Fantasy Football Demystified
2-year old social media star Mila could not have said it better. "Boys planning for a draft, like they're planning a wedding [...] Fantasy football? So basic!"
To no surprise, Mila's video reached 20M views as many women around the U.S. surely share the same sentiment. To no surprise, Mila's video reached 20M views as many women around the U.S. surely share the same sentiment!
Watch Full Video: Mila Discovers Reality of Fantasy Football
To those of you that are curious to learn about Fantasy Football though (as I am sure a day hasn't gone by without office bros talking about it!), here is the 411:
- It's a weekly game where you create fake teams and play against a select group of friends/co-workers (usually involving an initial buy-in $). Most people use ESPN.com or CBSsports.com to start a league.
- You choose around 14-15 players in total for your fantasy team. Players cannot overlap, meaning if your colleague chooses Tom Brady, you can't. (There's draft rounds to ensure fairness)
- Each week you fill a roster with a starting lineup of around 9 players. This usually comprises of one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, one defense and one "flex" (typically a running back or wide receiver).
- If you have no idea who to pick, there's an auto-draft option!
- Your starting players accumulate statistics from games played during the week (yards, touchdowns, etc.) that add up to the weekly point total.
- If your weekly point total is the highest of your group, you win that week!
- Players not in your starting lineup are on the "bench" and points from those players don't count toward your weekly total.
- There's something called a "Waiver Wire" which means you can replace players on your team with other players that aren't on anyone else's team - this is what keeps everyone active each week.
- Each reward structure is different but the buy-in pool usually gets split between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. So each week counts!
Doesn't sound tooooo hard, right? My co-worker mentioned that a girl friend of his set up an all-girls fantasy football league at the office and everyone selected auto-draft. Instead of rolling your eyes at the boys next time, see how your team is stacking up against theirs! I say it's a good excuse for team bonding, football spirit and maybe even a cash prize!
