Dungeon and Dragons Vs. Fantasy Football

I work in an office of 5,000 people - half of them are men and I venture to bet that all of them are involved in a Fantasy Football league. I don't understand fantasy football - I mean what is wrong with just rooting for your home team? Evidently that isn't enough to satisfy the truly obsessed couch potatoes who like to think they are coaches, and scream things like "CATCH THE BALL" at the TV on Sunday.

Having worked many of years with the men around me I can't help but be fascinated and at the same time extremely annoyed by fantasy football leagues. They discuss it constantly - draft picks, rules of the league, cost of the league, the best way to set up the website, draft picks, trading, draft picks, and so on and so forth. Let me point out that this starts in AUGUST. A full month before football season even begins.

I heard a radio personality one time describe fantasy football as being a macho man's Dungeon and Dragons - and I have to admit they are right. First the men all huddle around the "site" to see who is beating who. The site is loaded with information on each member of the league, their team, their stats, etc....see where I'm going with this? It's basically an electronic version of a board game. They create their "teams" like a D&D players creates a world. The players equal their characters and God forbid one of them ends up on the DL. "Powers" aka physical ability are often mulled over for hours - comparison to yards run, fumbles made etc. These conversations can least for hours.

The little realm of their players and teams takes on a life of it's own. So much so that they will sometimes root for players on the opposing team just because it helps their stats - for dungeon and dragons fans - it's like "moving up a level."

The similarity that REALLY stands out is that they speak a language that no one outside their realm understands. Then you find yourself starting to understand it because you hear about it all the time. Which is another similarity - D&D players talk about the game and comic com, Fantasy football players talk about the games and cheerleaders.

So to all you D&D players out there - don't worry about the jocks that call you dorks and make fun of you, they play too, they just don't know it yet. And for the ladies - thankfully football is a short season.