FX Orders Up "The League"

These are the truest words I've ever read!

By Seth Freilich | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (35)

FX has ordered a new comedy called “The League.” This quote from the pilot pretty much tells me all I need to about this show:

God bless fantasy football. There are many things a man can do with his time; this is better than those things.

This show, ladies and gentlemen, is The Truth.

Co-created by an exec-producer of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and his wife, “The League” is about a fantasy football league and, as The Live Feed puts it, it “tackles issues of marriage, friendship, parenting and love in suburbia.” It stars Mark Duplass in the lead — while I hated Humpday, I thought he was quite good and this seems like a great role for him. And like “Curb,” the show will feature an improv-element.

Now I’m sure many of you are asking how the hell you make a comedy about a fantasy football league? Given the shit Dustin and I could tell you about our own league, I have no doubt about the premise’s potential. Whether it lives up to it, time will tell. (Goddamnit, Frylock. You outed us.)

Speaking of which, we’re less than two months away from football season — hut hut. Time to get working on team Luv Spackle’s draft board — I’m taking it all this year, fuckers!

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Comments

Draft day can't get here soon enough. I love it like my momma loves crack rock. A show about fantasy football? Oh hells yes!

Posted by: logar at July 16, 2009 10:09 AM

Who was it who said, "It's like Dungeons & Dragons for the people who beat you up for playing Dungeons & Dragons."?

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at July 16, 2009 10:19 AM

I've always wanted to play fantasy football, but it intimidates the pom poms out of me. So many players! Who to start, who to bench? So many decisions! I have enough trouble getting through my day without wondering if Eli Manning's breasts will be too sore to play that Sunday.

Posted by: Julie at July 16, 2009 10:21 AM

"It's like Dungeons & Dragons for the people who beat you up for playing Dungeons & Dragons?"

Every year the arbitrary distinction of what is a 'wierd' activity and what is perfectly ok becomes more and more amusing to me. Ren faires? Fodder for the Ur-Dork. LARP? God forbid, it is the end of days.

Stalk a random famous person, take their picture in normal, everyday situations, write about their every waking moment and obsessively hypothesize about their private lives? Good career move.

Posted by: twig at July 16, 2009 10:25 AM

Julie, thank you for nearly causing what would have been my third coffee-related incident of the week (I almost sprayed my keyboard). Oh, Eli. What a puss.

I'm way too intimidated for fantasy football; I prefer to play a straight pool every week while following my favorite teams closely (Eagles, Steelers - shut it Frylock, Texans, Chargers), but I will watch this, because I have lived with a man who showed me the levels to which boys will go for their leagues, and it is some entertaining shit.

Posted by: Nicole at July 16, 2009 10:28 AM

Here's something I haven't heard since the 60's:

"The game's coming on in 10 minutes. Go warm up the TV."

Does anyone other than "," even know what I'm talking about?

Posted by: BWeaves at July 16, 2009 10:36 AM

I have seem those LARPing videos on Youtube and I think I could get on that train. Not so much for the smacking each other with foam-core sword, but I saw one where they actually were celebrating afterwards in a huge tent with bonfires and bags of wine and one girl.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at July 16, 2009 10:39 AM

Does anyone other than "," even know what I'm talking about?

Because the picture would take a few minutes to come in? Our first tv when I was really little took about a minute or so before you could see any images. But 10?! That's nuts.

Posted by: Julie at July 16, 2009 10:43 AM

LEAVE ELI ALONE! Do you have any idea what it must be like for him considering the adversities he's faced? Fetal Alcohol Syndrom is no laughing... What? He doesn't have FAS? His face really just is that way?! Oh, carry on.

Posted by: jM at July 16, 2009 10:52 AM

I think there's a lot of potential for this show. Fantasy Football can generate a lot of ridiciocity.

-----------------------------------------

Who was it who said, "It's like Dungeons & Dragons for the people who beat you up for playing Dungeons & Dragons."?

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at July 16, 2009 10:19 AM

---------------------------

I played (er, uh, play) Dungeons & Dragons and Fantasy Football (and hockey and baseball). Mrs. Donut is a very, very lucky woman.

Posted by: ForbiddenDonut at July 16, 2009 11:04 AM

Heh, BWeaves, we had one of those big old console TVs in the den when I was a kid that would take probably close to 10 minutes as it got on in years.

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at July 16, 2009 11:07 AM

Speaking of which, we’re less than two months away from football season — hut hut

Not in Canada bitches.

We also had a TV that took forever to warm up. A little 15" harvest gold one. Somebody needs to bring that colour back into the mainstreem. There's nothing like cooking in a kitchen surrounded by that awesomeness.

