Fantasy Football Punishments Add a Competitive Edge

Sophomore Will McClelland and his Fantasy Football league of eight take the punishment for the loser pretty seriously, they’ve been working on it since before the season started. So far they have narrowed it down to two options — the loser gets a Patrick Mahomes haircut or has to stand on a street corner in only cowboy boots and shorts strumming a guitar with a tip jar until they collect $15.

Fantasy Football is an app created by ESPN, where fans can draft a ‘team’ based off players in the NFL. The “punishment” is an activity, usually embarrassing, that the loser of the League has to endure. Punishments can be anything the league can think of including forcing the loser wearing an outfit of the winners choice to school one day.. From week one to week 17 of the fantasy season, the threat of bad haircuts and paintball welts on your body keep participants competitive through the season.

Each week players are matched up with another person in their league with the objective to get more points than them, which they are rewarded based on their players’ performance. Touchdowns are six points, interceptions are two points and fumbles are minus two points.

For groups like Tommy Moreland, with McClelland and six other guys, there’s the added competition of playing against some of their closest friends. Most leagues are created with a group of friends that have been playing together for a while — this will be Moreland’s third year with his league. 

“We’re all pretty close friends, like I’m playing a friend this week and we have been kind of trash talking each other cause we’re both pretty good,” Moreland said. “If a big play happens for one of my players I’ll text him, ‘did you just see that.’”

With a specific point system in place, competitors are left watching games stressed over what players to cheer on — especially when two players on the same Fantasy League are put up against each other, leaving them stressing over which team to cheer on, according to senior Avery Haughton.

Haughton says this competitive nature is what makes the draft a critical factor in the competitors’ success. Moreland refers to the draft as a “snake draft,” meaning that the eight fantasy football players in the league are numbered off and each pick one player in numerical order. Then they switch and go backwards until all players’ teams are complete. But this doesn’t mean the team is set in stone — even after the draft is over, league members can trade and pick up new players as the season progresses. 

“[The draft’s] pretty stressful because you are waiting and hoping that your friends aren’t going to pick the same [players],” said Haughton. “You have a list of people you want on your team and you’re just really hoping that your friends don’t think along the same lines as you.”

But punishments aren’t the only reason why a successful draft is so important. Players in Haughton’s league each pay $10 to participate, letting the winner not only walk away with the first draft pick for next year, but also $100. The same goes for Moreland’s league, who all put $15 into a pot for the overall winner of the league, leaving the winner with $120.

“I was kind of worried [about the punishment] because it was before the draft so I didn’t know who my players were,” McClelland said. “But I got a good team.”

But with four injured players, the same can’t be said for Haughton’s Fantasy Football team. Not only does it take him out of the running for the $100 winner pot, but it also makes him a potential candidate for the league’s punishment. Haughton and his friends have decided that the loser of their league will be shot with paintballs while running a short distance and receive the last draft pick next year.

While some leagues automatically begin brainstorming potential punishments for the loser, some like Junior Will Lowry and his friends have yet to decide on an official punishment. But according to Haughton, it doesn’t matter exactly what the punishment is — all league members are playing to win.