Looking for a Few Good Women

Or actual 1 good gal, a guy would do as well. We need either 1 or 3 additional General Managers for our FFF.NET Fantasy Football league. If you would like to play in our newbie league, email me. Auto drafting will begin soon.

For those new to Fantasy Football

This is for my girls who have joined my FFF.net league and for everyone else who is starting out in Fantasy Football.

1. Go to Fox Sports “What is Fantasy Football” and read it.
2. Read Fox Sports “Fantasy Myths and truths”
3. Read “10 step by step draft tips”
4. Go to Pre-Draft Player Rankings under draft central and re-rank or remove any players you want.
5. Have fun

Hey that’s my player!!!

And that my fellow female friend is why we should learn about Fantasy Football. Not only was I able to hold a small yet opinionated conversation with my BF last night, but when the Carolina Panther’s kicker came out, I was able to say “Hey that’s MY player!”. That was an awesome feeling; the only thing better was watching him get some remarkable kicks in that would have gotten me tons of points if we were in the real season. Of course I do see the irony that the one player I claimed was a kicker (I don’t like kickers). I was also very proud to have drafted Chris Chambers from Miami. Both guys played really well, and they should work well on my Fantasy Football League.

Creation of a League

Creation of a League

One of my best friends this weekend informed me that she used to help her now ex-husband with his Fantasy Football League and was looking at maybe playing this season. Being ecstatic over having my best bud join in on the Female Fantasy Football action, I decided to start yet an additional team (please see the post on being on crack). This is going to be a friendly league open to males and females, filled hopefully with friends and family. This will be aimed at people who don’t have much experience, don’t have any experience, or people who don’t mind helping people with little experience. Perfect for girlfriends whose BF’s want them to play (hint hint Jaime). Due to the fact that I don’t have that many friends who are into Fantasy Football, I would be willing to allow "new friends" in the league; if you are interested in playing in this league and don’t mind having your league business blogged about, simply email me. I am going to wait until the end of the week/weekend to see how much interest I have before I set up the league. If you have any questions feel free to ask….PS the winner of the league will get something from the Female Fantasy Football store at the end of the season.

Fantasy Football is like a Salad

I figured that now that I have one team picked (the Devil Duckies in my yahoo public league), that it is high time to learn about my players. I figured I needed to create some sort of analogy that I could understand, a way for me to keep each player and position separate. Then it hit me, how much Fantasy Football was like a salad.

Why a salad?

• My team has different components; salads have different components.
• My FF team has different options for each position; a salad can have different options.
• A team needs to be constantly reworked to make sure all players are active; a salad needs to be remade each week to make sure it is fresh.

Therefore I make the analogy that Fantasy Football is like a well crafted Salad.The components of my Fantasy Football league are a Quarter Back (2), Wide receivers (4), Running Backs (4), Tight ends (2), Kickers (1), and a Defense (2). The hardest part of this was trying to figure out which component should be which ingredient. With the internet and menus in hand, I went searching for the tastiest looking salads I could find for research for ingredients.

The base of any salad is the greens and in my opinion, there are only 2 real types of greens spinach and lettuce. Luckily I have 2 Quarter Backs so my QBs are going to be the greens or base of my team.

My first QB pick was Marc Bulger of the St. Louis Rams. Last year he had 2297 Passing yards, and 14 Touch downs. His injured shoulder from last year is holding up and he should be good to go this year as long as his team can keep him from being tackled once too often. Marc is going to be my main QB so therefore I am going to make him Spinach…I like spinach; it tastes good with almost everything.

My other QB is Byron Leftwhich, the starting QB of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had 2123 Passing yards and 15 TDs last year. Byron will be plain old lettuce. Good enough to eat, but god hope you have some good fixings to spice him up a bit.

Next I think we will do our Running Backs. Many would argue that the Running Backs are the most important position in Fantasy Football. Therefore I am making Running Backs the “meat” of the salad. The stuff that makes the salad different each time; they are grilled chicken, eggs, shrimp, and steak.

Rudi Johnson from the Cincinnati Bangles was my first round choice, and my top tier RB. He is a strong runner with 1458 Rushing yards and 12 TDs last year. He is well above the average for rushing yards at 316, and not to far behind the league leader who has 1880. He seems to be a good reliable player. I am making him the eggs, mostly because no matter what else you have on it, you usually like eggs.

