“I’ve played in 3 different leagues before and even won one! I’m 100% down to join a league again this year!” What did I receive in response to saying this? LAUGHTER from my guy friends. “Awww that’s cute! Goodluck.”
Men. This blog (angry rant) is for you. YES, we knowwwww that men are typically more into football than women. Yea. Okay. We get it. But have you ever thought about the fact that some girls genuinely DO love football? No. Probably not. I will even take the leap to assuming that while you read that question you rolled your eyes at the screen and thought to yourself “women
just THINK that they love football, or say that they love it to look cool”.
The other day at dinner with my friends, 2 of the guys started talking about their fantasy teams and players. My one guy friend who isn’t into football leaned over to me and said “Let’s talk about something else”. My response? “I actually want to hear what they’re saying because I play fantasy too.” His response? “Wait, you play Fantasy Football?” Why is there always the
tone of surprise there? I’ve never understood why men feel as though women cannot grasp the concept of football. Sure, I may not know all the details and stats of the NFL players, but I get the damn gist of it.
I am the first to admit – I am working on understanding everything that encompasses Fantasy Football, and I’m probably not THAT great. Drafting your own team is difficult, and choosing the perfect lineup every week has proved to be frustrating. One week, I bench a player; he scores
28 fantasy points. I add that same player to my lineup the following week; he scores 5 fantasy points.
The other day I had some guy ask me, “So, how did you choose your players on your team? Did you just randomly pick names and hope for the best?” Yeah, that’s exactly how it went. I am just such an incredibly dumb GIRL when it comes to sports that I decided to join a 10-team league
just because I wanted to blow a crisp $20 bill of mine. This guy can’t be serious. I did my research. I didn’t just blindly pick Kenny Golladay and Dalvin Cook because they had cool sounding names.
So why is there a stigma surrounding girls playing Fantasy Football? I have plenty of other girlfriends who are in leagues and run their own teams. It’s not an astounding fact that women can learn the rules and manage a fantasy team each season. I mean, we women manage to
actually rinse our dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher as well as remember to wash our faces every night. Can men say the same?
If you’ve ever seen the show “The League”, it’s about a group of guys who have a Fantasy Football league and each season of the show focuses on a new season of fantasy football. At one point in the show, the guys are short a player in their league. One of the character’s wives
asks to join, and she’s immediately shot down. Eventually, she’s voted in, but I still find it hilarious that that very concept was brought up in the midst of the show. Is this a recurring theme because men don’t want to potentially lose to women in fantasy games?, or is it because
they truly think women don’t or shouldn’t understand football?
Regardless, I’m having a great time playing in fantasy leagues. Each year I learn more and each year I get more and more competitive. I hate losing. I hate seeing players on my bench outscore the players I have in my starting lineup, and I hate when half my roster decides to tear their ACL’s and displace their ribs in the same week. I may not be the league champion this
season, but I’m prepared to go down fighting for as long as I can.
Don’t question why I play the game; question yourself as to why you’re asking me why I’m playing, or why any girl plays. Be honest with yourself, are you afraid to lose to a GIRL? Hmmm…
Oh, and men? Rinse your dishes.