Fantasy football creates friendly competition among students

Managing a football team has its responsibilities, such as choosing who makes the team, selecting which players get to play and which ones do not. And just when the perfect team is built, an injury ruins everything.

It’s the responsibilities of the more than 20 million people in America currently playing or who have played fantasy football as it enters its third week in full swing alongside the NFL regular season.

At the University of South Dakota, people play in leagues with friends from campus, old high school friends and with family members.

Senior Sam Parkinson plays in a league with his USD friends. He said the reason he plays fantasy football is the competitive edge his friends have. It’s just like the fun one experiences when placing bets in satta king 786 games.

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“I really like the enjoyment out of goofing around and competing against my friends who decided to play,” Parkinson said. “We talk a little trash amongst each other and it kind of gives you a chance to relive your athletic days or glory days.”

While some like Parkinson get heavily invested in fantasy football, others like sophomore Tanner Comp, an Outdoors Club member, enjoy the game for the pure sport of the game.

I enjoy playing fantasy football and betting on games at bonusetu.com. I will double check players each week and aim to win, but I am not too serious about it, he said.

With its rising popularity, fantasy football is changing from a male-oriented game and crossing the gender threshold.

First-year Madison Michels said it was peer pressure from her family to get involved in the game.

“My family thought it would be a good way for us to stay connected,” she said.

Being a fantasy football newcomer, Michels said she has already become hooked.

“It’s addicting because you want to see how your team is doing,” she said. “And you can talk smack to other people, too.”

While Parkinson, Comp and Michels said they play in leagues for a variety of reasons such as for the social environment, some USD students see a different side to the gambling game.

“I don’t understand the obsession with it,” sophomore Ashley Rook said. “Why can’t you have fun just watching the games without having to place bets on it?”

Sophomore Rebecca Borkowski sees fantasy football in a different light.

“I get the obsession,” Borkowski said. “Girls have Pinterest, guys have fantasy football.”

Both Rook and Borkowski said they have never played fantasy football. Junior Lucas VanErman, who has played the game in the past, said he declined to play this year for a variety of reasons.

“I don’t know a whole lot about football and sports, and I didn’t want to lose money on the buy-in,” he said.

The rivalries built between friends and family through fantasy football can have major implications as well. Fantasy league members enjoy company during their drafts, making trades and screaming at television sets on the weekends. Parkinson and his friends even turn the results into embarrassments.

“We have a rule that the team that finishes last gets their team named by the winner of the league for the next season,” Parkinson said. “We even have names for both trophies, but they are not newspaper appropriate.”

(Photo Illustration. Chris Timmerman / The Volante)