Before the National Football League (NFL) kicks off the season, friends get together and create fantasy football leagues. In the halls of Benilde St. Margaret’s, fantasy football has been creating quite a buzz.

For those not in the know, fantasy football is when people get together and create a league. Each league member then drafts players from teams in the NFL and keeps track of their statistics. The statistics numbers are converted into points given to the player. For example a running back gets 100 rushing yards, which would be 10 fantasy points. Each week, the members are paired up to face off against each other and whoever scores more points wins the matchup for that week. “Well, the best fantasy football players are the players that know the NFL by heart,” senior Oliver Bastian said.

Occasionally there is a reward for the team who did best like a cash prize or a free meal, or a punishment for the loser, which can range anywhere from eating hot peppers, to shaving their hair, or even getting locked in a dog cage and getting condiments poured on them. The fantasy football league run by the BSM football team is having the loser of the league participate in the “One Chip Challenge,” a chip seasoned with Carolina Reaper and ghost pepper extract.

Fantasy Football is an appeal to many, some not even football fans. Although it is called fantasy football, the game itself is all numbers and strategy rather than physical exercise. While drafting, every pick is a gamble because it is unknown how well that player will do that year. The player could get injured, leaving zeros on the board for many weeks if not the rest of the season, or he could just have a bad year. Every week, teams compare different players to create the best team possible. Common questions asked for each player are “What team are they playing against?” “How does the opponent rank?” or “Are there injuries on either team that could help or hurt his performance?”

Many leagues are an annual tradition. Friends start the leagues as grade schoolers and continue to participate every year up until senior year of high school or maybe even longer. These leagues keep old friend groups in touch through a fun and easy competition. “The league was started when I was in third grade. And it was just a bunch of random kids from my old school. We all broke off into our own groups, but like this is a group that we all come together and we have a draft party every year. And that’s basically the reason I do it,” Bastian said.