My next RB is Corey Dillon from the New England Patriots. This is his 9th year playing, and although 2004 was his best year, he isn’t a bad player. He has 773 Rushing yards and 12 TDs (compared to 345 Rushing yards and 12 Tds in 2004). He has a pretty good early schedule that should help him along, however there was a bit of a rumor about a messed up shoulder that I am going to have to watch. Dillon is the chicken in my salad; pretty reliable yet you just need to make sure it is cooked all the way through. I am going to watch Dillon’s shoulder like I watch cold chicken, a quick check to just make sure it’s ok.

Frank Gore from the San Fran 49ers was my 3rd running back pick. He has 608 rushing yards, and 3 tds. On Friday 11th he had 15 touches for 81 yards and a touchdown, and they are saying he might have surpassed his team mate Kevin Barlow. This will be his second year in the NFL, and he might just continue to do well for the 49ers. He is going to be my shrimp because he would be the “new” guy.

My final RB is Chris Brown of the Tennessee Titans. This is his 4th year and he has 851 rushing yards and 5 tds. Out of everyone I think Chris Brown is my gamble of the RBs. For the past 2 years he has a solid history of Rushing yards and Touchdowns. He also is in contract negotiations, so there is a chance for a move (which could be good or bad). However Chris Brown had to leave the pre-season game on Saturday Aug 12th, returning to the game a little bit latter and hopefully a little less shaken. Depending on IF he moves and WHO he moves to and WHERE they place him in their lineup, Chris Brown COULD be my steal of the season….Then again he could end up a disgruntled player over with the Titans. Chris is going to be steak. Sometimes steak can overpower a salad, especially if they are too big of pieces, while other times they just rock. The steak salad is definitely my idea of a gamble in the salad world.

I decided to make my Wide receivers the toppings you put on the salad. Favorite toppings would have to be cranberries, almonds, sunflowers seeds, and croutons.

My first wide receiver is Torry Holt of the St. Louis Rams. He has 1331 Rec Yards and 9 Tds. He is probably one of my strongest players. Very reliable, and should pull in some decent points. Therefore I am giving him sunflower seeds. Why sunflower seeds? Because that will remind me that he is reliable. Any salad bar has sunflower seeds. They might not be the shinning star of a salad but they are reliable.

My second WD is Chris Chambers of the Miami Dolphins. He has 1118 Rec yards and 11 TDs. There are some rumors about a possible injury, but it hasn’t seem to bother him to much. There is also a huge question about his QB. Because there are some good questions surrounding Chris right now I am making him cranberries. I love cranberries on a salad, heck I just love cranberries. However sometimes cranberries don’t do so well depending on the rest of the salad and especially the salad dressing. This will remind me to watch the rest of the players (especially his QB) on his team.

My third WR is Keenan McCardell from the San Diego Chargers. He has 917 Rec yards and 9 TDs. As of yesterday (aug 15th) Keenan is having some hamstring issues. As long as he rests a bit during the pre-season (which he is) then he should be ok. This will be his 15th year with the NFL, and he doesn’t seem to be washed up yet. Because of this I am making McCardell my croutons; an oldie but a goodie.

Matt Jones of the Jacksonville Jaguars was my 8th round pick. He is a 2nd year receiver with huge possibilities. I really need to watch him in the news and the preseason to decide where to place him. Last year (his 1st year) he had 432 rec yards and 5 tds. Matt is going to be my Almonds…Mostly because he is pastie white. He kind of looks like an almond. Plus if he turns out to be a winner he will be my Almond Joy.

Besides the Top Tier Tight Ends, many TE’s get the same results. Therefore my Tight Ends are going to be Tomatoes. First off Tight End and Tomatoes both start with T. The second reason is that although some tomatoes are better then others, they are all tomatoes.

Lucky for me I got a Top Tier Tight End (I just like being able to say all those t’s.) Unlucky for me is the fact that my Top Tier Tight End (he he he he) has a Concussion. My Tight end is Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants. Last year he had 891 Rec Yards and 7 Tds. On most Fantasy Football guides he is listed as the #2 TE. For my Top Tier Tight End Tomato pick, I am picking Santa Sweets, a sweet top tier grape tomato. These Santa’s are my top pick tomatoes because they are ow so good. With any cherry tomato though they can bruise easily…this will remind me to watch out for Jeremy’s head.

