Sim League Sports

Recently I was introduced to Sim League Football on WhatIfSports.com. Although friends had been pushing me to join baseball sim league in the past I never made the commitment. Finally, I threw down ten bucks and signed a team up for sim league football.

Nothing has brought me this much enjoyment since my first year of fantasy football. I am not sure if you can remember your first fantasy football experience but mine came as a 6th grader back in 1992. I could not wait for Sundays to come around. The experience was so new, so fresh and nothing could beat it. At last something has beat that fantasy football experience.

Sim league football is a different type of thrill with more strategy involved. In fantasy football the most important part of the season is the draft. Obviously one can improve their team after the draft using early pick ups and making trades. However, after the draft very little strategy is needed. Sim league football is just the opposite. While the draft is still important, there is a lot of strategy that goes into each game.

Instead of drafting from a pool of professionals in the game today you can draft any player from any era. For example, if you loved watching the Packers growing up, as with my father, then Jim Taylor may be your main man in the backfield. For those Redskins fans out there that know Joe Theismans career was cut way too short now you have the chance to let him play again. There are no limitations to the players you can have on your team other then the $60 million dollar salary cap.

After teams are selected you can decide what type of defensive and offensive schemes you will run. Whether you want to be a pass happy or pound the ball down their throats. On defense you can bring the house or sit back in coverage. You can shut down the run or play the pass. You decide when to use the dime package or the nickel back or even if you want to stack eight in the box to shut down the likes of Barry Sanders, Jim Brown and Eric Dickerson.

After you have set up your schemes the computer simulates games based on how you run your offense and defense. Using players stats from the past they figure out how much you can run the ball with certain players or pass with others. Some guys like to draft Troy Aikman to see what his career may have been had he passed 35-45 times a game. Others try to pound the run using a great offensive line and a solid 2000 yard rusher. Whatever you style of football is sim league will get you there, but once the season starts then you can see if you style wins out.

I can only hope that more people will share in the thrill of sim league sports.