Cultural Cuisinart

Well, it's almost August, which means the NFL preseason is upon us. Now, I don't really watch much preseason football, but I'm still excited, because preseason means the regular season is almost upon us. It also means it's time to start prepping for the fantasy season as well.

Now, I'm a huge football fan. Don't bother calling me on Sundays starting in September, because I'm not answering the phone between 12pm to 10pm. Don't bother coming over to my house, unless you're bringing 1) a six pack of beer, or 2) a pizza. I love watching the game as a fan of the sport. I also love the game, because I love playing fantasy football. It's something I've been doing since I started helping my father as league commissioner when I was 12-13 or so. There are a lot of people out there who might tell you that fantasy sports ruins the game, because people are more interested in the individual stats of players versus who actually wins a game.

I'd say they're wrong - at most, you probably only have 1-2 teams you feel strongly about. So, outside of those two teams, you have no particular stake in most of the games being played on a given Sunday. Fantasy football changes that, and for the better - having a vested interest in a player makes you involved in matches you might otherwise find boring (i.e. Ravens vs. Dolphins, last year). Fantasy football teaches you about the game and gives you a better feel for the sport - it makes you an expert on different offenses and defenses, and makes performance stats suddenly really interesting.

Anyway, pretty soon I'll be posting some opinion pieces on how I think the regular season is shaping up, as well as posting advice/commentary on fantasy football. I've already signed up for my first league - couldn't resist a league where all the teams are names after Battlestar Galactica characters (fyi - my team is named the Caprica Sixers).

If you're interested in playing fantasy football with me, shoot me an email at mad_typist [at] hotmail [dot] com and we'll coordinate setting up a private league on one of the major sites (ESPN, Sporting News, etc). Newbies are welcome - I'd be happy to introduce you to the fantasy habit.

Here are the types of articles I'll be working on through the month of August. Let me know if any particular one strikes your fancy, so I can do that one first:

1. Welcome to Fantasy Football - a primer for beginners
2. Strategies for drafting your fantasy team
3. Sleeper picks (a.k.a. players you can steal in the late rounds)
   
4. Why the two-back/running back by committee offenses are completely changing the fantasy game
5. Reasons for doing a live in-person draft
6. Sleeper teams to watch
7. Players I'm planning to avoid