Posted by: admin at July 16, 2009 11:12 AM

My parents have replaced their harvest gold kitchen appliances, but I can still crap in a harvest gold toilet when I visit. And if that one's taken, I can crap in the avocado green one in the master bath. You know the one with the foil wallpaper.

Posted by: BWeaves at July 16, 2009 11:17 AM

When Plaxico Burress was suspended by the NFL for bringing a gun into a nightclub (and shooting his own dumbass self in the leg), the first thing I heard over and over:
"Dammit, he was on my fantasy roster."
And these people were completely serious. So I laughed in their faces and started singing "Fly, Eagles Fly". Nothing pisses off a Chicagoan more than support for another team...except when it comes to motherfuckin' fantasy football.

Posted by: Jim Doggie at July 16, 2009 11:19 AM

BWeaves, I guess this means I have officially attained Pajibapatriarch status (haven't seen Ralphie around for awhile, old fuck must have died). Hah! Kneel before us, all you unfortunate and sad little under-50s whose life experience amounts to a mere trifle next to ours! In the land of the underaged, the advanced middle aged shall be king and queen of ... errrr, something.

Also: In fantasy baseball, ever player counts for something. In fantasy football, exactly how do your offensive linemen score points for your team?

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 11:39 AM

Also: In fantasy baseball, ever player counts for something. In fantasy football, exactly how do your offensive linemen score points for your team?

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 11:39 AM

You don't draft offensive linemen. They aren't even available in drafts. They get no points. If you're drafting properly, the quality of the offensive line comes into play when you're picking your running back or quaterback.

In most leagues, you don't even draft individual defensive players, just a "team defense" and you get points based on how well that team's defense does (sacks, points allowed, yards allowed, interceptions, fumbles, etc.). Typically, a team's special teams play is included (kick/punt return TD's).

Posted by: ForbiddenDonut at July 16, 2009 12:00 PM

We need a fantasy football league. The commish of mine got lazy last season and didn't do his job. The keeper league commish quit. I need a new fantasy football league so I can again draft players that are benched for the first 4 games of the season. Brandon Marshall, it won't be you this year.

You only draft offense in most leagues. Your defense is a team defense. However, in elite leagues, you can draft specific defensive players or special teams players. I'd much rather do the team d myself. Bears and Ravens are where it's at.

Posted by: Melody at July 16, 2009 12:29 PM

I've already booked my flight to go to my fantasy draft this year. It's the league's 20th year-we get together at a different location the weekend before the season starts, draft teams and watch the first weekend's games. I still have not been able to convince my inlaws that there is no gambling involved, just taunting and a trophy made up of a ceramic fish and a can of creamed corn.

Posted by: Mrcreosote at July 16, 2009 12:33 PM

Another item to add to my List of Things That Completely Baffle Me About Americans:

Fantasy sports. And...yeah just football in general.

The hell, people?

Posted by: figgy at July 16, 2009 12:36 PM

figgy,
oh, it's not just Americans.
Fantasy Football (and Formula One, and cricket, and gawd knows what else) have been rife in any office I've ever worked in. Course, in my offices, the football referred to was soccer (or 'real football, not that sissy padded Yank bollocks', as we Brits know it).
Same type of obsessive testosterone fest, though - and probably, same type of bemused female onlookers....

Posted by: Tarn at July 16, 2009 12:57 PM

"The game's coming on in 10 minutes. Go warm up the TV."

Does anyone other than "," even know what I'm talking about?

Ahh, yes... Back when tubes existed only in your TV, rather than in your internet.

Favorite activity to piss your Mom off: Rapidly flipping the channel dial so that you combined the dialogue of two or more different shows.

Posted by: elsie at July 16, 2009 1:29 PM

Posted by: Tarn at July 16, 2009 12:57 PM

----------------------

Well, at least in American Football the players don't fall to the ground like they've been shot and then proceed to writhe around for five minutes screaming for their mommies every time they get touched. It's embarassing.

I understand drawing fouls is a key part of the game, but do what Don Corleone says and "act like a man!"

Posted by: ForbiddenDonut at July 16, 2009 1:47 PM

Donut, That's what I thought. That's why fantasy football holds no interest for me, it's all about picking skill (star) players. Big hairy deal. Half the fun of playing fantasy baseball was having to fill out a roster with backup catchers and third-string middle infielders and the fifth reliever in the Pirates' bullpen. All of them have easily quantifiable numbers. Football has no way (no way comprehensible to the average fan, anyway) of quantifying the contributions of offensive linemen and some defensive players, so they don't count. It's as if they don't exist as human beings. So your "team" consists only of a few parts of an actual team, while a fantasy baseball team encompasses them all.

