One of the most exciting parts about fall and football season is of course fantasy football. Tons of football fans participate, and it’s plenty of fun to draft a team and compete against your friends and others in hopes of  bringing home money or bragging rights.

Many GHS students participate in fantasy football as well and participate in heated debates and conversations with their friends and family members.

Senior Miguel Smith always plays and has enjoyed it this year so far. “I have a league with my whole friend group and we’ve been playing for years,” Smith said. “It makes my Sundays a lot more interesting when I get to watch my players play and I get together with my friends to watch games as well.”

Each year there are both surprising players who breakout, and said to be star players that do the opposite. This could be due to injuries, or just playing badly. This is one of the most frustrating parts for fantasy participants, and could make or break your chances of winning the league. 

Junior Jordan Gruel has had no injury problems so far. “My team has been solid so far this year,” Gruel said. “All my players have been consistent which is really important in fantasy football. I’ve also made some roster moves that have made my team better and I think I have a good chance at winning my league.” 

Senior Sam Sommerfeld has dealt with injuries all season so far. “It’s been a rough year to say the least,” Sommerfeld said. “My players are mostly healthy at the moment, but early on my best contributors were injured which has cost me lots of games and my record is not good at all.” 

Senior Brett Shumway has been more fortunate than Sommerfeld. “I think I have a good chance at the championship because I’ve had lots of players step up,” Shumway said..”Dalvin Cook is definitely one of the best, if not the best, player to have, and DK Metcalf surpassed my expectations and has been awesome this year.” 

Even though Smith, Sommerfeld, and Shumway have been playing fantasy football for a while, it has gotten increasingly popular over the years and more and more football fans have joined. 

Sophomore Izaiah Correa is a fantasy newcomer. “This is only my second year playing and I’m really into it,” Correa said. “I have a league with my friends and we really enjoy playing and we often watch games together.” 

As Smith stated, participating makes your Sundays a lot more interesting as you have more football games to be engaged in than just your favorite team. This is likely one of the reasons it continues to grow.  “I have been playing fantasy football for four years with my family, and a few years past with some friends,” senior Mackenzy Dziatkiewicz said. “I enjoy playing because I love watching football and it is lots of fun to create a team of players that you like, and it gets me even more excited for the season.” 

Even though 2020 has taken many things away from us, it hasn’t taken the NFL and fantasy football. The NFL has one of the strongest fan bases in all of sports, and it’s no doubt that fantasy football is a heavy contributor to that and it’s awesome to see football fans happy and engaged as ever in the season due to no cancellations. The finale of fall and fantasy football is upon us, so there’s no doubt the tension of fantasy owners is going to increase, and the excitement of the COVID NFL season will go up as well.