Fantasy player enjoys the game despite losses

Standing in front of his Fantasy drafting board, sophomore Alex Rounds shared his experience with Fantasy Football and the ups and downs of the game.

Each time a team or league is created, a player starts with the Fantasy draft, and this was no different with Rounds’ league.

“I had everyone over one afternoon and we had a draft party,” Rounds said. “Each person had 10 minutes on the clock to take your pick. This went on for around five to six hours. It got pretty boring.”

Rounds said that his strategy for selecting the players for his team was not only his own, but from a book that taught him a game strategy, too.

“I had this little book that I purchased for around $15 from Walmart to help choose my team,” Rounds said. “It told you who to draft, like Fantasy 101. I pretty much grabbed the highest ranked player on the board, though.”

Rounds checked his Fantasy team every day but, in the end, the strategy that he used didn’t help him win his match-ups against the rest of his league, as he placed 13th out of 14 in his league.

“The fact that I lost every week was kind of disappointing,” Rounds said.

Though he lost, Rounds still enjoyed playing Fantasy and competing against his friends.

“Talking trash is probably the best part,” Rounds said. “[The fact that] all of us are such close friends made us different from other leagues. It was a pretty light atmosphere [but] it got competitive at the end.”

Junior finds success in Fantasy Football league

As he sat down to watch the NFL football game each Sunday, junior Brennan Mense checked his Fantasy Football team and score report. Fantasy Football provided a means to not only watch the games, but to be involved in them by choosing the players to build his ideal team. The points scored by the player in the actual games added to his total score for weekly match-ups against the friends within the league.

Mense said that he got involved with Fantasy because he saw that those around him already played.

“My dad has played Fantasy for years and so have my friends, so I thought, why not play too?” Mense said.

After taking up Fantasy Football, Mense worked to develop a strategy for the draft, one of the most difficult parts of the Fantasy experience.

“Early on, my strategy was to get the best player available,” Mense said. “Then after the best were gone, I went position by position and once everything was filled, I just tried to fill the bench.”

Along with drafting, Mense said it takes work to maintain a team.

“Watching your players and bye-weeks are hard,” Mense said. “You have to do a lot of line up shuffling… which can be a pain.”

Mense checked his Fantasy team almost every day and placed first in his league during the regular season, but lost the championship game. Mense said the best part was winning each week.

“[My favorite part] of Fantasy is Monday morning when you just kicked your friend’s butt,” Mense said. “Especially if he had a bad week.”