By Jessica Chaloux
Managing Editor
Whether you follow sports religiously or play as a hobby, fantasy teams have been a popular past time for fans all over the world.
From hockey, to basketball and football, people who are involved with fantasy teams are able to draft line-ups, which are made up of professional athletes.
In fantasy, points are awarded to your team based on athletes performances in real time games. These affect the outcome of match-ups in play.
These leagues act as an interactive way to keep fans engaged with their favorite sports. Even if your favorite team isn’t playing physically everyday, players are still interested involved with the overall brand.
“Participating in fantasy sports allows me to mix my love of sports and competitive attitude into one. As a fan, fantasy sports allows me to consume the product in more ways than one and keeps me engaged,” said senior Andrew Chunka.
Not only sports games broadcasted on television, but fantasy shows have been added to programming for extra involvement.
There are two types of fantasy leagues. Leagues where you can draft a new team everyday and leagues where you stick with your drafted team season long.
“I play fantasy football and it’s really just a good way to reconnect with friends and it adds a competitive side to friend groups. A couple times a week you’re able to mess around and have some fun trash talking and competition,” said sophomore Greg Argenio.
Daily games are considered a form of gambling as you are able to pay a certain amount to enter the game and can win a pool of money if you win the league.
“I personally wouldn’t pay to play fantasy because I’m a poor college kid, but I understand it,” said Argenio. “It adds that extra level of competitive drive and also adds a lot more excitement.”
While some Sacred Heart students enjoy taking part in fantasy, some found it a big time commitment to keep up with.
“I played for two years, my team was pretty decent, but I lost every time because I would forget to set my players up. It was a very busy time in my life and while I enjoyed it a lot, keeping up with it was difficult. I had a lot of fun with it though,” said senior Lea Magliocchetti.
If you are interested in playing fantasy sports, networks like ESPN are still allowing fans to request leagues for the 2016-2017 basketball season. You can either play online or download the application on your smart phones.