My second choice TE is Marcedes Lewis from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mercedes was suppose to be a starting TE for Jacksonville, however his ankle has him out for the post game season and possibly into the regular season. He is going to be sliced tomatoes. Not as good as my Top Tier Cherry Tomato Tight End, but still a tight end.

Finally comes the kicker. For the kicker I chose Avocadoes. For 25 years of my life I despised Avocadoes, then for no reason what so ever I started to crave them in everything. Now I am not so hot on them again (though I don’t despise them). Kickers are kind of in the same take them or leave them boat that Avocadoes are. My kicker is John Kasay of the Carolina Panthers. He is currently ranked somewhere around 4th. I need him, but I am not counting on him winning me the league.

Finally I have defense, the dressing on my Fantasy Football Salad. I have 2 defense teams Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Yeah pirates!) and the Miami Dolphins. The Buccaneers are going to be blue cheese because BC dressing is suppose to have a good kick to it. The Miami Dolphins are going to be Caesar because Caesar salad dressing has fish (anchovies) in it.

If I leave my team as I drafted it I would have a spinach salad with grilled chicken, diced egg, cranberries, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, croutons, with an avocado on the side. Served with a nice spicy blue cheese dressing…Sounds good! Now, What are you having?

Technical difficulties

If someone out there happens to have Blogger and FTP experience, can you please contact me. I am having issues archiving this site. Thanks

PS I will leave this up untill the problem is taken care of.

Fantasy Football Crack

I would like to talk about the addiction that is Fantasy Football; or better known as Fantasy Football Crack.

Every year millions of women complain about becoming Fantasy Football Widows. Come fall their Husbands and Significant Others turn 150% of their attention to Fantasy Football, smack talking, and wide screen TV’s. Female voices across the world can be heard asking “Why”? I have to admit, last year, my voice was one of the many feminine voices pondering this exact question. As many of you know, this year I decided to learn a little bit about Fantasy Football, play a little, and just generally experience that which is called Fantasy Football, all in the hopes of understand my Significant Other’s obsession with the game.

First I did a search and joined a league. I chose an all female league, because I thought this would be the safest route to experiencing Fantasy Football without being drug through testosterone filled dirt. On the message boards of this league, a fellow Manager posted an open invitation to join her league, which I did. By this time I was excited to play two different leagues in order to gain a wider spectrum of knowledge concerning the game and how people play. Having been mysteriously kicked off this league (see the Aug. 8th post “It is all fun and games until…”) , I decided to let my BF pick my 2nd league for me. We chose a yahoo public league that was drafting in the near future, so I would have plenty of time between my two drafts. This public team isn’t as vocal as the female team, but it isn’t as clickie either. The draft went well. I really enjoy the guys on my public league, they seem to have a lot of knowledge, and it should be a fun league. And contrary to my original belief, the thing I liked best about this public league is the testosterone dirt flinging as well as the shock when I told them I was a girl. However after the draft, the trash talking (or talking in general) stopped. Hopefully it will pick up again once the games start.

Now I am part of 2 Fantasy Football leagues, however I still seem to be missing the comradeship and trash talking that my BF’s 1 league has. Over the years that he has been the commission (owner) of this league, he has honed it to a bunch of friends who are quick witted, active in the league and generally full of sh&* 95% of the time. Sometimes I believe that this is the reason why men play Fantasy Football; to have a bunch of guys to sit around and talk sh*& with. I was even more envious of my BF’s well defined league when a cat fight broke out on the female league.

Then yesterday I just happened to be surfing through my cartoons and their corresponding forums, when I noticed a forum for Fantasy Football 2006. Always eager to gather more information for my leagues and my blog, I surfed right in. This turned out to be a league for people on the cartoon’s forum. They stated it was for anyone, and I am a big fan of the comic, so I figured “What the Heck”.

I have high hopes for this team. Looking at the other members, there seem to be some experienced Fantasy Football players, and some not so experienced Fantasy Football players. I think I might have found my Fantasy Football league.

And what does my boyfriend think about me having 2 more Fantasy Football leagues then he does? He think’s its funny. He has accused ME of now being a Fantasy Football Crack addict (pot…kettle black) . I wouldn’t say I am addicted to Fantasy Football Crack, more like Fantasy Football Marijuana. Due to the fact that the reason I started playing Fantasy Football was to improve our relationship during the football seasons, I would say that my current obsession with Fantasy Football is Medicinal. I do it to help our relationship…. I do it not to be a Fantasy Football widow… I do it to learn and grow… I swear officer it really is for medicinal purposes.

