What's Normal? - Do you play Fantasy Football? (1 Viewer)

[Psychopav]

Played from 1989 to 2019. I loved it and I'm good not playing any more.

I just hope my beloved Bears get good soon or I might need to go back to it!

 

[nirad3]

Been doing it for many years and don't see myself stopping for anything.

In a bunch of dynasties, handful of redrafts, one guillotine and a bunch of $5 best balls.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Still play in several leagues with various groups of friends (some crossover)

1 Dynasty
1 Keeper
1 Redraft
1 Best Ball
Weekly DFS with friends

I don’t spend much time on draft prep / in season management anymore. I still watch all the games though

 

[Tom Servo]

started in 91... very basic scoring. peak was about 15-20 years when i had about 15 teams. now down to 5

1 ffpc (from 2)
2 dynasty
1 keeper
1 redraft

You should add some best balls in there.

What's best ball?

My left one.

The one you impregnated your wife with?

 

[Chaos34]

First league was TDs only, 1986, 6 team league ran by a guy who wrote one of the first programs for scoring rotisserie baseball. VisiCalc ftw. He thought fantasy football could be bigger than fantasy baseball and regrets not making a career of it. Sells hot tubs now. That league lasted into the early 90s and stopped.

Then the internet and SandBox happened and FF became my favorite hobby. I loved that site for including IDPs and after a few years I was writing IDP content at FFToday. I mostly plagiarized Jene Bramel from this site. I also founded what I think could be the first big play idp redraft. Defense as important as offense, 22 starters. It's in its 22nd season, but I quit all FF in 2015. Lots of reasons. Then in 2021 a buddy here asked if I would fill a vacancy in a league that had been around since the 90s. I did and I sucked. Then last year I joined another league here, put some more effort into it and I didn't suck, but I didn't win. Finally this year I got a spot in the big redraft I started and I'm having fun with it. Three leagues, some best balls, dabbling in dfs. I won't add more. I hope.

Happy football season everybody.

 

[Terminalxylem]

No, gave it up years ago and life has been much better since.

How does not playing make your life "better"? Serious question.

I enjoy watching the games more when I'm not focused on individual performances/scoring metrics. I understand others are different, and having a fantasy stake in the games enhances the experience for many/most fans. For me it was an unwelcomed distraction - same as when I used to gamble. The worst thing for me is watching with a group of guys who are constantly talking about their fantasy teams. I'm better at ignoring it now, but it drives home for me how happy I am not to have that going on in my head when I'm watching a game.

Agree 100%. While listening to guys seated behind me at the US Open lament every point of a match, because it impacted gambling odds, I realized how much this stuff detracts from sports. And it's not just the people obsessing about their potential wins/losses - everyone in earshot suffers, too.

I played fantasy football for about a decade, but quit ~20 years ago, and never regret the decision. In general, much less invested in sports as I get older, which creates time to do a lot of other stuff.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I'm surprised that there are so many people on a fantasy football website playing fantasy football. Who could have predicted that?

 

[Keerock]

I'm surprised that there are so many people on a fantasy football website playing fantasy football. Who could have predicted that?

I knew this comment was coming. FWIW... What's Normal? is bigger than the FFA

 

[Da Guru]

First year playing FF was 1989. First draft pick ever was Icky Woods after he scored 15 tDs his rookie season. Blew out his knee. the second or third game my first year.

From 1 team, to a high of 5 teams I have settled back down to one team the last 5 years. Also I used to play in a league that was a 1000.00 entry and the payouts were high. So were the highs and lows of watching..ruined many a Sunday.

Just play in more of a fun league now 100 bucks entry and enjoy it more.

 

[fantasy stud]

I thought I was a pioneer of fantasy football until I read this thread starting a league in 1995. Back when we used the newspaper to calculate our scores and our free agent system was by calling the commissioner at 7 pm on Fridays. We had a cool league from 95-2020 where we kept up to 4 years worth of contracts and we traded draft picks. Sadly, there were only a few of us originals left and the new people weren't very exciting. So we let it kinda die during the covid year. I'm still in a generic work league one for a few bucks. I don't take it very seriously. I spend under an hour preparing for the draft and basically just pick guys I like. I've had more success than I really should with that method.

