Fantasy Football: International Edition
Fantasy Football: International Edition
Everyone knows it’s football season, but not everyone plays in a fantasy football league. Actually, you don’t even have to know anything about football to play this game. WBHM’s Kenan Le Parc reports on the spread of those leagues, and especially on their popularity overseas.
Ahhhh, the sound of Monday Night Football. What a beautiful sound, even for someone like me, who grew up in France with a totally different notion of football. Even there I knew what American football was. I stayed up until the middle of the night to watch the Superbowl, and when I moved to Alabama four years ago, I had to get myself into a fantasy football league. Luckily my soccer team mates from Birmingham-Southern College invited me to join their fantasy league. It was so much fun that this year I decided to start my own league and add my friends from around the world. Some of them keep up with the NFL games every week and even have favorite teams they root for.
Vincent Minier is from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France:
“I watch the stats of every games, because you have to pick some players from different teams and their stats influences your results so I have to check all the games and it’s pretty interesting.”
Some of my friends knew very little about the sport. One friend drafted not one, not two, but three kickers to his team. My theory is this might come from the soccer influence on the old continent. My girlfriend — who is of Colombian descent — made me laugh quite a bit when she drafted Chad Ochocinco because of his unique last name, the Spanish translation of his jersey number.
Between laughs, my friend Vincent says that one of the best things about this game is “to make fun of your friends when they’re not doing well.”
It’s not easy for my European fantasy football friends. Alioune D’Almeida from Montrouge, France says he can’t watch games in France because he would need an American TV channel. And it’s also broadcast very late at night. Still, he makes the sacrifice once a year to watch the Superbowl. It’s the only game he’s willing to stay awake to watch. It usually starts around midnight and ends around 4 in the morning.
So, the next time you hear the theme song to the NFL games, just know there are fans all around the world making bets on the game, teasing friends they beat or – maybe – turning off their cell phones so they won’t receive taunting text messages after a bad loss. It may be American Football but it’s spreading one fantasy football league at a time.
~ Kenan Le Parc, October 17, 2011
Intellectually disabled teen shot by Idaho police dies after being removed from life support
An autistic, nonverbal teenage boy who was shot repeatedly by Idaho police from the other side of a chain link fence while he was holding a knife died Saturday after being removed from life support, his family said.
Smartphones and computers are now spared from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs
The exemption comes amid worries of how President Trump's steep new tariffs will affect American tech companies that rely on supply chains in China, like Apple.
Federal judge orders USDA to unfreeze funds to Maine
The funds had been initially withheld following President Trump's clash with Maine Gov. Janet Mills over the issue of transgender athletes.
Ukraine’s DIY drone makers are helping fighters on the front lines
The war in Ukraine is now largely being fought with drones. Ukraine made 2 million last year. Drone makers churn them out in factories and mom-and-pop operations like one in a Kyiv basement apartment.
‘The lawn giveth and the lawn taketh away’: Photos from the 41st Annapolis Cup
The yearly competition between the small liberal arts college lauded for its "great books" curriculum and the famed school for naval officer training began in the early 1980s. Several attendees recounted the legend that a discussion between a St. John's College student and the Commandant of the Naval Academy led to the latter's challenge that his midshipmen could beat Johnnies at any sport.
A crow’s math skills include geometry
Crows in a lab were able to distinguish shapes that exhibited right angles, parallel lines, and symmetry, suggesting that, like humans, they have a special ability to perceive geometric regularity.