Draft Day

I would like to start out with the fact that Draft Day was nothing like I expected. I don't know what I truly expected but it wasn't the mixture of boredom, excitement, anxiety, hope, disappointment, and trash talking that it turned out to be....(Strike the last one, if there is one thing that I know goes hand in hand with Fantasy Football it's trash talking.)

Even though I made a terrific rosemary pot roast w/ potatoes and Brussels sprouts, my BF was more concerned about getting to the Draft then my meal...Note for next time, order pizza & chicken wings. We signed on about 20 minutes early, and were the first ones there. Most of the other managers started arriving 5 minutes before the draft started.

I was drafting 6th, which meant I watched the top ranked players go quickly before my eyes, no real surprise there. For my first choice we picked RB Rudi Johnson of Cincinnati. Then being smack dab in the middle of the 2nd round, most of "Elite" RBs were already picked. Therefore, I tried overcompensating by getting some Kick Ass WRs. My next two picks were Torry Holt from St. Louis and Chris Chambers from Miami.

Feeling a little safer, we then went back for another RB, and I picked RB Corey Dillon from New England. About this time others were hitting the WR and QBs hard, so I went for the nearly untouched market of TE. I picked Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants (Only Anontio Gates was gone at this point). There were a still a number of good QBs left so I then went and picked up Mark Bulger from St. Louis, in round 6. This was about the time that I realized I navigate towards players whose names I have remembered. The reason why I picked Mark Bulger, was I remember hearing his name a lot while living in St. Louis, and he was one of the better QBs left.

While everyone else was scrounging for their Defense teams (Da Bears were picked way early), I picked up 2 additional WR; picking WR Keenan McCardell from San Diego and Matt Jones of Jacksonville, in rounds 7 and 8. At this point, my BF was telling me I REALLY needed to pick-up a back-up RB, in case one of the one's I'd already chosen got injured. So in Round 9 I picked up Frank Gore from San Francisco. At this point, I still hadn't picked up a back-up QB or RB, which I needed to do in case one of my starters got injured, so in Round 10, I picked up Byron Leftwich from Jacksonville.

Since the number of good defense teams left was starting to dwindle, I figured it was high time I picked one up. So, I picked up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in round 11. (And yes, the deciding factor was because they are pirates). By this time, others were getting their kickers...Kickers, who needs those stinking Kickers. So, I went for a few additional Backup players including RB Chris Brown of Tennessee, TE Mercedes Lewis from Jacksonville (I think I am going to be watching a few Jacksonville Games), and Miami as my back-up defense (on my BFrecommendation) in rounds 12-14. Finally I picked the kicker, John Kasay from Carolina, as my last pick in the draft.

Now that I have gone over who I picked, I would like to share a few things I learned.

1. If you minimize the Draft Screen (even if it isn't your turn), the BF's head will explode.
2. If you type on IM when the Draft is going on (even if it's not your turn) the BF will bop you on the head.
3. If you give a smack talking BF access to the keyboard, he will get you into trouble.
4. 2 minutes is a very long time when someone else is picking and not that long when you are picking.
5. Order Pizza
6. The only thing that matters from 15 minutes prior to the draft, to the minute the screen kicks you out, is THE DRAFT.
7. The only things that matters after the draft is over is: who picked who, who is left, and who you are going to start trading for. (Or so the BF thinks, I haven't learned this one yet. For me the only thing that mattered after the draft was over was my bed.)
8. Drafts take longer then you think. I imagined it would be like picking someone in Grade School Dodge Ball. The best are picked first, the worse are picked last, and wham-bam-thank you-mam in 5 minutes you’re done. My Draft started around 7:30 and got done close to 9ish

The last thoughts of my first ever draft is 4RB+4WR+2TE+2QB+2D+1K=One Decent Fantasy Football League.

The Justification for the Advancement of Female Participation in Fantasy Football.

While flipping through channels last night, a fantasy football commercial came on. It showed a newbie Fantasy Football player with a bunch of FF magazines and guides (been there with the magazines BTW). A couple of FF pros come along and give him some very valuable advice; 1. Always pick a kicker first, 2. Don’t worry about a good RB, you can always trade for a good one later. The newbie in the commercial didn’t get the sabotaging advice, but I did. I laughed because I thought it was funny, and I laughed because I got the joke.
Prior to starting this Fantasy Football Educational experiment, I would never have gotten this joke. Looking back, I wonder how many football related comments did I not understand because I was Football or FF ignorant?

