Yup...This About Sums It Up

Earlier this year, FX launched the first show centered around fantasy football, and the nerdiness that accompanies being a team owner in a fantasy football league.  The League is a improv-comedy series along the lines of Curb Your Enthusiasm (Jeff Schaffer serves as a writer on both shows). The show follows the friendships of a group of men who are all united by their fantasy football league. While many of the topics on the show don’t always focus on their actual league, it’s unbelievable how well the show portrays the stereotypical owners in every fantasy league. Every league has some sort of variations of these personalities…sometimes for the better…sometimes for the worst.

Fantasy Stereotype Number 1- The Guy Everyone Makes Fun Of

If Bill Murray Says It, It Must Be True

Year after year, this is the owner that gets the most grief after/during the draft. This owner routinely picks players four rounds before they deserve to be drafted, players that have already been taken, and players that may have recently retired. Even if this owner happens to stumble into a good pick, the rest of the league convinces themselves that the player drafted will have a poor season. Despite this owner’s ineptitude, s/he remains extremely confident in their abilities as a fantasy owner. After the draft concludes, the other owners gather around and mock this owners team. Somehow, this owner always finds a way into the playoffs year after year. No one is really sure why or how the hell this happened…

Equivalent on The League- Andre

Fantasy Stereotype Number 2- The Guy That Stops Paying Attention

This owner has a lot of aliases; The Guy That Doesn’t Pay On Time (or ever), The Guy The Misses The Bye Weeks, The Guy That Forgets To Draft A Kicker, etc. The list could go on and on. This owner shows up for the draft (usually late), screws around, consumes any alcohol or food available, stops paying attention in the 5th round, and then disappears until the playoffs begin. Often times, this owner is far mores frustrating than The Guy Everyone Makes Fun Of. The Guy That Stops Paying Attention doesn’t do any research before the draft, which leads to him/her pouring over their magazines for 5-20 minutes (or until the rest of the league murders him, whichever comes first) only to draft someone that was taken 3 rounds ago. At least once or twice in a single season, this owner will do the following: start players on a bye, allow better players to rot on his/her bench because it’s too much work to change their lineup, ignore any and all trade requests, and somehow catch fire and upset some of the best teams in the league on any given week. These owners also have a nasty habit of showing up just as the playoffs begin and deciding that they need to start “trying” now. This typically leads to a deep playoff run.

Equivalent on The League- Taco

Fantasy Stereotype Number 3- The Guy That Tries Way Too Hard

This guy pores over every magazine/website/local radio station/newspaper article available before the draft. Chances are, s/he can tell you the 3rd string kicker on the New Orleans Saints. This owner will do anything short of stalking players. You know what…this guy will do anything to get information about certain players. Unfortunately, this guy tries so hard that s/he tends to over-think fantasy match-ups on a weekly basis. This typically leads to this owner losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Equivalent on The League- Kevin, or more accurately, his wife Jenny.

Fantasy Stereotype Number 4- The Guy That Talks Smack

Typical Smack Talking Guy

This is the guy that everyone loves to hate in fantasy leagues. The Guy That Talks Smack routinely points out his dominance and other owners’ weaknesses. More likely than not, The Guy That Talks Smack won a league championship 5 years ago, but won’t stop talking about it. Every player on his 1999 championship team could be retired, and he will still talk about how dominant that team was. Forget that he hasn’t won the league in years, this owner only wants to talk about his past successes. If this owner is having a good season, expect a “Best Team Ever” post on a weekly basis. If this owner is having a poor season, expect a “I’m Unlucky and Every Other Team Sucks” post on a weekly basis. Remember, it’s not about how poorly he drafted his team, it’s about how lucky every other team got.

Equivalent on The League- Ruxin

Fantasy Stereotype Number 5- The Good Guy That Always Has A Good Team

This is the owner in every fantasy league that you pull for after your team gets eliminated from contention. This guy never ruffles anyone’s feathers, generally stays out of the smack talk, and quietly dominates each season. Even as he hoists his 3rd straight league championship trophy, you have to admit that he kinda deserved it, right? Ok, it’s fair to hate this guy a little bit…but you also respect him a ton.

Equivalent on The League- Pete

Bonus Fantasy Stereotype- The Guy That Never Trades

So Many Excuses

There is no character on The League that fits this stereotype, but I’ve been in far too many fantasy leagues with this guy. This is the one owner in your league who will never (ever!) make a trade. However, this player says that s/he is always willing to make a deal. After having a 3 hour conversation with this owner about a potential trade, they find some way to back out of the deal. This gets even more frustrating when this owner has 3 of the top Tight Ends in the league, but refuses to part with any of them because they can’t risk an injury to the other 2 guys. This owner is so averse to taking risks, that s/he ends up sticking with their crappy team in hopes that their guys will turn it around. Typically, this guy finishes in 5th every season and complains about any and all potential rule changes.

Think we missed some of the more popular fantasy stereotypes? What are your thoughts on The League? Let us know in the comments.