 

[Zigg]

Don’t think I could name 10 RBs.

 

[snellman]

4 leagues, all local, 3 live drafts.....other one is a work league we do on yahoo.

I'm getting to the point where I don't research much anymore. I can't really watch a ton of football either cuz I have kids doing a ton of stuff. I continue to do the leagues for two reasons. First, I know all the people in all my leagues, so it's a social thing. And second, I can still be fairly competitive with minimal research because of the tools available......I know some don't like that aspect, but let's be honest, a good portion of FF players are middle aged dudes with crazy schedules.

I'll probly continue in the leagues I'm in for the foreseeable future. That said, I've lost quite a bit of interest in the NFL, in general over the years.......I can't pinpoint the reason, other than it just doesn't mean as much to me as it used to.

I don't know if it is a schedule thing, age thing or something else, but I am in the same situation. As I get older, I find myself watching and caring more about baseball than football. I will usually have a game on every night of the week. I think it is partially because baseball is easier to listen to. I can just have it on as background noise and not have to be glued to the TV for every play. I know you don't have to be for football either, but I just doesn't seem as enjoyable to "not watch" especially after baseballs rule changes.

 

[Todem]

EST 1988

 

[gianmarco]

4 leagues, all local, 3 live drafts.....other one is a work league we do on yahoo.

I'm getting to the point where I don't research much anymore. I can't really watch a ton of football either cuz I have kids doing a ton of stuff. I continue to do the leagues for two reasons. First, I know all the people in all my leagues, so it's a social thing. And second, I can still be fairly competitive with minimal research because of the tools available......I know some don't like that aspect, but let's be honest, a good portion of FF players are middle aged dudes with crazy schedules.

I'll probly continue in the leagues I'm in for the foreseeable future. That said, I've lost quite a bit of interest in the NFL, in general over the years.......I can't pinpoint the reason, other than it just doesn't mean as much to me as it used to.

I don't know if it is a schedule thing, age thing or something else, but I am in the same situation. As I get older, I find myself watching and caring more about baseball than football. I will usually have a game on every night of the week. I think it is partially because baseball is easier to listen to. I can just have it on as background noise and not have to be glued to the TV for every play. I know you don't have to be for football either, but I just doesn't seem as enjoyable to "not watch" especially after baseballs rule changes.

This is me.

Baseball and soccer now.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

No, I quit a while back. The main reason why I stopped is because it was ruining my enjoyment of the game. Whenever I would watch, all I paid attention to was individual players on my or my opponent's roster. I enjoy football more when I can just follow the game itself and cheer for outcomes that benefit my favorite team.

If I lived in a state with legal sports betting, I would probably toss down $10-$20 bets on nearly every meaningless TNF game to make it a little more interesting. Otherwise I find that I really don't need any extra motivation.

 

[ProstheticRGK]

I stopped playing around 4-5 years ago. Just got to be too much: 5 different teams, daily fantasy, survivor pools. Quit everything and went to just being a fan. I enjoyed it.

This year for some reason when they asked if I wanted to be in the work leagur, I said ‘yes’. Had my first draft in a long time yesterday. Drafted from the 12 spot. I should’ve stayed retired. My teams sucks.

 

[nirad3]

Been doing it for many years and don't see myself stopping for anything.

In a bunch of dynasties, handful of redrafts, one guillotine and a bunch of $5 best balls.

Since I just submitted my lineups.... it's 12 dynasties, 5 redrafts, 1 guillotine and 14 best balls (one for bragging rights on another FF site, the rest were $5 entries on FFPC)

 

[Pip's Invitation]

No, I quit a while back. The main reason why I stopped is because it was ruining my enjoyment of the game. Whenever I would watch, all I paid attention to was individual players on my or my opponent's roster. I enjoy football more when I can just follow the game itself and cheer for outcomes that benefit my favorite team.

I root for the Eagles first, my fantasy players second. I don't pay attention to who is on my opponents' teams and I don't check the scores of my fantasy games until just before SNF. This helps the experience not get ruined by fantasy.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I don't pay attention to who is on my opponents' teams and I don't check the scores of my fantasy games until just before SNF. This helps the experience not get ruined by fantasy

I can't help but notice how my own players are doing but I'm with you as far as my opponents. I consider that something I have no control over, so I try not to even notice who he has playing, especially while my home team is playing.

