by Katie Mercogliano ’14

As the most wonderful time of the year starts, so does my journey into territory unexplored by most girls. This football season, I dared to enter the mysterious guy-dominated world of Fantasy Football.

I was invited by my male coworkers from over the summer to join their league. We all worked together at the baseball tournament, Cooperstown Dreamspark, and I was one of two girls in my department, the only of which who followed football.

As interns, with the exception of showers, beds and bathrooms, we were always together while working 16 hour days. These guys, ages 19-23, were from all different parts of the country, from Montana to Illinois. By the end of the summer, I was deemed ‘one of the guys’ and granted the honor of joining their Fantasy league (most likely to be an easy opponent).

Since I got a first round draft pick, my lineup is pretty decent for a rookie. My big wins were Viking Adrian Peterson, Giants’ Victor Cruz and Colts’ Andrew Luck. Many doubted my QB choice, warning he wasn’t any good for points on Fantasy, but obviously the first game proved them wrong, as Luck threw for 3 touchdowns.

Now, I may be a bit of a tomboy when it comes to sports, but that in no way prepared me for the trash talking of fantasy football. Calling it trash talking is the understatement of the year. Instead of the discussion board, we use a group message since we all have iPhones.

I’m still newbie to the art of trash talking, but I got an extreme crash course Sunday night as my first game went from me being 10 points behind my opponent (who is most competitive guy I’ve ever met) to a 20-point lead after Victor Cruz danced his way to the end zone three times that night. Think Ham from “The Sandlot,” with much more explicit language.

The final score of that game ended up being 120.42-80.98, with myself being the victor. I do have to admit, I was pretty excited when I won by such a huge margin.  Texts flooded in the group message, with jabbing insults like, “Dude I can’t believe you were beat by a girl,” and “Katie do you have an extra purse he could borrow to match his dress?” In all honesty, it was probably just a combination of beginners luck and Andrew Luck.