Creative punishments keep players on their toes throughout the season and for many, help form lifelong friendships and memories to look back on.
Many fantasy football players find that the looming threat of a sports punishment motivates them to perform better in the league.
“I never wake up for anything or anyone but on Sunday, I wake up and agonize over my lineup and try not to lose that week,” senior Levi Lewis said.
Many players who have experienced sports punishments first hand feel a sense of commitment to keep up to date with their teams.
“[Punishments] make you feel more obligated to make sure you check your teams and to make sure you are making the best trades,” senior Brayden Power said. “If you don’t have a punishment there is no reason to play.”
Power was forced to eat a Carolina Reaper pepper without eating or drinking for two minutes after losing his fantasy league in past years.
“It was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done,” Power said. “Your face just goes numb and every single part of your body goes numb and you’re just like woah.”
According to Lewis, he was the “biggest loser” in his fantasy league.
As a result he had to get a “horrendous spray tan” during which his friends covered him in various stickers to create patterns in the tan.
“I had to wear [the spray tan] for a while, “Lewis said. “It was there for a decent five days.”
According to senior Aditya Bhandari, even with the threat of punishments from your friends looming over each season, fantasy football is very community focused.
“[Fantasy football] is all about spending time with your friends,” Bhandari said. “There is always something to talk about, a trade to make, a deadline to make, and someone to beat every single week.”
According to Lewis, the friends in his fantasy league will remain his friends for life.
“Even when [there are] some friends who you don’t talk to as much anymore, you are all still in the fantasy league,” Lewis said. “Once you are in the fantasy league you are in it forever.”
Senior Mason Melchior describes fantasy football as a big production in his friend group.
“Everyone dresses up and we go to [our friend’s house] where he has a projector and he puts the draft board up there,” Melchior said.
While fantasy sports create bonds in the long run, they also create a competitive every-man-for-himself mindset among players. “There are no friends in this game,” Bhandari said.
Teammates have fun watching their friends perform sports punishments yet no player wants to perform a punishment themself.
According to Melchior, his fantasy team is ranked low and he is in the running to perform this year’s punishment.
“I really don’t want to lose,” Melchior said.