 

[Brunell4MVP]

Quit years ago. I was doing it way way back when we had to open the newspaper to get stats so we could see if we won or lost. No internet. Which also made the draft more fun because there were no mocks or prepared lists ... you had to know what was going on. Now a bad FF owner can do just fine.

Loved the drafts. After that it was a time suck. Thursday messed it up for sure because it sped up the free agent process. I think the league becoming more pass oriented and less abiout RBs also made it less interesting ... at least for me. Used to be RBs were your first 2 picks and they typically got you solid points. Now it's about TEs and WRs ... sort of like the NFL

 

[nirad3]

Quit years ago.

Username checks out.

 

[Psychopav]

Anyone remember when the Nando Times was a game changer for getting stats? It was like finally the internet is actually useful for something!

Guess that's not too long before cheatsheets.net came online and changed the game forever

 

[nirad3]

Anyone remember when the Nando Times was a game changer for getting stats? It was like finally the internet is actually useful for something!

Guess that's not too long before cheatsheets.net came online and changed the game forever

My first league relied upon USA Today because we had owners all over the country and we needed a consistent source for stats. I mean, ESPN.com was a thing but I guess not everyone had reliable internet at the time

 

[Gr00vus]

I don't pay attention to who is on my opponents' teams and I don't check the scores of my fantasy games until just before SNF. This helps the experience not get ruined by fantasy

I can't help but notice how my own players are doing but I'm with you as far as my opponents. I consider that something I have no control over, so I try not to even notice who he has playing, especially while my home team is playing.

Eventually I stopped playing FF because I came to the realization I didn't want to be so involved with performances of people I had no control over for a hobby. There's enough of that in my life already, the extra stress wasn't worth it. I tried to zen it, but just couldn't pull it off. If I'm spending time and effort on something, I'm not capable of just throwing up my hands and being o.k. with whatever happens after that.

 

[Chemical X]

can you all please post your roosters?

 

[dkp993]

Absolutely. My 20+yr in person auction draft is my Christmas morning.

 

[Corporation]

I play, but mainly just for the social aspect of it. Have a league here, one I started 30 years ago with high school friends, and another long term dynasty league with some other guys here.

 

[AAABatteries]

Drafted from the 12 spot. I should’ve stayed retired. My teams sucks.

 

[zamboni]

Quit years ago. I was doing it way way back when we had to open the newspaper to get stats so we could see if we won or lost. No internet. Which also made the draft more fun because there were no mocks or prepared lists ... you had to know what was going on. Now a bad FF owner can do just fine.

The bolded, in particular, irks me to no end given how much time I spend staying on top of everything. Yet I soldier on anyway.

 

[urbanhack]

1994 to 2019

2022 to present

I took a few years off after switching jobs and moving to the west coast. I now play in only 1 league instead of 4.

-hack

 

[Drunken knight]

nice week 1:

49ers looked very good

Won 4/5 ff games

3 high scores (1 in FFPC; ranked 300)

2 3rd highest ( lost the one by 9 without kelce)

 

[Joe Bryant]

Same. Thought I'd be in the big minority here but I guess not.

Really?

From reading the FFA, I'm surprised 70+% do play.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Now, fantasy soccer.... that's a different story.

Can you elaborate?

 

[gianmarco]

Same. Thought I'd be in the big minority here but I guess not.

Really?

From reading the FFA, I'm surprised 70+% do play.

Maybe not competitively, per se, but I would guess a lot are at least involved in a work or long standing friend league. I would have guessed 85-90%, but it seems more are in the same boat as me and gave it up completely over last few years.

 

[gianmarco]

Now, fantasy soccer.... that's a different story.

Can you elaborate?

Sure. I've gotten into watching soccer much more than NFL now. Schedule wise, it works better and games are a known length of time. Lots of options available to watch now that didn't use to be the case.

Several years ago, in order to familiarize myself with the players and teams, I joined a league with some people here and it was a ton of fun. Pros and cons as well given volume of games and turnover, but I overall found it to be enjoyable. I'm not doing it currently after stopping it as well a couple years ago, but I would do that again before I do FF.

