teams onto their one team. This is why it is called fantasy football, because you get to build your own fantasy team, trying to put your favorite quarterback and wide receivers together and so forth.

In most leagues, the owners put together their teams through a draft. The owners take turns drafting the players, once a player is drafted no other owner may have that player on their team. The draft lasts as long as the owners agree to have it last, with the typical draft lasting 12 - 14 rounds.

The owners agree as to what the roster limit will be. The owners also agree what the starting lineups should be. For example, they can agree to have the starting lineup be a quarterback, two running backs, three receivers, one tight end, a kicker, and a defense. The owners are free to adjust this how they see fit.

One of the owners is designated as the commissioner, and it is his duty to oversee the fantasy football league and make sure that everything runs smoothly. He will settle any disputes and help the other players as needed.

Points

The players on the teams score points for the actions taken by the real players on the football field each week. For example, running backs will get points for how many yards they run and for how many touchdowns they score. The owners agree as to what it takes to score points and how many points to award for certain actions.

In Person League or Online

There are two choices to joining a fantasy football league. You can join up with friends and acquaintances and create your own league. Or you can join an online league and play with people you may not know. Two of the more popular fantasy football leagues are Yahoo and ESPN. You can go to their websites to get more information and sign up for a league if you would like.

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about fantasy football [http://fantasyleaguessite.info/fantasy-football] visit Fantasy Leagues Site [http://fantasyleaguessite.info] for current articles and discussions.

Are you Ready For Fantasy Football? By Chris Robertson Platinum Quality Author

To be honest, I knew very little about fantasy football. I was one of those sports fans who follows football when it is in season, watches some games on TV, follows games on the internet, somehow remembers every score and stat, and then gets really excited during the playoffs and, of course, the Super Bowl. I don't have the time or money to go see actual NFL games, though I am sure I'd greatly enjoy them.

Anyway, I kept seeing ads for fantasy football online and in other places wondered what it was, so I did some research. Apparently, fantasy football is a sports game for those who want to be involved with football all year round. And not just involved as in watching games, but actually owning, managing and running a "fantasy" football team. When the real football season starts - and it can be the NFL or a division of the NCAA or some other league - scores in the fantasy football leagues are determined by using statistics compiled by actual players.

Who started fantasy football, and when? It all goes back almost 50 years when a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders and some of his sports writer and editor friends cooked up the idea during a long road trip. When they got back, they started the first fantasy football league. Initially, it was hard to form leagues and keep the information flowing, but then came personal computers and finally the Web. Today, fantasy football is big business and fantasy football team fanatics are being courted by television networks and advertisers because they watch more games, buy more tickets, and spend more on their sport than average fans.

But how does it all work? The big attraction of fantasy football is that it's not just watching games. Fantasy football is living the game and actively participating in it. You pick a team, you draft players, you follow rules, you observe salary caps and negotiate contracts. Franchise owners may have to pay (fictional) taxes, trade players, and, of course, try to win games and championships, establish dynasties or make to a coveted Hall of Fame. Things can get quite competitive, but you make friends in the process and many of the same teams play each other season after season.

Fantasy football games have as many rules as the real thing. Scoring can be complex as it depends on the stats of actual players on actual teams. And since fantasy league teams have players from a number of teams, a fantasy franchise owner often doesn't know which real-world team he should root for! What's important here is that the real performance and stats of real players in real games decides how well your fantasy team does. So picking and drafting the right players is very important.

How do you get started with this fascinating and addictive pastime? Fantasy football information is easy to come by on the web. Look around, check some of the many leagues, and then sign up with one and become a team owner. There are any number of leagues with different flavors and rules (the commissioner usually determines the scoring system). Some leagues cost a lot, but others are affordable and suit the novice as well as the expert fantasy football player. Give it a shot!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Are you Ready For Fantasy Football? or Majon's Sports directory

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