Started in 1962 by Oaklander Wilfred Wilkenbach, the idea of fantasy football has grown and changed drastically throughout the years. According to Yahoo, 33.5 million participants have started playing.  In this online competition, “managers” draft real players in the National Football League and pit their team against other fantasy teams.

“Fantasy football is drafting an assortment of players from all over the National Football League to compile the ‘best’ team of individual players you can,” senior Andrew Parker said.  “Basically you try and pick players that will produce the best stats.”

Parker said he has always known about fantasy football but did not take it seriously until freshman year.  He said investing time in fantasy football requires him to watch more football to check in on his players.

“It requires me to stay in tune with what is happening around the NFL to keep an eye on my players’ well-being and news about them,” Parker said.

However, recent scandals have led some key players to be taken out of the game.  According to 4 for 4 Fantasy Football, 28 players are currently suspended.

In some cases, players like Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson were suspended for domestic violence while others like Daryl Washington for substance abuse.

Because of these suspensions, fantasy football managers are unable to pick players who were predicted to give positive stats because they are no longer able to play in any games.

“It has created unbalance in the league,” junior Drew Collins said.  “For example, Adrian Peterson is always a high draft pick so when he couldn’t be picked, it hurt the chances of fantasy football players who were relying on him.”

However, other fantasy football players feel differently.

“Luckily no scandals have affected my team,” Parker said.  “Truth be told they have probably helped my team.  The replacements I have picked allowed me to beat [senior] Jack Adams last week.”

The suspensions have affected junior Jimmy Roach’s fantasy football team.

“I was going to pick Adrian Peterson but his suspension took him off the roster,” Roach said. “It’s difficult finding replacements for players like him because of the talent he has.”

According to the New York Times, the discovery of numerous suspensions has lead the NFL in increase stricter rules surrounding substance and domestic violence and the punishments.

With the season just starting up, dedicated fantasy football players will have to work around the numerous suspensions and wait until the suspended athletes are let back into the game.