Fantasy Football is a fun hobby that friends of all ages can be a part of. It can cause sibling rivalries and family rivalries and even divide the house. But the fun part about Fantasy Football is the craziness itself.  Many students and teachers play Fantasy Football.  .  Football is The Fantasy sports world has definitely taken off in the last decade with leagues for almost any sport you can think of, but football is the biggest sport league for fantasy players.

IB Coordinator, Jessica McBroom has been playing for 10 years. McBroom said that she used to play in a league with other teachers at the school, “but this year our league just wasn’t able to make it, but most of the time I’ve been playing with teachers from this building.” McBroom said she now plays with some girls on her Rugby team, and some mutual friends, and her husband. McBroom first started playing in random leagues like “Pick em” through Yahoo Sports before she started playing in organized leagues.  McBroom said she enjoys playing it because she likes football and likes sports in general. Her fantasy team allows her to keep track of players on other teams and follow the league in general as opposed to just one team. However this freedom can cause trouble at home

McBroom said, “My team is the Pittsburgh Steelers and my dad doesn’t speak to me when I draft a Baltimore Ravens player on my fantasy team.”

Here’s a quick rundown of how Fantasy Football works. First you have to join a league or create one of your own. Once that happens, the next step is creating a league or team name. After you do that you have a fantasy draft and draft 8 position players and a defense/special teams. Then you draft 6 more players to fill out your team by putting them on the bench. (Some fantasy leagues have different draft rules, but these are the rules for Yahoo Fantasy Football.) Of those 8 starting position players you need a quarterback, 2 wide receivers, 2 running backs, a tight end and flex player. The flex player can either be a running back, a receiver or a tight end. The last 2 positions are kicker and the defense. One reason you need more players on the bench is so when your starter has a bye week you can start someone from your bench or if someone gets hurt, you have a replacement.

Now you are ready to take on your opponent in a fun game of Fantasy Football. You need to know how to score enough points to win. Here’s how the point system works; for each player besides the Kicker or defense if they catch a touchdown or rush for one it is 6 points, for a catch or reception it is one point. You can earn extra points if a receiver or running back gains over 100 total yards. Quarterbacks can earn extra points for passing for or gaining 300 total yards or more. For kickers and the defense they earn points for kicks and PAT’s and defenses earn points for turnovers, sacks and stops on defense. The defense can also earn points for Special Teams plays like a punt return touchdown or a kickoff return touchdown or blocked punts, kicks and other plays of that nature. It is also possible for players to lose points. For example if a player fumbles or if a kicker misses a kicker they usually lose 1 or 2 points. Also quarterbacks can lose points for interceptions as well as fumbles.

The interesting and fun part of the game is that you can choose some of the best players in the league and have a really good team. It’s really cool to see what players your friends have and just the rivalries you make while playing the game.