Fun Alternative Fantasy Sports: Guest Hijacker Mike Cushing

       I've been learning all sorts of new and interesting things during all the hijackings and I hope you have been enjoying these guest posts.   The topic today is one that I know zilch about so I will just turn things over to my guest Mike Cushing.

Fun Alternative Fantasy Sports

With summer slowly coming to an end (or a boil), we’re approaching the prime time for workplace procrastination – football season. With college football and the NFL dominating many people’s weekends in the fall, nearly 30 million Americans will sacrifice just a little bit of office productivity each week to set the perfect lineup for their fantasy football team.

Fantasy football is one of the most popular sports leagues formed in offices around the country, but there are plenty of other fantasy sports games for people looking for some friendly competition. If the weekly routine of setting the right running back or the daily lineup changes of fantasy baseball is too much for you to handle, there are some alternative fantasy games that will keep you entertained without requiring an endless depth of sports knowledge.

Daily Fantasy Games

Daily fantasy games like Cover5 are a fun blend of other fantasy sports that don’t require nearly as much expertise or meticulous attention to detail as fantasy baseball or fantasy football. It’s a much more casual online sports game that is much less time consuming. To play, you simply pick five teams from any sport. Depending on their results, your teams will score points as you compete in friendly leagues with friends and coworkers or against the world.

Fantasy Dog Shows

Definitely more of a niche game, but if you’ve ever sat on the couch after a Thanksgiving dinner and thought that you could turn your snoring beagle into a championship show dog, here’s your chance to prove it. Showdog.com lets you manage a kennel of dogs and makes you responsible for breeding, handling, training and grooming of your digital dogs. Even if you know absolutely nothing about dog shows, this brings a fun, unique game experience.

Fantasy Horse Racing

This is another game that might seem intimidating, but is actually quite easy to get into. MyFantasyStable.com is an online horse racing game that lets you pick a stable of horses along with two trainers and two jockeys. The game gives you pretty robust rankings of horses and trainers, and there are plenty of horse races to keep you as busy as you choose. Grab a league with friends and coworkers, or join an open league, and see who can create the next winning stable.

Fantasy NASCAR

Although it is one of the most popular spectator sports in America with more than 75,000,000 fans, it is not as well-known as an online fantasy game, which is a shame. NASCAR pits 43 drivers against each other in 36 races before crowning a champion, providing for a long and fun fantasy season. There are plenty of Fantasy NASCAR sites, from fantasy sports giant Yahoo! to the official NASCAR game, so pick the right one for you and your friends.

Fantasy Wrestling

When I was growing up, fantasy wrestling was me and my brother dressing up in absurd clothes, big mustaches and tearing our shirts to pieces while yelling, “Come on, brother!” It has progressed into a fun online game since then, which is all for the better. Fantasy WWE is the official fantasy game of World Wrestling Entertainment, letting you manage a roster of professional wrestlers and take them to victory. The game follows the many official WWE events each week, most notably Monday Night RAW, the biggest weekly wrestling event each fall.

While fantasy sports and other online games are not for everyone, playing games in moderation is actually a great way to increase productivity, focus and morale in the office. Fantasy football might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you can find plenty of other fantasy games to keep any sports fan happy!

Mike Cushing is a freelance writer for MyFantasyStable.com. He’s been an avid fantasy sports player for years, even though his fantasy football teams regularly finish dead last.

        Any fantasy sports fans out there?  Which ones are your favorites?    

On Monday's post by J.L.Campbell there was a contest for a download of her new book DISTRACTION.   A random drawing was done by me last night.  The winner is Angela Brown.  Joy will be contacting you Angela.   Congratulations!