For many of us, the arrival of the Fantasy Football season is the closest thing to the feeling we had as children at Christmas. For me, it’s the first time I’ve seen a Fantasy Football magazine on a grocery store shelf. Today, most of the information contained in the magazines is available online at numerous fantasy football sites. However, there is still something tactile and wonderful about a fantasy football magazine. It accompanies me everywhere, I highlight it, read it from cover to cover several times and consume them completely. The arrival of the first magazine of the season kicks off the building anticipation that builds and builds until it peaks first in 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 sight of a magazine in the grocery store.

So what makes a good fantasy football publication? Content, content, and more content is ultimately what you’re looking for. Some clever images and graphics help add zing to the steak, but great writing and lots of data is really the key. Some magazines combine all these attributes quite well. My favorite magazine in recent years has been Fanball. They do a good job of balancing humor and content. They do well in the graphics department, other magazines do the graphics better, but then they tend to fall a bit short on content. I think ESPN’s offering is an example of this: It looks fancy but it’s lightened up a bit in 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 you want to check before you spend your $8.95 is whether the information they provide is relative to your league’s specific size and rules. There are a lot of mods to consider, is your league auction or draft, 10 teams, 12 teams or more, do you play PPR, do you play IDP, do you have a team QB, is it a dynasty league? You need to make sure the magazine fits your specific league setup; otherwise the information could be irrelevant to you and your league.

What’s really important and I’ve written about this before is if you’re doing an auction (which you should), making sure you know what the auction values ​​in the magazine are based on. Many publications do not explain this. You need to know what size league the amounts are based on and what the starting $ amount is for the auction. You can recalibrate the numbers to meet your league setup 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 allotting plenty of time to review each magazine before purchasing. If you’re at a grocery store with the kids, you may need to grab them and go. But if you’re on your own, head to magazine island before loading up on cold and frozen items. Don’t feel uncomfortable about standing on the same island for 20 minutes, it’s important that you get it right. So take your time and choose the right magazine for you and the rules of your league and then sit back, enjoy and soak it all up. Good luck to your fantasy football team in 2010.