Sports Illustrated bringing fantasy football to Facebook

Fantasy sports might be one of the original social games, with obsessive fans organizing rotiseree leagues in person or via snail mail long before the Internet or Facebook were even things. That was then, though, and now Sport illustrated and WaterCooler Inc. have announced a deal to bring online fantasy football competitions to Facebook.

The press release describes a "branded SPORTS ILLUSTRATED environment" (no, we don't know why it's all capitalized either) that will include many of the trappings of traditional fantasy football sites, such as stats, news and analysis. Only now it's all on Facebook, so it should be easier than ever to find friends to play with, get updates on what's happening in your league, and, most importantly, post trash talk on your Wall.

Intriguingly, the press release also teases a FanZone feature that "will reward players for amassing large fan bases to cheer for their fantasy teams," suggesting that some of the trappings of traditional Facebook games may be infesting this fantasy sports experiment.

No word yet on when this new fantasy football experience will actually be available, but we're gonna guess somewhere around football season.