Fun Fantasy Football Games

Wednesday, Sep 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm ET

There's nothing like Sundays in the NFL. It doesn't matter what league program you use. ESPN, CBS, FleaFlicker, FOX Sports, MyFantasyLeague.com, etc. They're all very good at what they do, but did you know that there's more to fantasy football than just regular fantasy football games?

There are literally hundreds of other ways in which you can participate in fantasy football. I call them "side games", but really some of these side games require just as much thought. Here are some of my favorites (the first one is 100% biased):

There are only a few days left to join the FFN Draft Challenge. So many of you have already picked your team that I'm no longer feeling confident about winning it myself!

Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy has a few spots open for their Ultimate FF Strategy Challenge. It's sponsored by FansEdge.com, Fantasy Sports Trophies, and Pay the Fan. Top prizes include the coveted Championship Fantasy Football Trophy, NFL Replica Jersey, and $250!

There's a new site called FantasyWorld.com. They've got a pretty unique game that I've decided to participate in this year. I have a team in the FantasyWorld.com Fight Club. It costs a few bucks to enter, but you get to compete against celebrities (not sure who they are yet) and best of all...you get to compete against me! I don't make anything here, so my only interest is in seeing which of you can "out nerd" the Nerd.

I have tried more than a dozen times to sign up for BestBuyFantasy.com with no luck. It's a fantasy football game sponsored by the mega-retailer Best Buy. Play against celebrities and try to beat their weekly fantasy score. Week 1 is against country music star Reba McEntire who seems to love Tennessee (go figure!). This is such a great concept and I'd love to participate if they'd let me in. I've tried so many different username combinations with alpha and numeric characters that it's virtually impossible that they've all been taken. Seriously, ffnerd0507 and ffnerd9042 are taken? How about ffnerd71293876? If you can get in, let me know.

FOX Sports - Survivor: Pick a different pro team to win each week.

NFL.com's Fantasy Games section offers both a Playbook Challenge and a Touchdown Challenge (among others). The Grand Prize is ridiculously cool. How about a free VIP trip to the Super Bowl, on-field access, and meet & greets with the players? Perhaps the ultimate gift for the ultimate fan? And free to play!

There are more side games out there. Shoot me an email at [email protected] and tell me about your favorites.

Join the Discussion

Squish CommentedSep 3, 2009 11:00 am

I got into the BestBuyFantasy.com contest with the screename ONUSquish.

I think the problem you may be having is actually with the PW. If your PW doesn't follow their listed rules I think its a no go.

Anyway, hope you get in. Week 1 should be an easy win. They give you the ability to put x2 on one of your players. Reba put it on Chris Johnson. The rest of us will be putting it on AP lol.

Nerd CommentedSep 3, 2009 11:00 am

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried multiple passwords and I still get the following error:

Attention required for Username.

This username is already taken. Please choose another.

I also get the symbol next to the username field. I like to consider myself an above-average computer user, so I'm still baffled.

I'm happy that you're able to get in though. Perhaps you could put in a good word for me with the Best Buy folks!

Squish CommentedSep 4, 2009 11:00 am

Not sure it will help and you've probably thought of it but try using a different browser. I remember having trouble with it using FireFox and I switched to IE and it worked fine. I have the same problems on a lot of sites (Fantasy Football Starters for example)

If that doesn't work try to contact support I guess.

BTW, I've got a scoop for another FF contest I was lucky enough to stumble upon:

http://www.fantasyquotes.com/

I'm in one of the sites a free yahoo 10 team leagues with a $600 pot. It sounds too good to be true. I hope it's not because I drafted a hell of a team!

Mad Wax CommentedSep 4, 2009 11:00 am

I draft a team, the next time I go look at it I am over the salary cap, its happened a few times,when are you planning to stop change player values so we can finalize our teams??

Nerd CommentedSep 4, 2009 11:00 am

Thanks for the suggestion Squish. I tried it from Internet Explorer and it worked. The browser should have absolutely nothing to do with it because the validation is occurring on the server-side, but I've spent enough time wondering about it. I'm finally registered. Thanks again and good luck in the Yahoo league!

Mad Wax - Great question! The salary cap is dynamic and based upon the current rankings. Each player's value can and will fluctuate daily. For example, Matt Cassel may have been worth $45 prior to getting injured, but now he's worth $25. The values will fluctuate up until the roster setting is closed. Again - great question and I'm sure others have been wondering as well.