This helps validate the point of this experiment. With all the frustrations I have felt about drafting and all the information that has been shoved into my head over the past weeks I started to feel like I would never get it. Well I get it. It might just be a commercial, but I got it!

Pre Draft Day 1 or Alphabet Soup....

We sat down last night, to go over my draft choices for today. The deciding choice…I know nothing about football. After seeing QB, WR, RB and hearing Bench, Tight end, and Running Back all I wanted to do was to go running back to when I wasn’t playing Fantasy Football. We decided to leave the Yahoo! Rankings pretty much the way they were, and just to go for it during my draft tonight. The time we would have been re-ranking my players was spent teaching me about football and a bit about the importance of each player.

RB or Running Back-Contrary to public belief (ok my belief). The QB is not the most important player on the team. Especially when it comes to Fantasy Football, it is the RB or Running Back who makes the points. A RB line up in the offensive backfield (behind the QB). The RB is responsible for carrying the ball on running plays, acts as a receiver on short plays, and usually has a large numbers of rushing plays. In my Fantasy football league that drafts tonight, I am allowed 2 Running Backs.

QB or Quarter Back- The Quarter Back starts the play by receiving the ball from the center. The QB then will usually pass (or throw) the ball or hand it off. He can also run it himself. He still is important to your team as you only get to start or play 1, he calls the plays (or passes the plays onto the other players) and starts the play. What’s the point of having the #1 WR or RB if the you don’t have a decent QB who can get them the ball?

WR or Wide receiver- The Wide receivers are pass-catchers. They catch the ball from the QB. They have to do this by avoiding, outrunning or outmaneuvering the defensive team. A good WR is also important in FF because they get you points for both TD’s and yards received. In my first league I get 3 WR.

Te or Tight End- Personally this is my favorite name for a player, after all what female does not enjoy a tight end, especially in those tight football pants. The tight ends job is to protect the QB or RB from the defensive team while keeping an eye out in case the QB passes him the ball. Sounds simple.

K or Kicker- The kicker kicks (or sometimes punts) the ball. Just like in real football where they are the lowest paid player in the NFL, Kickers in Fantasy Football are usually picked last.

Def or Defense (team)- As I am playing DST or Defensive Team Scoring, my defense will be awarded points when any one of its members generates either a TD, INT, fumble recovery, safety or sack. The Defense is also awarded points for a kickoff or punt return that results in a TD.

BN or Bench- these are players that you have on the bench or not playing. They are your backup players. For instance if your 1st tier all American Quarter Back breaks his back, you had better sure hope you draft a decent Back-Up QB to fill in when he does. If you don’t you will need to see about getting a mediocre QB off of the wire.

It's not just a man's game anymore......

According to an internet article, NFL Eyes Female fans and NFL tries to sell to women , an NFL study stated that 45 million women watch NFL games each weekend, 375,000 women attend pro football games, and 1/4 of Fantasy Football players are women.

It’s about time the NFL recognizes that football isn’t just about men sitting around the TV with their buddies drinking beer and shouting at the TV. Football might not be the "American Pastime" but it is an integral part of American's society.

I doubt that there is a single American woman or girl who is not slightly influenced or subjugated to football at some point in their life. I would also bet that every attached or married American woman has had a confrontation at some point in their life because or about a sport or game. Many woman who have a parent, friend, or significant other who is a football fan has at some point in their life had to compromise because of the others football plans. To be fair most women haven’t taken the time to learn about the sports that dominated the men in the lives. Many women who have sports infused significant others normally take one of two roads; they either complain about how much time/energy/passion sports take in their men’s lives, or they create alternate activities to participate in while their men are occupied.

If football affects that many females, one would think that the NFL and advertisers would try to include females before now. For to long, the NFL, had an old boys club feel about it. Well now the NFL and affiliates have recognized the large numbers of female viewers and have even started tailoring activities such as the beauty contest for NFL players and female related merchandise. Thank you and Good Job Football. As a female who is trying to learn more about the game, I appreciate the recognition.

League Vs Team or get your Structure in Gear!

Ok, so I keep on making a very basic mistake, I keep calling my League a Team. See I think you are all playing together therefore you are on a Team. NO, No, No, No, No! A team contains the players you control; your league is the group of people you play with.

