Are you ready for some football? How about some fantasy football?
For the last nine years, I’ve been playing fantasy sports on Fleaflicker, which satisfies my competitive nature and love of all-things sports. But what I truly get out of playing is something deeper, something much more meaningful — community.
Early on, I helped develop an extended network of Fleaflicker users, or “team owners,” and have been playing in private leagues with those individuals for nearly a decade.
Bear in mind, these individuals were relative strangers, online entities I had never met that existed solely in the cyber-ether. But over time, and by utilizing the league message boards, personalities emerged.
Each league had its class clown. Each league had its bully and its basket case (the owner who was never there and never set their lineups). And each league took on a life of its own.
The message board became our lifeblood. Of course, there was a healthy amount of traditional trash talking — owners mouthing off about how good they thought their team was and how badly they expected to beat their opponent that week. But there was also support — moral support for things not about fantasy football — real-life issues like custody battles, court hearings and life-threatening health conditions.
An amazing thing kept happening: People were spilling their guts on the message boards, pouring their hearts out; not about how much they needed a backup tight end, but rather, about how much they just needed to vent. And the other owners listened and replied and wished them well and shared their pain and understood what they were going through.
It was inspiring. I had become part of an online community that existed inside the paint and outside the lines.
I use the term “relative strangers” loosely, since, after nine years, these community members are almost like family to me. I remember when LAExes was struggling with his girlfriend’s battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. I remember when RaiderRob was sent upstate, and when RaiderRob came back.
And even though we all pledge allegiances to different fandoms, the extended network we’ve formed shares one common attribute — community.
It’s funny — every year, we joke that the following year, we’re all going to meet up in Las Vegas for our draft. And every year it never materializes, which is probably for the best. If we were to actually meet, then the veil of anonymity would wither. All this time, as our personalities have emerged, I’ve projected physical features upon those personalities. I’ve always imagined NEDynasty looked like a fairly short, Jewish white man. But in reality, he may be a six-and-a-half-foot tall black woman.
And that’s the beauty of an online community. It doesn’t matter what you look like, where you come from or what you believe. To be a part of our online community, you just have to play along. And the same should be said about Aurora.
Community is where you make it, whether in cyberspace or a little closer to home.
As we continue to draw closer to midterm elections in November, we will be inundated with divisive political commercials, slanted ad campaigns and explosive rhetoric. The candidates will expose our differences for their own advance, pitting us against each other as they vie for public office.
Through it all, we should focus on our similarities instead of our differences. Sure, some of us are Republicans, some are Democrats, some are unaffiliated and many are misinformed. But we’re all human. We all feel pain. And we all comprise a community called Aurora.
Just like in my football leagues, Aurora has its class clowns, bullies and basket cases. And it’s a melting pot of America’s best — and worst.
The political arena is not that different from its athletic counterpart. Opponents are matched up, battle lines are drawn and gauntlets are thrown. And we, the community, serve as both spectator and spectacle.
The upcoming midterm elections may be the most important in history, but it’s even more important to remember what really matters. We are a community, and what unites us is stronger than what separates us. Americans of all shapes, sizes and colors can at least agree on one thing: We love football. And we love fantasy football. And we should love each other.
Love is where you find it, home is where the heart is and community is where you make it. So find yours or choose to be a part of ours. You’re always welcome.
Next year — Vegas.
Sasha Heller is the Aurora Sentinel managing editor. Reach him at sheller@sentinelcolorado.com or (720) 449-9719 ext. 230.