While gambling is a big no no on our beautiful Williston Campus, drafting a make believe team that you will manage for 17 weeks isn’t. Fantasy Football will give you the feeling you’ve been missing for your entire life. The thrill of all your players going off, and the low of drafting the worst team possible all add up to being the greatest thing you will ever experience.
Fantasy football might be the only thing your best friend has talked about for the last two weeks, or maybe you’ve never heard of it. The latter is probably impossible, because NFL football is in full swing and even if you live under a rock, you most likely know a little bit about who is and who isn’t playing on Sundays. Football is what you see on your social media, football is what you see on the streets, football is what you see on campus, because who doesn’t love the modern day gladiators. So, you might as well put a little ‘skin in the game’ and draft an outstanding fantasy football team.
Football first originated on November 6th, 1869 in a game between Rutgers and Princton, and while the game was played more like rugby than football, it was the first documented football game. But, by the 1880’s Walter Camp, the ‘father of football’ came around and established some key rules like the line of scrimmage, the system of downs, and 11-player structure.
By the early 20th century the game had become one of America’s favorite past-times, but it began to receive criticism due to how dangerous it was. According to History.com, a die-hard football fan Theodore Roosevelt decided to push some reforms through and establish safety guidelines and the legalization of the forward pass.
For a long time football was just behind baseball in American popularity, but by the 1960s, the NFL gained more tv, radio, and broadcasting rights. 50 million people tuned into the first ever Superbowl which was between the Green bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs, and just 11 years later the number spiked to 71 million in Superbowl IV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings. More recently the game has become an international sensation, amounting to 127.27 million people watching last February’s Super Bowl LIX, according to NFL.com.
When it comes to what app you should start a league from, it can be hard. Sleeper is a great pick, with a simplistic style menu and easy to read trending players. But, the most used fantasy app according to New York Times, is ESPN Fantasy. It offers an easy to understand menu and roster screen, with great view of statistics and averages. With a total number of 13million people using just Fantasy Football on the app last year, it is one of the best apps out there. So, while it has faced criticism lately from its recent update, it is still going to be one of the best apps you can draft from.
Casey Connor, a senior and fantasy manager, thinks being in a league with his buddies establishes a great competitive atmosphere across the friend group.
“I love the idea of looking forward to compete against his friends every-weekend,” Casey Connor explained.
Who do you draft this year? Travis Hunter, corner/wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, had a great season in college playing both ways, but Chase Bedorossian has interesting insight into drafting him.
“I’m scared to draft Travis Hunter because I don’t know what side of the ball he’s going to play on,” Chase Bedrossian said. Travis Hunter plays both offense and defense.
Senior Jack Nolan has great insight into his schemes and interests during his drafts.
“I like to look at the offense. If they have a mediocre receiver 1 then I go running back, but if they have a poor offensive line and quarterback, I stay away from the offense,” Jack said.
