The ultimate dream of many sports lovers is to be able to own a team of their own.  However, for most the closest they will come to this reality is to participate in a Fantasy league where they are the scout, owner, and the coach of their own online professional team for free.

To succeed in a Fantasy league, no matter what the sport, be it basketball, baseball, football, or hockey, and in order to succeed, an owner must carefully watch injury updates, monitor weekly matchups, and move players around accordingly.

Before the season even starts, friends, family, and co-workers get together to draft their fantasy team. The most valuable players are taken early and go round by round until everyone’s roster is full. After that, every week, one team goes head to head with another team, with the players that they drafted gaining points based on their performance.

Fantasy sports are not only a game though, even with it being free to start a league, some leagues have cash payouts within the league and those playing on the national level can win huge cash prizes.

The most common Fantasy game is Fantasy Football, because it is the easiest to understand. Fantasy Football even has it’s own show on ESPN. “The best part about fantasy football… it’s like getting the opportunity to [virtually] manage a professional football team, something only 32 people in the world get to do in real life,” said AHS junior Parker Cyza who is currently 3-5 on the season in his Fantasy league. Junior Edgar Reynaga, owner of the “Trigger Happy Bunnies”, said the best part of Fantasy Football is, “Winning.”

As with any virtual game, a big problem with playing Fantasy sports is addiction. There have been many stories about people getting so addicted; they think that they are actual owners of a team and neglect obligations in their real life. “I invested a lot of time at the beginning of the season, reading up on analysts, and watching reports to help draft a good team,” said Parker, “but everything depends on how the rest of the people in your league draft their players.”

ESPN has reported that Fantasy football, basketball, and baseball are becoming more and more popular every year.  Participating in Fantasy sports is something that can be very fun and rewarding and gives regular people chance to chance to be able to live the dream of being a franchise owner and coach.