Introducing the 2013 B/B Fantasy Football League

By - Kris Fletcher

Every year since launching back in 2011, The Bleacher Briefings has hosted a fantasy football league. They have always filled up rather quickly and provided lots of entertainment throughout the course of the season, despite being what I have come to consider a "boring" format.

Or, the norm, if you will. Those of the standard scoring and draft variety.

Photo from: nbc.com

Sure, the snake or auction formats are viable options, but in the end, they're all basically the same thing. You're still limited as far as what you can do with your roster on a week-to-week basis.

That's why we're doing things a little bit different this year.

As far as fantasy leagues go, a vast portion of the final outcome is virtually decided on draft day. After that, it's pretty much the luck of the draw as far as who you face each week. You may have the strongest team on paper top-to-bottom, but your weekly player vs. team matchups compared to the weekly player vs. team matchups of the individual you're facing are what truly dictate the final outcome of the game.

What you can do from a roster standpoint is extremely limited. You've got a couple of quarterbacks to choose from. Usually four or five running backs. Three or four receivers. Two tight ends, and so on. In many cases, by the midway point of the season, half the people playing in your league are so far out of contention that they just stop playing altogether. The genesis of the problems they encounter can be traced back to two things; the draft, and the weekly luck of the draw matchups.

But what if your roster options on a week-to-week basis were completely unlimited? What if every skill player in the National Football League was available to be used each week? If you were no longer competing against a single luck of the draw opponent, but instead focused on the real matchups taking place around the NFL, and on accumulating points in an effort to outscore all the players in your particular league by season's end?

In our league, the possibilities are endless.

The rules are fairly simple. Each week, you select a quarterback, a running back, a wide receiver, a tight end, a defense/special teams, and a wild card; which can be anything. Another QB, wideout, whatever. The scoring is the same as in standard fantasy leagues, but the difference is, you're not competing against a luck of the draw opponent week-in and week-out. Instead, you're trying to add to your running tally every week in an attempt to outscore the rest of the players in your league by the end of Super Sunday.

Think of it as a season-long marathon rather than a race.

No more wins and losses, just total points. With this format, no one is ever out of it. The person in tenth place through Week 13 still has a shot at winning the whole thing, because they can make up points by selecting guys with favorable matchups the remainder of the way to accumulate higher point totals.

Basically all of the things you like about fantasy football are enhanced in this format, while the things that tend to be problematic or frustrating are removed from the equation altogether. Simply put, it's virtually impossible not to enjoy this variation of the game.

Give it a try and find out why. Signing up is easy. Just click on the fantasy football link provided, answer a few registration questions and click on "join league" once you arrive on the "B/B Fantasy League" homepage. Easy as that!

If you're big on fantasy football, you'll love our league. Thanks for playing, and good luck!