I.I.F.F.F.L. 2008

It's a little embarrassing to admit this, but I don't really understand football. People have tried to explain it to me, so I sort of know how it works: I know that you have four downs to get a first down, I know there's an offense and a defense, and I know what a touchdown is. But when I watch a game I have to wait until Chuck reacts to a play before I know what happened and how I should react (this is especially difficult if I'm purposefully rooting for the other team because I then have to react the OPPOSITE of how he's reacting). Chuck loves football, both on the collegiate (go BSU!) and professional levels, so two years ago he convinced me to start playing 'fantasy football' (so that we could count Monday Night Football as FHE) and we haven't looked back! Our league is called the I.I.F.F.F.L. - Izatt Invitational Family Fantasy Football League. In 2006, our debut year, it was comprised of Chuck, me, Quinn, and my mom. We did everything by hand, writing out our rosters every week and keeping track on a scoreboard on my living room wall - right next to our draft boards. Thanks to the tutoring session from the jock-y teachers at her school, my mom drafted Peyton Manning that year and her AFC team ended up winning our league Super Bowl. The next year we expanded to include our good friends Leslie and Matt, and also went digital by using the resources at ESPN.com to track our teams and scores, as well as trash talk one another. That year Matt won (although I came in second!). This year Quinn obviously has to sit out (we wrote him a Dear John letter to rub it in), so Sam and Terri are co-replacing him. The draft was long but very fun and we're now into the second week of the season, which means I actually pay attention when Sports Center and PTI are on (scary!).

The I.I.F.F.F.L. drafts through the years:

This is from our draft in 2006 - August 29th, two nights before I went into labor with Clyde.

My job every year is creating the poster boards and namecards for the draft and then trying to keep up during the draft (three drafts later and I still don't remember to get double sided tape).

Here's the draft (on Clyde's birthday) in 2007, oddly enough I'm pregnant here too! Although not as noticably, I was only about eight weeks along.

Draft 2008: we went with a more vibrant board and a non-pregnant Jana.

Funny story: after the draft, Leslie, my mom, and I are happy to move on and talk about other things, but Chuck and Matt were all about studying the teams and (over)analyzing them. It should be noted that Sam and Terri were unable to be at the rescheduled draft, so Chuck very honestly drafted for them (he even gave them Eagles Running Back Brian Westbrook when their pick came up before his).

Here are the I.I.F.F.F.L. 2008 draft boards, one AFC and one NFC. I really think they jazz up my living room decor :)