Unless you’ve been living a cave the last few weeks you know football season is soon approaching if not by all commercial coming up advertising this network or that network. Then by someone in your office telling you about their lame-ass fantasy football team. For the record I have never played fantasy football and never plan to because I root for my team and my team only (Yeah I’m that guy!).
During a long flight for work I got bored and thought what it would be like if two of the things I am most passionate about crossed over and so I give you the ultimate comic fantasy football team (please note only Marvel characters were used because I don’t have a large working knowledge of the DC Universe).
I present to you, the comic book fantasy football team!
Owner – Tony Stark, Iron Man, because hey if there aren’t two people in sports and comics that live almost identical lives it is Jerry Jones and Tony Stark.
GM – Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, with number nerds taking over sports and the move towards analytics I pick Marvel’s number one nerd.
Head Coach – Steve Rogers, Captain America, a coach must command the respect of everyone in the room and he’s Marvel’s top dog.
QB – Peter Parker, Spider-Man, you want your quarterback to be athletic and intelligent enough to get you in and out of the right plays. There is a lot of Andrew Luck in Spider-Man as the quarterback just cool enough that he is still respected, a nerd at heart and smart enough to put it all together when it counts and then there’s this because the QB lands all the chicks.
RB – T’Challa, Black Panther, first I know what you are thinking why not Quicksilver or someone like that? In football if you only have one talent it’s easy to scheme for and erase (as you will see when you get to the defense). Secondly running backs need to have cat-like quickness and agility. Finally, insert race card here, most skill position players are black in football so the King of Wakanda gets the nod.
FB – Cain Marko, Juggernaut, Bo Schembechler famously said once “I recruit fullbacks that 6’0 because when they are done playing for me they will be 5’9”.” The fullback is bulldozer and opens the holes so why not take the Juggernaut. I know up until this point it’s been only superheroes, but there was the brief stint when Juggernaut was part of the X-men so I’m taking him as my fullback.
WR1 – Richard Rider, Nova, you have to have a receiver that can take the top off a defense so why not the Human Rocket. With success of the Guardian of the Galaxy I think we can all envision a Nova movie coming soon.
WR2 – Matt Murdock, Daredevil, I know what you are thinking. Why Daredevil? The answer is simple. A second wide receiver is usually the most reliable. He finds the weakness in zones, is a tactician at running routes and just gets the job done. This epitomizes Daredevil, he’s not Marvel’s biggest hero, but series after series he just delivers a great book.
WR3 – Genis Vell, Captain Marvel, a typical third wide receiver is usually a combination of the first two wide receivers (Genis Vell has super strength & speed along with Spacial Awareness), but also not quite as consistent. So of course Genis Vell is a third wide receiver. When he was re-introduced as Captain Marvel instead of Legacy he looked awesome and his character in Avengers Forever gave him a good story to go alongside his new look. But like most third wide receivers he is considered polarizing.
TE1 – Luke Cage, Powerman, the tight end has to be tough enough to make catches over the middle along with being strong enough to hold up as an inline blocker. Cage gives you both and can’t you see him having a big season and then holding out for a better contract?
LT – Peter Rasputin, Colossus, the left tackle is blind side protector and “a dancing bear.” Left tackle is also a finesse position and while there are other powerhouses out there this position suits Colossus more than other heroes.
RT – Ben Grimm, The Thing, Grimm serves as the perfect counter to Colossus as left tackle because the right tackle is a mauler and road grader and more of a power player. Few in the Marvel Universe are more about power than The Thing. It also doesn’t hurt he was an All-American at ESU.
C – Hank McCoy, Beast, another Marvel Hero with a football background Hank McCoy is the prototypical center. He is smart enough to recognize defense and put the rest of the O-Line in the right protections.
LG – Elvin Haliday, Rage, here is another character that may come as bit of a shock, but I want a big physical O-Line. Not only does Rage fit the criteria, but he also essentially wears a football uniform for his costume.
RG – James Proudstar, Warpath, because of his mutant abilities he is the ideal right guard. The right guard usually does most pulling, trap and wham blocking so he needs to have size, strength and the ability to move well. Plus if you were on the opposing team and you saw this for a guy’s team pic you would probably think twice about crossing him.
Part two coming soon. The DEFENSE!!! Let me know what you think, and your fantasy team below, and as always thanks for reading!
