It’s about that time of the year where my grades take a hit. I — all-of-a-sudden — have more important tasks than reading Moby Dick or writing an article about a CBC star’s fall from grace. I have a new job, and it takes priority.
I have fantasy teams to run. Don’t laugh. It’s important. I own two NBA fantasy teams, and one NHL team. I have no business running the NHL team, but it sort of just happened, so we’ll see how that goes.
But my basketball teams, they are the apple of my eye. I’m coming off a championship season, where Kevin Love led my fantasy team to victory. They say repeating is hard, but I’m confident in the Bill Murray Ballers’ commitment to success.
I’m far from the craziest fantasy team owner. According to an article published by USA Today, there are people who play fantasy sports for a living. They say there is one guy who will end up making $100,000 just off of managing fantasy teams.
They aren’t the only people profiting from it. Websites like Yahoo and ESPN clearly make some money from running these sites and posting advertising, otherwise they simply wouldn’t exist.
But most people aren’t making that much off their leagues. In my league, we’ve yet to put down money. We play for something greater than cold, hard cash. We play for the glory. Sure, some extra money would be nice, but not as nice as the winning the league — this year called the National Benchsitters Corp.
It takes a lot of time to correctly manage a fantasy team. Just ask Andrew Daniels, a men’s rugby player at STU. He has two hockey teams as well as a football team under his control.
“I set my lineups every morning for hockey, and every Thursday afternoon for football. Then, during the evening every day of the week I’ll check how my hockey teams are doing,” said Daniels. “Sundays are when most of the football games are being played for the week, so I’ll have the league page open all day.”
You have to stay on it, too. If you miss one day, it could ruin your whole week.
“I forgot to set one of my hockey lineups yesterday and had 18 points on my bench,” said Daniels. “Not good.”
Daniels is in second of his hockey leagues now. He hasn’t won before, but he thinks this could be his year.
Though I don’t have a whole $10 invested in it, it still makes watching a NBA game on a Friday night even more exciting. Normally I wouldn’t care how the Wizards do, but now I have to support my man John Wall. I may not be making six figures, but when I win a tight matchup, I feel like a millionaire. Then I remember I’m a university student.
