Gators,Feel free to skip reading this if you are not interested in fantasy football and could better spend your time getting in a workout.
After you read this, do one of the following if you'd like to participate...If your name is on the list below... Let me know if you are in or out... OR...If your name is NOT on the list below, but you'd like to participate... Just send a brief reply that indicates you are in.Since the NFL season starts on September 10, if we move forward, we need to have our league draft sometime in the next 3-4 weeks, so please reply by no later than this coming Monday, 8/17 if you would like to participate... After that, if we have enough teams to form a league, we can start to work out the details.
In case you didn't see it, I put a post to our Facebook group yesterday checking to see if anyone was interested in forming a Gators fantasy football league.  The response was pretty positive, so I'm taking the next step and looking for commitments to see if we really have enough interest to form a league of 10 or 12 teams.  Following is a list of those that have indicated interest so far as well as very brief explanation of what fantasy football is and what our league might consist of in case you have not previously played.
Potential team owners (based on Facebook replies; note that two people can also join forces and co-manage a team):Maribeth BakerVince BellinoJeannine KellyDon MackDean MilliganMelissa MoffaTim PflugerMaureen PinkertonPatty Trainer
Here's what it's all about...What is Fantasy Football?  Fantasy football involves a group of "team owners", typically 10 or 12 in total, that each manage a team of real NFL players during the first 16 weeks of the NFL season (this year that's Thursday, September 10 to Monday, December 28).  The teams compete head-to-head on a weekly basis with a rotating schedule.  WInners are determined by points that are awarded to the team's players based on their performance each week.  Offensive players get points for things such as touchdowns, running yards, receiving yards, catching passes, passing yards, kicking field goals, etc.  Each owner also selects a team defense (e.g. the Green Bay Packers) and gets additional points for positive things the defense does such as intercepting a pass or sacking the QB.  The fantasy football team with the highest point total wins the week.  At the end of the season (NFL weeks 15 and 16), the top four teams compete in the playoffs with the champion being declared after week 16.I've never participated in fantasy football... How much do I need to know about NFL football to participate?  As a baseline, you should at least be a casual fan of the NFL (i.e. you watch a game on a regular basis) and know the basic rules/terms of football and the names of the top players.  You do not by any means have to be an expert (although you will amazingly become familiar with the names of a staggering number of NFL players by the end of the season).  Here's a brief set of random football related terms and player names; if you know what each term means and you've at least heard of the players/teams, you are probably good to go... Touchdown, field goal, interception, rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, fumble, sack, interception, first down, tackle, reception, field goal, two point conversion, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Marshawn Lynch, and Jimmy Graham.How do we get started?  Each fantasy football league begins with a draft (usually a gathering somewhere that involves adult beverages and takes 2-3 hours; can also be done online if you are not able to be there live) where you select the players for your team.  Each NFL player (and team defense) can be drafted by one team.  For our league we will have 14 players on each team, so there would be a total of 14 rounds of drafting.What is the cost and time commitment? We will use an online service such as ESPN, NFL.com, or Yahoo.com to run our league.  These services are free, so we could have a league with no cost.  However, it is typically fun to have each team pay a small fee... maybe something like $25 to cover the season... and then have awards for the top teams at the end of the season.  Regarding time commitment, besides the draft, you have to set your lineup each week and you can also add and drop players each week and even try to trade players with other teams (if you want to)... The weekly commitment could be as short as 15 minutes or as long as a couple of hours depending on how much time you put into researching new players and adding them to your team or working out trade deals with other teams.  Besides that, the only other commitment is watching the NFL games as they take place and routing for your team.  There will be online live scoring so that you can check in and see how your team is faring against that week's opponent.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Don

Gators,Again... Ignore if you have no interest in fantasy football.
We have 7 confirmed for our league so far... We'd like to have a minimum of 10 teams and can go all the way to 12 if there is enough interest, so if you are interested in participating, please reply back as soon as you can so that we can work out the details of our draft (date, time,location).  Final spots are first come, first serve.  Details are in the e-mail below.
