Diary of a Fantasy Football Widow

If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Join ’Em

For the first time in my life, I’m joining a Fantasy Football league. And I have no idea what I’m getting into…

It’s not that I don’t know the rules of football, or can’t wrap my head around the concept of fantasy sports. I’m not anti-football or anti-sports, but I just never really “got” the whole sports fan mentality, of being so invested in the outcome of things you have no impact on and caring so deeply about people you’ll never meet. To me, fantasy seems like the ultimate form of fandom—caring not just about one team of players, but the entire league. And that’s a foreign feeling to me.

I grew up in Connecticut, where a total lack of professional sports teams in any of the major leagues creates splintered fandoms, geographically split based on proximity to Boston or New York. For those who were fans, it ran deep; plenty of friendships and relationships hinge upon alignment when it comes to Yankees/Red Sox, Giants/Patriots, Knicks/Celtics or Rangers/Bruins. My mom and dad fell on opposite sides of Yankees/Red Sox debate, and joked that they had two kids so the household would balance out: one kid for each team.

But I wasn’t in that camp. I wasn’t a super fan of any team.

Growing up, we’d attend local minor league baseball games, but as a family activity more than as fans. I had had a signed poster of the Hartford Wolfpack goalie, Henrik Lundqvis, in my locker (before he got called up to the Rangers). But that was it.

The one team most Nutmeggers rallied around was UConn Basketball, and the seemingly indomitable Women’s team in particular. They were our team. We knew the players, and their stats and backstories. It wouldn’t be strange or rude to leave a social event early to “watch our girls.” (When I left Connecticut, I was shocked to find that other states didn’t feel the same way about women’s college basketball, but that’s a topic for another column.)

I worried I wouldn’t be able to summon the passion to watch an entire day’s worth of football games, or to remember facts about so many players. I wondered if I would be as interested in injury and arrest news as I needed to be to keep my team up to date.

But here I am. My fiance is a fantasy football fan, and I don’t want to spend Sundays alone, so I’m diving in.

I downloaded the apps—ESPN, Yahoo and Fantasy Life. I followed the analysts on Twitter. I‘m reading the articles. I’m learning the names and acronyms. (OMG. WTF. PPR?) I’m going from Fantasy Football Widow to Fantasy Football… player? person? owner?

Throughout the season, I’m going to share some of the lessons I’m learning—about fantasy football, sports fandom and, I don’t know, life?—on the Fantasy Life App Blog.

Go Team.

The Fantasy Life app is the best sports community app to talk fantasy football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WWE, MMA, Nascar, golf, eSports, or anything else you would hear about at a sports bar. Find or post funny memes, polls, GIFs, or join chats about your teams. Matthew Berry (ESPN, The Talented Mr. Roto), the face of fantasy football co-founded the app as a place for fans to chat about sports, get fantasy advice, or find sleepers for your team. Find Matthew on the app @matthewberry

Download the iPhone or Android app at fantasylifeapp.com. Also available in theApp Store and Google Play.