By MELISSA NOLAND
Student Reporter
Attention Northwestern, football season is here and ready for you to get involved!
Besides supporting your local Rangers on their journey to a great season with a fresh new era, you can get started with a fantasy football league.
With just a few simple steps you can be on your way to rocking this hot new hobby. The first thing you’ll need to do is get a bunch of friends together and interested in having just as much fun as you will. It is best to keep the teams at an even number though.
Secondly, pick a pretty epic team name that will send chills of intimidation into the hearts of your opponents.
The next step would be to pick a date for the annual player draft. This will be the official start to your season where everyone gets together and chooses the players for their team. The weekend before the start of the regular NFL season is usually the best for hosting your personal draft.
The fourth step is where things start to get a little tricky. You are going to need to agree on an entry fee. This can be as low or as high as you want. You will need to pool together the entry fees for every team you have, creating the “pot” that’ll be paid out to the winners. This step is not necessary for every league. If you want, you are more than free to play just for fun or just for bragging rights as the winner for the season.
After you get the basics situated, you will need to appoint a “commissioner” who will be in charge of dealing with any and all disputes that may happen.
Once a commissioner is established, the next step will be to write the rules of the game. Keep in mind that the point of these is to keep everything as clear as can be so there is not any room for issues or conflicts due to confusion. Some go to rules are establishing the points value for scoring. Determining how many points will be given for yard gained, touchdowns, reception, etc. Figure out the details with playoffs, how many teams will be allowed and what week these games will be played. You can also establish information dealing with trades. A tip would be to implement a voting policy for this. When it comes to keeping track of the weekly standings, it might be best to use a free hosting site such as ESPN, Yahoo or NFL.
The last and final step is to sit back and enjoy the fun that is about to come your way!