Fantasy football game and method of playing same

Abstract

A fantasy football game, a method, an apparatus and an article of manufacture for playing fantasy football. The fantasy football game can be played by participants who select coaching staffs from actual football teams such that statistical results or related performance indicia achieved during on-field play by one or more respective actual football teams are used to represent each participant in a virtual football game against at least one other participant. Wins and losses for the fantasy football games occur by calculating a total of each individual fantasy player's points and comparing them either in head-to-head or total point total formats. Metrics of the actual weekly on-field performance by a corresponding team can be used to gauge participant success, where such metric is based generally on a quantified value of coaching contributions to that team's on-field success. A more particular form of the metric involves using an adjustment to yards per pass attempt to take into consideration coaching play designs.

1 . A fantasy football game adapted to be played by a plurality of participants, said game comprising quantifying coaching based on results derived from at least one actual football game. 
     
     
         2 . The fantasy football game of  claim 1 , wherein a participant from among said plurality of participants who achieves a highest measure of said quantifying coaching is declared a winner of said game. 
     
     
         3 . The fantasy football game of  claim 2 , wherein each of said plurality of participants participates in said fantasy football game with a fantasy football team that comprises at least one of a fantasy offensive coaching staff that corresponds to an offensive coaching staff of an actual professional football team and a fantasy defensive coaching staff that corresponds to a defensive coaching staff of an actual professional football team. 
     
     
         4 . The fantasy football game of  claim 3 , wherein a measure of said quantifying coaching comprises a difference in a fantasy offensive coaching staff metric representative of said participant's fantasy offensive coaching staff and a fantasy defensive coaching staff metric representative of said participant's fantasy defensive coaching staff. 
     
     
         5 . The fantasy football game of  claim 4 , wherein said difference comprises a difference between an adjusted yards per pass attempt that is achieved by an offensive unit performance that corresponds to said first participant's fantasy offensive coaching staff in said at least one actual football game and an adjusted yards per pass attempt that is achieved by a defensive unit performance that corresponds to said first participant's fantasy defensive coaching staff in said at least one actual game against an offensive unit in said at least one actual football game that is represented by an opposing participant's fantasy offensive coaching staff. 
     
     
         6 . The fantasy football game of  claim 5 , wherein each of said adjusted yards per pass attempt are determined according to the formula: 
       
         
           
             
               QCYPA 
               = 
               
                 
                   PY 
                   + 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       10 
                       × 
                       PT 
                     
                     ) 
                   
                   - 
                   SY 
                 
                 PA 
               
             
           
         
       
       where QCYPA represents adjusted yards per pass attempt, PY is a particular offensive unit's passing yards accumulated during said actual football game, PT is a number of touchdown passes accumulated by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game, SY is a number of yards lost by said particular offensive unit when its quarterback is sacked attempting to pass during said actual football game, and PA is a number of pass attempts by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game. 
     
     
         7 . The fantasy football game of  claim 6 , wherein said difference that makes up said measure of said quantifying coaching for each of said fantasy offensive coaching staffs is further adjusted to account for at least one of (a) turnovers, (b) failed field goal attempts within a predetermined distance, (c) touchdowns allowed on any special teams play such as a punt or kickoff and (d) touchdowns scored by an opposing participant's defense. 
     
     
         8 . The fantasy football game of  claim 1 , wherein a score for a particular participant from among said plurality of participants is determined by subtracting an opposing participant's achieved fantasy offensive coaching staff value from a value attained by said particular participant's fantasy offensive coaching staff. 
     
     
         9 . The fantasy football game of  claim 3 , wherein a combination of said fantasy offensive and defensive coaching staffs may correspond to a respective coaching staff of a single actual professional football franchise or a composite coaching staff made up of respective offensive and defensive coaching staffs of two or more actual professional football franchises. 
     
