The growth of fantasy sports, especially football, has been tremendous…especially on the World Wide Web. Last year there were tens of thousands of leagues on the "normal" sites like ESPN, Sportsline, Yahoo and other dominant search engines and sports sites. Despite what they would like you to believe, they are not the only games in cyber space. I would even venture to say they are not the most interesting or innovative sites out there. If you join a league on one of these flagship sites you do get to compete, but what do you win? Face it, if you are in one of these mega sites you're literally competing against hundreds of thousands of people for any real cash and most likely, if you win your league, you are looking at the reward of a cap or a t-shirt proclaiming you are a winner. Given the luck and injury factor associated with the game, why not look outside the cyber giants and their stale format to something which might be a little more creative and where you could actually have a realistic shot at winning something real… money.

Although there are over 148,000 sites that will be available to you if you type in "fantasy football leagues" on the web, I have spent some time researching some alternative sites which have formats and prizes different from the giants. These are in no particular order as I would not want to show favoritism, instead I am providing alternatives which will provide both the competition and stress we all love, but also provide owners with a unique fantasy experience.

HeySportsFan is a site where there is no draft, no salary cap and they offer unlimited trades for free throughout the season. The philosophy is simple, "Why should one person per league get to cheer for that "stud" quarterback." They feel fantasy football should enhance your enjoyment of the game, not be an exercise in higher math, complex trade negotiations or inner-league personalities. It is fantasy football with the emphasis on football.

In addition to offering a unique format, and all of the usual bells and whistles like real time scoring and the like, HeySportsFans offers three levels of action, Budget, Premium and High Stake. The Budget League will you cost you $25.00 to enter ($5.00 extra for real time stats option) with a 50 team league maximum. The grand prize for the buy in is $150.00 for the champ, $75.00 for second and gift certificates ranging from $50.00 to $10.00 for up to 25th place. Entering a Premium League will cost you $100.00 and the real-time scoring is free. The number of teams in a league is limited to 20 owners and the prizes for first to third place are cash. $500.00 will go to the winner, $175.00 for second and $75.00 for third. Fourth place is a $50.00 gift certificate. The High Stakes League is just that, high stakes. $250.00 will get you aboard a league with ten teams, but the rewards are worth the price. First place pays out $1,150, second gets your money back, third puts $175.00 back in your pocket and fourth will allow you to rake in $125.00. Each of these leagues offer weekly prizes of gift certificates ranging from $10.00 to $25.00. The difference between HeySportsFan and the mega sites, you actually have a chance to win real cash against a pool of players you may actually know, or get to know during the season.

Ant Sports offers some really unique qualities for online fantasy players. Instead of the pressure packed minute and half owners in the mega sites get to select a player; they offer an email draft and time to actually consider options. If you're putting the time and the effort into the selection, why should you be rushed into a possible mistake or miss a turn because you had to leave the computer for a minute? Owners can really take the time to weigh their options and make intelligent decisions, not hurried selections. They offer, "…the #1 fantasy football mock draft site with 5525 mock drafts," making them an excellent source for evaluating your draft strategies for this season.

In addition to offering a variety of leagues, including keep leagues, they also offer a league scoring format within the standard "head-to-head" system. Much like the NHL, league standings are kept with league points, not wins and losses. A win gets the owner 2 points, a tie-one point and a loss-zero points. League points are also awarded to high score for the week. With this format, a one-week blow-out will not kill your chances for the season and having a couple of losses will not doom your season. "League rules and scoring are designed to take as muck luck out of the game as possible, allowing the skilled fantasy owners to succeed."

Ant Sports does offer a low cost Trophy League, but they really promote their money leagues of $100.00, $250.00 and $500.00. In the hundred dollar league there is a 75% cash back pay-out, 80% in the $250.00 leagues and 85% cash back in their $500.00 leagues. Cask prizes are awarded first to fourth place; there is a consolation bowl, weekly prizes and week 17 "free-for-all." There are other league options making this site a must to check out when considering play this season.

US Fantasy Sports offers a large variety of leagues, prices and could be one of the most comprehensive information sites on the web for their owners. $75.00 will get you into "Keeper Contract League" but for the low price of $10.00 you can join a Trophy League. You also have the option to purchase a team which is up for sale for between $40.00 and $75.00 or join a Bug Cash League for $25.00. They will also offer a US Fantasy Football Experts League for the first time this season. There are weekly winners, but their big claim is that there will be more fantasy information this season than they have ever provided. They provide links to other sites like Fantasy Football Mastermind who is in their 8th season with the site. With keeper leagues becoming more and more popular, this could be a great site to make that plunge with a minimum investment.

