Finding site key to successful league
by Chris Taylor, reporter

    What is the hardest part of any fantasy sport?

   Not the draft or evaluation of players, but finding a good active league. So far in my fantasy sports experience, I have used three different sites. My favorite is CBS Sportsline. I’ve tried Yahoo and Bullysports, but both left a lot to be desired. Yahoo makes you pay for live scoring updates; something that CBS does for free. And Bullysports was just inferior across the board.

   A good fantasy site is just the first step, though. The second is to find a good, active group of owners. In free leagues that is very difficult to do. People tend to sign up and either forget they are in a league or drop out when they are losing or don’t get the team they want.

   You will also have to watch for cheaters.

   I know it sounds crazy, but people will cheat to win a free league. They cheat by owning more than one team in the league and making lopsided trades.

   All these negatives can be avoided by joining an active league full of serious sports fanatics.

   One of the football leagues I am in, Frozen Tundra League, is comprised of owners who are tired of the nonsense that goes with fantasy sports.

   We all met on the bulletin board, and we were all complaining about the same thing—why are there so many crummy leagues?

   We decided that because we all wanted a competitive league, we should start our own; thus, Frozen Tundra League was born.

   Now, the same group of guys in that league has branched out into other areas: hockey, baseball, basketball and world domination.

   Oops, forget that last one (mental note, they know too much).

   But, because of a good core group, we have wonderful competitive leagues. The winner of every league has truly earned the top spot, and we have a great time competing against each other. Good-natured trash talk is almost mandatory in our leagues.

   Fantasy leagues are also a great way to meet some interesting personalities. Heck, one owner in our football league paid for everyone to join a hockey league just because he enjoys our company and competition.

   I think that says a lot about our group of guys.

   So the key is to find a great group, and if you don’t have one, start one.