Statheads Fantasy Sports FAQ
Last updated: 8/5/2007
This FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") is be an essential resource for answering questions you may have about Statheads Fantasy Sports games. If this document does not answer your question, you may either post a message on the game general message boards, or send us an e-mail at info@statheads.com. Please allow up to 48 hours for e-mail responses.
Topics:
Registration | Pre-season | The Site | Additional Help
Registration
What is my user account?
Your user account is your personal information necessary to register for and play the game. You create it when you first register on the Statheads web site; this account should be set up once for all current and future teams you run (in all sports). We use your e-mail address to send you automated game messages and general information. We use your name and address for postal mail and shipping purposes.
How do I create a team?
During the game registration process you will be prompted to create a team. You need to provide a team name and a 3-letter abbreviation. You must go through the registration process to create a team.
How do I join a league?
You are prompted to join a league during the game registration process. You may choose to be automatically assigned to a free league, or you may enter the League Code to join a private league. After you enter a valid code for a league you will be shown a list if teams currently in the league, and you must confirm your selection. If you do not confirm your league selection, you will not be added to the league. You must go through the registration process to join a league.
What if I want to join a private league?
First, get the League Code from the league's admin (the person who created the league). When prompted to select a league to join, type in that code into the Private League text field and click the submit button. You will be shown a list if teams currently in the league, and you must confirm your selection. If you do not confirm your league selection, you will not be added to the league. If the league is full you will receive a message telling you so. If you still wish to join the league, contact the league admin, who may be able to increase the number of teams in the league.
What if I want to create my own league?
During the game registration process you will be asked if you want to create a league when you register your new team. If so, you will be shown a form to set up the league to meet your needs: the league name, the number of teams and division format, the season format, etc. Enter a League Code for other players to use to join your league. Once you create your league you will see a confirmation and the league code that has been saved (which may be slightly different from what you entered, to make sure there are no duplicates).
How can I make sure my league has a live draft?
Declare it! Actually, the draft format and date is entirely up to the league players to determine. You can choose to hold a live draft in any number of formats and means, from a bidding-style draft to a serpentine round format. You can hold your draft in an on-line chat room, via e-mail (a slower draft format), in-person at your favorite sports bar -- it's only limited by the availability and enthusiasm of your league's members.
Why should I pay?
For fame and glory, of course. Premium teams have access to a wide range of game services and tools that free teams do not -- expanded statistical analysis, sabermetric stats, player performance trends and more.
How do I pay?
If you have not registered your team yet, you may pay during the registration process, Select "Premium Team" or "Statheads Stars" and complete your payment on-line via PayPal. We use PayPal for our payment processing to assure that neither collect nor store any individual credit card information. If you have already joined up and want to upgrade your team, use the "Upgrade This Team" link on your team's home page.
Can I pay by check?
Yes, you can. We do require that your fee be processed in order for you to play a full season; you may complete registration prior to sending payment (following the instructions in the registration process). Please contact info@statheads.com for mailing instructions. Remember to include your e-mail address and Staheads username with any correspondence.
Can I pay later?
You can pay the premium fee any time up until the season starts. After league play has begun, we will allow free teams to upgraded at any time.
I'm done -- now what?
Sit back and relax. Once the season starts your login will give you access to your league and team pages. Feel free to explore the service to see how information is organized, and use the message board to ask game questions, talk to other players, or just socialize.
Pre-season
Why can't I see my league or team?
If you're asking this question before the more than four weeks before the pro season, that's because the site hasn't officially started the new fantasy season. Players from last season still have access to their former rosters and stats so they can prepare for their upcoming drafts. Each game sets a "start date" when the previous data is archived and the new season begins. At that point when you login you will see new links under the "Welcome, Smedley" text on the left-hand column: links to your league and team pages for every team you have registered into a league.
When do we draft?
That's up to your league. Drafts must be concluded before league play begins to allow teams time to modify their initial rosters.
Communicate with your league-mates to see when and how you all agree to draft for the new season. Use either e-mail or the league message boards -- do not use the general game message boards for league-specific business.
What is a live draft?
A live draft is a draft where each team selects their players for each round, rather than letting a computer do it for them. Live drafts can take place many ways:
- In person: Gather your league members together in someone's home, your favorite sports bar or a neighborhood recreation center. You need some place where you can spend a few hours hooting, hollering and having a great time.
