Fantasy People

While sitting at lunch today, like any tuesday, the conversation switched to the previous night's Monday Night Football Game, which inevitably then changed to fantasy football. For those who don't know what fantasy football is, it's an online league one does with a group of people (8-12 usually) in which you draft NFL players to your team, and however well they do in real life, is how many points they earn in fantasy. The goal is to get the most points each week. Of the twelve or so people at the lunch table, only my friend Carl doesn't have a team. He turned to me, while the rest of the table was in deep discussion about who the most valuable tight-end is, and asked who would be on my fantasy person team. I laughed, thinking he was joking, and then thought about it for a second. After asking 5 or so followup questions like "dead or alive", or "real or fake", Carl and I started talking about who our first pick in this hypothetical draft would be. We spent the next 30 minutes spitting out any name that came to mind, with names ranging from Will Hunting, to Moses, to Dennis Haysbert (The All-State voice). We started asking other people, and received answers such as Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, and Socrates just from people in the American Studies class. After school, I asked some of my family, and got responses such as Jay-Z, Benjamen Franklin, and Zac Brown. It seemed as if there was such a variety in the choice of people, until I thought about how each person embodied a specific characteristic Americans seek. Not one person (so far) has said any war hero, or someone who embodies physical strength. But I thought American history was all about wars? Although we have a history of war, were founded on a revolution, and continue to use our military strength internationally, our "American Dream Team" seems to be made up mostly of artists, activists, and innovators, and. I believe this says something about American people, and not only about what we wish to embody in the people we admire, but also about the people themselves as well. Below is the roster that my interviewees ended up with, along with their reason for being "drafted".  Looks like a pretty good team to me. I still have not come to a conclusion on who my first pick would be, but I hope to soon. I'd love to hear some of your early draft picks in the comment section.

Will Hunting- Intelligence
Moses- Leadership
Dennis Haysbert- Trustworthiness
MLK- Visionary for change
Abraham Lincoln- Honesty and Courage
Socrates- Wisdom
Jay-Z- Multi-talented
Ben Franklin- Innovativeness
Zac Brown- Pure musical talent.