I wasn’t going to do it this year. I really wasn’t. I told my husband to count me out. I decided I didn’t want to take the time each week to keep up with it, I didn’t want to watch as much football this season, etc. Plus, it kind of brings out an ugly side of me. I am not competitive at all. But with Fantasy Football, I find myself yelling at the TV (my players) on Sundays. So my husband texted me last night at 5:00 and it simply said “Oscar’s coming over and we’re doing a live online draft at 7:00”. Okay, no biggie. I made sure my laptop was charged so they could use it, ordered a pizza for them and was just going to be on hand for whatever they needed.
But then…..well, my husband ended up with an odd number of teams on the league (you have to have an even number). He had nine. He told me ‘don’t worry about it, you don’t have to do it, I’ll draft an extra team and then give it away, etc.’ But he had to have me log into my account so he could prepare it to give it away to someone else. As soon as I did that and seen the familiar Yahoo Fantasy Football screen, I was a goner. I said ‘I’m in!!’.
And then I wasn’t going to draft, I was just going to have Josh draft for me so that I could do laundry and start getting ready for our trip to Colorado. Nope. I sat there for an hour and a half and drafted my whole team.
This was our first year doing a live online draft. We did it this way because it was really the only time it would work for everyone. I won’t be surprised if we do it this way from here on out. It only took like an hour and a half and went pretty smoothly. Everyone logged on (from their own home), the computer assigned a draft order (I was #3), and then each person had a minute and a half to make their selection when it was their turn. Once you selected, that player fell off of the ‘available players’ list and it moved on to the next person’s turn. This was repeated 16 times (16 players on each team). It was fun. And of course, there’s a ‘smack talk’ section at the bottom right of each screen so you can, well, talk smack to your opponents during the draft and comment or make fun of their draft picks. Everyone is nice to me though because I’m a girl (AND the Commissioners wife) and the only girl (once again) in our league. :)
I also had the advantage of drafting with two football experts in the room. When I was unsure of a pick, they would pipe in and let me know if a particular RB or WR was 1, 1a, 2, etc. At first I was like…”where are you seeing these numbers?” because I was searching my computer screen next to each player to see where they were getting this information. And they both kind of sheepishly looked at each other and said ‘it’s not on there, we just watch a lot of football.’ Ha ha. It was a huge help though. I mean, I can hold my own and I know the basics (like not picking more than two people on the same team, not picking too many people that have the same ‘bye’ weeks, not drafting a kicker or defense until the very end, and to draft runningbacks, runningbacks and more runningbacks, etc.). But do I know who are the 1, 1a, and 2nd starters for the Detroit Lions? No. But Oscar and Josh do! And boy, was it helpful.
A few things were different this year. In the past, we have been a ‘keeper’ league. Meaning, we got to keep 1-2 players from the previous year if we wanted. I was going to keep Marshawn Lynch. I love the Seahawks and he was my star last year. But this year we did not have the option of keepers. Bummer. But….it worked out pretty well for me in the end.
I got an amazing runningback:
Mr. Adrian Peterson
And a top quarterback:
Mr. Aaron Rodgers
And my husband picked up Marshawn Lynch, so at least he gets to stay in the family, right?
Here’s the rest of my team:
Larry Fitzgerald (WR, Arizona)
Vincent Jackson (WR, Tampa Bay)
Mike Wallace (WR, Miami)
Le’Veon Bell (RB, Pittsburgh)
Zach Ertz (TE, Philadelphia)
Joique Bell (RB, Detroit)
Bishop Sankey (RB, Tennessee)
Trent Richardson (RB, Indianapolis)
RG3 (QB, Washington)
Emmanuel Sanders (WR, Denver)
Dennis Pitta (TE, Baltimore)
Danny Woodhead (RB, San Diego)
Nick Folk (K, Jets)
Chicago Defense
16 players total: 2 QB, 6 RB, 4 WR, 2 TE, one kicker, one defense. I’ll dump my kicker when he’s on his bye week and pick up another. Kickers are a dime a dozen. I’ll do the same with my defense, depending on how they do. If they are killing it each week, then I’ll dump a bench player and get a defense for the week.
Game 1 is Thursday, September 4th. Green Bay vs. Seattle. I’m torn, because I will be rooting for Seattle, but I also want Aaron Rodgers to have a great game, which means he needs to throw. A lot. Particularly into the end zone. Ha ha. Which is the #1 reason why Fantasy Football is so fun. You can be rooting for one team with all your heart (because they are YOUR team!), but then rooting for the other team too because you have a player on it from your Fantasy team. So ideally next Thursday night, I would like Green Bay to score a LOT, but Seattle to ultimately win.
Here’s to another year of Fantasy Football!
