INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the exciting and action filled world of fantasy sports and games.

Playing fantasy sports is a great way to enjoy major sports leagues, competitions, and other public events. Fantasy sports allow players to test their knowledge, decision-making abilities, and strategic skills. Fantasy is also about numbers and statistics, and making the most of them to beat the competition.

Most importantly, fantasy sports are a great way to enjoy time with family members, friends, teammates, group members, and co-workers. The social aspects of fantasy sports are the reason its popularity has grown so much in recent years.

Below you will find introductory information that will prepare anyone for playing and enjoying fantasy sports.

In addition, at the end of this introduction to fantasy sports and fantasy football, there is a list of common terms that you will hear frequently in the fantasy sports world.

Thanks for checking out FamilyFantasySports.com’s Fantasy 101 and have fun playing. Preregister and receive our newsletter to get the latest information on our free leagues, family oriented prizes, and other great activities!

FANTASY 101

What are fantasy sports?
A fantasy sport is a game in which a person creates his or her own team of individual athletes, or selects a specific team from a professional sport, and then competes against other players who manage their own teams.

Fantasy sports players (often called team owners or general managers) select their players through a draft before the season and then manage their teams throughout the season.

The fantasy general manager determines which of their players are active and which are on the bench each week. Fantasy owners can also add and remove players from their teams during the season through trades and free agency acquisitions.

Each week, fantasy teams earn points based on the performance of their starting lineups. For example, in our leagues, passing touchdowns are worth 6 points. So if a fantasy team’s starting quarterback throws 4 touchdowns, the team earns 24 points (4 x 6 = 24).

Who does a fantasy player play against?
Most fantasy sports leagues feature head-to-head play, where each week two fantasy teams compete against each other. The points accumulated by their active players are compared at the end of the week. The team scoring more points gets a win, while the lower scoring team receives a loss. There can be ties in head-to-head leagues.

How do I play fantasy football at FamilyFantasySports.com?
To enter, complete the registration form online. Entrants will be asked to create a user ID and password, which they will use for future login to their team page.

Players under 13 must provide a grown up’s email address in order to complete registration. Please view our full privacy policy to gain a better understanding of what information we will ask of you and how we will maintain the confidentiality of that information.

In fantasy football, your team will consist of players from all different teams in the NFL, not just one NFL team. You will choose from the best players in the league to be on your fantasy team.

Each week, you will choose 7 active athletes, who will accumulate points based on their performance in real NFL games. Your total points will then be compared to the total points earned by your opponent's 7 active athletes. The team with the most points wins that week's game.

What is a league?
A league consists of 10 fantasy football teams. Each league has two divisions and each week teams play head-to-head.

There are 14 weeks of regular season play that coincide with the first 14 weeks of the NFL regular season.

How do the playoffs work?
The playoffs will occur during the same two weeks for all leagues – NFL Weeks 15 and 16. Week 17 of the NFL season will not be included in the contest. At the conclusion of Week 14 of the NFL season, 4 teams will make the playoffs – the 2 division winners and 2 wildcards.

The two division winners will be seeded 1 and 2, according to their record (tie breakers will be used if necessary). The two teams with the best records among the remaining non-division winners will be the wildcards. In the event of a tie for win-loss records of the wildcard teams, tiebreakers will be used (see official rules for full explanation of tie-breakers).

In Week 15 of the NFL season, the #1 ranked division winner will play the lowest seeded wildcard team and the #2 division winner will play the highest seeded wildcard team in the first round of the playoffs. In Week 16 of the NFL regular season, the two winning teams in the first round will play each other in the championship round.

What are the different types of leagues?
Your fantasy team can either join a public or a private league. Both types of leagues are free and follow the same rules – from drafts and points to playoffs and prizes. Public leagues are open to anyone to join, but to enter a private league the player must be invited by the league creator via email.

What are the different types of Public Leagues?
Public leagues are open to anyone to join, though some public leagues do have simple requirements. For example, our Mother-Son Leagues and Father-Daughter Leagues require that all teams be comprised of a Mom & Son or Father & Daughter. Public leagues have 10 teams per league for NFL Football 2008. Click here to join a public league.

Who should I play with?
We encourage families to play together and against each other. Usually two participants, or “owners”, form a team. For example, a mom and her son can create a team together, as can a dad and his daughter, an uncle and his nephew, cousins, etc.

The one rule is that one of the participants on each team must be over the age of 13. If a team owner is under the age of 13, the child’s parent/guardian email must be provided at the time of registration for the game.

