My First Season in the League

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Illinois State chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

When the girls at work at home all came together and decided to make a fantasy football league I had already decided that I needed to win. Now do I know anything about football? Barely, and that’s because I used to ref intramural flag football, and I casually view NFL team TikTok videos when they pop up on my FYP. But we all knew it would be fun and friendly competition that we could look forward to until February.

Now it’s week 4 and I am constantly checking my ESPN Fantasy app like an addict. Even though I only dropped my first players this week, I am loyal to my team. Before this whole ordeal I had no concrete affiliations to any team, even though that would upset the many Bears fans I know. I made it known to my league that whoever my quarterback was, I would support their team, and I already had a man in mind. Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, and I had to have him.

Draft night comes and I have the first pick. I’m over zoom since I’m back at school, but I’ve been doing research for weeks now. Most of the league is going based on looks or names that they’ve heard in passing conversation. All I care about is that I get Josh Allen within the first three rounds. Finally, someone snatches up their quarterback and I know it’s my time to strike and Josh is mine!

It’s also been seen all over, my time line at least, that woman are taking over the league in some capacity or another. Whether that be running their own leagues, like ours, or having WAGs (wives and girlfriends) drafting for husbands and boyfriends. It keeps things interesting and entertaining for anyone participating.

Now we’ve just finished week 3, I’m up 2-1 and Josh hasn’t failed me yet. I have also bought my first piece of merchandise to solidify my choice; a young gentleman’s large t-shirt from Old Navy. The arm holes may be a bit snug, but it does the job to cheer on my quarterback. I haven’t been able to catch a game yet being in Bear country and all, but one of these days I will ask the local bar to turn on the Bills game.

Going into week 5 and we’ve just entered the Bye weeks, now being unfamiliar with how this worked I had to get drop a couple players from my team who weren’t cutting it anymore and that was unfortunate, I wanted to stay loyal through and through. It’s all about strategy, but it’s also luck in some cases when you have absolutely no clue what’s going on. As the weeks roll over it keeps getting more stressful as I have to shuffle players and keep track of who’s on and off. On top of all this I can’t spend every waking moment looking at my phone and have homework and a job I have to do!

My hope is that in a couple months I can write a follow up article telling you all that I have won some ugly trophy from the dollar store and all the bragging rights to fuel my ego until March Madness starts (I also don’t watch college basketball). This has become the best decision my coworkers and I have ever made.