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This
week The Locker Room is bringing you the second
installment of a four-part series on Fantasy Sports . . .
Part
II: Different Fan Sports/Leagues, Rotisserie vs. Fantasy
As
far as Fantasy leagues go, football has become the most popular
sport. This is probably because the season is more compact--17 weeks
long and most games are on the same day each week (Sunday for you
communist kooks that don't follow football.)
Baseball,
on the other hand, has more die-hard fans. Some baseball leagues are
literally decades old.
Of
course, we are equal opportunity. You can choose from many other
sports. Most notably, basketball (both pro & college), golf,
hockey, tennis, and auto racing.
There
are several scoring systems, with the most common being rotisserie
and fantasy. With fantasy, scoring is based on cumulative season
totals leagues and head-to-head leagues. Head-to-head leagues have a
set schedule, where teams are matched against each other to get a win
each week. Head-to-head leagues are the most popular style. The team
with the most points from their players wins. The next week your team
starts over, achieving points against a different team in the league.
Won-loss records are more important than cumulative stats. In
cumulative season totals leagues, you simply add up all the fantasy
points for all your players throughout the season to see who had the
most total points (see below for how you earn fantasy points).
Many
sites provide a set of scoring rules you can swipe, so look around.
You will also have to find a way to compile the stats. Again, shop
around. There are many sites and software packages that will do it
and some are free.
The
Rotisserie vs. Fantasy Debate
Baseball
leagues come in two varieties: rotisserie and fantasy. There are
football leagues that use rotisserie (or "roti") scoring,
but it is most closely associated with baseball leagues.
Rotisserie
scoring typically uses 10 major statistical categories (i.e.,
homeruns, RBIs, pitcher wins, ERA, strikeouts, etc.). Rotisserie
leagues typically have 10 teams, with each team ranked according to
how well they finish in each statistical category, best to worst. The
best-ranked team gets 10 points, the second-ranked team gets 9
points, and so on until the last team gets 1 point. If there are
teams that are tied, total points are divided so each tied team gets
equal points.
For
example, if the #1 and #2 teams tied, add up total points (10+9=19)
and divide by the number of tied teams (2), so 19/2 = 9.5. Each team
gets 9.5 points. Repeat this for every scoring category and each
team's sum total for all categories is each team's score. Each
player's statistics are added to your team's running tally in the
category each week. The final winner (or winners, depending on the
league) is based on the cumulative season totals for each category
added together. Thank God there are sites and software that do the
math for you!
Fantasy
is typically a scoring system that assigns a point value for every
type of statistical category, i.e., a homerun is worth 4 points, one
RBI is worth 1 point, etc. The total of all points for all players
per team determines each team's score. Typically, fantasy leagues use
a head-to-head schedule, where teams are matched against each other
to get a win. Again, won-loss records are more important than
cumulative stats.
I
have been in both types of leagues that use either scoring system.
Fantasy scoring system leagues tend to be gaining acceptance, but
prevail in roti baseball leagues. Roti folks say that it's easier to
learn because you don't have to learn any point values. Additionally,
all the categories are equally weighted. One drawback is that you
don't know how well you are doing for the week, since you would have
to also know how well everyone else's players are doing in that
category as well. Another setback is that some teams typically will
be unable to "catch up" in certain categories as the season
progresses, which causes a loss of interest before the season ends.
In
fantasy scoring, some categories can become more important based on
the particular point values assigned. For example, some football
leagues award 6 points for passing touchdowns. This makes the
quarterback more important since they typically score more touchdowns
per game than any other position. Also, since your team's points
fluctuate from week to week, as do all the other teams in the league,
you can get lucky by catching other teams on "bad" weeks.
This adds such an element of luck that some purists just don't like it.
In
any case, Baseball is better for roti scoring leagues. Football
seems better for fantasy scoring leagues. It boils down to a matter
of preference for the folks involved.
Online
Leagues
There
seems to be a million different online leagues for every sport., and
every web site seems to host Fantasy leagues. Stick with the
better-known sites like CBS.Sportsline.com, ESPN, USAToday, The
Sporting News, Yahoo, etc. They have bigger payoffs and easier, more
flexible rules to understand. Stay away from leagues that promise all
kinds of money, don't have clear, concise rules posted, or want your
credit card numbers. There are said to be some scam Fantasy sites
lurking out there (though I personally don't know of any).
Locker
Room is written by Michael Skordeles
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