- Over the Internet: Gather your league members in any number of on-line venues where you can all chat or (if you're so wired) video conference. Yahoo chat rooms work well. Other web sites also offer free use chat rooms for fantasy sports players. Note that most of these sites require that your browser not be behind a firewall and support Java applets. Check out your browser capabilities well before the draft to see if you have what you need -- it's agony waiting for a new browser to download as your league draft is minutes away.
- By mail: Drafting by mail is a fun way to draft for leagues with players that can't match up their schedules for a real-time event. The league admin starts the draft with a mail message sent to the entire league, and for each pick, players respond to "all" and append their pick to the growing list. This draft method is nice because there is a record of the draft progress with each message sent and you can search the text for players if you are unsure of their availability. Set reasonable expectations so that the draft can be conducted within set times over the course of a few days.
Regardless of which method you choose, the important point is that they allow you to make your own player choices. You get both the full glory and the full blame for your team's performance.
We finished our live draft -- now what do we do?
The league admin, or another league volunteer, will enter the draft results for each team using a page on the Statheads web site. As each team's results are entered they are immediately available on the team's homepage. This process is not so daunting as it may sound -- a 12-team league can be entered in well under an hour, and the site does not let you make certain mistakes, such as entering duplicate players.
What is an automated draft?
An automated draft is one where Statheads generates the results of the draft from data the players provide. Each team in the league ranks the pro players who qualify at each position and decides which positions they wish to fill for each round of the draft. The league admin sets a draft request date and time and we run the draft as near to that time as possible. Once the draft is complete, all results are available on the team home pages.
How do I rank players?
On your team home page are links to the web pages you need to use to participate in an automated draft. Once you have set your position rankings and your draft round selections you can use the links to return to them and make changes all the way up to the start of your draft.
Can I see how other leagues have drafted?
Indirectly. Our site Scouting Tools (the set of links on the left-hand column) include a link to the season's Draft Rankings. These rankings show you the up-to-the-minute average draft value of the pro players taken in other league drafts. You can choose to view only specific groups of players or all players combined. Their positions are provided so you can see how the draft is weighted by position. (Note that the position listed is their primary only for sports where players qualify for multiple positions.)
The Site
What time is it?
Good question! One of the many issues that the Internet has introduced in our lives is that we all do not share the same time zone. Our game runs on Pacific Standard Time and Pacific Daylight Time (depending on the time of year), or GMT-8 for people who set their watches to the time in Greenwich, England. All deadlines, such as the weekly roster deadline, are for that time zone. Learn it, live it, love it.
When are daily game results posted?
We receive and process our game stats overnight, although the delivery of the stats may be dependent on factors beyond our control, such as late game finishes, acts of God or war, etc. We try to process the data and calculate game results in a timely manner. On occasion we are required to suspend a previous day's results and roll them back to correct an error. When that happens, the site's Announcement box (located at the top right of each page) will note the activity. If you see such a notice, do not contact us for more information! We appreciate the concern, but the less time we have to take answering "what's up?" e-mails, the faster we can address problems and get the game back up and running.
How can I see my upcoming matches?
From the league home page, select a match preview for the upcoming week in the Schedule section. The current team rosters will be displayed. For baseball, if the pitcher has an available start that will be shown; note that he may start before the game you are previewing, in which case he would have to use a different MLB start for your scheduled match. Also, if you are looking at a game beyond the roster deadline, the players and assigned pitcher may change with the new roster (you do not get to see pending roster changes until after they have become official).
You may also use the league page schedule's "expanded view" to see a calendar format for all completed and future matches.
How can I get more player news?
For free sources of information, visit popular sports news and information sites such as ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today and The Sporting News. Sports Weekly and the Sporting News are the leading print news publications.
Who is Statheads Fantasy Sports?
Statheads Fantasy Sports is the umbrella brand for fantasy sports games created by Statheads Sports. Statheads is a highly secretive shadow organization whose goals are three-fold: to dominate the fantasy sports world, to bring fun, daily head-to-head sports to the people, and to do so without getting tagged as "greedy" or "corporate bastards". At least, that's what we want you to think.
Additional Help
I have more questions about the games themselves -- where I can get more answers?
Visit a game page to see what the current game offering and status is. If you have questions about the specific gameplay there is an FAQ for each sport. If these do not answer your questions, feel free to contact us at info@statheads.com and we'll answer your mail within 48 hours.
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