Affogato

To best approach this book, consider an Oreo™ cookie. You can pop it in your mouth and enjoy the delightful combination of chocolate cookie and crème filling. Or you can take it apart and eat the cookies and crème separately.

Or crush the cookie into tiny pieces and mix it into a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Or you can use Oreos as ingredients in cheesecake, cupcakes, brownies, milkshakes, pancakes, fudge, and on and on and on. I could even dive down to the flour, cocoa, eggs and sugar, and then the possibilities become endless.

There are many, many ways to disassemble an Oreo cookie and re-engineer it into something potentially even more yummy. This list barely scratches the surface.

Think of Oreos as your fantasy league rules. Beyond the players and statistics, everything else is up for grabs—every ingredient, element, and process. This book disassembles and explores the methods and minutiae of our games. It offers ways to improve the formats we already play and also re-engineers the pieces into innovative new competitions. It’s all about helping you create the most fun and exciting fantasy sports experiences for you and your friends.

What’s in this book?

The first section examines the individual elements of the game, breaking down the rules into teeny, little pieces. In the second section, I present over 20 innovative game formats.  Some are solid enough to form the backbone of your gaming experience. Some are fun ancillary competitions. And some are just interesting to read about.

These ideas and concepts are by no means exhaustive, but this book begins the conversation. My goal is to open your mind to new possibilities, whether you play fantasy baseball, football, basketball or hockey.

Who can benefit from this book?

You’re in a stable fantasy league that you enjoy. Why bother reading this if you already enjoy your current experience? The changing sports landscape—new pro rules, evolving statistical trends, and so on— may merit fresh rules. It’s often better to be proactive than reactive. At worst, you might find a rule doesn’t work and decide to roll it back after the season ends. (Yes, you can do that!) At best, you might discover ways to make your league even more fun.

You’re in a league that could benefit from some changes. Perhaps some team owners lose interest midway through the season, get into frequent arguments, exploit loopholes, or express frustration about the rules. The league may have fallen into a malaise; maybe there’s been some owner turnover, and you need to inject some new energy. This book offers dozens of ideas that can help.

You want to try a new fantasy sport or explore a new concept to invest in. There are countless reasons why we all occasionally need a fresh start. This book offers dozens of potential new beginnings.

You’d like a secondary challenge to keep your competitive juices flowing, without taking effort away from your primary league. This book offers many innovative ideas for low-maintenance side contests. Some are competitions you can set up on a whim when you’re sitting around with friends. If it’s the second quarter, the Bears are down 21-3, and you’re looking for a reason to stay engaged in the game, I’ve got your back.

In some ways, this is a book for beginners, but it is designed so that anyone can piece together the granular elements into an exceptional fantasy experience. Veterans seeking a new challenge will also appreciate the journey.

For me, however, I wrote this book because I have questions. Why do we play the game the way we do? Can we make it better?

• Why do we cling to elements of a drafting process that are less than ideal?
• Why do we play with statistical categories that are poor evaluators of skill?
• Why do we use three different currencies to acquire active players, reserve players, and free agents?
• Why do we impose limitations on the types of players we can draft?
• Why do we have an open acquisition process for the draft and a closed one for free agents?
• Why are we beholden to the professional leagues’ schedules?
• If we’re having a less-than-ideal experience, why are we resistant to change?

So many questions. So many more. This book is about finding answers. Or maybe more questions. Either way, it’s all about the journey.

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