1. Always tip your commissioner. Fantasy football is a game of cheating. The person who is most likely to cheat is usually the commissioner. Try to bribe him at the beginning of the season. Although he may reject the bribe at first, and possibly act upset that you tried to bribe him, the players that funnel the most money to the commish during the season usually do not get their trades vetoed, and tend to get better draft picks the following year.

2. Ask the person who won the league last year to give you a copy of their cheatsheet. It is fantasy football etiquette that the champ must share his cheatsheet with any first timer. If they refuse, stand up and announce before the start of the draft that you are invoking your "Newbie Swap" privileges. At that time the commissioner will make the champ not only share his cheatsheet with you, but give it to you completely. At that point, the champ will have to use your cheatsheet instead.

3. Draft kickers as early as possible. Priest Holmes led the NFL in scoring last year. The next 12 players on the list were kickers. As they are all such high scorers, if you had two of those 12 on your team, you'd be in good shape. This is the little used, but very successful "Stud Kicker" theory. Forget Stud RB, VBD, BPA (best player available). Stud K is the way to go.

4. RBs are a dime a dozen. In 2002 17 RBs had 1000 yards or more. That's five more than the 12 high scoring kickers mentioned above. It should be much easier to land one of these talented backs later in the draft. Besides, there are always players from Denver who come from nowhere to be a top back. Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, and Clinton Portis all came from nowhere to be 1000 yard rushers. This year seventh-rounder Ahmaad Galloway and undrafted Cecil Sapp are great candidates to be the rookie of the year, and the steals of your fantasy draft. Don't tell anyone about this list, and draft all the RBs from Denver. You should be all set. If you are lucky enough to get all these RBs, got to www.mikeshanahanhotline.com and get on the mailing list. He will send out an e-mail on Friday telling you who his starter for the week is going to be, but only if you own all the Denver RBs (if you draft all the FBs, he'll send you an autographed picture as well).

5. When looking to select a RB, whenever you see the initials RBBC, these are the RBs you want to get on your team. RBBC stands for Running Back By Committee. This is actually the running back ranking of a committee. The committee in question is the "World Running Back Ranking Committee" or WRBRC for short. If you see the words RBBC associated with a team that means that the committee has used their secret formula of schedule, offensive line coach's weight, and color of the team uniform to determine their favorable RBBC teams and players. When you look at the end of the year fantasy football RB rankings, the top 10 will usually be filled with players from RBBC teams.

6. Only draft QBs from teams with fast sounding names. Teams with fast sounding names, usually draft players that fit their image of speed. As football is a game partially based on speed, fast QBs are often the best point producers. This year, your best bets are as follows:

Bengals - Bengal is another name for cheetah.
Cardinals - One step below the humming bird in speed.
Lions - Very fast when chasing a human or an antelope.
Ravens - The only bird that is close to the speed of the Cardinal
Texans - Who from Texas isn't fast?
Draft a QB from this bunch, plug him in, and ride that stud to the title.

7. TEs are more important than WRs. There is only 1 starting TE on each team, but up to 3 starting WRs. Draft your TE as soon as possible. Getting stuck with anyone other than one of the top TEs could be disastrous. Grab them early and often. The first round is not too early to draft a top 10 TE.

8. Do not draft players who came on strong at the end of the previous season. That means that they will probably be more tired than players who were not doing well down the stretch. This is due to the phenomenon known as the "Hit Factor." If someone (primarily a RB, WR, or TE) did well down the stretch, that probably means they took more hits than someone whose performance tailed off. If Marvin Harrison averaged 12 catches per game over the last half of the season, and JJ Stokes averaged 1 catch per game, who will be fresher, and therefore most likely the faster and more productive player this year? JJ Stokes all the way.

9. Always try to grab a WR who has switched teams. WRs usually switch teams because they stunk in their old situation. A change of scenery always helps. As most team's playbooks are only 5-10 pages deep, these playbooks can be learned in a day or two. The WR will always be up to speed by the first regular season game. If they look confused in preseason, it is because they are trying to fool the other team. Don't fall for it.

10. This is the most important rule of success in any fantasy draft. Never, and I mean NEVER take anyone's advice on how to do well in fantasy football. The internet has made the world a very small place. There is a good chance you can see anyone in an online league, or competition like the World Championship of Fantasy Football. No one wants you to succeed, because it could cost them in the future. A reputable website like Footballguys.com may help you, because they are running a business. If any individual, especially someone like me, offers you fantasy advice, do just the opposite of the advice offered.