For many of us, the arrival of the Fantasy Football season is the closest we have to the feeling we had as children around Christmas time. For me, it’s the first time I’ve seen a Fantasy Football magazine on a grocery store shelf. Today, most of the information in magazines is available online at numerous fantasy football sites. However, there is still something tactile and wonderful about a fantasy football magazine. It goes everywhere with me, I highlight it, I read it cover to cover several times I consume them completely. The arrival of the first magazine of the season kicks off the growing anticipation that grows and builds until it peaks first at the fantasy football auction or draft and then again during the first week of the regular season. and then again every Sunday for the next 4 months. God help me, I love Fantasy Football and it all starts with the first sighting of a magazine in the grocery store.

So what makes a good fantasy football publication? Content, content, and more content is ultimately what you are looking for. Some nifty visuals and graphics help add sizzle to the steak, but the key really is great writing and lots of data. Some magazines marry all these attributes quite well. My favorite magazine in recent years has been Fanball. They do a good job balancing humor and content. They do well in the graphics department, other magazines do graphics better, but then they tend to fall a bit short on content. I think ESPN’s offer is an example of this, it looks classy but it clears up a bit on the material. Three other really good results are Rotowire, Football Guys, and Fantasy Football Index. I would recommend any of those.

One of the key things to check before spending your $ 8.95 is if the information they provide is relative to size and the specific rules of your league. There are many modifications to consider, is your league auction or draft, 10 teams, 12 teams or more, does it play PPR, does it play IDP, does it have a QB team, is it a dynasty league? You need to make sure the magazine is tailored to your specific league setup, otherwise the information might be irrelevant to you and your league.

What is really important and I have written about this before is if you are doing an auction (which you should do) making sure you know what the auction values ​​in the magazine are based on. Many posts do not detail this. You need to know what size league the amounts are based on and what is the starting $ amount for the auction. You can recalibrate the numbers to fit your league settings as long as you know what the magazine numbers are based on. But if they don’t tell you the league size or starting amounts, then you have no way of knowing if those numbers are accurate for your league.

I would recommend spending a lot of time going through each magazine before purchasing. If you are in a grocery store with the kids, you may have to grab and go. But if you’re alone, visit the island of magazines before loading up cold and frozen items. Don’t feel uncomfortable standing on the same island for 20 minutes, it is important that you get it right. So take your time and pick the right magazine for you and your league rules and then sit back, enjoy and soak up it all. Good luck to your fantasy football team in 2010.