Fantasy Football
Leagues Connect Fans Worldwide
As one of the most popular pastimes in America, Fantasy football only gets more popular each year. This game within a game is enjoyed by students and staff alike.
Fantasy football is all about creating the best possible football team. Fantasy managers draft real-life NFL players, usually from different teams, to outperform the other people in their league. Each player scores points based on their real-life game performances.
“I haven’t played fantasy before this year,” sophomore Carson Harter said, “My season’s going pretty good; my best players are Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon and Justin Jefferson because they give me the most points.”
Scoring is a big difference between regular football and fantasy football, and a player's real-life performance does not always translate to their fantasy performance.
“I’ve been in a league for six to seven years,” Rev. Seth Arnold said. “I think fantasy is based more on luck than how players perform.”
Fantasy football has two common scoring systems. Standard, which does not award players points for catches, and points per reception (PPR), which does.
“In a fantasy football league with standard scoring, players are awarded points for yards and touchdowns during their NFL games,” according to bleachernation.com. “A PPR scoring system is one in which players earn fantasy points for every reception. There are also some PPR-scoring leagues with half a point per reception.”
Because of these scoring systems, a fantasy manager’s weekly strategy differs greatly from a real-life football manager.
“When it comes to fantasy football, you're focused on one player and whether they get receptions and yards or not, but in real-life you're cheering for whole teams,” said senior Michael Scott. “I mostly watch my players more than the actual games when playing fantasy.”
Fantasy managers often care more about their players’ performances than the performance of the teams.
“Fantasy football isn't at all like real football because the head coaches don't care who scores the points,” said business teacher Jim Vanek. “Fantasy managers are usually delusional to how many points their players will score. The real-life coaches want to win the game more than getting certain players to score.”
Different platforms also factor into how a fantasy league is played. Apps like ESPN, NFL Fantasy, Yahoo, Sleeper, and more are dedicated to all kinds of fantasy sports.
Most leagues go for 17 weeks per season, and at the end of a season, leagues may have unique punishments for losers.
“Basically, our league’s punishment this year is going to be to ride your bike to school,” Scott said. “The loser has to ride their bike to school from my house, which is five miles away.”
Other leagues stick to something simpler for their losers.
“We might do some punishment; I think we were going to make the loser run a mile,” Harter said.
There also must be some incentive for the league winner.
“Our prize for the winner is $200,” Scott said. “Everyone puts in $20 for the reward, and there's 10 of us.”
In some leagues, winners only get bragging rights for coming out on top.
“In one of my leagues I can win money, that's about it,” Vanek said, “Nothing too crazy, you just lose your money, which kinda stinks, but fantasy football is a lot of fun, and very frustrating.”
Fantasy football is a fun and addicting hobby for anyone interested in sports, and any students who haven’t given fantasy football a try can still jump into this season, or wait until next year.
“My advice to anyone new to fantasy is to just try it,” Vanek said. “Fantasy football doesn't take much time to learn or effort to play. It’s also a good way to stay involved in football and learn about the players.”