There’s thirty seconds left and your team is on the 15 yard line, down by 6. Can they get a touchdown and win the game?

  This thrill is what football lovers live for, but with Fantasy Football, the team aspect can be put in jeopardy as people root for the individual’s statistics.

  Fantasy Football is a game where participants pick players from any Nation Football League team and each player gets scored on a point system.

  A “team” is put together before the season starts, but participants can trade their players throughout the season if they chose to.

  Those who participate in Fantasy Football watch not only their favorite team but also the games with their key players.

  Kyle Holmes, The Theatre Arts Director at Granite Bay High School, said, “I watch every team and can tell you a pretty embarrassing amount (of facts) for every single team.”

  But Holmes uses his talents and writes about his passion professionally.

  “I freelance for USA today and I do fantasy football content,” Holmes said. “I cover individual defensive players and daily fantasy sports.”

   Holmes’s dedication to fantasy football stems from his love of football itself.

  “I’ve probably consistently watched every single game for 10 years or so,” Holmes said.

  Scott Becker, an Advanced Placement Calculus and International Baccalaureate Mathematics teacher,  used to have a similar outlook on football, but that changed.

  “I watched more NFL before I had kids,” Becker said.

  However this hasn’t stopped Becker from having three different fantasy football leagues.

  In one league Becker recently made a trade with another member of the league which turned out very poorly for Becker.  

  “I completed a big trade for Jamaal Charles and then he tore his ACL (that) Sunday and he’s out for the year. It was a disaster.”  Becker said.

  In fantasy football points are given based off the statistics of a player, not how the team works as a whole. But for Becker it’s really important to look at the team to evaluate how a player will do.

  “It’s not always the player but the players around them that impact the performance,” Becker said.

  While the scoring is solely based off of the stats of the individual player, those stats typically result from how well a team is playing.

  But this year both of these fantasy football veterans, who have been playing since it first moved from newspaper to internet, have teams that don’t have a single win after 5 weeks of playing.

  Bradley Jones, a junior at GBHS, has a team that has won four times in the past five weeks.

  Jones didn’t need to research for his draft because he already watches so much football.

  “I love football and watch it whenever it’s on.” Jones said.

  He also relies on Sports Center to keep him up to updated.

  When each one was questioned about their favorite team in the NFL their response was quick. The three fantasy players all said the Oakland Raiders, without a pause.    

  For Holmes, Becker, and Jones Fantasy Football is about taking their passion for football and expressing it through fantasy football.

  “It’s a fun and exciting way to watch football.” Holmes said.