One artifact is an email that the NFL website sends to me every year reminding me when fantasy football starts and when drafts become available. Also, they recommend their own little draft pack that you can choose to buy for a certain amount of money to help you draft your team and draft day. The achieve a sense of intertextuality by saying somethings like about draft day, draft packs, and other essentials to the draft that use specific terms that outsiders wouldn't understand right away. The email is usually very colorful and right in your face with a big yellow rectangle with the words, "Draft now" in big black bold letters. The email does achieve its goal by getting the attention of the reader of the email because when you get the email you usually go right away and sign up for a league. Which is the goal of the email that is sent out.
Another artifact that I saw before the NFL season started was that ESPN was previewing the season then cut to break and present information about the fantasy football league they offer. Telling where to go online and how to set it up. Then they would bring in the fantasy football "expert" and give his opinion on who's going to surprise during the year and who's going to do nothing during the year. But they don't say it like that, they say who's going to have a breakout year and who's going to be a bust, which is terms that some outsiders don't know unless they have played fantasy football. Usually when people see this part of Sportscenter is gets their attention and leads to people signing up to fantasy football, which is the goal of them doing what they did and it is successful.
Then another sign that fantasy football is coming is the magazines that get published to the local grocery stores and convenient stores. Differing from the big companies like CBS who makes their big magazine focusing on the stars of the league all the way to little companies that are make up of geeks who predict what each player is going to do during the season stat-wise based on schedule, last year, etc. I have for sure seen people buy these magazines at the drafts I have gone to because they say it helps pick their team. It's funny though because no one can really predict the season since there are so many changes during the year and between weeks. The magazine gets bought so it definitely achieves its goal of getting the public to buy their predictions for their draft.
First Day Narrative
When I first learned about this discourse community was back maybe in the year 2004, when I first moved here to Florida. This was because my dad was in a league with all of his old friends he still had in California. Everything was new to me except for all the names of the players since I already followed football. My dad taught me all the little terms like free agents, waiver wire, player statuses, etc. but I learned it all pretty quick and wanted to have my own team right there after. The thing I didn't know was that my dad had to pay for the league and I didn't have the money, but he did tell me there were free leagues that I could sign up for and I did. I never knew I could be like a manager of a team and decide who plays and who doesn't based on their opponent. I could pick who ever I wanted as long as the person before didn't pick him before me, and if that happened I got pissed. The draft was my favorite part of the whole thing because it was a thrill waiting for it to be my turn and pick the best player available.
The narrative is good, Justin, but you cut yourself short. When you're discussing the terms your father taught you, you just stop and say "etc." But that's the portion of the narrative that I'm most interested in: how you learned, what you learned, what was frustrating...
ReplyDeleteI think the narrative can function as a great organizing device for the overall essay, but you can't cut yourself short.
--NH