{"id":304,"date":"2019-08-20T19:24:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T23:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/takomatorch.com\/?p=304"},"modified":"2020-01-29T17:46:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T22:46:18","slug":"new-fantasy-draft-league-arises-from-nfl-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/20\/new-fantasy-draft-league-arises-from-nfl-boycott\/","title":{"rendered":"Drafting Public Radio Hosts Preferred Over NFL Players"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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TAKOMA PARK, MD – Jim McDonald sits alone in his basement, staring at his four monitor set-up and researching biographies of NPR personalities. A former professional football fan, McDonald is now the commissioner of Takoma Park\u2019s hottest fantasy sports league: Fantasy Public Radio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFantasy Public Radio is the perfect pastime for this\ncommunity,\u201d said McDonald, wearing a WAMU t-shirt. \u201cListening to NPR is way\nmore popular in this town than watching football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDonald started the league 5 years ago with several neighbors, all of whom were tired of repeatedly finishing last in office fantasy football competitions. \u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you who the top 5 quarterbacks are in the NFL,\u201d admitted Maggie Duvall, owner of Duvall Things Considered. \u201cBut I can certainly name the top 5 morning shows on 88.5.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the NFL continues to alienate fans with player\nmisconduct scandals, offensive mascot names, and its ongoing refusal to sign\nColin Kaepernick, the Fantasy Public Radio League has seen consistent growth.\nIt added its tenth team\u2014the Ira Glasskickers\u2014at the start of last season, and\nthis year at least sixteen teams are expected to compete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFantasy Public Radio plays to my strengths,\u201d said\nJackson Kimball, who co-runs the Morning Wood Edition team. \u201cAnd it lets me\nfeel morally superior to everyone else who still supports the NFL\u2019s concussion\nfactory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like their football counterparts, team owners in\nFantasy Public Radio spend hours preparing to draft the perfect lineup. Online\nmessage boards track airtime statistics, keep count of Peabody awards, and\nreport rumors of programming changes and promotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe wrong pick can really kill your whole season,\u201d lamented Carrie Davis, owner of Fresh Air Raid. \u201cI had Garrison Keillor on my team in 2017 when he got fired by Minnesota Public Radio. If I had paid better attention to the rumor mill, I would have known he was sleazy. I spent months kicking myself for not taking Terry Gross when I had the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, it appears easy to get lost in the minutiae of strategies and contingencies. \u201cI have the #1 pick this year,\u201d stated Gavin Powell, owner of NPRsonists. \u201cIn the past, Diane Rehm would have been the obvious choice, but then she retired. Do I take Kojo Nnamdi because he\u2019s a local hero, or Steve Inskeep because he has more weekly on-air hours? I really like Nina Totenberg, but I heard her husband has strep throat and I can\u2019t take the chance that she\u2019ll catch it from him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is running out for Powell and his league mates to plan their choices. The 2019 season kicks off next month, and the championship trophy\u2014The Golden Tote Bag\u2014will be awarded in January. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAKOMA PARK, MD – Jim McDonald sits alone in his basement, staring at his four monitor set-up and researching biographies of NPR personalities. A former professional football fan, McDonald is now the commissioner of Takoma Park\u2019s hottest fantasy sports league: Fantasy Public Radio. \u201cFantasy Public Radio is the perfect pastime for this community,\u201d said McDonald,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/takomatorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/npr-fantasy.jpg?fit=2119%2C1414&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPZSG-4U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}