‘Tis the season once again for fantasy football leagues

By Lethbridge Herald on August 18, 2023.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber – Lethbridge Herald

Fall is getting closer and you know what that means? Yup, kids will be going back to school and with that comes the introduction of combined playground/school zones with speed limits reduced year-round. You can read a little more on that topic in Saturday’s column by mayor Blaine Hyggen which you will find on Page A6 tomorrow.

With fall approaching that also means a busier news cycle after a summer which seems to have been particularly slow this year with City Hall, as well as the university and college, being pretty barren for stories.

But for fans of college and U.S. professional football, autumn means it’s time to hunker down in front of television sets or mobile devices to watch our favourite teams in action.

For NFL buffs, it’s also fantasy season and by now throngs of us have picked up at least one expensive magazine so we can scout players for upcoming drafts.

This, my friends, is my favourite time of year being a guy who thrives on fantasy sports leagues. 

In my younger years back in Ontario, we didn’t have fantasy football leagues so we actually had to settle with just actually watching games and I’m wondering now how we occupied our time without focusing on our phones or NFL Access every day of the week making plans for upcoming Sundays. Seems so archaic now as I glance to look at the latest updates from my sports apps as I write this column.

With so many types of leagues and scoring systems, fantasy football can be intimidating for newbies and sometimes frustrating for veterans when some players haven’t recovered from injury for the pre-season games and their status is uncertain moving into the regular season.

In some cases, players may be suspended for parts of an upcoming season – ahem, Alvin Kamara owners – and a person come draft day has to make a decision whether to risk an early pick on an otherwise quality player or hold out to later rounds.

In the case of we in keeper leagues, a player like Kamara – the New Orleans Saints’ top dog running back, can be a source of long internal debate given that he’s been suspended for the first three games due to a legal matter.

Does a person drop a proven commodity to try drafting a player with potentially more upside or do you keep him and hope a back-up can fill the void for those first three games? As veteran fantasy players know, a couple of early losses in a season can be disastrous so a lot rides on drafting strategies.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. After dropping to the basement last year in my league with a bunch of Ontario pals, I’m heading into the fall in a great spot if I draft wisely because I get first pick in every round. 

Unlike many other leagues which use a so-called ‘snake’ draft, ours just goes worst to first in each round. It’s not my preference but I’m not managing the league, a thankless job I took on for many years and which I could never be talked into doing again.

Our draft style does have one benefit in that it can create parity because drafting 12th every round means an owner has to be astute. In a way this rewards failure and penalizes success but it gives everyone a chance to experience the playoffs and keeps people interested. It’s our version of a participation medal, I guess.

After finishing first and second in consecutive years, I blew it last year and drafted with my heart instead of my head, going for raw unproven rookies coming off great final college years instead of picking up some pretty talented castaways. A couple panned out – like Jahan Dotson of the Washington Commanders and Tyler Algier of the Atlanta Falcons while others didn’t – George Pickens of the Steelers being one. My top pick, Breece Hall of the New York Jets went down early with a season-ending knee injury but I’m gambling he’ll bounce back this season so I’m keeping him on the roster. In case he doesn’t show his early flash of brilliance, I’m taking college superstar running back Bijan Robinson first overall when draft day arrives in two weeks.

Fans of college ball will recognize most of the names I just mentioned because when they were in NCAA they were among the best on the field.

Watching college ball to me, as a recent convert, is more exciting than the professional game on either side of the 49th parallel. 

And I try to get in as many games as I can on a Saturday – the teams I’ve developed a particular fondness for being Oregon, Ole Miss and of course the Minnesota Gophers. And out of respect for all my Raymond friends, I do keep an eye on BYU, too.

And as the season nears, every chance I get I’m watching the NFL Network for player updates as well as the TSN and The Score apps for predictions and recommendations from fantasy experts.

I’m not alone by any stretch of the imagination among my peers. We seniors of today aren’t like our parents – we live on our cellphones and for our sports as much as people decades younger. And trust me, we are just as competitive.

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