Fantasy football teams are like assholes… everyone has one. Okay, not everyone has a fantasy football team, but an estimated 20 million people do and the number seems to be growing every year. The game’s exploding popularity makes it ripe for a documentary and filmmakers Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell stepped in to fill the void.
“10 Yards” follows three friends, Hunter, Josh and J. Fred (a.k.a. “The Commish”), who own and operate three of the 15 teams in the Intergalactic Championship League. Hunter and Josh travel around the country interviewing different fantasy football players, real football players and analysts (including Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe) to get insight into why the game has become so popular. Meanwhile, The Commish chimes in with his weekly diary covering all the league happenings as well as his random ramblings. Over the course of the film, a full season is played and a champion is crowned.
Like “King of Kong,” “Air Guitar Nation” and “Word Wars” before it, “10 Yards” attempts to take a humorous slant on the hobby of a subsection of society. Unfortunately, the cast of characters in “10 Yards” isn’t nearly as unique or as engaging as those of the aforementioned docs. They’re not trying to set the world record score in Donkey Kong, flying to Europe to compete in an air guitar compeition or entering cutthroat Scrabble tournaments. They’re regular, average Joes, just like you and me, and truth be told, we’re just not that interesting. The film has its moments, but too much of its humor comes off as shtick.
That said, Weeks and Caldwell do a nice job of moving from one topic to another, all the while keeping the season-long storyline – the retirement of The Commish – in sight. The graphics and transitions are smooth and the film is well constructed. “10 Yards” is a worthwhile distraction for hardcore fantasy footballers and for those that want to learn about the game (or about those who play it).
Starting August 21 and running for two weeks, OurStage.com is offering a download of the film if you register with the site. (It’s free.) SnagFilms.com will stream the movie for free and allow for viral sharing via its widgets. A nationwide DVD release rolls out on September 30.
