Scott Engel delves into the world of high stakes fantasy football.

I must admit, I have played in just about every type of fantasy football competition. This year, I even participated in an individual defender only league, which I will soon cover in more detail in the near future. The one sort of league/competition I always avoided, though, was the "high stakes" games. The rules were often too offbeat for my taste, I didn't want to spend the high entry fees in some cases, and I certainly didn't have the time to travel to drafts at this busy fantasy football time of year. That didn't make me much different from any other fantasy owner. Many of them don't want to pay airfare and hotel fees to draft. Heck, that kept me from attending my own personal league draft this weekend.

Coming to terms with that outlook, I still had the desire to join one of these "high stakes" competitions to see what it would be about, and to make sure I cover and participate in all styles of leagues, because I owe that to my readers, who I never take for granted either. I get e-mails asking for advice in high stakes leagues, or whether to participate in them, so I owe it to those who ask. I have to put my own feelings aside for what the readers want. They put me here, and I have to cover what they want to see. So once I decided to take that "high stakes" leap, it wasn't easy to decide on a league. There are many fine operators in the business, but in the end, one stood out as being user-friendly and very true to the most authentic fantasy football concepts that we base our hobby on, while adding in the necessary twists needed to determine "the best player in the world."

So I signed up for the Fantasy Football Open Championship at http://www.ffoc.com/. Honestly, I was invited to participate in other similar competitions, but I went with the FFOC because I believe it represents what these types of competitions should strive for. It is generally affordable, the rules are simple, it has familiar tools, and the only instance in which I have to travel is if I am one of the finalists. Fair enough for me. Plus, after more careful thought, I really like the idea of playing in a highly competitive league with new people. Just because I write about fantasy football for a living doesn't make me much different or better as a person than anyone else. I love meeting other fantasy players and getting to know them. So even if I don't win, I've won by connecting with the type of people who make fantasy football what it is. Yet I will still put on my "game face" like former New York Knicks forward Bernard King did when it came time for serious business. Heck, my son has to go to college one day, and it isn't cheap living in New York. Plus, I have always wanted to go to a Seahawks home game, and I have never been to Hawaii.

So like anyone else, the grand prize of $1,000,000 attracts me, and I know I can vie for it just as well as anyone else. I know it won't be easy. Not everyone who is a fantasy "expert" is published. There are many great players out there who are not writers, and they deserve to be put in the spotlight, too.  Not just anyone can be a fantasy writer; it takes a lot more than just being good at the game. But there are lots of fantasy football players who are simply great at mastering the game as much as one can, and I want to meet and compete with those players. I know it's going to be an unforgettable experience. Sure, my own leagues and other experts leagues I participate in contain the highest level of competition you can envision. But I love the idea of taking on intense, high-level fantasy gamers I have not met before, plus sharing experiences with all types of new players.

Yet the FFOC will offer a lot more than just the opportunity to clash with other "titans." With entry fees as low as $125 to $150, the competition caters to the average player and person, and I really like that. When I started getting involved in serious leagues back in the early 1990s, I was working in retail full-time and was writing only part-time. I used to walk several blocks the same day every week to the only newsstand in my area that carried Fantasy Football Weekly, the longtime flagship publication of Fanball.com, which now powers the FFOC. I used to have to arrange to pay for my league fees in installments, so I respect and appreciate an affordable league. The first time I won a championship, I received $330 cash and thought I was richer than ever before.

Prizes and rewards are also realistically reachable goals in the FFOC. You don't have to win it all to be a winner. You can win at least $250 if you win your own league, and if you come in second, you don't have to pay to play in 2009. If you win your league, you get entered in the "Las Vegas Bracket" for a shot at the grand prize. If you finish second through fourth in your league, you get entered in the "First and Goal Bracket" for a shot at a $10,000 prize. If you finish fifth through 10th, you still enter the "Red Zone Bracket", where you get a chance to win $6,000. Total winnings of nearly $2 million are widely distributed, as you can even net $175 just for finishing 10th in the First and Goal Bracket. So you are certainly not "throwing your money away." That should appeal to any "fantasy curmudgeon", like the guy who quit one of my leagues this year because he balked at the $10 entry fee. The format also sounds something like Fantasy Football meets March Madness, which should only broaden the appeal.

So how do you get to the Top of the Mountain, Beavis (bonus points if you know that episode)? It seems all too easy. You simply register for a 10-team league, pick a draft date, and pre-rank your players if you like. The draft is 20 rounds, and you must start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, a flex, 1 TE, 1 K and a D/ST. The flex can also be a QB, which adds a unique twist. The scoring system is pretty much standard fare, but QBs only get four points for a passing touchdown and you also get bonuses for rushing and receiving scores of 40 yards or more. Simple enough; even a relatively newer fantasy player can fit in easily. It's easy to pre-rank players and find your way to the draft room; the site is easy to navigate and answers all your questions with just a few clicks. For the experienced player, rules and features, such as the pre-rank option, aren't much different than what you have used elsewhere. If the goal of the FFOC was to make you feel at ease and comfortable, they have accomplished it. The initial fear of joining such a competition is eased by the widely distributed prize pool, the easy rules, and the Fanball.Com branding, which adds assurance that you're not going to be "ripped off", a fear that sometimes scares players away from some of these competitions. No worries there.

It gets really interesting once the season starts. In the first nine weeks of the regular season, you compete in the usual head-to-head matchups for wins and losses. Each team also gets an additional win or loss each week based on whether they finish in the top or bottom half of the league in weekly points scored. So if you lose a high-scoring affair, some of your frustration is eased, which is not a possibility in standard leagues. At the end of nine weeks, each team has 18 games on its record. The top two then play for the right to compete in the Las Vegas Bracket. Each week, teams will be cut from the LV bracket (but still have chances to compete in other brackets) based on weekly points scored until there are 15 finalists remaining. Those 15 get an all-expense paid trip to Vegas, where they will compete for the grand prize and more, and FFOC Commissioner/Spokesman Jerry Rice will award the "Millionaire Jacket" to the overall champion. Determining the bracket winners also seems simple enough. Here's the formula: Average points Week One through Week Nine plus Average points Week 10 through Week 15 plus Week 16 points.
Some of you reading this may think I am "selling out" when I am supposed to be giving out fantasy football advice in this space. Well, unlike Juan Pablo Montoya, I'm no humorous, subliminal salesman. I don't highlight something I don't believe in, and that I wouldn't participate in myself. I'm putting my rep on the line in FFOC, and I would join it even if I wasn't a fantasy football writer. If you are going to spend your money in one of these competitions, I want to make sure I direct you to somewhere you feel comfortable, and that is always my goal, to make you feel at ease if I can. You can register through September 4 at http://www.ffoc.com/. You may end up in my league and see I am very serious about all of this.

Scott Engel won his first Fantasy Football Championship in 1994. He relied on Fantasy Football Weekly in its earliest days, and four years later, he appeared weekly in their center spread. E-mail Scott at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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