Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
BY TYLER SMITH, STAFF WRITER
Before entering freshman year of high school, I invited friends over to my house for a fantasy football draft. We all played and followed football growing up, so it felt natural to compete against each other with digital teams of professional athletes. This August, those same friends returned to my backyard for the seventh consecutive league draft.
Fantasy football brings together groups of people who will communicate for the four months following the draft. Even non-sports fans should play.
Leagues typically range from eight to 12 teams, and each member selects players from a typically random draft slot to fill their roster. When each real NFL team plays, the individual player statistics sum up to create a score for each fantasy team.Pairs of league mates match up like a real-life football schedule with wins and losses culminating in playoff and championship rounds.
While it may seem daunting to sports novices, fantasy football can be played by anyone and bring together friends for months of competitive fun.
While many leagues offer a cash prize or some incentive to the winner, fantasy football requires no paid entry. Bragging rights over office coworkers may sound enticing to someone who has watched the Monday water-cooler conversations from a distance.
The beauty of fantasy football comes with the randomness of real life. Players suffer injuries on the field every week. Each year a new player or two drafted in the final few rounds in fantasy has a breakout season. Nobody can predict these outcomes, but that directly highlights fantasy football’s accessibility.
Many times, the member who knows the least about actual football ends up picking the hidden gem late in the draft. Just like the real NFL rookie draft, people playing fantasy football feel optimistic following their drafts.
For many, fantasy football brings together groups like my high school buddies together once a year. We have moved from chatting about our Sunday lineups in freshman homeroom to calling each other from different time zones to discuss trading players. Everyone still anticipates that one fantasy draft day before going their separate ways for the season. When we call for trades midseason, we catch up on life and extend the conversation past fantasy football. That revitalized comradery keeps the league going year after year.
My fantasy league members still laugh about bad draft selections, last-place punishments and seven-year-old arguments in my basement. Even if you’re not a football fan, fantasy football provides nostalgia for the veterans and introduces a new hobby for beginners.
Join a league and you might just find yourself competing like you did growing up.
