I remember watching The League for the first time when it aired. The idea of the show was so stupid that I thought it was genius. I had seen commercials for it leading up to the series premiere. It was a bunch of friends who were too obsessed with fantasy football that real-life decisions were somehow tied into their fantasy football decisions. I loved the show from the start. I didn’t think the American public would dig it as much as I did.

As the show continued on, we got to see more silliness to keep the show running. A show solely based on fantasy football was going to be a difficult one so they had to include some weird characteristics to the main cast to keep it interesting. Its popularity allowed them to get celebrities and even actual football players to have cameos. Ultimately, it still made fantasy football its central focal point.

I loved every minute of it. I laughed so hard all the time.

It sadly went sour this past season as the effort to keep it relevant was struck by way too many out of the ordinary storylines that had little to do with fantasy football. (And that includes some episodes that barely talked about football or whatever Rafi/Randy was all about.)

The characters were so weird in their personal problems that fantasy football became secondary. It wasn’t bad, but it lost its charm.

I’ve watched every episode of this show and I am so glad the finale last night touched back to its fantasy roots. I am sad that this show is done now. It gave me a lot of laughs but it was clear that they were running out of steam and it was time to end it. Still, I really enjoyed all the nonsense they endured and the lineup problems they had to figure out weekly.

I know my fantasy football leagues are never this intense. But still, they showed us a fantasy life based on fantasy football. Their story was a fantasy a part of me wanted to be real. It’s so ridiculous, it was genius. And they made it work for seven seasons.

Thank you, The League!