Fantasy football is a topic of conversation across all corners of CHS— be it at lunch, in classrooms, or even amongst teachers. There are even a multitude of leagues at the school and a very large player base. Yet, despite this, many people lack a basic understanding of what the game is.
Fantasy football has players assume the role of the general manager of an NFL team, being able to draft real-world players onto their team. These players then grant the person a certain amount of points depending on how well they do. For example, if a team has a certain wide receiver and that wide receiver catches a touchdown during that week’s game, the fantasy team gets points. Whichever person ends up with more points ends up beating the person they were matched up against. Alex Chang, a CHS junior succinctly described the game as follows:
“So basically, you’ll play against one other person every week of the NFL season. The fantasy season lines up with the NFL season,” Chang said. “Whoever has more total points at the end of the week wins.”
Fantasy football sounds rather simple, but this is deceptively so. If someone is looking to put together a genuinely competitive team, a good amount of research is absolutely necessary along with a dash of luck. This research not only requires players to follow the NFL, but also to have an extensive knowledge of the overall statistics of practically every player in the league. Chang gave some insight into the process he uses to decide which players to draft.
“I guess for me, it’s overall career progression. If I know that a player is really, really good, but they’re injury prone, then I might not draft them; for instance, like Christian McCaffrey,” Chang said. “Also, if a player is in around the fourth year of their career, that’s usually when I know that they’re gonna start hitting some targets and start playing their best football.”
With all the work that is put into this game, it may leave some asking why people want to participate in the first place. Although some people do play with money on the line, this is not the case for most leagues at CHS. Another CHS Junior, Luka Emadi, explained his motivations for playing.
“I play it because my friends play it and it’s fun to beat them,” Emadi said. “It also makes it easier to pay attention to football, as you kind of have to know what’s going on.”
Emadi wasn’t the only one to hold such motivations. CHS math teacher, Mr. Oberbeck stated similar reasoning for playing.
“I’m competitive, I like to win at things. If anybody challenges me, I kind of like to step into it.” Oberbeck said, “And I like football. I like to follow the game and I like to know what’s happening.”
Fantasy football, or any other fantasy sport, might just be the perfect game for competitively minded sports fans. And with such a thriving community at CHS, composed of both students and faculty alike, those people should have no problem finding a league or starting their own.