Fantasy Football Season: Not Just for the Guys
by Sarah

I've said it before and I'll say it again: fantasy football isn't just for men anymore.

This year I don't play in one single league that doesn't have another woman in it. (Now you want to know how many leagues I'm in don't you? Fine. If you must know I have seven teams. Yes, even Yahoo Fantasy Sports thought that seven was too many.)

Look, I know there are a ton of women out there that don't understand why anybody plays fantasy sports. In fact, there is a website dedicated to Women Against Fantasy Sports, it seems to be a support group of sorts for fantasy football/baseball/hockey/basketball widows. I guess I can sort of understand where they are coming from - sort of. It is difficult for me to imagine wanting to be anywhere besides at the game on a Sunday, let alone shopping for furniture or apple picking or something equally torturous.

I'll let you in on a secret. Fantasy sports make watching the games more fun. I'm not just saying that either. Before I started playing fantasy football I loved watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. The other games meant very little to me until the playoffs started. After my first fantasy draft I found myself caring deeply about Robert Smith and the Minnesota Vikings' running game. Then almost every game was fun to watch.

As a bonus, back in my pre SAHM/blogger/writer life I was in sales. I worked in electronics. A lot of my clients were men and suddenly we had something in common besides just capacitors and power supplies.

For most committed women I would say that fantasy sports can be fun for you as a couple. In my case, my husband thinks playing fantasy football is like doing accounting for fun. (Maybe I should give him the link to WAFS.)

Here is something you probably don't think about much - roto sports are a great way to network. Scoff if you will, but I play fantasy football with black belts, people who work in the Senate, editors, CIA agents, ladies who get to interview Barack Obama, women who write for PBS, and other heavy hitters. I'm not going to lie. I would have never gotten this job writing for BlogHer if I hadn't been hanging out with Erin, and while that isn't how we met, I've been playing fantasy football with her for years. In fact, if you get a chance you should ask her how badly I beat her last week.

Heh.

Trash talk aside (and don't discount the trash talk, that is one of the best parts) I recommend you give fantasy football a chance. You might be surprised how fun it really is.

 

 

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.

Submitted by Sarah (view blog) on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 20:15

Comments

 

I love this post!

My husband is on the phone talking fantasy baseball with his boy from back home right now.  The passion they have for it the cutest thing in the world!  And you are right about the networking.  For him it's not so much networking but it gives him reason to keep phoning his friends and bs and stuff. So, this year I got in on the action and joined an elimination fantasy football league.  I am not ready for a draft - maybe next year. 

Submitted by L16 on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 22:15
 

Hooray for Fantasy Football! (Unless you had
Tom Brady?)

I'm thrilled every time I find a woman out there who does fantasy football.  I did it for the first time last year, and had a tremendous time.  This year, I'm running a league!  I'm recent to both football watching and fantasy football.  I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm having a blast playing in the league, watching the games, and catching up on the gaps in my knowledge.

I'm also having fun thinking about questions of gender and sports fandom in a larger, more theoretical, social-science sense.

Would love to discuss fantasy football with you and other fans.

- E

elizabethwillse.wordpress.com

Freelance Writer

Submitted by ewillse on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 07:41
 

You don't have to live draft!

L16,

 

Some leagues are autodraft. The host ranks all the players (and you can move them around if you are so inclined) and then you just end with a team you can play with.

 

It is a lot easier than a live draft. Much less pressure.

 

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness
Sarah and the Goon Squad
Draft Day Suit

Submitted by Sarah on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 18:48
 

I Heart Fantasy Sports

I'm in 3 fantasy football leagues, and 2 fantasy hockey leagues.  Well 3 if count the playoff pool.  It's not quite a 50/50 mix of women to men who we play with, but it's close. I'm so geeky about fantasy hockey, that my best friend and I run a pickem league.  And I don't just mean that we are the commissioners.  NHL.com used to have pickem league that we loved, but they stopped carrying it.  So we made one up on our own.  It's a lot of work, mostly for my friend, but it's so much fun.  

You're so right about playing fantasy sports making watching the games more fun.  My partner couldn't have cared less about football until she had her own fantasy team.  Now football is on all day Sunday, accompanied by the laptap with stattracker.   I will say this though, it changes the way you watch the sports, or at least root for them.

 

Submitted by no_I_am_zoe on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 19:46
 

I had Brady

My team can #suckit

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

Submitted by Erin Kotecki Vest on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 23:29
 

Thanks a lot, Sarah...

I started off with one team, just because I wanted to learn more about the game. It definitely makes a difference in how you pay attention.

After your post, however, I signed up for two autodraft leagues. So, now I have three. And I'm currently losing on all fronts, though my son and The Boyfriend seem to think I'm going to win one of my autodraft match ups tonight (Romo and Barber better bring me some points). 

So, Sarah, since you subliminally persuaded me to devote even more time to this venture, and the fall semester has started, I would like some help with my homework. I can call you, yes? :)

And Erin, while I didn't have Tom Brady on any of my teams, I do have LT on two of them. I had the first draft pick in our live draft league and everyone told me, "You have to take LT. Take LT. You want LT." So, I took LT. I know the man is good, but so far, he's not helping me.

 

Disorderly Conduct

Submitted by Valbee on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 16:01
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