Fantasy Football Playoffs

Fantasy football playoffs are like championship games in the last two or three weeks of the regular football season. The playoffs have become so popular that a league's season is usually capped with a play off between the top four teams, then the top two teams for the championship.

The rules during the playoffs are basically the same as in the regular matches between the 8 and up to 16 members of the league. Yes, the prizes are much higher than those in the elimination round games but the chance of winning a big amount of money isn't the main reason for the playoff's popularity.

Like in most sports, the championship series are almost always attended more than the elimination rounds because people like seeing the best performances. The championship games are won not just by brawn but brains. It is the same with the fantasy football playoffs. In the playoff games, it is the battle of the contestants' mental skills and abilities displayed in the following activities:
1. Skill and ability to analyze and develop trends on the players'  performances. Although there is computer software now to compute the statistical data, it still takes an analytical mind to interpret what the data means and projects. Analysis also requires deep thinking and the ability to "see" something in the small details.
2. The skill to draft the right player. Choosing the right person for the job is a valued skill in the corporate world. To have this skill, the contestant must be able to correlate the statistical data with the news on the players.
3. The skill in finding the right athletes to produce the needed points based on the rules of the playoff.  Each league has different rules, the team owner must be flexible. 
4. The ability to rely on the statistical trends and projections to pick the players. This also require not only a strong mental ability but also instinct.

A sound mind needs a sound body. The team owners must be enjoying what they are doing to withstand the physical and mental stress that goes with competitive fantasy football. 

You can't help but admire the skills and ability of the fantasy football team owners. During the playoffs,  fantasy football evolves into a mental game. Like chess? Fantasy football has more variables to control than chess.