Are you ready for some football? With the National Football League (NFL) season in full swing, the time has come again for a select group of faculty, staff and students to compete for fun in the yearly tradition of online fantasy football.
Marlborough’s employee league, “Marlborough Select,” which was started in 2006 by former English instructor Mark Krewatch, is made up of ten teams and is done through Yahoo!, while “Mustang Gridiron,” a league started this year by Natalie ’16 involving both students and teachers, is made up of 16 teams and is done through NFL.com.
Just as in other fantasy sports, such as baseball, soccer and basketball, those involved have an imaginary team of real professional players which, over the course of a season, gets ranked within their league based on players’ real life performances in the weekly games. Participants earn points when their players score a touchdown, gain yards or catch passes.
Before the season starts, those involved participate in a staged draft, in which everyone in the fantasy league gets the opportunity to pick her team. The participant with first pick chooses the NFL player of her choice, and then the second player chooses, then the third, until each player participating has drafted her own team. During the season, competitors can also buy, sell (using a fake budget), drop or trade players.
English instructor Joe Koetters, an avid, long-time member of “Marlborough Select,” got first pick this year. Koetters has a history of being very successful at fantasy football and said he is excited about his team this season.
“I chose [Houston Texan] Arian Foster, who is normally the consensus first pick, because running backs tend to be the commodities of fantasy football. [Development Assistant] Heather Bullock’s team is doing the best so far, but it’s just luck because my team is the best,” Koetters said in early September.
However, as of Oct. 9, English instructor Brett Quimby had the most points, and English instructor Chris Thompson was in first place.
In order to be successful, fantasy football participants check on their teams at least once a week to choose their starting line-up, meaning whose statistics from that week’s games will count.
10th Grade Level Dean and history and social sciences instructor Tom Millar, the designated commissioner of the league, has participated since “Marlborough Select,” started six years ago and had the winning team last year. In the past, the employee league did not give prizes to each year’s winner, but this year the teachers are getting more competitive.
“Everyone pitched in 20 bucks, but it’s going to get split up different ways, like if you get first or second place you get a prize; if you get the most points you get a prize and so on. Some people are going to lose their 20 bucks, and some are going to get more than what they started with, but it’s not like one person will get all the money,” Millar said.
Swartz decided to start her own fantasy football club to express her love for watching football and meet other girls at School who also enjoy the sport. Kerry Cook ’13 signed up during club fair and said she is looking forward to participating this year.
“The teachers are really intense about it,” Cook said. “It’s funny to see how competitive they get.”