 

[FBG26]

Started playing in 2000 or 2001, played a bunch of leagues until 2011ish and stopped cold turkey. I don't miss it one bit. It was more work then enjoyment. As other mentioned, Thursday games was part of it. The other part is that I was looking at stats all day Sunday instead of just enjoying the games.

 

[Gally]

My first league relied upon USA Today because we had owners all over the country and we needed a consistent source for stats. I mean, ESPN.com was a thing but I guess not everyone had reliable internet at the time

The problem with the USA Today was that sometimes the stats didn't come the next day because the games ended too late. It made you delay another day for results. We used the LA Times as we were all in California so that was the best source to use on Monday morning.

My buddy used to pay his 50 cents to get an LA Times from the newsrack but then he would take only the sports page out and leave the rest of the paper in there. I finally talked him into taking out the whole paper and leaving the rest on top. That way some schmuck that paid his 50 cents didn't get screwed out of the sports section..hahahaha

 

[Leroy Hoard]

My buddy used to pay his 50 cents to get an LA Times from the newsrack but then he would take only the sports page out and leave the rest of the paper in there. I finally talked him into taking out the whole paper and leaving the rest on top. That way some schmuck that paid his 50 cents didn't get screwed out of the sports section

Yeah, that was a **** move by him. I used to pull out the sports section afterwards and leave the rest for my coworkers to read. I remember one guy complaining that the sports section was always missing. I pointed to the news stand and told him to quit being a cheapass.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Sure. I've gotten into watching soccer much more than NFL now. Schedule wise, it works better and games are a known length of time. Lots of options available to watch now that didn't use to be the case.

Several years ago, in order to familiarize myself with the players and teams, I joined a league with some people here and it was a ton of fun. Pros and cons as well given volume of games and turnover, but I overall found it to be enjoyable. I'm not doing it currently after stopping it as well a couple years ago, but I would do that again before I do FF.

Thanks. I've always wondered why Fantasy Soccer isn't way more popular than it is.

 

[Andrew74]

No, gave it up years ago and life has been much better since.

This is me, too. I “retired” 3 years ago. I’m way too intense about winning, so my life is less stressful now. I also enjoy watching football more since I don’t care, save my team winning. Now that Brady has retired, I don’t even have hate-watching either.

 

[shuke]

Felt great a few years ago to get down to 1 league. Now somehow I'm back up to 3. Tonight's Tuesday night waiver wire overanalysis and anxiety reminds me why I need to just let it all go.

 

[nirad3]

My first league relied upon USA Today because we had owners all over the country and we needed a consistent source for stats. I mean, ESPN.com was a thing but I guess not everyone had reliable internet at the time

The problem with the USA Today was that sometimes the stats didn't come the next day because the games ended too late. It made you delay another day for results. We used the LA Times as we were all in California so that was the best source to use on Monday morning.

My buddy used to pay his 50 cents to get an LA Times from the newsrack but then he would take only the sports page out and leave the rest of the paper in there. I finally talked him into taking out the whole paper and leaving the rest on top. That way some schmuck that paid his 50 cents didn't get screwed out of the sports section..hahahaha

Maybe 4-5 years ago when I'd go to lunch during the work week I'd grab a newspaper to read the sports page while I ate. A few times I had forgotten to check to see if the sports page was in there, and I got to the place I was eating and it was gone. Man that chapped my hide.

 

[Gally]

My first league relied upon USA Today because we had owners all over the country and we needed a consistent source for stats. I mean, ESPN.com was a thing but I guess not everyone had reliable internet at the time

The problem with the USA Today was that sometimes the stats didn't come the next day because the games ended too late. It made you delay another day for results. We used the LA Times as we were all in California so that was the best source to use on Monday morning.

My buddy used to pay his 50 cents to get an LA Times from the newsrack but then he would take only the sports page out and leave the rest of the paper in there. I finally talked him into taking out the whole paper and leaving the rest on top. That way some schmuck that paid his 50 cents didn't get screwed out of the sports section..hahahaha

Maybe 4-5 years ago when I'd go to lunch during the work week I'd grab a newspaper to read the sports page while I ate. A few times I had forgotten to check to see if the sports page was in there, and I got to the place I was eating and it was gone. Man that chapped my hide.

My buddy lives in southern California. Maybe he is still doing it....hahahaha