Fantasy football has become more than drafting and adding players. It has become a culture.

It seems like almost everyone at school and around the country is playing fantasy football. It is hard to go on the internet or watch TV without seeing an advertisement for some type of fantasy football website.

Fantasy football is a game where you can draft a team of about sixteen real NFL players and you earn points in fantasy based on how the real-life players perform that week. Usually, leagues have between 10 and 12 people. Drafts may be hosted online or completed offline at one’s house.

According to Fantasy Sports Trade Association, there are an estimated 33 million people who play fantasy football each year.

Fantasy football has become a way of life for some people. The drafts begin from the early weeks of August to the beginning of September. People watch the games every week, hoping for their team to do well. It is a chance for friends to come together and compete with each other.

This has attracted many people to the game. “Getting together with my friends and watching football has to be my favorite part of it,” Phil Kramer ’18 said.

Liam McKnight ‘18 is in a total of four leagues, two of which were drafted online and the other two drafted offline. “I prefer the drafts [completed offline at someone’s house]. You are with your good friends, eating food, and it really gets you excited for the upcoming football season.” McKnight said.

Fantasy football can be very competitive. After each year, the league champ has ultimate bragging rights over the rest of the league. “I love the competitiveness,” Kramer said. “It is fun to play against my good friends and talk about our teams.”

There has also been a recent surge in the amount of daily fantasy leagues. They are leagues where you pay money to draft players each week. You earn money if you score a lot of points that week for how well the players on your team do. Some people prefer to do this because they are not stuck with the same roster for a 17 week season and they have a chance of making money.

However, not that many Malvern students play in these leagues. This is partly because you have to be 18 years or older to play, and also because you do not get to play against your friends.

The daily leagues are missing what many kids play fantasy football for, the camaraderie.