Maybe it’s bragging rights. Maybe it’s the feeling of managing and controlling your own team. Maybe it’s more than that. Whatever the reason, fantasy football is one of the most popular pastimes in America for sports fans. Every week, millions of people anxiously refresh their phone screens, while flipping between NFL games, hoping to see one of their players score or break off a big play.

For those who aren’t familiar, fantasy football is essentially a competition in which players draft their own teams made out of real NFL players — or sometimes even college players if you know where to look — and earn points based on how your players do. Not only that, but you can trade players with other teams and sign unused players off the waiver wire. Fantasy season always starts off with a draft before the season, and excitement and anticipation is always buzzing about the chance at drafting the next championship team, unless you’re someone who lets the computer pick for you.

Fantasy football runs rampant within North Atlanta. Every Monday morning, take one step into the school and you’ll hear kids groaning about how their star player laid an egg and cost them the game, or how they’re in a nail-biter with their friend’s team, and it all comes down to Monday Night Football. Sophomore Conor Gannon, sitting at 7-1 on the season in his league with his friends, says the secret is simply to luck out. “I had the first pick in the draft and I got Todd Gurley. He’s a monster,” he said.  

Gurley is indeed one of the best players in fantasy, demolishing NFL defenses every week. However, fellow sophomore Benjamin Jennings has a different mentality. “I think the key is to not have all the star players, which definitely helps, but to have people who will consistently put up good points. It’s a game of matchups,” he said.

Fantasy football definitely offers the victorious feeling of reigning supreme over friends, but sometimes it leads to a gut-punching defeat. Nothing is worse than going into Monday Night Football with a 20-point lead over your opponent, only to watch in horror as one of their players goes off for 150 yards and three touchdowns, your lead disintegrating before your eyes. “Losing is painful in fantasy, especially since you know you’re going to hear about it all week,” said senior Patrick Hannan.

Fantasy football rules Sundays and the trash talk before and after games shows how much it means to pummel your friend’s team into submission. Many Warriors will debate you on the fantasy aspect of fantasy football, seeing it as just as significant as the real thing.