How did your fantasy football league get started, and why did you join?

Ishaan Dhillon-Patel (10): So one of them I got invited to. But the other one is like a recurring thing that started when, like the Harker coaches set it up during lockdown in like sixth grade. And it’s kind of just continued with the same, like group of people until now. And I mean, I won the league last year and now I’m losing pretty badly.

Kallie Wang (12): So it’s something that some of my friends did, I think starting last year or the year before. So when one of my friends asked me to join the league this year, I think they were just wanting to add more people. I said, “Sure.” 

Assistant Upper School Division Head Kelly Horan: Mr. Rim. 

Assistant to Assistant Upper School Division Head Eric Lee: Yeah, Mr. Rim wanted to build community. So, he decided to put together a league, I think three years ago.

Horan: This is year three, yeah. 

Lee: So it’s been the same group of people for three years. And we’re having a lot of fun.

Horan: We do have a lot of fun. 

Kyle Li (9): It’s a new thing this year. Anton Roman (9), also ninth grade. He started the league because we just want to try it out since at the beginning of the year, the football season was starting. So he just invited a bunch of us over to join it.

How is your team doing this season?

Ishaan: This year, for some reason, everyone’s extraordinarily locked in on fantasy. And so I’ve just been getting blasted in every game. I was second in the league and then I made a really bad trade because I wasn’t paying attention, and so I gave basically all my good players away. 

Kallie: My team is actually in first. I got first draft pick, which I think was random. And then I realized that we were going to have to pick players, and I got a little nervous, so I looked up, “Which players should you put on your fantasy football team in 2025?” But it’s ended up pretty well. 

Horan: My team is awesome. I am currently in second place. Well, actually, there’s like a four way tie for first. I am proud because my strategy is not at all about knowing the players. It’s about who I like to watch and also what their name sounds like. 

Lee: My team is not doing so hot; I’ve been humbled. This year though, I am the giant killer. So if you were in first place and you play me, you lose. Everybody else, they beat up on me easy money. 

Horan: He took me down this year. 

Kyle: It had a rocky start, but it’s making a comeback now. I just put in people, I look at their opponent ranking, and if it’s really low, like 30, then I tend to put them in. But if they’re a consistent scorer, I tend to put them in as well.

What are the rewards or punishments for your league?

Ishaan: Yes there are punishments, as a matter of fact. So it’s milk mile for the bottom four, which is, you run a mile, but every lap you have to drink half a carton of milk. And then for second place and first place you get priority draft next year, which is you get to flip for the first and second pick.

Kallie: I think for punishments we’re doing that the person who is last place overall at the end of it has to wear outfits that everyone else chooses for a week, one of which can be pretty bad. I think we’re currently thinking about an inflatable.

Lee: The punishment we installed this year, now that everybody knows how to play. We did have some people that were just learning, so we didn’t feel like it was fair to have a punishment. But now that everybody knows how to play, some of you guys will see what the punishment is. It’s going to be a visual thing.

Horan: Very large visual. And there is a big belt for the winner. 

Lee: Actually, I can show you. 

Horan: Can you show the belt? Oh, you have a belt too, don’t you, from last year. This is Mr. Lee’s. 

Lee: So this is the belt that I got for seventh place, so first of the worst. But, Mr. Rim had this lying around from before, and it says, “NIT 7th Place, Too Legit to Quit.”

Kyle: Whoever loses this in general at the very end, we’re going to do a punishment that we haven’t decided what it is yet, but it’s probably going to be something crazy.

What’s your favorite part of fantasy football?

Ishaan: I like statistics, I like numbers and I like risk taking. So being able to predict what happens with players — and then watching them actually go off and score four touchdowns, or picking Puka Nacua on a third round, and everyone’s like, “Oh, what are you doing?” — and then he’s averaging, until he got injured, like 25 points a game, is nice.

Kallie: I think probably winning. It’s a fun way to stay connected with some of my friends who I might not have classes with all the time, and keep up with them and be like, “Hey, I think my fantasy football team is winning.”

Lee: Monday and Tuesday when we come back from the weekend, and we all get to give each other a little bit of friendly ribbing about how our teams did, and just the community that’s been built through watching football.

Horan: Yeah. We also have a party to pick the players, so there’s a draft. The draft is really fun. 

Kyle: Probably the best part is having a really fun time with your friends. But also when you don’t have a lot of good players on your team but you still manage to beat somebody who’s better than you, and it’s pretty surprising. I know what teams are good now and what teams are bad. It hooked me into football, and football is a pretty fun sport.

What are your predictions for the rest of the season?

Ishaan: I think I still have a solid chance to make the playoffs. It’s salvageable. With the players that I still have, I can mount a comeback if other teams mishandle or slip up again, which is what I’m hoping happens.

Horan: I predict I will get second place again this year, just because.

Lee: And whoever Kelly is playing will get first place. Right now I think the two strongest teams I would say are Mr. Rim and Mr. Sutton. Mr. Sutton’s a really good team manager.

Kyle: Honestly, I feel like I’m just going to stay at my current level because my team’s pretty solid right now — maybe like 110 points each time. It might not be enough to beat some people, but it’s still pretty good.

What are your top tips or strategies for people getting into fantasy football?

Ishaan: If you want to go super risky, you could draft a bunch of one position. You can start off and draft like five quarterbacks that are all really good and then trade for other extremely valuable players in other positions. Especially if they have a big contract renewal coming up — Google up how much is left on their contract, and if they have one year left on their contract, they’ll be looking for a lot of money in the next year, so they’re more likely to score higher than per se a player who just got a brand new contract.

Kallie: Especially if you don’t know that much about football, you don’t need to feel like you need to know everything about every player or every team in order to have some fun in fantasy football. At the end of the day, it’s a numbers and probability game.

Lee:  If you’re feeling a little nervous about it, join a league that you know that your friends are going to be reasonable about, and not be too mean or get too excited about things, and you’ll enjoy yourself.

Horan: Have fun. I think the nice thing about this league is it’s just a good way to connect with people. Just have fun with it.