Fantasy Frenzy: The Exhilarating Takeoff Of Fantasy Sports

It’s a Sunday night, and the weekend is coming to a close. You look down at your phone and take a look at the various notifications you have. Your eyes go wide as you see that you’re losing your fantasy sports game by one point and one of your players is playing at that very moment. This game is against your best friend, and you can’t let them have bragging rights over you. Your joy and relief is dependent on this one millionaire performing well.

This is the pinnacle of fantasy sports. 

Fantasy sports has taken over CB, whether it’s football, basketball, or hockey. I am in four fantasy football leagues, two fantasy basketball leagues, and a fantasy hockey league.

Fantasy football is among the most common of the fantasy sport leagues. Not only is it popular among the students at the school, but even the teachers are big on it. There’s a teacher fantasy football league that features various teachers around the school. Religion teacher Mr. Ben Symowick was invited to join but didn’t because he might’ve not been around for the draft, which for him, is the best part of fantasy football.

“I’m only in six leagues this year,” Mr. Sym says. 

The ideal for fantasy football comes with fun and lots of upside by playing. 

“I think that just playing fantasy sports is fun, it’s a way to learn more about the sport”. John Buggy-Agresti (‘24) says.  

“Competing against your friends,” Diego Garcia (‘24) says.

“It’s a great conversation piece,” Mr Sym says.  “It’s a great way to start a conversation”.

While fantasy football has its ups, it can also have its downs. 

“It’s fun when you’re winning, but when you’re losing, it can be like the worst thing,” Brayden Williams (‘24) says. “It can ruin your weekend,”

While fantasy football is one of the most common and fun fantasy sports, it is not nearly as unique and riveting as fantasy hockey. 

Hockey? Why hockey? This was my initial reaction when John pitched me the idea of an all-CB 20 person fantasy hockey league. He had first mentioned the idea during a flag football broadcast while we were commentating in the booth. 

While hockey isn’t the biggest sport here in Sacramento, a group of CB students thought of the brilliant idea of making a fantasy hockey league and actually followed through. 

“We were enjoying fantasy football and we were like ‘wouldn’t it be fun if there were more fantasy sports to play’?” John says. “So I saw on ESPN fantasy that fantasy hockey existed. Set it up, twenty person league, it’s great.”

As a part of that 20 person fantasy hockey league, I think it is a great way to get to know a new sport that I have never followed before. It is also well known that in a competition among friends, there either has to be a prize or a punishment. Some go really hard with their punishments. 

“We haven’t decided them yet, but they’re going to be bad,” Brayden says about the punishments in his three fantasy football leagues. 

“Laxatives at school is the only one that comes to mind,” Diego says 

Others do not seem to play for glory or shame but for the pure love of the game. 

“We’re playing for friendship,” John says about the fantasy hockey league.  

Fantasy sports is a great way to connect with friends and stay involved in the world of sports and whatever sport you try to make a league for. I have personally benefited from it because of how much more I know about certain teams and players based off of fantasy football. 

I have gained a lot of knowledge in the arena of sports by playing fantasy sports with lots of my friends and have had lots of fun. Many others can also have a good time and learn more about the sports world through the magic of fantasy sports.