Every fall, students across the country reactivate their fantasy football leagues, marking the beginning of their online research, Sundays in front of the television and endless banter and negotiation amongst their peers. Billions of dollars are pooled in blind bets before the start of the NFL season. However, the pride and bragging rights that come with winning are often a greater incentive for fantasy team managers than the cash prize.
Fantasy football is a simulation in which participants become general managers of a football roster. Leagues are formed by a group of participants who agree to compete against each other for at least one season. Each league is headed by a league commissioner in charge of the logistics and setup. Players for a team’s roster are acquired by the team’s manager through a draft, similar to the real NFL draft. The manager select NFL players round by round until their team is filled. Following the draft, teams compete head to head every week. Scoring is based on the performances of a team’s players in their real NFL games. Playoff berths within a fantasy league are determined through regular-season standings, and the league champion is crowned at the end of the season.
LWHS2020FF has been the dominant fantasy football league of the Lick-Wilmerding Class of 2020 for four years. The league was organized by a group of ten students from the Class of 2020 in their freshman year, 2016. For the past four years, he league has consistently been comprised of ten teams. Eight of the ten teams have had the same manager every year.
Since 2016, the stakes have become higher as the buy-in has consistently grown. In the 2016 season, the league had a $0 pool. In 2017, each player had to pay $10 to participate. From there, the buy-in grew to $20 in 2018 and now to $40 in the league’s senior year; there is a $400 pool for this year’s winners. While second and third place receive some portion of the money, the majority of the pool goes to the champion. 2016 and 2017 league trophy holder John Peabody ’20 has amassed $70, while last year’s champion took home $160 in 2018.
LWHS2020FF, despite the high buy-in, is not just about the money. According to four year team manager Gavin Pola ’20, Lick fantasy football “brings the whole group [of league members] closer together.” When asked how he manages to enjoy fantasy football despite never making a playoff berth and placing in the bottom three every year, Pola emphasizes that “it’s not about winning but the friendships you make…the competitive aspect comes from the banter more than the money.”
Two-time champion Peabody offers a slightly different viewpoint on the competitiveness of the league, claiming that “everything is about that pool of money at the end of the season.” Evidently, LWHS2020FF fosters a sense of not only comradery and community but also a powerful financial competitiveness among its members.
Accordingly, what does it take to be crowned champion of LWHS2020FF? What distinguishes the Peabodys from the Polas? According to Peabody, “it takes a certain kind of natural genius to consistently win.” How then might one fare as a newcomer to such a competitive Fantasy Football league? Sebastian Malin ’20, a recent addition to LWHS2020FF, explains that “I had no problems. In my first season, I made the playoffs despite being a newcomer.”
The Fantasy Football draft is perhaps the greatest determinant for a team’s success in a given season. Proper research before the draft is fundamental to winning down the road. A team’s first-round pick might define their entire season.
LWHS2020FF has seen its share of poor first-round picks, the worst of which have come at the number one overall pick. Typically, the draft order, similar to professional football, is in reverse order of the league standings from the previous season. Thus, the worst team from the previous year would have the first overall pick the following year. This method intends to diversify playoffs so that the same teams are not winning or losing every year.
According to Alex Mengarelli ’20, two of the most “infamous picks” in the history of LWHS2020FF both came at the #1 overall pick. In 2017, Josh Raeburn ’20 took Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the first pick. Quarterbacks in fantasy football are most often 6th-12th round picks—after the 60th pick—because quarterback point contributions are all typically the same, so there is no need to take a quarterback early because their difference in value is minimum. Raeburn went on to finish last in the league that year, winning only one game. In 2018, Pola selected Le’veon Bell with the first overall pick, who went on to sit out the entire season due to contract disagreements. Pola went on to finish second to last that season.
With almost a religious zeal, fantasy football leagues adopt their various traditions to which members strictly adhere. While every league has different practices and rituals, most leagues seem to emphasize the process of naming teams. In LWHS2020FF, there is an award at the end of the season that recognizes the best team name for the season. The award is determined by a vote of the league and given to the team that is creative, funny, and incorporates some aspect of their roster or players into the name.
Last year, the award was given to Nick Rubin ’20 with his team name “How I’m McCown,” a play on the popular saying “How Imma Clown” and Rubin’s fantasy quarterback Josh McCown. Fantasy football goes beyond just the domain of online team management; it breeds a culture of its own.
Fantasy football at Lick is not confined to just the LWHS2020FF league. Lick students, teachers, and staff participate in other leagues at Lick or in their other communities. The faculty at Lick even has their own 16 team league. Math Department Head Annie Mehalchick, a newcomer to the faculty league and fantasy football this year, explains her view of the recreation. “I’ve always enjoyed football and just decided to try fantasy football,” she said. “Some faculty are pretty competitive with it.”
Mehalchick hopes that her team, Raging Parrots, can just “keep scoring a lot of points,” despite being 1-2 currently. Charlotte Abbe ’20 remarks on the fantasy scene of the class of ‘20, stating“it’s really funny to see how into fantasy football our grade gets.”
LWHS2020FF has reached its culminating season, likely the final year in which its members will all be together. The money pool is set at $400. The teams have been drafted. Eight team managers are vying for their first-ever championship before they graduate, while two managers are simply yearning to add to their trophy case and total earnings. With the first overall pick, Rubin took Giants running back Saquon Barkley who was recently diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and out for 5-8 weeks. TD Ameritrade analytics projects Marc Eidelhoch ’20 to finish the season atop the standings while Max Beldner ’20 is projected to finish at the bottom. Peabody assures that he is “guaranteed a playoff spot” at the end of the season while Drew Layton ’20 notes the outlook for his team this upcoming season is “not looking too good right now.” The next 15 weeks will determine how these outlooks hold up and who takes home the $340 champion pot and lifetime bragging rights.