Fantasy Sports "R" Us offers the, "biggest pay out in fantasy sports!" In addition to offering cash pay-outs, they also offer a plague for the winner two to three weeks after the season. "It's hard to finish in 1st place in a rotisserie or head-to-head league and you deserve a symbol of that victory." (A $75.00 value) Although they acknowledge cash is the primary prize, it only provides short term gratification; a plague is something you can keep forever. They too offer a variety of leagues, including draft and keeper styles it was their scoring format and 18 man rosters that drew me to the site. Most leagues offer a 17 player roster and the 18th man could make difference allowing owners to take yet more chance at some of the new or borderline talents available. Each league will have 12 teams with a $149.00 buy in for a single team, they offer discounts for multiple team owners.

The cash payouts are worth taking note. The Super Bowl winner gets a $500.00 prize with second getting $250.00. Third place gets a free team for next season, fourth place gets $50.00, but what makes this format unique is that there is a "Toilet Bowl" payout of $25.00. Statistically, 42% of the participants in the league are in for some sort of prize. Another unique aspect in the play-off format is that five teams enter, with the first place team getting the bye week.

Fantasy Sports "R" Us plays a head-to-head scoring system, "the way fantasy football should be." Owners get points for passing, rushing, receiving, kicking and defense. The system is unique as they offer not the usual six points for a touchdown, they offer seven points for a score of 30-49 yards and eight points for any score 50 yards or longer. The same "bonus" format applies to passing with one point for every thirty yards, 4 extra points for games with 300-349 yards and eight points for a game with over 350 yards. There are bonus points available for receiving and rushing, but the unique factor is the kicking points. It is the usual one point for a PAT, five points for a filed goal under forty yards, seven points for anything up to 50 yards and a whopping ten points for any field goal from over 50 yards. The format makes the kicker a real player and not just an after thought in the draft process. They strive to make their site the most exciting football experience on the net, their efforts should not be ignored y the serious fantasy player.

One of the more unique sites I found actually features a "live" commissioner for their leagues. Fantasy Commissioner has real fantasy experts who are commissioners owners can really talk with. This is a far cry from the mega sites and the "phantom" commissioner who will occasionally reply to questions when they get the time. I wrote Commissioner Todd Farino and had a response in minutes, to say the least it was refreshing. There are descriptions of various commissioner available, each one is a fantasy expert dedicated to making the owner's experience as pleasurable as possible. "End bitter fights with rival managers with an unbiased commissioner deciding trades and more."

In addition to having real people in charge, they offer a "customizing" system for leagues. You can have your league set up the way you would like it and you don't have to bend to someone's concept of a fair scoring system. They also offer live scoring, an interactive web site, chat rooms, email and forums. "All league types are available." They offer a guarantee of play until September 9; if you are not satisfied they will refund 100% of your money. It is hard to go wrong with an offer like that. League prices, with a live commissioner begin at $119.99 with regular online leagues going for $74.99. After my own frustrations dealing with the "phantom" commissioners, there is nothing like dealing with a real person who will actually listen to you and respond. None of the "big" guys can make that offer.

Fantasy Headquarters offers the opportunity to, "participate in one of our fantasy leagues for a chance to win cold, hard cash." Although they offer a variety of leagues, they also offer the chance to customize a private league to suit your fantasy needs. Fantasy Headquarters offers leagues ranging from the "A" League for a $49.00 buy in to the $399.00 Pro Leagues. In between they have the "AAA" Leagues for $199.00 and "AA" Leagues for $99.00. League sizes range from twelve to ten teams with payouts ranging from $1,750 for first place in a "Pro" league to $125.00 for first place in an "A" League. Each league offer payouts from first to fourth place with the bottom payout being $25.00. They offer one other aspect which is unique, if you wish to play on a national level you can pay an additional $49.99 membership fee, with two trade options, and have a shot at $10,000. There are prizes here for first to sixth place and they are all healthy payouts. If that is not your pleasure, for $9.99 you can play at the national level and compete for a $5,000 payday. This is not money to sneeze at and a lot more than the "sports" leaders are offering with a better chance of winning it all. After all, isn't winning it all the real fantasy of fantasy sports?

Although some of these leagues are part of corporations, they are not part of the mega corporations of Disney, ABC and ESPN, Viacom and CBS, or AOL and CNN/SI. Fine corporations they may be for their share holders, but their fingers are every where and fantasy sports are just another one of their divisions. Each of these sites, and there are more out there, are dedicated to providing the best fantasy sports experience for the participants and not their stockholders. I am not saying ESPN is a Mickey Mouse outfit, they were one of the pioneers in fantasy sports and still one of the best providers of sports information anywhere, but they don't cater to the fantasy player as an individual, they cater to the corporate community as a whole…players are just a part of the community. There is no way I could cover over 1090,000 fantasy sports sites in a single article, but I can point out there are alternatives to the corporate giants who seem to worry more about corporate profits than their fantasy players. You owe it to yourself to look beyond the giants while providing yourself with a more personalized fantasy experience. There are a lot of trees in the fantasy forest making variety part of the fantasy of life. Explore, enjoy and make the whole experience meaningful to you, not profit for them.