Who Cares If You Were A Star Athlete!
By Matt DeLucia
Who doesn’t love fantasy football? It’s great for a number of reasons, like the draft it’s self, the trash talking that’s involved, plus the bragging rights for you have for an entire year (if you’re lucky enough to win)! There’s also no age limit to participate in most leagues, so it doesn’t matter how young or old you are. I’ve seen and have been in leagues with kids as young as 6 or 7 years old playing with another parent. All the way up to someone who’s in their 80’s or 90’s that’s doing it just for fun, for their love of the game, and basically just something to pass the time.
It doesn’t matter what draws you to fantasy football, as long as you find it and enjoy it. Fantasy football won’t discriminate based on your sports background or lack of, since there’s no athletic ability involved in the game. So who cares if you were a star athlete in your younger days, it means absolutely nothing when it comes to this. The same goes for those of us who were geeks or nerds in school, people who never played sports growing up. For the most part every one’s basically on the same level playing field when it comes to fantasy football.
Now when I say that everyone is pretty much on the same level playing field, it’s true for the most part. It does tend to help you in the drafting of fantasy football if you know who a player/team is and how good (say Adrian Peterson, Tom Brady, Drew Brees) they’ve been in the past. As opposed to just going down a cheat sheet (ranking of players by position) and calling a name (say Matthew Stafford, Matt Cassel or LaDainian Tomlinson) cause it sounds sexy! Like I said knowing a team/player might help you draft better in most cases, but it doesn’t mean you’ve build yourself a winning team.
Since anyone who’s ever done fantasy football will be able to tell, expect the unexpected to happen at any given moment. Like Injuries! They’re a part of the game, and they happen all the time. They happen to the best in the game (Brady), all the way down the line to the rookies (Felix Jones and Rashard Mendenhall) and are devastating to a team when they happen. Which is why knowing different players around the league will help make it easier for you to pick backup players to help your team, in case of an injury.
The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie or the old pro (who’s won countless league titles) when it comes to fantasy football. Just have fun, enjoy it and love it. Not everyone starts off winning a championship in their first season, I certainly didn’t! We learn from the mistakes that we all will make playing each season and improve from them. That’s the only way you’ll ever become a better fantasy player! Enjoy and get ready for the 1st of July is only 12 days away, which is when this years fantasy football kicks off.