By: DrMcAwesome
One of the most important aspects of a successful Dynasty Manager page is a team: If you don't have one, it's pretty hard to get started.
For 90-percent of those who post here this is a slam dunk, go with the favorite... but there are a few folks out there, including myself, who like to tread off the beaten path and go with a team that they may have never navigated a season or dynasty/franchise with. For those brave souls, here are a few tips on team selection.
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Approach with an open mind:
As a Red Sox fan, the last thing anyone would have expected me to do is pick the New York Yankees on any game, but it did happen and to tell the truth that season on Ken Griffey Jr. Presents: Major League Baseball was about the best time I had on a video game. The trick here for the undecided is to whittle yourself to a list of three to five teams that you can honestly see yourself using for whatever reason - whether it be a favorite player, ties to that region, no one else is using that team on the site, the style of play resembles your philosophy, never used them, etc. Make sure that the team you choose is a team you can see yourself excited to play 10, 20, 100 games into the season.
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Commitment:
OK, I'll admit it. I shouldn't be preaching commitment seeing that I burn out in record time seemingly every year, but to tell the truth I still keep on with the seasons after taking a hiatus on the writing. As covered earlier, if you can find a team that excites you halfway into a season, you've done something right. A lesson from me: pace yourself on posting. If you don't want to write a story per game, no one is holding you to it - work at a speed you're comfortable with and don't overwhelm yourself. For those who can find the time and motivation to post every game of a 162-game baseball season, my hat goes off to you. The trick here is, if it starts becoming a chore to write after every game, take little notes on each game and construct a weekly/monthly roundup - Some of the best pages I've seen on the site take that approach.
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Knowledge:
Sometimes the difference between a good page and a great page is a little bit of knowledge. In one case where I selected a team that I wasn't a great fan of, the determining factor was simply knowing a great deal about that team, in this case the Pittsburgh Pirates. In other cases the wonderful world of the internet was enough to keep me looking smart. Stuff like all-time records against teams, memorable moments in team history, the last time, etc. The trick here is, the more you can tell readers about your team, the more they'll come back and the more you'll come back.
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There is plenty more that goes into team selection and making sure that you aren't diving to hit the reset button after one or two games. My advice is to remember, playing a video game is a recreational activity - Writing about that activity should be just that as well.
