Man Up, America: It's Time for Defense in Fantasy Football

Australia is one of those unique places on earth with strange variations of plant and animal life. Because it was disconnected from the rest of the planet, evolution took its own path there.  

Back in 1994, when the idea of fantasy football was in relative infancy, a group of guys in Alabama decided to give it a try. The idea was new, and everybody had their own ideas as to how it should be run.

They sat down and worked out a set of rules, and a fantasy football league was born.

My cousin Brian was one of those guys. He started hounding me about getting into the league, but I was married and had kids—time was not on my side. Nonetheless, after about two or three years of him pestering me, I went ahead and joined up.

That year, because I was an expansion team I got a special pick before the first round because each team was allowed to keep one player from the year before. I chose Barry Sanders, the best running back in football at the time. That move might have made sense to you, and it did to me, but this was not your average league.

This league wasn't just offense; it was defense too. Each team had to carry linebackers, defensive linemen, and defensive backs. Tackles got you one point, sacks three, and interceptions six. If they returned a pick or fumble for a touchdown, they got the six points as well. 

In this league rookies got a 50 percent bonus, so a rookie linebacker averaging 10 tackles a game was way more important than a running back who occasionally scored a touchdown.

Needless to say, I got schooled that first year. They showed no mercy!

That was over a decade ago, and the rules have changed slightly, but for the most part it has remained as it began. We did go from keeping score on notebooks and calling on land lines to a full-featured website and cell phone access. One guy even drafted his team over a sat phone from Iraq.  

One thing that has not changed is the league is still private, it's invitation only, it's still about honor (money is not involved), and defensive players are still critical to winning.

For years we had hoped some fantasy football site like Fox Sports, ESPN, or the NFL itself would make a league with defensive players, but our wait has been in vain. So we keep trudging along on a privately run website.

Every time a new owner comes in, they load up with offensive talent, and for the first few weeks they do well. As the season wears on, guys get beat up, and the cold weather arrives with the snow and rain. Defense begins to dominate. The offensive-heavy teams fade back, and the defensive teams surge forward. 

Usually in the end a well-balanced team will come out on top.

That is our story, and I'm telling it for a reason. 

Are you folks tired of being amateurs?  What idiot decided defense wasn't important enough to be included?

When is America going to grow a backbone and play the game the way it was meant to be played? This is football! 

If there are pictures of Tom Brady somewhere on your wall, quit reading here—I'm sure momma is calling you home for supper. 

If the sight of Dick Butkus knocking the snot out of someone on a snowy field in Chicago makes your heart race, where is THAT league?

Where are players like Ray Lewis in your league?  Did the amazing rookie year of Patrick Willis register at all to you? Do you even know who he plays for? 

With so much competition out there for fantasy football web traffic, why is it everyone is serving the same product?  The competitive edge is right in front of you. If you can score a wideout, you can score a linebacker. 

To the powers that be in the fantasy football world, I'm calling you out. Show me your man card. I'm not seeing it.