sunfun tip #1 - wtf is fantasy football?

Matty Wolf, praising the Redskins since 1937

Remember when you were a kid and you dreamed of becoming an astronaut, or a doctor, or, okay if we’re being honest Debbie Gibson’s back-up dancer/BFF? Well apparently while we were busy practicing our moves, little boys were wishing and hoping that they could someday run their own sports franchise. As its name suggests, Fantasy Football (FF) is an activity that allows the 12-year old inside of all the men we know to realize their lifelong fantasy of “owning” a football team.

Rather than spend too much time on the fascinating and illustrious history of FF, let’s just get down to business and focus on what the hell it is. Let me break it down for you, ladies:

•First, congratulations - we are all now “owners” of fake football teams. At the draft a couple weeks back, we picked real players for our fake teams from the various real football teams that are out there.

•Each week, your team will go head-to-head with another SunFun member’s team, (e.g. HGONGA vs. Denim Chickens), and players earn points for their teams by doing stuff. For example, if you have quarterback John David Booty on your team and he throws a touchdown pass, your team gets some points for that. At the end of the week, each matchup has a winner and a loser based on number of points scored.

•On game day, you can use the league’s website to engage in smack talk with your opponent (to be addressed in more detail at a later date). This is a very important part of the process and should not be ignored.

•Throughout the season, you have the ability to trade players, but to tell the truth I’m not sure how that works so proceed at your own risk.

•At the end of the season, the 4 teams with the best win/loss records will advance to the playoffs - cumulative points don’t matter, only # of wins/losses.

Now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about what you need to do RIGHT NOW in order to not be a league loser.  The regular season begins tomorrow night at 5:30pm PT*, and you my friends need to set up your lineups in advance of that.  Beginners in the group will want to watch for my next post (tomorrow morning), which will cover instructions for doing so.

XOXO
Co-Commish Anna

* Most NFL football games are played on Sundays, but I’ve learned that they also like to schedule a lot of mid-week games, if for no other reason than to disrupt my regular TV schedule. I used to think this was evil of them, but now that I’m into football I’m okay with it. In case you’re interested, the season opener is the New Orleans Saints vs. the Green Bay Packers.