WHAT IS YOUR FOOTBALL FANTASY?

Many of us have heard of Fantasy Football.  It is the game all of our husbands, brothers, co-workers, and sons play, every year, to try to get even more enjoyment out of the football season.  Here’s how it works, each person is team owner, and they get to “draft” NFL players for their team.   The players come from all of the NFL teams combined.   So for each fantasy league, for example, only one person can “draft” Peyton Manning.  That person, once they have Peyton Manning as their quarterback, cant “draft” Tom Brady.  Everyone is trying to put together the best possible team, and like the real NFL draft, they take turns either at a draft meeting, or nowadays, online.  Once the season starts, the real games

determine how well each owner in the fantasy league will do.  If Peyton Manning throws touchdown passes, his owner scores points, and so on.  The focus of most fantasy leagues, obviously, is on offensive players:  the quarterback, running backs and receivers.  Some fantasy leagues include defense, but not many include linemen, which is a rip off to all MOL (moms of linemen).

At the end of the season, the person with the most points is the winner.  Pretty easy, right, except you probably want to know something about the players to put together a quality winning team.  But with the internet, google, and 24/7 NFL channel, that information is pretty easy to come by.  Typically, women have not participated in fantasy football.  I simply can’t imagine I want to spend the time researching players, picking a team, and keeping track of my score all season long.  A cold beer and chili pretty much keeps me happy at this time of year.  Nonetheless, the NFL is realizing we ladies are a whole new group of potential fans, and they want us to get involved in the game.  The NFL believes by having a Fantasy Football Team we ladies can feel more connected to those around us in a meaningful way.  Apparently the NFL does not believe washing everyone socks and underwear makes us feel connected.  It certainly is enough for me.

I recently learned ESPNW (ESPN for Women!) also wants to encourage women to participate in Fantasy Football.  However, ESPNW, while providing great stats on many, players, also added categories they felt would appeal to women.  They have categorized players in terms such as “Marriage Material “(if the stats are really, really good.), “Boyfriend Potential,” and even one category referred to as “One Night Stands.”   Ick.   This was all put together by the Sisters Wilson who provide much of the football commentary for ESPNW.  Sorry gals, this is NOT the way to engage women in the fantasy football world.    

First off, if I am going to play fantasy football, I will follow the same rules.  I along with all of my fellow football moms am perfectly capable of figuring out the “complexities” of a fantasy league without the patronizing categories.   In a typical day, most moms I know tackle the following: 

1.       Kids up and off to school with lunches, homework done;

2.      Scheduling of appointments – doctors, orthodontist, dermatologist (for pimples);

3.      Coordinating rides to and from practice ;

4.      Going to work and doing an amazing job;

5.      Signing up to volunteer at a school event;

6.      Planning for and preparing dinner, including creating a vegetable that looks like a smiley face or a dinosaur.

All of this is while also doing laundry, managing parents, helping neighbors or our friends who are ill, and frankly, this is just the half of it.  So to put it mildly, if any one of us wants to take on fantasy football and dominate, we will, and we can do it the same way as the guys, thanks very much.

The bottom line is I personally don’t want to spend my spare time (laughter here!) on a fantasy league.  But if Peyton Manning is going to be involved in any fantasy of mine, it looks something like this – me with my beer and chili, watching Tom Brady and the Patriots, and Manning folding the boxer shorts – now that is fantasy football at its best.