“This is psychological warfare. I’m trying to beat you on the digital gridiron. If someone makes a bad pick, I’m gonna let them know about it.”, Fantasy Focus host Daniel Dopp said, flanked by his co-hosts on stage at the ESPN Fantasy Football ultimate draft weekend at Baha Mar in the Bahamas in August. He continued, “I’m very in on… making sure you needle your people. If I can get you off your game, that means I got a better draft pick because of it.”
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Aside from the obvious fact that Dopp and his buddies spend a considerable amount of time chirping each other, the point was made that trash talk is an easy way for them to keep the Fantasy league fun – which is exactly why we join fantasy leagues in the first place.
Maybe you’ve been playing with the same crew for a long time and need to totally shake things up. Maybe it’s time to try something completely new, whatever it is. Here are some ideas to bring the level of fun in your fantasy hockey league.
Disclaimer: For every single one of these suggestions, you have to know your league and your people. Some chop each other up like a cooking reality show and that’s their vibe. Others derive joy from seeing one of their own completely embarrassed to their core. Whatever concentric circle of Dante’s Inferno you want to live in with your leagues, make sure it’s congruent with the whole crew. Don’t go all “nuclear” if the crew prefers mild.
OK, onto the carnage!
Punishments for last place
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And I mean harsh, or as downright absurd as you can stomach.
At Baha Mar, the Nice Man League had last year’s loser sing a Taylor Swift song in front of every single guest. It was hilarious. The toughest part for him, he said, was actually memorizing the words to the song.
Some famous last place penance ideas include staying in a restaurant for 24 hours (and having certain menu food items shave time off.. I personally enjoy McDonalds or Waffle House as choices here), or eating a superhot pepper or chip (safely, of course).
One of the more creative ones I saw last year was showing up to a championship parade in the losing team’s jersey.
You can also go completely off-the-wall and have the loser text “I miss you” to their ex, get a tattoo, or even smaller weekly punishments, like a press conference.
A press conference, you say?
Get together in person or over zoom and conduct an extremely official press conference with the “loser of the week” and everyone else pepper them with questions.
Invite new members
Maybe spicing things up is as easy as having new faces in the mix. Different personalities, different chirps, different draft and league strategies. Some leagues use a relegation-like rule, where if you’re last, you’re out. Maybe a year, maybe forever — sounds harsh, but that’s fantasy!
Implement an in-season championship
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I’m a big fan of a lineal championship continuing throughout the season, especially if you have head to head situations. Think about a professional wrestling championship — To be the man, you have to beat the man! — where whoever beats the current lineal champion becomes the next one until they lose it.
Create a real of fictional belt, and it gets defended every week. This gives a little extra bit of excitement when you’re in the long slog of the regular season, but it also gives teams something to play for, even if they fall out of the playoff picture. And keeping everyone invested for the whole season is what we want!
Not sure how to play? Try out the ESPN Mock Draft Lobby.
Change the rules
Snake draft or salary cap? Tinker with the points system to make goals more valuable? Adding negative points for chaos? Maybe change the format of the league every year?
Whatever it is, some leagues change up at least one thing every single year and that’s how they keep the flame high and bright. Daniel Dopp has some great examples in this piece he wrote in June for fantasy football players. Some leagues have had the same 10 people for 30 years and they just like the idea of having the same rules, enjoying a fun draft and knowing what’s ahead of them every single week. They’re creatures of habit and that’s fine too.
But that’s also not why you’re here reading this.
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OK, maybe not as intensive as the press conference, but hear me out. Every week, a different person is tasked to update power rankings of everyone in the league and do a little blurb about each participant. This is a great way to incorporate chirps while recapping their week, and for the readers, a way to keep up with everyone else’s storylines.
You can do this with a short TikTok-style video or even clever photo edits, but there’s something special about getting this in a group email every week that just hits different.
Rivalry weeks
Maybe your league is your entire family. Maybe you are college buddies. Maybe it’s a bunch of couples. Whatever it is, the “rivalries” in rivalry week would be pretty easy to identify:
Spouse vs spouse? Sibling vs sibling? Fans of rival teams? Imagine making the Pittsburgh Penguins fan face the Philadelphia Flyers fan on a week when both teams face each other on the ice!
How do you do this? Before the season, your league manager can go into the settings — look for the little tab on your top right that says “LM Tools” — and change the schedule so all of the important rivals clash on the same week. Even better when it’s close to the playoffs, and every win is crucial for keeping your season alive.
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Secondary league awards
Who doesn’t love getting a completely made up award?
Every week, you can make a post on the League page or on the Message Board and hand out league awards. What kinds of awards, you say? The obvious choices are highest score, biggest win, best pickups, most pickups and whoever had the best player of the week.
On the flip side, you can shine the “spotlight” on the biggest loser of the week, the player who left too many points on their bench or the worst pickup of the week.
The end of the season brings more possibilities, like most improved, least improved, most close wins, even best trader.
You can find Arda Öcal hosting “The Drop,” SportsCenter, and more. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Arda, and let him know all the ways you spice up your fantasy hockey leagues.