Besides the fact, when you play fantasy baseball you play almost every day. Once a week? Look, would you rather have an orgasm every day or once a week?

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 1:47 PM

Fuck that shit. I hate fantasy football. My friends now watch plays, not games. Teams matter no more.

That is why I'm starting fantasy fantasy football. This is where you draft your friends, and get points for their behavior.

Your "player" checks his/her scores during a game: 1 point

Your "player" talks shit to his/her rival that week via email: 1 point

Your "player" talks shit to his/her rival that week in person: 3 points

Your "player's" favorite team scores a touchdown, yet he/she delays celebrating until they determine which player scored it: 5 points

Your "player" actively pulls for a player on his/her most hated team: you win the season(but, really, everyone loses)

Posted by: pissant at July 16, 2009 1:55 PM

I used to sell TV tubes over at Reed Drugs. The supply wasn't replenished very often, and some of the "new" tubes were as old as the ones they were replacing. Me and the soda jerk would get a big laugh out of that, then play mumble-the-peg to see who had to tote the ipecac over to Missus McGreevy's walk-up....

Posted by: sansho1 at July 16, 2009 2:24 PM

Ha..my league uses a draft board like the one pictured. "I got Matsui!" Wait, wrong sport...although I play fantasy baseball, too, which arguably is even dorkier than fantasy football. Though fantasy football is huge huge business nowadays. Why do u think there's constant "fantasy updates" during NFL broadcasts on all the football carrying networks? I will admit that fantasy ball ruins the purity of the sport somewhat. I admit I watch games largely to see "my guy" play, more the case these days cuz my hometown team has been wretched for the the last 10 years.

Posted by: stryker1121 at July 16, 2009 2:34 PM

Lions fan, stryker? I thought it was longer than that.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 4:01 PM

Lions fan, stryker? I thought it was longer than that.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 4:01 PM

-----------------------------------

It has been. 52 years and counting...

Save for that brief Barry Sanders era. That was fun. But what did that Golden Age amount to? One playoff win and the organization forcing one of the great players of all time, Barry Sanders, into retirement because of their ineptitude. Thus, even the Lions' Golden Era is tainted with a foul odor.

They have won ONE playoff game in 52 years. ONE PLAYOFF GAME IN MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY.

It's just the last 10 years have been particularly bad, even for the Lions.

Posted by: ForbiddenDonut at July 16, 2009 4:19 PM

Cheer up, nowhere to gO-16 but up (see what I did there?).

I'm probably your worst nightmare. I grew up in and have lived in Steelers country almost all my life and I ... despise is a bit too strong, I don't much like football. Even a little. The game is fine, but I hate the coaches, players, broadcasters and especially the obnoxious fans. So you won't be hearing about six Super Bowl wins from me. Not a word about the six rings. Nope, nobody here cares about six world championships.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 4:56 PM

I am utterly indifferent to fantasy sthporth.

I am ambivalent toward chinchilla farming, pepper-jack cheese and John Wayne ceramic figurines.

I deeply disapprove of Lee Greenwood, thrift-store mattresses and diabetes.

I fucking loathe Toby Keith and will fucking take a swing at that fucker if I ever fucking meet him in fucking person, fucking consequences be fucking damned.

Posted by: firedmyass at July 16, 2009 5:58 PM

Cheer up, nowhere to gO-16 but up (see what I did there?).

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 16, 2009 4:56 PM

-------------------------

What is this... Super Bowl you speak of?

And may you die in a fire. Six fires. Six big, super-hot fires. Yep, six of them. Six napalmesque fires.

Posted by: ForbiddenDonut at July 16, 2009 6:14 PM

So this is like a Knocked Up spin-off about Paul Rudd's character?

Posted by: Daniel Hall at July 16, 2009 11:08 PM

Close bucdaddy...just jump across Lake Erie and you're in Browns town. Sad state of affairs since the team came back in '99...but Donut and I can enjoy the Browns-Lions yearly preseason tilt, otherwise known as the Battle of Lake Erie. They even have a trophy for the winner.

Posted by: stryker1121 at July 16, 2009 11:20 PM

They even have a trophy for the winner.
---
The Dilapidated Downtown Cup?

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at July 17, 2009 2:30 AM

*
**************************************************
OH, WONDERFUL!
There are many beautiful mature women and men chatting on that
community^^^^^^^^^Cougar Circle^^^^^^^^which designed to help ethnically
diverse singles meet new friends and make dates. u will have a more lovely
baby not long after....

Posted by: william at July 17, 2009 6:54 AM

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These are the truest words I've ever read!

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