Commitments so far...Vince BellinoHeather IrwinDon MackDean MilliganTim PflugerSteph StranickPatty Trainer
Don M
From: nflsteeler8@msn.com
Subject: Gators: Fantasy Football League
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2015 08:06:09 -0400

Gators,Feel free to skip reading this if you are not interested in fantasy football and could better spend your time getting in a workout.
After you read this, do one of the following if you'd like to participate...If your name is on the list below... Let me know if you are in or out... OR...If your name is NOT on the list below, but you'd like to participate... Just send a brief reply that indicates you are in.Since the NFL season starts on September 10, if we move forward, we need to have our league draft sometime in the next 3-4 weeks, so please reply by no later than this coming Monday, 8/17 if you would like to participate... After that, if we have enough teams to form a league, we can start to work out the details.
In case you didn't see it, I put a post to our Facebook group yesterday checking to see if anyone was interested in forming a Gators fantasy football league.  The response was pretty positive, so I'm taking the next step and looking for commitments to see if we really have enough interest to form a league of 10 or 12 teams.  Following is a list of those that have indicated interest so far as well as very brief explanation of what fantasy football is and what our league might consist of in case you have not previously played.
Potential team owners (based on Facebook replies; note that two people can also join forces and co-manage a team):Maribeth BakerVince BellinoJeannine KellyDon MackDean MilliganMelissa MoffaTim PflugerMaureen PinkertonPatty Trainer
Here's what it's all about...What is Fantasy Football?  Fantasy football involves a group of "team owners", typically 10 or 12 in total, that each manage a team of real NFL players during the first 16 weeks of the NFL season (this year that's Thursday, September 10 to Monday, December 28).  The teams compete head-to-head on a weekly basis with a rotating schedule.  WInners are determined by points that are awarded to the team's players based on their performance each week.  Offensive players get points for things such as touchdowns, running yards, receiving yards, catching passes, passing yards, kicking field goals, etc.  Each owner also selects a team defense (e.g. the Green Bay Packers) and gets additional points for positive things the defense does such as intercepting a pass or sacking the QB.  The fantasy football team with the highest point total wins the week.  At the end of the season (NFL weeks 15 and 16), the top four teams compete in the playoffs with the champion being declared after week 16.I've never participated in fantasy football... How much do I need to know about NFL football to participate?  As a baseline, you should at least be a casual fan of the NFL (i.e. you watch a game on a regular basis) and know the basic rules/terms of football and the names of the top players.  You do not by any means have to be an expert (although you will amazingly become familiar with the names of a staggering number of NFL players by the end of the season).  Here's a brief set of random football related terms and player names; if you know what each term means and you've at least heard of the players/teams, you are probably good to go... Touchdown, field goal, interception, rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, fumble, sack, interception, first down, tackle, reception, field goal, two point conversion, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Marshawn Lynch, and Jimmy Graham.How do we get started?  Each fantasy football league begins with a draft (usually a gathering somewhere that involves adult beverages and takes 2-3 hours; can also be done online if you are not able to be there live) where you select the players for your team.  Each NFL player (and team defense) can be drafted by one team.  For our league we will have 14 players on each team, so there would be a total of 14 rounds of drafting.What is the cost and time commitment? We will use an online service such as ESPN, NFL.com, or Yahoo.com to run our league.  These services are free, so we could have a league with no cost.  However, it is typically fun to have each team pay a small fee... maybe something like $25 to cover the season... and then have awards for the top teams at the end of the season.  Regarding time commitment, besides the draft, you have to set your lineup each week and you can also add and drop players each week and even try to trade players with other teams (if you want to)... The weekly commitment could be as short as 15 minutes or as long as a couple of hours depending on how much time you put into researching new players and adding them to your team or working out trade deals with other teams.  Besides that, the only other commitment is watching the NFL games as they take place and routing for your team.  There will be online live scoring so that you can check in and see how your team is faring against that week's opponent.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Don