I love, love, love fantasy football. It’s one of my favorite things in the world. Ask my wife or anyone I know. I become obsessed with fantasy football for 4-5 months out the year and then need the remaining months to recover.
That addiction…errr…obsession…I mean…passion has now spread to my 12-year-old son, Ethan.
His first experience with fantasy football was a free online league that he played in two years ago. He ended up winning the Super Bowl. And then last year, he wanted to help me with one of my three teams so I let him go with me to the draft and pick some of the players he wanted. We ended up winning the Super Bowl in that league too.
Fast forward to this year. Going into the fantasy football season, he kept asking if he could get a team in my #1 league. I told him that he was still a little too inexperienced and had to prove that he’d stick with a team for the whole year but I would see what I could do.
I ended up getting 10 other guys together and forming a brand new league. I didn’t really need to be in more leagues but I thought it would be fun for him to get some experience on his own. Once I had all the team owners lined up, I scheduled our live draft at a local Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant for August 18 (last Thursday night).
As the draft night approached, Ethan participated in a bunch of online mock drafts. If you’re unfamiliar with mock drafts, they are basically practice drafts where the computer will draft players against you and you can see what kind of team you can get with different draft spots. The mock draft software will then give you a score based on the team you drafted. As soon as he got his first A+, it became a big competition between us to see who could draft the best team.
Leading up to the draft night, I could tell he was anxious and a little bit nervous. I told him that was a normal. He was really excited about having his own team in a league with adults and his Dad.
One of the first things we did on draft night was to draw our draft positions. Ethan really wanted the first pick and wouldn’t you know, he got it! He immediately called out who he wanted, Antonio Brown, the top overall player in fantasy football last year. Some of the other adults playfully tried to get him to trade but he refused. He was too proud of that first pick.
Throughout the draft, he sat right next to me and handled himself very well. In fact, he talked more smack than I did to the other owners.
I had a fear that Ethan would draft players too early but he did an amazing job. At one point, he wanted to take a certain player and I told him that he could wait a few rounds but sure enough, someone drafted that player almost immediately. Ethan is still mad at me about that one. Sorry, buddy. It wasn’t my fault that the other owner reached for that player early.
Overall, he did a great job. I wouldn’t tell him this but I think he has a better team than me. Fortunately, I only have to play him once during the regular season. Take a look at our rosters below and judge for yourself. My team is “Warren’s Moon” and his is “Purple Giants” (the team name we used in my #3 league last year).
If you compare the teams, our running backs are pretty weak but I think he has me overall. I don’t even want to try and grade my team but I’d give him a solid “B.”
I’m really looking forward to watching games with Ethan this season. It is a long season and it will be interesting to see how well he stays on top of his team and the league.
Hopefully, I’ll see him in the Super Bowl. Maybe I’ll be there too.
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