Fantasy Gunner League Rekindles 1L's Interest in Class

During his first semester, Duke Law School 1L Eric Herril casually listened in class but certainly didn't follow the action with any degree of closeness. He found the material somewhat interesting but was often overwhelmed by how much there was to know.

"Sure I had a few favorite cases that I really paid attention to but the rest of the time I just zoned out," admitted Herril. "That all changed when my friend Zack Webster introduced me to the concept of the fantasy gunner league."

Fantasy gunner leagues (FGL) consist of groups of students who divvy up the gunners in their class and then get points depending on how well their chosen gunners perform.

"At the beginning of the semester we had a draft where we choose our team of gunners," related Herril, showing the piece of paper he used to rank his picks. "My strategy wasn't to land the star gunners but to field a team of solid, consistently-performing prospects."

Like other fantasy leagues, FGLs assign points depending on the drafted player's performance. Herril mentioned that his league started from the premise that every time a gunner on your team spoke you received a point. To make things more interesting, however, the group decided to award points for other achievements.

"We actually had quite a complex scoring methodology," remarked the Duke 1L. "You would get two points if your gunner interrupted the professor. You got points for the total time a gunner's hand was raised, including a bonus if the gunner made noises to attract attention or propped up his or her arm by the elbow. And that's not all. Included in our system is a reward if your player audibly grunts in response to a stupid classmate question or if he or she is told to shut up."

Fantasy gunner enthusiasts point out that points are dependent on both a gunner's offensive and defensive skills.

"While your gunner's ability to talk is certainly one key to winning the league, it isn't the only consideration," explained Zack Webster,Herril's friend who started the fantasy gunner league. "The scoring system puts a lot of emphasis on defensive ability so, for example, if your gunner deflects attention away from another gunner and gets the professor to call on him instead that garners you a lot of points."

One of the reasons that FGLs have caught on is that they are constantly updated and allow participants to change their teams in response to conditions on the ground. League standings are published online and are updated after every class. Additionally, team captains, known as general managers, can substitute in backup gunners when their starters aren't performing well or get injured.

"I remember in Torts that one of my best gunners wasn't being called on so he kept stretching his arm to get the prof's attention," remembered Herril. "I guess all that strain resulted in a tear of the shoulder muscle, what we commonly refer to as gunneritis. Anyway, because I saw that injury I was able to substitute him out before Crim Law and avoid losing a whole bunch of points."

Now that Herril is an active league participant he says that has become a much more avid fan of law school.

"Thanks to fantasy gunner I pay tons more attention in class now," stated Herril while looking his league's standings on his computer screen. "Since I need to constantly follow what gunners are saying - and since gunners are the ones who always speak - I feel like I now really grasp what's going on."

With only a few more weeks to go before the playoffs, the 1Ls in the Duke fantasy gunner league are jockeying for position so that they can be one of 4 teams to compete in the post season.

"Right now I am just out of the running in 5th place," said Herril. "However, in Con Law today my best performing gunner not only told the professor he was "seriously mistaken" but made a girl cry when he laughed at her incorrect response during a cold call. A performance like that should be enough to catapult me into the playoffs, no doubt about it."