Don’t be sad that the fantasy football season is over; be glad it happened in the first place. However, if you are among the many football enthusiasts who play dynasty-format fantasy football, you know the season never truly ends. So while we might be staring down the barrel of the NFL offseason, there’s plenty to be done as a dynasty manager. Between now and the beginning of training camp is when champions are made. This week, Nate is joined by new co-host Matt Chester and special guest Michael Stoyanov to run a Scott Fish Bowl (SFB) mock draft.
What Is This Scott Fish Bowl You Speak Of?
If you’ve never heard of it before, welcome to the fun! Scott Fish Bowl, or SFB, it’s a fantasy football event created by Scott Fish (duh) and Ryan McDowell. It focuses on Fantasy Cares, a charity organization that brings the giving spirit to fantasy football. It includes a massive tournament with over 3,000 participants, live drafts across North America, and a 36-hour podathon benefiting Fantasy Cares.
The massive field is divided into 12-team divisions with themes (think TV shows, toys, video games, etc.). Participants can choose their divisions from an extensive list provided by Scott and Ryan. The SFB Avi Makers, a group of pro bono SFB graphic designers, create fun logos for shirts, hats and hoodies to go along with the division themes. They also offer custom Twitter avatars and banners for a small donation to Fantasy Cares.
Why Is It Special?
The Field
There are many charity-focused fantasy football leagues out there, but none are as big or as far-reaching as SFB. When invites start hitting inboxes in May, social media is abuzz with excited posts with screenshots of the email from Scott Fish himself. Participants include industry insiders from NBC Sports, ESPN, FOX and CBS, actors, former professional athletes, musicians and influencers who are all playing in the name of giving back.
The Community
As more and more invites go out, and invitees choose their divisions and draft picks, chat groups for people with the same pick or division begin to form. They can be found on just about any messaging platform but are most prominent on Twitter and Discord. These chats create a community of people who are in a similar mindset; we love fantasy football, and we love SFB. I’ve made lifelong friends in these groups, many of which continue far past the end of the SFB season. However, they don’t only breed camaraderie. You’ll get all the advice you can handle and be able to find mock draft after mock draft in these groups.
The Draft
It seems like it couldn’t get more fun, but we haven’t even drafted yet! Last year, Scott and Ryan decided to make the divisional theme cities; both fictional (Pawnee, IN) and real (New York City). This allowed them to do live, in-person drafts for the first time in SFB history. There were formal live drafts in some major cities and impromptu live drafts elsewhere. My wife, Jen, and I were lucky enough to be able to join a last-minute live draft in our hometown of Denver.
If you can’t make a live draft, your division will use My Fantasy League or Sleeper to conduct a slow draft with an eight-hour clock.
The Podathon
