Do you find yourself extremely stressed out on Thursday nights? Are you pulling your hair out at noon on Sundays? If so, you’re probably a fantasy football player, and you are by no means alone.
Everyone knows that nothing is sweeter than beating a friend in a close fantasy matchup. Despite quarterbacks like Aaron Rogers of the Green Bay Packers and Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos still running the show, others like Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens and Eli Manning of the New York Giants have taken a backseat this season.
Fantasy football is a game of both chance and strategy. Each week, fantasy team managers strategically create a lineup with National Football League players they drafted in the season’s initial fantasy draft, hoping they perform well on that day. When the games start, each fantasy manager’s game is in the hands of his or her NFL players.
Each year varies a great deal because of rookies, injuries, schedules, and other unpredictable factors. A perfect example in this year’s season would be Alshon Jeffery of the Chicago Bears.
This past Sunday, Jeffery put up 218 receiving yards against the Saints, setting a franchise record. Unforeseeable performances like this happen on a week-to-week basis. This phenomenon is the beauty of fantasy football. Fantasy managers never know who is going to do what, or when they’re going to do it.
While unexpected heroics are welcome by fantasy managers, the same unpredictability brings huge frustrations to managers who draft athletes that are projected to do very well, but fall short of expectations.
This year, players like Roddy White and Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons, Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens, and Eli Manning of the New York Giants are not performing to the standards they were projected to meet.
Ramapo sophomore John Farella knows the frustration of being a fantasy football manager after drafting last year’s offensive rookie of the year, Robert Griffin III.
“He was definitely a setback but I made some adjustments and am back on track, I am just happy I was smart enough not to draft someone like Eli Manning,” he said.
Another Ramapo student, Trevor Marshall pays money to be in a competitive fantasy football league, and said that the whole season is one big gamble.
“It’s tough, you pay money to play in a league, it’s a serious thing. Sometimes you have the worst luck even when you play your best lineup. Other weeks you’ll somehow pull out a win when two of your receivers are out on a bye, it’s just fantasy,” he said.
It certainly is just fantasy, but can be much more. Some leagues, like Marshall’s, require a buy-in that will get split between the winner and the runner-up at the end of the season.
Fantasy football managers will continue to experience the struggles and successes for the remaining 12 weeks of the NFL season.
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cmay2@ramapo.edu
