Fantasy Football and Life

Everyone has their niche in life. Some like to sing. Others like to dance. Four years ago, my friends and I chose to take a different approach.  I and eleven other adolescents from the Millburn Short Hills area of Essex County in the great state of New Jersey chose to form an ultra-competitive and immensely consuming Fantasy Football League.

Since 1962 when Bob Winkenbach, the quintessential founder of the phenomenon known as Fantasy Football, laid the foundation for this great competition, it has gradually generated interest among sports fans. Today, at the peak of its popularity, my friends and I are entrenched in the intense drama that is Fantasy Football. Each year we compete with our sights set on winning the coveted league championship, which comes with prodigious glory, accompanied by bragging rights of course. We work wholeheartedly throughout the week listening to experts’ analysis in order to have the perfect lineup, which will bring us success come Sunday.

After two years of having a losing record, last year I had my first taste of fantasy success. I made it into the playoffs with one of the top records in the league only to lose in the first round to my good friend and rival Isaac, who fielded a formidable squad. This loss was very tough to deal with and led to intense scrutiny throughout our league message boards and even on social networking websites such as Facebook. The heckling only served as greater motivation to finally win it all this year as we now are beginning a new season. I feel that I am established within our league, community, or brotherhood (all fitting names) as a very important member. Through my experiences in this community, I feel that the connection I share with the other members of the league has been solidified and will remain, as we will always remember all of the excitement that we experienced and will experience together as one Fantasy family.