2010 Fantasy Olympian Rules

1. Each league in this year's competition should have 10 teams.  You are welcome to have a league of any size, but leagues with fewer teams will not be eligible for the overall title.  Because there are fewer athletes in the Winter Games, each team will have 10 athletes and 1 tiebreaker country.  We will crown league winners in addition to an overall champion for all leagues conforming to the uniform requirements.  The prize will remain the same as in the past: unending respect and admiration, and maybe a free drink from each of the other participants the next time you see them.

2. A draft for each league will be held on a date TBD, either organized by the individuals in your league or via AOL Instant Messenger with a member of the Fantasy Olympian staff.  If you do not have an AIM account, please procure one or plan to share with someone during the draft.  If you wish to name your own team, submit it to the Commissioner by the time your draft begins, or risk having a name chosen for you.

3. Draft order should be determined by a random draw.  Round 1 will go in order from 1-5, round 2 from 5-1, round 3 from 1-5, etc.  Each player gets one pick per round for 11 rounds.

4. Each player will select a total of 10 athletes. Any athletes not drafted will be deemed Free Agents. A team may add, drop or trade players through his or her first event. Please notify the Commissioner when you wish to make a change to your team. Whoever holds the athlete at the time of his or her first event is locked in and cannot remove the athlete from the roster. A player may draft a tiebreaker country in any round, but remember that the medals won by that country will only come into play in the event of a tie.

5. The winner will be the player with the most points at the end of the 2010 Winter Games.  Points will be assigned as follows: 3 points for a gold medal, 2 points for a silver medal, and 1 point for a bronze medal. Each player's final score will be based on an aggregate score from his or her players.

6. If an athlete competes in both team and individual events (for example, a speedskater), that athlete can be selected as an individual, earning medals for both the individual and team events.  The team cannot be selected as a unit.  If, however, medals in an event are only awarded on a team-by-team basis (for example, hockey), only the team can be selected.  Once a team has been selected in a league, no other player in that league can select that team.  The "Events" tab under "Rules" distinguishes between team picks and individual picks.

7. Medal counts will be updated in the official spreadsheet by the Commissioner or a member of the Fantasy Olympian Committee on a more or less nightly basis.  There will not be live scoring to prevent any spoilers.

8. Each player will select one country whose gold medal count will be used to determine a winner, in the event of a tie among two or more players' aggregate scores. If the gold medal count fails to break the tie, then the silver count, and finally the bronze count, will be used.