This one is different. And I plan to play it.
The site is called RotoHog.com, and they have a few improvements to fantasy sports that got my juices flowing. If it's as good as I think it will be, I might abandon ESPN and Yahoo once and for all. No joke.
First, on RotoHog you can only create one team, but you can participate in an unlimited number of leagues. So I can use the same team to play against my co-workers, my college buddies, and in my neighbor's league as well. It's a level playing field because each team starts with the same budget and you buy players for your roster just like buying stocks on the stock market. I think the market has over-priced Jeter a bit, but I picked up Verlander for what I think is a steal. If you find a good deal on a player in the open market, you can sell another player off your roster at market price to free up some budget to grab a different player. Pretty sweet.RotoHog uses a straight-forward points-based system like most other leagues; not rotisserie or head-to-head. Every team starts with the same budget and the same opportunity to buy and sell players at prices based on supply and demand, so you can join any league any time and it's still a fair competition. The kicker: every RotoHog team is also competing with the universe of other RotoHog teams for a $100,000 grand prize and the title of Greatest Fantasy Baseball Player in the World. Apparently you can win other prizes as well, but the upcoming baseball season is their beta season so I'll have to wait and see about those.
This kind of league solves some problems I've had with online fantasy sports, in general.
1) I hate managing 4 different teams - it's a pain in the neck to keep track of all of them;
2) I hate those so-called Best Fantasy Player awards because they are bogus - just because you play in a weak league, got the #1 draft pick, made a phony trade with your brother-in-law, and predictably racked up insane points does not make you the Best, regardless of what ESPN thinks;
3) I hate the tunnel-vision that results from only watching the stats of my players and whatever scrubs are floating on the waiver wire. With this system I can evaluate the performance and corresponding price of every player and acquire them if the price is right. Now I will have an interest in the whole league, not just the players on my team.
So I like it and I think that RotoHog is worth a shot. I issue this challenge to every other roto geek and baseball beat writer out there: let's form a public league on RotoHog and see who really knows baseball.
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