This year, my younger sister and I received an offer to join our older cousin’s fantasy football league. I had always wanted to try it, mostly because my competitive nature meant I would love to compete against my friends and family. I was super excited to compete, but I quickly realized I only knew players from my team, the San Francisco 49ers, and a few of the league’s biggest names.
At the same time, my cousin was asking us to try to invite other friends to the league because her own friends weren’t exactly interested in something they knew nothing about. While we eventually formed a league, it ended up being about half guys.Â
It’s also very common to have some sort of bet going, like $10 per person to join and the winner gets it all. I was willing to pitch in a bit, but my cousin said she didn’t think her friends who did join would want to, no matter how small the amount.Â
Now, for my experience so far.Â
I was ecstatic to join a league and honestly wanted to tell everyone about it. I noticed that the girls who weren’t into football still didn’t care much, while the guys always wanted to see my team. I felt like I was being sized up every time, even though my team had nothing to do with theirs. Going into Week 14 of the NFL season, I hold a strong record of 9-4, putting my team in second place in a 14-person league. I’m pretty proud of this standing, and I have to admit that I’ve been learning a lot about the NFL along the way. Since there’s only one game per week for each of my players, the team, time, and place they’re playing really matters. I could have the best quarterback in the league but if he’s up against the best defense he might not get me as many fantasy points. That’s another thing—fantasy points are not the same as real points during games, though someone scoring real points does equate to a lot of fantasy points.Â
Throughout this whole process, my boyfriend, who has been in a long-standing fantasy league for both football and basketball, wanted to know all about how my team was doing and gave me guidance along the way. He’s always been a big basketball fan, so he was ecstatic when draft day for fantasy basketball came around. I jokingly asked if I could join his basketball league, and they needed one more person, so I joined a 10-person league as the only girl. So far, my 1-5 record hasn’t quite made me stand out, but I’m trying!
I hope to continue in fantasy leagues, but I worry about the lack of female participation and overall feelings about having girls in predominantly male leagues. For example, someone in my hall told me, “One time my sister joined our [league], but that’s it. It’s usually just me and my buddies.”Â
Without a boyfriend, I wouldn’t be in a basketball league, and without the help of some guy friends, I wouldn’t be in a football league either. This has led me to be more invested in watching sports, which is a good way to bring people together. I hope that over the years more girls find leagues to be a part of, because it truly is really fun and addicting, especially for a competitive person.