Fantasy World

Seeking out fantasy leagues for the working man.

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"Finally, fantasy sports for the rest of us!"

Shockingly, there are more important things in life than fantasy sports.

Well, ostensibly. Like a few years back, a few friends of mine tried to counter life's distractions by starting a "Working Man's League" which, in short, was an ordinary league with a caveat that owners wouldn't try too hard. While this isn't an ideal situation for all involved -- in its three years there have been only two trades -- it's one of the ways you can still participate in fantasy sports while not missing out on other things, like your children.

Rodney Yancy has another way.

Yancy was enrolled at the University of Oklahoma law school a few years back without an outlet for his fantasy passion. So he made one. "The first year is pretty grueling," Yancy said from his home base in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "I was into fantasy football and just didn't have the time. I was trying to get people involved by having them pick a team and play for a weekend here or there. We started playing week-by-week, just on paper." Out of that nucleus came Paper Sports, an alternative to the daily grind of the long fantasy season.

The concept is simple: Pick a new team when you have the time, pit it up against another and play for a night. As quick and painless as a door-handle dentist.

"In season-long fantasy baseball, you're the fantasy general manager. At Paper Sports, you're the fantasy coach," said Yancy, delivering what should be the official company slogan if it isn't already. "You're on the field for that day. It really becomes a different game." Gone are the season-long projections and need to sort through hundreds of fantasy baseball columns on a weekly -- sometimes daily -- basis. Instead, simply look at the match-ups for that night's slate of games and have at it.

Yancy compares his site to a "sit-and-go online poker tournament," an apt comparison not only because of the actual money involved. ("Our business model is you put in 10 bucks, your friend puts in 10 bucks and winner takes 18. So there's a fee.") But also because of how easy it is for players to become quickly addicted to the format, playing a few different games each night.

"We found that people who are really hardcore fantasy baseball players also enjoy this," said Yancy. "If you want to test your skills, you can jump in one day and win cash the next. Plus for the stat-heavy guys, you can get deep into the stats. Is Pujols good against this pitcher?"

For my first go-through, I stayed away from delving deep into the stats and just drafted my favorite All Stars. A team that included Ian Kinsler, Nick Markakis, Jake Peavy and Evan Longoria -- all of whom, luckily, had big nights -- gave me a win in my debut, quadrupling my American currency in a single night!

My only problem with Paper Sports is the design, which still needs some work. It's pretty bare-bones, which isn't a complaint per se. But it'd be nice to see a few more stats listed and the draft to be a little easier to navigate. (For his part, Yancy did say they are "constantly refining the site.") But overall, it was a fun experience that I heartily recommend, if only so I have a larger pool of money to draw my soon-to-be millions from.

But if it's not your style, here are a few other options you can use in order to maintain your fantasy life among the distractions of real life:

• MLB.com's "Beat the Streak": This one's simple. Pick a player each day who you think will get a hit. Get a hit in 57 straight games, collect a million dollars. The closest anyone got so far was 49 games back in 2007, so it's not as easy as it sounds. But it doesn't take more than 10 seconds a day to make your choice.
• 0-12 Pool: Here's a simple, pool-based game I was introduced to this year. The only requirements are access to box scores and an Excel spreadsheet. Get a group together, have them pick any MLB team -- once the team is chosen it's off the board, meaning only 30 people can participate -- and keep track of each team's scoring output. If they end a game with zero runs, check off the box. If they end a game with 12 runs, check off the box. Continue to check off boxes from 0-12 until a team fills them all and is declared the winner.
• A Real Working Man's League: Draft your team, let it simmer for 162 games -- or however many games are left -- without any transactions of any sort and see who wins at the end of the year. Simple.
• Home Run Derby: This is for folks who use fantasy baseball mainly to follow the MLB season but don't want to worry about "crazy" stats like RBIs or WHIP. Instead, everybody drafts a team of big boppers, sits back for the season and watches them bop. All you need is one person to check the highlights every night to see who "touched them all." An even better option is a "Web Gem Derby," but there's no way to predict those other than by bribing the Baseball Tonight crew.

Player On My Team of the Week: Carl Crawford, single-handedly taking over the stolen base category, for the fourth week of the season. Crawford hit .385 with two RBIs, five runs and a whooping 11 stolen bases. Just for fun, he's currently on pace for 108 stolen bases.

How to Heckle One of My Players of the Week: "Hey Josh Beckett, maybe it's time to start spelling your name without the K."

The Story of Senility of the Week: This one comes courtesy of Germany, where an 82-year-old man called the cops to complain about the loud noise coming from his neighbors. Upon further investigation, the police found that the noise was coming from inside the house! Specifically a greeting card sitting on his own windowsill.

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