     
         10 . A method of participating in a fantasy football game, said method comprising:
 selecting a fantasy team coaching staff that corresponds to at least a portion of an actual football team coaching staff; and   determining a participant's fantasy team score by correlating performance indicia of said at least a portion of an actual football team coaching staff involved in its respective at least one actual football game with a score value of a respective fantasy team coaching staff.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said correlating performance indicia comprises calculating a difference in performance indicia between a first participant's fantasy team offensive coaching staff and a second participant's fantasy team offensive coaching staff. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of said first and second participants' fantasy team offensive coaching staff performance indicia comprises an adjusted yards per pass attempt that is achieved by a respective offensive unit in said at least one actual football game, wherein said adjusted yards per pass attempt is determined according to the formula: 
       
         
           
             
               QCYPA 
               = 
               
                 
                   PY 
                   + 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       10 
                       × 
                       PT 
                     
                     ) 
                   
                   - 
                   SY 
                 
                 PA 
               
             
           
         
       
       where QCYPA is a respective one of said first and second adjusted yards per pass attempt, PY is a particular offensive unit's passing yards accumulated during said actual football game, PT is a number of touchdown passes accumulated by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game, SY is a number of yards lost by said particular offensive unit when its quarterback is sacked attempting to pass during said actual football game, and PA is a number of pass attempts by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said adjusted yards per pass attempt is offset by subtracting a value for at least one of turnovers, failed field goal attempts within a predetermined distance, touchdowns allowed on any special teams play such as a punt or kickoff and touchdowns scored by an opposing participant's defense. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said fantasy team coaching staff comprises at least one of a fantasy team offensive staff that corresponds to an offensive coaching staff of an actual professional football team and a fantasy defensive coaching staff that corresponds to a defensive coaching staff of an actual professional football team. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein said correlating performance indicia comprises correlating performance indicia of both said offensive and defensive coaching staffs, where said offensive coaching staff performance indicia comprises adjusted yards per pass attempt achieved by an actual team that is representative of said offensive coaching staff in said at least one actual football game, and where said defensive coaching staff performance indicia comprises adjusted yards per pass attempt achieved by a team opposing an actual team that is representative of said defensive coaching staff in said at least one actual football game. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 comparing a fantasy team score for each of said plurality of participants whose respective fantasy team coaching staffs are matched up against each other in said actual football game; and   awarding a victory to said participant with a higher said fantasy team score.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising configuring a computer-based system to automate at least one of said selecting a fantasy team coaching staff and determining a participant's fantasy team score, said computer-based network system comprising a computer configured to access data corresponding to at least one of said fantasy team coaching staff performance indicia and said score values on a storage medium and perform said determining such that said computer can communicate to a remote client device accessible by said participant over a communication link. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said participating in a fantasy football game comprises comparing said determined fantasy team scores among participants in a fantasy football league. 
     
     
         19 . An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for providing a virtual football game to a plurality of participants in a fantasy football league where each participant represented in said virtual football game by a fantasy coaching staff that is in turn representative of an actual coaching staff for an actual underlying football game such that statistics achieved by a football team playing for said actual coaching staff are imputed to said each participant through said fantasy coaching staff, said computer readable program code in said article of manufacture comprising:
 computer readable program code portion for causing a computer to accept said achieved statistics for said each participant; and   computer readable program code portion for causing said computer to determine a fantasy team score for said each participant.   
     
     
         20 . The article of manufacture of  claim 19 , wherein said computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code portion for notifying a participant from among said participants who achieves a highest fantasy team score. 
     
     
         21 . The article of manufacture of  claim 20 , wherein said computer readable program code in said article of manufacture further comprises computer readable program code portion for calculating a quantifiable measure of said fantasy coaching staff's contribution to said statistics. 
     
     
         22 . The article of manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said quantifiable measure of said fantasy coaching staff's contribution to said statistics comprises an adjusted yards per pass attempt achieved by an offensive unit in said actual underlying football game. 
     
     
         23 . The article of manufacture of  claim 22 , wherein said adjusted yards per pass attempt is determined according to the formula: 
       
         
           
             
               QCYPA 
               = 
               
                 
                   PY 
                   + 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       10 
                       × 
                       PT 
                     
                     ) 
                   
                   - 
                   SY 
                 
                 PA 
               
             
           
         
       
       where QCYPA represents adjusted yards per pass attempt, PY is a particular offensive unit's passing yards accumulated during said actual football game, PT is a number of touchdown passes accumulated by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game, SY is a number of yards lost by said particular offensive unit when its quarterback is sacked attempting to pass during said actual football game, and PA is a number of pass attempts by said particular offensive unit during said actual football game. 
     
     
         24 . The article of manufacture of  claim 19 , wherein said computer usable medium comprises at least one of a hard disk drive, compact disk, digital video disk, floppy disk and flash. 
     
     
         25 . The article of manufacture of  claim 19 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to access a database that includes statistics from at least one of said actual underlying football game.