Trying to compare the structure of the NFL and the structure of Fantasy Football is like comparing apples and oranges; sure they are both fruits, taste yummy, and are packed full of vitamins, but they are still 2 different fruits. In the same trend both the NFL and Fantasy Football are sports games that happen to share the same terminology and “players”, and have other similarities that are quite numerous, yet despite all of them, they are two different games.

In real life American football (not to be compared with European Football) there is 1 main league, The National Football League (NFL). Underneath this there are 2 conferences; the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Conferences are further divided up into 4 divisions; East, West, North and South. Each division contains 4 teams.

So using the bears for an example; The Bears are in the NFL and they are a NFC team. Within the NFC they are in the North Division with the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and the Minnesota Vikings.

Each team, during a regular season, will play 16 games. At the end of the 17-week season, the best six teams from each conference will play in the playoffs. The winners of that of course go on to the SuperBowl.

Now in Fantasy Football, there is a different structure. We all play Fantasy Football, and there are a lot of different places you can play it at (Yahoo!, MSN, NFL, ext). Within that you create or join a league. The leagues can have a varied numbers of teams or managers (normally 8-12, but I have seen some as small as 6 and as large as 20). I play with Yahoo! I am in 2 different leagues at the moment, an all female league and a random Yahoo! Public league. My team in the all female league is called the “Care Bears” and my team in the Yahoo! Public league is “Devil Duckies”

One might ask why I went into so much detail on the structure of the NFL, when I am making mistakes with the terminology and structure of Fantasy Football. Well, because like knowing the difference between a team and a league in Fantasy football, I believe it is important to also know the difference between the league, conference and team in real football. After all, why play the fantasy version if you don’t know about the real one?

Just so you know, here is a list of some additional similarities compiled by my Boyfriend:

NFL has 1 league with several teams (32).
FF has 1 league (that you sign up for) with several teams (# TBD)

NFL – Each team has a team name
FF – Each Team has a team name

NFL – has a commissioner
FF – One person or Yahoo! is the commissioner (ie the person who set up the league).

NFL – each team has a coach
FF – each team has a manager (you are the manager of your team)

NFL – teams have QB, RB, WR, TE, Defense, Kickers.
FF – teams have QB, RB, WR, TE, Defense, kickers.

NFL – plays 16 games.
FF – Plays 15, 16 or 17 weeks, depending on your league.

NFL – has a waiver wire
FF – has a waiver wire

NFL – has injuries
FF – has injuries

NFL – has stress
FF – has stress.

It is all fun and games until…

Someone gets kicked off their fantasy football league.

I found my original fantasy football league by doing a Google search for female/women fantasy football. That brought me to the league I signed up. This is an all female Fantasy Football League; however it seems a lot of the women already know each other. Ok, I can handle that, it should still be fun.
On this league, one of the women posted a note for people to join her team, which I did. I noticed afterwards that the draft was very very early. Now, I don’t think I am ready for a draft yet, however I figured what the heck I will give it a try.
Unfortunately, plans changed a bit, and I ended up going to Rock Island, IL with my boyfriend for the weekend. It was his family’s reunion. I was very excited about going, as I didn’t think I would be, but things opened up at the last moment. I mentioned to my BF that my league would be drafting that night, and being a semi-Fantasy Football pro, he told me to let Yahoo do my draft for me. It would all be ok! (“Or as o.k. as your draft can be when you leave it to fate and Yahoo, but at the least your draft won’t totally suck, since you can’t be there.” Quote from the BF)
This was supposed to be a learning adventure in drafting for me, as we figured this would be a great way to learn the differences in how people rank the players. Yahoo! might have a specific player ranked as #1 (Saun Alexander from the SeaHawks BTW), but another publication, guide, or person might have a different # 1( like Larry Johnson from the Cheifs). It would also be a learning experience in trades and picking up player who didn’t get picked. We were rolling with the flow, and I was very excited. What a great way to learn by comparing and contrasting two different leagues, one where I picked the players and one where Yahoo! did.
However, when we checked my account the following morning, I learned I was booted from the league. Now, I don’t remember it saying you had to be at the live draft. I don’t believe the notes ever mentioned mandatory participation in the draft. I know a lot of leagues require this, but they usually state it right up front. There was also no little nice email stating “Sorry, you couldn’t be bothered to show up for the live draft, so therefore I can’t bother having you on my league.” Even Martha Stewart sends notes to people she doesn’t hire.
I don’t really even know if the reason why I got kicked out was because I missed the draft, I can only assume. This left a very nasty taste in my mouth. Not because I got kicked out, but because I didn’t understand why. This is all supposed to be Fun and Games. I understand some people take Fantasy Football very seriously; that is why you have pay leagues, competitive leagues and leagues that state that you have to be present at the drafts. However if your in a just for fun league, I think you should just be having fun.

