Fantasy football has become so much of an obsession for Fossil Ridge High School senior Luke Garvin that he could tell you the stats of every second and third string player on nearly every team.

“There are plenty of days that I go home during third and fourth to watch ESPN so that I can know everything going on in the NFL,” Garvin said.

Garvin and many others in the Fossil community are among the 29.2 million in the United States who participate in fantasy football from August to January every year.

Count Fossil business teacher Jamie Menefee among those football followers.

“My mom tells me my first word instead of mom or dad was ‘Joe,’ because they used to sit me in front of the TV and I’d watch football,” Menefee said. “Joe Namath was the big deal in the ‘70s.”

Menefee has been in the same league since 2001.

“We do it in person at Krazy Karl’s every August, it’s almost all in person. It’s usually like seven of us are there and one or two people are online,” Menefee said.

Menefee used to participate in more leagues, but managing that was challenging.

“Every Sunday I was rooting for and against almost every good player, because I either had them on my team in one league or was playing against them in another,” Menefee said. “So now I’m in one league only, so I don’t have to deal with all the other stuff.”

Unlike Menefee, Garvin likes being able to be in leagues with family and friends.

“I’m in three leagues this year, but the most I have been in was six at one time,” Garvin said.

Everybody has a different opinion on why they get into fantasy football.

“My street actually decided to start a league, that was kind of the first thing that got me into it,” senior Colton Pawlak said.

Following the games can be fun, and groups often add some friendly competition to the season.

“Last year it was you had to do the milk mile, every lap you had to drink a cup of chocolate milk,” freshman Jacob Brinkman said about a challenge he and his brother made for whoever gets last place.

Punishments are a great way to add some competitiveness into fantasy football.

“Every year the losing team has to do something, like last year the loser had to jump into a lake,” freshman Avery Schaaf said about a competition she had with her dad.

Changes can always be made towards fantasy football but it can also change the way someone watches football.

“It’s kind of made me almost want to watch more games than just the teams that I like, because I have certain players that I want to watch,” Pawlak said.

Watching more games and more players helps make it easier to create strategies and gain more knowledge in fantasy football.

“I usually try to look at the guys that are injury prone and sometimes draft their backup,” Garvin said. “Or I look at guys who got good volume, like if they get a lot of targets or carries.”