Imagine the sick feeling an 8-year-old boy experiences on Christmas Day when he realizes he isn’t getting the Power Wheels 4×4 Jeep he really wanted. That feeling is being relived by fantasy football players who have Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper on their team.

“Culpepper was really disappointing the first two weeks, considering he earned me only a total of six points when he was our league’s leading scorer last year,” said Scott Coleman, junior in computer engineering.

On Sunday, Culpepper threw three touchdown passes, leaving fantasy players hopeful that he’ll make up for the eight interceptions he threw during the first two games of the season.

Fantasy football is a game where participants assemble a team of real NFL players and score points based on those players’ statistical performances each week. A typical fantasy football league has between eight and 12 teams, with each team typically having one quarterback, two running backs, three receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one team’s defense. Good starters earn approximately eight or more points each week, while exceptional starters earn points in the 10s, 20s or 30s. Each team also has approximately six bench players, but only the starters’ points count each week, which means team owners must pick their starters wisely.

With the advent of the Internet, fantasy football’s popularity has exploded.

An estimated 12 million people play fantasy football, according to a survey conducted by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

The popularity of the game among ISU students can be seen and heard by simply walking around campus.

“Fantasy football is really exciting,” said Dan Weber, junior in communication studies.

Coleman said he views fantasy football as a learning experience.

“It’s fun because it really gets you to watch and follow all the teams in the NFL, and not just your favorites,” he said.

“You get to know all the players from all of the teams.”

Coleman has an added incentive to play as well.

He participates in a league with friends from high school, which allows him to keep in touch with his old pals.

“Fantasy football is a great way to keep in touch with each other,” he said.

“Normally people only talk to friends from high school when they are back in town.”

With week four of the NFL season approaching, many fantasy football participants are hoping that players such as Culpepper and Buffalo Bills running back Willis McGahee begin to play as well as they were expected to at the beginning of the season.

Others are optimistic that the breakout performances of running backs such as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Willie Parker and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Carnell “Cadillac” Williams will continue through the season.