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Women and Fantasy Football

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm ET

There's very little doubt that fantasy football has exploded in popularity over the past few years. An estimated 18 million Americans will participate in it this year. What was once considered an all-male game has evolved to the point where women are becoming more and more common. Yahoo estimates that 14% of their fantasy football players are female. Industry analysts expect that number to grow.

Why do I mention this? Simple. It's a great thing for the fantasy football industry and week 2 is the first time that I play against all women (at least in the leagues that I care the most about). One of those women is my wife who became a completely different woman last Sunday. This is her first year in fantasy football and she's participating in 2 leagues. She probably watched more non-Packer football games last week than she has in her entire life. I heard "No. Stop Him!" and "Stop throwing the ball to Randy Moss!" about a dozen times. I'm looking forward to playing against her. She has a great team (I did a marvelous job helping her draft it) and it should be close. The league is hosted on CBS Sports and they project 99 points for both of us. That makes it very interesting, now doesn't it?

I have a grandmother who plays in 6 leagues and can tell you about every player in each. She follows football very closely and can talk it up with the best of them. I have an aunt that plays and argues with my uncle because she drafted Drew Brees before he could (those 6 TD's against DET irritates the hell out of him). This is a great trend and I hope it continues.

Women in fantasy football isn't new, but it's gaining popularity. Sara Holladay is the brains behind FFLibrarian.com. Now here's a woman who can run fantasy football circles around men.

So as I prepare to play against all women this week, I'm encouraged to see their numbers increasing. That doesn't mean that I'll go easy on them or talk less trash because they're women. In fact I'll probably dish it out more. To my beautiful wife: "Don't take it personally."

Ladies - are you ready for some football?

Join the Discussion

ptfd139 CommentedSep 18, 2009 11:00 am

Be advised its all fun and games until the wife takes you out back and WHOOPS you, as mine did week 1!!!!

Nerd CommentedSep 20, 2009 11:00 am

LOL

Unfortunately for my wife, she's going to feel like she's from Detroit after this weekend. :-)

Nerd CommentedSep 23, 2009 11:00 am

Just a quick update. I did beat my wife but we both had fun with it. She was up early when Coles got his early TD in Green Bay, but I had Chris Johnson and there's simply no coming back from that.

I did lose in one league by 2 points to a very talented woman. Am I disappointed? Of course but only because I lost. Nobody could win against that team!