Touchdowns, Trash Talk, and Punishments: The Fantasy Football Experience
Fantasy football is one of the most pleasurable things that people get to experience throughout the football season. Fantasy football is a game in which people create imaginary football teams using current NFL players. It’s a sort of friendly competition that can make the season more enjoyable.
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A big reason people like fantasy football is because it is fun to play with friends. Leagues are made with groups of your friends, it gives everyone something to talk about every week and games feel way more exciting when you have a player on your fantasy team in the games. Many fantasy football leagues also add punishments for the person who finishes last, which makes the game even more fun. These punishments can be anything from having to wear a funny costume in public to doing a challenge that the rest of the league decides, like a milk mile or a fast food challenge. It helps keep the league engaging all season long since nobody wants to get stuck with a bad punishment at the end of the season.
At the beginning of the season everyone in the league will join a draft and take turns choosing different players at different positions. Most leagues consist of eight to 12 people, but can be more or less depending on your group. After you create your team, you will get points each week based on how well your players performed in their real NFL games. You can also play against a different person each week to score more points than your opponent. Chandler Paysinger (’29) explains how fantasy football gives him and his friends friendly competition amongst each other.
“I play fantasy football because it gives our friend group a friendly competition to compete against each other,” said Paysinger. “A lot of the times, we usually do the milk mile as a punishment, because that one really makes everyone stay focused throughout the season.”
Once the draft occurs, the season begins. You log back into your designated fantasy app each week to set a lineup based on the players you want to start and the ones you want to bench. This is where the work part of fantasy comes into play. For example, if you have a player who is injured or has to face a difficult matchup as a strong defense, you may want to replace that player.
A touchdown, rushing yards, passing yards and even field goals all become points for your fantasy football team. Weekly, your total is compared against the total of the person you are matched against. If you win enough games, you can make the fantasy playoffs, which typically occur towards the end of the NFL regular season. Overall, fantasy football is a simple but exciting way to make the NFL season more fun.