An Introduction to Fantasy Football:

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate between planning a wedding, taking dance lessons for our wedding, trying to squeeze in the gym, a co-ed softball league each week, starting this blog, and not to mention my full time job in media sales… I decided to join a girls only fantasy football league this fall.

It might sound crazy, but I figured beyond my never-ending bucket list, I thought it was about time for me to step up and learn a little more about the back end of NFL football.  Reasons why I joined an all girls fantasy football league:

• I know the sport, I’ve grown up watching football… but that was mostly college football (I was raised in the south…. what do you expect?).  But with Kevin’s passion for the Patriots rubbing off on me a little more each season over the last four years, I’m determined to broaden my knowledge of the NFL beyond Bill Belichick’s team with the ever so tasty Tom Brady and beyond our hometown Atlanta Falcons too.
• It’s always fun to throw the guys off kilter during the daily watercooler chatter when a female starts throwing out random sports related stats (I’ve already put this theory to the test with golf and baseball – it’s fun, you’ll see!).
• I wanted a girls league because I’m competitive and wanted a chance to play in an area where others most likely don’t have that much of a head start in their knowledge of NFL (this does not apply to those who have husbands, boyfriends, or other guy friends running their teams) – and while Kevin has given me some tips… it’s been all me (both good and bad).

So in my quest for knowledge and preparing for the draft party we had at the league commissioner’s home, I wanted to share with you some things I think should be in the official girl’s guide to fantasy football.  And beyond the tips I’m sharing, I’ve included some photos from the draft party for our “Lipstick League” that was hosted a couple weekends ago by our league commissioner.  It’s mostly just football inspired snacks, but hopefully this will give you some ideas to create your own football party and how you can step it up beyond just regular chips and dip.

 

A Girl’s Guide to Fantasy Football:

Do Your Research (in advance)!

I started reading around and researching a little about a week in advance of our draft day, but I didn’t get serious until… ummm… maybe 6 hours before draft time.  Huge mistake.  I relied on the fantasy football ranking cheat sheets from ESPN and the Bleacher Report a little too heavily because there were a couple picks towards the end that I just had no idea who the guys were that I was choosing!

When Drafting Your Team – Build Up Your Queue

Add a lot of players to your queue, because your picks will be taken by the time it’s your turn again you need some backups already picked out. The 2 minutes we had was not enough time to do any additional research when it rolled back around to my pick.  So if you’re not following who’s already been picked up by other teams and adding more players to your queue, you’ll probably end up scrambling (this happened to me once toward the end where my lack of prep got the better of me – see tip above!).

Pray for a Great Spot in the Draft Order

Pray you get to the top or bottom of the draft order, because you’re going to get screwed if you’re in the middle. Unfortunately, I was #6 out of about 12 teams and it seemed like I waiting FOREVER to get around to me each time since we did a “snake style” pick where the teams choose in a back and forth round by round draft order (i.e., 1-10, 10-1, 1-10, 10-1, etc.).  So go ahead and add some people to your queue and just know that most will be gone by the time your pick comes back around 🙁

Pick Your Running Backs First!

Start with your running backs. Make sure you fill your first AND second picks with running backs.  This is one of the most frequented tips I read online – it helped me make sure I had some decent players when other league members decided to start with QB’s.

Don’t Be Biased

Taking a cue from Keivn’s playbook, he would NEVER admit that anyone’s better than his beloved Patriots or the famed Tom Brady, but even he admitted Brady wouldn’t be his first pick for a fantasy football team this year.  Lesson Learned: Don’t let your love for the home team love cloud your judgement!  I may be proud of my Atlanta Falcons, but that doesn’t mean I suggest scooping up the entire team.  It’s a fantasy league because you can pull in the best players from across all teams… so imagine you’re not that die hard fill-in-your-team-name-here fan, recognize the killer skills of each individual player in the NFL, and start from there!

So that’s all I have for now. Since the first game of the season actually takes place while I’m still on my honeymoon this week, I decided to take a break from all the fun in the sun we are having, and set my lineup… then I figured it might be nice to share some of these tips and pics I discovered during my first year in this girl’s guide to fantasy football.

While I was busy adding players to my queue, I couldn’t stop snacking on these delicious honey roasted nuts (seriously they were addicting!) and the mango salsa pictured below.

How cute were these little chocolate covered strawberries below!?!?  I’ve seen the little “tuxedo men” decorated versions, but this is a clever little way to dress up your tailgating snacks but stay in theme!

Even if you decided not to join a league this year, you could atleast throw a mean tailgate party with some of the yummy football inspired food served at our draft day party!

Let me know if you have any tips that might help me out this season that I missed above. I’ll be sure to share any other tips I discover as the season progresses and keep you posted on how I do so don’t forget to come back and hear more about my struggles this season!