Students on campus compete in various fantasy football leagues

Fantasy football has become something that is more anticipated and more focused on since it came on the internet scene in the late 1990s.

Web sites like Yahoo!, NFL.com and CBS Sports.com advertise their fantasy football leagues often on their home pages, as well as even opening jobs for writers to write specifically about fantasy football.

Now, more than 27 million people play the game across the country according to Colin Cowherd of ESPN.

Fantasy football is a game where participants, called owners, control one team of various NFL players in a league where they compete against other owners and their teams.

Different leagues have different formats for teams, where there could be various positions on offense and defense filled. The normal format seen in many leagues are those that have one starting quarterback, two starting running backs, two starting wide receivers, one starting tight end, a starting kicker, an entire starting defense, with six bench players of any position.

Scoring often varies from league to league, but often focuses on statistical advantages from players. Depending on what position a player plays, they get points for certain amounts of yards and touchdowns.

Players often lose points also for turning the ball over in the course of their respective games.

Owners have the opportunity each week to scout, cut and add players for their team. There is also a waiver wire each week where owners can pick up players, but depending on the order in which owners decided to pick up players the week before, owners can't freely add players until a certain day in the week.

"I don't really have to make many moves during the week, because my team is pretty solid," Sophomore Chris Douglas said.

People of different age groups play the game across the country, and it's no different at Ottawa University.

There was going to be a fantasy football intramurals league at OU, but numbers presented a problem with getting the league up and going.

"We did not have enough people for fantasy football," former University President and graduate Jason Beers said. "We have been doing intramural volleyball outside of Martin (Hall)."

Students have found other ways to play the game, as Douglas can attest to. Douglas is currently participating in one league, in his second year of playing fantasy football.

He said he enjoys playing fantasy football because of the opportunity for competition that it presents.

"My team is doing pretty good with a record of 3-1," Douglas said. "They're the highest scoring team in the league."

Not everyone plays fantasy football though. Some still see it as a game that isn't too important.

"I just don't see the fun in it, really," freshman VanRuss Robinson said. "I just like playing and watching the game."