To Pass or not to Pass.....

We were driving in the car yesterday, and I decided this was the opportune time to ask some Fantasy Football Related questions of the captive driver, my boyfriend. I wanted to make sure I understood the difference in Defense scoring between IDP Leagues (Individual Defensive Player Scoring) and DST (Defensive Team Scoring) Leagues. However, I made one crucial mistake; in clarifying a form of offensive point scoring I used the word "Throw". After being called "cute" I learned you do not get points in Fantasy Football for throwing the ball you earn points for receiving and passing.

See before, I believed they "threw" the ball to the other player and then you would get a point if they caught it. Nope, not how it works at all. Scoring can be different per league; however the most common formula is one point for every ten yards rushing, one point for every ten yards receiving, and one point for every 25 yards passing.
Who knew they didn’t "throw" balls in Football. Well I guess you learn something new every day.

Female Fantasy Football.Net

I have always enjoyed sports.

I have some fond memories of sports growing up. I remember watching my dad play on his work's softball team, and I even played a few seasons of softball myself (big disaster). I loved the few times my dad took me to see the A's or the Giants in the Bay area and I even saw a professional "football" game while in Scotland. Most especially I loved the SuperBowl "parties" my grandmother threw that consisted of sandwiches and finger food for my Grandpa as he watched the game. As these few events consisted of the bulk of my sports encounters I would say overall my experience with sports have been limited. There just wasn’t much opportunity for sports in my life. I enjoyed it, but it was minimal.

Moving to St. Louis was a sports culture shock. It doesn’t matter if you’re cheering for the Cardinals or for the Rams; you’re cheering. I believe that St. Louis sport fans are some of the most dedicated enthusiastic fans in the US. In St. Louis I learned to love the Cardinals, hate the Cubs (this would prove interesting with my move to Chicago) and start to understand the complex world of football.

Scheduling plans with my boyfriend during football season revolved around who was playing, what time the game was on, and whether he needed the points for Fantasy Football. Fantasy what? Still learning the complex rules of the game I was intrigued and a little frightened that during Football season full grown men would "pretend" that they were football coaches. This was a novel concept to me because I remember vividly in High School when the football players would beat up the nerds who RPGed and "pretended" to be elves, mages, and dwarfs, and now these same men are “pretending” themselves. However for some reason this Football based role playing scenario attracts millions of men a year.

Last year I suffered through Fantasy Football Season (FFS) with faked enthusiasm, boredom, and rolled eyes. I pretended to listen while my boyfriend droned on about the casualties on his team (there were a lot), the insults administered, and even the rules of Fantasy Football. After one horrific season of that I decided, not again! I will not spend another FFS as the second fiddle to a game. I will not be a Fantasy Football Widow! I truly believe that Fantasy Football is not a spectator’s sport, so I decided to follow famous advice, "If you can't beat' em, join' em”.

Therefore this year I am playing Fantasy Football. However, I had no idea where to start. There are hundreds of sites dedicated to Fantasy Football including FF picks and tricks, FF teams, FF guides, pay sites, free sites, and general FF manuals. What there is not, is a guide for females on the topic of Fantasy Football.

I am not a Fantasy Football expert and FemaleFantasyFootball.net (FFF.net) will not be the definite stop for Fantasy Football for Females on the net. However what FFF.net will be, is a look into one girl’s experiences while learning how to play Fantasy Football. I promise I will make plenty of mistakes (spelling, grammar, and even Football related). I ask that you please bear with me, even feel free to correct me. However do not flame me, or other’s learning on this site.

If you came here to learn about Fantasy Football from a female's perspective, I hope my mistakes, links, and advice might help you. If you are a female who is well versed in Fantasy Football, I hope you share your advice and opinions to other women. If you are a Fantasy Football Fan and welcome more females into the mix, feel free to also share your own so secretive knowledge. If you are a male and you love the idea of your "girl" friend or wife actually understanding what Fantasy Football is and how important it is to you, send the girls our way. After all, girls want to have fun too.