Every week throughout the fall, 40 million people across the United States put their hopes on complete strangers to gain bragging rights, pride and potentially even money.
Fantasy football is an industry more profitable than the very thing it is based on: the National Football League (NFL). Participants, or owners, in a “league” draft their own teams of NFL players and compete against each other every week. The players earn points for their fantasy teams based on their performance on the field. Owners want their team to win as many games as possible for better seeding in the playoffs, where they will have to go undefeated to be crowned champion.
For a group of West students, fantasy football has nothing to do with money, yet still provides tremendous value for those involved.
The West Forsyth Cross Country Fantasy Football League (WFXCFFL) has existed for longer than any current member of the cross country team has been at West, but the idea for a league Instagram page arose only a year ago.
“I remember us talking about making videos walking into the draft [before last season], and then that kind of sparked the Instagram idea,” league commissioner, junior Colby Groce said.
While West-student-run Instagram pages are not a new idea, the WFXCFFL Instagram page stands out for its use of self created memes, funny pictures and ironically dramatic videos of the members to convey news and information about the league.
“I feel very in tune with the league, see I get information on the side so when I see the posts it’s like ‘Oh my gosh,’ because I knew the information already but the way they put it together and make fun of Ryan [MacReynolds for losing] every week really makes me happy,” league insider, junior Annalise Moody said.
While the Instagram account has a significant comedic aspect, the players involved in the league are still very serious about winning and the champion earns the greatest reward of them all: bragging rights over all the losers.
“I would say we are very competitive. We overanalyze a lot of things, we trade a little too much, but I would say it’s pretty fun because we really get to bond over it,” senior Connor Haldeman said.
The league has not only served as a fun activity for the team to do together, but has also helped the them become closer bond, giving them a way to relate to each other outside of their sport.
“It’s a good team bonding experience. It’s good for our team because it gives us something to talk about at practice, it gives us something to bond over and we are closer friends outside of our sport because of it,” reigning champion, senior Wyatt Stephens said.
For those who enjoy fantasy football, humor, self created content or all of the above, then this is what you’re looking for. The league can be followed on Instagram @wfxcfantasyfootball where the primary focus seems to be coming up with new ways to make fun of junior Ryan MacReynolds for losing again.