In addition to spinning yarns here at Missner’s Manifesto, I play and write about fantasy sports. My main other claims to fame, such as they are, are as the Treasurer to the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the inventor of the Big Chief Challenge for fantasy college basketball. I have played a lot of fantasy sports and commished a lot of leagues. In the past, I have been one of those commishes who likes to tinker with league settings in the offseason. Many players do not like this, but I think that leagues can be made better with better statistical categories (like quality starts rather than wins in baseball) and waiver wire aspects, but the fantasy community (or maybe the community, in general) is a pretty conservative lot. They like what they like, and please don’t change it.
I do have two main thoughts about fantasy sports that I’d like to impart that may show my own conservatism. After many years of playing in them, I have discovered that I don’t really like keeper and dynasty leagues. And, on the other side of the fence, I don’t really enjoy daily fantasy either. The sweet spot is in the middle with traditional season-long fantasy. Just so we have our definitions straight: in keeper leagues, fantasy team owners get to keep a certain number of players from year to year. The number is generally between 10-20% of the roster. Sometimes there are escalating dollar values attached to the keepers, or they must be kept at the price of a draft pick. Dynasty leagues keep their entire rosters from year to year. In some ways, these leagues better simulate real teams and allow owners to rebuild with young players, when they have a down season. The reason I prefer one-season, or redraft, leagues is that the best part of fantasy sports is the draft, which is the only time of the year in most leagues in which all of the owners are engaged. The draft requires strategy and planning as well. Using keepers limits the potential of the draft. The second best part of fantasy leagues is trying to make trades with your fellow owners.
Among the problems with daily fantasy sports, which are being hailed as the next big thing in the fantasy industry, is that there is no draft and there is no trading. In fact, there is very little communication at all. The games are played by setting up a roster based on a salary cap. I suppose there is some strategy to setting up the roster in that you can load your team with players from one team, if you think they are going to score well (called roster stacking). You can also select a roster full of mid-range priced players or go for a few studs and fill in with scrubs.
These games are popular because they often are played for high stakes. They also boast that playing in season-long league is no fun when your first round pick is lost for the season in the first game. I won’t decry society for its longing for instant gratification. If you don’t have the patience to play in a season-long league, then maybe daily fantasy sports may be for you. However, they miss out on any league camaraderie and are basically gambling outlets. I can’t speak too loudly because I have been writing about daily fantasy sports for a couple of years because they are among the few fantasy outlets that pay, but I have found that the games have slightly less strategy (and about the same luck) as fantasy football and poker. Fantasy football is by far the most popular of the fantasy sports, but it also depends most on luck. I believe that is part of the reason it is so popular. Other sports, such as baseball and basketball, have long seasons that can be a grind.
As it happens, making money on fantasy sports is illegal in the fine state in which I reside: Louisiana. A few years ago, I won a fantasy baseball league t-shirt and had to have it sent to my parents’ house in Wisconsin to collect my prize. This law makes absolutely no sense, particularly because there are casinos all over Louisiana. I doubt I would have been tempted to spend money on daily fantasy sports even if it weren’t illegal here, but it is just one of those little ironies of life.
Perry Missner is a college basketball enthusiast who writes for RotoWire along with several other outlets. He welcomes your comments on Twitter at @PerryMissner or via email at [email protected]
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
