Ladies, Sharpen Your Pencils. Draft Season Is Coming.
Updated: Aug 24
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Training camps just kicked off, which around here means one thing: draft day is on the horizon. And before you assume this is a post for the football-obsessed only, let me stop you right there. I play. I draft. I have, on at least one occasion, beaten my own husband and did not let him forget it for approximately the rest of the year. This one's for anyone who's ever thought fantasy football looked like too much work, too many numbers, or a club they weren't invited to.
You're invited. Grab a notebook.
From a Living Room to a Wedding Barn
Our league didn't start big. Years ago, it was just family crammed into someone's living room with a legal pad and a lot of confusion. Somewhere along the way, it turned into something else entirely — we now draft at an actual wedding barn, full bar included, everyone bringing a little something to snack on. What started as a casual family thing now has its own venue.
Officially, Jay's mom and her husband hold the title of "organizer" — but neither of them wanted to actually run the thing, so that job landed on Jay for years. These days, it's passed down again, and Camden has taken over as commissioner. It's become its own quiet family tradition, handed down like a recipe nobody wrote down but everybody just knows.
And the group keeps growing in ways nobody plans. Camden went to school in La Crosse and got close with one of his grandma's sisters and her husband, so they joined in last year. This year, another aunt caught wind of it and wanted in too. It changes a little every season depending on who's found their way to the table — and it's not just Jay's side. My mom is part of it too, which means this league has quietly become one of the things that keeps both sides of our family close, not just his.
What Draft Day Actually Looks Like
If you've never sat through an in-person fantasy draft, picture this: a room full of adults, most of us well over 40, every single one wearing our readers, hunched over notebooks and magazines with names circled and crossed out in real time.
Someone always has a list of backup picks in case their guy gets taken first. The second a player gets drafted, there's a scramble — "wait, did someone already take him?" — and a small wave of relief when you cross a name off your sheet before you try to draft someone who's already gone. Nobody wants to be the one who looks like a ding-dong reaching for a player that's already been snatched up.
Some years there are TVs going in the background if there's a game on while we're deep in the draft. It runs for hours. It is, without question, one of my favorite days of the whole year.
Someone, Jay's mom, always brings a big poster board covered in every player's name and position on a sticker, and as each pick happens, that name comes off the board. It's honestly one of the smartest additions to our draft day — instead of frantically cross-referencing a dozen notebooks to see if a player's already gone, you just glance up at the board. It keeps things moving and saves everyone from that heart-drop moment of almost drafting someone who's already taken.
It's also the perfect job for anyone tagging along who isn't really drafting themselves — a teenager who came with a parent, or a spouse who's there more for the company than the football. Ask them to work the board. It gives them something to do during a long afternoon, and honestly, it makes them feel like part of the day instead of someone just waiting it out in the corner.
That poster board earns its keep well past draft day, too. Camden uses it afterward to enter everyone's team into the app, so it's not just a draft day tool, it's the actual record of what happened. Which, conveniently, also comes in handy the one time someone insists they drafted a player before you did. The poster doesn't lie.
Judy — Jay's mom — buys the same one every single year: this XL fantasy football draft board kit, stickers and all, for about $20. It's become as much a part of our draft day as the poster itself. I highly recommend this board, if you know of a league drafting in person without a board, get them this!
Most of our teams are couples, but several of us run our own — and I will say, there is nothing quite like the bragging rights of beating your own husband at his own game. If someone truly can't make it in person, FaceTime keeps them in the room anyway. But I'll be honest — nothing replaces actually being there. The in-person draft is the whole point.
You Don't Need to Know Anything to Start
Here's the part I really want you to know, fantasy football is far more approachable than it looks from the outside, and it might be one of the easiest excuses you'll find all year to reconnect with someone.
Our league runs through the NFL Fantasy app (which I just read is changing over to ESPN in 2026) which is free and does almost everything for you. You set your scoring rules and league settings once, and the app handles the rest. On draft day, everyone picks their players, the commissioner plugs the picks into each team, and from there the app runs the entire season: matchups, scoring, standings, all of it.
Even picking a team name is half the fun. As you can see by last year's trophie pictured above, the 2025 Winning team was Goldie, which just so happens to be my team name :)
And if the whole thing still feels intimidating? The app can draft for you. If you can't make it to a live draft, or you're just not confident yet, you can let it auto-pick your entire team. Even week to week during the season, it'll suggest which of your players are projected to score the most against your opponent, so you're never totally on your own. There's truly a version of this that requires almost no football knowledge at all.
It also doesn't matter where anyone lives. Our league has family scattered across different states, and the app makes it just as easy to play from across the country as it is from across the table. If there's a family member or old friend who's felt a little far off lately, this might be a low-pressure, honestly kind of fun way to close that gap a little.
A Little Lingo, Just in Case
Maybe you're not planning to play yourself, but your husband, son, or best friend absolutely is — and you'd love to casually toss out a term or two like you know exactly what you're talking about. Here's your cheat sheet:
Sleeper pick — a player nobody expects much from who ends up performing really well
Handcuff — drafting the backup to your own star player, just in case
Waiver wire — where you pick up available players during the season
Bye week — a week where a player's real team isn't playing, so they score you zero points
Sitting the bench — keeping a player out of your starting lineup that week
Drop one of those into conversation at the right moment and watch the reaction.
Part Two Is Coming
Our draft party happens August 30th, and I'll be back after with the real recap, who took it too seriously, who forgot their readers, and what actually happened when it was all said and done. Until then, if there's ever been a year to pull someone back into the fold, this might be it. Grab a notebook, and if you really want to see them squirm, take along a football draft magazine. See you at the draft.
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