Men in Gorilla Suits
Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 102: Last Seen…Playing Fantasy Football

If you listened to our episode about sports, you know we like sports well enough. We have games and players we like, and we enjoy watching these games and players...but if sports one day ceased to exist, life would go on for us. The thought of a world without sports, for some, is the thought of a world they could not live in. We've argued before that sports fans have the potential to be more geeky than any comic book fan, and with the rise of fantasy sports, that geekery is taken to new levels.

There are fantasy leagues for so many sports, but the biggie -- by far -- is American football. So much, that we're dedicating this week's show to fantasy football. (Also because we played fantasy football this season.)

We begin by talking about when we first got into football in general, and then jump to when we first played fantasy football. Who roped us into playing? Find out!

There are people who live for fantasy football, to the point that some speculate it costs workplace productivity 13 billion (yes, BILLION) dollars a year. Find out how often we checked our lineups and how much time we lost playing. Fantasy football consumes weekends for some; we talk about how invested we were in our teams on game days.

It's clear fantasy football isn't going away. We talk about why we think it's only grown in recent years before dedicating some time to our own strategies: how we decided what to do. (Were we into stats, or did we play from the gut?) We also talk about the lessons we learned from our season of fantasy football.

For some, fantasy football is all about winning -- and as silly as it sounds (especially when playing friends) -- a win can feel good. We talk about our best wins (and most heartbreaking losses) of the season.

Anyone listening to Men in Gorilla Suits knows we are fascinated by why people do things. We talk about the appeal of fantasy football to non-football fans and the most die-hard fans...which really comes down to this question: do you even need to be into football to enjoy fantasy football?

Many sports fans equate sports to life, so...we wrap up this episode equating our fantasy football season to a life lesson. (Because SPORTSBALL!!!)

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts about this episode in the comments below...

Direct download: 102.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 9:28pm CDT

You hear a lot of people say that people don't go outside anymore, but whenever we go outside, whether it's a state or national park, or just a walk around our neighborhoods, people are always out and about, enjoying nature. We hear people at work say things like, "I wish I could get outside more." We've seen backyards that, while they may be a bit manicured, fall away into wide fields with views of nothing man made. It's our experience that humans crave being outside.

So that's what we're talking about this week: nature!

We begin by talking about our earliest memories of nature, and then jump right into what we love best (and hate most) about nature. (Spoiler alert: Christopher hates these possibly more than stinging insects. And THIS is the most accurate image of a wasp ever created!)

After that, we discuss how important nature is in our lives -- and talk about some of our favorite memories in nature. If we had complete dominion over nature, find out what we would change about it...and find out the scariest things that have ever happened to us outside. Next, we jump to our favorite natural places visited...before talking about where we would visit (and what we would do) if time and money were no object.

While it's sometimes just "You kids get off my lawn!" curmudgeony hype, it's true that -- at least in America -- kids are urged by busy parents to stay inside more. Latchkey kids were once more an exception than the norm, and we discuss what kids who don't get to go outside frequently lose in the trade for what is often only perceived safety. And adults aren't immune; after all, they are usually the people telling their kids to stay inside...and as busy as they are (or have at least convinced themselves they are), they also gain something by being outside. We talk about that for a bit, and at least Christopher urges you to go check out Alastair Humphrey's blog and, ESPECIALLY, his #microadventures YouTube videos.

We wrap up this episode talking about what the future has in store for nature.

As always, we'd love to hear about your favorite places, best (and worst) experiences outside, and your favorite things about nature in the comments below.

Direct download: migs101.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 7:19pm CDT