Fantasy sports has changed the way many fans view professional sports by becoming involved in games they usually would not watch. Fantasy sports is an activity in which an individual acts as a manager and creates a team made of up single players selected from the various teams throughout a professional sports league and tries to collect more points than other teams within a specific league. Points are collected by the individual performances, usually positive statistics, of the players on a team and each league can establish its own points system.

The growing popularity of fantasy sports has led many, like junior Bryan Hannan, to get proactive about professional sports.

‘I like fantasy football because even if your favorite team isn’t playing, you can have players on your fantasy team playing in another game,’ Hannan said. ‘It gives you something to root for when watching a game that normally wouldn’t matter.’

Hannan, who has been playing fantasy football for three years, said the element of doubt makes fantasy sports both fun and challenging.

‘You don’t always know who to start each week,’ he said. ‘You don’t know who will play well and what lineup will work.’

Kyle Hesterman, who is in the same league as Hannan, said this season is his first year participating in fantasy football. Hesterman said match-ups and understanding the point system in your league are crucial to success, as well as luck. Which has not been on his side, he said.

‘I’m doing awful so far, my record is 1-7. I’ve had a lot of bad luck with player injuries and busts,’ he said.

Fantasy sport is not just limited to the National Football League. In most professional sports, there are fantasy leagues available.

Although his football season has been horrible at times, Hesterman said he is still might try other fantasy sports.

‘I’m a big fan of football, so that’s how I got started, but I would consider doing basketball and baseball,’ he said.

Senior Kevin Krysh is a fantasy player who is involved in more than one sport. He said he started out with football and then branched out to hockey.

‘I’ve played fantasy football the longest, about six years, but I also have been playing fantasy hockey for three years,’ he said.

Krysh said even with his experience in football, winning two league championships so far, fantasy hockey seems to be a little more difficult.

‘Hockey is more challenging because you have to stay up on it more,’ he said. ‘Football is a total of 17 games and is played on the weekends, but hockey is a much longer season and played throughout the week, so you have to check up on it daily.’

Krysh said he likes the challenge of fantasy sports, but the competition with others is what he enjoys the most.

‘It’s cool to beat your friends and talk trash to your roommates as well,’ he said.

Hannan also enjoys the rivalry fantasy sports creates among friends.

‘It makes football a lot more exciting on Sundays. My group of friends will come over and will hang out and root against each other,’ he said. ‘