A Father’s Guide to Fantasy Football Enjoyment in a Crowded House

Dominate your league while defending your crown for father of the year.

Football is back! Oh how I’ve missed watching touchdowns from my favorite seat on a Sunday afternoon. What can make the NFL season even better than it already is? Why, fantasy football of course! It’s the opportunity for armchair quarterbacks to play pretend for a few weeks every year as we don our make-believe general manager hats and study players moves more than we did any class in college.

When you’re a dad in a crowded house finding the time and place to make the most of fantasy football season can be tough. How can you dedicate the time, energy and focus on the task of defeating other people in your office for the bragging rights of being fantasy football champion? As a dad you’ve probably got activities throughout the weekend that requires your chauffeuring services and prevents you from being glued to the TV and your computer to wait for that one person in your league who’s dumb enough to drop a top rated player because his kicker is on a bye week.

What’s a dad to do? Before you hang your head in despair, I’m here to help. I’ve found a few items and practices that can help you make the most of your fantasy football season. Here we go:

1. Get NFL RedZone Channel
You’re not going to have time to sit and watch full NFL games. Chances are between snaps you have to change a diaper, put a kid on the potty or deal with some other bodily function issue. NFL RedZone is the best fantasy tool a busy dad could ask for. It jumps from game to game showing you every touchdown and pretty much all of the big moments in the NFL. You can leave it on all Sunday afternoon and never miss a piece of the action. I happen to have Verizon FiOS which allows me to stream the RedZone channel to my iPad or iPhone so in case Jake and the Neverland Pirates is consuming every TV in the house, I can still keep up with the NFL action.

2. Create a kid-friendly space to watch NFL games
Why on earth would you want to create a space for the kids in the exact spot where you want to watch football games? You see that’s the evil genius of it. Picture this. It’s Sunday afternoon and you say to your significant other, “Hey I’m going to go watch football for the next 4-6 hours. Love you!” How’s that going to go over? Now how about you say, “Hey hon, I’m going to take the kids and keep them out of your hair for the afternoon.” You just made a significant deposit in the love bank. Cha-ching. Take the kids with you, not because they will watch the games with you, but rather have a TV setup in their play area so you can watch games while they destroy Legos and run around like the maniacs they are. When one comes up to you and asks about watching some sort of cartoon, you have your iPad nearby to be able to stream the games to your tablet while they sit in awe of the magic of Disney. This requires focus and determination on your part to not be distracted with everything going on around you, but I’m telling you by week 5 you’ll have found your rhythm.

3. Find a go to fantasy football source.
The childless people in your league have the energy to do the fantasy football research necessary to win your league. I know your situation. You’re falling asleep on the couch at 9:30 pm and the only homework you’re doing involves fractions and learning what to call each phase of the moon. How could you possibly keep up with who to start/sit each week? The trick is finding one fantasy football source that you can trust. From ESPN to CBS to Bleacher Report, there are a million fantasy experts out there. Your goal is to find the one guy/gal that you can relate to and trust. Use them as the resource to help guide your fantasy moves. If you finished dead last in the league last year, chances are you need to find a new source. Want to know who’s my source? Forget it. He/she’s mine.

4. Get things done on Saturday.
If you’re serious about fantasy football, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices. And that might mean you kiss your Saturdays goodbye. That honey-do list gets done on Saturday. Shopping for new shoes for the kids. Done on Saturday. Your wife wants to invite some people over that you don’t really want to deal with? Have ’em on Saturday. Kids homework? Daddy’s a Saturday tutor. What about college football??? I know. Choices have to be made. Being able to balance college football and NFL football enjoyment is not a topic that can be tackled in this post. One step at a time, padawan.

Got your own fatherly fantasy football tips for making the most of your football season at home? I’m all ears. Share your tips in the comments.

David Marine
David Marine

Husband. Father. Socializer. Mets Lifer. TV Aficionado. Consumer Engager. David Marine is the Chief Marketing Officer at Coldwell Banker, where he oversees the brand’s marketing efforts and content strategy including acting as managing editor for the Coldwell Banker blog and heading up video production efforts. While CMO by day, David runs a three ring circus at night as he is the father of 4 boys. He also happens to be married to Wonder Woman. True story.

17 comments

  1. […] 2. Create a kid-friendly space to watch NFL games Why on earth would you want to create a space for the kids in the exact spot where you want to watch football games? You see that’s the evil genius of it. Picture this. It’s Sunday afternoon and you say to your significant other, “Hey I’m going to go watch football for the next 4-6 hours. Love you!” How’s that going to go over? Now how about you say, “Hey hon, I’m going to take the kids and keep them out of your hair for the afternoon.” You just made a significant deposit in the love bank. Cha-ching. Take the kids with you, not because they will watch the games with you, but rather have a TV setup in their play area so you can watch games while they destroy Legos and run around like the maniacs they are. When one comes up to you and asks about watching some …read more […]

  2. […] 2. Create a kid-friendly space to watch NFL games Why on earth would you want to create a space for the kids in the exact spot where you want to watch football games? You see that’s the evil genius of it. Picture this. It’s Sunday afternoon and you say to your significant other, “Hey I’m going to go watch football for the next 4-6 hours. Love you!” How’s that going to go over? Now how about you say, “Hey hon, I’m going to take the kids and keep them out of your hair for the afternoon.” You just made a significant deposit in the love bank. Cha-ching. Take the kids with you, not because they will watch the games with you, but rather have a TV setup in their play area so you can watch games while they destroy Legos and run around like the maniacs they are. When one comes up to you and asks about watching some …read more […]

  3. […] 2. Create a kid-friendly space to watch NFL games Why on earth would you want to create a space for the kids in the exact spot where you want to watch football games? You see that’s the evil genius of it. Picture this. It’s Sunday afternoon and you say to your significant other, “Hey I’m going to go watch football for the next 4-6 hours. Love you!” How’s that going to go over? Now how about you say, “Hey hon, I’m going to take the kids and keep them out of your hair for the afternoon.” You just made a significant deposit in the love bank. Cha-ching. Take the kids with you, not because they will watch the games with you, but rather have a TV setup in their play area so you can watch games while they destroy Legos and run around like the maniacs they are. When one comes up to you and asks about watching some …read more […]

  4. You do realize…women watch football, women play fantasy football? My team is in first so… Maybe your “dads” all better study up!

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  6. Wonderful article!! Thanks for sharing your experience. Even in my case too, I was pretty unaware and shy of this fantasy sports and lineups things. Although I stumbled upon FD-Guru’s advice which kinda introduced me to this world, in a sane manner. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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