Fantasy Football In A Coronavirus World
With cardboard fans at sporting events, empty bars, masks, and social distancing it’s safe to say that 2020 has been unprecedented. Nothing will be back to normal until a vaccine is released to the public. BUT football is coming back baby.
That’s right, after a long grueling 8 months the most exciting sport is (hopefully) returning. With football returning that also means fantasy football is back. Fantasy football is the game where you can draft your god squad team and bet against your friends every week and ultimately fight to be crowned the champion of your league.
With training camps wrapping up and fantasy drafts preparing to commence, leagues are also on doubt going to be impacted. With the season almost under way, there are still unique challenges that could really really and I mean really make you have a frustrating season for your team and league all together – aka the pandemic.
For example, in my league we have a $100 buy in, I drafted Christian McCaffrey with the first overall pick in my league’s draft. If my guy Christian, the reigning NFL Fantasy Football player of the year, contracts or comes in contact with COVID-19 and has to sit out 2-3 weeks, then I am ultimately screwed and should just accept defeat as a whole.
Times are weird. Guys will be sick and injuries will be more likely due to lack of an offseason. This will definitely be the weirdest season by far.
The main point of having a Fantasy league is to have that social aspect you normally wouldn’t have. In my case, I get to see my buddies that I grew up with. These are buddies that I haven’t seen in months since we all moved to different cities for college. I play with my friends but a lot of people play with their families, friends, and even coworkers.
For me, our fantasy football draft is almost like a national holiday. All my buddies from high-school stop what they’re doing to come back to Austin from their college towns and get together to catch up, drink, and have a fantasy football draft. But with these unusual times that gets harder to plan and do.
Before COVID-19, we planned to have the draft in Las Vegas where we can all go have a draft and lose money gambling. But obviously with the virus still in full effect that couldn’t happen. The good thing is that hope is not lost! With the power of Zoom we were able to have all 12 of us in a call to commence a draft. Seeing and interacting with your friends in a virtual setting isn’t always ideal but it’s better than nothing. Trash talk still applies and ceremonies and rituals still can carry on, plus it keeps everyone safe and healthy.
COVID-19 really has changed our day-to-day life, but we still have texting and calling where we can brag and send mean messages to our opponents about how garbage their team is and how bad they did that week. FIFA World Cup 2022