If you are an avid fantasy footballer, then you need no introduction into the world of the fantasy football draft. To you, a fantasy football draft means weeks or even months of preparation, sitting next to your best friend and stealing all his picks on draft day, redeeming yourself after you took Daunte Culpepper in the first round last year, and being able to shout "here I come Super Bowl" after drafting Larry Johnson with the first pick.

However, for those individuals who have never played fantasy football and are interested in joining a fantasy football league, or for those seasoned veterans who need to fine tune their draft style and make up for the losing seasons that have plagued their fantasy careers, here are three easy steps that should help you make a decent playoff run and maybe even capture a championship before the next turn of the century. Or, at the very least, improve your fantasy prowess amongst your friends and competitors.

The first thing you need to do is "know your league." This is the most important step to winning a fantasy football championship and competing in any league. Find out the rules of your league like what your starting lineup has to be, how many rounds are in your draft, and your scoring system. The scoring system is perhaps the most important element, and I will discuss the scoring system importance in the next section.

The typical fantasy football league requires you to start one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, 1 tight en, 1 kicker and 1 defense or 1 defense or special team. If your league differs from this lineup, you may have a flex player in there somewhere or you might have to start two QBs instead of one. In both of these instances, you would need to adjust your strategy.

Another important thing to know is if your league is head-to-head or points.

Head-to-head leagues require you to start a lineup and play against another team's lineup for that particular week of the season, where as a points league accumulates weekly points over the course of the season with the highest point total being the champ in the end.

Another item to consider is when does your draft take place? If it's before preseason, you may not want to take chances on guys that may not start.

These are just some of the points you need to take into consideration when drafting your team. Know your league inside and out. Also, try to be in direct contact with the commissioner of your league, because they can usually offer you inside advice about the league settings and answer all your questions about the rules.

Second, you need to do is some research and check some stats and player updates. This goes hand in hand with knowing your scoring system.

I usually build my own cheat sheets based on my leagues scoring system because, often time's, fantasy "experts" create rankings of players based on "typical scoring systems." If your league does not score players the same way this "typical scoring system" does, then those experts' rankings could be way off.

For example, RBs like Warrick Dunn and Tiki Barber move way up the charts in leagues that count receptions for points. I suggest gathering some stats and calculating average points per game for players based on your scoring system and then arranging the players based on that PPG average.

So what stats should you look at? The easiest stats to view are last year's stats. We are heading into the 2006 season so you should be looking at stats from 2005. If you want to get crazy with it, I suggest going as far back as three or five years.

The best fantasy players are ones who play all 16 games and consistently put up high scores every week. You also need to monitor players who have been on a roll for a few years, but might be ready to trail off due to old age or an injury. Recently, that includes players like Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin, and maybe after this year, Priest Holmes.

Keep tabs on players' development especially rookies, check depth charts, and monitor injuries throughout training camp and preseason. Who starts and who's healthy will change a hundred times before the start of the season, so you should stay sharp on everything football up until your draft day. This will help you make a list of players you want to draft and players you want to avoid.

Third, you have to be patient on draft day. If you get stuck with the last pick in the first round, it could be a blessing based on who falls to you, or it could be a nightmare when you see all your players disappear before your eyes. This is where doing your research pays off.

In the first round you want to land one of those consistent players who score high every week and play all 16 games. If you've done your research and kept up on current NFL events, you should have a solid list of players that will get you through all the rounds of your draft with ease.

Being patient also means not jumping on rookies too early and not following runs. Every year people jump on rookies early and draft them in the second, third and sometimes even the first round. I personally do not value any rookie as a first round, second round or even a third round pick. I am in a 16 team league where a third round selection might not be bad, but in a 10 or 12 team league rookies should fall in rounds 4-6 – well, top rookies at least.

I would plan on having a set round where you want to take your top rookie prospects or a cut off when you will not take a rookie before a certain round. Have that round written down somewhere so you can see it during the draft. That way you will not be tempted early on.

The reasoning behind this is that rookies have seen no NFL regular season action and sometimes great college careers do not translate to great NFL careers. Experience plays a huge factor in the NFL, and there are so many factors that stack up against rookies in the NFL that you do not want to waste an early pick on a rookie bust.

Last thing about patience is be careful about following draft runs. Often times I see someone take the first TE in a draft and the 8 or 10 picks that follow are TEs as well. I understand there are times when the value at a certain position is running out and you need to draft someone, but just be careful when you do so.

If everyone is drafting one position, such as TE, but there are still a lot of TEs on the board with the same value as the players being selected, then there's probably a steal at some other position like WR,QB or DE/ST.

I hope these three steps bring you fantasy football glory. I have been playing fantasy football for about seven years now and have always made the playoffs, have won my league once, and have made the championship game three times. It's no New England Patriots run, but it’s been a pretty fun ride nonetheless.

Before I sign off, I would like to extend my help to any struggling fantasy owners out there. I am always interested in talking fantasy football and answering questions. So, if you ever need to know anything about fantasy football, just shoot me an email at: antserafin@yahoo.com