How many players are on a team in FamilyFantasySports.com's football leagues?
When you draft your team, you will select the following:

2 Quarterbacks
3 Running Backs
4 Wide Receivers and/or Tight Ends
2 Team Defenses and Special Teams (same NFL team for both)
2 Place kickers

How do we choose our lineup each week?
Each week, the owners of each team submit a starting lineup. Lineups are determined based on how well each player is performing, injuries, and bye weeks. Each week you will decide which players are going to be in the starting lineup from your roster.

You can leave it the same each week, change a couple of positions, or change the whole thing; it's up to you.

Each week you will start the following:

1 Quarterback
2 Running Backs
2 Wide Receivers and/or Tight Ends
1 Team Defense and Special Teams (same NFL team for both)
1 Place kicker

How do you keep score?
Your active athletes will accumulate points based on how well they perform during actual NFL games. On offense, they earn points for touchdowns scored as well as passing, rushing, and receiving yardage gained. They also get points for 2-point conversions.

On defense, your team defense earns points for fumble recoveries, interceptions, sacks, safeties, and touchdowns scored. Your special teams earns points for punt and kick returns for touchdowns, while your place-kicker gets points for made field goals and points after touchdowns. Our scoring is handled by Stats Inc., which is the leader in the industry.

To view FamilyFantasySports.com’s scoring system for NFL Football 2008, click here.

How do I create a team?
Click here to create a team. To enter, complete the registration form online. You will then be asked to create a user ID and password, which you will use for future login to you team page. When you create a new team, it is automatically an independent team, meaning it is not yet associated with any other teams in a league.

How do I create a private league?
Click here to create a private league. Anyone can set up a private league and invite their friends/family members/classmates to join. In order to join a private league, a player must be invited. For example, a little league team may create a private league for team members and their parents play together or an office manager may create a private league for her colleagues (and her colleagues’ kids) to play fantasy football together. The person who creates the league will send invitations via email.

GLOSSARY OF COMMON FANTASY FOOTBALL TERMS

Bench Players
The players that are not in a team's starting lineup each week. Bench players’ stats do not count toward a team's final score. In football at FamilyFantasySports.com each team will have 6 bench players each week.

Cheat Sheet
While we believe that cheaters never win and winners never cheat, in fantasy sports a cheat sheet is a ranking of players in terms of their fantasy potential.

Cheat sheets are used by fantasy owners/general managers in their draft decisions by ranking players overall or by position.

While using cheat sheets, players should check the past performance of players in categories/statistics that are used in their league. Different leagues use different scoring systems.

For a full description of FamilyFantasySports.com’s NFL football scoring, click here. If you would like the FamilyFantasySports.com NFL Football scoring in a PDF, click here.

Depth Chart
A list of all players on a team's roster, with rankings from starter to second and third-string players.

Draft
A process where fantasy team owners/general managers take turns selecting players to fill their roster.

Fantasy Owner/General Manager
The person (or group of people) who drafts, sets the roster, and makes lineup changes for a particular fantasy football team.

At FamilyFantasySports.com, fantasy teams with a General Managers younger than 13 years of age must have an adult as his/her Assistant General Manager.

Free Agent
A player who was either not drafted or was released by another team and has cleared waivers.

Injury Report
A listing of players’ injuries along with their projected status for the next game – whether they will play, might play, or will not play.

Mock Draft
A projected draft used by fantasy team owners to help determine which round a player should be drafted. There are many mock drafts to be found on the internet.

Pick
A fantasy owner/general manager’s draft position determines their ‘pick’. (1-10 in FamilyFantasySports.com’s NFL 2008 Football Leagues) The order in which team's pick is pre-determined and usually reverses from one round to the next. (For example, the owner/GM with the last pick of the first round will usually get the first pick of the second round.)

Roster
A list of all of the players on a particular fantasy team.

Scoring System
A pre-determined formula for converting a player's real-life statistics into fantasy points. To view FamilyFantasySports.com’s scoring system for NFL Football 2008, click here.

Sleeper
A player who is expected to beat their previous season’s performance, making them a high value draftee based on prior performance.

Starting Lineup
The players a fantasy owner/GM chooses from their roster whose points (based on performance) will be counted in the scoring of a particular game or week of a fantasy season.

Trade
An action when two or more team owners/general manages exchange players.

Waive
The act of releasing or dropping a player from a team roster.

Waivers
A list of players who were recently waived (released/dropped) by the team they were on. After being waived/dropped, a player is generally placed on waivers for a pre-determined period of time.