FX's "The League" represents everything that's funny and meaningful about fantasy sports, and that fact probably scares more than a few casual viewers. This isn't to say that the characters in the show are realistic characters, necessarily, simply that their caricature lives are somewhat close to the real thing and that's enough for anyone who's in a league with their friends to recognize each other in the group's inane, petty and occasionally obscene antics.
Focused on a bunch of friends in the Chicago area, The League manages to pack in as many inside jokes to bad trades, bad managers, bad luck and bad decisions as possible. While the UPL actually has few football trades of any value, The Leagueers actively seek out possible swaps via bribery or coersion - such as the episode when Kevin's wife blackmails Ruxin into a trade with Ruxin's sex life with his wife at stake. Off-handed mentions of "out of town" members simply serves as a foil and to keep the talent pool of players from becoming too stretched out to be believable. In fact, the first objection I had to the series was when the draft occurred and only 6 managers showed up. As someone who's participated in an 8 person heads-up baseball league, I can tell you that the happy range of managers in any fantasy sport is between 10-14, where talent gets stretched and you have to be a little more involved.
But that's all a tangent. What The League is really all about is the bonds of friendship, sport and dick jokes. Their first-place trophy is called The Shiva after a girl from high school they had a group obsession with, their last-place trophy is called The Sacco because its made from a skinned Buffalo's genitals. A league member called Taco wreaks havoc throughout the league by having fantastic luck despite clueless drafting and absentee management technique. The emasculating back and forth arguments and subterfuge that arise because Kevin's wife is much better at fantasy football than he is. Or Ruxin, who goes so far as to try to sabotage Christmas to get ahead in the playoffs.
All in all, as far as almost cartoonized extrapolations of the real thing The League succeeds despite the occasional comedic misfire or tangent into the too-far-gone. Solid show, embarrasing people, very entertaining - they just need more members to make the talent pool believable.
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