Every fall, basketball season starts up again, and since 2018, talking smack and having bragging rights has come alive with Fantasy Basketball in the Ojai Valley School Community.
The league, ‘Spud Fantasy’, which is run by the Lower Campuses Junior Boarding Coordinator, Nick Almanza, is a 16-man league that runs every year from the first regular season game to the last. Playoffs are excluded from games because obviously not every team or player makes them, giving possible advantages to some, so it is only played during the regular season.
“The league runs itself,” said Mr. Almanza when I asked him about the best part of the league, “I like how it is now, I think we’ve got it set up pretty well”.
The league, which is comprised of middle and high schoolers, teachers, and former alumni, has head-to-head matches every week; whichever team accumulates more points by the end of the week wins their matchup.
The league is completely virtual, which makes everything from sending trades to your friends to an online draft much easier. The league provided a great connection among faculty, alumni, and even current students.
However, the virtual draft is not easy, said Mr. Almanza, “I would say setting the draft night is most stressful. There are people in different time zones. You got people in the Eastern Time Zone, Central Time Zone, and Pacific Time Zone, so finding a time that works for everyone is tough.”
I also got to speak to the Lower Campuses’ 6th-grade math teacher and 7th and 8th-grade science teacher, Ben Malkin. Mr. Malkin said, “My favorite part of the league is definitely being able to connect as a faculty member with Lower Campus, Upper Campus, Alumni, and just how we stay connected through sports.”
The league was born on a basketball court when Upper Campus class of 2023 and Lower Campus class of 2019 graduate Ethan Chen proposed the idea to Mr. Almanza and some other friends. When I asked both Mr. Malkin and Mr. Almanza the question of how the league came to be, they both gave me the same answer: the kids.
“We had a pretty athletic group of residents in the Lower Dorm back in the day,” exclaimed Mr. Almanza, “like Ethan Chen and Eugene Fisher.”
Eugene also graduated from the Lower and Upper campuses alongside Ethan.
“We were playing a lot of basketball, and we all wanted a way to continue the competitive spirit of basketball,” finalized Mr. Malkin.
Last year, the league was dominated by Mr. Malkin’s team, which had a 14-5 record going into the championship against Matt Page, who had a 16-3 record leading up to his defeat. The final score was 1154-943, a close defeat in fantasy terms.
This year’s league is already 5 weeks in of the scheduled 19, so it’s far too early to tell. With that being said, everyone in the league, from 6th graders to seniors in college, like Upper Campus class of 2022 graduate Brody Moller, they are all fighting for their name on the prestigious Spud Fantasy trophy.
“Winning our fantasy basketball league was a surreal feeling, knowing something that so many already knew— that I was the best!” Brody declared, “Getting my name permanently engraved onto our league’s championship trophy was a testament to the weeks of research and studying on who to start in my lineup and who sits on the bench. There was no better feeling than winning; ever.”
Brody is currently 2-0 and is scheduled to play Mr. Malkin in week 5 (Nov 17 – 23), Mr. Almanza in week 8 (Dec 8 – 14), and scheduled to play his younger brother Archer Moller in week 10 (Dec 22 – 28).
“It gets a little quiet at times,” voiced Mr. Malkin when I asked him about the vibes in the league, “sometimes you got to stir the pot up a little and get things going.” Mr. Almanza concluded: “Vibes are high, people talk a lot of smack when they see each other, I love it!”