What is fantasy football?  Put simply, it's a statistics competition with football players generating the statistics.  In a fantasy football league, each person "drafts" a team of football players whose individual stats accumulate for the fantasy team's total.

For example, you might draft the Steelers' quarterback, the 49'ers wide receiver, and the Charger's running back.  Then, each week, your fantasy team would play another fantasy team in the league.  The team with the most points generated by their player's rushing yards, pass completions, and touchdowns would win the game.

So where's the learning opportunity?  Winning fantasy football takes research and analysis.  Being able to throw a perfect spiral or understanding penalties counts for nothing and it's all about counting players numbers.

The successful fantasy football team manager will have to understand the leagues scoring rules--which gets you more points, a running back or a wide receiver?  Attention to details is another necessary skill or you'll end up drafting two quarterbacks with the same bye week--not a good thing. Project management skills will keep you from leaving players on the bench you had meant to play and starting players who are out for six weeks with a broken leg.

The best part of fantasy football is that the internet makes it easy.  It's a simple matter to join a free league through Yahoo or even form your own league.  Of course, you may want an adult football fanatic in the household to supervise the web activity since many fantasy football sights may have objectionable links, especially gambling.  But otherwise, positive learning opportunities abound.

Fantasy Football Unit Study