Fantasy football leagues have a new punishment for their last-place losers: TikTok dances
- Fantasy football leagues often reward their winners with cash, but now they come with humiliating punishments for losers.
- TikTok dances have emerged as a way of putting fantasy losers to shame.
After 18 weeks of regular season NFL football, the fantasy football season has come to an end.
For league winners, it's a time of celebration, either for the jackpot of money earned or the simple bragging rights of besting your leaguemates for the title.
For those that came just short of the championship, it's a time of disappointment, wondering how things could have been different if you had just chosen to start D'Andre Swift over Miles Sanders in the final.
But for some of those that came in dead last in their fantasy football leagues this year, it's time to dance on TikTok.
Embarrassing punishments for last-place finishers in fantasy football leagues is nothing new. There have been stories of league losers holding a sign of shame in public, or getting a tattoo, or spending an entire day in a Waffle House.
Things can get pretty elaborate.
But on TikTok, several accounts have popped up showing a different kind of punishment. While it still falls into the bucket of public shaming, dancing for likes on TikTok feels like a preferable price, when compared to permanently inking your skin.
Making a dance video requires real effort, and there is a certain meritocracy in the fact that the more time and energy a fantasy league loser puts into their dance, the more likely they are to succeed in reaching the threshold of likes required to lift their burden.
Last year, it took five days for this account to clear 10,000 likes, but given the dedication offered in this dance, it's no surprise they got there.
This year, several other fantasy league losers are joining in the (embarrassing) fun.
While it may be tempting to enjoy the struggle of some accounts by withholding giving them a like and thus ensuring their continued dancing, in my book, anyone that puts a certain amount of effort into their dance deserves a double-tap.
After all, if your fantasy team falls apart, it could be your turn to dance next year.