Dan Patrick Launches New Online Sports Game To End The Fantasy Sports Nightmare

MILWAUKEE, Wis., Aug. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Many sports fans will do anything to feel like they're part of the game, like pretending to manage professional teams and players by playing fantasy sports. This fantasy has been shattered by the nightmarish reality that staying competitive in fantasy leagues requires up to 80 hours of research per season. In fact, Fantasy Sports Trade Association research shows that players who don't put in the time, more than five hours per week, cannot stay competitive. This doesn't even include the hours spent watching highlights and crunching statistics, the costs to join leagues and purchasing manuals that sometimes never pay off due to early elimination. To combat the ever-growing list of problems fantasy sports have caused, Dan Patrick is launching a revolution against this billion-dollar industry by creating his own online sports game, Cover5, giving fans the competition of fantasy sports without all the demands.

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"Fantasy sports demand so much from the common fan and often offer so little in return," said Patrick, sports celebrity and host of his own renowned talk show, 'The Dan Patrick Show,' which is syndicated on radio and television stations across the country. "Sports fans deserve a game that actually feels like a game, not a never-ending chore."

According to Patrick, fantasy sports leagues have complex rules and require players to keep track of ever-changing injuries and 'trades.' Magazines and books have even been written on how to better understand the game itself. For example, New York Times writer Jonathan Bales wrote in his book entitled Fantasy Football For Smart People this following explanation on how to "simplify" gameplay: "One method to implement positional consistency into player ratings is to multiply projected points for a position by the correlational strength of consistency..."

"Cover5 is simple and competitive for all sports fans, not just dedicated fanatics," continues Patrick. Cover5 was built to correct the wrongs fantasy sports created. With Cover5, players pick five teams each week and when their teams win, players gain points. When their teams lose, Cover5 players lose points. In fantasy play, only 50-57% of players even make their league playoffs, which means that about half of all the fantasy players will have no chance to win at all. Conversely, Cover5 players can join open leagues and compete for prizes with other players from around the world, or they can invite their friends to compete in private leagues.

"When we were creating Cover5, I sat down with the developer to build the perfect game. That meant simplifying the rules, the gameplay and opening up leagues to all sports fans," says Patrick.

The basics of Cover5 gameplay include solving the problems with the fantasy sports model:

• Less time commitment - Fantasy sports require hours upon hours to makes picks, trades and follow statistics while playing Cover5 requires mere minutes of making picks each week in exchange for hours of competition and excitement. Players log into Cover5.com and choose the "my leagues" tab where they're alerted to make their picks. Players can see what teams the experts picked or pick their own favorite.
• Realistic gameplay - Fantasy sports forces players to follow statistics of various teams, players and plays. But Cover5 makes more sense than other online sports games because its rules are actually designed like real sports where points are based on wins and losses, not individual player stats. Cover5.com makes it easy with simple navigation pointing players exactly where they need to go to learn about their teams.
• No one's excluded - Fantasy leagues have player maximums per league that exclude the passive sports fan. Unlike fantasy leagues, Cover5 has no limits on numbers of players in a league. Visiting Cover5.com makes it easy to join leagues and interact with sports fans through clearly identified tabs and links.
• Set up in minutes - Fantasy league organizers spend hours, even days, setting up leagues. Fortunately, setting up Cover5 leagues and competitions requires minutes. Cover5.com has taken the guesswork out of enjoying sports. For fans unsure how to proceed, tutorial videos are available to guide players through the pick process.
• Greater variety - Cover5 will offer competitions in all of the major sports - including NCAA and NFL football, and NCAA and NBA basketball - as well as events like the World Cup and Kentucky Derby. Fantasy has yet to catch up.

"I think it is a game that is going to crush traditional fantasy sports games when it is all said and done," says Steve Czaban of Yahoo! Radio.

About Cover5

Cover5 is the perfect casual online sports game that allows all sports fans to compete and connect without the time consuming demands of most games. It requires minutes to make picks each week in exchange for hours of competition and excitement. There is a Cover5 game for every sports fan, and every sports fan in the world can potentially compete against one another in one single league. Perfectly designed to maximize fun every week for every player, Cover5 brings the enjoyment back to sports...not just statistics.

Join the Cover5 revolution today. Sign up at www.cover5.com.

SOURCE Cover5