TOPIC #5: ONLINE FANTASY SPORTS!

Every few months -- one sport ends and another sport's season begins... That's going on right now as the Basketball Season winds down and heads into the playoffs and the Baseball season starts up again.

So, another way to make some loot online -- Play AND WIN Fantasy Sports!

I know, I know -- easier said than done and, in most cases, you'll be going up against people who do this for a living -- but that doesn't mean you can't learn on the fly and try to cash in as well.

Two years ago, Fantasy Football had been something I had zero interest in.  Not anymore.  I knew nothing of what players' values, stats, abilities -- nothing.  I learned on the fly and joined two fantasy leagues.  I paid $25 per team through WWW.ESPN.COM and WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM and ended up winning one of the leagues.  

The Process:

1.  Stalk all the Fantasy Sports Bloggers and Websites -- they do this for a living -- all you have to do is mimic their pickups/drops and ideas.  

Some great sites:

www.fantasycafe.com

www.fantasysharks.com

2.  Make a List of your top picks.  Go through position's 25 best (depending on what sport you choose) and OVERALL top 100 or so.  Again, depending on the sport -- you may need more players to be familiar with.  

3.  Choose your league -- you can either do a public league through sites such as: www.espn.com or www.yahoo.com or www.cbssports.com or you can do a Private league -- so get some friends!

4.  Set your draft date!  The day of that draft -- familiarize yourself with your list.  When the draft actually takes place you'll need to know your players fairly well because decisions will need to be made quickly because of time limits most drafts install.

5.  Pick Your Team!  You'll need to come up with a strategy -- best players available or most important positions.  For example -- you'll need to decide if you take a ShortStop in Fantasy Baseball who's one of the best at his position -- but not a better hitter than, say an Outfielder.  Or an Outfielder.  The outfielder may have better stats -- but he plays a position plush with options and other players of his caliber -- this is the idea behind choosing your strategy.

6.  Once you've got your team -- GET READY FOR THE SEASON!  Guaranteed you'll want to watch more games and talk about the sport more as the season progresses and your team gets better!  

7.  Be Aware that you can always IMPROVE YOUR TEAM -- Trades and Pickups are the only ways during the season to do this.  So, checking the guru's pages, watching games, and checking out stat sheets is a great way to keep up to date with which player is killing it and which one got hurt or is slumping.  

8.  TRASH TALK!  One of the best parts of fantasy sports is that -- since you're not actually out there playing -- you can still feel proud of your team and their achievements -- so TALK TRASH as much as you'd like!

9.  WIN AT FANTASY SPORTS!  

If you're able to check off this last one -- CONGRATS!  And just remember that another sport is gearing up just as quickly as your current season winds down -- so get ready and get to it all over again!